US Helicopter launched scheduled service between Bridgeport/Stratford, Conn. (BDR), Manhattan's East 34th Street Heliport and JFK International Airport on June 26. Except weekends and holidays, the company operates 12 hourly flights from the heart of New York City to JFK using Sikorsky S-76 equipment configured for eight seats. Passengers flying with the company's strategic partner American Airlines have the added advantage of checking baggage through to final destinations and obtaining boarding passes for their AA legs when they board their helicopter, and vice versa.
(Kerrville, Texas) -- Heather Rider has been named the company's sales representative in the Northeast, with responsibility for selling airplanes in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. A graduate of the University of North Dakota, she previously served as an account manager at Iviation, an aircraft services company based in Memphis.
"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."
Confused about the rules? Don't know where to find the answer? The FAA has done a lot of work to make its Web site (www.faa.gov) easier to use. Type a few words into the search block and you will get a number of related documents such as Advisory Circulars, and other helpful information. One of the more useful tools is the Inspectors Handbook Series 8300-10. You can download this compendium of wisdom that your local FAA office uses as a guide.
The arrival of the Beech King Air 200 in 1974 sent shock waves throughout the turboprop industry, especially at Piper Aircraft where the Cheyenne II, a direct competitor for the Beech E90, had just made its debut. If Piper wanted to compete, it quickly would have to develop a much larger and more powerful model. Piper launched a clean-sheet turboprop development program that would become the PA-42 Cheyenne III in 1979.
The pilot and copilot of a Citation Ultra arrived early at Friedman Memorial (SUN), the airport serving Sun Valley, Idaho, for what was to be a quick flight to the Carlsbad-McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ), 638 nm distant and some 30 miles north of San Diego. The two passengers that morning, Jan. 24, 2006, were a scientific instrument company executive on an out-and-back business trip and a family friend, who happened to be the wife of one of the aircraft's owners.
EVERY SUMMER A SMALL group of aviation scribblers gather for a weekend away to consider the constitution of bracing libations, provide observations on the genders, and analyze the merits and histories of assorted aircraft. My children describe the sojourn as "Dad's weekend to drink whiskey, grow his beard and smoke cigars with his airplane buddies," which pretty much captures the spirit of the thing.
Fractional helicopter provider Heliflite added another Bell 430 twin-engine aircraft to its fleet. The company, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, now operates four Bell 430s and one Sikorsky S-76B. The new 430 will operate out of Newark Liberty (N.J.) International Airport.
The Experimental Aircraft Association warns that while auto fuel can be used in some aircraft, ethanol possesses chemical properties that harm aircraft engines and fueling systems. "It is critical for aircraft owners using auto fuel to know if the gasoline being used in their aircraft is pure," the association said. So the EAA recommends that all auto fuel be tested for ethanol before fueling an aircraft." It is selling a test kit for $15. For more information, visit www.eaa.org.
Arnold Scott has been an investigator with the NTBS since 1982, working out of its Colorado office. He likes the climate, he says: "They have four distinct seasons, with cold winters, and hot summers." When he moved his wife and the five kids out west, they settled first in Aurora. But when Judith --"she always wanted to live in the country"-- found a 27-acre ranch about 50 miles northeast of Denver, she called Scott to tell him about it. "I said ok, buy it," he recalls with a chuckle. That was in 1993, and they've been there ever since.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey defended the Bush administration's decision to seek nearly $1 billion less for airport funding in fiscal 2007 than authorized by Congress, saying, "We must make the absolute best use of the taxpayers' dollars. Like other government agencies, the FAA had to take a hard look at our programs and make some difficult choices." Blakey was testifying before a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing in Anchorage, Alaska, chaired by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who had earlier expressed concerns about proposed FAA budget cuts.
London Air Services, a charter operator based in Vancouver, British Columbia, signed a contract to buy a Bombardier Global Express XRS from the manufacturer. The aircraft will be used primarily to fly missions between North America and northern Asia. The XRS is scheduled for delivery in 2008. The charter provider, established in 1999, currently operates four Learjet 45 XR and two Challenger 604 business jets.
A boon for pilots who use their back-up, handheld GPS for driving, Reichert Enterprises has expanded its line of GlareStomper flexible GPS sun visors to fit a broad range of Garmin, Magellan, Navman and Sony units, as well as every Tomtom model currently on the market. "When you plunk down hundreds of dollars for a GPS unit, you want to be able to see the map display in the daylight. That's exactly what we offer," says company founder Dave Reichert.
Since Moscow is Russia's economic and political center, it's no surprise that it is the country's business aviation hub as well, considerably outpacing all other airports, including that of its second largest city, St. Petersburg. For the time being, Russian business aviation is Moscow business aviation.
When Bill Silkworth wants to know whether his salsa's up to snuff, he turns to son Sam, a 10-year-old with a discriminating palate. "Take a big mouthful, I tell him. He's my tester." Silkworth, a client aviation manager and Challenger 604 pilot with TAG since 2003, got his salsa start while an Embry-Riddle student with a part-time job cooking at Taco City, a small Mexican restaurant in Daytona Beach Shores.
Michael A. Dornheim, engineer and pilot, who wrote for our sister publication Aviation Week & Space Technology for 22 years based in Los Angeles, was killed when the car he was driving plunged into a ravine in the Santa Monica Mountains. The accident occurred June 3, but the wreckage of his car was not found until June 12. The Los Angeles County Fire Department used a helicopter to retrieve the body.
Present day turbofan engines are so reliable that the average inflight shutdown rate is less than once in 10,000 flight hours. I like those odds. However, after reviewing several accidents involving misdiagnosis of engine malfunctions, some in the FAA and elsewhere are questioning whether current training adequately prepares flight crews for these relatively infrequent but potentially confusing and catastrophic events.
A Learjet 35 crashed into the Long Island Sound about one-half mile short of the runway at Groton-New London (Conn.) Airport on June 3. The pilot and copilot died in the crash. One of the three passengers, all en route to a golf weekend, managed to orient himself in the inverted cabin, opened the door and assisted the other two passengers. It was a foggy afternoon in Groton.
What used midsize jet delivers the most bang-for-the-buck? Arguably, it's the Learjet 55. For less than $3 million, you get a 2,000-nm max range jet capable of carrying six to seven passengers. And with fuel prices nudging $5-plus per gallon at some FBOs, the Learjet 55's fuel miserliness -- it was conceived during the Arab oil embargo of the mid-1970s -- is a welcome bonus.
Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita. Don Dwyer is returning to take the new position of vice president, Global Commercial Sales. Dwyer will lead the company's efforts to grow Beechcraft and Hawker sales domestically and internationally.
ARINC won a contract from Atlantic Southeast Airlines to provide air/ground communications services. ARINC will provide digital data link service through the ARINC GLOBALink/VHF network using the VDLM2 protocol. ARINC will manage ASA's air/ground and ground/ground operational messages through a Web-based OpCenter. The contract also calls for ARINC to integrate several paperless data applications, including ground maintenance data collection and weight-and-balance applications.
Daniel Webster College, Nashua, N.H., has elected Joseph J. Dini of Bedford, Mass., a senior vice president at Sovereign Bank, to its board of trustees.
The bedside clock says you've had an adequate night's rest for an early morning flight, but once again you wake up exhausted and have a headache. Sitting on the edge of the bed you wonder why you feel so lousy every morning. What could be wrong? You could have a medical condition known as sleep apnea, a potentially serious sleep disorder characterized by intermittent but complete or partial airway collapse, resulting in frequent episodes during which you stop breathing or experience shallow breathing during the night.
Current "ab initio" flight training programs are designed to enable a foreign student to come in with little or no aviation training and work through a spectrum of training and on-the-job experience over a period of two years. The AOPA urged the U.S. State Department to exempt flight training programs from the proposal.
