The decision by the FAA to pull the ticket of TAG Aviation, or more properly AMI-JC, demonstrates perhaps the most inappropriate to the factual bottom line action to my knowledge in a long tradition of the like.
Embraer created a new Environmental Strategies and Technologies Office, which is designed to integrate and expand the company's environmental initiatives. Satoshi Yokota, Embraer executive vice president, strategic planning and technology, will head the new office and Graciliano Campos has been named director, environmental strategies and technologies, reporting to Yokota. The office will develop strategies for reducing the environmental impact of its production processes and manufactured products.
Executive Jet Management, Cincinnati, announced the appointment of Brent Smith as chief financial officer. Smith previously served as senior vice president, financial planning and analysis, and has been with NetJets for nine years. Gary Gennari has been promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president, business development.
THERE'S A SERIOUS PROBLEM within the FAA's Air Traffic Organization that isn't getting much public attention even though the situation is growing more serious with each passing day. The problem, believe it or not, can be traced back to the illegal walkout -- and subsequent firing by President Ronald Reagan -- of the more than 11,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization in 1981. The men and women hired to replace those fired PATCO members are now becoming eligible for retirement.
The expression "cone of silence" took on new meaning when British manufacturer Ultra Electronics developed its electronic noise-canceling system for the noisy cabins of turboprop regional airliners. Now Elliott Aviation in Moline, Ill., has improved on the original product to create its Sound Management System (SMS) for the Beech King Air 200, 300 and 350 executive turboprops.
George Larson's "Satcom Services Race" (September, page 104) is an outstanding piece - very insightful and very pure, which is very difficult to do in a space that is so technical by nature. It certainly covers all the bits and bytes, as well as the hot topics, and it also teaches people how to think about things. Even just spending time talking about the individual network offerings is helpful, because people can think . . . Inmarsat gives me XYZ, Iridium gives me ABC, AirCell's Broadband will give me PDQ, etc.
THE WINTER OF 1944 was typical for New England: cold, snowy, icy . . . miserable. This, however, was to be our last week at our Navy training base at Groton, Conn., after which our unit was heading for the tropical heat of Saipan where we would rendezvous with the recently repaired U.S.S. Lexington, our new home.
Joe Clark is an aviation businessman to the core. He found his calling at 20 when he took his first ride in a Learjet; by the time he stepped out, he knew he wanted in, for keeps. And so in 1965 he launched Jet Air, the first Lear Jet distributorship in the Northwest, with a sales territory covering Washington, Oregon, Alaska and all of Canada. His next career move was to Raisbeck Engineering as vice president of sales. In 1981, he cofounded Horizon Air, a highly successful Seattle-based regional that was ultimately sold to Alaska Airlines.
*Bell 205, 212 and 412 helicopters -- Inspect the tail-rotor blade forward tip weight retention block and the aft tip closure for adhesive bond voids. Remove any blade with an excessive void from service. Modify certain blades by installing shear pins and tip closure rivets. *Bell 206A and 206B helicopters -- Replace certain spindles with an airworthy spindle.
PATS Aircraft and investment firm Tailwind Capital, LLC have joined forces to offer executive versions of previously owned Bombardier CRJ-200 regional airliners for about $20 million apiece, according to our sister publication, The Weekly of Business Aviation.
I just read "Emitting Credibility" in the November issue (Viewpoint, page 9). Great column, and your warning is both appropriate and important. The global "green" movement already brandishes alarmingly strong and threatening (and potentially punitive) powers. "Assigning the blame" (aviation being a prime target) seems to be a more popular theme than solving the problem. Interesting times.
Southwest Jet Aviation has added an Astra to its charter fleet and will base it at Scottsdale Municipal Airport in Arizona. The addition brings Southwest Jet's charter fleet to 10 aircraft.
The first shot was an editorial entitled "Fairness for All Airport Users," which was signed by Richard Anderson, then head of Northwest Airlines, and published in the March 2004 issue of NWA WorldTraveler, his carrier's inflight magazine. The essence of the piece was that airline passengers, the magazine's captive audience, were unwittingly underwriting the use of airports and the ATC system by private aircraft through their payment of passenger facility charges.
China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) has selected Sensis Corp. for a satellite navigation pilot project at two Chinese airports, a decision Sensis hopes is a precursor to nationwide deployment of its ADS-B system. The airports involved are Chengdu and Jiuzhai in Central China. The company believes this will be China's first formal trial of 1090 MHz ADS-B for commercial aircraft. The systems will be deployed in three to four months, Sensis executives told Aviation Daily. The trial is "open-ended," a Sensis executive said.
Could reengining be the fountain of youth for aging business jets? Only a few seconds after we pushed the throttles up to the forward stops for takeoff aboard Clifford Development's reengined Citation II flying test bed, it was quite obvious that this 19-plus-year-old light jet workhorse was feeling its oats, almost as if it were a CJ3 colt.
Corporate Angel Network (CAN), was presented with a $50,000 check during a ceremony held at the Wings Club's 65th annual Dinner-Dance at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. The award is in recognition of CAN's 25 years of public service to cancer patients by arranging more than 27,000 free flights to treatment in the empty seats of business jets. "While I'm the one accepting this recognition on behalf of CAN, I'd like to recognize CAN's staff and board members," said CAN Chairman Randall Greene, who is also chairman and CEO of Safe Flight Instrument Corp.
Give the average American kid something like a used Honda Civic for graduation, and he will immediately begin to pour all of his pay from his part-time job into converting what had been a normal, comfortable, conservatively styled car into a full-blown road rocket with a towel-bar spoiler, an exhaust spigot the size of a coffee can and a flame paint job. It's what kids do, and it's become a $27 billion industry, complete with an annual convention.
*Dec. 3-14: Aviation Safety Management Systems (ASMS) course, University of Southern California (USC), 6033 W. Century Blvd., Ste. 920, Los Angeles, CA 90045. (310) 342-1345. *Dec. 10: American Association of Airport Executives, Seventh Annual Aviation Security Summit, DoubleTree Hotel Crystal City, Arlington, Va. www.aaae.org *Dec. 14: Wright Memorial Dinner, Aero Club of Washington, Washington, D.C. www.aeroclub.org --2008--
Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, announced the appointments of Steve Charles as director, Citation product support and Tom Grace as director, propeller product support. They will be based in Wichita and report to Mark Paolucci, senior vice president, customer service.
Bristow Group, which provides helicopter services to the offshore energy industry, recently signed a definitive agreement to sell its Grasso Production Management (GPM) business to Production Services Network Ltd. for $22.5 million. GPM is a contract operator of oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Helicopter Foundation International (HFI), a Helicopter Association International affiliated organization, is now offering more information at the click of a mouse. The newly remodeled Web site - www.helicopterfoundation.org - brings all the resources needed to keep helicopter enthusiasts up-to-date on the foundation's latest endeavors. Founded in 1983, the HFI is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of the helicopter industry, as well as educating both present and future generations.
The first new Embraer's Lineage 1000 ultra-large executive jet arrived at PATS Aircraft Completions in Georgetown, Del. Nov. 16. The aircraft is being outfitted with a customer-selected interior designed by Priestman Goode. The Lineage 1000, derived from the Embraer 190 airliner, made its first flight Oct. 26 at Embraer's Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, facility. PATS will integrate the total interior using materials and systems from its parent deCrane Aerospace, including seating, furniture, wood veneer, IFE systems, cabin management systems and more.
The Global Positioning System still was in its infancy in the mid-1980s, when Gary Burrell and Min Kao recognized its commercial potential for aviation, land mobile, marine, automotive and recreational uses, among other new markets. AlliedSignal, Burrell's and Kao's employer at the time, didn't share that vision, so the two left the firm to start their own company focused on developing a broad range of GPS navigation products.
