Sikorsky Hawkworks Military Derivatives Completions Center will hire more than 100 aircraft assemblers, aircraft inspectors and engineers by the end of the year to support Black Hawk completions for international military sales. The new 100,000-square-foot completions facility is located at Schweizer Aircraft in Horseheads, N.Y. Specific skill sets needed include electrical hydraulics, airframe structures, final assembly, avionics checkout and flight line operations. Interested candidates may apply online at http://sikorskycareers.com.
After almost five months of reading Brazilian news articles about the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision between ExcelAir's Legacy 600 and GOL Airlines' Boeing 737, l guess l have something of my own -- and humble -- experience to write about.
The TSA has released revisions to the Twelve-Five Standard Security Program (TFSSP). The National Air Transportation Association said the changes are designed to address concerns industry had with a January 2007 version of the TFSSP. The latest revision, dated March 5, supersedes the Jan. 8 TFSSP. NATA encouraged members to visit the TSA Web Board to review the revisions.
Bombardier Aerospace is partnering with the NBAA and EBAA to sponsor Safety Standdown Europe in Geneva, Switzerland, immediately following the close of the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in that city. Patterned after Bombardier's annual North American safety standdown, the European event is free of charge to all pilots and crew regardless of what type aircraft they operate. The event will kick off with a welcome reception on the evening of May 24, followed by a full day of seminars on May 25.
Saab Avitronics, Chemring Countermeasures and Naturelink Aviation, which have teamed to develop missile protection systems for civilian aircraft, successfully demonstrated one March 14 at Overberg Testing Range near Cape Town, South Africa. For the test, Naturelink Aviation provided the Embraer 120 aircraft, Saab Avitronics the self protection system and Chemring Countermeasures the decoys.
At about 1609 Alaska standard time, a Hughes 360D sustained substantial damage while hovering in ground effect, when its tail rotor was struck by a moose during a game management operation, about one mile southwest of Gustavus Airport, Gustavus, Alaska. The chief pilot for the operator said that the helicopter was involved in a moose-tagging operating for the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game. The moose had been shot with a tranquilizer dart from the helicopter. The helicopter usually is used to block the moose to prevent them from running into water and drowning.
TAG Aviation Holding has launched TAG Aviation Australia, an aircraft management and charter company designed to serve the rapidly expanding Australian business aircraft market. The company is headquartered at Mascot, adjacent to Sydney's Kingsford Smith International Airport. The CEO of TAG Australia is Neil Gibson, former managing director of TAG Aviation U.K. Gibson has already secured an AOC (Air Operators Certificate) and is in final negotiations for the first two managed aircraft for the Australian-based TAG fleet.
In February's "Oxygen: Friend or Foe?" (page 39), the caption to the oxygen diagram says: "You should be familiar with how the system works in your airplane." This couldn't be better said. Let me tell you a true story. In the late 1980s, as an ATR instructor, I was flying as an observer onboard an ATR 42 during the "proving runs" of an American airline, bound for Marquette (UP). The FAA had planned a coordinated action between cockpit and cabin by simulating an emergency descent (of course, with the aircraft remaining at cruise level).
Specialty Aviation, Inc. has acquired AMS Appraisals & Valuations, Inc., which has begun operating under the new name SAI Valuations, LLC. AMS A&V, Inc. was a wholly owned subsidiary of Aviation Management Systems, Inc. based in Portsmouth, N.H.
Thomas E. Haueter was recently appointed head of the NTSB's Office of Aviation Safety. As an investigator-in-charge for the agency, he led some of the Safety Board's most sensitive and complex investigations, including the crash of a Boeing 737 near Pittsburgh, the crash of a commuter airliner in Georgia that killed former Sen. John Tower and 22 others, and the midair collision that claimed the life of Sen. John Heinz. He holds a commercial pilot license with multiengine and instrument ratings, and regularly flies a 1943 Stearman that he restored.
Russell Chew, who just stepped down after three-plus years as chief operating officer of the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, is going to be COO of JetBlue Airways. Chew had accepted the top operations job at Hawaiian Airlines, but changed his mind when the New York-based low-cost carrier stepped forward with its $300,000-per-year proposal. Chew's new employer urgently needs to restore at least some of its near-mythical reputation as the passengers' friend.
Children regularly travel aboard business aircraft and in an actual emergency, a delay caused by a parent waiting for someone to take his or her child could very well mean that other passengers still in the airplane may not survive. In a May 10, 2001, accident involving a Spanair McDonnell Douglas MD-83 on a runway at Liverpool, England, the evacuation was delayed because of uncertainty as to the best method for evacuating small children and infants (U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), Accident Report 4/2003 (EW/C2001/5/1) 2003) .
Embraer also continues to progress on the Phenom 300 program, completing a round of full model wind-tunnel tests at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute in Russia. Embraer said it was satisfied that the results verified projections for range, maximum speed and field performance. Further wind-tunnel tests will involve a partial wing model for evaluating of aileron control. Those tests will take place in Brazil.
Alpha Aviation, Hamilton, New Zealand, has appointed Gretchen Jahn as the new general manager, replacing Richard Sealy, who is the new deputy group managing director for Gregory Australia Ltd. Jahn was formerly CEO of both the Mooney Airplane Co. and the Mooney Aerospace Group in the United States.
Meanwhile, Embraer is investing more than $100 million in customer support initiatives, including building three new service centers in the United States and a fourth at Le Bourget airport in Paris. Embraer expects the customer support network to comprise seven wholly owned and 38 authorized service centers worldwide by the middle of 2008. The company also has signed an agreement with CAE for pilot and ground crew training.
Cessna has announced that it will increase production of its Citation X business jet over the next five years. "Orders for the Citation X have been increasing and, as a result, we will be increasing production more than 65 percent from 2006 to 2010 to meet the growing demand for this popular aircraft," said Roger Whyte, senior vice president of sales and marketing. More than 260 Citation Xs have been delivered to customers and the backlog for the aircraft extends well into 2008. The fleet has amassed almost one million flight hours over its 10-year history.
More than 500 exhibitors showcased their products and services at the recent Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo 2007 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Thirty-five helicopters were displayed throughout the showroom floor. HAI committee meetings and educational seminars were well attended, exceeding 500 registrants participating in this year's Professional Education Series. A Job Fair allowed jobseekers to meet with potential employers and discuss opportunities in the international helicopter community.
How many urban general aviation airports can make this claim? "We have room to grow, as a result of a property acquisition that was done in the late 1980s and early 1990s."
President Bush has designated Thomas J. Barrett, currently the administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), to become acting deputy secretary of the DOT. Before his appointment to head the PHMSA in 2006, Barrett was vice president and chief operating officer of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. He had a 35-year career with the U.S. Coast Guard, rising to vice commandant. In that role, Barrett was second-in-command, agency acquisition executive, and responsible for the coordination of the Coast Guard Leadership Council.
MY FIRST MEETING WITH Al Ueltschi, the founder of FlightSafety International, occurred at a Gulfstream operators' dinner in Savannah. After the hello handshake, he began to speak animatedly not about simulators or learning centers or ab initio training, but rather about a new project with which he was involved. It all centered on a derelict airplane.
The British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) has launched a voluntary carbon trading scheme for its business aircraft operators to offer to customers. The Carbon Balancing Scheme means customers will pay the operator an extra 1.5p (2.94 cents) per liter of Jet-A1 consumed to help balance CO 2 emissions. The money generated is to be passed on to the World Land Trust (WLT), a charity that invests in environmentally worthy programs in developing countries.
A Beech 95, registered to Northwest Jersey Airways, Inc., experienced an inflight loss of control and collided with the ground during takeoff from Spruce Creek Airport in Port Orange, Fla. The pilot called the UNICOM to announce that he was departing from Runway 23. A witness reported that the airplane became airborne and "yawed" to the left." It climbed out slowly with the landing gear extended, then the "left wing dropped and it went straight down." He did not hear any loud engine noises or power changes.
Von Essen Hotels has bought the freehold of the London Heliport and terminal building, together with an adjacent development site for a seven-story 70-room boutique hotel, for around $97 million. PremiAir, part of the Sir Robert McAlpine Group and England's leading business helicopter operator, will manage the Battersea Thames-side heliport in partnership with von Essen.
Fletcher Aldredge, publisher of the Vref Aircraft Value Reference and its companion Market Leader newsletter, said in the most recent edition of the latter publication that the final three months of 2006 "was another strong quarter for turboprops. Eclipses have started to deliver, and we do not detect any negative impact in the turboprop market at this time."
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is moving its international sales headquarters from Geneva, Switzerland, to its production and service facility in Chester, England -- the birthplace of the Hawker series. The Chester facility serves as the center for Hawker service and support in Europe, and is a major heavy-maintenance service facility for NetJets Europe. Meanwhile, the sale of Raytheon Aircraft to Goldman Sachs and Canada's Inex Corp. moved a step closer in March as European Union regulators gave it their blessing.
