Keystone Helicopter Corp.'s Helicopter Services Division and Engine Services Division have each received FAA Diamond Certificates for the sixth consecutive year. To qualify for the award, a minimum of 25 percent of eligible employees must be recipients of individual FAA training awards. At Keystone, 58 percent of eligible employees in the two divisions received individual awards.
Whatever your company's plans for exhibiting at the Paris Air Show, your literature can be there. The U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration Office of Aerospace wants companies to know that there will be an Aerospace Products Literature Center (APLC) in the U.S. Pavilion at the show as there has been since the 1980s. According to Anthony Largay at the Market Development Division, the APLC is well known to attendees at the show.
Polish airline LOT has signed a final agreement with Embraer to acquire 10 Embraer 170s. The contract also includes options for an additional 11 units with the flexibility to convert them into larger (yet to fly) Embraer 190 and 195 models. The first of LOT's 170 deliveries are due in early 2004. The Polish national airline is planning to replace its four leased Boeing 737-500s and its 14 ERJ 145s with 70-seat Embraer 170s.
Rockwell Collins Pro Line radios have been certified to meet European Mode S Elementary Surveillance requirements. The group STC covers more than 200 different business and regional airline aircraft. Elementary Surveillance allows the active transponder to reply to ground-based secondary surveillance radar interrogations with aircraft identification and altitude information.
When the G550 enters service late this year, FlightSafety International will have a complete pilot training program in place, including new classrooms with flat-panel displays that emulate the PlaneView avionics system, new flight training devices and a Level D G550 simulator. FSI's training now includes mechanic and flight attendant instruction for Gulfstream operators as well. Mechanics receive classroom, mockup, systems and hands-on aircraft training.
The NBAA advises that the FAA has established a special traffic management program (STMP) for the summer season in Nantucket, Mass. When anticipated weather conditions or traffic volume dictates, Boston Center may implement an STMP at Nantucket Memorial Airport (ACK) anytime between May 15 and Sept. 30 and during the Columbus Day holiday weekend. The STMP would be activated by NOTAM at approximately 6:00 p.m. (EDT) the evening prior to the affected day. For more information, visit www.faa.gov or www.nbaa.org/airspace/notams.htm.
According to an insider, FlyBe will in a few months announce the opening of a new regional hub -- possibly at Exeter, site of the British carrier's headquarters. Currently the airline's main hubs are at Belfast, Birmingham, the Channel Islands and Southampton. This year the airline is expected to break even, carrying around 3.6 million passengers. But Managing Director Jim French said that the airline should be profitable again in 2004. FlyBe is owned by Walker Aviation.
Details of recent accidents and incidents are presented to help avert repetition. April 24 -- A Socata TBM 700B collided with a telephone pole, crashed into the ground and then burst into flames one-half mile short of Runway 18 at Mobile Downtown Airport (BFM) in Mobile, Ala. The pilot was killed and the airplane was destroyed in the post-crash fire. The aircraft was registered to Fleet National Bank and operated by Quest Diagnostics.
The NBAA has been named as a new member of the Department of Homeland Security's Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC). Formed in 1989, ASAC is charged with examining all areas of civil aviation security and providing advice and recommendations to federal officials.
Today, there are two performance contests going on in the heavy iron business aircraft market. Gulfstream's G550 is competing for first place. Everyone else is competing for second place. If that conclusion seems brash, consider this: B/CA's May 2003 Purchase Planning Handbook shows that the G550, with topped tanks, can fly a longer distance with more passengers than any other current production business jet. It's the one and only business jet than can fly eight passengers from New York to Tokyo against 99 percent probability headwinds.
Artist Domenic DeNardo is offering a limited-edition issue of his Aviation Week award-winning painting, ``No Quarry Today,'' depicting Capt. Don Gentile and Lt. John Godfrey of the 4th Fighter Group, 336th Fighter Squadron on a mission outside Munich in March 1944. Heralded by the Air Force as the top leader/wingman duo in the European theater of operations, the P-51 team became the 8th Air Force's most celebrated fighter element by virtue of their mutually supportive tactics.
At a time when business aviation has not only become a viable alternative to the airlines but for some a corporate necessity, there have never been more choices available for accessing private aircraft. A combination of factors -- a ``perfect storm'' of circumstances, one observer put it -- has resulted in the emergence of multiple marketing vehicles for volume purchase of charter services, some claimed to yield all the advantages of fractional ownership at a lower cost and without fractional's responsibilities.
Flight Explorer and Blue Sky Network announced a partnership at EBACE 2003 to provide worldwide satellite-based aircraft tracking. Blue Sky Network has developed a network utilizing the Iridium satellite system to provide communication in near-real-time to and from aircraft. From the ground, with a personal computer and Internet access, users and others can access Flight Explorer to track aircraft equipped with the BSN D-1000 communication package. The BSN D-1000 integrates with Blue Sky Network's other satcom voice products.
Investigation continues into the two April 8 crashes of two Falcon 20s operated by Grand Aire Express. The Falcon 20 that ditched in the Mississippi River had departed the Del Rio, Texas, International Airport (DRT) about 1630 CDT and went down at 1850 CDT while the crew was attempting to land at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL). A preliminary NTSB report said the FAR Part 135 cargo flight was operating on an IFR flight plan in IMC and lost power to both engines during its second approach to approach to Runway 30R.
Atlantic Aviation Flight Services Inc., Teterboro, N.J., has appointed Mike Todd as flight standards supervisor. Todd will provide the organization with crew standards, documentation and currency conformity, training coordination and monitoring, and vendor audit currency.
The economic yawn that's besetting business aviation may have sparked something electrifying. In April, a bedazzling Gulfstream 100 rolled out of Duncan Aviation's Lincoln, Neb., completion center that's unlikely to be overlooked or easily forgotten. It features a bright yellow fuselage, one red wing, one green wing, red and green engines and a blue tail. Planespotters will be delighted when they see this ``box of crayons'' sitting on a ramp, however, the owners didn't want it in print just yet.
The TSA's Aviation Security Advisory Council has established a working group to develop recommended security standards for general aviation airports where the TSA does not already have a presence. TSA officials stressed that they are not looking to regulate the airports, but want a set of government-endorsed, voluntary standards and practices. National Air Transportation Association and NBAA officials generally favor the move to a consistent federal security standard in part to thwart state and local politicos who have attempted to impose their own restrictions.
The NBAA has announced that Serge Dassault, David Ewald, Jerome F. Lederer, Ray H. Siegfried II and John Tucker have been selected as recipients of its First Century of Flight Award. The award, to be presented on Oct. 9 in Orlando at the NBAA Convention, recognizes significant contributions to the advancement of aviation since the advent of powered flight 100 years ago.
In May, US Airways ordered 170 RJs, split evenly between Embraer and Bombardier. The value of the firm orders for 85 Embraer 170s, 60 Bombardier CRJ 200s and 25 Bombardier CRJ 700s (series 705) comes to $2.1 billion for Embraer and $2.2 billion for rival Bombardier, according to the companies. Bombardier said US Airways also placed ``reconfirmable'' orders (that is, with a delivery schedule but cancellation rights) for 90 additional aircraft and placed options for 100 more.
With such an ambitious development schedule, Safire will outsource as much of its component manufacturing as possible. Salomon said contracts for about 80 percent of Safire Jet's major assemblies and components have been negotiated. Safire moved from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Miami's Opa Locka Airport in March to prepare for the development and flight-testing program. ``Opa Locka is an ideal location for development and assembly of the prototypes.
The Beechjet 400A is now the Hawker 400XP. Raytheon's Hawker aircraft division president, Brad Hart, stated that the 400XP will be covered by the same five-year warranty as the larger 800XP and has a gross weight increase over its Beechjet predecessor. In keeping with Hawker brand practices, officials state a number of Beechjet 400A options are now standard on the Hawker 400XP with no price increase.
A BEECHCRAFT KING AIR B200, N257CG, was destroyed on April 4, 2003, at 0935 EDT when it crashed into a building in Leominster, Mass. The FAR Part 91 flight was on approach to Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Municipal Airport (FIT) after a one-hour IMC leg from La Guardia Airport (LGA) in New York City. The ATP-certificated pilot, the commercial-rated copilot and four passengers were fatally injured. One passenger was seriously injured, but survived to talk with NTSB investigators; one person inside the building suffered minor injuries.
The House Aviation Subcommittee is considering a measure to provide up to $100 million in relief to certain general aviation businesses and operators that were financially damaged by the aftermath of 9/11. Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has expressed a strong interest in assisting the general aviation community and has stated that a relief package would be included in a comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill. The subcommittee was scheduled to vote on the reauthorization legislation as we went to press.
The second Grand Aire Falcon crash occurred during an approach in IMC to Toledo Express Airport (TOL) in Swanton, Ohio, where Grand Aire's headquarters are located. The airplane was crewed by two ATPs and a first officer in training. The three had flown the aircraft from Toledo to Grand Rapids, Mich., earlier that day, and according to NTSB investigators, the return was planned as an instructional flight for the first officer in training who was preparing for his Part 135, second-in-command checkride.
