ExcelAire added a Gulfstream V based at ISP to its charter fleet, which includes four GIIIs, one GII-SP and a GII-TT. Headquartered at Long Island's MacArthur Airport (ISP), ExcelAire is a full-service business aviation provider offering FAR Part 135 jet and helicopter charter, aircraft management and maintenance. ExcelAire's wholly owned subsidiary, Eastway Aircraft Services, is a Part 145 Repair Station, specializing in heavy jet and helicopter maintenance, and is also based at ISP. For more information on ExcelAire, visit www.excelaire.com.
IT WAS WINTER IN North Dakota and I'd done my time and paid my dues flight instructing through enough brutal, sub-zero blizzards -- the ones so cold they turn airplane oil into a congealed blob. All it took was one travel brochure featuring palm trees, gin-clear waters and the eye-opening revelation that it was possible to fly in tropical paradise and still be on American territory. Suddenly, I was Eastern Air Lines bound to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Dallas Airmotive, Dallas, has named Allan Douglas Meador vice president and general manager of its Forest Park maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.
GAMA's board of directors does not appear to be in a rush to find a permanent replacement for Ed Bolen, who left the association to head the NBAA. In fact, the board will probably wait until after the November election before spooling up a serious search for a successor. Ron Swanda, GAMA's senior vice president of operations and a 22-year veteran of the organization, is interim president. Swanda has served on numerous government advisory committees including NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System and is a member of RTCA's Program Management Committee.
The Global 5000, Bombardier's new contender for Junior Heavyweight Champion, is certainly raising eyebrows in Bordeaux and Savannah. For this competition, the folks in Montreal decided to whack 32 inches out of the fuselage of the Global Express and nearly $12 million out of its list price to create a large-cabin airplane that's poised to take on the best from Dassault and Gulfstream in the $35 million class.
FlightSafety's new training center at TAG's Farnborough facility will include both regional turboprops and business aircraft. The mix includes the Beech 1900D and Saab 340 as well as the Beech King Air B200, Citation CJ2, Citation Bravo, Gulfstream IV and the Hawker 800XP. The center has 14 bays and more simulators will be added later. Simulator installation will start in January 2005, with JAA approvals completed before the official opening at the end of first quarter 2005, says the company.
The U.S. presidential candidates outlined their achievements for general aviation. When asked by the AOPA about the most important actions they have taken as elected officials to support general aviation, President Bush highlighted his signing of the Vision 100 -- Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act, while John Kerry touted his support of the General Aviation Revitalization Act. AOPA Pilot magazine posed a series of questions to the campaigns on general aviation issues.
The FAA has awarded a class four rating to Million Air Salt Lake City's Aircraft Repair Station Certificate. The additional designation, the highest classification possible, allows the Salt Lake facility to conduct maintenance and repairs on almost every kind of fixed-wing aircraft. Million Air announced it is the only maintenance facility in Utah to receive a class four rating.
Williams International's 1,568-pound-thrust FJ33-4A-15 turbofan engine received formal type certification from the FAA on Sept. 10. While most testing was completed over a year ago, Williams said the company delayed the final certification program to incorporate its dual channel, FADEC, sensor suite and software that Williams recently certified as part of the FJ44-3 engine. President Gregg Williams said, ``We achieved all performance goals with large efficiency and temperature margins.
Word One's Fatigue Risk Management Course examines the relationship between fatigue and actual maintenance and inspection failures. Topics in this computer-based course include: understanding the causes and effects of fatigue, how to detect fatigue in yourself and others, and how to recover from and prevent fatigue. The course was designed to meet the training and education requirements of Transport Canada's CAR 573.16. The course takes about 90 minutes and can be performed on a Windows 2000 or higher PC with CD-ROM drive. Price: Dependent on number of users
A decade ago, Bombardier's Global Express moved toward full integration of avionics and airframe systems with the goal of cutting weight, boosting reliability and improving diagnostics. With the Global 5000, that integration moves to the cabin with the Airshow 21 cabin electronics system.
Rockwell Collins has been selected by NetJets Services to provide avionics maintenance and technical support to its Gulfstream G200 and Raytheon Hawker 400XP fleets. Under two separate 10-year agreements, Collins Aviation Services will provide NetJets with forward exchange avionics support, which covers all aspects of maintaining the Collins avionics onboard the aircraft, including repairs, reliability upgrades and equipment removal and refit.
Five Hawaiian airports received $23.3 million in Airport Improvement Program grants from the U.S. DOT to update infrastructure and increase capacity. Of the total, the DOT gave $13.7 million to Honolulu International Airport for several projects, including the rehabilitation of six taxiways, new electrical and air conditioning systems for the terminal building, and roof repair. The airport also will use the new funds to update its master plan and complete a noise compatibility study.
The FAA is working to install a software patch in the Voice Switching Systems installed at Los Angeles Center and 20 other centers and facilities across the United States. The goal is to fix the glitch that shut down the system at the Palmdale center and shut off radio communications between center controllers and as many as 800 aircraft under the center's control Sept. 14 at 1700 local. The voice switches routes and controls communications between a controller and the radio systems -- as well as among the controllers themselves.
Corporate Angel Network, the national public charity that uses the empty seats on corporate and fractional jets to provide free air transportation for cancer patients traveling to treatment, said it arranged a record-breaking 242 patient flights in August. This, on the heels of July's previous all-time record of 217 flights arranged in a single month.
Pete West, the NBAA's senior vice president of government and public affairs, will leave the organization on Nov. 1. For much of his 17 years with the NBAA, West has been its principal representative on Capitol Hill, helping draft legislation, lobbying Congress and working to promote the interests and concerns of business aviation operators. Newly installed President Ed Bolen is also acknowledged to be a master congressional lobbyist and may take a far more active role on Capitol Hill than did his predecessors at the NBAA.
Kathleen M. Blouin, Vice President, Conventions & Seminars, NBAA, Washington, D.C. A onetime buyer for Belk Stores Services in New York, Blouin later joined B/CA where she managed Show Daily (now called ShowNews) at conventions around the world. She moved to the NBAA staff in 1992 as senior manager, convention services, and today heads a 10-person department that, in addition to the annual meeting, oversees business conventions in Europe, Brazil and, soon, Asia, as well as seminars and regional forums.
Cessna has authorized Atlantic Aero in Greensboro, N.C., to perform non-destructive inspections on Citation aircraft. This includes radiography, eddy current, ultrasonic, liquid penetrant, magnetic particle and bond testing. Atlantic Aero is an FAA repair station.
In September, Cessna Aircraft Co. released Class A Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) Service Bulletins for several Citation models: 525 Citation CJ Mark V and Mark VIII; 550 Citation Bravo Mark VII and VIII; 560 Citation Ultra Mark VIII; 550 Citation II Mark VIII; and 650 Citation VII. Service Bulletins for Sandel Class A and Class B TAWS solutions will be available this month, the company said.
Day 1 -- Screening Day An ORBIS volunteer doctor and a local doctor join together to form a ``training partnership.'' They meet in person for the first time, although they usually have been e-mailing or faxing one another to discuss cases, training requirements and any needed resources. The local doctor presents a list of approximately 30 cases that he is unable to treat due to lack of skills or equipment. The two doctors then review the list and assess each patient's suitability for treatment.
In 1972, Dr. David Paton had a vision. The chairman of the Baylor College of Medicine's ophthalmology department, who had co-designed a specially equipped bus for delivering eye care in inner-city Houston, wanted to take the concept of mobile eye care international. He discussed with his friend Betsy Trippe DeVecchi the idea of outfitting an airplane so it could serve as an eye-care facility. Naturally, she sought the advice of her father, Pan American World Airways founder Juan Trippe, who responded: ``Anything can be put on an airplane.''
It looks like a mini-AWAC or possibly a spy plane. It is not. It is the unique solution for those who want television in flight, and it comes at about one-half the cost of current systems. Three companies, Flight Display Systems, The Maintenance Group and DAC International, have joined to offer a new DIRECTV product called Ellipse Direct. Hardware cost is listed at $99,650 and installation time is estimated at 100 work-hours, a figure they say is about one-sixth the time required for competing products.
