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.
Was promoted to vice president of product support materials for Gulfstream. Williams will be responsible for Gulfstream's worldwide parts inventory, and repair and overhaul operations. He previously was Gulfstream's director of initial phase procurement, overseeing the acquisition of materials used in manufacturing large-cabin business jets. Before joining Gulfstream, Williams was vice president of supply chain at GKN Aerostructures Group in St. Louis.
Was appointed engineering authorized representative administrator for the Gulfstream Designated Certification Office, which oversees Organizational Designation Authority activities for the Savannah, Ga. manufacturer. Hanson, who has served with Gulfstream for 19 years, most recently was a staff scientist in the Flight Sciences department. He also was a manager of Flight Sciences and chief designated engineering representative. Before joining Gulfstream, Hanson spent 22 years with Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Ga. as a military airlift aircraft loads engineer.
The Federal Aviation Administration expects to release in the next few days a new Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) designed to simplify and reduce the size of restricted airspace area over the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey announced the changes to the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) Thursday during the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture, saying the new NOTAM "is one more example of the FAA, Homeland Security, Department of Defense and the general aviation community working together to do the right thing."
CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 & 440) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-25779; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-088-AD; Amendment 39-15131; AD 2007-15-02] - Revise the "Certification Maintenance Requirements" and the "Maintenance Review Board Report" sections of the Canadair Regional Jet Maintenance Requirements Manual to include changes and additions to checks of the aileron power control units (PCUs) and a change to the interval of the backlash check of the aileron control system.
THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION recently issued another letter reiterating its concerns about "fractional charter," or the sale of a charter flight to more than one customer. In a letter to Key Lime Air, FAA said it viewed negotiations with second or third customers as a Part 121 transaction, not Part 135. The letter followed an earlier letter to Jet Linx, which was concerned about the use of a proposed "Requested Flight Itineraries" Web page that would post unconfirmed flights for clients to share (BA, July 9/12).
Piston aircraft shipments softened in the first six months of 2007 but strong business jet and turboprop sales led business and general aviation manufacturers to a slight increase in deliveries and nearly a 12 percent increase in billings, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported Friday. GA plane makers delivered 1,883 aircraft in the first half of 2007, up 1.7 percent from the 1,852 in the same period of 2006. Billings, however, jumped from $8.8 billion in the first half of 2006 to $9.8 billion in 2007.
EMIRATES-CAE FLIGHT TRAINING received international approval to provide Gulfstream 550/450 business jet training. The company's Gulfstream G550 simulator earned Level D certification from the European Joint Aviation Authority, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority. In addition to the simulator, the G550/450 training will include Emirates-CAE Simfinity flight training devices that use the same simulation software used in CAE's full flight simulators.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION launched a toll-free hotline for pilots to file comments on the Lockheed Martin-run flight service station system. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association urged FAA to create the line after receiving numerous calls from members complaining about problems with the service. "It was clear to me that this type of immediate feedback would be the only way to track down and fix all of the problems and errors," AOPA President Phil Boyer said.
THE EUROPEAN AVIATION SAFETY AGENCY issued a type certificate for the Gulfstream 150, making the business jet eligible for registration in European Union member nations. The EASA certification "is an extremely important accomplishment," said Joseph T. Lombardo, president of Gulfstream. "We've always believed the G150 is the ideal corporate jet for European businesses," with a 2,950-nautical-mile range that permits nonstop flights from Zurich, Switzerland to cities in the Middle East, India and North America, he said.
Was named director of completion design for Gulfstream, where he will oversee interior design at Gulfstream's five completion facilities in Long Beach, Calif.; Dallas; Appleton, Wis.; Savannah and Brunswick, Ga. Crow spent the past two years as a professor of interior design and a graduate mentor at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Before that, he was a department chair for interior design at SCAD. He also has served as a lead designer for office furniture companies in Savannah and served with a design firm in Hilton Head, S.C.
Williams Gateway Airport's name would change to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport under a proposal put forth by staff to the facility's board of directors. The board will vote on the measure at its Sept. 17 meeting. The airport surveyed nine potential airlines on a name change, and five responded. All of them supported changing the name to include a geographic identifier, wrote Executive Director Lynn Kusy in the board minutes.
SAFE FLIGHT INSTRUMENT CORPORATION recently achieved AS9100-B certification. The certification is the newest international aerospace quality standard established by the International Aerospace Quality Group. Founded in 1946, the White Plains, N.Y. -based Safe Flight develops aviation safety and flight performance systems.
Joined FlightSafety International as vice president, teammate resources. Shea, who has more than 20 years of human resources experience, formerly was with JetBlue Airways, where she helped establish the company's benefits, recruitment, employee relations and compensation programs. She also has been director of human resources for Promise Hotel Corp., which owns DoubleTree Hotels and the Boston Harbor Hotel.
A explosion last Thursday rocked a test facility of Scaled Composites, the company founded by innovative aircraft designer Burt Rutan. The blast, which killed three workers and left three others hospitalized, took place at Southern California's Mojave Air and Space Port during a test in which nitrous oxide was flowing through fuel injectors of a new rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo, a craft that Scaled Composites is building for Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space tourism company (BA, July 16/26).
AMERICAN LEGEND AIRCRAFT COMPANY added the option of the TruTrak Flight Systems ADI Pilot II autopilot on the Legend Cub. The ADI Pilot II uses a two-axis system to control aileron and elevator operation. The autopilot also provides Global Positioning System navigation and altitude hold.
