For less than $2 million, you can buy an early 1990s CitationJet that carries a pilot and two to three passengers up to 1,400 miles in four hours flat. These aircraft are holding their values well in the resale market because they're reliable, easy to fly and relatively inexpensive to maintain. Cessna delivered 359 units between 1993 and 1999. In 2000, it replaced the CJ with the CJ1.
In a new alliance between FlightSafety International and Garmin International, the former will become the preferred online trainer for Garmin's panel-mounted avionics products. Initially, training will center on the G1000 system installed in increasing numbers of single- and twin-engine airplanes, not to mention light jets.
Aviation industry and White House officials objected to the House passage of a bill, H.R.1, that calls for implementing a number of the 9/11 Commission recommendations, including a mandate for screening of all air cargo aboard passenger aircraft. The House passed the bill 299 to 128 as part of the Democrats' "First 100 Hours" pledge. The bill would require that 35 percent of cargo carried on passenger aircraft be screened this year, 65 percent in fiscal 2008 and 100 percent by the end of fiscal 2009.
Brazil's aeronautical and civil aviation regulators, buoyed by the success of the emergency air traffic control plan implemented over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, plan to recycle the plan to avoid flight cancellations and delays during the upcoming Carnival holiday. Carnival Week, Feb. 15-20, traditionally generates the year's heaviest air traffic. As part of the plan, the agencies will monitor flight and airport operations airline schedules and reservations, and will also take stock of the number and condition of aircraft on standby to avoid cancellations.
Thank you for "The Pilot Mechanic," December 2006, page 44. It's nice to see an article that pays respect and shows the value of a nearly invisible minority. I'm proud to be one of the few. Thanks again for the excellent article.
(Hounslow, Middlesex, United Kingdom) -- Giles Latchford has been appointed head of aviation for this financing company. Latchford will be responsible for expanding the firm's financing business for light aircraft, helicopters and business jets. He has more than 11 years of aviation experience, including establishing and running a commercial aircraft leasing company that specialized in regional jets.
A final rule released by the EPA exempts airport fuel trucks from onerous spill prevention requirements and clears up some other concerns with the 2002 Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) regulations. The rule also extends the operator compliance deadline for SPCC plans until July 1, 2009. "From all signs, [the EPA] has done almost everything we asked them to do," said Eric Byer, NATA vice president of government and industry affairs.
-Raytheon 1900 airplanes -- Conduct repetitive inspections of the forward, vertical and aft flanges of both the left and right wing rear spar lower caps for cracks. Repair any cracks found, and report the inspection results to Raytheon. -Hartzell and McCauley propellers -- For propellers serviced by Oxford Aviation Services Limited (CSE Aviation) in the United Kingdom between September 1998 and October 2003, inspect the propeller blades and other critical propeller parts for wear and mechanical damage.
I just read Kent Jackson's December 2006 Point of Law ("Pilots with Wrenches," page 88). His points are very good, but I have a question that deals with some of the more current helicopters. Many newer four-blade helicopters have a blade-folding system that consists of an expandable bolt that can be removed and the blade can be folded next to the other. Of course the blade can be moved back into place and the expandable bolt reinstalled and secured with a safety latch. Can this be done by the pilot?
A Frontier A319 passed within 50 feet of another aircraft while executing a missed approach at Denver Airport on Jan. 5. The Frontier aircraft had broken out of cloud on approach when the crew sighted a Key Lime Air Swearingen Metroliner on the runway.
The Arabian Horse Association organizes its show competitions along the lines of traditional riding styles that are typical of most breed associations. So Kevin Hendrickson's 19-year-old daughter Stephanie could compete in hunter or Western and ride English or Western saddle along with the rider garb typical of either one. Instead, Stephanie competes in both. And wins.
AmSafe Aviation, the Phoenix-based maker of restraint products, hopes to win certification in March of a safety belt with an integrated inflatable airbag for use in the Pilatus PC-12. The first application will be for a military customer, but the system is expected to be used by general aviation operators as well.
The business aviation editors at AVIATION WEEK, of which B&CA is a proud member, have begun a new blog for the community on a revamped and renamed website -- www.aviationweek.com. The blog, Business Aviation Now, is dedicated to business aviation in all its forms.
Landmark Aviation has received an STC for the installation of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 integrated display system (IDS) in a Dassault Falcon 50. Gary Bosemer, avionics and airframe sales manager for Landmark Aviation, said, "This system integrates additional information on the flight deck in large-format, flat-panel displays that offer numerous operational enhancements, such as graphical weather, electronic charts and maps, and flight management system overlays."
Just before the NBAA's 2006 convention in Orlando, Cessna Aircraft introduced the CJ4, the fourth and newest member of its Citation CJ family. Although Cessna personnel were all-smiles, the announcement elicited yawns from many industry technocrats and harrumphs from those of the faster-higher-farther philosophy of aviation. After all, to them what was being unveiled was just the sequel to the sequel to the sequel. The aeronautical equivalent of double vanilla.
Bombardier Aerospace has signed up to a three-year, $66.6 million, U.K.-government research program, aimed at validating future composite wing construction. The Integrated Wing program brings together 17 U.K. organizations to develop a large-scale physical demonstrator. Bombardier will be focusing on developing composite technologies, simulation modeling, materials selection and manufacturing processes.
San Antonio-based M7 Aerospace has introduced a new potable water system for Gulfstream IIIs. The STCed unit replaces earlier potable water systems, which the company says are prone to leakage and other service problems. The M7 system replaces a bleed-air pressurized water tank with a new, non-pressurized, 20-gallon tank to provide hot and cold running potable water in the aircraft's galley and lavatory. The new system also provides water flow from an on-demand electric pump and includes a new water quantity indicating system.
In Madrid, Bombardier Aerospace received the Batefuegos de Oro Award presented by the Asociación para la Promoción de Actividades Socioculturales (APAS) for "Greatest Technological Advancement in Firefighting." The following text was read as part of the presentation (translated from the Spanish): "In the 1960s the company designed the amphibious aircraft Canadair CL-215, which has evolved in the '90s into the CL-215T and later into the Bombardier 415.
Viacom/Paramount Pictures Corporate Aviation, Morristown, N.J., announced that Ray Angwin has been promoted to director of flight crews and chief pilot.
I found Robert Searles' October 2006 Reflections about Major League baseball teams utilizing aircraft interesting ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game," page 70). Fred Zollner, one of the founders of the National Basketball Association after World War II, was the first to use aircraft for flying his basketball team, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. They moved to Detroit and became the Detroit Pistons. In the late 1940s, Fred had a DC-3, which he kept at Baer Field (FWA), the Fort Wayne Municipal Airport.
Indonesia has launched the trial phase of its new archipelago-wide airspace surveillance system with the deployment of three Thales ADS-B ground receivers - at Denpasar in Bali, Kupang in Nusa Tenggara Timur, and Natuna Island in the South China Sea -- linked by SITA communications systems and surveillance processors to Indonesia's control centers in Jakarta and Makassar. AirServices Australia provides project and technical support and remote monitoring capability. Indonesia's director general of civil aviation, Iksan Tatang, announced the trial in Jakarta.
The smoke plume on the east side of Los Angeles on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 1986, was clearly visible from the balcony of our apartment adjacent to LAX. The local news was reporting that an airliner had crashed into the suburb of Cerritos. My roommates, all Los Angeles-based pilots from a half dozen airlines, stood on the balcony watching that sick black plume rise. No one said the obvious, that the dark column marked the place of death for many.
US Helicopter Corp. started Sikorsky S-76 shuttle service between Manhattan and Continental Airlines' Newark, N.J., hub on Dec. 18, 2006. The company also operates a shuttle between Manhattan and American Airlines' terminal at New York's JFK. US Helicopter customers can check in, receive boarding passes for US Helicopter and Continental Airlines departing Newark, or American flights departing JFK, and complete security screening at the Manhattan heliport near Wall Street. Bags checked at the heliport will be through-checked to the passenger's final destination.
The FAA recently sent a revised funding proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review that is said to contain a host of new fees on aviation users as well as substantial increases in taxes, the Weekly of Business Aviation reported. The proposal is believed to call for more than tripling the jet fuel and aviation gasoline taxes as well as establishing new fees for operating in large hub terminal airspace. The FAA further is believed to be seeking peak-hour pricing authority for fees in the hub terminal airspace.
