Flight Options, the Cleveland-based fractional aircraft operator, recently added a Hawker 800XP to its Fractional Interchange Management (FIM) program, the third aircraft to be added to the company's managed aircraft fleet. The company said the program places aircraft into its fractional fleet, maximizing the aircraft owner's ability to offset ownership costs through revenue generated by 1,400-plus customers. Meanwhile, the aircraft owner gains access to Flight Options' fleet of more than 130 aircraft.
The day before we flew the Beech Super King Air B200GT in early January, crude oil prices reached $100 per barrel. That event soon could cause the price of jet fuel to soar to $5.00 or $6.00 per gallon, a price that could send shock waves through parts of the business jet community.
TAKEOFF AND LANDING performance charts were nightmarishly complex in the early days of business jets. To find a landing distance, for example, you had to enter the typical chart from several edges simultaneously and read your answers against microscopically small grids (often printed on cheap paper, so lines smudged). Every parameter had an axis -- landing weight, temperature, elevation, brake temperature, runway braking action, anti-ice on/off, runway gradient, etc.
Englewood, Colo.'s Centennial Airport was unique in the new world of the very light jet, since two manufacturers decided to establish headquarters there - the Aviation Technology Group, which was developing the fighter-like Javelin, and Adam Aircraft, which is developing both the A500 pusher/puller twin piston and its turbofan sibling, the A700. The thrill that comes with being so far in the forefront has a downside, however. And Englewood is experiencing that now. In December 2007, ATG said it was suspending operations after failing to raise $200 million in financing.
Universal Avionics Systems Corp., Tucson, has named Don Berlin as its senior corporate vice president, and he also has been appointed to the board of directors. Berlin previously held the post of chief operating officer. Daniel Reida has been promoted to vice president of marketing. He most recently served as worldwide marketing director.
*Vianne J. Floyd is a full-time flight attendant manager for an S&P 500 firm. *Tammy Kilduff is supervisor, Inflight Services and is a full-time employee at one of the largest firms in the food industry. *Tammy Beth Natalia is a contracting flight attendant with 11 years in both airline and business aviation operations and experience in most heavy jets. (corporateflightattendant.com). *Judith Reif is an active corporate contract flight attendant and founder of JR Flight Services in Cordova, Tenn. ([email protected]).
The aviation professionals who participated in UBS Investment Research's latest bimonthly survey of the business jet market "continue to cite a very strong market, with current business conditions just off their high." The December 2007 edition of the financial firm's Business Jet Monthly report added, "It appears credit market woes are still not hitting bizjets, as 73 percent of respondents noted no adverse impact from broader credit market difficulties. The majority view continues to be that the market can hold current high levels over the next 12 months."
I loved "Survey: What Recent Trip Was Your Most Challenging?" and the S&D section of the January 2008 issue (page 60). I think the S&D Committee will as well. Thanks for being such a great supporter of these hard-working individuals!
The year 1958 was one of stunning and near-Mach transition for business aviation, as was made plainly evident by a pair of feature articles written by Consulting Editor Harley Kysor for that February's issue of Business & Commercial Aviation.
Rockwell Collins will be supplying more components for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). The two manufacturers previously announced that Collins would supply its Pro Line Fusion avionics for the new RJ, but the latest agreement calls for Collins to also provide the primary flight control computers, pilot controls and the horizontal stabilizer trim system. The flight control computers will be an integral part of the MRJ's fly-by-wire system. The pilot controls system includes the control wheels, columns, pedals, associated feel systems and pedestal controls.
The National Air Transportation Association is forming an Environmental Committee to review and develop positions on a number of issues, including aircraft emissions, spill prevention and containment, changes in the Clean Water Act, and deicing fluids. Traver Gruen-Kennedy, DayJet vice president of strategic operations, is chairing the new panel.
As one of the TAG Aviation employees who is losing her job within a few months after the transition to Sentient, I want to thank you for your excellent Viewpoint in the December issue. You beautifully expressed what so many of us feel. I have proudly worked at TAG for eight and a half years. It has been tragic to see firsthand what the FAA has caused over the past nine months. What I worry about most is how the stress has affected all of us in ways we don't even realize yet. Thank you for speaking up.
John Newton, Cessna's vice president of used aircraft sales, calls the current market for previously owned Citations "extremely active. This is the highest level of activity I have seen in the past 30 years." As an industry veteran, Newton knows that the good times cannot go on indefinitely. However, he is optimistic that the market for used Cessna jets will continue to be robust for the foreseeable future.
Civil operators shopping for night-vision devices will encounter two broad categories of such equipment: thermal imagers, and light amplifiers or intensifiers.
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.
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.
Atlantic Aviation recently added its 70th FBO with the acquisition of Rifle Air, based at Garfield County Regional Airport in Rifle, Colo. Atlantic CEO Louis Pepper said the acquisition complements the company's FBO in Aspen to better serve customers in the Rocky Mountains. The existing Rifle management and staff will remain intact. The Rifle deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions that Atlantic has made over the past two years that also include the Trajen, Supermarine and Mercury Air Center FBO chains.
Nordam, Tulsa, announced that Meredith Siegfried will expand her leadership role to include operational responsibilities for the Tulsa repair facility.
Dyke Weatherington, head of the Pentagon's unmanned aerial systems (UAS) planning task force, wants to organize a high-level meeting among Department of Defense, NASA and FAA officials to thrash out the UAS airspace access problem, but says he can't find a high-level NASA official who is interested in participating. NASA's earlier effort to help enable "file and fly" UAS operations in the United States, known as Access Five, was abandoned after the agency's aeronautics budget was slashed.
Great article on air data heat in the December 2007 edition (Cause & Circumstance, page 95). And as always, Business & Commercial Aviation is a favorite pub of the staff at the NTSB. Keep up the quality work -- it is a pleasure to receive each copy.
At about 0745 UTC, a Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737-400 had a runway excursion after landing at Deauville Saint-Gaitien International Airport in France. The airplane had departed from Marrakech, Morocco. There was minor damage to the airplane, but no injuries. BEA France is investigating this event as a serious incident.
