Our legal columnist, Kent Jackson, has addressed the subject of regulations affecting flight department companies several times, the most recent being in Point of Law in the May 2007 issue (page 100)
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Redmond, Wash., appointed H. Alan Howell as Electronics Group vice president of marketing and business development. Martin McCarthy has been named vice president of sales and marketing in Europe.
Take a close look at our May 2007 Purchase Planning Handbook. Virtually every new production turbine aircraft is equipped with EFIS and most have large-format, flat-panel LCDs. Steam gauges are out. Wall-to-wall glass is in. For older business aircraft fitted with electromechanical flight instruments or small-format CRT EFIS, a flat-panel upgrade can provide a wealth of new graphics features and functions, such as data link weather, electronic charts, high-resolution TAWS imagery, video cam/IR sensor display and the relative position of other air traffic.
West Star Aviation (nee Premier Air Center) in East Alton, Ill., and Ken Goldsmith's Yankee Pacific teamed together to develop and certify a Honeywell TFE731-4 engine conversion for 1980 through 1996 model Falcon 50s that boosts hot-and-high airport performance, increases range by 6 percent and ups typical cruise speeds from 0.75 Mach to 0.80 Mach.
Retail sales of previously owned business jets and turboprops dipped slightly in the third quarter, according to market statistics compiled by Amstat and published by the National Aircraft Resale Association.
The NTSB wants the FAA to require that all offshore helicopter operators in the Gulf of Mexico provide their flight crews with personal flotation devices equipped with a waterproof, GPS-enabled 406 MHz personal locator beacon, plus one other signaling device, such as a signaling mirror or a strobe light. The Safety Board also wants the FAA to require that all turbine-powered helicopters certificated with five or more seats operating in the Gulf of Mexico be equipped with externally mounted life rafts large enough to accommodate all occupants.
In a remarkable development, Sentient Flight Group has agreed to buy TAG Aviation Holdings as well as Hawker Beechcraft's charter business. The initial announcement came from TAG in late October and within days Hawker Beechcraft said it was selling its aircraft management and charter business. The TAG USA buy is the latest development in an extraordinary, fast-moving affair that saw the FAA on Oct. 4 issue - after seven months of investigation - an "emergency suspension" of the charter certificate held by AMI Jet Charter.
Intelligence | 19 * Aerion SSBJ Gets Its First Order * European Air Traffic to Grow 4.6 Percent by summer 2008 * NBAA Seeks Relief From IRS Stance * Port Authority of NY/NJ Takes Over SWF * Sensis Gains Early Foothold in China's ADS-B Initiative Edited by James E. Swickard Commentary 9 | Viewpoint By William Garvey We're Here to Hurt 95 | Cause & Circumstance By Richard N. Aarons Will Air Data System Heat Modifications Be Mandatory?
Business Jet Center, Love Field, Dallas, has named Bill Moltenbrey as director of Business Jet Center, Ltd. He will oversee the Dallas and Oakland, Calif., FBO operations. Jason Pons has been promoted to manager of FBO Operations and DJ Korzyniewski has been named manager of the newly created Concierge Services Department, responsible for all cus- tomer service and marketing functions for Business Jet Center Dallas.
End plates are frequently used today on go-fast machines, but not airplanes. Rather they are fitted to race cars whose small aft wings create negative lift. Since these aft wings are necessarily short, their aspect ratio is quite high. With the end plates, the induced drag can be reduced without incurring weight penalties. The wing and endplate do a number of things, including create down force, reduce airflow separation behind the race car's cockpit and create negative lift under the car to pin it to the race surface.
Technological advancements -- as well as FAR mandates -- are also applying to the arcane field of cabin seating. According to Michael Ganter, modifications and completions manager at Landmark Aviation's Springfield, Ill., facility (formerly AiResearch Aviation), one result of FAA safety concerns can be seen in the increased number of 16-g-certified seats now coming into the refurbishment market. "These are designed to absorb energy in the seat itself, instead of imparting that energy to the occupant," he explained.
NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation System, based on the notion that aircraft sized to operate from thousands of under-utilized airports across the United States could dramatically alter American transportation, was just an idea before two entrepreneurs stepped up and developed business models inspired by SATS. Both companies are introducing hundreds of primarily business travelers to the efficiency of point-to-point air service using local community airports, thereby decongesting airline terminals and airspace as well as interstate highways.
Jet Aviation and Jetcraft have teamed up to offer aircraft sales and acquisition services under the name Jetcraft Trading. The new strategic alliance between the two companies enables Jet Aviation to round out its service portfolio by adding Jetcraft's aircraft sales and consulting expertise.
Aerion is accepting letters of intent for its planned supersonic business jet. Zurich, Switzerland-based ExecuJet Aviation Group, which is Aerion's exclusive sales representative for all areas outside the Americas, is offering 40 delivery positions for the aircraft; those positions must be secured by refundable deposits of $250,000. The company has taken its first order from Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Noaimi, head of Ajman Municipality and Planning Department. He signed a letter of intent at the recent Dubai Air Show. The aircraft is priced at $80 million.
At Memphis International Airport, a Citation 525, N242EP, departed on Taxiway M. The tower controller cleared the flight for takeoff on Runway 36L when the airplane was on Taxiway N. The crew acknowledged the clearance, turned right, and began takeoff roll on Taxiway M. The tower controller made two transmissions to advise the crew that they were departing on a taxiway. The crew acknowledged the advisory just after lifting off Taxiway M. Holding on Taxiway M was Pinnacle Airlines Flight 5905, a CRJ2.
Bell Helicopter officials announced in November that they had frozen the exterior profile of the Model 429, the company's new light-twin helicopter. "This is one of the most significant events in the development of an aircraft," said Robert Fitzpatrick, Bell's senior vice president of marketing and sales. "This means our design meets the aesthetic and inflight handling specifications we set long ago.
Of all the responsibilities facing today's business jet operators, few send beleaguered aviation managers for the Maalox faster than the prospect of having to refurbish the cabin of the employer's aircraft.
In "At Work on WOW" (Viewpoint, October 2007, page 7), William Garvey states that "the age of invention is with us still." While I completely agree with you conceptually, there are great limitations as to what inventions are allowed to reach fruition.
Passengers just aren't passive anymore. Their inflight communications and entertainment expectations have matured as quickly as their dependence on 24/7 connectivity to the Internet and cell phones. At the same time, regulatory developments, advances in cabin electronics and OEM hardware breakthroughs are evolving into a second generation of exciting inflight resources for passengers. These latest products and services are leveraging increased inflight bandwidth to meet passenger demand for sophisticated services.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) assumed control of Stewart International Airport (SWF), home to both civilian and military operations, in Newburgh, N.Y., on Nov. 1. Officials vowed to develop the underutilized facility into a strong regional airport serving the needs of the Hudson Valley, while also helping alleviate congestion and ease delays at the New York-New Jersey metropolitan airline hub and business aviation airports.
Years ago when all airplanes had two sets of wings, you can bet that when mechanics laid eyes on the first monoplane, they probably just shook their heads, and pronounced authoritatively, "Never last." The same was probably true for the first all-metal fuselage. Like pilots, most mechanics prefer tried and true technology and are reluctant to embrace innovation. Aircraft composite materials have come a long way since the introduction of the Beech Starship to the soon to fly Boeing 787. More will follow.
GAMA released its third quarter numbers for general aviation shipments and billings on Nov. 8. Compared to the same period in 2006, total shipments rose 1.7 percent to 2,909 units, while industry-wide billings for new airplanes rose to $15.1 billion. Shipments of piston-powered airplanes manufactured worldwide decreased to 1,857 units in the first three quarters of this year, down from 1,975 airplanes in 2006. Turboprop shipments increased 14.5 percent, growing from 256 airplanes at the same time in 2006 to 293 units this year.
