TAC Air recently upgraded the interior of its executive terminal at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). The RDU facility became TAC Air’s 12th fixed-base operation with the purchase of Southern Jet in October 2007. The facility was built in 2004 as part of a three-phase general aviation redevelopment at RDU. The interior redesign includes a more open floor plan, customer workstations, new furnishing and expanded pilot lounge, among other improvements.
FAA and the National Park Service (NPS) are seeking public input on the development of a new air tour management plan (ATMP) for Mount Rainier National Park. The ATMP would include “acceptable and effective measures to mitigate or prevent the significant adverse impacts, if any, of commercial air tour operations upon the natural resources, cultural resources, and visitor experiences,” FAA says, noting the plan will have no authorization over military or general aviation operations.
Rockwell Collins’ Venue High Definition Cabin Management System for business aircraft has won the 2009 good design award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. Venue also won the 2010 International Forum Product Design Award.
PETE BURESH was named international sales director for Gulfstream Aerospace. Buresh has served with Gulfstream for 17 years, most recently as manager, international sales development. He also has been a senior sales engineer with Gulfstream, an analyst for the company’s Computerized Maintenance Program and a reliability engineer for technical services. He began his aviation career as a systems and reliability engineer for Hughes Helicopters in Mesa, Ariz.
April 12-14 – Air Cargo Management Group’s 8th Annual Air Cargo, Express & Freighter Aircraft Workshop, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Seattle, (206) 587-6537, e-mail: [email protected], www.cargofacts.com April 21 – National Air Transportation Association Day On The Hill Event, Alexandria, Va., 800-808-6282, www.nata.aero April 21 – The joint Wings Club/Aero Club of Washington Luncheon featuring Randy Babbitt, FAA administrator, The Yale Club, New York, (212) 867-1770, e-mail: [email protected]
Cessna has established another Citation Mobile Service Unit (MSU). The sixth MSU, which will be based at McKinley Air at Ohio’s Akron-Canton Airport (CAK), uses a full-size service truck equipped with tooling to perform a variety of Citation diagnostic and maintenance functions, including aircraft-on-ground support. The MSU also can conduct medium-sized planned maintenance events, as well as engine removal.
ROLLS-ROYCE Tay 620-15, 650-15 and 651-54 engines [Docket No. FAA-2010-0301; Directorate Identifier 2009-NE-22-AD] – This proposal would require operators to reduce the approved life limits of High-Pressure Compressor (HPC) Stage 1, 3, 6, 7 and 12 discs. This proposed AD, which resulted from an MCAI issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency, was prompted by a review of operational data that indicated that the actual stress levels in the discs were higher than originally assumed.
A VIP-configured Airbus A319 has been delivered by Lufthansa Technik to the German armed forces. The aircraft is the first of two specially outfitted A319s ordered for the Special Air Mission Wing of the German Ministry of Defense. The second aircraft is to be delivered in June. The A319s feature a 12-seat VIP area and a separate delegation area that can accommodate between 22 and 32 people. The aircraft is equipped with four auxiliary fuel tanks that enable it to fly nonstop from Berlin to Beijing or Washington, D.C.
Cessna is celebrating the Caravan’s 25th anniversary and plans to deliver the 2,000th model of the utility turboprop later this year. “The Caravan has been a tremendous success for Cessna. Its order book has remained resilient for 25 years, including during this most recent economic downturn,” said John Doman, Cessna’s vice president of Worldwide Propeller Aircraft Sales. Because of its ability to operate from unimproved or makeshift runways, the aircraft has often been involved in humanitarian relief efforts, including the recent airlift to Haiti.
JDA Aviation Technology Solutions has signed a deal with Denton, Texas-based US Aviation, a flight training, aircraft maintenance, avionics installation and aircraft sales operator, to provide 135Pro certification support. 135Pro helps simplify the process and lower costs associated with obtaining a Part 135 certificate. It includes manuals tailored to help charter applicants satisfy FAA requirements, as well as coaching, mentoring and training to facilitate the certificate process.
Cessna Aircraft Company plans to accelerate customer deliveries of the new 162 Skycatcher light sport aircraft, the company says. The airframe manufacturer delivered its first new Skycatcher at the end of 2009 and is notifying customers that, while aircraft modifications have delayed initial deliveries, Cessna and production partner Shenyang Aircraft Corp. in China are working together to ramp up deliveries during the rest of this year. Another group of Skycatchers is being readied in Wichita now for delivery to customers in the coming weeks.
Boston’s Hanscom Field is working to reverse the trend of falling traffic at its facility as it prepares for business aviation’s recovery. In a new report, “The State of Hanscom Field,” Airport Director Barbara Patzner blames the economic decline for a 10% drop in operations in 2009, the lowest in more than 25 years.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) has brought in a number of veteran industry executives – including former NetJets President Jim Christiansen – to shore up its sales organization. The announcement this month comes as HBC’s global sales efforts continue to evolve. This included a major reorganization of the company’s senior leadership earlier this year (BA, Feb. 15/76).
Airshow moving map improvements are now available from Rockwell Collins. The avionics maker says Version 2 software upgrades for its Airshow 4000, which is used on more than 4,000 business jets, include “dramatic 3D enhancements” and an exciting new graphical design that utilizes NASA’s “Blue Marble” map data, which is based on actual satellite imagery.
General aviation and unmanned aircraft engine-maker Centurion is reporting progress in boosting the reliability of its powerplants and says further upgrades are just around the corner. Centurion, the company that sprang from Thielert, which filed for insolvency in 2008, also reports that last year it delivered 360 powerplants and can now offer the 155-hp Centurion 2.0S for retrofit on Cessna 172s. That engine weighs the same as the regular Centurion 2.0 model but delivers an additional 20 hp.
AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGIES OF AUSTRALIA Nomad N22B, N22S and N24A airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0235; Directorate Identifier 2010-CE-010-AD] – This proposed rule would require operators to install an inspection hole in the left-hand and right-hand stub wing bottom skin before further flight and conduct repetitive inspections of the stub wing front spar cap for cracks, per the instructions of Nomad Service Bulletin NMD-53-22 (dated April 17, 2007).
A Chinese manufacturer and a group of unhappy kit-plane builders reached an agreement last week under which the latter will become owners of Epic Aircraft Co., and the former will become a licensee free to manufacture and market Epic Aircraft outside North America.
MARIA ISABEL PERDOMO was appointed independent representative for Texas Aviation Services. Perdomo, who will be based in Colombia, will be responsible for expanding rotor-wing completions and maintenance support business in Latin America for Texas Aviation Services and its affiliate companies RSG AeroDesign and Integrated Flight Systems. She formerly served with Northrop Grumman - Nightline, Inc.
Hawker Beechcraft added a second AT-6 production representative test vehicle (PRTV) to the flight test program. A derivative of the T-6A/B U.S. Air Force/Navy trainer, the AT-6 is under development for the U.S. Air Force’s Light Attack and Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) acquisition program that is expected to launch this year. Hawker Beechcraft has teamed with Lockheed Martin for the LAAR program. Lockheed Martin is supplying mission avionics. The AT-6 is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68D engine, which provides 1,600 shaft horsepower.
Associated Air Center (AAC), which specializes in large-cabin aircraft completions, is expanding its maintenance and modification services for Boeing Business Jets. These include main-landing-gear trunion-pin replacement and lower cabin altitude modifications, in addition to its ongoing SFAR-88 modification work. AAC has completed 17 SFAR-88 mandatory fuel tank modifications on BBJs and has three more BBJs scheduled near-term. AAC says following SFAR-88, the next major work for BBJs is an AD calling for main-landing-gear forward-trunion-pin replacement.
Icejet, the charter operator based at London Oxford Airport in the United Kingdom, has been selected by JetCom Aviation, the charter operator located at Lugano, Switzerland, to manage the latter company’s Dornier 328JET corporate shuttle. Icejet will provide maintenance and crew support for the 31-seat aircraft, which currently flies between Exeter, Farnborough and Malpensa airports for an Italian corporation. The aircraft joins the existing Icejet fleet, which includes a 14-seat and a 19-seat VIP-configured Dornier 328JET.
Dassault has delivered a Dassault 7X with “true telephony.” Aircraft serial number 85 is fitted with Honeywell’s new MCS 7120 SwiftBroadband Communications Gateway, which provides a fully integrated wired and wireless cabin communication system and high-speed global connectivity via the Inmarsat I4 satellite network. According to Dassault, this is the first business jet that is capable of providing fully managed, end-to-end, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony services over the SwiftBroadband network.
Pilatus says that order intake in 2010 continues to be “sluggish,” making it only the latest of several business aircraft producers to report the crisis is far from over. “We have not yet seen the back of the global financial and economic crisis,” the company reports, adding that “we must now focus our attention on securing sales of the PC12NG this year and next.” The downturn led Pilatus to lose 72 net orders, on a gross order intake of 21 orders. But despite this, the company delivered a record 100 PC-12s, all in the NG configuration.
On-demand charter operators were involved in the fewest number of accidents and fatal accidents in the past two decades, the National Transportation Safety Board reported last week. NTSB, which Thursday released its 2009 accident statistics, notes that accidents involving Part 135 on-demand operations fell from 58 in 2008 to 47 last year, and the number of fatalities dropped from 69 in 2008 to 17 in the most recent year. The Part 135 accident rate, meanwhile, dropped from 1.81 per 100,000 flight hours in 2008 to 1.63 last year.
