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.
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."
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.
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.
EMTEQ has introduced its PFLX140-500 coaxial cable, which the company claims is the aviation industry's lightest 50-ohm single-conductor, double-shielded coax. At 0.140 inches in diameter and weighing only 1.28 pounds per 100 feet, the cable is flexible enough to tie in a loose knot. With an outer shield of aircraft grade polyethylene, the new PFLX140-500 offers more than 90 dB shielding effectiveness, produces low smoke and no halogen, and is resistant to Skydrol and other hydraulic fluids.
I agree completely. That is exactly why the medical oxygen supplier requires a note from the passenger's physician. Since the doctor is required to prescribe the flow rate (to calculate sufficient quantities for the trip), it is assumed the doctor has evaluated the passenger's suitability for travel.
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.
Jet Aviation Basel delivered a "VVIP" Airbus 320-200 it completed for Saad Group in Saudi Arabia. Saad Group also awarded a contract to Jet Aviation Basel to complete a 340-600. The second aircraft is scheduled to arrive at the Basel completion center in April 2008 and be delivered in mid-2009. Francis Munch of Studio E/Motion designed the A320-200's interior, which took 10 months to complete. It includes an executive seating area, two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a combined conference/dining area and first-class seating in the rear.
Hartzell Propeller Inc. has received an STC to install a newly designed, three-blade propeller system on Beech 58, 58A and G58 Barons that are factory equipped with TCM IO-520 and IO-550 engines. The 75-inch diameter, full-feathering propellers are highly swept and provide a distinctive appearance for the Baron. The design improves the cruise performance of the aircraft without sacrificing takeoff or climb performance, according to the company. The reduced diameter also gives the aircraft increased ground clearance and lower noise.
ExcelAire has launched a new "road show" planning service to provide specialized aircraft and support services for executives who need to make multiple presentations in different cities on tight schedules. Headquartered in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., ExcelAire said its planners can arrange and coordinate logistics planning, catering, ground transportation, hotels and more.
urbine business aircraft, excluding converted military fighter/trainers and experimental test flights, was 58 accidents, 17 of which were fatal and 193 passenger and crew fatalities during 2006. -The business jet fleet experienced 25 accidents in 2006, four of which were fatal with fatalities totaling 162 (including 154 passengers and crew of a B737 airliner that collided with a U.S.-registered Embraer business jet in Brazil). In 2005, the fleet experienced 24 accidents, three of them fatal with the loss of 12 lives.
What do you do when a customer (or worse, the chairman's mother) shows up at the airplane with her little caddy full of the local pharmacy's medical oxygen and three refills for the flight across country? It's a multiple choice question, really, so here are your options: (a) Deny boarding. (b) Ship the O2 separately as Dangerous Goods and hope she survives without the oxygen. (c) Say, "Welcome aboard, ma'am," and seat her with her oxygen. (d) Either (a) or (b) is technically and legally correct.
Aeronautical Accessories Inc., the Bristol, Tenn.-based affiliate of Bell Helicopter, has received an STC for its Hi-Visibility modification of the Bell 407 passenger and litter doors. The kit -- which includes two high-visibility passenger doors, one high-visibility litter door and one high-visibility fixed-panel window -- costs $25,000. Turn time for performing the retrofit is between two and three weeks.
The FAA's plans to increase controller hiring are under threat from congressional foot-dragging on fiscal 2007 spending bills. Democratic leaders have proposed extending fiscal 2006 funding levels through the end of the current fiscal year for most non-defense departments.
BIG TIMBER IS A SMALL TOWN with a big view of the magnificent natural formations that give Montana its name. To the west tower the Crazy Mountain peaks rising 11,000 feet; to the east, the plains go on and on. Big Sky Country. And on Saturday, June 24, 2006, the weather was VMC, inviting conditions for some afternoon air work in that endless expanse.
Thank you for your comments and be assured, I agree with you about the hazardous attitudes. A non-punitive environment where safety issues can be discussed is always the best approach.
The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) working on America's next-generation air transportation system (NGATS) is conducting an analysis to determine what impact the NASA aeronautics directorate's shift toward fundamental research and away from demonstration projects may have on NGATS development. "This raises the question of what entity will do the developmental work that will be important to NGATS," the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a recent report.
CAE received a contract from Flight Simulation Co. to provide two Airbus A320 and two Boeing 737NG Level D flight simulators. The contract also calls for a used Dornier 328Jet simulator. CAE valued the contract at $52 million (Canadian).
The FAA released a new ETOPS rule that effectively changes current limitations and opens up routes for twin-engine passenger airplanes by setting uniform standards for all multiengine commercial aircraft when they fly "extended operations" routes - more than three hours from an airport. Regulators said the final rule would govern the design, maintenance and operation of airplanes and engines for long-distance flights and extend some requirements that previously only applied to twin-engine airplanes to those with more than two engines.
