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.
John D. Wolf has been installed as the new chairman and CEO of Adam Aircraft after Rick Adam announced his decision to step down as head of the company he founded in 1998. Adam, who invested $26 million of his own money to establish the firm, will retain four seats on the board of directors. Adam did not specify his future plans, but has said in the past that he sees himself as an entrepreneur who likes to seek out new opportunities.
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.
CAE Systems is developing a series of Web-based maintenance training modules for Mooney M20 series, Ovation and Acclaim fleets. The new program includes the development and implementation of a learning Web portal and maintenance modules that will be designed to assist Mooney in upgrading and updating its technical support standards throughout the company's authorized service center network. The online training course, which is scheduled for release in first quarter 2008, is being designed to be self-paced, interactive and engaging for participants.
Embraer says it plans to win landing privileges for the Lineage 1000 at London City and Teterboro. The first customer aircraft is to fly to Crane in the U.S. for completion work later this year and then return to Brazil for formal customer delivery. The EMB190 derivative is priced at $42.95 million, including interior. Embraer hopes to deliver three to four aircraft annually.
Aviation Partners, which is enjoying strong demand for the Falcon winglets that the Seattle-based company introduced earlier this year, could apply its patented, range-enhancing, fuel-saving airfoil technology to as many as 20 additional types of business aircraft, including possibly some turboprops, in the future, according to company CEO Joe Clark.
Gore Design Completions, Ltd. recently welcomed the arrival of a green Airbus A320 Prestige, marking its elevation as the second Airbus-approved U.S. completions center for Airbus corporate jetliners. The Aug. 10 occasion was marked by speeches and hors d'oeuvres at Gore's 120,000-square-foot hangar at Port San Antonio, Texas, site of the former Kelly Air Force Base. Among the 350 in attendance were the mayor and a group of Airbus executives. "This is the first of many projects," said CEO Jerry Gore.
While Adam Aircraft is focused on obtaining certification for its A700 VLJ, the company also is keeping an eye on new possibilities for the product line, Wolf said. According to the new CEO, expanding the product line is one of four steps the company is concentrating on as it moves from being a development company into a "world-class producer" of aircraft.
Inmarsat First service available to aviation users; operates 10 satellites, claims over 8,000 aircraft equipped; global headquarters in London. Launch of third I-4, latest generation satellite, will complete global broadband coverage. Globalstar
The Avanti was one of the highlights of my career. The laminar flow airfoils were very clean sheet. I think they were the first of the new breed of laminar flow airfoils that demonstrated high performance at transonic speeds.
FlightSafety International, La Guardia Airport, N.Y., announced that Lowell Faulkenberry has joined FlightSafety Simulation as director, finance. Barbara Shea has joined the company as vice president, teammate resources. Stanley Jhagroo has been promoted to manager of the FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Fla.
Honeywell is developing a Multi-Function Display (MFD) for general aviation that will incorporate GPS and WAAS capability as well as a new software-based VHF communication and navigation radio. The KSN 770 system will feature a state-of-the-art graphical interface that was originally designed for Honeywell's large integrated business aircraft cockpits. The system is called INAV GA.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, testifying at recent hearings on Capitol Hill, asked House leaders to ignore some of their colleagues' calls for "modest" tweaks to the aviation funding system and instead introduce significant reforms in the tax structure. "I firmly believe a cost-based funding structure is our best chance of transforming the aviation system . . . quickly and efficiently," Blakey said.
Oberstar acknowledged that, "it's equitable for general aviation users to pay somewhat more than they are currently paying." The T&I Committee recommended that the jet fuel tax increase from 21.8 cents per gallon to 30.7 cents and the avgas tax increase from 19.3 cents per gallon to 24.1 cents. "While I believe general aviation should pay somewhat more, I do not believe that the airlines should pay less than what they are now paying," Oberstar said.
Eighty members of Pentastar Aviation's maintenance and avionics team have been awarded the FAA's Aviation Maintenance Technician Award in addition to two corporate awards.
Aero Toy Store -- the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based aircraft sales company -- has been named the exclusive provider of aircraft that incorporate custom designs developed by a unit of Pininfarina, the Italian firm renowned for its work with classic motorcars such as Ferrari and Maserati.
NetJets Europe is to retrofit its Falcon 2000EX EASy fleet with blended winglets at a total cost of $4.4 million. The Aviation Partners high-Mach winglets will upgrade the aircraft to the new Falcon 2000LX standard. Dassault claims a 5-percent increase in fuel efficiency at 0.80 Mach for this version, which extends the aircraft's range by 200 nm to 4,000 nm. Retrofits are scheduled to begin late this year.
In reference to the June issue of B&CA, may I call your attention to page 32, specifically Fast Five, question 5 where you asked William Voss, "Which of your aviation ratings was the hardest to acquire and which brought the most satisfaction?" In the interest of possibly avoiding confusion among B&CA readers I respectively submit that Mr. Voss did not receive his ATP certificate at age 21. The minimum age for that certificate is 23; has been dating back to well over 50 years.
June 14, 2007, was a significant day for business aircraft operators since it was then that the IRS published its long-awaited "Deductions for Entertainment Use of Business Aircraft." This 19-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) attempts to clarify the Oct. 22, 2004, changes to IRS Code Section 274.
On July 31, Bombardier delivered its 150th Challenger 300 to Flexjet, the manufacturer's fractional jet program. According to Bombardier, since the model's entry into service in 2004, the Challenger 300 jet has achieved a dispatch reliability over 99 percent.
