Eurocopter will produce EC725 Super Cougar medium helicopters at its Helibras subsidiary in Brazil under an agreement in principle signed on June 30 by the Brazilian and French governments.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE AIR (CEA) said it has partnered with “hip-hop entrepreneur Steve Rifkind and his SRC (Street Records Corp.) label to provide a stable of award-winning artists exclusive access” to CEA’s charter services.
RICK BRAINARD was appointed vice president of sales for West Star Aviation, Inc., Grand Junction, Colo. He will manage all sales operations for the company’s facilities in Grand Junction, East Alton, Ill., Dallas, Texas and Hiawatha, Iowa. Brainard had served as general manager of the Grand Junction facility since September 2005. He previously held posts with McKinney Aerospace, Garrett Aviation and AlliedSignal.
General aviation groups called the Federal Aviation Administration’s proposal to reduce the number of GA slots into New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) discriminatory, saying the restriction would unjustifiably erode access to the New York City area.
CESSNA IS OFFERING FREE FUEL for up to 18 months and a free Garmin synthetic vision upgrade to new buyers of Cessna 182 Skylanes or Turbo Skylanes who take delivery of their aircraft by Sept. 30. Under the incentive program, Cessna will pay for up to $15,000 of fuel between now and the end of 2009, based on average usage and power settings. Cessna also will upgrade the Garmin G1000 avionics package standard on the 182 with Garmin’s soon-to-be-certified synthetic vision technology.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION has established a toll-free hotline for use by Part 135 charter operators to report suspected illegal commercial charter activity. The association said the hotline was established in part with a grant from FAA. The hotline – (888) 759-3581 – is designed to enable FAA track down and take enforcement action against illegal operators and help measure the extent of such illegal activity.
SEVERAL PC-12 COCKPIT UPGRADES are being developed by Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S), including a flat-panel display, wide area augmentation system (WAAS) and a reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) package. The Exton, Pa.-based company says the key enhancement to the flat panel display is the single-sided cockpit option. A WAAS capability for both single-side and full-cockpit display architectures is expected to be available in the fourth quarter, and IS&S is working on RVSM group certification for the Pilatus single-engine turboprop.
TESTING of five candidate coal-to-liquid and gas-to-liquid Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthetic fuels under the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative was scheduled to wrap up last week, FAA said. A report due out at the end of the month should supply the data needed to allow up to a 50 percent blend of generic FT and conventional jet fuel. Approval, which is expected by yearend, is viewed as essential to giving financiers and fuel producers the confidence to commit billions of dollars to building synthetic-fuel plants in the next four to five years.
The National Air Transportation Association Friday announced availability of a toll-free hotline that certificated Part 135 charter operators can use to notify federal officials about suspected illegal charter flights. “Persons illegally conducting commercial flights adversely affect the air charter industry,” said NATA President Jim Coyne. “For years our members, licensed air charter operators, have sought ways to involve the FAA in tracking down and taking enforcement action against illegal operations,” he said. “Now, we believe that we have found a way.”
DAN MCKILLIPS joined West Star Aviation as a regional sales manager responsible for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. McKillips has more than 11 years of experience in the aviation industry, having previously served as director of maintenance for Acxiom.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) has chosen the X Prize Foundation to create a competition for jet fuel alternatives, DOT Secretary Mary Peters announced July 10. The aim of the award is to stimulate market competition for the development of alternative fuels. The original X Prize competition awarded a $10 million prize in 2004 to the team behind the world’s first privately developed manned suborbital spacecraft, SpaceShipOne.
CIRRUS DESIGN’S new personal jet, formerly dubbed “The-Jet,” was rechristened last week as the Cirrus Vision SJ50. The new name was announced just in time to prepare the signage for the company’s exhibit at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture at the end of the month – where the SJ50 prototype is expected to be on display. See article on Page 15.
NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION, which has been issuing press releases for months complaining about growing safety concerns because of staffing shortages at FAA facilities, finally got the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board. On July 7, NATCA issued a press release describing “a very scary near mid-air collision” at about 2030 on July 5 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The role of speculative investors on high oil prices is dividing the U.S. airline industry from economists, who say targeting institutional investors is more politically expedient than economically sound.
PLATTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT is exhibiting at this week’s Farnborough International Air Show in England, part of a group of six New York State companies and organizations that will be in the U.S. Pavilion. Plattsburgh officials said their presence in Farnborough is part of the effort to position the airport “as Montreal’s U.S. airport.” Plattsburgh International (PBG) is located in a multipurpose airport and aerospace park created from the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base, located just one hour’s drive south of downtown Montreal.
ADAM KOMACK was hired as chief marketing officer of XOJET, San Carlos, Calif. Most recently Komack served as chief lifestyle officer for Eos Airlines, the premium-class carrier that flew between New York and the U.K. before filing for bankruptcy in April after fuel prices spiked. At XOJET, Komack will “define and drive marketing and customer experience strategies and programs” for the company’s planned global private jet service. Founded in January 2006, XOJET said it expects to be operating a fleet of 127 aircraft valued at $3.1 billion by 2012.
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BOMBARDIER DHC-8-400, DHC-8-401, and DHC-8-402 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0730; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-055-AD] – This proposed rule would require operators to modify the spoiler cable disconnect sensing circuit by following the instructions of Bombardier Service Bulletin 84-27-33 (dated June 6, 2007) or Bombardier Service Bulletin 84-27-28, Rev. B (dated Sept. 25, 2007). This proposal, which resulted from an MCAI originated by Transport Canada, was issued to ensure that all caution lights illuminate when a spoiler cable disconnect occurs.
Panama City, Florida’s greenfield airport construction project is two months ahead of schedule, thanks to the contractor’s decision to move to a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week work schedule, an airport authority executive said.
BOMBARDIER DHC-8-400 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0356; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-042-AD] – The FAA has revised an earlier proposed rule to require application of a certain compound to barrel nuts and bolts per the instructions of Bombardier Alert Service Bulletin A84-57-19, Rev. B (dated March 6, 2008). The earlier proposal mandated inspections of those parts to determine if they were preloaded correctly and that no cracks were present.
TIM LAKATA was named director of Learjet sales for the Northeast U.S. by Bombardier Aerospace. Based in Hartford, Conn., Lakata will oversee all Learjet sales for Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont and West Virginia. Lakata began his career at Bombardier in 2004 as a widebody business jet demonstration pilot. He has more than 18 years of flying experience in the U.S. Air Force and with Bombardier.
PRATT & WHITNEY’S Geared Turbofan engine demonstrator completed Phase II ground tests and has been cleared for flight testing. The GTF engine system permits the engine’s fan to operate at a different speed than the low-pressure compressor and turbine, resulting in greater fuel efficiency and a slower fan speed for reduced noise. The GTF was previously selected to power the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet and the proposed Bombardier CSeries airliners.
For the first half of 2008, Embraer delivered a record 97 jets, and the Brazilian airframe manufacturer’s order backlog swelled to an all-time high of $20.7 billion. The 97 airplanes shipped in the first six months of 2008 represent a 59 percent increase over the 61 airplanes delivered during the first half of 2007.
THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF CRJ OPERATIONS in North America was celebrated recently by Bombardier and Comair. The first revenue flight of the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet took place on June 1, 1993 between the airline’s base in Cincinnati and Toronto. The Delta Connection carrier currently operates 100 CRJ100/200s, 15 CRJ700s and 13 CRJ900 jets. As of April 30, 2008, Bombardier had logged 1,667 firm orders for its CRJ line and delivered 1,485 of those aircraft.
