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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
CAE, Montreal, has announced the completion of its restructuring. Senior management members whose responsibilities have been realigned are: Don Campbell has become executive vice president; Group President, Civil Training, Services and Innovation Jeff Roberts will continue in that role but with a focus on emerging markets such as India and China. Nick Leontidis is now executive vice president, innovation. Marc Parent will have the added responsibility for the military segments as group president, simulation products and military training and services.
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.
Thanks for the interview with Matt Weisman ("Fast Five," May, page 38). Matt and Bill Watt were responsible for taking a chance on a young kid (me), fresh out of the Air Force in 1973. I spent four years learning the ropes in flight ops, before moving over to AT&T at MMU for the next 27 years.
The FAA says air traffic delays dropped sharply in July thanks to a new flow initiative -- lowering year-to-date totals almost to 2005's levels. There were 47,649 delays in July, compared with 58,471 in the same month last year, the FAA said. The total for the calendar year through July was 262,932 delays -- slightly ahead of the 261,130 delays for the same period in 2005. The number of flights handled by the FAA under instrument flight rules is down by about 1 million so far this year.
Executive Beechcraft, the Kansas City-based FBO, is offering an instrument panel retrofit for King Air C90s that features installation of the Garmin G1000, which integrates all primary flight, navigation, communications, terrain, traffic, weather, engine instrumentation and crew-alert data, presenting the composite information on three high-definition color displays.
In the wake of August's foiled terror bomb plot in the U.K., the TSA imposed another clearance requirement for business aircraft operations between the United States and United Kingdom. Private and commercial operators of aircraft weighing less than 95,500 kilograms are required to obtain a new waiver for flights between the United States and England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Processing the new clearance is expected to take between five and seven days. Other international waivers are still valid.
Before leaving for summer recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee called for a boost in the FAA's certification safety inspector funding. The committee recommended giving the FAA $16 million more than the administration requested to allow it to hire new inspectors.
We'll use the basic telephone call to explain the differences between communication that uses circuit switching vs. packet switching. In the olden days when you used to pick up the phone and dial a number, the public network opened a circuit dedicated to your call, meaning there was a continuous wired connection from you to the person you were calling. To increase capacity, phone companies added circuits.
Business Jet Center, based at Oakland (Calif.) International Airport (OAK), added a 42,000-square-foot hangar at its FBO facility. Formerly used as a commercial airline maintenance facility, the hangar has 50-foot-tall automatic doors and can accommodate the largest business jets, including the Boeing BBJ, Gulfstream 550 and Global Express. The structure also has office and shop space and is equipped with a high-capacity foam fire suppression system and an electronic security system. Business Jet Center is an ExxonMobil Avitat fuel dealer.
I f Verizon can't find a buyer for its general aviation phone system, it says it plans to shut down service to MagnaStar customers on Dec. 4. B&CA has learned of two transition plans -- one from Satcom Direct and the other from ICG, and there may be others; stay tuned and we'll update the information as we get news.
Landmark Aviation announced the completion of a $2 million hangar and office facility at its Raleigh, N.C., FBO. The expansion at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport includes 13,500 square feet of additional space for aircraft storage and maintenance, a new three-bay ground equipment support hangar, and 4,800 square feet of office space. "This expansion provides additional hangar and work areas for our based tenants," said Tracine Anderson, Landmark Aviation general manager at Raleigh.
As you suggest, it is just a factual statement. The TSB seemed to think that this omission was just another indication that the pilot was tired and distracted. Apparently, under normal circumstances (and his SOPs) he should have made that known.
Raytheon Aircraft Services (RAS) now holds an STC for the installation of an Auxiliary Ground Heating System for the Beechcraft Premier I/IA. This electrically powered system provides pre-heat to the cabin without the engines running which in turn helps to maintain a stable cabin temperature while en route. Even in sub-freezing weather, passengers have the pleasure of boarding into a luxuriously warm cabin. All Raytheon Aircraft Services locations are certified to install this upgrade on the Beechcraft Premier I/IA.
