HAWKER BEECHCRAFT has delivered a second Beechcraft King Air C90GTi to Shenzhen Airlines in China. The aircraft will be operated for flight training at the Shenzhen Airlines in-house training academy, Kunpeng International Flight Academy. Shenzhen Airlines founded Kunpeng Flight Academy in 2007.
GENERAL DYNAMICS AVIATION SERVICES facility in Lincoln, Calif., has secured European Aviation Safety Agency approval for component-level maintenance of generators, alternators, convertors and instruments on European Union-registered aircraft. The approval covers a range of aircraft, including Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault Falcon and Hawker Beechcraft planes. Located 30 miles northeast of Sacramento, the 34,000-square-foot Lincoln center specializes in electrical component repairs and overhaul.
DEBORAH HERSMAN, during her ceremonial swearing-in last week as chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, stressed the importance for the agency to “be nimble” on safety issues. “Because we have no authority to require action, it is essential for us to act when the accidents we investigate have captured the attention of the public and decision makers – striking while the iron is hot is the most likely way to develop momentum on our recommendations,” she said.
– Business aviation airframers Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier are among the manufacturers who hoped to increase their penetration in the Asian market with displays at last week’s Asian Aerospace International Expo.
FOKKER F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0563; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-180-AD; Amendment 39-16005; AD 2009-18-09] – Replace the flight warning computer with a modified unit that incorporates software version V13.55. Also, revise the Airplane Flight Manual to change certain indications and warnings; install new software for the multifunction display unit; and install a new resistor in the thrust-reverser indicator and control system, or install an improved thrust-reverser unlock indication relay.
EMBRAER EXECUTIVE JETS and the Westchester Aviation Association (WAA) are jointly hosting an “Aviation Policies Update” seminar Sept. 23 in White Plains, N.Y. The meeting will cover legislative and regulatory issues such as Safety Management Systems and the European Union Emissions Trading System. Scheduled speakers include Kathy Perfetti, standards manager from the International Business Aviation Council; Bob Murtha, business and operations manager for IBM, and several other officials from the National Business Aviation Association, Embraer and WAA.
AVIONS DE TRANSPORT REGIONAL ATR-42 and ATR-72 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0786; Directorate Identifier 2009-NM-145-AD; Amendment 39-16014; AD 2009-18-18] – Conduct repetitive inspections of the left-hand and right-hand cockpit forward side glass windows. If any discrepancies are found, replace the windows, per the instructions of PPG Aerospace Service Bulletin NP-158862-001 (dated July 8, 2009).
– A leading airport industry group is urging Congress to move more quickly to pass an FAA reauthorization bill, but it appears the Senate will not vote on its version until mid-October at the earliest, and a short-term extension may be passed in the interim.
MATTHEW LIU was named Hawker Beechcraft’s regional sales director for China and North Asia. Liu has more than 18 years of aviation, aerospace and defense experience. He previously worked on new product development and U.S. government sales for Raytheon and held various engineering positions at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE has planned two key rollouts in upcoming weeks. The company’s new Gulfstream G650, which will be at the top of the Gulfstream product line, is scheduled for rollout Sept. 29 at the company’s facilities in Savannah, Ga. The G250 super midsized business jet, meanwhile, is scheduled for rollout Oct. 6 at the Israel Aerospace Industries facility at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel. Gulfstream officials expect both aircraft to fly before year’s end.
FIRST DELIVERY of a Phoenix CRJ has been made to a Macau-based businessman. The delivery took place Aug. 24 at the Flying Colours completion facility in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. The 15-seat, converted Bombardier regional airliner, which has been fitted with long-range fuel tanks to provide a maximum range in excess of 3,000 nm, is being managed and operated by Macau-based Jet Asia.
CALGARY, ALBERTA-based AeroMechanical Services Ltd. has installed its first afirs UpTime service on a business aircraft. Afirs offers flight watch, real time event reporting, UpTime Fuel and Emissions Management, flight-data monitoring support, and emergency-mode data streaming.
A STUDY commissioned by the Aeronautical Repair Station Association found that the global market for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) surpassed $50 billion in 2008. North America accounted for $19.4 billion of the MRO market, said the study, prepared by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based AeroStrategy. The study estimated that the MRO activities have a $39 billion annual impact on the U.S. economy, and that the industry encompasses some 4,200 companies that employ more than 200,000 workers.
CESSNA has won an order for three Citation Sovereigns from the China Flight Inspection Center (CFIC) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Cessna expects to achieve type design validation from the CAAC by the end of the year. Delivery of the aircraft to CFIC is expected to begin in late 2010. The aircraft will be modified for airways inspection missions. More than 20 Citations currently operate in China.
MARK ABBOTT was appointed group FBO director for ExecuJet Aviation Group. Abbott will be based at ExecuJet’s new facility in Cape Town, South Africa. Abbott began his aviation career in 1998 with Harrods Aviation Limited, where he was responsible for growing the operation and overseeing contracts and other business in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. He consulted with ExecuJet in Europe before returning to South Africa to serve as regional manager for the company. He has served with ExecuJet for three years.
PETER RADEZ was named financial controller for FirstFlight, a charter and management company based in Elmira/Corning, N.Y. Radez has more than 25 years of finance and accounting experience with financial, public accounting and manufacturing companies. These included United Technologies, Fortuna Energy and Coopers & Lybrand.
GULFSTREAM’s Enhanced Vision System (EVS) recently surpassed the 500-unit milestone. Gulfstream began offering the EVS eight years ago. The EVS uses a nose-mounted forward-looking infrared camera designed by Kollsman to generate real-time images of the aircraft’s surroundings. The system is designed to increase situational awareness at night and during low-visibility daylight conditions by enabling pilots to see terrain, runways, taxiways and approaches that are undetectable by unaided sight.
ATR handed over the first of four ATR-72 VIP aircraft to the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) in Thailand. The RTAF signed a contract for the VIP ATR-72-500s in 2007. The aircraft will transport the Thai royal family, along with other government and military officials.
MOOG is in negotiations with GE Aviation Systems to acquire the company’s flight control actuation product line in Wolverhampton, U.K. The GE unit designs and makes flight control actuators for large airliners. The Wolverhampton company’s sales in 2008 totaled $100 million, and Moog said the product line is complementary to its aircraft programs.
TSA APPARENTLY is nearing completion of a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking for a revised LASP, covering private operators of large aircraft. The SNPRM is expected to be released from TSA shortly and then must undergo the normal vetting process, including a review by the Office of Management and Budget. The SNPRM is expected to be much less controversial than the original proposal (BA, Aug. 31/93).
GIL WOLIN has joined California start-up charter and management firm Solairus to manage the firm’s East Coast operations. Wolin, a former senior executive at JetDirect and its predecessor companies, rejoins Jake Cartwright, Dan Drohan and other former JetDirect employees who left the financially ailing company earlier this year to establish Solairus. Wolin has more than 35 years of aviation industry experience, formerly serving as publisher of BA affiliate Business and Commercial Aviation. He also has served as president of Mayo Aviation in Denver, Colo.
– NASA is putting the final touches on its first new aeronautics research program in almost a decade, with the goal of maturing technologies to dramatically reduce the fuel burn, noise and emissions of civil aircraft. Pending final internal reviews and congressional approval of NASA’s fiscal 2010 budget, the Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) program is planned to start on Oct. 1, funded with more than $60 million a year for at least five years with new money provided by Congress.
THE HOUSE AVIATION SUBCOMMITTEE has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 16 to discuss Hudson River airspace, as well as management of uncontrolled airspace corridors (BA, Sept. 7/103). The hearing follows FAA’s release last week of recommendations for improved procedures for operating in the Hudson River Class B exclusion zone. The hearing also follows the release late last month of NTSB recommendations for a Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) covering the Hudson River corridor and possible other SFRAs in other Class B areas. The hearing is in response to the Aug.
HEADS UP TECHNOLOGIES has developed and qualified an aural warning generator (AWG) for the Sikorsky H-92 being developed in support of the Canadian CH-148 Marine Helicopter Program. Production AWGs are slated to begin delivery in the late third quarter. The units can provide three simultaneous audio alerts, one voice and two tone alerts, based on information received from two redundant data-concentrator units via an ARINC 429 databus.
