Honeywell has signed a 10-year service contract valued at approximately $400 million with NetJets covering Honeywell TFE731 engines on the operator's Hawker 750 and 900XP fleet. First certified in 1972, the TFE731 now comprises more than 10,900 engines in service that have accrued more than 72 million hours of operation on more than 27 different aircraft models.
Ranger Aerospace, a private equity consolidator specializing in investments in the rotorcraft services industry, has teamed with Heli-X for the acquisition, refurbishment and resale of turbine-powered high-end helicopters. Heli-X (Helicopter Exchange, Ltd.) is a DFW-based helicopter sales and brokering company with expertise in rotorcraft appraisals. Under the arrangement, Heli-X will source helicopter transactions, which Ranger will finance. Additionally, Ranger's helicopter overhaul and completion subsidiaries will refurbish the project helicopters.
Flight Display Systems is offering Ellipse TV, the first airborne satellite DirecTV system designed to work with a variety of airplanes including Gulfstreams, Challengers, Learjets, Hawkers, Pilatus aircraft and most turboprops, according to the company. The radome is mounted a minimum of 10 inches above the fuselage to permit free flow of air below the radome. This cuts down on lift and drag. The airflow is back to its original flow three inches after it passes the back of the radome.
*Grob Aerospace, Zurich, Switzerland, appointed Ulrich Gehling as managing director of Grob Aerospace GmbH, Germany. Dr. Andreas Strohmayer remains as joint managing director.
At the NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference in Savannah in January, Chuck McKinnon, who at one time ran IBM's flight department, shared some of his experiences with the attendees until time ran out. Here's what McKinnon would have said if he'd had time to finish:
The new Stanley-Proto Aerospace Ratchet has been engineered to satisfy the unique work requirements of aircraft maintenance technicians, according to the company. The ratchet can be used on different types of aircraft fasteners. Its head, or drive plug, includes a vertical through-hole where users can insert a hex key for the installation of frangible collars on threaded pins -- a common fastener system in airframe work. It also can be fitted with conventional sockets for use with hex head nuts and bolts.
A prescient feature in the April 1958 issue titled "How to Convince Stockholders that Business Planes Pay" focused on the actions of a president of Upressit Metal Cap, a small manufacturing outfit in Connecticut. When he took over a decade earlier, the story said the company had been "losing customers because of rapidly changing trends in the market for its metal container caps, and because the company lacked aggressive selling."
NATA's newly formed Environmental Committee drew nearly three dozen members from a cross-section of industry. The committee agreed to move forward with a carbon offset program and hopes to have details this month. The committee also wants to establish a set of industry best practices and explore joint partnership possibilities with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Aviation Research Group/U.S. (ARG/US), Cincinnati, has added four employees to its organization. Steve Witowski is the new ASOS program manager; John R. (JR) Neefe is CHEQ program manager; Janine Leddy is Western Region sales manager; and Naveena Tripurana is market research assistant.
Alerion, White Plains, N.Y., announced the addition of five new members to its sales team. Tehmina Jauhas, director of sales; Lisa Hays, director of sales; Clay Moore, director of sales; Ashley Santini, private flight advisor; and Sam Gordon, manager of vendor relations.
Any shortage invariably leads to conflict, as is demonstrated every Christmas, when crazed parents storm retail outlets to get their kids the latest hard-to-find doll or video game. And you are seeing it now at the large, commercial airports where airliners form conga lines stretching to the horizon while trying -- and failing -- to depart during overcrowded time slots.
Business Jet Access, Love Field, Dallas, appointed Casey Barr as executive Flight Solutions representation for the aircraft charter and management divisions.
ARG/US auditors and data analysts have noted that "the same problems keep coming up again" in operator audits conducted by the consultancy. Here is a selection: *Lack of standalone safety management system (SMS) aligned with AC120-92. *Safety officer not formally trained. *No internal-evaluation program referenced to AC120-59A. *Emergency-response program manual not a controlled document. *No training and practice for emergency-response program.
By the end of 2007, the Vref Turboprop Index reached a new all-time high (1209.17), which indicates that the benchmark twin-engine airplanes included in the index continue to grow in value, even though they were built more than 20 years ago. The Vref Turboprop Index is a compilation of the average retail prices for 1985 models of the Beech King Air C90A, King Air B200, Cessna Conquest I and II, as well as the 1980 Piper Cheyenne II and 1978 Twin Commander 690B.
Back in August 1962, my F-100D Super Sabre squadron was tasked with conducting a "Spoofing Mission" against the Russian, Chinese, North Korean and Japanese militaries in a single flight. It was during a time of high Cold War tension and bluffing games were played by all to test the alertness and response times to a threatened incursion by enemy aircraft.
The first of New York Airways' five new Vertol 44s was to be delivered in April, and the rest by June. Additionally, Sabena planned to lease two 44s for use at the upcoming Brussels World Fair.
You might say they were auditing the auditing process as commercial operators and safety auditors convened in Cincinnati in January to review rating standards for jet charter providers.
IT WAS SOMETHING, let me tell you. She was a beacon of shimmering red in an agitated sea of formal black. When I slipped my arm around her waist, she turned and delivered a 100,000-candela smile. I was holding Kirsten Haglund -- Miss America 2008 -- and I was afloat.
Sentient Flight Group completed its acquisition of TAG Aviation USA and named former TAG executive J.W.P. "Jake" Cartwright to head a newly formed Sentient Aircraft Management Division. In addition, Sentient said the former TAG USA management team also is transferring to the division. Sentient announced plans to buy the TAG unit in fall 2007 after the FAA suspended, and then revoked, the FAR Part 135 charter certificate of TAG affiliate AMI Jet Charter.
Jet Aviation Group of Switzerland has acquired Savannah Air Center (SAC) of Savannah, Ga., an independent aircraft maintenance and completion center that specializes in doing work on large business jets. The acquisition "supports Jet Aviation's strategic objective of expanding its global services network," said Jet Aviation CEO Peter G.
The FAA has certified ARINC Inc. to issue aircraft STCs and perform STC-related aircraft service and modification work under the FAA's new Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program. ARINC's Aircraft Integration and Modification group - which has operations in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Oklahoma City and Colorado Springs - became one of the first designated ODA holders in the country in late 2007.
The "Living Legends of Aviation," a group of aviation entrepreneurs, industry leaders, innovators, astronauts and pilots who have been recognized for their contributions to the promotion and preservation of aviation, named Pete Bunce, president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and ICAS board member, the "Aviation Industry Leader of the Year" at their 5th annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan. 24. Bunce was selected for his commitment to advancing and securing the vitality of the general aviation industry around the world.
