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.
A Challenger 600, N900LG, was substantially damaged in February while landing at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (ASE) in Aspen, Colo. The aircraft, owned by Branblubush LLC, was landing on Runway 15 when it encountered wake vortices from a BAe 146, which had just departed Runway 33. At 50 feet agl, the Challenger rolled hard to the left and the stall warning horn sounded. The pilot added power and the airplane rolled hard to the right.
JACK PELTON, the chairman, CEO and president of Cessna Aircraft, is known for his engineering expertise, business management acumen and love of flying. Based on speeches he delivered in February at the Wings Club in New York City and at the Aero Club in Washington, D.C., the following day, he also has remarkable skill at deciphering Washington rhetoric and translating it into a compelling message.
It starts with a premise: If we have the kind of technology that can allow: -UPS or FedEx to automatically track "smart" packages in real time anywhere in the world . . . -A CIA agent on horseback in Afghanistan to call Foggy Bottom on his pocket satphone and order (a) feed for his horse, (b) a Western saddle (because the wooden Afghan one was killing him) and (c) a precision bombing raid by a B2 based in Missouri . . .
FlightSafety International, La Guardia Airport, N.Y., has appointed John Marino as vice president of defense training systems. Gary Porterfield has been promoted to assistant manager of FSI's West Palm Beach, Fla., Learning Center.
FAA, Washington, D.C., announced that Frederick E. Tilton., M.D., M.P.H. has been selected to be the new federal air surgeon. Tilton replaces Jon L. Jordan, M.D., J.D., who retired in January.
CAE SimuFlite is relocating its Sikorsky S-76 simulator from Dallas to its new state-of-the-art training center near Morristown, N.J., in recognition of the concentration of the model in that area.The simulator configuration will alternate between the S-76C+ and the S-76B models and will be the only Level-D simulator to feature full-size chin windows. Meanwhile, the Middle East's first Bell 412 full-flight simulator, built by CAE and installed at the Emirates-CAE Flight Training facility in Dubai, is qualified to FAA Level D.
The European Aviation Safety Agency plans to step up cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States to focus on airworthiness of airplanes built in the region before the CIS was established. The two entities also agreed on a plan that covers airworthiness of three specific airplanes -- the Il-76 transport and the Kamaov 26 and Mi-8 helicopters -- that fly in new European Union member states.
True to its word, Dubai Aerospace Enterprises is teaming with Cranfield University, the preeminent aerospace university in the United Kingdom, to lay the groundwork for a Dubai Aerospace Enterprise University. DAE University will provide a wide range of academic degrees and apprenticeship programs, and is targeted to be fully developed by 2015, when 8,000 students a year will pass through its doors. It will be located within the DAE site at Dubai's Jebel Ali Airport City.
-Epps Aviation (Atlanta) -- Hal S. Spragins, III, who most recently was associated with Pilatus Center South/Epps Aviation, died in Sarasota, Fla. on Jan. 16 after a brief illness. Spragins began his general aviation sales career with Southern Airways (later Hangar One), an independent Beech Aircraft dealer in Atlanta. During his nearly 20 years with that company, Spragins was a leading King Air salesman and helped open a number of Hangar One FBOs in Florida.
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.
General Aviation advocates are hoping Congress will suspend implementation of a new tax law that requires aviation jet fuel vendors to pay the higher diesel fuel tax rate and then apply for a refund for the difference between the highway fuel tax and aviation fuel tax. The Internal Revenue Service started enforcing the rules early this year. And some vendors have reported the agency was threatening to audit companies seeking refunds.
In a dramatic unveiling at February's Heli-Expo, Bell Helicopter introduced its Bell 417. Bell Helicopter CEO Mike Redenbaugh revealed a mock-up of the new model in law enforcement configuration. "The Bell 417 is our answer to the customers' demand for a powerful single-engine helicopter with unmatched hot-and-high hover capability," explained Redenbaugh.
Dallas Airmotive, Dallas, appointed Steve Hubble as a regional engine manager for the Western United States. He will be responsible for sales of the company's TFE731 engine services. Mike Clarke has been promoted to the newly created position of territorial sales director for Scandinavia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Bombardier Aerospace has signed a contract with Petroleum Air Services (PAS) of Cairo, Egypt, for the sale of an additional Bombardier Q300 turboprop airliner, which will bring its Q300 fleet to five aircraft. The list price value for the aircraft on firm order is approximately $17.4 million.
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.
If you want to get a good discussion going in the crew lounge, ask your fellow pilots how they use angle-of-attack (AOA) instrumentation, assuming they use it at all. We did that recently with a number of experienced corporate turbine aircraft pilots and got answers ranging from "I don't -- it's placarded," to very sophisticated descriptions of how alpha can be used to maximize range and endurance.
I have hoped for an article like "What's Wrong With the MU-2" since the press coverage of the May 2004 BWI crash, but the thorough research, interviews of everyone and report on your test flight are well beyond what I could imagine. Thank you for devoting so many of your pages and pointing out some things I can learn about the MU-2.
Yesterday's "navigation fixes" gave way to today's "waypoints," all of which helped define our "course." In the ATC system of the future -- NGATS -- we will be filing for "trajectories."
