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.
CESSNA Models 172R and 172S airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-1273; Directorate Identifier 2012-CE-045-AD; Amendment 39-17350; AD 2013-03-15] – requires installation of forward and aft fuel return line support clamps and brackets; inspection for a minimum clearance between the fuel return line assembly and the steering tube assembly and clearance between the fuel return line assembly and the airplane structure; and, if any damage is found, replacement of the fuel return line assembly.
BELL Model 212, 204B, 205A, 205A-1, 205B and 210 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2013-0098; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-039-AD; Amendment 39-17339; AD 2013-03-16] – superseding an AD for Model 212 helicopters and adopting requirements for Bell Model 204B, 205A, 205A-1, 205B and 210 helicopters with certain part-numbered main rotor hub inboard strap fittings. This AD requires magnetic particle inspecting (MPI) the fittings for a crack, and if a crack exists, replacing the fittings with airworthy fittings.
40 Years Ago Feb. 27, 1973 – Cessna reveals plans to produce a second business jet, designated the series 600, that it says would be a “highly advanced airplane, flying at airline speed” and that it “should fill nearly every need for business jet transportation not now provided by the Citation.” 30 Years Ago
Italian business aircraft manufacturer Piaggio and Selex Electronic Systems are working together to produce an unmanned variant of the P-180 Avanti executive turboprop aircraft.
ABU DHABI – Ankara has chosen Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) to lead the development of the country’s first truly indigenous helicopter. An executive committee of senior government officials, including Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan, gave the go-ahead for the project in late 2012. According to Yilmaz Guldogan, vice president of strategy and technology management at TAI, a deal should be signed in the second half of this year, with the aircraft’s development expected to take between four and five years.
Beechcraft and BAE Systems have completed the first flight of a specially modified BAe 146 transport aircraft for the U.K. Royal Air Force. The U.K. Defense Ministry purchased two ex-TNT Airlines BAe 146-200QTs in early 2012 as part of an urgent operational requirement to support and boost passenger and cargo transport capability in Afghanistan. The aircraft were delivered to BAE and Beechcraft Global Customer Support under a £15.5 million ($24.3 million) deal.
Associated Air Center in Dallas signed a deal to provide heavy maintenance, major cabin refurbishments and interior systems upgrades on a Boeing Business Jet for a Far Eastern head of state. The work will continue over the next several months and include a 12-year maintenance check and landing gear overhaul, a new cabin management system, new inflight entertainment and refurbishment of all soft goods in the interior.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-1A11 (CL-600), CL-600-2A12 (CL-601), and CL-600-2B16 (CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R, & CL-604 Variants) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0725; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-207-AD; Amendment 39-17343; AD 2013-03-08] – requires revising the maintenance program. This AD was prompted by reports of cracking found on the upper and lower web of the engine support beam.
TURBOMECA Arrius Models 2B, 2B1, and 2F turboshaft engines [Docket No. FAA-2013-0024; Directorate Identifier 2000-NE-12-AD] – proposes to supersede an existing AD that currently requires replacement of injector manifolds and borescope-inspection of the flame tube and the high-pressure (HP) turbine area for possible damage. Since FAA issued that AD, it received a report that the corrective actions of the existing AD were insufficient to eliminate the unsafe condition.
