Dassault confirmed Falcon 7X performance improvements in an made at EBACE in May. Range increases to 5,950 nm along with an increase in payload with full fuel. The new range will enable the 7X to fly nonstop between cities such as New York and Riyadh, Paris and Singapore, and Los Angeles and Rome. Performance improvements were accomplished through the addition of winglets, additional fuel tanks in the forward section and a redesign of the secondary rudder and lower fin. The 7X's Pratt and Whitney Canada 307A engine thrust was increased to 6,400 pounds.
The sharpest questioning at the hearing (see above item) came from the panel's Ranking Democrat, Patty Murray (Wash.), on the safety-inspector workforce at the FAA. Early this year, Murray said, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the agency would hire 238 safety inspectors during the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, but the number has dropped to 171, down 28 percent from Mineta's estimate and fewer than last year's new hires.
Pro Star Aviation of Manchester, N.H., has received an STC (STC) for the installation of a three-tube Honeywell CDS/R Epic EFIS in a Cessna Citation III.
When B&CA presented complaints from the charter industry about certain provisions of the revised A008 Ops Spec to FAA Flight Standards chief Jim Ballough for comment, we were referred to the aviation authority's legal department in Washington for a response.
The NBAA and the National Air Transportation Association announced dates and locations for the remaining FAA briefing sessions on operational control and wet leases. The sessions are designed to inform FAA inspectors and the industry about business aviation management relationships common to charter operations. All charter operators and aircraft owners engaged in "managed charter" relationships are strongly encouraged to attend one of these briefings. Exact locations of each briefing session will be announced when hotel logistics are finalized.
Bondhus Corp. introduced a power screwdriver bit holder from Felo that holds standard one-quarter-inch shank bits and the screw securely in place -- no more dropped screws! This tool uses two rare earth magnets. One holds the bit in place, the other holds the fastener securely. Named "Allstar," the bit holder is available individually or packaged with an assortment of popular bits. All bits are machined from the finest European chrome-moly-vanadium steel and heat treated to the highest possible hardness levels to give tool users a lifetime of precision service.
The U.S. Air Force has solved the safety problem posed by unmanned aerial vehicles' (UAV) inability to "see and avoid" other traffic. Aviation Week & Space Technology reported that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 10 small UAVs were dispatched to New Orleans to assess damage and locate survivors. However, the FAA did not let the unmanned craft fly in the helicopter-congested area. So, USAF operators sawed the wings off the UAVs and taped six of them to the landing skids of manned helicopters.
Lufthansa Technik and officials of Vnukovo Airport outside Moscow (Russia's busiest business aviation field, with about 1,000 movements per month) will cooperate on maintenance, repair and overhaul under the terms of an agreement signed at last month's EBACE. Vnukovo will become the first Russian airport to offer business aviation operators a full-fledged FBO when a dedicated terminal and four hangars are commissioned in June, with four additional hangars expected in summer 2007.
Raytheon Aircraft Services successfully completed the first retrofit of a Rockwell Collins Integrated Flight Information System (IFIS) into a Hawker 800XP aircraft at the Raytheon Aircraft Services facility in Little Rock, Ark. The system's electronic charting functionality provides operators with approaches, procedures, airport diagrams and NOTAMS. Operators of IFIS-equipped aircraft have ready access to the appropriate charts for the entered flight plan, and aircraft position may be viewed on geo-referenced charts, improving situational awareness.
Pratt & Whitney and Aviation Fleet Solutions (AFS), a Renton, Wash., company that develops aftermarket improvements and modifications for commercial aircraft, have received FAA certification of the QuietEagle, a noise-reduction system for JT8D-200-powered MD-80 aircraft.
CAE SimuFlite has named Kathleen Felker and Deborah Price winners of pilot training scholarships, and Laura Nolan the recipient of a maintenance training scholarship. Felker, of Oceanside, Calif., received a Citation initial pilot training scholarship and upon successful completion will receive a Citation type rating. Price, of Westminster, Colo., was awarded a King Air C90 initial pilot training scholarship. Both pilot scholarships were awarded through Women In Aviation International.
The first U.S. customer took delivery of an ACJ, Airbus Corporate Jetliner. The customer, Florida-based Pharmair Corporation will have Landmark Aviation's Associated Air Center complete the cabin interior. Airbus has sold 70 aircraft in the ACJ family, the A318 Elite, the ACJ and the A320 Prestige.
Europe's business aircraft fleet will grow by about 4 percent per year over the next 10 years -- from around 2,000 today to approximately 3,000 by 2015, says a report issued by Eurocontrol on May 3. This means around 1,100 extra flights each day in Europe by 2015, which will add between 0.4 percent per year to predicted growth in flights -- or up to 0.7 percent in a scenario with strong growth in VLJ traffic. The new report, "Getting to the Point: Business Aviation in Europe," says that in 2005, 6.9 percent of the 9.2 million flights in Europe were business aviation.
The 6th Annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), held May 3 to 5 in Geneva, showed growing strength, drawing 9,743 attendees, a 27-percent increase over the previous year's 7,667 total. A total of 292 exhibitors displayed their products and services in 1,206 booth spaces on nearly 22,000 square meters of indoor exhibit space at Geneva Palexpo, and 52 static aircraft were displayed at Geneva International Airport.
For most aircraft operators, emergency equipment is the least used hardware on the airplane. With the exception of personnel from flight departments who undergo on-site training using their own equipment, most corporate flight crews seldom touch such equipment as fire extinguishers, life rafts, medical kits and the like. Under FAR Part 91, the emergency equipment may be limited to whatever came with the airplane.
If any aviation person walks with the angels, surely his name is Roger Baker for he is a man who preaches safety and builds churches--an unbeatable combination if there ever was one. He started Safety Focus Group four years ago after leaving the FAA and a 29-year career served almost entirely in the Flight Standards division. He spent his last 12 years there as the national manager for safety programs. But he got his start building churches when he asked a question at his own Providence Presbyterian in Fairfax, Va.
The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the crash of a CL-600 in Colorado on Nov. 28, 2004, was the flight crew's failure to ensure that the airplane's wings were free of ice or snow that accumulated while the airplane was on the ground. The Canadair, Ltd., CL-600-2A12, registered to Hop-a-Jet, Inc., and operated by Air Castle Corporation dba Global Aviation as Glo-Air Flight 73, collided with the ground during takeoff at Montrose Regional Airport, Montrose, Colo. IMC prevailed, and snow was falling.
Do you manage an FBO or tenant hangar? Are you having trouble finding room for all of your aircraft on your ramp or hangar? If you are looking for a solution to your space problems, Hangar and Ramp Space Planner is a software program designed just for you. The software system uses scaled aircraft diagrams and helps you determine aircraft placement for your particular parking problem.
Austrian-based charter operator JetAlliance has placed a firm order for an Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ), becoming the first Austrian customer. The ACJ will be powered by CFM International CFM56-5 engines. A completions outfitter has yet to be announced. This is the seventh ACJ order announced this year. JetAlliance Flugbetriebs AG has a fleet of 37 aircraft with an average age of 3.5 years -- one of the youngest in Europe. It operates under JAR OPS 1 in Europe, but is also FAA Part 129 certificated, allowing it to fly commercially in the United States and Canada.
Obviously you are correct on all points. Especially the implied suggestion that all pilots should have a copy of Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators in their libraries and even take it down and go through it from time to time.
Embraer began the Joint Definition Phase (JDP) of its Phenom 300 light jet program. "The Phenom 300 is the first clean-sheet design of its category in over two decades," said Luís Carlos Affonso, senior vice president, Executive Aviation Market. The Phenom 300 JDP will involve suppliers and Embraer engineers working together. According to Affonso, the company has assigned 300 engineers to the joint effort -- in addition to those already involved in the Phenom 100 program.
Adam Aircraft's A700 AdamJet flew to 41,000 feet and reached a true airspeed of 340 knots, the company says. The aircraft was crewed by Senior Turbine Test Pilot Ken Sasine and copilot Dan Brand. Passing through 39,000 feet the aircraft maintains a climb rate in excess of 1,000 fpm. "This flight signifies the continuing progress of the A700 program," said flight operations vice president Bill Watters. "Serial number 001 has demonstrated the aircraft's flight capabilities, s.n.
So, the GWX 68 has a wonderful big display, excellent performance and many useful features. Are there no howevers? Yes. First, the radar display is an MFD, meaning it has many knobs and buttons, which are unnecessary for staying away from thunderstorms. For radar operation you need only four controls -- MODE, RANGE, TILT and CALIBRATION, plus a couple of on/off switches. But on a multifunction display you also get multifunction buttons and knobs. On the G1000 MFD we counted 32 buttons and eight dual, some triple, function knobs.
