WEST STAR AVIATION will offer maintenance services at its new Columbia, S.C. facility beginning in the first quarter of this year. The base, located at Columbia Metropolitan Airport (KCAE), initially will focus on airframe, engine and avionics support for turbine-powered aircraft weighing less than 12,500-pounds gross weight. Models to be handled will include the Cessna Citation 500, 525, 550, 560 and 650; Learjet 30, 40/45, 55 and 60 series; Hawker 700 and 800 series; and the Falcon 10/100 and 20-5.
The business aviation community has begun to spool up a coordinated relief missions effort into earthquake-ravaged Haiti, with hundreds of business and general operations having already flown into the little island nation.
FAA last week requested comments for an environmental assessment the agency is preparing as part of an effort to regulate air tour flights over Death Valley National Park. The agency, working with the National Park Service, held an initial stakeholder meeting in June about drafting an air tour management plan (ATMP) for the park and has since decided to task an Aviation Rulemaking Committee with developing recommendations for an ATMP. Comments on the environmental assessment are due Feb. 18.
PIAGGIO’S customer support desk now has a team of technicians available seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Italy time) to answer operator questions. These support personnel can be reached by phone, fax or e-mail ([email protected]).
ATR secured its first Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA) for the ATR -600 series under a deal with Spanish carrier Air Nostrum. The 10-year agreement, valued at $25 million, covers spare parts and maintenance for the Air Nostrum fleet of 10 ATR 72-600 aircraft that the airline will place into service in 2011. ATR will oversee complete equipment management, including the repair of line replaceable units and the maintenance and supply of propellers.
BELITE AIRCRAFT is offering two new variants of its Belite 254 Part 103 ultralite aircraft – the Trike and the Superlite models. The Trike is designed to have ground handling and landing qualities similar to a Cessna 172. While still incorporating carbon fiber, the aircraft also has a lightweight aluminum tube fuselage and can be ordered with either a 28-horsepower (hp) or 45-hp engine. The Trike includes a free-castering nose wheel and composite main gear.
EMBRAER ERJ 170; ERJ 190-100 LR, -100 IGW, -100 STD, -200 STD, -200 LR and -200 IGW airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0412; Directorate Identifier 2009-NM-022-AD; Amendment 39-16154; AD 2009-26-15] – Inspect for the presence of aluminum fasteners at pylon bulkhead No. 1, and replace all aluminum fasteners with titanium fasteners. This AD, which resulted from an MCAI issued by the aviation authority of Brazil, is designed to prevent structural damage to ERJ 170 airplanes in case of bird impact in the region of bulkhead No. 1 of the pylons.
JEFF TOLINE was appointed director of service for Gulfstream Aerospace’s Appleton, Wis., facility. He formerly had served as general manager of the General Dynamics Aviation Services facility in Minneapolis. Toline, who joined General Dynamics Aviation Services in 2001, also spent 19 years with Duncan Aviation.
Textron companies Cessna Aircraft and Bell Helicopter have realigned some key executives to manage the transition at Cessna’s facilities and fill a vacancy created with the retirement of Cessna’s chief financial officer. Ron Alberti, who has been senior vice president of integrated supply chain for Cessna, is taking on the new role of leading the transition of work from Cessna’s facilities in Columbus, Ga. and Wichita, Kan. to the company’s plant in Mexico. In addition, Alberti also will oversee Skycatcher production in Shenyang, China.
January 25-26 – National Air Transportation Association FBO Leadership Conference, San Antonio, Texas, (800) 808-6282 or visit www.nata.aero/fbolc January 27-29 – National Business Aviation Association 21st Annual Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference, San Antonio, Texas, (202) 783-9000 or visit www.nbaa.org February 16-18 – Air Africa 2010, Gallagher Convention Center, Midrand, South Africa, +27(11) 788-9562 or visit ww.airafricaexpo.com/
GARMIN has developed an engine information system (EIS) and integrated autopilot interface for its G3X glass cockpit for experimental/kit and light sport aircraft. The EIS will be available in February through a free software download and sensor kits for most Lycoming, Continental, Rotax and Jabiru engines also will be available. Users are able to customize engine gauges, color bands and audible/visual alerts.
Lufthansa Technik’s U.S. subsidiary has delivered its first Airbus A318 Elite, marking the beginning of the transition of completion work on this type of corporate jetliner from Lufthansa Technik’s Hamburg, Germany facility to its U.S. unit in Tulsa, Okla.
A Bell 206B operated by the California Department of Fish and Game struck powerlines and crashed Jan. 5 near Auberry, Calif., killing the pilot and three passengers. The helicopter, N5016U, which had been equipped with a wire strike protection system, was destroyed in the ensuing fire. The public-use flight, which had operated under a flight plan, had departed from Trimmer Heliport in Trimmer, Calif., on a deer-surveying mission. The aircraft was registered to Palm Springs Aviation.
A DASSAULT FALCON 20C, Mexican-registered XA-PCC, was substantially damaged Jan. 8 when the aircraft overran the runway during takeoff at Eagle County Regional Airport (KEGE) in Eagle, Colo. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The Part 91 flight was scheduled to fly to General Roberto Fierro Villalobos International Airport in Chihuahua, Mexico. National Transportation Safety Board said the left main landing gear tire blew during the departure roll, and the captain was unable to stop the airplane in the remaining distance of the runway.
Elliott Aviation co-founder Arlene Stoltenberg Elliott died in Naples, Fla. on Sunday, Jan. 17, at the age of 91. Son Wynn Elliott, who is president and chief executive of the Moline, Ill.-headquartered fixed-base operation chain, called her “an aviation pioneer and one of the first great women in the industry.” Born in Plainview, Iowa on Sept. 5, 1918, Arlene Stoltenberg met her future husband, Elliott Aviation Founder Herb Elliott, while attending Davenport (Iowa) High School in 1933. The two were married in 1939.
EMBRAER ERJ 170 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0610; Directorate Identifier 2009-NM-021-AD; Amendment 39-16171; AD 2010-01-12] – Modify the electrical wiring in the overhead panel of the cockpit, modify the air-data smart probe 3B power supply bus and modify the ARINC 429 data bus, as applicable. This AD, which resulted from an MCAI originated by an aviation authority of another country, follows a reassessment of a rotor burst analysis that has shown the possibility of loss of electrical power supply to the air data system, ailerons, spoilers and rudder.
PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA last week held a celebration commemorating the delivery of the 500th engine to Blackhawk Modifications in Waco, Texas. Blackhawk installed two PT6A-135A engines on a Cheyenne II aircraft as part of the Blackhawk XP135A upgrade. Founded in 1999, Blackhawk specializes in PT6A upgrades on the Raytheon King Air 90, Cessna 450 Conquest and Cheyenne turboprop aircraft.
AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGIES OF AUSTRALIA N22B, N22S and N24A airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0987; Directorate Identifier 2009-CE-054-AD; Amendment 39-16143; AD 2009-26-08] – Modify the flap actuation linkages to restore the necessary rigidity to the outboard flaps and the ailerons, per the instructions of Nomad Alert Service Bulletin ANMD-57-18, Rev. 1 (dated Aug. 14, 2006).
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR AVIATION RESEARCH (NIAR) at Wichita State has partnered with Massachusetts software specialist VISTAGY to conduct composite material research and teach aspiring engineers. NIAR will use VISTAGY’s FiberSim composites engineering software in the Composites and Advanced Materials Lab to test the potential for and limitations of composites in the aviation industry. The testing involves layup and bonding operations and other research to understand the effects of heat, moisture, contamination and repairs on advanced materials.
NIELS ULSOE is resuming his duties as chief executive of Nordic Aviation Capital. Ulsoe is taking the helm from Jan Melgaard, who left the company Jan. 4. Nordic Aviation Capital is an aircraft transaction specialist that is based in Billund, Denmark, and has regional offices in the U.S., Ireland, France, Switzerland and Singapore.
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION has begun fulfilling a legislative mandate to survey security vulnerabilities at some 3,000 general aviation airports. See article on Page 25.
THE ADS-B RULE, meanwhile, was sent for DOT review in mid-December, following the release of RTCA’s ADS-B standards and subsequent guidance from FAA (BA, Dec. 7/261). FAA continues to make progress on the implementation of ADS-B with the commissioning for use in the Gulf of Mexico (BA, Jan. 4/4). FAA is expected to begin using ADS-B next month in Philadelphia, the agency said last week. The ADS-B rule is on track for release in April.
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has combined its previously separate customer support entities – Hawker Beechcraft Services, Hawker Beechcraft Customer Support and the RAPID parts and distribution unit – under a single organization known as Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support. Company officials say the move, which includes changing the name of RAPID to Hawker Beechcraft Parts & Distribution, will strengthen its commitment to growth and focus on the customer.
SOLAIRUS AVIATION has launched a program to help increase contributions to the charity Corporate Angel Network. Under the program, Solairus is donating about 1 percent of the first year’s management fees for each new aircraft management client that signs up with the firm in 2010. CAN arranges free transportation for cancer patients aboard empty seats on business jets. A network of more than 500 participating corporations and fractional operators transports between 200 and 250 cancer patients each month. CAN has arranged more than 30,000 flights since its founding in 1981.
