HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORP. (HBC) opened a new international sales headquarters at Hawarden Airport in Broughton (near Chester), the United Kingdom. The facility includes a reception area and design center that has the same design technologies available for customers at HBC facilities in Little Rock, Ark. and Wichita. Hawker Beechcraft also has a service center at Broughton that supports customers in Europe, the Middle East and India.
Joined FlightSafety Simulation as director, finance. Faulkenberry has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and held management posts in accounting, finance, audit, insurance, operations, legal, expense management and contracts. Most recently he served with Enhanced Performance Solutions, where he instituted program management reporting systems for American Electrical Power. He also was senior vice president and director of risk management with BOK Financial Corp.
The new head of Brazil's air traffic control system hinted late last week that further changes in the country's aviation leadership could occur as the South American nation struggles to deal with a host of safety and operational problems that have been exacerbated in the wake of Brazil's worst air crash earlier this month. Last Wednesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva fired his defense minister, Waldir Pires, who was in charge of the Brazilian ATC system, replacing him with former Justice Minister and Supreme Court judge Nelson Jobim.
THE CHAOTIC air traffic control situation in Brazil is "worse than what you see," according to Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, who has been monitoring the situation closely since last fall's midair collision between an Embraer Legacy and a Gol Airlines 737. Voss is a former FAA air traffic controller and manager who later spent two and one-half years as director of air navigation for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
MOLLY MARTIN PEARCE, the veteran marketing executive for Piper Aircraft Co. in Vero Beach, Fla., joined Flightline Group, Inc. in Tallahassee, Fla. earlier this month as vice president marketing and corporate communications. Pearce, a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., began her career with the General Aviation Manufacturers Association in Washington, D.C. She spent the past 10 years with Piper, most recently as director of marketing.
Cessna Aircraft took orders for hundreds of its SkyCatcher Light Sport Aircraft and Cirrus Design Corp. said it will offer a version of an existing European aircraft as its entry into the LSA market as both companies drew crowds of enthusiastic visitors to their exhibits last week at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture 2007 in Oshkosh, Wis.
CESSNA received an order from Scandinavian Aviation Academy, based in Vasteras, Sweden for 12 Skyhawks and one of the company's new Light Sport Aircraft, the Cessna SkyCatcher. Scandinavian Aviation Academy has provided flight training since 1963 and operates a fleet of 25 trainers in Sweden, where the company has two training facilities and a Cessna authorized service station. The company also operates a training academy in San Diego. The deal was signed through Cessna Scandinavian dealer, Scandinavian Airtech AB.
THE LIKELIHOOD of Piper Aircraft remaining in Vero Beach, Fla. appears to have slipped. Piper officials have been considering a move to a new location since early this year and had narrowed the list of possibilities to three: moving to Albuquerque, N.M. or Oklahoma City, Okla. or remaining in Vero Beach. City, county and state officials had prepared a detailed incentive package designed to keep Piper - and its 1,000 jobs - in Vero Beach, a package that it was estimated would cost each local family about $50 per year in higher taxes.
AVIDYNE received a contract from WSI Corp. to develop and manufacture new receivers for WSI satellite data and Sirrius Satellite Radio programming. Avidyne will provide the new AV-300 receiver, which will receive WSI InFlight Weather service, and the AV-350, which will receive both WSI InFlight and Sirrius Satellite Radio programming. Both systems will be designed to be compatible with a range of multifunction displays and can be used as upgrades to existing WSI AV100 and AV200 receivers.
AIRCRAFT ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION released its latest edition of Pilot's Guide to Avionics. The free guide provides more than 180 pages of information on avionics for aircraft and provides a directory of certified avionics and instrument facilities, manufacturers and distributors throughout the world. The Pilot's Guide discusses new avionics products, information on audio panel systems, transponders, integrated display technology, cockpit portables, financing and cockpit makeovers. To receive a copy, contact AEA at (816) 373-6565.
ALLEGRO AIR CHARTERS, a charter and management company with bases in Ontario and Santa Ana, Calif., added a Citation II to its charter fleet. The addition of the Citation followed Allegro's acquisition of New Vectors Aviation, which held a charter certificate.
SALES OF THE EADS SOCATA TBM-850 turboprop have passed the 100-aircraft mark, the manufacturer said last week. The program was launched in December 2005. EADS Socata delivered 42 TBM 850s last year and expects to deliver 50 more this year, including 41 in the U.S. market.
Airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-28747; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-275-AD; Amendment 39-15137; AD 2007-15-08] - This AD, which supersedes a previous directive (AD 2006-18-09, amendment 39-14748), results from the determination that additional and revised inspections of the fuselage are needed. The new AD requires revision of the "Airworthiness Limitations Section" of the "Instructions for Continued Airworthiness" to incorporate life limits for certain items and inspections to detect fatigue cracking in certain structures.
DAVIS FLIGHT SUPPORT of Yolo County Airport in California was named an Avfuel branded dealer. Davis Flight Support will participate in the Avfuel Contract Fuel program as well as the AVTRIP incentive program. Davis also will use Avfuel products and signage as well as Avfuel quality assurance and training programs. Founded in 2006, Davis Flight Support recently expanded with the acquisition of Woodland Aviation, a Hawker Beechcraft sales and service center.
MIDCOAST AVIATION took delivery of the first of four Challenger 850s that the company's St. Louis Downtown Airport completion center will complete for Swiss-based VistaJet. VistaJet will operate the aircraft for its worldwide charter operations. VistaJet, a charter, management, financing and trading company, operates 27 medium- and long-range business jets for charter. Midcoast in May celebrated its 100th completion of a green aircraft. The company has been completing aircraft since the mid-1980s, but most of the completions have been done in the past eight years.
Gulfstream Aerospace continued to enjoy the strong business jet market with a 13.2 percent increase in sales in the second quarter and nearly a 20 percent jump in operating earnings. The Savannah, Ga. business jet manufacturer also logged its best quarter yet in terms of orders, pushing backlog to more than $10 billion, said Nicholas Chabraja, chairman and chief executive of Gulfstream parent company General Dynamics.
ECLIPSE AVIATION displayed a flying proof-of-concept single-engine personal jet aircraft last week at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, even though Eclipse President Vern Raburn acknowledged that the company's board of directors is "skeptical" about such a program. The single-engine model was put together in about six months with help from Swift Engineering of San Clemente, Calif. The Eclipse Concept Jet (ECJ) would have about 65 percent parts commonality with the Eclipse 500 twin-engine Very Light Jet, Raburn said.
Model 172, 182 and 206 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-28433; Directorate Identifier 2007-CE-052-AD] - This proposed AD would require removal, modification and reinstallation of the seat base/back attach brackets for all crew seats of the affected airplanes, as well as seats No. 3 and 4 of Model 206 airplanes. This proposal results from reports of the seat base/back attach bracket failing where it is welded to the seat base, a condition that could cause the pilot to lose control of the airplane. FAA estimates that this proposed AD would affect 1,556 airplanes on the U.S.
HELI-SUPPORT, Fort Collins, Colo., won factory authorization to overhaul and repair Turbomeca Arriel 1, 1B, 1D and 1D-1 engine variants. Heli-Support expects authorization for other Arriel engine models to follow shortly. Heli-Support installed a dedicated Arriel 1 test stand, workroom and spares inventory, and eight specialists have completed Turbomeca factory training.
ELLIOTT AVIATION added a Learjet 40XR and a Beechjet 400A to its charter fleet. Elliott operates a fleet of 13 jets, turboprops and piston aircraft at its four locations - Eden Prairie, Minn.; Moline, Ill.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha, Neb.
THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION is preparing to visit airports used by large business aircraft in the Washington, D.C. area to assess whether security at those facilities is adequate. The TSA effort is aimed at encouraging operators of large business jets to refrain from leaving their aircraft unsecured or unattended or keeping entry doors open and engines running when no one is aboard. Officials believe such practices offer a tempting target to potential terrorists.
FASHION HITS at last week's Experimental Aircraft Association gathering in Oshkosh, Wis. were orange, white and black metal buttons reading "EAAers Unite: Say NO to USER FEES" and red, white and black stickers reading "STOP USER FEES, Support H.R. 2881," that carried the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's logo. An EAA spokesman said the association had distributed more than 50,000 of the buttons during the first two days of the show.
Eclipse Aviation is dropping Honeywell as the supplier of the color weather radar for its Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet and switching to a lower-cost unit that will be built by Japan Radio Co. Ltd. (JRC), Eclipse announced last week.
