JETCORP has teamed with the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) to donate vacant seats on charter flights to cancer patients seeking treatment. Founded in 1981, CAN has coordinated 20,000 flights for cancer patients aboard corporate and fractionally owned aircraft.
YINGLING AVIATION last week broke ground on a new 15,500-square-foot completions hangar that will accommodate Cessna Caravan Oasis interior projects. The center is slated to be completed by November. The facility will include a 3,500-square-foot upholstery shop, a showroom, reception area and employee break room. Yingling plans to hire 15 more upholsterers, avionics technicians and installers to keep up with growing demands for the Oasis interiors. Yingling began completing Oasis interiors in 2003 and has delivered more than 30 to date.
AVIOINTERIORS Series 312 seats [Docket No. 2000-NE-09-AD; Amendment 39-14052; AD 2005-07-27] - supersedes an existing AD that requires initial and repetitive inspections of the seat central crossmember for cracks, and if necessary, replacing the crossmember with a new crossmember. This AD requires the same actions and adds other crossmember part numbers for inspection. In addition, this AD replaces the original design crossmembers with reinforced design crossmembers as optional terminating actions to the repetitive inspections.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 & 440) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2004-19761; Directorate Identifier 2003-NM-167-AD; Amendment 39-14039; AD 2005-07-15] - requires modification of the auxiliary power unit (APU) cooling air exhaust. This AD is prompted by reports of incomplete drainage of the APU enclosure.
BLAKEY URGES 'VALUE PRICING' FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL COSTS - FAA Administrator Marion Blakey last week continued to urge industry groups to consider a potential overhaul in how FAA is funded, but she insisted that any new funding system should be equitable and value driven. Blakey laid out her case before industry and international leaders at an invitation-only funding forum. "Let's face it, transformation is the order of the day," she told those attending the meeting.
CESSNA'S MUSTANG FLIES - Cessna late last month launched the flight test program for the smallest member of its business jet portfolio, the Citation Mustang, when a prototype of the very-light business jet completed a 141-minute first flight. The aircraft departed at 10:26 a.m. (CDT) April 23 from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kan. and reached an altitude of 11,000 feet, where it underwent basic stability and control tests, before landing at 12:47 p.m. (CDT) at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION Monday plans to kick off a campaign to generate support for a measure drafted by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) that essentially would exempt fuel trucks from certain secondary containment regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency decreed in March that on-airport mobile refuelers were covered under Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan rules, which strengthen the requirements for fuel containment (BA, March 21/134).
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model AS350B, BA, B1, B2, B3, D, and AS355E Helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2005-20863; Directorate Identifier 2004-SW-36-AD] - proposes to require replacing the hydraulic fluid at a specified time interval when operating in cold weather. This proposal is prompted by reports of ice forming due to condensation in some parts of the hydraulic system during cold-weather operation.
TELEDYNE CONTINENTAL MOTORS GTSIO-520 series reciprocating engines [Docket No. FAA-2005-20850; Directorate Identifier 2005-NE-05-AD] - proposes to require initial and repetitive visual inspections of the starter adapter assembly and crankshaft gear. This proposed AD also would require unscheduled visual inspections of the starter adapter assembly and crankshaft gear due to a rough-running engine. This proposed AD also would require replacement of the starter adapter shaft gear needle bearing with a certain bushing.
BOMBARDIER'S first completed Global 5000 business jet entered service last month with a corporate operator based in the Middle East. The Canadian plane-maker launched the 4,800-nautical-mile plane in February 2002 and won Transport Canada approval in March 2004 followed by Federal Aviation Administration certification in October. Bombardier had delivered nine green Global 5000 business jets through the end of March 2005 and said orders continue to grow.
CLAY LACY AVIATION, Van Nuys, Calif., purchased a flight simulator to supplement the training for its staff of nearly 100 pilots. Produced by Precision Controls of Mather, Calif., the flight-training device can be configured for analog instrumentation common in a Learjet or Gulfstream II or III.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT SALES, PROFITS INCREASE IN FIRST QUARTER - Raytheon Aircraft posted operating income of $2 million on $442 million in net sales in the first quarter of 2005, turning around the $28 million loss the Wichita plane-maker had reported a year earlier. Net sales were up 18 percent from $374 million in the first quarter of 2004. Raytheon credited increases in new and used aircraft sales as well as cost-savings measures for the improved performance.
Executive Jet Management last week reported revenue jumped 35 percent last year compared with 2003, reflecting a 35 percent increase in charter hours flown. The EJM fleet, which numbers more than 100 aircraft, flew 28,451 flights, 2,150 of which were international. The company predicted that revenues will be up more than 25 percent in 2005 as new offices in San Jose, Calif. and Teterboro, N.J. and an expanding outside sales force continue to bring in business.
PAUL (BO) BOLLINGER was elected to the board of directors for the Corporate Angel Network (CAN). Bollinger is president of the Air Traffic Control Association. Bollinger co-founded and directs the Greater Washington Aviation Open, a major fundraiser that has contributed more than $800,000 to CAN.
Sentient Jet, the private jet membership provider based in Norwell, Mass., formed a strategic alliance with international charter broker Air Partner. The alliance will expand Sentient's reach, allowing members to fly within Europe under the Air Partner program at fixed hourly rates with guaranteed availability. Air Partner will add features to its Jet Membership Program to make it nearly identical to the Sentient program. Air Partner customers will receive benefits in the U.S. through the Sentient program.
Embraer received a firm order from Ecuadorian airline TAME Aerea del Ecuador for two 76-seat Embraer 170 jets and one 104-seat Embraer 190. The deal, which includes options for up to four more aircraft from the Embraer 170/190 family, confirms a letter of intent TAME signed in November. Delivery of the firm orders will take place in 2005 and 2006.
General Dynamics Aviation Services was named an approved service provider for the General Electric CF34 engine. The approval covers all six GDAS service centers and includes engine inspections, overhauls, recurring maintenance, nonscheduled repairs and warranty work.
NASA, in cooperation with FAA and the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility (NCAM), has scheduled a demonstration of the culmination of technologies and concepts developed through the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) program. The event, SATS: A Transformation of Air Travel, will be held June 5-7 in Danville, Va.
Bombardier Aerospace received an order from Northwest Airlines for 15 CRJ200 50-seat regional jets valued at about $386 million (U.S.). Deliveries of the order, which converts 15 options that Northwest holds for the CRJ, are slated to begin in the third quarter. The order will increase the number of Bombardier CRJs in the Northwest Airlink fleet to 154.
JERRY PROENZA joined Banyan Air Service in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. as avionics service manager. Proenza, a 20-year aviation veteran, most recently was the owner and chief pilot of World Continental, where he was a first officer for a Citation III and was involved in aircraft sales and flight school consultation. Before that he was general manager for Avion Jet Center.
The owners of Florida-based business jet operator Wingedfoot Services, LLC are hoping to capitalize on the emerging breed of very light jets to launch an on-demand service sold to known passengers on a per-seat basis. Ed Iacobucci, a former computer executive who formed his own business aviation services company in 1999, today (April 25) is slated to unveil his plans for a second company, DayJet Corporation, which will fly on-demand routes within defined regions using a fleet of hundreds of Eclipse very light jets (VLJs).
TAC AIR ACQUIRES KNOXVILLE FBO - Truman Arnold Companies (TAC) expanded its fixed-base operation chain to 11 facilities with the acquisition of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Knox Air. Based at McGhee Tyson Airfield for more than 30 years, the Knox Air facility includes three hangars and three rows of T-hangars. TAC moved Randall Honea, who has been general manager of the Amarillo, Texas TAC Air fixed-base operation, to manage the new Knoxville TAC Air location. Honea is a 17-year aviation industry veteran.
Gulfstream Aerospace and Israel Aircraft Industries completed ground engine runs and system checks on the Gulfstream G150 in preparation for first flight of the aircraft before the end of May. The Honeywell TFE731-40AR engines were operated through the full thrust spectrum and operating "well within the manufacturing test requirements," said Pres Henne, senior vice president, programs engineering and test for Gulfstream. "This is a significant milestone - one that is critical to ensuring successful first flight," he said.
