Sales of previously owned business jets and turboprop continued to climb during the second quarter, according to statistics provided to the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) by AMSTAT, the New Jersey-based corporate aviation research firm.
The choices available for those interested in heavy-iron lift today are more numerous, capable and varied than ever -- ranging from for-business Boeings and Airbuses to the fly-by-wire Falcon 7X, large-cabin Gulfstreams, Embraers and Globals. Extraordinary and unique as each may be, all the current aircraft have one thing in common: They are subsonic. And although various manufacturers have touted supersonic business jets (SSBJ) in recent years, not one has moved from paper to project launch. Demand for SSBJs
-Gulfstream GV and GV-SP airplanes -- Revise the airplane flight manual, perform repetitive functional checks of the forward water drain/supply valves and take applicable corrective actions.
I am a long-time subscriber to B&CA and a fan of William Garvey's columns, which I read and enjoy each month. I recently read his Viewpoint on the proposed Stage II noise ban ("Shhhhhhhh, Hear the Jet," July, page 7) and I was more than a little disappointed that he failed to even mention our Stage 3 hush-kit system for the Gulfstream II, II-B and III.
Amjet Aviation is one of the many aircraft marketing companies that continue to ride the wave of increased international demand for near-new corporate aircraft. The Atlanta-based firm, which specializes in midsize and larger jets -- especially the Gulfstream G200 and Cessna Citation Excel, XLS and Sovereign -- has seen "quite a lot of interest" from India, China and other nations with rapidly growing economies, says Scott Rogers, one of Amjet's principals.
FAR PART 135 TODAY COVERS primarily on-demand charter, while most (but not all) scheduled operations fall under Part 121. "On-demand" means that "the departure time, departure location, and arrival location are specifically negotiated with the customer." In the halcyon days before the Internet, no one seemed to have difficulty knowing the difference between "on-demand" and "scheduled" operations.
"So Dad, you've got a tent?" I had indeed. "Can we use it?" "Even better, you can have it for keeps." It would be my way to join in the adventure. Son Michael's tour at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Miami was ending and, quite done with the East Coast, he'd bid for the Pacific. Presently, his XO announced that he'd gotten his wish. San Diego? No. LA? No. San Francisco? No. Oregon, Washington, Hawaii? No, No, No. Where?
CAE will acquire Flightscape Inc., an Ottawa-based company specializing in flight data analysis and flight sciences, for approximately $18 million (Canadian). Flightscape's main product and service offerings are based on the gathering and analysis of aircraft flight data to deliver improved flight simulation fidelity. It offers a suite of aviation safety products and services related to flight operations quality assurance, flight data management, incident investigation and accident prevention.
Both House and Senate Appropriations Committees recently expressed reservations about the FAA's user-fee proposal. In their respective fiscal 2008 transportation appropriations funding bills, the committees included language noting their concern that the FAA proposal would reduce their oversight since the user fees could be used to bypass the traditional appropriations process.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have adopted their latest internal ethics laws, and once again have highlighted the use of private aircraft for election campaigns. The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, S.1, requires that senators who fly on private aircraft reimburse the owner at a rate equivalent to the fair market value of a similar charter flight. Senators previously were required to pay at a rate equivalent to a first-class ticket. House members, however, are prohibited from flying on private aircraft for campaign purposes unless they own the aircraft.
Baldwin Aviation Safety and Compliance is unveiling a new interactive mentoring program for flight departments at this month's NBAA Convention in Atlanta. Company founder Don Baldwin, former head of both the Texaco and Coca Cola flight departments and former NBAA chairman, said the program, which is based on his firm's flight department start-up model, is designed to help departments establish effective business systems to manage all aspects of their operations.
B-52Hs can now fly operationally with a 50-50 blend of JP-8 and a new synthetic kerosene fuel that was approved by U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne Aug. 8 following a 16-month testing and demonstration period.
The Avanti II's "new" 850-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66B engines have higher temperature margins and 8 to 13 percent more high-altitude power output than the -66 engines they replace. They are able to produce takeoff power to ISA+49°C, a 7°C improvement over the predecessor engines that powered the Avanti I.
Precise Flight Inc. is offering the OxyArm Cannula, a headset-mounted boom cannula for use with the company's A5 Flow Meter. The OxyArm is adaptable to all over-ear headsets, including Bose models, and uses ball stud mounting, which adhesively mounts to the headset and allows the cannula to be revoked completely or swung out of the way when not in use. It is light weight, efficient and contains a replaceable anti-microbial tip. Price: $99 and up per unit Precise Flight Inc. 63354 Powell Butte Rd. Bend, OR 97701
The Avanti II's front office is equipped with a full complement of Rockwell Collins avionics, featuring three, eight-by-10-inch, portrait configuration adaptive flight displays, a glareshield flight guidance control panel, a console-mounted FMS 3000 CDU with radio tuning function and a panel-mounted radio tuning unit. The MFD has an engine instrument display feature, but no crew alerting function or systems schematics. The Avanti II retains the original aircraft's 28 annunciator light panel.
David Esler's "Should You Put Your Jet Up for Charter?" (June, page 44) read like an FAR Part 135 charter brochure. The experts refer to raising the safety bar under Part 135 when in truth the accident rate for a Part 135 operation per NBAA is nearly nine times worse than for a Part 91 operation. Turnover in the cockpit rises, taking with it your highly experienced and qualified crew to be replaced by a less experienced crew who now lives on 24-hour call.
The Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis process for creating liquid hydrocarbons from coal, natural gas or biomass was developed at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Germany in the 1920s by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch.
IN THE MID-1980S, NASA thought it would be profitable to strap a working journalist into the space shuttle and blast him or her into the great void to report the experience to a public weary of the less-than-compelling fare typically served up by real astronauts. This spaceman-scribe would speak with authority, but in man-on-the-street vernacular.
The Gulfstream G150 has been awarded EASA certification, making it eligible for registration in European Union member states. The G150 is also the first Gulfstream aircraft to attain FAA Stage 4 noise requirements set by ICAO.
Quest Aircraft Co. received FAA type certification of its Kodiak aircraft on July 18, 32 months after the first flight of the prototype and two and a half months after first flight of the first fully conforming aircraft. TC A00007SE for the clean-sheet design includes single-pilot day and night VFR and IFR operations. The Kodiak prototype has logged over 1,000 hours of flight time and s.n. 001, the first fully conforming production aircraft, has flown several hundred hours since entering flight test.
For a manufacturer near terminal condition not all that long ago, Embraer has made a stunning comeback. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company was confronting a triple-pronged crisis: market failure of its CBA-123 twin-pusher turboprop; world oil supply constraints; and the inability of the Brazilian government, its owner, to pay its debts. After the government privatized it in 1994, the company kept issuing pink slips by the gross so that its total employment fell to 3,200 in 1997.
I don't want to rain on Vern Raburn's parade, but the concept of a low-cost, single-engine turbofan, V-tail personal jet is hardly new; my introduction to the idea began when an errant copy of none other than B&CA mysteriously arrived in my mailbox one day in 2003.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame has presented the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award to Russia, Ohio, high school teacher, Marcus Petitjean. He was selected for his experiential approach to engaging students in the application of math and science combined with industrial art, and eventually flying skills, through re-creating the achievements of the Wright brothers.
