Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. will acquire Polish aircraft maker PZL Mielec from the Polish government. According to the company, PZL Mielec is Poland's largest fixed-wing aircraft manufacturer with approximately 1,500 employees and will be the foundation of Sikorsky's European operations. Sikorsky and the Polish government announced the contract during a ceremony in Warsaw. Under the agreement Sikorsky will acquire a 100-percent stake in the company, formally Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze (Polish Aviation Factory), which is based in the city of Mielec.
The SATSair fleet is comprised entirely of Cirrus SR-22 models acquired over a period of months from about 2004 to 2006. The aircraft is constructed using a foam core and fiberglass composite, which provide strength, corrosion protection and a smooth aerodynamic surface. The standard engine is a Teledyne Continental Motors IO-550-N rated at 310 hp driving a three-blade propeller 78 inches in diameter. SATSair did not opt for the Platinum version of the engine, which is more aggressively balanced and has matched fuel injectors.
Paula Raeburn is the executive director of the Florida Aviation Trades Association, an advocacy group for community-based aviation in the state. Raeburn had this to say about SATSair: "It is truly a company with forward vision for expanding air travel options to the Florida business community and pleasure travelers. Their successful business plan, which began in Danville, Va., has grown to serve other areas and is the ideal complement to traditional commercial air travel in Florida.
A Cessna 414 (N400CS), operated by Flight Source LLC, was destroyed with it hit terrain at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport (JST) in Johnstown, Pa. The fight was on an IFR flight plan between Morgantown Municipal-Walter L. Bill Hart Field (MGW), Morgantown, W.Va., and Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey. This was a positioning flight operated under FAR Part 91.
Airbus has delivered the first VIP A340-600 (the longest commercial aircraft in the world) to Jet Aviation, Basel, for completion. The ultra-long-range aircraft is owned by the private business group Saad Air Ltd. and will be operated by National Air Services. Both companies are based in Saudi Arabia. Airbus says that the aircraft will seat around 80 passengers and will complement Saad's A320 Prestige. According to Airbus, "Saad Air is in negotiations to double its fleet in the near future, with a wide range of aircraft types."
The December 2006 Point of Law, "Pilots With Wrenches," was great. Being an ATP with an A&P certificate, I can relate to it. I know they limit your column to only so many words but you left out a very important item:A person acting for the owner or operator must (in accordance with FAR Part 43.13) comply with the manufacturer's maintenance instructions when doing this preventative maintenance and document in the aircraft records what was done and sign those records with their pilot certificate number.
Mooney Airplane Co. intends to immediately start deliveries of its recently certified M20TN Acclaim. Replacing the Bravo, the four-seat Acclaim is powered by a 280-hp Teledyne Continental TSIO 550-G turbo-normalized engine and has a 237 KTAS cruise at its 25,000-foot service ceiling. With optional 130-gallon long-range tanks, the Acclaim has a range of up to 1,615 nm at a 200-knot cruise speed. A Garmin 1000 avionics package is standard. The aircraft's list price is $579,900.
COMPANIES BUY BUSINESS aircraft to build their markets on a national and international scale. Progressive communities support airports and the aircraft that use them in order to attract out-of-state companies to contribute to, and perhaps join, the local economy.
The TSA added Dulles International (IAD) outside Washington, D.C., and Hartford's Bradley International, in Windsor Locks, Conn. (BDL) to the list of approved gateway airports for direct access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The TSA requires that all general aviation flights depart from a gateway airport before they fly into DCA. The gateway airport is one of several general aviation requirements included in the DCA Access Security Program, which the agency established in July 2005. Bradley has a substantial amount of general aviation activity.
At 1426 EST, a Mooney M-20F collided with terrain after loss of control during a local flight over Mount Gilead, Ohio. The ATP pilot and the flight instructor were fatally injured. The flight was a VFR familiarization and training fight operating without a flight plan that originated from the Knox County Airport, Mount Vernon, Ohio, at about 1245 EST. The pilot has purchased the Mooney earlier in the month and was taking instruction for insurance purposes. Witnesses reported seeing and hearing the airplane flying from east to west prior to the accident.
The Czech Civil Aviation Authority has issued an airworthiness review certificate for the Ibis Ae270 utility aircraft, says Aero Vodochody, which designed the turboprop single in partnership with AIDC of Taiwan. The certificate, for aircraft No. 0006, clears the aircraft for type training and aerial work, permitting commercial operation to begin. EASA type certification for the Ae270 was issued in December 2005.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Cessna is continuing its evaluation of a proof-of-concept light sport aircraft, logging some 50 flight hours on its POC aircraft to evaluate aircraft characteristics. The POC first flew Oct. 13, 2006, nine months after Cessna initiated the project. Cessna also continued to test the market, displaying the aircraft during the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo held recently in Sebring, Fla. The Wichita airplane-maker said the aircraft meets company expectations but has not announced when its evaluation would be completed.
I have been a reader of your fine aviation articles for many years. Please accept my complements for Richard Aarons' excellent Cause & Circumstance in the December 2006 issue ("Winter Weather," page 82). His last two paragraphs summarized it very well.
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.
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).
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.
