Two engine makers are bullish in their predictions for the civil helicopter market over the next decade, forecasting deliveries of up to 6,000 helicopters through 2016. Honeywell, which primarily focused on the next five years, predicted civil helicopter sales to be at least 15 percent greater between 2006 and 2010 than they were between 2001 and 2005. Nearly 6,000 new civil helicopters will be sold in the 11 years between 2006 and 2016, Honeywell predicted.
An Army brat, Tilton graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1962, but took a commission in the U.S. Air Force because he wanted to fly. After piloting six-engine B-47s, C-141s and B-57 Canberras for seven years, he entered the University of New Mexico as an officer-student, earning a master's degree in biology and then an M.D. Completing his residency, he flew King Airs, T-38s and, finally, F-15s as a physician/pilot. Retiring as a colonel in 1988, he joined Boeing's medical department, ultimately becoming director.
Already much in the news with its Dubai Ports World, the Dubai government is a major investor in a new venture to grow the aerospace industry and infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates. The venture, Dubai Aerospace Enterprises, has lined up $15 billion in financing to become a major player in everything from aircraft leasing and airport development to component manufacturing and perhaps even space services and aircraft final assembly in the long term.
Italian financial reports suggest that Mubadala Developments, a wholly owned entity of the Abu Dhabi government, is trying to increase its stake in Piaggio Aero Industries. Headed up by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mubadala bought 5 percent of Ferrari in 2005 and according to the reports the Ferrari family (headed by Piero Ferrari) and an Italian government agency own around 30 percent of Piaggio Aero. It is believed that the UAE company wishes to gain a share holding of around 30 percent in the company.
On Feb. 1, Boutsen Aviation, the aircraft sales firm based in Monaco, sold its 100th aircraft, an Embraer Phenom 100 that is to be delivered to a new French aircraft operator. The company, which was started as a one-man, part-time operation at the end of 1996 by Formula One Grand Prix race car driver Thierry Boutsen, now employs six aviation professionals and is an authorized aircraft sales representative for Embraer and Piaggio in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco and the Netherlands.
Barely a stone's throw from Port Columbus International Airport sits a glass-and-mortar building occupied, according to the signs in the lobby, by several small businesses and one small group that can give a big business fits: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1108.
Lufthansa may expand its program of using NetJets Europe's business jets to connect passengers arriving in Frankfurt and Munich direct to other European cities. Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori said at the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin, "Lufthansa Private Jet is performing above our expectations." According to Antinori, the airline is recording about 10 corporate jet bookings per day, and more than 50 percent of the customers have used the service more than once.
It's not often that an aircraft manufacturer introduces new derivative models that, compared to their predecessors, weigh more yet climb and cruise faster, burn less fuel and need less runway when departing hot-and-high airports. But that's exactly what Cessna has achieved with the Citations CJ1+ and CJ2+.
Raytheon Aircraft Services, Wichita, named Mike Fleming service manager at the RAS Van Nuys, Calif., facility. Patrick Gentile has been appointed regional sales manager for the Great Lakes region for the Beechcraft and Hawker product lines.
Falcon 7X aircraft will be fitted with Dassault-designed winglets to attain the 6,000-nm range announced at the 2005 NBAA convention. Olivier Villa, senior vice president of civil aircraft at Dassault Aviation said, "This is in response to customers who wished for additional margins to perform their missions in adverse weather conditions and without payload limitation requirements." Additional fuel tanks have also been installed in the forward section. Testing on the landing gear, brakes and airframe strength, have been performed and validated.
Bruce Currier, vice president of avionics for Evergreen Helicopters, McMinnville, Ore., received the HAI Aviation Repair Specialist Award at February's Heli-Expo.
Cabin lighting is second only to air temperature as a factor in passenger comfort. In addition to the natural sunlight that pours through the cabin windows, today's artificial aircraft lighting systems have sophisticated controls that provide a whole spectrum of moods in the cabin, from candlelight dim to high-noon bright, and technology that's already standard on some jets and optional on others offers a raft of cost benefits for operators. Just around the corner are new technologies that promise (pardon us) an even brighter future.
The FAA predicts a double-digit growth rate for the U.S. business jet fleet over the next 12 years, including the addition of nearly 5,000 very light jets. Industry forecasts also are bullish, but many observers believe the FAA's business jet predictions err on the high side, part of the administration's attempt to convince Congress that the FAA needs new funding mechanisms to deal with more business aviation traffic.
Three crewmembers and one passenger were aboard a German registered-Bombardier CL600, D-ABCD, when it slid off London-Luton's 7,087-foot-long Runway 8/26 on landing Feb. 5. None of those aboard were reported injured. The aircraft was stuck in mud just a few yards off the end of the runway and as a result all arriving flights and some departures were canceled. Disruption lasted several hours and some en route aircraft were diverted to London-Stansted and Nottingham East Midlands Airport. EasyJet was forced to cancel 12 flights.
Concerns that security-sensitive operational information was publicly available prompted the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to ask the FAA to block access to transcripts from the public hearings on a proposal to make permanent the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over Washington, D.C. The FAA, with participation by the TSA and a number of other federal agencies, held two hearings in January that together drew more than 500 attendees -- most of them opposed to the ADIZ proposal.
Elliott Aviation will take delivery of its first Socata TBM 850 turboprop aircraft. Elliott was named as the newest authorized service center and distributor in the Socata network and is responsible for the states of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska starting this year. The Socata TBM 850, recently certified by EASA and the FAA, is a more powerful and faster derivative of the Socata TBM 700.
"The core idea -- automation capabilities that are so robust that they would increase productivity levels so you could reduce controllers -- isn't something that is done at the flick of a switch at midnight," the NBAA's Steve Brown, senior vice president of operations, told B&CA in answer to why it takes so long to change FAA ATC infrastructure. From 1998 to 2004, Brown oversaw the entire ATC system prior to his retirement from the FAA.
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.
