Dassault Aviation logged record sales of more than 100 Falcon business jets last year, Dassault Falcon President and CEO John Rosanvallon said. Dassault's performance in 2005 outpaced the company's previous record sales of 98 aircraft in 1997. The difference was that Dassault sales last year did not include any large orders from fractional jet operators. In 1997, the French plane-maker sold 24 aircraft to NetJets.
Lycoming Engines says it will pick up most of the estimated $6 million cost associated with another round of crankshaft failures in its engines. See news item below.
January 8-12 - American Association of Airport Executives Aviation Issues Conference, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, Kona, Hawaii, (703) 824-0504, www.airportnet.org January 25-27 - National Business Aviation Association Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference, San Antonio, Texas, (202) 783-9000 February 26-28 - Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo 2006 Annual Convention and Exposition, Dallas, Texas, (703) 683-4646
Federal Aviation Administration late last month warned air carriers against operating in heavy snow or when ice is adhering to critical surfaces. "It has come to the attention of the Air Transportation Division that a number of air carrier operators are continuing to dispatch in ice pellet conditions," the agency told operators in a Dec. 21 notice. FAA warned that such operations are contrary to its guidance for Part 121 and 135 operations.
Both pilots aboard a Canadian-registered MU-2B-36 turboprop were killed Dec. 20 when the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff. The airplane, C-FTWO, was departing from the Terrace, British Columbia Airport when it hit terrain shortly after takeoff. The commercial courier flight was being operated by Nav Air Charter, Inc. and was en route to Vancouver International Airport. The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
Embraer Model EMB-135BJ, -135ER, -135KE, -135KL, and -135LR Airplanes; and Model EMB-145, 145ER, -145MR, -145LR, -145XR, -145MP, and -145EP Airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-22525; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-149-AD; Amendment 39-14410; AD 2005-25-17] - requires modifying the drain system of the auxiliary power unit (APU) by installing a scavenge pump and, for certain airplanes, replacing the APU exhaust assembly.
FlightSafety International's Paris/LeBourget learning center won Type Rating Training Organization (TRTO) approval from La Direction Generale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC) of France, representing the European Joint Aviation Authorities. The three-year approval followed an extensive audit of FSI's programs and advanced technology training devices at the Le Bourget training center. The Paris training facility houses 13 full-flight simulators offering training for aircraft built by Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Fokker and Raytheon.
Ametek Aerospace & Defense was selected to provide the fuel quantity indication system (FQIS) for the Bell 429 GlobalRanger light twin helicopter. Zodiac Aerazur, which is designing and developing the Bell 429 fuel system, awarded AMETEK the contract for the FQIS. The FQIS integrates a continuous level sensor, temperature sensor and low-level switch within the fuel system.
Aerospatiale Model ATR 42-200, -300, and -320 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-20220; Directorate Identifier 2004-NM-152-AD] - revises an earlier notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would have required doing repetitive inspections of the upper arms of the main landing gear (MLG) side braces for missing or inadequately bonded identification plates; replacing the upper arm if necessary; and replacing the side brace assembly with a modified part.
PANYNJ also decided to limit the scope of a fee hike it had planned for light general aviation aircraft flying into TEB. PANYNJ in late October notified operators that it intended to increase fees by 50 percent for all aircraft. Under the original schedule, fees for aircraft weighing up to 12,500 pounds would increase from $15 to $22.50. Fees for aircraft weighing 12,501 pounds to 80,000 pounds would increase from $2.10 per 1,000 pounds to $3.15 per 1,000 pounds.
Sabreliner Model NA-265, NA-265-20, NA-265-30, NA-265-40, NA-265-50, NA-265-60, NA-265-65, NA-265-70, and NA-265-80 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-22402; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-133-AD; Amendment 39-14411; AD 2005-25-18] - supersedes an existing AD, which requires repetitive inspections for discrepancies in the front and rear spars of the wing in the area of the wing center section, and in the lugs on the rear spar and wing trailing edge panel rib, and corrective actions if necessary.
The Federal Aviation Administration Thursday incorporated relatively minor changes to the Service Difficulty Report (SDR) program while formally withdrawing a more sweeping rule that some industry groups believed would have increased their paperwork burden substantially and pushed up their costs by millions of dollars. FAA in September proposed shelving the SDR rule it originally released five years ago, saying it needed more time to examine the SDR program and come up with better solutions for the program's problems (BA, Sept. 19/124).
Valley Air Crafts, based in Tulare, Calif., was named a dealer for aerial application plane-maker Air Tractor. Valley Air Crafts, a fixed-base operator that has been a factory authorized Air Tractor service center for the past 10 years, will represent Air Tractor as a dealer in California. Valley will sell and support the entire line of agricultural and firefighting aircraft, ranging from the 400-gallon-capacity AT-401 to the 800-gallon AT-802F single-engine air tanker.
Cessna Aircraft moved a big step closer to certification of its Mustang business jet last month with FAA issuance of Type Inspection Authorization for the Mustang program.
Eclipse Aviation officials, who had warned earlier that problems with some of its suppliers could slow certification of the company's Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet, confirmed shortly before Christmas that the program will be delayed for at least three months.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators were continuing their investigation last week of the Dec. 28 crash of a Model 35 Learjet that claimed the lives of both pilots as they were attempting to land at Truckee Tahoe Airport in Truckee, Calif. According to witnesses who spoke with the Sierra Sun newspaper, the Learjet rolled sharply to the left when it was on final approach about one mile from the airport boundary. The airplane then nosed over, crashed and exploded in a huge fireball.
CharterAuction, the Quincy, Mass.-based charter broker, established a presence in Europe with a new Paris office. The office will serve CharterAuction's client base throughout Europe, including France, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. CharterAuction works with 300 operators to offer clients charter at a fixed, per-hour cost with possible additional savings through an online auction. In addition to Paris and Quincy, CharterAuction operates offices in White Plains, N.Y. and Louisville, Ky.
BAE Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-23284; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-163-AD] - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires one-time inspections of the inner webs and flanges at Frames 15, 18, 41, and 43 for evidence of corrosion or cracking; and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD would instead require new repetitive inspections and expand the area to be inspected. This proposed AD also would expand the applicability and provide an optional action that would extend the repetitive inspection interval.
Transportation Security Administration gave Potomac Airfield the go-ahead to resume operations in mid-December. The small Maryland general aviation airport - which is just minutes from downtown Washington, D.C. - was shut down two months ago by TSA (BA, Nov. 7/209). The agency had suspended the airfield's security program, saying the airport violated certain requirements in the plan.
Summary: This notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR, dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities.
Federal Aviation Administration implemented a new navigation procedure, Required Navigation Performance (RNP), at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that will use an aircraft's onboard navigation instruments to fly a more precise approach into the airport. The RNP approach to Runway 19 follows the Potomac River and will allow aircraft to land with lower cloud ceilings and visibility than previously permitted. The procedure is available to operators who meet specific aircraft navigation requirements.
Western Aircraft handed over the 100th PC-12 aircraft that the Boise, Idaho aviation business has sold on behalf of Pilatus. An authorized Pilatus Sales and Service Center since 1996, Western Aircraft is responsible for PC-12 sales in the Northwest U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The Senate adopted a bill shortly before recessing Dec. 22 that would impose up to a $250,000 fine and a five-year prison term for people who point lasers at aircraft. The Senate action follows the Dec. 8 House approval of the bill, H.R.1400.
Pilatus Aircraft delivered the first PC-12 aircraft to a customer in Brazil. The aircraft, sold through its dealer OceanAir Taxi Aereo, was delivered to Bertlin Ltda to support the company's cattle business. The aircraft will be based in Sao Paulo. OceanAir Taxi, a subsidiary of Sinergy Group, launched in 2003 and was named a Pilatus dealer in March. The company also represents Bombardier Business Jets in Brazil and is beginning to operate a maintenance center at Congonhas Airport through a new partnership with Target Company.
Fixed-base operators are finding substantial confusion within the Internal Revenue Service about a tax law that took effect Oct. 1 that imposes the higher diesel tax rate on certain jet fuel and then enables qualified fuel vendors to seek a rebate on the difference between the highway and aviation tax rates. IRS in October released some guidance on how to comply with the new law (BA, Oct.
