With the horrifying images of September 11 seared into the nation's collective memory, business aviation is pondering the ultimate impact from the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., will have on operational freedoms.
Before Raytheon set off to produce the Premier I, the company had to break down some of the old corporate philosophies. Overcoming the greatest obstacle -- the traditional design team composition itself -- was accomplished when management added a contingent of full-time maintenance technicians to the group.
SJ30-2 full-scale static tests are underway at Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. (SSAC). The tests began August 15 at the company's structural test facility at San Antonio International Airport, across the field from SSAC headquarters. Data from the static test airframe TF-2 are expected to be complete in mid-summer 2002. Certification is scheduled for late 2002 with the first customer deliveries in 2003. Fatigue testing will be conducted on airframe TF-3 and will take approximately two years. Fatigue testing typically does not pace certification.
Jet Aviation has increased the size of its worldwide charter and management fleet with the addition of 17 aircraft. The most recent additions include three Bombardier Challengers and four Global Express aircraft; a Cessna Citation 550; a Dassault Falcon 20, 50, 900B and 900EX; a Fairchild Dornier 328JET; a Gulfstream 200 (Galaxy), two G-IVs and a G-V. With the new additions, Jet Aviation operates the largest worldwide fleets of Global Expresses and G-Vs with five and seven of the types, respectively.
Boeing Co. faces a high-class problem with its Boeing Capital Corp. business unit according to Business Week in its September 16 issue. Boeing Capital is growing, it's successful and it's profitable. But it has the potential of being in direct competition with aircraft leasing companies who are already Boeing customers. Boeing has sidestepped the problem so far by partnering with other leasing companies.
Rolls-Royce is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Viper engine, perhaps the oldest gas turbine engine in production. Rolls-Royce reports around 5,500 Vipers sold since the type was introduced in 1953, amassing more than 13 million flight hours. Viper-powered aircraft include early Hawker 125 business jets, the BAC Strikemaster and Jet Provost T.4 and T.5, and the Soko Galeb. The Italian MB339 jet trainer is the only airplane still in production powered by the Viper.
The pilot and three passengers were killed and 24 passengers were injured in the crash of a Binter Mediterranio CASA CN-235-200 while on approach to Malaga International Airport in Spain. According to preliminary reports, the flight crew reported engine trouble and was attempting to land when the aircraft struck a highway embankment under the approach path to the airport. The crash is the fourth for a CN-235 this year -- three Turkish-registered planes crashed over a fourth-month period earlier in the year.
Boeing said it had received orders for a total of some 80 BBJs and expects to have 40-45 of the aircraft in service this year. The Seattle manufacturer said it anticipates winglets -- now standard equipment -- will be retrofitted on all BBJs later this year.
Vigilance is still in order by aircraft operators, Certificate of Registration holders and maintenance facilities on the lookout for unapproved wire rope (cable) manufactured by the Strandflex Co. of Syracuse, N.Y. They could be installed in flight and engine control systems in civilian aircraft or in stock at repair facilities. There was a time lag between awareness of a quality problem with the cables in 1999 and the issuance of an ``unapproved parts notification'' by the FAA on May 18, 2000.
Initial indicators point to serious problems with the engine of a Eurocopter AS350 B2 AStar helicopter that crashed August 10 during a sightseeing flight near the Grand Canyon. Six of the people on board were killed and the female survivor remains hospitalized with serious injuries. She told rescue workers at the scene the helicopter ``got quiet and fell from the sky.'' Asked if the engine was running, she responded, ``No, not at the end. It got quiet. It got quiet and fell from the sky.'' The woman's husband was one of those killed.
The events of September 11 have, in essence, activated elements of the FAA's National Air Traffic Reduced Complement Operations Plan (RCOP). Much of the vital operational information is disseminated using the NOTAM process associated with FAR Part 91.139, particularly restrictions, prohibitions and authorizations for certain types of operations. As of September 21, general aviation aircraft were flying both IFR and VFR, but those operations were subject to Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR's). SFAR No.
Goodrich plans to divest its engineered in-dustrial products division in early 2002 -- the final step in its transformation to an aerospace company. David L. Burner, chairman and CEO of the Charlotte, N.C., manufacturer, says the spinoff will ``enhance shareholder value'' and enable investors to ``evaluate the investment merits of our aerospace and industrial businesses.''
If the FAA ever decides to give an award for the most egregious violation of its hazardous materials policy, Novel Tees Wholesale will be tough to beat. The Salt Lake City-based company allegedly shipped 12 five-ounce plastic bottles of Ronsonol lighter fuel, 12 three-ounce cans of Stylist color hair spray, 12 Dragon Fire Micro Torches and nine novelty lighters -- in the same box.
The AOPA has developed a new Web-based tool to smooth the process of applying for medical certificates. TurboMedical takes applicants through each of the 20 question areas on the FAA Form 8500-8 (application for airman medical certificate) and explains why the FAA is asking each question and what it is looking for. Links to the AOPA medical database provide expanded information. TurboMedical gives advice on the best way to answer each question, checks the pilot's answers and flags anything that might cause problems.
Mercury Air Centers has teamed up with GE Capital Financial and Aviation Logistics (AvLog) to offer a business aviation MasterCard purchasing program called ``Mercury Easy Trip.'' ``The Easy Trip card is designed to replace the multiservice cards by providing you with one tool that can be used at more than 20 million locations,'' said John Enticknap, Mercury Air Centers' chief operating officer and vice president.
Owing to the nature of birds and wildlife, it may be virtually impossible to avoid strikes, but applying the following precautions can reduce the risk: When at low altitude, or approaching an area where bird encounters are likely, slow the aircraft as much as practical. Remember that the impact energy increases with the square of the velocity, so an impact at high speed is much more damaging than one at low speed.
On August 14, 1989, James Cassoutt was flying a Cessna 185 with his wife, Cindy, and Judy Kealey Diaz. According to the NTSB, he made a normal approach to Runway 36 at Myrtle Grove, Fla. He fully extended the flaps and applied full nose-up trim per the owner's handbook. The wind was from the east at three to eight knots. Thick scrub trees bordered the east side of the runway. A three-point landing was planned and touchdown occurred on the tail and right main wheel. The right wing came up as the left wheel touched and Cassoutt initiated a balked landing.
CompletionAir, which specializes in large corporate aircraft completions, and Premier Air Center, a Cessna Citation Jet Service Center and maintenance facility for light and midsize corporate jets and GA aircraft, have agreed to merge. With 194,000 square feet of combined hangar space at St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN), the company will service aircraft ranging from single-engine pistons through narrow body and wide body airliners with executive interiors.
Texaco will sell a portion of its general aviation business to Avfuel. The sale was required by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as a requirement of the oil giant's proposed merger with Chevron. ``The majority of the facilities are located in the Northwest and Southeast,'' according to Avfuel spokesperson Marci Ammerman, adding ``since we did not have facilities in those areas, the acquisition allows us to increase our presence.''
The leaders of GAMA, the National Air Transportation Association and the NBAA began the fall in a bit of a funk, searching for some sort of silver lining in the dark legal clouds that rolled over the aviation community in late summer.
After graduating from Embry-Riddle in 1969, Dolphin began working the line at his home airport in Pittsfield, Mass. Soon he was flying freight in a Cherokee and not long thereafter, copiloting Twin Otters to La Guardia Airport five times a day. After a long stint managing aircraft for Richmor Aviation, the 12,000-hour pilot accepted an offer by then Houston Astros owner John McMullen to take over the AeroServices FBO at White Plains.
