NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION has scheduled aircraft de-/anti-icing training seminars in September designed for line technicians, ground personnel, flight crews and dispatchers. The seminars will cover the clean air concept, negative effects, critical aircraft surfaces, ground icing conditions, de-icing and anti-icing fluids, aircraft inspections, methods and procedures, visibility versus density, holdover guidelines, and recognition of fluid failures. The seminars will be held Sept. 1 at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Conn. and Sept.
Gulfstream Aerospace posted slightly higher revenue and significantly improved operating earnings numbers in the second quarter and first half, and orders for the company's large-cabin, long-range aircraft appear to be accelerating, according to Nicholas Chabraja, chairman of Gulfstream parent General Dynamics.
Dallas Airmotive (DAI) was approved by Pratt & Whitney of Canada as a Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) for the engine maker's PW300 and PW500 families, giving the engine overhauler access to a large and growing market of current generation turbofan engines.
ECLIPSE AVIATION, which claims some 2,100 orders for its emerging Eclipse 500 entry-level business jet, is expected to become the number three business jet manufacturer in terms of unit production within 10 years, Forecast International predicted last week. Forecast International projected that the New Mexico-based manufacturing start-up will deliver 1,317 aircraft through 2013, accounting for 12.2 percent of all business jets delivered over the next 10 years. See article on Page 38.
AVCRAFT delivered a Dornier 328 turboprop to Chip Ganassi Racing of Concorde, N.C. and received a contract from SUN-AIR of Scandinavia for two more. The Ganassi Team Do 328 is configured with 31 seats and will shuttle team members to several locations. The Ganassi flight department also includes a Canadair Challenger, a Learjet 45, a Beech 1900 and a Bell 407 helicopter. SUN-AIR, a British Airways partner based in Billund, Denmark, will take delivery of its latest 328 turboprops in November. The aircraft will be painted in British Airways colors.
BOOKAJET OPERATIONS, the United Kingdom-based executive jet operator, rebranded its operations club328 as it prepares to take delivery of eight new Dornier 328Jet (Envoy) aircraft from Avcraft. Based at Southampton Airport, Bookajet said its operations have "grown dramatically" over the past year and strengthened its reach in Europe.
MIKE FARGE was appointed managing director-engineering for Bookajet operations, the charter and aviation services company that recently rebranded itself club238. Farge will be based at Southampton Airport in the United Kingdom and head in-house and third-party maintenance for the executive jet operator. He also will act as a liaison between club328 and AvCraft in Germany as the company begins accepting eight AvCraft Dornier 328Jets. He has 40 years of commercial aviation support experience with the Westland Group, British Aerospace and FLS Aerospace.
AIRCELL was selected to supply its ST 3100 Iridium satellite communication systems for NetJets' fleet of Raytheon Hawker 400XPs. The system provides access to worldwide voice and data services through the Iridium network of 66 low-earth-orbiting satellites. The ST 3100 will be installed before retail delivery at Raytheon Aircraft Services in San Antonio, Texas.
AGUSTA Model A109C, A109E, and A109K2 helicopters (Docket No. 2001-SW-15-AD; Amendment 39-13687; AD 2001-24-07 R1) - revises an existing AD that currently requires inspecting the main rotor blade tip cap for bonding separation and a crack, and also requires a tap inspection of the tip cap for bonding separation in the blade bond area and a dye-penetrant inspection of the tip cap leading edge along the welded joint line of the upper and lower tip cap skin shells for a crack.
Cessna Aircraft reported lower revenues and operating earnings for the quarter ended July 3, but business jet sales by the Wichita, Kan. aircraft manufacturer increased sharply in the first half of the year.
Carlyle Group, the private equity firm, signed an agreement to acquire Garrett Aviation, the chain of 10 aircraft service centers, and plans to combine it with Piedmont Hawthorne, a major fixed-base chain that also provides aircraft charter, sales and parts service.
The business jet market is set for a "slow but steady" recovery this year following a downturn in the past two years that resulted in double-digit declines in production, according to Forecast International. Releasing its latest forecast, The World Market for Business Jet Aircraft, Forecast International last week projected a market for 10,809 business jets valued at $135 billion (in 2004 dollars) for the 10 years between 2004 and 2013.
THE HOUSE and Senate recessed until September, taking no action on a tax bill that would extend bonus depreciation benefits for certain business aircraft buyers for one more year (BA, July 19/25). The provision had been included in both the Senate and House versions of a larger tax package, but that package has been held up by disputes over tax items unrelated to bonus depreciation. The delay in passage - now September at the earliest - puts general aviation manufacturers in a quandary.
ATR sold an ATR 72-500 aircraft to Air New Zealand, an order that will increase the carrier's fleet to 11 ATR 72s. The newest aircraft is scheduled for delivery in November. Air New Zealand regional carrier Mount Cook Airlines will operate the aircraft.
Moller Back Support Systems, based in Novato, Calif., has developed a full spine back support system for aircraft cockpits. The system, which already is being incorporated in many airline cockpits, weighs three pounds and is designed without metal parts for portability as well as to ensure it will not compromise pre-flight calculations. The system, which has been clinically tested by neurologists at the METS Clinic in San Rafael, Calif., is fitted to the frame of the user. Moller said most insurance plans provide reimbursement for the back support system.
Prospects for passage of extended bonus depreciation are slim in the short term. Congress plans to adjourn at the end of this week for the Democratic and Republican conventions and will not reconvene until after Labor Day. The House and Senate passed separate legislation earlier that would permit owners of aircraft placed in service before the end of 2005 to avail themselves of bonus depreciation during the first year of ownership.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association is hoping to persuade legislators to give the National Transportation Safety Board an additional $4 million to boost its regional investigator staff in the fiscal 2005 transportation/treasury appropriations bill. GAMA has become increasingly concerned that investigator staff levels have slowly eroded, forcing the safety board to cut the number of general-aviation accident sites to which it sends investigators. The safety board's regional investigator force has dropped by almost 20 percent, from 48 two years ago to 39.
Gulfstream won follow-on certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for charts and mapping functions on the PlaneView flight deck. Powered by Honeywell's Primus Epic integrated avionics system, PlaneView can display electronic charts based on Jeppesen data, including instrument approaches, airport diagrams, standard instrument departures, standard terminal arrival routes and notices to airmen. The approval also allows video images from the tail camera on the primary flight display. PlaneView was first certified in August 2003.
GULFSTREAM OFFERING AUTOTHROTTLE AS G200 OPTION, RETROFIT - Gulfstream Aerospace, responding to expressions of interest from its customers, is now offering the Safe Flight Instrument Corp. Enhanced Automatic Throttle to its G200 business jet operators. The system is available as an option on new production aircraft and as a retrofit installation on aircraft already in the fleet.
Cessna Aircraft has been preparing for the rebounding market, gradually recalling the remainder of its bargaining unit employees who had been furloughed during the economic downturn. Cessna will have recalled the last of the bargaining unit employees by the end of August and plans to increase its employment base to 11,000 by the end of the year. Cessna employment had dipped below 10,000 when the company slowed production.
Executive Jet Management added three aircraft to its charter fleet last month, increasing its fleet to more than 90 aircraft based at more than 50 locations throughout the country. The newest members of the fleet are a Citation X based at Peninsula Airport in Monterey, Calif.; a Hawker 800XP at Oakland International Airport in Oakland, Calif. and a Citation Excel in Leesburg, Fla.
