New Piper Aircraft dealer Piper Generalvertretung Deutschland AG (Piper AG) is taking over the territories formerly covered by Senate Aviation Ltd. Piper AG will sell and provide parts and service for Piper aircraft in the United Kingdom, Spain and related territories. Piper AG established a new subsidiary, Piper Parts and Sales U.K., to support the expanded territory. The new unit will be based at Bournemouth International Airport in Christchurch, U.K. Piper AG also represents New Piper in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary.
The Dassault Falcon Jet 7X, the first all fly-by-wire business jet, was designed with the technician in mind. "The Falcon 7X fly-by-wire system has a high level of redundancy providing both a high level of safety and availability," said Jean Gauthier, spokesman for the 7X program at Dassault Aviation in France. "It includes an advanced onboard self-test and diagnostic capability, allowing continuous monitoring of the integrity of the system and to aid technicians in troubleshooting and component replacement."
Bombardier reported profits of $249 million for the fiscal year ending in January, a significant improvement from a loss of $85 million the previous year. Revenues fell from $4.7 billion a year ago to $4 billion in the 12 months ended Jan. 31 as airliner deliveries fell. The company said increased business aircraft and turboprop deliveries compensated for declining regional jet deliveries. Business jet deliveries were up 45 percent to 186 from 128, while regional airplane deliveries dropped 26 percent to 149.
An Airworthiness Directive that became effective on March 15 requires the four U.S.-based operators of Hansa Jet HFB 320 airplanes to revise the "limitations" section of their airplane flight manual to prohibit operation of the aircraft past its design life limit for the primary structure, which is 15,000 flight hours or 15,000 fight cycles, whichever occurs first.
A key issue facing European air traffic management safety is the shortage of skilled resources to support the implementation of Safety Management and Safety Regulation programs, a recent workshop held in April at Eurocontrol in Brussels heard. The workshop brought together representatives from air navigation service providers, air traffic management and safety consultancy companies, and manufacturers.
Landmark Aviation announced April 3 that it has acquired Corporate Jets Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz. -- a full-service FBO and aircraft maintenance, sales and charter operation at the Scottsdale Airport (SDL). "Scottsdale is a strategic acquisition for Landmark Aviation in a key market, expanding our maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and FBO network throughout North America," said Roger Wolfe, Landmark CEO.
Lufthansa Technik has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with The Mexmil Co., allowing the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company to manufacture the German company's patented cabin acoustic insulation system. The Lufthansa system, called AcousticPlus, "provides a dramatically improved environment and flying experience for passengers," Lufthansa said.
Altair Avionics Corp., part of the Pratt & Whitney Canada Service Center Network, has received additional European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certifications for its Data Transmission Unit (DTU) and IntelliStart+ aircraft data monitoring system.
Bombardier Aerospace has received an order from National Air Support of Adelaide, Australia, for three Q300 Maritime Patrol Aircraft for the Surveillance Australia Coastwatch program. Bombardier valued the order at $53 million (U.S.). Surveillance Australia has operated Bombardier turboprops since 1996 and currently flies five Dash 8/Q200s. The aircraft, which have amassed some 70,000 hours of surveillance time, are used to search for fishing, immigration, quarantine violations and environmental hazards, drug smuggling and missing vessels.
Air Chef, Columbus, Ohio. Jeffery Mundy has joined the company as vice president of special projects. He is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris and will be responsible for the opening the company's operation in Le Bourget, France.
Coded Departure Routes (CDRs) have been in use for some time by the airlines and are coming into play for business aviation as well. Officially, only Teterboro and Morristown, N.J., and New York's Westchester County airports are listed as available to general aviation, but ARINC's Bob Richard says the system is expected to go nationwide shortly. CDR routes, a somewhat more sophisticated tool than the old Preferred Routes between two heavily traveled city pairs, comprise any number of ATC-approved routings that are published and available to all.
Luxury charter operator Comlux Aviation of Zurich, Switzerland, has ordered three Airbus A318 Elites, and options for three more, with cabin completion by Lufthansa Technik of Hamburg. All three aircraft, which are to be powered by CFM56-5B9/P engines, are due to be operational by the end of 2007. Comlux's 18-seat Elites cost $45 million apiece, including interiors. Comlux CEO Ettore Rodaro says he is confident he'll exercise his three options as well.
The Air Transport Association recruited former FAA executive Sharon L. Pinkerton as vice president for government affairs, reporting directly to ATA President and CEO James May. As assistant administrator for aviation policy, planning and environment at the FAA, Pinkerton was heavily involved in developing reauthorization and funding proposals. The ATA is advocating adoption of a user-fee system to fund the Airport and Airway Trust Fund that would shift more of the FAA cost burden to general aviation.
The FAA is beginning to tip its hand on its plans to roll out ADS-B nationwide, with a recent briefing revealing that the agency wants to introduce ADS-B position reporting in the 2007-2010 timeframe. The agency would initially focus on "ADS-B out" procedures, which involve GPS positions transmitted from aircraft to air traffic controllers, said FAA Vice President of En Route and Oceanic Services Rick Day.
We recognize your displeasure with the story, but the actual point of the piece was to emphasize how important a mechanic can be on long trips, particularly international trips. The idea of doubling as a flight attendant was secondary at best and only suggested when there wasn't room up front for a third crewmember. What that says is a flight engineer is more valuable on board than a flight attendant.
FAA Air Traffic Operations head Russell Chew said ATO cut its labor cost per controlled flight by 1.5 percent in FY 2005. Speaking at the Jane's Maastricht Air Traffic Control conference, Chew said ATO absorbed a five-percent wage increase, although productivity for controllers and first-line supervisors rose three percent. Productivity was up four percent in terminal facilities and two percent in en route centers.
Raytheon Aircraft's international sales accounted for nearly twice as much business in 2005 as in 2004, with offshore sales jumping from 16 percent of total worldwide sales in 2004 to 29 percent of total sales last year. Beechcraft and Hawker products "command a 51 percent share of the total business turbine market in Asia, with increasing market share in countries like China, India, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand," and boast a market share of about 40 percent in Australia, the company said.
FirstFlight Management, Horseheads, N.J., has appointed Dennis De Sousa director of sales for the West Coast. He is responsible for sales of charter, management and executive aircraft.
Sloane Helicopters Ltd. has agreed to market and sell the entire AgustaWestland civil product line in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The agreement with the manufacturer covers the acquisition of a minimum of 44 helicopters in the four-year contract period. Sloane has already signed a contract to acquire 10 helicopters in 2006. The overall market value of the agreement is approximately 200 million. This agreement is expected to strengthen AgustaWestland's share of the U.K.
As a commercial pilot with some experience in turboprops I want to congratulate Fred George on his incredible article "What's Wrong With the MU-2?" (February 2006, page 40). The article was full of technical answers to those skeptics who blame the machine on every accident. We have plenty of examples of miss-judged airplanes and the MU-2 perfectly represents the "fear of unknown" disease that sometimes surrounds aviation.
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the CJ1+ and CJ2+ under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance. Time and Fuel vs. Distance -- This graph shows the relationship between distance flown, block time and fuel consumption at high-speed cruise and long-range cruise for the CJ1+ and CJ2+.
AOPA is warning its members that scammers from the Netherlands, Nigeria and Thailand recently have been trying to fleece aircraft owners who have their airplanes up for sale. Typically, owners receive an e-mail from a prospective buyer who offers to pay higher than the asking price for the aircraft if the seller will send a check for the difference. The owner receives what looks like a legitimate check for the higher amount and sends the buyer a check for the difference. However, when the owner tries to cash the check, the bank tells him there are no funds in the account.
The CJ1+'s 1,965-pound-thrust FJ44-1AP turbofans are far more advanced than the -1A engines fitted to the CJ1 and CitationJet. The -1AP engines use several technology elements from the FJ44-3, the latest and most advanced version of the FJ44 model family. The -1AP's wide-chord, damperless fan, for example, is based on the -3 design. It has a 12-percent higher pressure ratio than the fan of the -1A. This enables the -1AP to generate considerably higher hot-and-high takeoff, cruise and climb thrust.
