Honda Aircraft Co. is about to begin construction of a new headquarters facility and hangar at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTI) in Greensboro, N.C. Michimasa Fujino, president and chief executive of Honda Aircraft, unveiled the building plan in February and said his company will also build a manufacturing plant for the HondaJet at PTI, but that the size, timetable and costs are still being developed. Honda Aircraft intends to invest $40 million in the new facility and another $20 million in equipment.
The S-76C upgrade process has accumulated its allotted two "+" symbols, which means it's time to move on to the D. The new model was duly announced at the Helicopter Association International Heli Expo in early 2005 and orders are being taken now. Sometime in late 2008 or early 2009 the newest version of this 30-year-old design will emerge with a pair of new Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210S engines, marking yet another propulsion change in a decades-long dance that partnered first with Allison, then Pratt, then Turbomeca and now back to Pratt.
A Cessna CitationJet 525 operated by Sunquest Executive Air Charter collided with terrain in Van Nuys, Calif. Both pilots died and the airplane was destroyed. Linemen added 190 gallons of fuel in each wing before the flight. One of the linemen observed the copilot preflight the airplane and load bags into the left front baggage compartment. He noted that the copilot pulled the front left baggage door down with one hand, but did not see him latch or lock it.
Saudi Arabia-based Wallan Aviation's new Cessna Service Center is due to open late this month or early March, at Thumama Airport, 14 miles Northeast of Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport. "We will begin with Part 145 approval, then receive our Cessna license. We will start with Citation 500s, 525s, 550s, 560s, 650s and 680s, and later offer full servicing for the Citation X," said CEO Capt. Saad Wallan. The company has also ordered five Citation Mustangs for delivery from 2008, one of which is a firm sale to a Middle Eastern client.
A malfunction of the primary radar at Chicago O'Hare Airport caused major delays on Dec. 15, 2006, and the controllers union said the outage highlights the need for backup radar at the airport. The primary ASR-9 radar first went down at 3:30 a.m.due to a defective switch, the FAA said. The radar was brought back on line at about 9 a.m., but it failed again 35 minutes later. Technicians had the radar operating and stable by 11:30 a.m. While the O'Hare radar was down, approach controllers used data from another ASR-9 radar at nearby Tinley Park.
The University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation and Robeson Community College are teaming up to build a new flight training facility in Lumberton, N.C. The university is partnering with the college to provide training resources to meet the growing demand for commercial pilots, airport managers and air traffic controllers. The Lumberton Flight Training Center will offer four-year courses in commercial aviation, flight education, aviation management and air traffic control. Construction is scheduled to be completed in May.
There's a lot of lip service paid today to "Voice of the Customer" feedback initiatives, but in the business aviation community most traditional, industry-wide customer satisfaction surveys have been limited in scope and reach, plus they're comparatively unscientific in design and execution. Some are pure popularity contests sponsored by trade publications, simply intended to spur candidate companies to buy advertisements to sway or encourage votes. Others are so small in size that the probability of error increases to statistically irrelevant levels.
The FAA is expected to rescind and revise a Dec. 5, 2006, notice that would require approval from FAA headquarters any time a turbine-powered aircraft is added to any FAR Part 135 certificate or any time an air ambulance airplane (either turbine or piston) is added to a Part 135 certificate. The notice noted that many operators "may have franchised, leased or otherwise rented their authority to conduct operations to non-certificated entities.
B&CA summarized the major complaints about fractional ownership arising in this report into six points and asked the industry's leaders -- NetJets, Flight Options, Flexjet and CitationShares -- to respond to them. NetJets CEO and founder Richard Santulli, generally recognized as the progenitor of the fractional ownership concept, spoke for his company. CitationShares had not responded by the time we went to press. Complaint 1:
Corporate Angel Network, the national non-profit organization that provides free air transportation for cancer patients by using empty seats on corporate and fractional aircraft, announced that fractional provider Flight Options donated 10 hours of fractional jet flight time to CAN on behalf of its fractional owners for the sixth year in a row. "We are pleased to have provided CAN this gift on behalf of our owners. These hours will be used to fly the most critical in need or they can be auctioned off through charity to raise funds for those in need.
Fletcher Aldredge, publisher of the Vref Aircraft Value Reference, the publication that tracks used aircraft prices, recently asked the question that everyone involved in the buying and selling of previously owned turbine airplanes wants answered: "When will the bubble burst?"
-Bombardier Challenger 604 airplanes -- Install a new horizontal stabilizer trim control unit. -Pilatus PC-12 airplanes -- For aircraft outfitted with certain DeCrane seats, replace the pedestal legs. -TBM 700 airplanes -- Two directives: (1) Check for misalignment of the master cylinder yokes from their threaded pins. If a defective yoke is found, replace it prior to further flight with a new one; (2) Within the next 50 hours of time in service, check the control cables and replace any defective ones found.
First Look: CJ4 - The Triumph of a Sure Thing SATSair, a Growing Air-Taxi Network Assessments by the Formerly Fractionalized Onboard Oxygen Systems J.D. Power - B&CA Business Aviation Survey
Twinjet Aircraft of London-Luton achieved $80 million worth of business jet sales in the past 12 months, including a VIP Boeing 737-200; the company's own VIP Airbus A319 CJ, which was sold to National Air Services and re-registered in Saudi Arabia; a Challenger 604; and a Hawker 800XP. It also acquired a Challenger 604 for a customer.
Sir Richard Branson isn't the first in aviation to take up the cause of climate change. Several coalitions, listed below, within the aviation community are seeking reasonable ways for aviation to stay climate friendly. They promote environmental awareness within the industry; educate the public and government about aviation's environmental performance; establish and promote best practices; and coordinate government/industry aviation infrastructure improvements in environmentally responsible ways. -Greener By Design www.greenerbydesign.org.uk
Blue Origin, the company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, released video and stills, as part of a recruiting pitch on its Web site, of a successful flight of a vertical launch/vertical descent test rocket at his 165,000-acre test range in Texas in front of company families and friends. The flight took place Nov. 13, 2006, but the news only recently came to light. The program, intended to take a small number of astronauts on a sub-orbital space journey, is dubbed Good Shepard. For more background on the program, visit its Web site at www.blueorigin.com.
Data network communications between the TSA and airports could work much faster under a pilot program to test technology that uses existing facility electrical wiring as the physical path for data communications. "The TSA has not yet committed to use any power line communications providers, but is currently testing technology provided by Telkonet," said spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. The TSA is looking for a way to produce a rapidly deployed, cost-effective communications infrastructure at security locations, said Kudwa.
In its 75-year history, few innovations in business aviation have had the impact of fractional ownership, and today those programs account for as much as 20 percent of new turbine-powered aircraft deliveries. But after two decades of existence, is the fractional model becoming a victim of its own success?
Mike Doiron (Moncton Flight College, Dieppe, N.B., Canada)
I just finished reading "Aftermath," your January Viewpoint (page 7). I couldn't agree with you more. However, one item that is missing from the puzzle is the following insight that I've gained in over 30 years of working for the industry and the regulator. When we screw up in the cockpit or on the hangar floor, there is a cultural bias to look over our shoulder and if we didn't break anything and nobody noticed, we move on. Why? Because we know all things being equal, if we report on ourselves, we'll probably create a lot of grief. That tends to be the general scenario.
Garmin has acquired a leading provider of ultra-low-power, low-cost wireless connectivity solutions. Dynastream Innovations Inc. is located in Cochrane, Alberta, and employs approximately 50 people including over 25 engineers and scientists. The Canadian firm is also a leader in the field of personal monitoring technology - such as foot pods and heart-rate monitors for sports and fitness products. Both the foot pod and heart-rate sensor use the ANT ultra-low-power wireless interface protocol invented by Dynastream.
Kaballit Nunaat is thawing quickly. The ice mass of the world's largest island -- a.k.a. Greenland -- is melting at a rate of 41 cubic miles per year. Using a technique that reveals regional changes in the weight of the massive ice sheet across the entire landmass, NASA scientists report that Greenland's low coastal regions lost 155 gigatons of ice per year between 2003 and 2005 from excess melting and icebergs, while the high-elevation interior gained 54 gigatons annually from excess snowfall.
Citing the expected continued growth in corporate profits, a new report on the business jet industry published in December by analysts at financial services company JPMorgan predicts that the market for corporate jets could remain robust for up to two more years.
EVERY YEAR IT PLAYS out the exact same way. The unflagging optimist, I plan a reasonable mid-morning getaway for the Christmas reunion, but my ETA is viewed as a quaint suggestion at best and is mostly ignored as searches are conducted for lost things; fraternal disputes erupt loudly, subside and then flare nosily again; packages get wrapped and ribboned; bags get stuffed; and the dog is shuffled off to the pet motel. And finally, finally, we leave.
