Aerospace industry sales and backlogs are at record levels, and the industry's profitability also is improving according to the AIA. For years aerospace industry profits had lagged behind other industrial sectors, but the profit margin for 2007 is estimated at 8.1 percent, just slightly lower than the 8.4 percent mark for industry overall.
Armies used to hate to move, much less fight, at night. And nighttime has been the eternal cloak of criminals. But now all that has changed. Beginning with a U.S. military initiative that had its roots in the Korean and more notably the Vietnam wars, American infantrymen took up the slogan "we own the night" and began using new technology that delivered near daytime vision in darkness to gain an advantage over adversaries. Because American forces are airmobile, it was inevitable that helicopter transport would require vision enhancement for the aircrews as well.
Big chains may have certain advantages due to size, but at any airport drawing federal funds, regulations require that no FBO be discriminated against by airport management. Yet lawyers specializing in aviation issues say they may see a dozen or so cases in any given year in which an FBO learns that a competitor got a more favorable lease rate. How can it happen? "If nobody complains, it won't be discovered," says Anita Willis, an attorney with Chevalier, Allen & Lichman, LLP, of Costa Mesa, Calif.
*Dassault Falcon 50 airplanes - Verify that all life rafts are stowed correctly (with deployment straps outboard) and that they have been repacked to specified dimensions. *EADS Socata TBM 700 airplanes - Inspect the pilot-door locking stop fittings for correct length and replace any incorrect length pilot-door locking stop fittings found. *Embraer EMB-135BJ airplanes - Replace the locking tab washers on the control rods of the rudder and install springs on the hinge assemblies of the rudder.
Duncan Aviation appointed Doug Alleman to the position of manager of service and engine sales for the Lincoln, Neb.-based airframe and engine sales teams. Alan Monk has been added to the Battle Creek airframe service sales team; Cary Loubert is the new Bombardier tech representative at the Battle Creek, Mich., facility. Brad Homeyer has joined the airframe services sales team in Lincoln.
Intelligence | 17 * Used Aircraft Market Remains Robust * Aerion Gets $1.5 Billion in LOIs * Aviation Taking Sides in Presidential Race * PlaneView Gulfstreams Earn RNP * Eclipse Gets $100 Million in New Equity Edited by James E. Swickard Commentary 9 | Viewpoint By William Garvey She Really Knows Her Way Around 32 | Business & Commercial Aviation 1958, a Year in Review 82 | Cause & Circumstance By Richard N. Aarons
Eclipse Aviation's hunger for cash seems to be getting sated. Back in November 2007 the company told customers it would freeze the final price of Eclipse 500s on order in return for an immediate up-front payment of $625,000 to help Eclipse. Customers who agreed to send in the $625,000 payment would have the price of their airplane frozen at $1.25 million and be protected against inflation escalators in the original contract that could drive the final price of the Eclipse 500 to nearly $1.6 million, depending on delivery date.
In case you're wondering why you haven't received an FAA Advisory Circular recently, it's because the agency's Aircraft Certification Service (ACS) stopped printing and distributing ACs at the beginning of October 2007. ACS is now posting ACs at the Regulator and Guidance Library Web site at: http://rgl.faa.gov. For more information, contact Roberta Katson, acting manager of the Planning and Program Management Division, AIR-500, at (202) 493-4633 or via e-mail at roberta. [email protected].
Standard Aero and Landmark Aviation, DAE Engineering companies, announced the appointment of Michel Menard as vice president and general manager for the Landmark Aviation Springfield, Ill., operation.
Mooney Airplane Co., Kerrvlle, Texas, appointed Susan Harrison as manager of international sales, reporting to Rick Neely, Mooney's director of sales. Robert A. "Bob" Shank was named Mooney Team representative for the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Eastern Colorado and Nebraska. Keith Vasy has been appointed team representative for the Upper Midwestern United States.
Keeping your autopilot operating properly takes training and experience. Most of the large training providers cover autopilot systems in their maintenance courses; some even offer specific troubleshooting courses by make and model. However, the hardest skill to acquire is the ability to use logic while troubleshooting.
Embraer has designated Kunak Jet Sales an authorized sales representative in Turkey. Through this initiative, Embraer will attempt to market its complete line of executive jets in that country. Since being founded in 1998 by Oguz Kunak, Kunak Jet Sales has sold numerous business aircraft, including 25 turbine-powered models, to Turkish customers and provided such client services as re-marketing aircraft trade-ins and arranging financing for aircraft acquisitions.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash., announced the appointment of Mark Harris as site leader of its Fort Walton Beach, Fla., facility. Dawn Johnson was appointed site leader of the company's Redmond, Wash., location.
As the race for the White House heats up, some aviation entities are choosing sides. Aviation Daily reports that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), with members at Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft, among other manufacturers, is fully supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). And the Air Travelers Association, led by President David Stempler, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).
For all the problems they present maintenance technicians, autopilots are also a source of an endless litany of jokes about those who use them. Among the classics: "Have you heard that flight crew on all new aircraft will consist of one pilot and a dog? The pilot's job is to feed the dog and the dog's job is to bite the pilot if he touches the autopilot!"
*President Eisenhower accepted a recommendation from his special assistant (and later first FAA administrator) E. R. Quesada to build Washington, D.C.'s second airport in Chantilly, Va. Construction was to begin immediately. *Metal rotor blades to replace the wooden blades on the Bell 47 were to be available soon. Although about double the price, "metal blades will stay in track once they're set."
As a heavy equipment operator (GIV-SP) and a long-time farm boy, I need to point out a small error in your December Accidents in Brief (page 97). They stopped using steamrollers in the 1950s, so when the Sony Falcon 900 smacked into the steamroller (who had a wing wagger, but wasn't wagging) it was really just a roller/compactor.
As part of the U.S.-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP), a consortium of U.S. and Indian government agencies and aerospace companies is studying ways to beef up the general aviation industry and market in India. Indian civil aviation agencies see fostering the local general aviation industry as a key way to train aspiring pilots for future employment in the country's booming commercial aviation sector. Severe capacity constraints at local airports and airspace restrictions are hampering growth now. The U.S.
Gulfstream has received FAA approval for its G550, G500, G450 and G350 models to fly Required Navigation Performance Special Aircraft and Aircrew Authorization Required (RNP SAAAR) 0.3 airport approaches. For the past year, the Savannah aircraft manufacturer had been working with the FAA, NetJets and Honeywell International to secure the approval to allow the PlaneView-equipped aircraft to fly the lower-minimum approaches.
Thanks for what you wrote about TAG and AMI; you were right on target. As one of the two people who obtained the Elan Express FAR Part 125 certificate, from the Las Vegas FSDO, we used AMI as our quality benchmark. We were trained by AMI inspectors and managers on what the standards were, had AMI people train us on what the FAA wanted to see, and then we proceeded to work on a weekly basis with the FAA to obtain our Part 125 certificate.
The B200GT's standard avionics package is impressively complete. The system uses hub-and-spoke architecture with an Integrated Avionics Processing System (IAPS) as the hub unit. Easily replaceable LRUs inside the IAPS provide flight guidance, flight management and data concentration capabilities, among other functions.
