Smiths Group is buying Integrated Aerospace Inc., a privately owned, California-based supplier of specialty landing gear systems, for $110 million. Smiths expects to complete the acquisition later this month, pending regulatory approvals. Integrated Aerospace manufactures landing gear for small aircraft, including U.S. military helicopters, fighter aircraft, business jets and unmanned aerial vehicles. The company also makes external fuel tanks for fighters and helicopters.
Rockwell Collins received FAA approval for paperless flight operations on a Challenger 601 equipped with the company's dual Integrated Flight Information System. The system is integrated with the Challenger 601's Pro Line 21 retrofit avionics system.
Here's the dilemma: Blakey, a proven performer in the FAA job, has been mentioned as a possible successor to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta if he were to leave the Cabinet. And there's no indication she would not be fully up to the job. But Mineta's spokesmen say he still enjoys running the DOT. On the plus side, he's a Democrat and a former congressman who has transcended party politics in the execution of his job, acknowledged by all to have the best of intentions. And he's been active across the transportation spectrum, not just in the aviation sector.
Enterprise Jet Center has broken ground for a new $7.5 million, 300,000-square-foot facility on a 16-acre site at Houston Hobby Airport. Scheduled to open in spring 2005, the new facility will feature a 9,750-square-foot canopy deep enough for Gulfstream V or Global Express aircraft. It will also be able to handle the fuselage and wingspan of a Boeing 737 up to the tail. The canopy will lead into a 28,500-square-foot terminal office building featuring a two-story atrium lobby with airport views.
Aviation Technology Group (ATG), developer of the fighter-like Javelin, has appointed Horst Bergmann, former Jeppesen president and CEO, as its full-time Executive Vice Chairman, the number two position in the company. In addition to sitting on the ATG board, Bergmann will oversee marketing, sales, risk management, legal affairs and human resources. For information go to www.avtechgroup.com.
Rolls-Royce said that the market for business jets is on the upturn, and predicted stronger deliveries beginning in 2005. The company projects more than 500 aircraft deliveries for 2004, on par with 2003 levels. Revealed in the company's latest business jet forecast, covering the 2004 to 2023 market, the industry is in the beginning of a stronger market for business aircraft as virtually all of the key market driver indicators have turned positive and are trending up, said Ian Aitken, president, Corporate and Regional Aircraft for Rolls-Royce.
Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot is being promoted by its publisher as a ``plain English guide to everything essential for every pilot.'' The 394-page book covers a multitude of subjects from Airspace to Zulu time. The text format uses varied font, bold and underlining effects designed to highlight key concepts for ready reference. The graphics include simple diagrams with dialog balloons providing added detail. The purpose of the book is to make understandable often indecipherable, bureaucratese-laden regulations. Price: $59.95
Socata claims the TBM 700 is the first high-performance, single-engine turboprop to gain EASA RVSM approval. Of the 300 TBM 700s built to date, the company reports that two-thirds of them are flying in the United States.
Aircraft Braking Systems Corp., Akron, Ohio, was selected by Dassault Aviation to supply the wheels, carbon brakes and brake control system for the new Falcon 7X and for the recently announced Falcon 900DX. ABSC's main wheel is a single web configuration designed to provide maximum brake envelope. This feature, in combination with ABSC's high-capacity carbon brakes, provides increased landing and braking performance.
ARINC, an Annapolis, Md.-based transportation communications and systems engineering company, and RVSM expert AeroMech have teamed to provide RVSM solutions for Hawker 700 business jets. The packages cover Hawkers using Collins ADC-80 air-data computers and those using dual Collins 590A air-data sensors.
Business Jet Technologies expects to win FAA certification of its RVSM package for Gulfstream IIs and IIIs this month. The company, which also provides hush kits from its facilities in Dallas and Tulsa, has developed a $175,000 RVSM package that involves installing dual Shadin ADC-7000 air-data computers. The solution, similar to one developed by Business Jet Technologies for early-model Citations, takes between five and seven days to install and is available as a kit.
Rockwell Collins Airshow 21 cabin management systems will now come as standard equipment on the Hawker 800XP and Gulfstream G350 and G450 business jets. Raytheon says the 800XP system features a new 3.8-inch touch-screen interface as well as a touch-screen remote and 15-inch bulkhead monitor that provides moving maps and Airshow Network programming, among other features. The system also provides passengers with CD and DVD input options.
Larry, we're going down!'' Those words were uttered by Roger Petit just seconds before their Air Florida 737 hit Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge less than one minute after takeoff from National Airport. It's ironic that as ``Palm 90'' waited patiently on that snowy Jan. 13, 1982, Capt. Larry Wheaton pointed at the run-up pad and said, ``THAT's where we should be deicing.'' Wheaton went to an icy grave in the Potomac River not knowing how right he was.
Spirit Wing Aviation says it can transform a Learjet 25 into a Stage III and RVSM compliant, fuel-efficient light jet capable of flying seven passengers more than 1,600 nm with NBAA IFR reserves for as little as $2.2 million, according to Calvin Burgess, the Guthrie, Okla.-based firm's president. The key is replacing the aircraft's original 2,950-pounds-thrust GE CJ610-6 or -8A turbojets with 2,400-pounds-thrust Williams International FJ44-2C turbofans -- plus pressurization, hydraulic, electrical and fuel system updates, along with RVSM-compliant avionics.
Hillwood began construction of a 30,181-square-foot expansion to the existing hangar at its Alliance FBO at Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The new space, which will be completed in February 2005, will allow the facility to accommodate eight additional aircraft. The runways at Fort Worth Alliance Airport will also be extended from 9,600 feet to 11,000 feet. The project includes relocating a section of Texas Highway 156 and a rail line.
GE Transportation and Honda Motor Co. have formed a joint venture, GE Honda Aero Engines, to develop and certify Honda's -118 turbofan. The new engine will be certified within three years of customer launch, which is expected within the next year, according to Gary Leonard, who will jointly head the new company with Honda's Atsukuni Waragai. The 1,600-pounds-thrust HF-118 is the basis of an engine family that will range from 1,000 to 3,500 pounds of thrust.
Proposed Rules Eurocopter EC130 B4 and AS350B, C and D helicopters -- Remove and modify the fuel-bleed lever. Dassault Falcon 10 airplanes -- Perform repetitive inspections of the piston rod of the drag strut actuator of the nose landing gear for cracks and take corrective actions, if necessary. Raytheon Beech King Air 100, 200 and 300 airplanes -- Repetitively inspect fuselage stringers for cracks and modify and repair them as required. Final Rules
An enhanced Learjet 60 ``Special Edition'' was unveiled at October's NBAA Convention by Bombardier as the latest business jet to be ``refreshed'' with a package of former options as standard equipment. The Special Edition will now become the production standard for that aircraft, with more than $1 million worth of former options. As an extra incentive to buy that model, all those purchased before the end of this year will include a comprehensive maintenance, warranty and training package. The first Special Edition was delivered as the 275th Learjet 60 off the line.
Eclipse Aviation now has 2,126 orders for the $1.32 million Eclipse 500, with 65 of those orders signed since January. ``We thought we wouldn't have any for the first half of this year because of the engine change announcement. We've booked 25 more just since EBACE,'' Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn told B/CA. The Eclipse is on track to achieve March 2006 FAA type certification and customer deliveries. Although the first prototype has yet to fly with production PW610F engines, Raburn claims that one-quarter of all development work has been completed.
At the same briefing at the NBAA Convention, NBAA President Ed Bolen stated that the General Aviation Coalition, a semi-informal alliance among 16 general aviation associations, has worked well in the past and will continue to be useful when the full membership weight of interests, ranging from sport pilots to airframe manufacturers, needs to be brought to bear on government officials or legislators.
QinetiQ purchased Aerospace Filtration Systems, Inc. (AFS), which designs and manufactures high-performance engine inlet barrier filtration systems for helicopters, and its parent company, Westar Aerospace & Defense Group, Inc. AFS will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Westar, and its corporate headquarters will remain in St. Louis, Mo. QinetiQ is a science and technology solutions company, employing more than 9,000 people.
American Eurocopter will deliver 55 EC 120 helicopters to the U.S. Border Patrol under a $75 million contract announced on Oct. 4 by the Department of Homeland Security. The helicopters will be assembled and delivered at a new Eurocopter facility in Columbus, Miss., and will replace Vietnam-era military surplus helicopters currently operated by the Border Patrol. Eurocopter cites the EC 120's low noise as a major advantage in the Border Patrol mission, which covers many areas of protected wildlife habitat.
DeCrane Aircraft and Audio International are looking for launch customers for two new DO-160-qualified cabin management systems. The Serial Digital Cabin, in development for the past eight months, offers studio-quality digital audio and video distribution in a system that can interface with open market equipment. The e-Cabin, in development for the past two years, features Ethernet with a gigabit-capacity digital backbone, universal plug and play, and synchronized audio and video. The companies will begin beta testing both products early next year.
The FAA awarded Bombardier Aerospace a contract for a new Global 5000 business jet to operate as an airborne R&D lab for the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J. Its special 1,882-cubic-foot interior will be designed and installed by Midcoast Aviation in St. Louis for delivery in September 2005. This special-mission Global 5000 will join a fleet of 11 Bombardier Challenger 604, Bombardier Challenger 601 and Bombardier Learjet 60 business jets currently deployed by the FAA.
There's a medevac version of the EADS Socata TBM 700. The AeroSled PLUS installation is designed by Lifeport, Inc. of Woodland, Wash., and will undergo performance and utility testing over the next nine months. The Patient Loading Utility System (PLUS) is a self-contained module with full life support capabilities that can be installed in the same time it takes to refuel, says the company. The system mounts directly to existing hardpoints and seat tracks and weighs less than 160 pounds.
