TWA told the NBAA that its ground personnel were authorized to arrange parking for business aircraft as close as possible to the gate if passengers were transferring to TWA flights.
Eclipse Aviation's training provider, Higher Power Aviation (HPA), has earned FAA approval to conduct Eclipse 500 type training under the company's FAR Part 142 training certificate. The authorization clears HPA to type rate customers using its Level D full-motion simulator. Eclipse called the certification a milestone that "marks the FAA's final approval of Eclipse Aviation's training program." The Part 142 certification was awarded two weeks after the first Eclipse flight simulator received Level D approval.
The politically troubled nomination of acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell to be the agency's chief has hit another snag. New Jersey's two senators have placed a hold on the nomination, preventing it from coming to the Senate floor for a vote. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, both Democrats, say they have concerns about "serious safety and traffic issues with the FAA." Lautenberg, who was less than satisfied with Sturgell's answers at his confirmation hearing Feb.
"NOVEMBER 1234, say altitude," can be a wake-up call. Altitude deviations are still too common, in spite of, or perhaps because of, ever-increasing cockpit automation.
In January, Kansas City, Mo.-based Executive Beechcraft became Garmin International's first authorized service center in the United States to deliver a Beech King Air C90 retrofitted with Garmin G1000 glass cockpit avionics. The retrofitted airplane was handed over on Jan. 14 to Data Systems International founder and CEO Mike McGraw. The G1000 suite replaces most older, traditional cockpit instruments by integrating all primary flight, navigation, communication, terrain, traffic, weather and engine instrumentation on large-format, high-resolution LCDs.
Cessna Aircraft officials have built an impressive record of bringing new aircraft to market on schedule and hope to do the same with the new Citation Columbus, even while changing the development process by having vendors perform more of the manufacturing tasks while Cessna focuses on its role as a systems integrator. The new aircraft will be the company's top-of-the-line model, featuring a 4,000-nm range and standup-cabin.
Robinson Helicopter plans to boost production of R22 and R44 helicopters to 22 per week due to continuing demand. The manufacturer delivered 823 helicopters in 2007 -- the most civil helicopters made in one year by a single company, Robinson reports. The bulk of weekly production will be taken up by R44s, but the Torrance, Calif.-based company didn't break out exact production targets by model. Robinson established the previous industry record, 806 helicopter deliveries, in 2005.
Bombardier Flexjet selected Team One of Los Angeles to create a new marketing plan for the fractional aircraft ownership company. A division of Saatchi & Saatchi, Team One will provide a range of marketing services, including advertising creative, media, interactive, direct, collateral and public relations for Flexjet. The new Team One Flexjet campaign is expected to begin in April.
As expected, the House aviation subcommittee vowed to restore any funds cut from the Airport Improvement Program by the Bush administration's FAA budget request, which slashes the program by $765 million, to $2.75 billion. "There is no question that [the AIP program funds] will be restored," House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) told Aviation Daily. The majority of the members of the subcommittee on both sides of the aisle oppose any cuts to the AIP, he said.
Five airports in Switzerland -- Bern, Buochs (Luzerne), Lugano, Sion and St. Gallen/Altenrhein -- have agreed to cooperate in a push to attract more business air traffic, according to Bud Slabbaert, who's leading the effort under the banner "Location Switzerland," an arm of the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C. Slabbaert says he also has on board the economic development departments of three cantons, including Nidwalder, Tessin and St. Gallen. By the time EBACE opens in the spring, the alliance should number seven, with Grenchen and Samedan on board.
Officials from Stevens Aviation - the Greenville, S.C.-based diversified aircraft sales and service company - say they are on track to complete and receive supplemental type certification of the first Lear 35 Special Edition soon. The upgraded and completely refurbished Learjet 35A, which currently is having its cockpit upgraded at Stevens' Denver base and will have the paint and interior work done at the company's South Carolina facility, has already been sold and is slated to be delivered to the end user by the end of this month.
EADS Defense & Security (DS) Military Air Systems in Spain has been awarded a contract to integrate an automatic flight inspection system in a Cessna Citation V for the Spanish Air Force. The SAF specifically requested the use of this model, since several Citation V aircraft (TR-20) are already in operation with the SAF Cartographic Center. EADS will obtain a used Citation 560 for the inspection program. It has selected the UNIFIS 3000 system, produced by the Norwegian company NSM, for the navaid inspection system.
REMEMBER THE COP SHOW "Hill Street Blues?" Sgt. Phil Esterhaus would end each shift-briefing with the caution: "Hey, let's be careful out there." Well, the NTSB is asking all of us to do the same in a recently released Safety Alert concerning night CFIT accidents. CFIT -- pronounced "see-fit" -- stands for "controlled flight into terrain." While it sounds like an oxymoron, it is not. Typically CFIT refers to a perfectly good airplane flying into the terrain while in full (if not entirely alert) control by its crew.
The Bush administration's fiscal 2009 transportation budget drew criticism as "just more of the same" from the Bush administration. On Feb. 4, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters unveiled the DOT fiscal 2009 budget request that calls for $14.6 billion for the FAA. The budget, which would be $320 million below the fiscal 2008 appropriation, assumes the continuation of the current aviation excise taxes. But DOT budget documents assume a shift to user fees and higher fuel taxes beginning in 2010.
Jan. 24, 2008 perhaps was one of the most pivotal days in Cessna's recent history. On that day, the board of directors at Textron, Cessna's corporate parent, gave the firm the go-ahead to develop the Columbus, the largest and longest range Citation ever. Notably, Cessna estimates that the Columbus will cost $775 million to bring to market, more than twice the original investment in the Citation X, which has been Cessna's most expensive development program.
A quarter century ago, Beech Aircraft introduced the King Air 300, an aircraft that's even faster than the new B200GT below FL 270. Even more impressively, you can fill the tanks and fill the seats instead of choosing either range or payload. The 300 has better runway performance, better all-engine and one-engine-inoperative climb performance than the 200 and matches it in high-altitude cruise.
Oxford Airport in the U.K. is building a new business aviation terminal scheduled for completion in June. The new facility has triple the space of the existing general aviation terminal and is the first phase of a major investment by Oxford Airport's new owners, the Reuben Brothers, who purchased it in 2007 from BBA Aviation. The expansion is due in part to increased business aviation traffic at the airport, which has doubled over the past three years. Currently, Oxford averages about 10 business jet movements per day.
Travel Business Daily reports booming airport development in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, with projects and expansions across the region now valued at over U.S.$68 billion. The Gulf countries account for U.S.$43 billion of this growth, with U.S.$21 billion worth of development now under way in the UAE, where Dubai's annual airport industry exhibition is working to become the largest in the world. The Airport Show takes place at Airport Expo Dubai, June 2 to 4. Important Airport Developments in South Asia:
