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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles Program hit a milestone in July, when the 1.25 millionth Young Eagle took flight. Young Eagles Chairman Harrison Ford and Executive Director Steve Buss announced the milestone during the EAA's AirVenture in Oshkosh. Larry Durst, a pilot from Roseburg, Ore., flew 14-year-old Tucker Morey in a Cessna 182.
The peripatetic life of Lloyd Carlton Stearman was full of moving vans and irony. When he was an elementary school student in Kansas, Stearman caught sight of his first airplane. It was being flown by an adventurous fellow by the name of Clyde Cessna, a man whom years later would become Stearman's partner.
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.
It's only a matter of time before cell phones are aboard aircraft. Business aircraft, at least. Two issues keep them shut down for now (please tell us you've never neglected to turn yours off, have you?) in the airliner cabin: interference with onboard avionics and their effect on conventional cellular ground stations. The former is an FAA issue; the latter is property of the FCC.
En route from Oxford, Miss., to Rochester, Minn., the pilots of a Cessna Citation 560 diverted to Ellen Church Field, Crasco, Iowa. After touching down on Runway 33, the jet ran off the 2,949-foot-long runway's end and into a cornfield where it received substantial damage. Both pilots were killed, while the two passengers were seriously injured.
BAE Systems has received a contract to enter Phase III of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) program to protect commercial airliners from shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles, also known as Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS). The contract was expected and, including options, is valued at more than $50 million. In Phase III, BAE will continue to refine its military-derived JetEye airliner protection system, which uses a low-power laser to blind the seekers of incoming missiles. JetEye flew on an American Airlines Boeing 767 in late 2005.
A July survey of used airplane brokers and dealers from around the United States indicated that the traditional summer slowdown in previously owned aircraft sales has not materialized for most of them this year. A majority of the aircraft salespeople polled said that demand for late-model, low-time aircraft remains robust, thanks to multi-year backlogs for many popular new-production models, a resilient economy and continuing relatively low interest rates. A few brokers and dealers, however, have noticed a modest slowdown in their business.
