BAE Systems Corporate Air Travel is cutting its shuttle fleet from eight to four aircraft, and firing 10 of its pilots to reduce costs and make the operation revenue-neutral. ``Our current pilot pool will be reduced from 26 to 16 by January,'' said Managing Director ``Nobby'' Clark, who confirmed that ``talks are ongoing and close to completion with commercial aircraft operators due to take over some of the shuttle routes.'' The company currently operates two Jetstream 31s, an ATP, four Hawker 800s and a 66-seat BAE 146-100.
Business aviation pros understand that commercial flight service and handling providers can play an essential role in the smooth operation of hundreds, if not thousands of corporate flights every day. And their value isn't limited to heavy iron operators who frequently make landfall in far corners of the world. Business aircraft operators of all stripes rely on them, too.
Million Air Charter, Teterboro, N.J., has hired Charlie Geiger as the new vice president of flight operations. He brings over 27 years of aviation experience to the position.
The FAA issued a revised NOTAM permitting pilots based at one of the three ``DC-3'' airports and with the proper security clearances to fly between College Park Airport (CGS), Potomac Airfield (VKX) and Washington Executive/Hyde Field (W32) in the Washington special flight rules area. However, transient aircraft are still banned from the three airports. Previously, aircraft based at the fields could fly only to and from their home airports.
Flight Safety Technologies of Mystic, Conn., is awaiting funding from NASA to continue development of its wake vortex turbulence detection system. The company said it has been working with the FAA, NASA, the Air Line Pilots Association and major airports to develop its SOCRATES (Sensor for Optically Characterizing Remote Atmospheric Turbulence Emanating Sound) technology within a cost-effective system to monitor ``wake vortex turbulence.'' A ``proof-of-principle'' test of SOCRATES at JFK International Airport was held in May 1998.
The FAA confirmed air traffic control will be reclassified as a commercial activity (something that could conceivably be outsourced) but stressed that within that classification it will be designated Category A, meaning that no pricing comparisons or outsourcing can occur. The agency ``has no intention to competitively outsource en route or larger terminal [control] facilities,'' spokesman Greg Martin said. The Bush administration is required by law to classify all job functions as either commercial or inherently governmental.
Certain dial type cabin pressure altimeters can display dangerously misleading indications, the NTSB discovered in the course of several accident investigations. The Safety Board, in a letter to the FAA, said that at extreme low cabin pressure (high cabin altitude), some single-needle indicators can drop through the bottom of the low-pressure range, travel around the bottom of the gauge, and back into the higher-pressure, lower cabin altitude indication range.
The Bell/Agusta 609 commercial tiltrotor has begun ground testing at Bell Helicopter's flight research center in Arlington, Texas. Jointly developed by Bell, a unit of Textron, Inc., and Agusta, an AgustaWestland company, the BA609 will undergo 40 to 50 hours of ``ground run'' testing prior to its first flight. No date has yet been set for that flight.
Mark Van Tine was to become Jeppesen's new president and chief operating officer on Jan. 1, succeeding Horst Bergmann, who will continue as CEO and chairman of the board until May 1, when he reaches age 65, the mandatory retirement age. Van Tine had been executive vice president, responsible for Jeppesen's worldwide flight information development, information technology, printing and distribution. He began his career in 1981 with Lockheed DataPlan, which Jeppesen acquired in 1989.
Jeppesen will reorganize to align with its customer market segments effective Jan. 1. New business units will include: Commercial (airline) Aviation Services, led by Thomas Wede; Business and General Aviation Services, led by Kevin Collins; Military and Government Services, led by Dominic Custodio; Marine Services, Software Development and Infrastructure Services, led by Tim Sukle; and Advanced Business Development, led by Greg Bowlin. Jeppesen's German affiliate will continue to be led by Hermann Dudda.
The NBAA board of directors has begun a search for a new president to be appointed this year and to take office on Jan. 1, 2004. After more than 11 years leading the Association, President Jack Olcott will become the NBAA's president emeritus as of Jan. 1, 2004. Olcott was editor and publisher of B/CA prior to his nomination to the NBAA presidency. The Association's board of directors has accepted the recommendation of a search committee and selected ``a leading executive recruitment firm'' to find candidates for consideration as the next president of the organization.
Flightcraft, Inc., Portland, Ore., has hired Jeff Smith as the new director of line services. Smith will oversee the line departments at both the Portland facility and the Eugene, Ore., location.
KaiserAir opened a NiCad battery service shop at its location at Oakland North Airport in California. The shop can service as many as 12 batteries at one time and is equipped with an Aviall analyzer load bank and Aviall Data Acquisition System (ADAS) to provide customers with an analysis and guaranteed performance check.
The Transportation Security Administration has activated the toll-free hotline for Airport Watch. The hotline, (866) GA-SECURE (866-427-3287), is answered by the National Response Center, which also initiates coordinated response to about 20 different situations. Callers should expect an automated answering system to say you've reached the National Response Center. There is a short telephone menu, and then a live operator will pick up.
In late November 2002, Eclipse Aviation made the stunning announcement that it had terminated its agreement with Williams International to supply EJ22 turbofans for the Eclipse 500. Eclipse founder and CEO Vern Raburn said that EJ22 development was ``significantly behind schedule'' and that the 770 lbf thrust Williams powerplant was ``clearly a weak engine.'' Although Raburn says the Eclipse program will go forward with another, soon-to-be-named engine, the decision at the minimum will cause Eclipse to miss its original certification target of late this year.
In the simmering seven-year trade dispute between Embraer/Brazil and Bombardier/Canada, the amount and method of ``retaliation'' or compensation (by the World Trade Organization against the Canadian government) was finally to be decided on Dec. 18, 2002. The debacle started back in 1996 when Bombardier instigated proceedings through the Canadian government and the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Brazil's PROEX program of financing Embraer's exports.
Bombardier announced it had more orders for its Q400 turboprop than for regional jets during third quarter 2002. The manufacturer logged four turboprop orders, a single CRJ200 customer and two CRJ700 orders.
Thunder Air Charter, Inc., St. Louis, has appointed Kevin Colson director of operations. Colson has over 17 years of experience in the aviation industry.
Frost & Sullivan's new World Inflight Entertainment and Passenger Communications Markets reports that industry revenues totaled $2.18 billion in 2002 and are projected to reach $3.56 billion by 2008. However, it said inflight entertainment vendors may soon find their products becoming obsolete, giving way to remote distribution of content. DBS radio and television have successfully overcome bandwidth limitations and have become more affordable for inflight applications (see Intelligence, page 20, ``Avionics Innovations . . .'').
GPS Fault Detection and Exclusion (FDE) software is now standard on Garmin International's 400/500 series avionics systems. FDE is an algorithm that monitors the accuracy and reliability of GPS signals, detects erroneous GPS data, and excludes those data from the active navigation solution. Unlike Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM), which will terminate GPS navigation altogether if signal integrity is compromised, FDE enables the pilot to continue navigating with GPS, albeit in a degraded mode.
It all happens very quickly. Something goes bang! A red or yellow light illuminates. A warning bell goes off. With that, a routine flight becomes an emergency or ``non-normal.'' And then come those three words, ``I've got it!'' With that emphatic announcement, workload usually goes up and the pace quickens. The captain is now the Pilot Flying (PF) and the first officer is now Pilot Not Flying (PNF). But is this the best solution to handling a problem? Maybe not.
Honeywell's AS907 turbofan engine received European JAR certification on Dec. 3, 2002. The AS907 will power the Bombardier Challenger 300, scheduled to enter service this year. The 7,000-pound-thrust class engine, flat-rated to 6,500 pounds for life extension, has a 34.2-inch fan and a 4.2 bypass ratio.
Garrett Aviation Services, Tempe, Ariz., has named Tony Checa regional sales manager for Garrett's Eastern region, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
International SOS has launched China's first dedicated air-ambulance service with a specially configured Hawker 800XP on permanent standby in Beijing. Previously, SOS used its air ambulance based in Singapore to bring patients out of China. Jim Williams, International SOS chief operating officer, the Americas, stated that the flying range of the Hawker 800XP aircraft enables it to provide services anywhere in China and as far afield as Korea, Japan and Mongolia. Deer Jet, a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, operates the Hawker. The Web site is www.internationalsos.com.
The Eclipse 500 program suffered a serious setback in late November when managers abandoned the Williams EJ22, claiming the engine was "weak" and its development too slow. Vern Raburn, Eclipse founder and CEO, said he soon hoped to select a replacement engine, which is likely to be in the 1,000 lbf thrust range. At press time both Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney were in the running, though development and certification of such an engine could involve a capital investment of $100-150 million.
