Montreal-based Canadian Helicopters, Ltd. has selected the Max-Viz EVS-1000 enhanced vision system for its helicopter operations. Canadian Helicopters operates numerous helicopter models throughout Canada with services including EMS, forestry, utility, mining, construction, police and filming.
The Dec. 28, 2005, crash of a Learjet 35 claimed the lives of pilots Jonathan Martin and Brett Karpy as they were attempting to land at Truckee Tahoe Airport in Truckee, Calif. According to witnesses who spoke with the Sierra Sun newspaper, the Learjet, operated by Skyward Aviation, headquartered at the Washington County Airport in Washington, Pa., rolled sharply to the left on final approach about one mile from the airport boundary. The airplane then nosed over, crashed and exploded in a huge fireball.
Corporate pilot and appellate lawyer Peter Stein has examined workers' compensation issues from the perspective of both a Fortune 100 chief pilot and a litigator who has argued workers' comp cases at the state court level.
TO BE MANAGED OR not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the fees and special charges of an aircraft management firm, or to take up arms against the regulatory complexities and employee demands, and by doing so achieve more business wing for your treasure.
Kathryn O'Leary Higgins was sworn in Jan. 3 as the newest member of the NTSB after being confirmed by the Senate at the end of its 2005 session. The nomination of Higgins to fill the seat vacated by Carol Carmody generated controversy last summer with some safety advocates complaining about her lack of background in transportation safety. ALPA was particularly disappointed because it had been pushing Paul McCarthy, a former naval aviator and 32-year Delta Air Lines pilot, for the slot.
Aircraft brokers and dealers, escrow companies and aircraft title insurers are eagerly awaiting details on how a new international aircraft registry, which is slated to become operational on March 1, will work. Some specific procedures regarding sales transactions need to be clarified, but industry experts hope that a series of seminars to be conducted during the next month will help fill in the blanks.
Delta Air Elite added a Bombardier Challenger 300 and a Learjet 45XR to its charter fleet. Both are 2005 models. The Challenger will be based in Stockton, Calif., while the Learjet will be operating from College Station, Texas.
Heli-Mart Inc. has purchased nine MD 520Ns and one 300C that had been operated by the Phoenix Police Department. A massive inventory of spare parts and engines worth nearly $1.5 million was part of the deal. Both the aircraft and spare parts are available for purchase from Heli-Mart. Contact: Don Nichols at (714) 755-2999 or [email protected]. The Web site is at www.helimart.com.
Marci B. Ammerman, Director of Marketing (AVFUEL Corp., Ann Arbor, Mich.)
I would like to clarify information that Mal Gormley presented in "Fuel Card Fundamentals" in the December 2005 issue (page 98). Avfuel offers the following card programs: Cessna Contract Fuel Card -- Provides owners of all Cessna turbine-powered aircraft with a 20- to 30-percent savings over retail on all jet fuel purchases at over 330 locations in North America, plus over 210 locations internationally. To date, over 1,900 Cessna cards have been issued.
If you have wasted endless hours in the search for slots at ski country airports, watched slots miraculously appear and disappear from your computer screen, or been frustrated by competition for your coveted Aspen slot over Presidents Day weekend, the eSTMP.com service might be of interest. eSTMP.com applies for FAA STMP slots on behalf of registered users. Users log in and submit a "request to obtain an FAA slot" for any domestic airport except JFK, LGA or DCA.
WHEN A CORPORATION with a flight department contracts with a charter company so that the company airplane can fly charter when available, do the pilots still work for the corporation on those flights, or do they work for the charter company? And if there's an accident on one of those charter flights, which company is responsible?
IT WAS JULY 7, 1988, and were we en route in a Navajo to Baffin Island, Canada, from Kulusuk, Greenland. We were at 12,000 feet, about 20 miles off the coast, the sky above was crystal clear and the undercast 3,000-4,000 feet below lay smooth as far as the eye could see. It was very quiet except for the throb of the engines. Then a familiar voice came over the radio. "Does anyone read 55 November?" "Clark," I said, surprised, "is that you?" "Pat, is that you?"
Seattle-based Raisbeck Engineering has won FAA approval of its enhanced performance package (EPIC) for King Air C90s, which increases the gross weight of the aircraft to 10,350 pounds. This represents a 250-pound increase over the C90B gross weight and a 700-pound increase over earlier C90 models. Raisbeck says the increase allows C90 operators to fly with "full fuel and significantly more payload." The mod also improves runway performance, including takeoff, accelerate/go and accelerate/stop distances.
JSSI, Chicago, recently hired Douglas Taylor as western region sales manager. He will be based out of the Carlsbad, Calif., office. John de Havilland has taken the position of regional sales representative for the United Kingdom and the Middle East.
A BREAKING STORY ON CNN caught my attention as well as everyone who happened to walk past a television around noon on Nov. 17, 2005. There on the screen was a King Air 200 making a precautionary approach to Fulton County Airport-Brown Field (FTY) -- my airport -- in Atlanta. The twin's right main would not extend. The pilot's plan was to touch down on the left main hard enough to dislodge the right main from its retracted state. I watched transfixed.
New Pig has released its 415-page 2006 catalog of safety and disaster mitigation products. In your worst nightmare, you could not imagine the heart-stopping array of misfortunes, accidents, leaks and spills listed in the table of contents. But there's plenty of comfort for the potentially afflicted in the enormous variety of containment, mitigation and prevention solutions listed in the catalog.
The FAA has incorporated relatively minor changes to the Service Difficulty Report (SDR) program while formally withdrawing a more sweeping rule that some industry groups believed would have increased their paperwork burden substantially and pushed up their costs by millions of dollars. However, the FAA is making some changes to the program, including extending the reporting time for submitting SDRs to 96 hours from 72 hours, requiring certificate holders to submit the reports directly to the Oklahoma City office and allowing electronic submission of the reports.
The ethanol-fueled, Brazilian-built Ipanema agricultural aircraft has been recognized as among the top 50 worldwide inventions of 2005 by Scientific American magazine. Built by Neiva, an Embraer subsidiary, the Ipanema is the world's first production aircraft certified for flying with ethanol fuel. In naming the 2005 winners, the magazine's editors and expert advisers identified noteworthy trends in technology in a number of research fields.
Linear Air, a startup air-taxi service, announced it has closed $2.5 million of additional funding, which will cover initial deposits on 30 Eclipse 500s and support the company's expansion in Boston, New York and the Caribbean. "Linear Air's strategy with the VLJ market has given us credibility with investors and with Eclipse, which has recognized our success by putting us near the head of the line with our jet order," said William Herp, CEO and president of Linear Air. The funding round comprises new and existing investors, mostly private individuals.
GAMA's third quarter 2005 numbers for general aviation showed shipments rose to 2,423 units, and billings rose to $10.3 billion. "Our industry is very satisfied with the positive numbers," said GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce. "This is an affirmation that the efficiency and advanced capabilities of general aviation products are very attractive to markets around the world." Shipments of piston-powered airplanes manufactured worldwide increased to 1,685 units in the first three quarters of 2005, up from 2004's 1,342.
The U.K.'s Corporate Jet Services, parent company of executive jet services operator Club328, has bought the principal businesses of AvCraft Aerospace GmbH. The contract covers engineering, maintenance and refurbishment, product support, the spare parts business, and the type certificate for the Dornier 328Jet and 328 turboprop. AvCraft Aerospace GmbH will become 328 Support Services GmbH, a new wholly owned German subsidiary of CJS. The deal became effective Jan.
At the NBAA in Washington, D.C. (www.nbaa.org), Mike Nichols can assist flight department managers in understanding the tax, insurance and liability implications of using independent contractors as temporary flight crewmembers. Nichols can be contacted at [email protected].
