A cash infusion earlier this year positioned United Kingdom aviation services company Gama Aviation Ltd. for the acquisition of the PrivatAir Group’s U.S. business. Gama announced late last month that it had significantly expanded its presence in the U.S. and nearly doubled its fleet with the purchase of the Stratford, Conn. U.S. arm of PrivatAir Group.
ALLISON OHLINGER was promoted to customer service manager for Flightline Group, Inc. Ohlinger formerly served as an aircraft sales coordinator for Flightline’s SouthEast Piper and HondaJet sales activities. A licensed pilot, she holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and history from Florida State University.
BAE SYSTEMS (OPERATIONS) LIMITED Jetstream 4101 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0275; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-335-AD] – This proposed AD would require replacing the “Propeller Limitations” placard in the cockpit with a new one and revising the Airplane Flight Manual to include new propeller operating procedures.
JIM ZARVOS was promoted to senior vice president for Midcoast Aviation. Zarvos, who has been leading Midcoast’s satellite operations, added MRO and refurbishment activities at the newly acquired Savannah Air Center in Savannah, Ga. to his responsibilities. A 35-year aviation industry veteran, Zarvos will continue to lead the satellite operations in Bedford, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Palm Beach, Fla., and Teterboro, N.J.
Aviall, Inc., one of the largest providers of new aviation parts and related aftermarket services, plans to open a business office in India during the second half of 2008. The wholly owned Boeing subsidiary’s India operation will serve the rapidly growing Indian aviation industry and be headquartered near New Delhi in the Noida Special Economic Zone in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Aviall has appointed Sachin Taparia as the managing director of Aviall India. Previously, he was responsible for supply chain services at Aviall headquarters in Dallas.
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer reported net income of $489.3 million for 2007, an increase of 25.4 percent over the results for 2006. The company had total sales of $5.2 billion last year, a jump of $1.44 billion, or nearly 38 percent, over the 2006 sales total of $3.8 billion.
Appointed senior program administrator, final phase/service center, Supplemental Type Certificate, for Gulfstream Aerospace. Wiltse will be responsible for leading the aircraft manufacturer's initiative for Organizational Delegation Authorization (ODA) approval of Gulfstream for final phase completions and product support for STC certifications. He reports to Bill Whitton, vice president/ODA lead administrator.
The Federal Aviation Administration exempted Part 135 and 91 operators from most of the retrofit requirements in new rules requiring upgraded cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) and digital flight data recorders (DFDRs). The regulations, published in the March 7 Federal Register, call for increased duration of CVR recordings, increased data recording rate for DFDRs, physical separation of the DFDR and CVR, improved reliability of the power supplies to the CVR and DFDR, and the capability to record installed datalink communication equipment.
Gulfstream Aerospace unveiled an all-new airplane Thursday, the G650, offering customers the largest non-airliner business jet in the market with a range of 7,000 nautical miles at .85 Mach and an array of sophisticated avionics including both enhanced vision and synthetic vision systems to enhance safety and operational utility in reduced visibility environments.
March 18-20 - Professional Aviation Maintenance Association, 37th Annual Maintenance Symposium and Aviation Industry Expo, Dallas, Texas, (866) 865-7262 March 27 - National Business Aviation Association Regional Forum, San Antonio, Texas International Airport (SAT). For more information, contact NBAA at (202) 783-9000 April 8-14 - Sun 'n Fun Fly-In, Inc., Lakeland, Fla., (863) 644-2431 April 23-26 - Aircraft Electronics Association, 51st Annual Convention & Trade Show, Washington, D.C. Contact Debbie McFarland at (816) 373-6565
THE AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION Friday maintained that a recent DOT Inspector General report on airspace usage confirms what the association has long said - "that business jets are being subsidized by the commercial airlines and their customers.
Consultancy Forecast International projects that manufacturers of military fixed-wing trainers will deliver 1,550 new aircraft from 2008 to 2017, reaching around $17.1 billion total. More than half (784) of these new trainers will be turboprop powered, with jet trainers accounting for nearly all of the rest (748). The market for piston-powered military trainers is "dying out" and will account for only 18 aircraft during the same period, FI says. Overall, annual production will reach a high of 212 units in 2009 before gradually falling.
The Flight Safety Foundation is stepping up international safety initiatives through new partnerships in Europe and Australia. FSF teamed with Eurocontrol to develop strategies to reduce aviation safety risk. The two organizations are focusing on three key issues that they want to cooperatively address - mitigating risk from growth in traffic and air traffic controller and pilot shortages, creating a "Just Culture" in aviation, and promoting the SKYbary online repository for safety-related information.
Named general manager of the General Dynamics Aviation Services (GDAS) facility in Las Vegas, Nev., where he will oversee all aspects of the maintenance, repair and overhaul services the company performs on Challenger, Falcon, Gulfstream and Hawker business jets. Waymire joined Gulfstream Aerospace in 1997 as a production flight mechanic in Savannah, Ga. and transferred to the Gulfstream service center in Dallas, Texas as a senior technician in 2000. He left Gulfstream in 2005 to work as an assistant site manager, maintaining Gulfstream business jets for the U.S.
ERA was selected to provide a nationwide Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast surveillance network for Thailand. The contract, from the air navigation service provider Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, will include MSS ground stations providing next-generation surveillance coverage throughout Thailand and the surrounding territory. Era officials called the Thailand project a particularly important contract since use of the airspace is rapidly growing. Era also has recently won contracts to provide MSS for Singapore, Hamburg, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Munich.
Angela Gittens, the former aviation director for Miami-Dade County, was named to replace Robert Aaronson as director general of Airport Council International.
HAWKER BEECHCRAFT secured a number of international certifications - including European Aviation Safety Agency approval - for its Hawker 900XP. Hawker Beechcraft began delivering 900XPs to European customers in December 2007. The aircraft, a follow-on to the Hawker 800 series, also received certification in Australia, Aruba, the Czech Republic, Macau, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The Federal Aviation Administration awarded type certification in August 2007.
Model CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 & 440) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-0215; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-216-AD; Amendment 39-15407; AD 2008-05-13] - Requires operators to conduct a general visual inspection of AC bus contactors 1K4XD and 2K4XD and the bus contactor K4XA to determine which contactors have an Ultem 2200 (black molded plastic) terminal base plate. Apply RTV sealant to such terminal base plates and, before further flight, accomplish all the tasks listed in Bombardier Service Bulletin 601R-24-123, Revision B (dated Feb.16, 2007).
SAS will buy 27 Bombardier regional jets and turboprops as part of a settlement between the airline and aircraft maker over landing gear problems that occurred last year with the carrier's fleet of Q400s (BA, Nov. 12/222).
Hired as APU regional engine manager for the central U.S. by Dallas Airmotive, the aviation engine repair and overhaul company owned by BBA Aviation. Koehler will represent Dallas Airmotive's repair and overhaul services for Honeywell 36 series APUs, which are widely used on business and general aviation aircraft. His territory includes all central states east of Colorado and west of Ohio. He will be based in Missouri. Before joining Dallas Airmotive, Koehler worked for CD Aviation in Neosho, Mo. as sales manager for TFE731 and APU products.
Model SF340A and 340B airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-29248; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-155-AD] - This revised proposed rule would require operators to update the "Airworthiness Limitations" section of the "Instructions for Continued Airworthiness" to incorporate new limitations for fuel tank systems in order to prevent possible fuel tank explosions. This amended NPRM expands the scope of the earlier proposal, which was prompted by an MCAI issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency, and sets a new compliance date of December 16, 2008.
GULFSTREAM'S new G650 business jet got positive reviews from JPMorgan analyst Joseph B. Nadol III, who said the new airplane "looks to us like a low-risk way to take market share and improve pricing power, and we believe it will generate strong financial returns." Noting the "healthy competition" that has existed over the past decade between Bombardier's Global Express and the Gulfstream GV/G550 family of aircraft, Nadol predicts "the G650 will be in a class of its own, and we do not see a significant competitive threat on the horizon." See article below.
Fractional aircraft operator NetJets announced a huge expansion of its operations and training facility in Columbus, Ohio, an effort that will result in the creation of 810 new jobs and a doubling of the FlightSafety International simulator training facility there.
GA GROUPS last week praised the FAA's decision to exempt aircraft flown under Parts 91 and 135 from new cockpit voice recorder (CVR) retrofit requirements. "We are quite pleased that the FAA heeded our comments - specifically on the issue of a two-hour recording time and the burden that would have imposed," said Jacqueline Rosser, director of regulatory affairs for the National Air Transportation Association.
