Business aviation leaders think a rule change at ICAO could jump start the effort for Europe to move ahead with a new set of operating guidelines that would replace the stillborn JAR OPS 2 and the diverse national regulations that continue to apply. Funding and other problems at EASA have slowed the process, and officials are doubtful the rules could be ready before 2008.
FBO FAL Aviation wants you to know that ILS was installed at London Ashford Airport (LYDD), with excellent access to London and the home counties. FAL boasts of its lounge and pilot facilities and a highly trained handling staff. Its Web site is at www.falaviation.com.
Jeppesen has completed a two-year project to bring Required Navigation Performance (RNP) technology to the Gary/Chicago International Airport (KGYY) in Gary, Ind. Jeppesen worked closely with airport staff as well as local FAA officials to create two public RNP procedures to Runway 12 and Runway 30. The Runway 30 procedure was published June 8. The Runway 12 procedure will be available this fall. When available, the RNP Runway 12 approach will be the first time this runway has ever been served with an IFR approach.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey had hoped to present a proposal to Congress this spring to begin the debate on a restructured FAA funding mechanism. But the proposal -- which general aviation advocates feared -- and the Air Transport Association fervently hoped -- will have some sort of user fee plan, has been stuck at the Office of Management and Budget for months. Sources have said the OMB has concerns about the proposal, and questioned whether the administration would want to take on a user fee debate during an election year.
Six years after Embraer announced ambitious plans to build a family of large regional jets, the Brazilian airplane-maker won certification of the fourth and final member of the initial E-Jet series, the Embraer 195. The National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil on June 30 granted type approval for the 195, which is the largest of the E-Jets with seating for up to 118 passengers. Embraer expects approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency to follow shortly, clearing the way for deliveries to begin to launch customer Flybe of the United Kingdom.
Goodrich Corp. broke ground on a 300,000-square-foot expansion of its nacelle/thrust reverser maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Singapore. Slated for completion in December 2007, the project will more than double the size of the 230,000-square-foot Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center -- Asia. The company also will relocate its Customer Services and Aircraft Interior Products service center in Singapore to the new facility. Along with Singapore, Goodrich has MRO facilities in Xiamen, China, and Sydney, Australia, in the Asia-Pacific region.
The International Registry of Mobile Assets established by the Cape Town Convention and Protocol of 2001 has been significantly better accepted than expected. Over 3,500 users have been registered -- four times the number forecast for the entire first year. Niall Greene, managing director of Aviareto, which manages the registry, said, "The International Registry was established to settle competing claims to property interests in aircraft and engines.
Integro, New York, N.Y., has hired Edward Nicholls as managing principal and Aviation Practice leader. Terry Rolfe has been hired as a principal and will head up the New York Aviation Practice.
TAG Farnborough Engineering was awarded Dassault Service Center status in May, and expects to make a similar announcement for Bombardier corporate jets soon. The Dassault certification means that TAG's engineering facility now handles base maintenance for all Falcon 2000s and Falcon 900 family aircraft. The expected Bombardier Service Center status will cover Challenger 601, 604 and Global Express base maintenance.
Marion Blakey, former NTSB chair and current FAA administrator, had been frequently mentioned as a possible successor if Mineta were to step down at the DOT, but that would leave a big void at the FAA -- particularly since a contentious battle over FAA reauthorization and possible user fees is almost certain to occur next year. Other names mentioned include Michael Jackson, Mineta's former deputy, who is now the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
Canada's transportation investigators are urging global aviation authorities to craft rules to equip aircraft with systems to alert flight crews to inadequate takeoff performance. The call came in the wake of the fatal crash of a Ghana-based MK Airlines B747-200 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in October 2004. The cargo flight was scheduled to fly from Halifax to Spain on a flight that had originated in Luxembourg and stopped at Bradley Airport in Hartford, Conn.
Timberland PRO has created a new line of safety footwear designed specifically for women and built on women's lasts (three-dimensional foot forms), that provides a balance of performance and comfort for women on the job. The expanded product line includes styles suitable for flight-line and hangar workers, as well as office/customer service workers that need to go in the hangar or out on the line. There's even a special static-dissipation sole treatment for refuelers.
A new FAA Airspace Flow Program will allow air traffic controllers to delay only those flights that are expected to directly encounter thunderstorms, as opposed to delaying every flight that would be expected to pass in the vicinity of a thunderstorm. On a single severe weather day, thousands of flights can be delayed, diverted or canceled, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers and resulting in millions of dollars in operating losses for air carriers. There are as many as 40 severe weather days each year.
For many maintenance managers, keeping up with all of the rules and regulations is one of the more difficult tasks that come with the job. With documents and requirements flooding in from the FAA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Internal Revenue Service, state and local agencies, not to mention your own company policies, it's easy to achieve regulatory overload. Nevertheless, when it comes to safe aircraft maintenance, not knowing or understanding the applicable rules is not an option.
HOW MANY EXECUTIVES in your company have access to the corporate aircraft? Some firms appreciate that business aviation saves enough travel time and allows passengers to be sufficiently productive while traveling to justify broad use by employees at many different salary levels. Unfortunately, such an enlightened approach is not the norm.
During its recent annual Citation customer conference, Cessna introduced two significant product enhancements for its Citation business jets. An enhanced vision system (EVS) is now available for the Citation Excel and XLS. The EVS, manufactured by Max-Viz, can be installed via a Cessna Service Bulletin. The EVS-1000 uses a fuselage-mounted infrared camera to enhance situational and terrain awareness at night or in low-visibility conditions. The EVS can be installed at Cessna-owned or factory-authorized service centers.
SON MATTHEW, A NEWLY minted environmental major graduate of the University of North Carolina - Wilmington and biodiesel advocate, can rattle off all sorts of intriguing information about the world around us these days.
"Unless we are talking about new or near-new long-range jets, this market is no longer the frenzied, red-hot bazaar that it was six months ago, stated Fletcher Aldredge in the second-quarter edition of his Market Leader newsletter. The publisher of the Vref Aircraft Value Reference, which tracks used aircraft prices, added, "Holding times are up and so is availability of some models."
AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, has selected Kaan Air to serve as the Italian airframe manufacturer's sales and authorized service center in Turkey. Kaan Air will provide sales, maintenance and repair services, as well as maintaining a spare parts inventory for AgustaWestland helicopters. The Turkish company will be building new facilities for the service center, which is scheduled to be fully operational in 2007. Separately, AgustaWestland has opened a regional sales office in Warsaw, Poland, to market its range of civil and military aircraft.
On June 28, Airservices Australia withdrew its RFP for low-altitude ADS-B ground stations and user equipment, and two days later ordered eight new terminal radars for major Australian cities. The air traffic services provider declined to disclose the value of the radar order, citing "commercial confidentiality," although costs of the new radars have been estimated at about $90 million (AUS).
