Sikorsky Aircraft and China Aviation Industry Corp. II (AVIC II) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for collaboration on the development and manufacture of civil helicopters. Sikorsky Aircraft is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. Under the MOU, Sikorsky and AVIC II will discuss helicopter manufacturing, assembly, flight test, engineering design and analysis, and new product development in the light, intermediate and medium classes. The companies will also explore establishing Changhe Aircraft Industry Corp.
Aerion is in the final stages of fabricating a partial wing cross-section test article, scheduled for testing on a rocket sled this month or in August. The company, which is developing a supersonic business jet, is still in discussions with airframe manufacturers about a teaming arrangement under which the selected OEM would act as the aircraft integrator. Vice Chairman Brian Barents said there is "a lot of enthusiasm" about the project, adding that officials have had "some modest success" in getting potential partners interested.
Garmin, Olathe, Kan., has promoted Phil Straub to director of engineering, aviation. In this newly created position Straub will help shape and lead all of Garmin's aviation programs.
Blackhawk Modifications, Inc. has won an STC to replace the King Air 200's original Pratt & Whitney PT6A-41 engines, which have a 3,000-hour TBO, with new PT6A-42 engines, which have a 3,600-hour TBO. According to officials of the Waco, Texas-based company, the new -42 engines will enable older King Air 200s to achieve the same performance as the current-production King Air B200, while lowering powerplant overhaul costs of the earlier airplanes.
In the February B&CA, Fred George wrote a piece entitled "What's Wrong With the MU-2?" (page 40). The writer's opinion is pretty clear, not just from the tone of the article, but also from his comments to me during a telephone conversation.
The National Air Transportation Association urged DOT Secretary Norman Mineta to carefully scrutinize attempts by airports to obtain federal grant dollars for public-run ground-handling services that compete with the private sector. Some airports have applied for funds through the DOT's Small Community Air Service Development grant program to provide ground-handling services.
In July 2002, DayJet placed a firm order for 239 Eclipse 500 jets, with options for 70 more. Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn and DayJet CEO Ed Iacobucci are both veterans of the technology industry and knew one another before either got into aviation to the extent they are involved now.
The NTSB is investigating a particularly spectacular uncontained engine failure on an American Airlines Boeing 767 that was undergoing testing on June 2 at Los Angeles International Airport. At 12:27 PST, during a ground maintenance test run, the high-pressure turbine stage-one disk on the number-one engine (General Electric CF6-80A2) broke into several pieces that were found embedded in the fuselage, the number-two engine, and scattered as far 3,000 feet from the airplane.
After "two spectacular years of recovery," the market for previously owned aircraft "seems to be taking a short breather," according to the summer 2006 edition of the Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest.
Academics of Flight Sunnyside, NY (718) 937-5716 NYC-FSDO www.flywithaof.com Academics of Flight International Miami Springs, FL (305) 874-6643 MIA-FSDO Academy College Bloomington, MN (952) 851-0066 MSP-FSDO www.academycollege.edu Airline Academy, The Daytona Beach, FL (904) 258-0703 ORL-FSDO Airline Ground Schools Inc. Florence, KY (800) 824-4170 SDF-FSDO www.agschools.com Anoka Technical College Anoka, MN (763) 785-5940 MSP-FSDO www.ank.tec.mn.us/aviation
Raytheon Aircraft appointed Canadian services company Skyservice as an authorized service center for Bonanza, Baron and King Air aircraft. The authorization covers Skyservice's facilities in Montreal and Toronto. Raytheon Aircraft also named General Dynamics Aviation Services in Westfield, Mass., as a Hawker 800-series authorized service center.
Flight student visa limitations proposed by the U.S. State Department would eviscerate U.S flight schools' training/experience-building curricula that have made this country a favorite of aspiring professional pilots from around the world and would force many schools out of business, according to the AOPA and the National Air Transportation Association.
Intelligence | 11 ?228-137? NBAA Warns Action Needed Against User Fees ?228-137? Aerion Schedules Testing for SSBJ Wing Cross-Section ?228-137? London City Airport Up for Sale ?228-137? Sumwalt Nominated for NTSB ?228-137? Avanti II FAA Certified Edited by James E. Swickard Commentary 7 | Viewpoint By William Garvey Border Hopping 84 | Cause & Circumstance By William Garvey Show Stopper
The NBAA and the Associação Brasileira de Aviação Geral (ABAG) have "deferred" the 2006 Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition, LABACE 2006, due to a construction project at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil. The event, jointly sponsored by the two organizations, originally was scheduled for Aug. 10-12 at Congonhas Airport. In early May, Brazilian aviation authorities notified the NBAA and ABAG that the VARIG Engenharia e Manutencao ramp would be unavailabledue to construction.
Cessna Aircraft plans to offer an enhanced vision system (EVS) on the Citation Excel/XLS and an Integrated Flight Information System (IFIS) on CJ1 and CJ2 aircraft. The product enhancements were unveiled during Cessna's recent annual Citation Customer Conference in Wichita. The Max Viz EVS-1000 uses a fuselage-mounted infrared camera to enhance situational and terrain awareness during times of low visibility.
President Bush will nominate Robert L. Sumwalt III, a corporate flight department manager and former airline pilot, for a seat on the NTSB. Sumwalt will be nominated for the remainder of the five-year term of Richard A. (Dick) Healing, who left the board in 2005, and also for an additional five-year term expiring at the end of 2011. Once the Senate confirms Sumwalt, Bush plans to designate him as vice chairman of the Safety Board. According to the White House, Sumwalt was a US Airways captain for 24 years.
With an order for 50 Embraer Phenom 100s and an option for 50 follow-on aircraft, JetBird announced at EBACE in May that it will do for Europe what the low-cost VLJ-based on-demand services in the United States will do for North America. Domhnal Slattery, a veteran banker and aviation financier with the Royal Bank of Scotland, now retired from the bank and leading the jet service start-up from headquarters in Switzerland, heads the company.
Meanwhile, the Airline Transport Association (ATA), has been waging a campaign to shift about $2 billion of passenger taxes to business aviation operators. It wants to do this by suspending the tax and instituting instead a program of ATC user fees that would cost out the movement of any turbine aircraft regardless of size at roughly the same rate -- based on distance traveled and time in system. Lately the ATA has kicked up its public efforts (see the following item) several notches to win over legislators.
How amusing to read the letter of a simulator instructor insisting on the word "throttle" instead of "thrust" (or "power") in your very nice CJ article (Letters, June, page 8).
Mission impossible? Nope, mission accomplished, thanks to business aircraft. That's because the same qualities of flexibility, autonomy and performance that have traditionally endeared turbine-powered corporate aircraft to the business community are making them increasingly popular among governments, their agencies, research organizations and the military for "special missions."
Million Air Teterboro has renamed itself Meridian as part of an ongoing effort to consolidate its operations at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. In addition to the FBO's name change, the operation's aircraft maintenance division became Meridian Jet Center. The company also is adding new logos and signage. The rebranding comes as the company moves into its new 33,000-square-foot headquarters and FBO facility. A new 40,000-square-foot hangar and maintenance shop are slated for completion in October.
