KUDOS TO THE National Air Transportation Association and its leaders for their decision to establish the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF). Officially launched at the end of June at an NATA Safety Summit, the ACSF is a great example of a trade association stepping up to change the status quo and seek a demonstrable improvement in safety for its members.
The NBAA recently announced that it will offer its Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) exam in a computer-based test (CBT) format, which will provide CAM candidates with greater flexibility, convenience and accessibility. Schroeder Management Technologies (SMT) will provide testing centers at 250 locations throughout the United States with the first testing window set for January 2008. The traditional paper exam will still be offered three times a year. In preparation for a CAM designation, individuals must meet specified qualifications and pass the CAM examination.
Turbomeca Canada has been certified to repair and overhaul hydromechanical control units for the Arriel 2 turboshaft engine -- the final step in the process of certifying the maintenance, repair and overhaul facility to work on both the Arriel 1 and 2 powerplants, including line-replaceable units. The plant, which opened in 2003, also serves as a support site for the Arrius 2 engine.
I read your Viewpoint in the June issue (page 7). I did not know of Dave Ewald's passing and was saddened but appreciative of knowing. My friendship with Dave went way back to HPN in the early 1970s, when he brought B&CA to our FBO. The good old days! Your column helped bring back many fond memories of Ewald, and his band of merry men (Gary Worden and Bob Fyan, among them). I thank you for digging up those great memories, and giving a great guy very well deserved recognition.
Serengeti Aviator sunglasses have been called the most scientifically advanced sunglasses in the world. Their patented Spectral Control filters fine tune the full spectrum of light, selectively blocking and filtering each wavelength. The system is a dynamic, ever-adapting "smart" lens technology that works with your eyes to provide the ultimate in comfort and clarity in any situation. Unlike other colors, blue light rays cross in front of the retina causing "blue blur." Serengeti lenses eliminate this problem by blocking and filtering 95 percent of blue light.
The FAA plans to assemble an industry-based rulemaking group to develop recommendations for addressing safe runway landing distance margins, James Ballough, director of the FAA's Flight Standards Service, said at the National Air Transportation Association's recent Air Charter Summit. The runway landing distance issue got a lot of attention after the Southwest Airlines runway overrun at Midway Airport in December 2005 in which a Boeing 737 slid off a snowy runway and struck two vehicles on a nearby road, killing a six-year-old child.
The NBAA decried the "airline lobbyists' finger-pointing on delays" after the Air Transport Association called for the FAA to impose further ground delay programs at Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey to create more capacity in New York area airspace. In July, the ATA asked the FAA to temporarily create additional capacity "by imposing proportional level ground delay programs at TEB and other nearby airports" when ground delay programs are in place at Newark Liberty , La Guardia and JFK International airports.
People have dreamt of flying for hundreds of years. For some the desire to fly extends above and beyond the occasional business or pleasure trip to a full-blown career in aviation. Some pilots receive their training in the military, but many others attend private flight schools. Achieving the required number of flight hours can be pricey, but for those who dream of flying it is worth it.
You can rail against the imposition of new environment-friendly standards on aviation. You can make a case that aviation is not a bad guy when it comes to climate change. But the debate has already begun and ignoring the discussion will not make it, or the consequences, disappear. If the aviation community isn't engaged in what's happening on this front, you can be sure the outcome will be ugly and painful.
(Dorval, Quebec, Canada) -- Tony Caruso has been named a regional sales manager for this company's aircraft sales division. He is responsible for marketing Cessna business jets in eastern Canada. A 20-year industry veteran, Caruso most recently served as an account manager with EMS SATCOM.
Western Aircraft, Inc. - the FBO, aircraft sales and maintenance provider in Boise, Idaho -- has been sold to Berkley Aviation Investors, Inc. Closing of the deal, details of which were not released, is expected this month. The acquisition will be the second this year for Berkley, which purchased Atlantic Aero Holdings and the Atlantic Aero FBO in Greensboro, N.C. in February. Western has the largest presence on the Boise airport, with five large hangars and office space.
FlightSafety International will install Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics in a Dassault Falcon 50 full-motion simulator scheduled to be operational by December. Some 25 Falcon 50s have been retrofitted with Pro Line 21.
The flight crew of a Cessna Citation II 550 that crashed into Lake Michigan in June began having control problems shortly after takeoff, according to the NTSB. The aircraft, with two pilots, had taken off from Milwaukee's Mitchell Field (MKE) carrying a four-member medical team and harvested human organs that were to be implanted in a patient in Michigan. All six people aboard were killed when the airplane, which was attempting to return to MKE, crashed into 60 feet of water at about 1610 CDT on June 4.
Air Partner has signed an 80-year lease with Biggin Hill Airport for a new 115,000-square-foot site where it will develop a new high-security private jet enclave, at a cost of $10 million, the nearest such facility to the city of London. The company is a leading provider of private aviation services worldwide. Work has started on two state-of-the-art aircraft management and maintenance hangars.
Researchers probing possible changes in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of global warming have a new source of data. NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft has returned its first images of noctilucent clouds, wispy accumulations of what are believed to be ice crystals that form in summer at altitudes of about 50 miles over the polar regions. As seen in this image from the 440-pound spacecraft, the clouds (white and light blue) range across the pole.
Corporate Angel Network added the top executives of two more business jet manufacturers to its board of directors: Jack J. Pelton, chairman, president and CEO of Cessna Aircraft Co., and John G. Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. Jim Schuster, chairman and CEO of Hawker Beechcraft Corp., joined the CAN board earlier.
Aviation industry lobbyists have been hearing that FAA Administrator Marion Blakey would leave the agency Sept. 13 when her five-year term expires and that she was looking forward to stepping away from the high-pressure post. But at a July Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) praised Blakey and asked if she would consider staying on at the FAA after Sept. 13 to help ensure that new FAA reauthorization gets enacted into law.
Saraya Private Aviation has ordered six Piaggio P180 Avanti IIs to be delivered in 2008 and 2009 for private charter and air taxi operations across the Middle East and Northern Africa. Saraya, founded in 2005, is part of a real estate development company specializing in the travel and tourism industries.
Cessna announced at the Paris Air Show that NetJets -- Cessna's largest Citation customer -- had ordered another 96 Citations. The order includes 50 Encore+, 37 XLS+ and nine Citation X aircraft and totals more than $1 billion. Cessna Chairman, President and CEO Jack Pelton said his company had delivered 340 Citations to the fractional operator over the past 21 years.
(Hillsboro, Ore.) -- Phil Bridge has joined the helicopter sales and service company's sales team, which markets new Bell helicopters in the Western United States and used rotorcraft worldwide. Bridge has sales experience in the aviation, automotive and commercial real estate industries.
The Worldwide Campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has teamed with New Zealand-based Aviation English Services (AES) to provide the industry with aviation English training solutions to address ICAO's new requirements, which identify English as the official, recognized language of aviation.
Waterbury-Oxford (Conn.) Airport FBO Key Air hosted an invitation-only Jet Day event co-sponsored by Porsche and Airport Journals on June 21. Airframe manufacturers brought their aircraft to OXC, and Porsche brought a lineup of cars for the 1,000 attendees to drive. Among the exhibitors were FlightSafety International, AvFuel and Virgin Galactic (which actually sold a few seats on future suborbital rocket rides).
GKN Aerospace has been selected to manufacture the HondaJet fuselage barrel in Alabama, says GKN's CEO Marcus Bryson. The wings are to be built by Avcorp Industries, Garmin will supply the avionics and final assembly will be at Honda's plant, now under construction at Greensboro, N.C. First HondaJet deliveries are scheduled for 2010.
Virgin USA, the North American headquarters of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, is starting Virgin Charter, a new online marketplace that brings convenience and efficiency to private aviation, according to the company. It is a full-service marketplace that brings together buyers who want to book private air travel with safety-rated charter operators.
