AirCell has received EASA certification for its ST 3100 satcom system installed on a Cessna Citation Bravo. The AirCell ST 3100 system is the industry's best-selling satcom system, and is standard or optional equipment on nearly two dozen OEM aircraft programs worldwide. It operates on the Iridium Satellite System, providing pilots and passengers all-altitude, all-latitude coverage throughout the world. AirCell has EASA Part 145 approval (certificate reference number EASA.145.5595).
All flights must be stabilized by 1,000 feet above airport elevation in IMC and by 500 feet above airport elevation in VMC. An approach is stabilized when all of the following criteria are met: -The aircraft is on the correct flight path; -Only small changes in heading/pitch are required to maintain the correct flight path; -The aircraft speed is not more than VREF + 20 KIAS and not less than VREF;
Carmanah Technologies Corp. will supply 16 solar LED airfield lighting systems to the Nassau Civil Aviation Authority of the Bahamas. Carmanah valued the agreement at $2.6 million. The wireless-controlled systems will be installed on remote islands throughout the Bahamas in October and November. Many of the systems will be installed at smaller general aviation airfields that have no lighting in place.
London City Airport (LCY) is tailor-made for business aircraft travelers. That was immediately apparent as we peered from the jump seat over the shoulders of Captains Marcel Moura and Antonio Bragança while they were flying the Embraer Legacy on ILS approach Runway 10 to LCY in July, demonstrating the aircraft's steep approach capabilities.
In a ceremony at the Gulfstream Aerospace completion facility at Dallas Love Field on Aug. 14, the company's midsize G150 was declared officially in service with the transfer of a key to company president Bryan Moss. Gulfstream simultaneously released revised performance figures that increase the airplane's published range to 2,950 nm, a 250-nm increase. Its balanced field length also improved to 5,000 feet, a reduction of 830 feet.
M7 Aerospace, San Antonio, Texas, named Michael L. McClain to the position of vice president, maintenance, repair and overhaul, with responsibility for the company's MRO business unit.
Swearingen claims that the cabin of the SJ30 is 150 inches long and 60 inches in diameter. In reality, though, the cabin measures 4.5 feet high by 4.3 feet wide, thus it's slightly smaller in cross section than a legacy Learjet but a touch bigger than the Citation Mustang. The distance from cabin/cockpit divider to the aft cabin is 11.6 feet with a 7.7-foot-long main seating area. There are five 9.3-inch-wide by 12.5-inch-tall squared-oval windows on each side of the cabin. Each has a slide-lever operated window shade.
Intelligence | 13 * U.S. State Department Starts Issuing New Passports to Public * Landing-Distance Assessment Issues Unresolved * Citation Mustang In Last Round of Tests * FAA Says Air Traffic Delays Dropped in July * Charter Brokers in Spotlight Again Edited by James E. Swickard Commentary 9 | Viewpoint By William Garvey Eyes Wide Open 74 | Cause & Circumstance By Richard N. Aarons More Overshoots
An initial meeting between air carriers and FAA officials on landing distance assessment requirements left many issues unresolved and prompted National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne to write to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey to formally ask the agency to put the requirements on hold. Although, as we go to press, the FAA had yet to release an Operations Specification that details the requirements, commercial carriers were to submit their compliance plans by Sept. 1. The requirements are to take effect Oct. 1.
(Percent Relative to Average) The SJ30-2 was designed to maximize speed, range and fuel efficiency. That's apparent from the Comparison Profile, which includes the SJ30-2, Cessna CJ1+ and CJ2+, Raytheon Premier I and CJ3 in the composite average. This is a personal jet that's designed to transport two folks in the front and two folks in the main cabin more than 2,150 nm while cruising at 436 KIAS. The aircraft has the highest pressurization differential of any civil aircraft in current production. Its cabin altitude is only 1,800 feet at FL 490.
The Department of Homeland Security has ordered five more EC120s from American Eurocopter, increasing to 15 the total number of the type used for front-line operations by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. The EC120s will support Customs and Border Protection missions in low-altitude surveillance and security patrol of America's borders. As the quietest helicopter in its class, the EC120 is well suited for duty with the agency and enables missions to be flown in wildlife zones contained within the Customs and Border Protection's area of responsibility.
The National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) has offered two possible solutions to the problem of receiving, on an expedited basis, temporary certificates of aircraft registration (fly wires) from the FAA. The agency's Aircraft Registry, citing a burgeoning workload, has proposed restricting the issuance of expedited registrations for international flights, a move that would hamper the movement of both general aviation and airline aircraft, according to NARA.
PrivatAir of Geneva has ordered a luxury 56-seat Boeing 767-300ER to enter service in March 2007. The aircraft will have the range to fly Europe to Los Angeles or Europe to Singapore nonstop. PrivatAir says that the 767 will have enough under-floor baggage space to satisfy the needs of its most discriminating clients. The market for the aircraft is expected to be governmental and the luxury travel industry. PrivatAir's owned charter fleet will then consist of a Boeing 757-23A and the Boeing 767-300ER.
Twinjet of London-Luton Airport has taken delivery of a new Airbus ACJ, which replaces what was originally the first A319 'ACJ' in service. Within two days of its arrival it was revenue earning on a one-stop trip to Los Angeles. It is currently fitted with four belly tanks but Twinjet plans to take the forward tank out to carry extra baggage. The interior, completed by LHT in Hamburg, includes a private bedroom with en suite facilities including a shower.
Gulfstream's Aerospace Service Center at London-Luton Airport received European Aviation Safety Agency approval to maintain the Gulfstream G450 business jet. The service center also was approved by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (HKCAD) to maintain Hong Kong-registered Gulfstream G550 business jets. The HKCAD is expected to approve G450 maintenance later this year. The approvals enable European and Hong Kong-registered operators to use the center for regular scheduled maintenance, inspections and warranty work.
THE NBAA RECENTLY won a quiet struggle to help "foreign" U.S. companies use their corporate aircraft as efficiently as, well, non-foreign U.S. companies. Confused? Although this sounds like a new security classification, it is a decades-old concept within the FARs.
Bombardier Aerospace received an order from Tassili Airlines of Algeria for four Q400 regional turboprops. The contract, valued at $103 million (U.S.), calls for deliveries to begin in third quarter 2007. Tassili will be the second carrier in Africa, and the first in Algeria, to operate the 74-seat airliner. Tassili, a subsidiary of the Sonatrach State Energy Group, initially plans to use the aircraft to transport workers to oil fields in Algeria.
TAG Aviation has revealed that it will launch a completely new VLJ service in the United States. Jake Cartwright, CEO of TAG Aviation USA, says that a California-based customer for 10 Eclipse 500s has agreed for TAG to provide a complete turnkey operations package that will include aircraft, pilots, flight dispatch and all other necessary support for an exclusive "flying club" service. Each aircraft will have four "owners" who will each have access to an Eclipse with full TAG support, but the company stresses that it is not a fractional operation.
Avotek Information Resources has released the Avotek Aeronautical Dictionary by David Jones. This book is part of Avotek's family of maintenance reference materials and contains terms and definitions used by aviation maintenance personnel, ground crews and flight crews on an everyday basis. Topics include: *Aircraft/aviation terms and definitions *Industry abbreviations *Common usage of terms *Technical definitions *Manufacturer-specific terminology *FAA terms and definitions
With more states welcoming and even mandating ethanol in motor fuels for automobiles, the Experimental Aircraft Association is helping pilots who use auto fuel in their airplanes stay safe, with a new alcohol test kit available through the EAA. For more than 30 years, the EAA's STCs for a variety of manufactured aircraft have saved aircraft owners money by allowing them to use unleaded auto fuel. Such fuel without ethanol is safe and effective for aircraft use, based on more than 30 years of thorough testing.
When London's main commercial airports became gridlocked on Aug. 10 after a plot to bomb airliners was uncovered, many business aircraft were diverted to outlying general aviation fields. Farnborough Airport reported some 20 extra aircraft landed there despite its "Level One" security status, which meant that all charter passengers were body searched and their baggage scanned. Harrods Aviation at Luton had planned to receive 21 aircraft that day and by 1700 had handled 44.
