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.
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.
SAS has decided to permanently ground its 27 Bombardier Q400s following a third landing accident in a matter of weeks. "Confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably, and our customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft," SAS CEO Mats Jansson said in a statement.
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.
Anchorage-based Aero Twin's owner, Tony Cestnik, needed better performance for his Cessna 208 Caravan, especially when it was fitted with amphib floats, so he decided to swap out its 600-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114 for a new 850-hp Honeywell TPE331-12JR, a well-proven powerplant used on the CASA 212 Series 400. Aero Twin received the STC for the kit last summer for the basic aircraft, but not the 208B stretched . The conversion also is applicable to serial number 277 and later aircraft originally powered by the 675-shp -114A engines.
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.
Raytheon plans to sell Flight Options LLC, its wholly owned fractional aircraft ownership provider, to a Miami-based private equity firm, H.I.G. Capital. The decision to sell Flight Options comes as the Cleveland-based unit posted an operating loss of $96 million in the third quarter of this year, compared with a $10 million loss in third quarter 2006. Raytheon said it "initiated a process to dispose of" the fractional aircraft operation in the third quarter and reached a definitive agreement with H.I.G. on Oct. 15. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Jet Aviation Basel recently received letters of intent to complete interiors for two Airbus A340s, four Boeing BBJs and three B787 aircraft. The completions work will continue through 2014. The latest contracts come as Jet Aviation began construction on a new 9,600-square-meter hangar to accommodate widebody aircraft with long wingspans and very tall tails. The new hangar will be completed in the first half of next year. Jet noted that the large aircraft contracts come in addition to the more than 20 Falcon jets that Jet Aviation Basel completes annually for Dassault.
NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen appealed to senior Internal Revenue Service officials to revise proposed requirements for limits on aircraft deductions when senior executives use company aircraft for entertainment purposes. Bolen testified in late October during a public hearing the IRS held to discuss a proposal the agency released in June that would rewrite the tax code to incorporate measures limiting certain business aircraft deductions that Congress adopted in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.
Readers have frequently asked us if we had one, overall favorite airplane. That's a tough call, but the Pilatus PC-12 ranks near the top of the list. This versatile single-engine turboprop has a slightly larger cabin than a Beech King Air B200, cruise speeds of a King Air C90GT, cabin sound levels that rival those of some turbofan aircraft and impressive short-field performance.
A mixture of new and proven technology is being exploited in business jet refurbs and completions. Starting from a bare cabin and proceeding with a generic interior installation, here's a sampling of what's de rigueur today and, in some cases, what to look out for in terms of potential problems. Shells and Soundproofing Packages
*Cessna Citation 525 airplanes -- Disable the cockpit-mounted pilot relief tube and inspect the lower wing skin structure, forward wing spar, lower fuselage skin, fairings and the external fairing frames for corrosion. Repair any damage found, and apply a corrosion inhibitive sealant to the fuselage fairings before reinstalling.
FlightSafety International, La Guardia Airport, N.Y., has promoted Pete Nily to manager of the Long Beach, Calif., Learning Center. He replaces Chip White, who has been named manager of the Columbus, Ohio, Learning Center. Charlie Harvich has been promoted to manager of the Gulfstream Maintenance Training Center in Savannah, Ga. Chuck Gallagher has been named executive director, regulatory compliance, replacing Mike Lee, who is now vice president, courseware and maintenance training business development.
The GAMA board of directors elected Cirrus Chairman and CEO Alan Klapmeier as chairman of the association's board for 2008. Jeppesen President Mark Van Tine was named the new vice chairman. GAMA also added two new members - Aero Mach Labs in Wichita and Jet Aviation in Zurich, Switzerland. Aero Mach produces various powerplant and electronic instruments, gyro-operated instruments and fuel management systems. In addition to its completions and maintenance work, Jet Aviation has an engineering division that develops FAA STCs for modifications and alterations to aircraft.
A Piper 601P (N717SB) was substantially damaged during a ditching in a lake about seven miles east of Penn Yan, N.Y., after both engines lost power during normal cruise. The accident happened at about 1327 EDT, approximately 17 minutes after the airplane departed Rochester Airport in Rochester, N.Y. According to the FAA safety inspector, the airplane was refueled in Rochester for the continuation of the cross-country flight. After departure, the pilot reported climbing to 5,000 feet, where both engines began to run rough.
I enjoy your occasional articles on the fractional industry. The fall Flexjet newsletter highlights an owner who established an LLC with a couple of his friends to purchase a fractional share. If, as seems likely, the aviation activities of the LLC are not incidental to some non-aviation operating business, the LLC is a commercial operator and in violation of the FARs - and in violation of Flexjet's standard contractual terms.
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.
Embraer, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, has announced that Satoshi Yokota will be the executive vice president, strategic planning and technology development for the newly created Environmental Strategies and Technologies Office and that Graciliano Campos has been named its director.
TWO AIRPORT STORIES. A while ago I was arriving in the D.C. area VFR with traffic building fast. The frequency was alive with lots of voices. Keying Approach, I said I wanted to be cleared into the airspace, but if they couldn't handle me, I could hold, file or simply land elsewhere. "Commander 74 Mike," the controller responded, "This is DCA. The busier we are, the better we like it. You're going to be number two for a visual to Runway 22. Call the traffic."
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.
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.
