The AvCraft Dornier 328Jet gained steep approach approval from German authorities, according to operator club328, which has eight of the aircraft type on order and holds another six options. ``The 328Jet will also gain its LCY [London City Airport] 5.5-degree steep approach approval fairly soon,'' said Warren Seymour, CEO of club328. According to Seymour, the aircraft's wing spoilers are being modified to change them from ground spoilers/lift dumpers to inflight speed brakes, creating drag necessary to achieve steep approach approval.
In the aftermath of the cluster of business jet accidents (see items in this section), corporate and charter safety is a legitimate subject of interest to the general media and the public. Sure enough, there's bad information floating around.
The FAA intends to issue a contract to replace up to 200 ceilometers and 200 visibility sensors on existing AWOS systems. The agency will issue a formal request for offers, with full specifications and qualification requirements shortly. The competition is expected to be open to large and small businesses. The FAA expects to have contracts in place by March 31, with an initial delivery period of 90 days after order. Contact: Rick Conyac, (405) 954-2602, [email protected].
PrivatAir will start Boeing BBJ2 Business-Class-Only service for Swiss International Airlines on scheduled service between Zurich and Newark Liberty International Airport on Jan. 5. Daily return flights will operate six days per week and the aircraft will have 56 lie-flat business-class seats. Geneva-based PrivatAir will provide the aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance as well as onboard service. PrivatAir's scheduled transatlantic business-class-only service started with Lufthansa in 2002.
Robert Agostino, head of Bombardier Business Aircraft's Wichita flight department, just shook his head in disbelief looking back on the past two months of business aviation accidents. A Gulfstream IV slid off a wet runway at Teterboro, attempting to land in blustery conditions in early December. A Challenger 601-1A crashed on takeoff while departing from Montrose, Colo., just after Thanksgiving 2004. Less than a week earlier, a GIII clipped a 125 foot tall light pole more than three miles short of Runway 4 at Houston Hobby Airport, killing all crew members.
YEARS AGO I WAS an executive pilot for Time, Inc., a glamorous job, save one memorable trip. On Nov. 20, 1946, we flew Henry Luce, Time's founder, from New York to Cleveland in the company Lodestar for a business meeting and spent the night. The next day, we discovered a cold front -- with rain, sleet and fog -- was moving rapidly into the Northeast.
BBJs will remain shut out of Teterboro Airport under a provision tacked on to the FY2005 FAA budget. The provision, prohibiting the FAA from using any appropriated funds to change weight restrictions or prior permission rules at Teterboro Airport, was probably placed at the behest of Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.) since he placed a similar provision in the FY2004 appropriation.
As a general aviation pilot, Chris Richardson never questioned the accepted procedure for how to purge the pressure building in his ears during a descent. The basic gist of it is contained in the FAA's Flight Training Handbook (AC 61-21A): ``The person should try swallowing, yawning, or holding the nose and mouth shut and forcibly exhaling.'' The latter technique, also known as the Valsalva maneuver, equalizes the gathering pressure on the outside of the eardrum with a self-generated blast of high-pressure air from the inside.
The NATA Aircraft Maintenance & System Technology Committee has developed a formal list of questions that aircraft owners and operators should ask when considering conducting business with an aircraft service facility. The committee's chairman, David Smith of Jet Aviation, described the initiative as a means by which aircraft owners and operators can eliminate uncertainty and errors when looking for quality maintenance service.
Northern Jet Management, Grand Rapids, Mich., made several recent personnel appointments. David C. Canavesio was named chief financial officer. Lt. Jon David Agema, previously with the U.S. Air Force, and Michael Allen Potts, previously with El Dorado Hotel and Casino, were named pilots. John L. Scicluna, formerly with VP Uniprop, LLC, was added to the company's sales department.
The FAA issued an emergency AD grounding all T-34s (Beech Model 45) following the Dec. 7, 2004, inflight breakup of a T-34 owned by Texas Air Aces, Inc., which also operates as Aviation Safety Training (AST). Texas Air Aces pilot Rick Gillenwaters and his client died. The aircraft was on an Advanced Maneuvering Program (AMP) flight, which is designed to demonstrate techniques for recovering an aircraft after an inadvertent loss of control. Company founder Don Wylie and another pilot were killed in a similar T-34 inflight breakup in 2003.
Concord, Calif.'s Buchanan Field (CCR) is the object of a major real estate developer's intention to replace the airport with 6,000 tract houses and apartments, commercial buildings and a college campus. In November 2004, Shapell Industries submitted a $2.64 million proposal to Buchanan's operator, Contra Costa County, whose review committee had four months to decide whether to accept it.
Diamond Aircraft has received Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) certification for both the Lycoming- and Thielert-powered versions of its DA 40 Diamond Star single. This was preceded in summer 2004 by CAAC certification of the Austrian company's two-seat DA 20-C-1. Beijing PanAm, the first Chinese independent commercial flight-training academy, has ordered a fleet of 41 Diamond Stars and 19 DA 42 Twin Stars, all to be fitted with Garmin G1000 glass cockpits.
Another new product from 3M Aerospace is the 900AST, an advanced systems tester designed to quickly locate wiring faults. The unit incorporates time domain reflectometry (TDR) test functions with traditional multi-tester functions. The unit is programmable and can be customized for specific repeatable tasks. Internal memory storage allows the technician to store known good characteristics of a particular wire, to be used as a reference for identifying insulation breakdown and other problems.
For those days when everything else fails, there's the Lifesaver. Manufactured by Mid-Continent Instruments, Lifesaver is an attitude indicator with a built-in battery backup. So, if every other thing on the instrument panel flags, Lifesaver can help you keep the right side up until you get the ship in the clear and back on the ground. The battery is good for up to one hour. Installation of the 3.7-pound unit involves hooking up one standard four-pin connector.
Despite the flash and dazzle of satcom, ARINC hasn't forgotten its VHF customers. The company recently announced an enhancement to its Air/Ground Domestic VHF voice radio service: direct dialing from air to ground using DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) tone dialing. This direct dial access will allow pilots in the air to route calls to their dispatchers and other ground points by dialing through the ARINC VHF network.
Twin Commander Aircraft, in cooperation with Meggitt Avionics, has special end-of-year discount pricing for a Meggitt MAGIC system for 690A/B Twin Commanders. The package includes MAGIC EFIS (Primary Flight Display and Navigation Display) on the pilot's side, two Meggitt ADAHRS (Air Data Attitude and Heading Reference System), and the new second-generation Meggitt 2100 Digital Flight Control System. The MAGIC package is priced at $99,999, plus $40,000 for installation when done by a participating authorized Twin Commander Meggitt sales and installation center.
December is the last month that aircraft operators that want to perform a major upgrade of their aircraft will be able to take advantage of accelerated bonus depreciation. Recently enacted legislation, which includes a provision that extends the placed-in-service date for large capital assets (such as aircraft) from the end of 2004 to the end of 2005, reportedly does not apply to major capital expenditures such as cabin refurbishment or installation of new engines or major avionics systems.
Brazil's aviation regulator, CTA (Centro Tecnico Aeroespacial), has certified the world's first production ethanol-fueled aircraft, the Embraer EMB 202 Ipanema crop-duster powered by a 300-hp Textron Lycoming IO-540-KIJ5D. Ethanol produced from the country's abundant sugar cane supply is three to four times cheaper than avgas in Brazil. Embraer claims that ethanol is also more environmentally friendly. The downside -- a tank of avgas gives the Ipanema a range of about 435 nm, while its ethanol equivalent provides 305 nm.
Mark Prenger, customer support engineering manager of aircraft wheels and brakes for Goodrich Corp., says pilots need to understand how the newer carbon brakes operate. Historically, pilots tended to keep the pressure off the brakes thinking they were ``using them up,'' but with carbon brakes the opposite is true.
How much maintenance work on an airplane can a pilot do these days? The quick answer is: not much. As aircraft have become increasingly technologically complicated, the opportunities for pilots to perform their own maintenance -- that is, to turn, twist, drain or smack something -- have significantly diminished.
-- FirstFlight Management (Elmira, N.Y.) -- This full-service aviation company, which offers aircraft sales and acquisition in addition to other services, has established a wholly owned business unit at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport. Industry veterans Mike Moore, Toni Drummond and Omar Diaz are staffing the new TEB office.
The NBAA's Joe Ponte announced his retirement effective at the end of November. Ponte came to the NBAA in early 1994 when the organization claimed 3,300 members. Membership passed the 8,000 mark at this year's convention in Las Vegas. As vice president of membership, marketing and regional programs, Ponte directed an aggressive program to attract smaller, one-airplane flight departments along with the larger corporate flight departments that had always been the core of the NBAA's membership.
Business aviation offers an appealing alternative to those who must travel quickly but are weary of the discomforts, security indignities, intrusiveness and schedule constraints so characteristic of the airline experience. Aircraft charter, so-called card membership (a form of block-purchase charter), fractional aircraft ownership, and placing one's own aircraft with a charter/management firm, all offer an escape from the airlines, with gradually escalating freedom and expense as one proceeds from basic charter to whole aircraft ownership.
