While acknowledging that the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation is still ongoing into the Feb. 20 crash of a Beech Premier 1A in Thomson, Ga., the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) is advising operators to review FAA guidance on stabilized approaches. ACSF issued a notice to operators, citing the accident and recommending that as a precautionary measure, flight crews review FAA’s Advisory Circular 91-79, Runway Overrun Prevention, addressing landing performance and stabilized approaches.
Duncan Aviation received FAA supplemental type certification for installation of an L-3 GH-3900.2 electronic standby instrument system on Dassault Falcon 2000 and 2000EX aircraft. The multi-use STC also includes a Securaplane standby instruments backup battery. Duncan Aviation completed the installation in a little more than eight weeks in conjunction with an upgrade from the Pro Line 4 avionics system to the Pro Line 21. The work was accomplished at Duncan’s Battle Creek, Mich., facility.
A High Level Working Group (HLG) charged by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to evaluate market-based measures for aviation greenhouse gas emissions has yet to reach a consensus just weeks before it is expected to produce a proposal, several industry sources tell Aviation Week. The HLG is scheduled to meet March 25-27 in Montreal to produce an emissions reduction package for the ICAO Council to consider in June. The Council is then scheduled for a proposal to the full ICAO General Assembly in September.
Astronics Corporation’s Max-Viz-1500 enhanced vision system was approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for retrofit on Bell B206B/206L-4 and 407 helicopters. Astronics sees strong growth potential for its system, noting Bell’s forecast of a need for 2,000 helicopters in China over the next decade. “We also expect that there will be a tremendous need for enhanced situational awareness and improved safety in the country,” says Astronics Executive Vice President Elliott Troutman.
EMBRAER Model ERJ 170 and ERJ 190 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-1223; Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-154-AD; Amendment 39-17348; AD 2013-03-13] –requires replacing the striker and quick-release pin of the passive lock of the cockpit door, and replacing the upper and lower hinges of the cockpit door. This AD was prompted by reports of the cockpit door falling off the hinges when it is being opened or closed. FAA is issuing this AD to prevent the cockpit door from falling off the hinges, which could cause injury to airplane occupants.
Gulfstream’s G650 aircraft recently established four city-pair speed records in five days involving flights in the U.S., Middle East and Russia. City pairs, set in January, included a 9-hr., 33.-min. flight on Jan. 28 from Moscow Vnukovo Airport to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport in Georgia. The aircraft cruised between Mach 0.90-0.91 for the 4,774-nm trip.
As the budget penalty known as sequestration rolled in March 1, FAA officials began laying the ground work for carving $600 million out of the remainder of its fiscal 2013 budget. But with so much of its budget cordoned off, the agency has little choice but to concentrate the cuts on the operations accounts – primarily small airport towers and staff, the officials told stakeholders in a Feb. 26 meeting.
FAA is formally placing significant emphasis on privacy concerns regarding its congressional mandate to stand up test sites for domestic unmanned air systems (UAS) and to integrate the aircraft into the national airspace. In a Feb. 21 Federal Register notice, FAA Chief Counsel Kathryn Thomson said allegations of wrongdoing could cost interested parties their certification. “Should criminal or civil charges be filed by the U.S.
SEAN COLLINS was named eastern regional manager for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). Collins will work with local and state governments and aviation communities on behalf of AOPA in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. One of seven AOPA regional managers, Collins joined the association in 2007 and previously served as manager of the Pilot Information Center.
Sequestration would force the closure of 100 low-capacity air traffic control towers and end the midnight shift at 60 more, a joint letter from the heads of the FAA and Transportation Department details. The Feb. 22 letter to a number of industry groups, including the National Business Aviation Association and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, also says the FAA would have to furlough almost every one of its 47,000 employees two days each month should Congress allow the mandatory budget cuts to take effect on March 1.
Honeywell is fine-tuning a civil helicopter-specific combined vision system based on a recent flight test campaign that evaluated fused synthetic vision and enhanced vision technologies for the primary flight displays of higher-end helicopters.
Encouraged by progress the Part 23 Aviation Rulemaking Committee is making in potential improvements to the certification process, industry leaders are hoping to expand that effort to other arenas. General Aviation Manufacturers Association President and CEO Pete Bunce says the association is working with the helicopter community to apply some of the lessons of the Part 23 rewrite to Part 27 covering certification rules for light helicopters. These efforts are designed, Bunce says, to get new safety technology into helicopters faster.
BRIAN ATKINSON was promoted to sales director for Flexjet. Formerly a sales associate with the fractional aircraft ownership provider, Atkinson will be responsible for sales of fractional jet ownership, jet cards and charter brokerage services in the Chicago region. He joined the company in March 2011.
Mid-Canada Mod Center (MC2) in Mississauga, Ontario, was selected as a dealer for satellite communications provider Satcom Direct. Satcom Direct provides a range of communications technologies and services for business, military and general aviation customers, along with land mobile and maritime customers.
Fractional ownership provider Flight Options, finishing a year in which sales picked up 30%, is finding that this momentum has continued into 2013 and sales are stronger than expected, company executives say. Sales improved as the company launched its Jet Membership Club, attracting new clients. But fractional sales – which have struggled industrywide – also improved during the year, says Matt Doyle, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Flight Options.
SCHWEIZER Model 269D and Model 269D Configuration A helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0602; Directorate Identifier 2009-SW-061-AD; Amendment 39-17338; AD 2013-03-04] – requires inspecting the aft fuselage assembly in the area around the attachment point of the horizontal stabilizer, including the paint, for a crack. This AD also requires inspecting the tailboom interior support structure, and if necessary, installing an inspection panel kit in the aft fuselage assembly, and installing doublers in the stabilizer support brackets.
Solairus Aviation has partnered with Sean Tucker’s Tutima Academy to provide its pilots with upset recovery and confidence training. The academy developed a two-day program for Solairus pilots that will use Tutima’s two-seat Extra 300L aerobatic aircraft. Under the program, Solairus pilots will practice recovery techniques for a variety of unusual and extreme flight attitudes. The training is held in conjunction with Solairus pilots’ annual training at the company’s headquarters in Petaluma, Calif.
Feb. 28, 2013—NABA Business Aviation Regional Forums, AirFlite, Long Beach Airport (Daugherty Field) Long Beach, Calif., www.nbaa.org/events/forums/20130228/ Feb. 26-28, 2013—Air Charter Safety Foundation 2013 Air Charter Safety Symposium, NTSB Training Center, Ashburn, Va., (888) 723-3135, www.acsf.aero March 5-7, 2013—Airports Council International-North America, 2013 Operations & Technical Affairs Conference, St. Petersburg, Fla., www.aci-na.org/event/2412/
Aerion has begun another round of high-speed flight tests with NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. The tests, using an Aerion test article mounted under the centerline of NASA’s F-15B research aircraft, will be used to validate supersonic natural laminar flow. The tests are expected to extend six-eight weeks and involve flights flown at speeds up to Mach 2.0. The flights are measuring “real-world robustness” of supersonic laminar flow, which Aerion says is key to the design for a supersonic business jet.
RICHARD SHYNE was promoted to sales director for the Midwest for Flexjet. Formerly a sales associate for Flexjet, Shyne will be responsible for fractional, jet card and charter brokerage sales in the Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois regions. He joined the company in 2011.
Finmeccanica has named Daniele Romiti the new head of AgustaWestland following bribery allegations surrounding the sale of 12 helicopters to India in 2010. Romiti, who is currently the helicopter company’s chief operating officer, was named to the post on Feb. 21 as part of a wide-ranging reorganization.
Beechcraft has exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a new name, new ownership and a new balance sheet that has shed billions of dollars of debt. Now the company must move ahead with selling its shuttered Hawker business-jet line and building on the brands of its existing models of piston and turboprop aircraft.
President Barack Obama is defending the White House’s proposal to lengthen business aviation depreciation schedules, saying corporate jet owners don’t need the tax breaks and that’s not why they buy corporate jets. He also says he wants to give tax breaks to aviation manufacturing companies so they can hire and produce more products.
