Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc., of Houston, Tex., has released upgrades to its online Trip Status service. Trip Status offers registered users current information about their trips when working with Universal's Trip Support Services.
Cessna Aircraft (Wichita) -- Dane Jenning, the company's director of used Citation aircraft, is retiring effective August 1. He plans to launch his own aviation-related company in the near future.
Elliott Aviation is working toward an FAA STC to upgrade the cockpit on the Falcon 10/100 aircraft with a Universal EFI 890R large-format instrument suite that will include air data computers for RVSM compliance; a UNS-1F FMS; TAWS; Universal Vision-1 synthetic vision; Universal cockpit display with electronic charts, checklist and WSI Nexrad weather; TCAS II; airborne collision avoidance system; weather radar; and Stormscope sensor data.
The FAA's underlying charge against Platinum is that it ``did not hold an air carrier certificate under FAR Part 119, did not have operations specifications to operate under Part 135 and was not authorized to engage in common carriage.'' The FAA said Platinum had leased three Challenger 600s from three different entities: N370V from 448 Alliance, LLC of Dallas; N60S from 60 S LLC, of Lake Park, Fla.; and N260V from DDH Aircraft Corp. of Dallas. On Nov.
Jet Source, Carlsbad, Calif., named Ron Mahan chief pilot for the company. He will direct the flight operations department with responsibility for building the staff and coordinating crewmember planning. Mahan has over 19 years of combined experience as a professional pilot and flight department manager .
The Garmin G1000 integrated avionics system will be standard on the Diamond D-JET personal jet. The G1000 integrates primary flight, navigation, communication, terrain, traffic, weather, engine instrumentation and crew-alerting system data on three high-definition displays -- two primary flight displays and a centrally located multi-function display. The five-seat D-JET will cruise at 315 knots and have a maximum operating altitude of 25,000 feet. Diamond expects to begin deliveries in early 2007.
Le Bourget in Paris is to get a new FBO passenger terminal with work scheduled to start in 2006. A multi-story building, adjacent to the north end of its five UTA hangars, is to be completely refurbished and offer homes to several FBOs, according to Philippe Platek of Aeroports de Paris, which owns the airfield. The building once housed the restaurant for UTA airline workers.
For the third consecutive year, Pan Am International Flight Academy's (PAIFA's) Career Pilot Development Campus in Phoenix received the FAA's Diamond Award of Excellence. The award is granted to aviation maintenance technicians and their employers for their participation in initial and recurrent training to assure safety as part of the FAA Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) awards program.
The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI), awarded Nick Frisch, director of Flight Training at Galvin Flying Services, Inc., in Seattle, the Jack J. Eggspuehler Award. The award is presented in recognition of an outstanding contribution to aviation education and training.
Embraer's ERJ 145, which was to be modified as the ``Aerial Common Sensor'' for the U.S. Army and Navy under the leadership of Lockheed Martin, has been dropped for the mission on the grounds that the airframe is now considered too small for its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensor packages -- despite the aircraft having met the original selection specifications in 2004. At press time, sources at both companies said that the Army was evaluating larger aircraft types.
The White House on July 14 sent two DHS-related nominations to the Senate. President Bush nominated Stewart Baker, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, to serve as assistant secretary of homeland security for policy, a new position. He also nominated Tracy Henke to be executive director of the state and local government coordination and preparedness office at the DHS.
Mooney Airplane Co. CEO Gretchen Jahn and aviatrix Ruby Sheldon were awarded 10th place in the Air Race Classic. The world's only all-women transcontinental air race drew 42 teams in June, and over the course of the four-day race beginning at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind., pilots covered more than 2,000 nm before circling back to the finish line in Lafayette.
Sovereign Bank (Philadelphia) -- Joseph Dini has been appointed senior vice president and director of the financial services company's Aviation Finance Group. Dini oversees a team of six individuals and a dozen lenders who provide financing and leasing for private and corporate aircraft. Dini formerly was vice president and group manager of Merrill Lynch Capital. Earlier he served as managing director of the GMAC Commercial Finance Business Aviation Finance Group and founded the business aviation finance group of Finova Capital Corp.
The Keystone Group, from Niwot, Colo., introduces a battery-powered alternative to road flares for hazard warning needs. Road flares can easily ignite spilled gasoline or kerosene vapor, and burn the clothes or skin of even the most experienced user. The FlareAlert contains 12 high-output LEDs that make the unit visible for miles, from both the ground and air. However, unlike other battery-powered safety flares, the FlareAlert has a built-in magnetic base that allows the unit to be temporarily mounted on a disabled vehicle for increased visibility.
Delta AirElite is offering revenue and flight hour guarantee programs to qualifying aircraft owners enrolled in its charter management program. The guarantees are based on aircraft type, availability for charter flying and geographic base location. ``Several of our aircraft management clients generated more than $1 million in charter revenue in 2004 that helped offset their aircraft ownership costs,'' said Michael B. Green, Delta AirElite's president and CEO.
FAA Notice 8400.83 indicated that in addition to those elements of operational control that relate to safety of flight under FAR Part 135, principal operations inspectors (POIs) would also be looking at charter operators' business practices. Consequently, Dennis Keith of Jet Solutions says, the Notice has caused ``some trepidation'' in the charter community.
The FAA has issued a Handbook Bulletin to help resolve conflicting enforcement issues regarding maintenance requirements under FAR Part 135.411. A key point is whether aircraft operated under Part 135 are certificated for nine or fewer passenger seats or for 10 or more. For many years, the FAA had permitted Part 135 operators who fly aircraft originally certificated for more than nine seats to operate them under less stringent maintenance requirements if the aircraft was configured with nine or fewer passenger seats.
NTSB member Richard Healing announced his retirement from the Safety Board, effective Aug. 1. On the board since March 2003, Healing was a strong advocate of enhanced safety for helicopters in air medical and offshore operations, corporate aviation, human factors, unmanned aircraft systems and aircraft rescue and fire fighting.
Elliott Aviation, the Midwestern business aircraft sales and support organization, is seeking an STC for a flat-panel upgrade of the Falcon 10 and 100 cockpits. The avionics modernization program will involve replacing aging electromechanical flight instruments with a Universal 890R large-format instrument suite that will incorporate an array of advanced capabilities to accommodate cur-rent and emerging navigation and safety technologies.
Airnet Systems, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, announced that Wynn D. Peterson has been promoted to senior vice president of Jetride Services, AirNet's passenger charter services business. Also, Ray L. Druseikis has been appointed vice president of finance and controller of AirNet Systems, Inc.
Elliott Aviation's Aircraft Charter Department has received the Flying Safety Award from the NBAA for excellence in commercial aircraft operations. This year marks the 19th consecutive year that Elliott has received the award, culminating in over 30,500 hours of accident- and incident-free aircraft operations.
It is a sad truism in aviation that certain accidents serve as watershed events, not only jarring the industry to sit up and take notice but often changing the way we do things.
Cornerstone Logic, Inc, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., provider of FBO Manager software, announce a wireless fuel transaction management solution. Fuel trucks equipped with Veeder-Root fuel meters and EMR3 electronic sending unit, electronically captures fueling data and transmits to the FBO's computer system. Once the data is received, the FBO Manager software instantly retrieves the data and generates an invoice. The system eliminates pen and paper at the fuel truck and the possibility of mistakes by the driver.
For the second consecutive year the Aviation Research Group/U.S. (ARG/ US) Salary & Benefit database shows an increase in the average number of crewmembers per aircraft within the corporate flight department. This ratio, an indicator of flight department staffing levels, is up 2.4 percent at 2.08 vs. 2.03 in 2004. Also following the same trend as the previous year the average number of flight hours to crewmembers is showing a decrease of 7.28 percent at 220.99, down slightly from last year's 238.36.
The National Aircraft Resale Associa-tion (NARA) has established a $25,000 endowment plan with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Interest generated from the account will be used to provide scholarships to an incoming freshman at the Florida college, based on financial need and academic achievement. Association members who wish to contribute to the NARA Business Aviation Scholarship fund can contact: Diane Levine-Wilson AMSTAT Corporation 44 Apple St. Tinton Falls, N.J. 07724
