In his opening remarks at the 2005 Canadian Business Aviation Association convention in Vancouver, organization President Rich Gage made a provocative statement. Referring to the increasingly isolationist ``Fortress America'' posture assumed by the Bush Administration since 9/11, Gage stated, ``If there's trouble brewing [for Canadian business aviation operators], this is where you're going to find it.'' Recently, B&CA asked the articulate Gage to elaborate on his CBAA convention remarks.
Delta AirElite Business Jets teamed with Enterprise Rent-A-Car to provide a package of special benefits to Delta's jet charter clients. Beyond preferred rates, Enterprise will deliver and pick up Delta clients' cars at most general aviation terminals as well as provide a complimentary upgrade from ``Premium'' to ``Luxury'' class vehicles when available.
A charter flight full of vacationers was about to depart for home from Mexico City when a mechanical problem put the Boeing 707 back in the gate. All the passengers were off-loaded and then kept around the departure gate for seven hours while the aircraft was restored to flying health. However, by then the crew had run out of duty time and could only make it across the border.
Steve Summers unwittingly may have set a record on Aug. 30. He pumped 14,000 gallons of fuel -- by himself -- in one day. The operations manager for Signature Flight Support's base at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) was the only person on the airport pumping fuel in the first few days after Hurricane Katrina, and he may have been the only person in New Orleans pumping jet fuel those first few days.
Precision Castparts Corp. is scheduled to close its purchase of Special Metals Corp. in the third quarter. The $540 million deal lacks only regulatory approval, the company said. PCC is a diversified manufacturer of complex metal components for a number of industries, including aerospace, where it supplies investment castings, airfoil castings and forged components used in jet aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines.
FlightSafety International has developed a Twin Commander aircraft training program in Houston. The program includes initial and recurrent training for pilots and maintenance personnel. FlightSafety has installed two Level A Twin Commander simulators that will be used in the training. The Houston learning center also trains those who fly and maintain Bombardier Challenger, Raytheon King Air and Hawker, Embraer regional jets and ATR turboprop aircraft.
AS OF NOV. 17, 2003, ``eligible'' charter operations have been able to shoot instrument approaches to airports without weather reporting and plan flights to airports where they can land in 80 percent of the available runway length instead of the standard 60 percent planning requirement.
CAE has signed a 10-year agreement with U.K.-based Virgin Atlantic Airways to provide pilot training for the carrier's entire fleet of Airbus A340-600 and Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The contract also includes an option for Airbus A380 training. The programs include ground school as well as simulator training at CAE's Burgess Hill, U.K., center. Existing A340-600 and B747-400 simulators will be redeployed from other CAE training sites to Burgess Hill by summer 2006 for this purpose.
He remembered the pilot had ``that way'' about him. An easy comfort in the cockpit; a manner and presence that only happens when flight time is measured in five figures, many of them in the very same cockpit. In his early 60s, this pilot had been flying this particular Gulfstream I for over 30 years -- he and the airplane had been together since they were both green.
For most helicopter pilots, formal training about the dangers of wire strikes consisted of little more than a slide show of crumpled helicopters and an admonishment to ``Avoid wires. They will kill you.'' Recognizing a need to provide pilots with more practical information about the hazards, Robert Feerst, president of Utilities Aviation Specialists, Inc., Crown Point, Ind., created a series of seminars designed specifically for those who fly in the wire environment.
Shock Trauma Air Rescue is upgrading its fleet. The public safety EMS helicopter unit operated by Travis County, Texas, is replacing its two Eurocopter EC 135s with two larger, heavier-lifting EC 145s. Powered by two Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 engines, the EC 145 is capable of carrying one pilot and nine passengers. With a 132-knot cruise, an advanced glass cockpit, IFR package with digital autopilot for both single- or dual-pilot applications and endurance of nearly four hours, the EC145 can perform a broader range of missions, said Travis County officials.
``War on Error'' is the theme of Bombardier 2005 Safety Standdown, which will be held October 25 through 27 in Wichita. The objective of this annual three-day conference is to improve corporate aviation safety, and the material covered is applicable to all business jet aircraft regardless of manufacturer. Session topics will include medical and emergency training, international operations, recurrent training, the ``global war on error,'' fatigue countermeasures, high-altitude physiology, advanced aerodynamics, professionalism, performance and safety.
On June 15, 2005, the owner/pilot of a small piston-powered helicopter was returning home to Cherokee County Airport near Jacksonville, Texas, after conducting business in Shreveport, La. Around 8 a.m. eyewitnesses near the small town of Rusk, Texas, watched the helicopter, which was following a highway, descend into unmarked power lines. The little aircraft crashed to the ground, killing the pilot -- the 31st civilian to die in five years due to wire strikes in the United States.
AirClassics Flight Bags are designed and engineered to be functional and able to stand up to the toughest treatment. The bags are black with silver wings logo, and are made of fully padded 1000D nylon for extreme durability. They feature wraparound carry straps for strength, a non-slip detachable shoulder strap, and high-quality single-pull zippers on the main compartments.
Rockwell Collins reported a 20-percent increase in sales for its fiscal 2005 third quarter. Sales totaled $890 million, the company said, and net income was up 33 percent over the third quarter of fiscal 2004, reaching $101 million, or 56 cents per share. Government and commercial segments of the company contributed to the growth almost equally, with the commercial segment reporting a 20-percent growth in sales over third quarter 2004, and the government segment, which provides defense electronics and communications systems, reporting a 19-percent increase.
Embraer's newest facility will have a soft footprint on the native forest. The Brazilian manufacturer is reforesting the 6.56-square-mile site at Gavio Peixoto with about 600,000 native trees of 135 species. Currently the reforestation is about 80 percent complete. The reforestation program is the result of an Embraer study of the environmental impact of building an aerospace design and development facility in So Paulo's agricultural heartland, where the typical farmer grows oranges and sugarcane.
Eclipse Aviation had two of its Eclipse 500 flight-test aircraft performing flybys for attendees at the recent EAA AirVenture. Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn expects his company to build and deliver 120 to 130 new VLJs in 2006. It will ramp up to 600 to 700 aircraft annually in 2007 and remain at that level for a year or two while officials assess the market.
B&CA is looking for a staff editor. The ideal candidate will be a licensed pilot or mechanic and have familiarity with business aviation along with a solid foundation in basic journalistic skills and the ability to research and present highly technical and complex subject matter. Our readers have a low fluff tolerance and are intolerant of factual errors. The position involves writing features, departments, sidebars and captions. The job involves considerable domestic and some international travel in pursuit of stories.
HORSES' BRAINS ARE modestly sized for the massive bodies they control, a kind arrangement, I suppose, if your fate is to be a beast of burden. But most of the equines I've encountered wouldn't know a plow harness from a hula hoop. Rather they're the pampered darlings of well-off exurbanites, or four-legged cops that stand around a lot, or desultory dobbins who plod along tired paths with half-pint Hopalongs giddyapping on their backs.
In the next two to three years, passengers aboard large business jets may witness advances in cabin productivity on a scale not seen since the the first air-to-ground radio-telephones made their debut aboard corporate aircraft decades ago. Business jet manufacturers and avionics firms have talked up airborne office data-link communications capabilities for more than a decade, but the relatively small communications pipe between airborne offices and ground offices has been the main choke point.
The FAA has squelched a proposal to allow inflight mobile phone use, at least for the time being. The agency said it disagreed with the Federal Communications Commission's decision to possibly lift the 14-year-old ban. The administration insists that airlines will have to prove that the phones are not disruptive to airline navigation and are safe to use.
Jet Engineering Technical Support (JETS) has become the first British firm to win Civil Aviation Authority approval to carry out base and line maintenance on the jet and turboprop versions of the Dornier 328. JETS' hangar at Southampton is capable of holding three Dornier 328s. The company has mechanical and avionics workshops, plus a dedicated paint bay, which can accommodate most small- to medium-size commercial aircraft. JETS is currently licensed for line and base maintenance for the earliest Hawkers to the latest Hawker 800XP.
Philip J. Klass, former editor with Aviation Week & Space Technology, died Aug. 9, in Merritt Island, Fla. He was 85. An Iowa native, Klass graduated from Iowa State University in Ames in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Following graduation, he joined General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y., as an engineer. After 11 years in industry, he joined Aviation Week as a technical journalist.
In its recently issued final rule regarding the compliance of newly certificated aircraft with the Stage 4 noise standard, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2006, the FAA reiterated its official position that it has no plans to require a phase out of Stage 3 aircraft already in service.
