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.
DAHER-SOCATA TBM 700 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-1256 Directorate Identifier 2009-CE-064-AD; Amendment 39-16252; AD 2010-07-07] – Remove the foam from the towing bar stowage box, following either Socata Mandatory Service Bulletin SB 70-179 (dated October 2009), or SB 70-179, Amendment 1 (dated January 2010). Optionally, operators may install new foam pads in the tow bar storage box, per the instructions of the latter service bulletin.
Midcoast Aviation continued to expand its work in high-speed data system installations with its first two retrofits of such equipment on Global Express aircraft. The company recently installed a Honeywell MCS-7147 SwiftBroadband satellite communications system with a TrueNorth Avionics Simphone Chorus cabin telecommunications system on one of the Global Express aircraft. The system provides Internet service for all Wi-Fi devices at near DSL-quality speeds.
FAA has released formerly confidential tail number information to the news web site Pro Publica. The release came after a district court judge in February directed FAA to disclose the registration of aircraft tail numbers submitted to FAA under the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program (BA, March 8/108).
FAA has extended a series of deadlines for certain upgrades of cockpit voice recorders and digital flight data recorders (CVR/DFDR), but rejected the request of business aviation organizations to align the deadlines for Part 135 operations with Part 91. FAA released a final rule in 2008 requiring a number of changes for CVRs and DFDR requirements, including increased sampling rates, mandatory recording of datalink communications, and a 10-minute backup power source for CVRs.
BOMBARDIER Regional Jet 100 and 440 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0276; Directorate Identifier 2009-NM-144-AD] – This proposal, which would supersede an existing directive (AD 2004-22-08), would require operators to revise the approved maintenance schedule to incorporate a 3,000-flight-hour discard task for bulkhead check valves. This proposed AD, which resulted from an MCAI originated by Transport Canada, was prompted by three cases of inflight loss of cabin pressurization due to failure of a bulkhead check valve and an air supply duct.
ANGELA GREMARD was promoted to manager of FlightSafety International’s learning centers in Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Memphis. A 20-year FlightSafety veteran, Gremard began as a customer support representative for the company. She became a product marketing representative in 1996 and subsequently was product marketing manager. She was named assistant manager of the St. Louis center in 1999.
BOMBARDIER DHC-8-400 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0229; Directorate Identifier 2009-NM-115-AD] – This proposed rule would require operators to revise the “Airworthiness Limitations” section of the “Instructions for Continued Airworthiness” to incorporate revised life limits for the main landing gear lock actuator assembly, retraction actuator assembly rod end and piston, and the upper bearing in the main landing gear shock strut assembly. This proposal also would require operators to replace the upper bearing and rod ends on certain airplanes.
LoPresti Aviation in Sebastian, Fla. has named R.J. Siegel as its new chief executive as the company moves into its new offices. Siegel is a pilot, a 40-year member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, an aircraft home builder, an educator, an engineer and a businessman.
FAA Friday proposed expanding its function and reliability (F&R) flight-testing requirements to include small turbine aircraft that previously were exempt.
The National Transportation Safety Board last week determined that inadequate tire maintenance and the captain’s decision to abort takeoff after reaching V1 speed as the probable causes of the Sept. 19, 2008, fatal runway excursion of a Global Exec Aviation Learjet 60 in Columbia, S.C.
MIKE KING was promoted to director, business development for FlightSafety International. King has served with FlightSafety since 1990, most recently as manager of the company’s centers in Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Memphis. In his new role, he will identify and manage new business and commercial aviation training business opportunities.
A Philadelphia jury last week handed down an $89 million verdict against aircraft engine-maker Lycoming as a result of a 1999 takeoff accident involving a Piper PA-32-260 Cherokee in which four people were killed and one seriously injured. The jury awarded $24.7 million in compensatory damages and $64 million in punitive damages. The plaintiff’s attorney was Arthur A. Wolk of The Wolk Law Firm of Philadelphia.
Soloy Aviation Solutions recently received approvals from the European Aviation Safety Agency and Transport Canada for a law enforcement package aboard Cessna 206 aircraft. The approvals cover three accessory kits that include a headliner modification and four-point restraint harnesses for pilot and co-pilot, a large-area observation window installation, and a middle-row, articulated observation seat installation. The kits are design to increase surveillance capability. The headliner kit provides five inches more headroom for second-row passengers.
House and Senate congressional leaders are being urged to renew the 50% bonus depreciation that expired in December in a letter sent last week by a coalition of aviation, construction and manufacturing associations. In February, Reps. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) and Chris Carney (D-Pa.) tried to jump-start a measure to extend bonus depreciation via a letter to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and ranking member Dave Camp (R-Mich.). The letter asked for their support for an extension specifically for aircraft purchases (BA, March 1/93).
Daher-Socata tapped German-based Rheinland Air Service (RAS) as its distributor for the TBM 850 turboprop in Germany and Austria. Based at Dusseldorf-Monchegladbach Airport, RAS also was named a service center and part supplier. The company ordered two TBM 850s for delivery later this year. One will be used as a demonstrator and the other will be available for sale. RAS has provided maintenance for regional airliners in Germany, as well as a range of parts, distribution, repair and sales services for general and business aviation.
Hanscom Field Airport Director Barbara Patzner says she hopes to finally demolish Hangar 24, on the southwest side of the airport, to make room for new development for fixed-base services and/or hangars. The hangar, closed in 2001, has been stuck in controversy after the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) found that it met some criteria for historical significance. “If it were up to me, we’d be developing it now,” she states.
CHRISTIAN GRAS was named executive vice president, customers for the Eurocopter Group. Gras began his aviation career as a product engineer with the helicopters division of Aerospatiale (an EADS/Eurocopter predecessor). He held positions of increasing responsibility, including managing director of EMSA, a Eurocopter subsidiary in Mexico, and chief executive of American Eurocopter Corporation.
Aircell’s new, usage-based fee plan is designed to appeal to low-volume business aviation users of the company’s airborne high-speed Internet products. Starting this summer, the option will enable customers to pay based on the monthly volume of data they consume over the network, instead of the standard monthly service plans, which provide unlimited access for a flat monthly fee. Specific pricing and details of the usage-based plan are to be released later.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) is transferring operations of its electromagnetic compatibility, mechanical and environmental test laboratories to the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita Statue University, an effort that expands their ongoing collaboration. The latest move will increase NIAR’s testing capabilities and enable the institute to provide additional hands-on training. NIAR will operate facilities within two HBC buildings. A number of HBC workers will be offered employment with WSU, NIAR said.
FAA, embracing the idea that depression is a treatable illness, has changed its policy to allow pilots taking certain antidepressants to retain flying privileges.
Aircraft manufacturers developing new models are poised to fare better as the economic turmoil subsides, says the April JP Morgan Business Jet Monthly. “A number of new product launches remain in the pipeline across segments, especially in the very light jet and mid-size portions of the market,” the report says. In the heavy jet market, the G650 and Lineage 1000 should help Gulfstream and Embraer gain share, the analyst says.
