AirShares Elite has launched a new program, Cirrus2, which will enable Cirrus owners to buy 25-hour annual shares in a Cirrus SR22 and have access to the AirShares Elite nationwide fleet of more than 50 aircraft. Cirrus2 owners also will qualify for the AirShares Elite training program, which includes the FAA-approved FITS training syllabus, IS-BAO based Safety Management System and mission-specific training.
Jet Source completed the second of four American Eurocopter AS350B-3 helicopters for the San Diego Police Department. The helicopter is now equipped with a law enforcement package that includes a thermal imaging system for night-vision-goggle capability, Avalex Moving Map and custom designed radio command suite. The installation included a custom panel, console and racks.
AirCell, Louisville, Colo., named Robin Salem its new senior vice president for Strategy and Business Development. He will be based at the company's new Itasca, Ill., facility.
CULTURES DIFFERENT THAN your own are usually encountered on a long-haul flight, far from home. The destination provides an opportunity to temporarily sample new people, food, ideas, sights, sounds and smells. Occasionally, a different culture crosses your path in the form of a crewmember or passenger with a passport and life story unlike yours. This, too, provides a fleeting insight into another way of living.
The FAA recently certified the AirCell Axxess Two-channel Expansion Transceiver, thereby giving customers two additional channels of Iridium satellite service and the opportunity to double the number of simultaneous functions that passengers and crews can conduct. In addition to worldwide voice service, AirCell Axxess can be used for fax service and other narrowband data applications including Rockwell Collins' Airshow and Universal Avionics' UniLink services. The new Expansion Transceiver can be included as part of an initial installation or added later.
Stevens Aviation, one of the Southeast's biggest aircraft sales and service organizations, has rededicated its Greenville, S.C., facility after a multi-million-dollar refurbishment and upgrade. These changes made at GSP have created an additional 30,000 square feet of hangar space for the company's turboprop service center, which is a Raytheon Aircraft authorized facility.
Executive Jet Management (EJM) has added a Falcon 2000 and a Falcon 50 to its charter fleet. The Falcon 2000 is based at Palm Beach International Airport, while the Falcon 50 is based at Northeast Philadelphia Airport. EJM manages aircraft in more than 60 locations through the country.
Sterling Aviation, based at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport, has added a Hawker 800XP, Citation Excel, Beechjet 400A and Pilatus PC-12 turboprop to its Part 135 charter certificate, raising the total number of Sterling's fleet to 13 aircraft.
Elliott Aviation, the Moline, Illinois-based aircraft sales and service company, has earned certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to offer its King Air RVSM solution to European-registered aircraft. The EASA approval covers all King Air B200, 300 and 350 aircraft with existing Collins APS-65/H/J, Honeywell/Sperry SPZ-4000 and Bendix/King KFC-400 autopilots.
Garmin (Europe) Ltd., a unit of Garmin Ltd., introduced the GTSX 328 Mode S transponder to meet the European regulation for Mode S implementation for VFR aircraft by March 31, 2008. The new unit is intended to serve VFR/Class 2 aircraft where there is adequate size and power consumption support for a GTX 328. It is designed to be a straightforward retrofit and maintains many of the STX 330 features such as OAT, altitude monitoring, count-up and countdown timers, density altitude functions, and front-panel input for flight ID.
JUST OVER A YEAR AGO we opined in this space that the TSA should add Dulles International Airport to the list of approved gateway airports corporate operators could pass through en route to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (B&CA, February 2006, page 81). Guess what? It's happened -- the TSA recently approved IAD as a DCA gateway airport. The pessimists might ask, "What difference is one more DCA gateway going to make?"
AIRCRAFT REPORTS Bombardier Introduces Challenger 605 Fred George Jan., p. 34 Hello, Hawker 850 Fred George Jan., p. 38 What's Wrong With the MU-2 Fred George Feb,. p. 40 Must Helicopters Be So Noisy? Fred George Feb., p. 68 First Look: Learjet 60XR Fred George March, p. 34 The Turboprop, Doing Just Fine at 50 George C. Larson March, p. 52 Analysis: Citations CJ1+ and CJ2+ Fred George April, p. 34
Construction is well underway at the $33 billion Dubai World Central Airport and city complex at Jebel Ali, 25 miles south of Dubai city center. This will be the world's largest airport by area -- 140 square kilometers. The 2009 Dubai Air Show will be held here. By year-end the first of the six parallel runways opened. When complete (in around a decade) the airport will be capable of handling 120 million passengers per year, and in excess of 100,000 business jet movements at a new super FBO known as the Executive Flight Center, due to open in 2008.
Hillsboro Aviation, based in Hillsboro, Ore sold 67 new and used aircraft, including $41 million worth of new Bell helicopters last year, a record. Hillsboro said it has orders for 27 new Bell helicopters, including contracts for 13 Bell 417s. Hillsboro is the exclusive Bell Helicopter independent sales representative in 15 western states and a sales dealer for the Robinson Helicopter Co.
-General Aviation Services (Lake Zurich, Ill.) -- Brett Forrester has been elevated to sales manager at this aircraft sales firm. Forrester, who joined GAS in 1994, most recently headed the aircraft acquisitions department.
I was very offended by the comments of William Cyders in the January B&CA (Letters, page 8). In his letter he made reference that someone with 300 hours should not be allowed into airspace because said person should not be allowed to pilot an aircraft faster than 120 knots. Masking his statement under the premise that experience takes years, the real underlying reason for this comment was so that pilots like himself can have a job, because the airlines are furloughing and firing their own.
Boeing has abandoned WiFi technology for its 787 in favor of wired in-flight entertainment (IFE). The planemaker says that a wired system not only saves weight, but helps avoid regulatory complications since WiFi systems requires country-by-country approval, and that too many countries have already assigned the desired frequencies for other tasks, such as emergency services.
The AOPA reports that it has received a "few isolated cases" of maintenance shops declining to work on older airplanes. In the Jan. 5 edition of AOPA e-pilot, the organization's weekly e-mail newsletter, the association said, "It started last August when one chain of FBOs in the West told customers it would no longer work on aircraft older than 18 years. Several other shops have reportedly taken the same position."
