Participants in the Transportation Security Administration’s first monthly general aviation teleconference call were encouraged that the channels of communication were opened on some contentious, high-profile issues. The call late last month drew seven industry participants, and approximately 60 questions were e-mailed from the general aviation community. TSA named a liaison specifically to work with GA in a move to improve its relationship with the community (BA, March 23/129).
April 6-8 – ACMG’s 7th Annual Air Cargo, Express and Freighter Aircraft Workshop, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Seattle, Wash., (206) 587-6537, email [email protected], www.cargofacts.com/workshop April 21-23 – Flight Safety Foundation and NBAA 54th Annual Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar, Hilton Walt Disney World, Orlando, www.flightsafety.org or nbaa.org April 21-27 – Sun ‘n Fun Fly-in: Fly-In ’09, Lakeland, Fla. For more information, call (863) 644-2431
New hangar at Naples Airport for the largest jets. Selling at less than cost due to bad economy!! Rare find at a busy airport that has no large hangars available. Concrete walls, hurricane proof, reception area, 1.6 acres, 12,000 gal fuel tank. If you fly out of Naples often, the fuel savings will pay for the hangar! Phone (239) 641-8000 Click here to view the pdf
As major business aviation employers continue to announce layoffs, industry experts have begun to question whether those companies will be able to ramp back up and find an available labor pool when the economy recovers. Nick Fuhrman, director of the Eastman, Ga.-based Center of Innovation for Aerospace, worries about the loss of institutional memory by the industry. “Most [workers] will leave the industry if they are close to retirement-eligible age, taking with them a lifetime’s experience in process and craft that is vital to manufacturers,” he said.
THE PACE of the business jet market deterioration appears to be slowing, reports industry research firm UBS. The most recent UBS survey found continued market erosion with few actual transactions. But 30 percent-plus declines in aircraft prices appear to have stimulated modest incremental interest, and financing availability has “nearly stabilized,” UBS said. Market stabilization also has been evident among some of the operators.
The latest investment into Cleveland-based fractional aircraft ownership provider Flight Options ensures the company is “well capitalized” to move forward in the difficult economy, a senior company executive said. Flight Options restructured its ownership late last month with the investment from private equity firm Resilience Capital Partners, as well as from members of the Flight Options management team and Directional Capital, an investment firm led by Flight Options Chairman Kenn Ricci (BA, March 30/145).
The overall U.S. aviation safety record is among the best in the world, but the National Transportation Safety Board’s 2008 preliminary accident statistics released April 2 show “mixed” results among various types of operations in general aviation, including on-demand air taxis. “We are particularly concerned with the spike in fatalities in on-demand air charter operations,” acting NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement in the area.”
CAE last week pledged to invest up to C$174 million in a new five-year research and development program, Project Falcon. The program is designed to expand CAE’s current modeling and simulation technologies, develop new ones and increase its capabilities beyond training into other areas of the aerospace and defense market, such as analysis and operations.
DORNIER 228-100, -101, -200, -201, -202 and -212 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0284; Directorate Identifier 2009-CE-016-AD] – This proposal would require that operators perform a detailed visual inspection on the inner structure of the rudder and elevator for signs of corrosion, debonded primer and any other deviation of surface protection, following the instructions of RUAG Aerospace Dornier 228 Service Bulletin No. SB-228-270, Rev. No. 1 (dated Nov. 28, 2008).
CIRRUS named company veteran Ian Bentley vice president and managing director of international sales. Bentley, who joined Cirrus in 1997 as director of sales support, most recently was vice president of products and services. He developed the customer delivery and training process that the company said is “an integral part of the Cirrus ownership experience.” He also was vice president of customer relations and played a role in developing the Cirrus Authorized Service Center Network, Cirrus Training Center and Cirrus Standardized Flight Instructor networks.
BOMBARDIER’S revised outlook is more realistic but “perhaps not enough,” analyst JP Morgan said last week after the Canadian conglomerate lowered its delivery expectations. Bombardier originally planned to cut only Learjet and Challenger model production, but now is scaling back the Global series as well. The company had 16 “white tails” in the fourth quarter, JP Morgan noted. The most recent guidance suggests the company will deliver 176 business jets, but JP Morgan said the company was “taking down our estimates a bit further to 154 for a 35 percent decline.”
AVIONS DE TRANSPORT REGIONAL has received an order for two ATR 42-600s and four ATR 72-600s from Royal Air Maroc. The aircraft will be operated by Royal Air Maroc Express, the Moroccan flag carrier’s new regional subsidiary, which is expected to start flying this summer. Royal Air Maroc’s ATR 42-600s and ATR 72-600s will be configured for 48 and 70 seats, respectively. Deliveries of the new aircraft are to start in spring 2011. Meanwhile, ATR will lease four ATR 72-200s to the carrier. The deal also includes options for two additional ATR 72-600s.
328 SUPPORT SERVICES received a contract to convert a Dornier 328JET regional aircraft into a 12-seat VIP aircraft. Previously placed in service by the now-defunct Atlantic Coast Airlines, the aircraft is operated by Miami-based Aviando Services. 328 Support estimates the conversion would take six months. The conversion will include a new sidewall with electric window blinds, a noise reduction kit and a satellite phone system with two handsets.
DUNCAN AVIATION has delivered its first Learjet 45 with Wide Area Augmentation System Lateral Precision With Vertical Guidance (WAAS LPV) certification. The Learjet’s Universal Avionics dual UNS-1Ew installation with LPV approach capability provides ILS-like guidance down to near CAT I ILS minimums (as low as 200 feet with 1/2 mile visibility). The supplemental type certificate covers Learjet 40 and 45 models.
FAA has sharply lowered its short-term expectations for a burgeoning Very Light Jet market, but officials still predict growth in that segment and the general aviation industry as a whole beginning in 2010. FAA last week released its Aerospace Forecast for fiscal 2009-2025. The forecast presents an overview of activity across civil aviation, but relies on the General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity (and Avionics) Surveys to derive the general aviation predictions. The surveys have been questioned in the past for their accuracy.
THE NUMBER of student pilots is still declining, a trend that FAA believes will continue at least through 2010. According to the agency’s latest forecast, the number of student pilots is estimated to have dropped from 84,339 in 2007 to 80,989 last year. This is down from the 93,064 in 2000. FAA forecasts that the number of student pilots will decline an average of 5.7 percent each year through 2010, bottoming out at 72,050. The forecast predicts the student pilot population will eventually rebound to 86,600 by 2025, still below 2000 levels.
Horseheads, N.Y. charter, management and maintenance specialist FirstFlight is evaluating all of its operations for potential growth areas, but company founder and owner John Dow said growth will be muted as the company focuses only on business that fits with its core offerings. Dow recently bought back the charter, management and maintenance business from FirstFlight Inc., but decided to keep the FirstFlight branding that he established a decade ago (BA, March 16/121).
SCOTT MOORE was appointed to the board of directors for the National Business Aviation Association. Moore is chief pilot and director of aviation for Luck Stone, a family-owned, Manakin, Va.-based supplier of stone construction products. The company operates a Beech King Air 350 to stone centers and gravel plants located in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. Moore, who has accrued more than 6,700 hours in 12 different aircraft, has 24 years of flight department management and military leadership.
GOODRICH will provide the high-lift actuation system for the CSeries aircraft, Bombardier’s newest commercial transport. The contract is expected to generate more than $750 million in original equipment and aftermarket revenue for the Charlotte, N.C.-based company over 20 years. Goodrich’s Actuation Systems team in Wolverhampton, U.K. will provide a fully integrated high-lift flap and slat system for the airliner, including actuators, power drive units, wing tip brakes, electronic control units, cockpit levers, transmission shafts and sensors.
The pilot of a Pilatus PC-12/45 that crashed March 22 in Butte, Mont., had diverted to Butte from the original destination of Bozeman, Mont., but gave no reason for the change in plans, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the accident. The aircraft crashed near the approach end of Runway 33 at the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte, killing all 14 people aboard (BA, March 30/150). The aircraft, N123CM, owned and operated by Eagle Capital Leasing of Enterprise, Ore., flew to Vacaville, Calif.
DASSAULT FALCON 20-C5, -D5, -E5 and -F5 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2009-0263; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-137-AD] – Inspect for a red line marking on each of the Wiggins couplings that are located near the de-icing valves (12H1) and (12H2), per the instructions of Dassault Service Bulletin F20-766 (dated Oct. 31, 2005). If a red line is not found, prior to further flight, replace the seals to the left and right Wiggins couplings.
BOMBARDIER CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 and 440) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0888; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-084-AD; Amendment 39-15840; AD 2009-06-04] – Modify the fuel tank bonding jumpers inside the wing and center fuel tanks in accordance with the instructions of Bombardier Service Bulletin 601R-28-055, Rev. F (dated May 27, 2008). This AD, which resulted from an MCAI originated by Transport Canada, was prompted by a safety review of the fuel system.
Two former National Business Aviation Association executives have reunited to develop a service that corporate flight departments can use to demonstrate their value to their companies.
