Bombardier Aerospace’s backlog has jumped 18.6% this year, as the Canadian manufacturer continues to bring in major fleet orders for its Global long-range large business jets. Bombardier Business Aircraft reported 45 net firm orders during the third quarter, up 50% from the 30 firm orders in the same period last fiscal year. These orders included three multi-fleet contracts for 19 Globals valued at $1.2 billion.
Jeppesen has completed successful rapid decompression tests of the new iPad (4th generation) with Retina display and iPad mini, proving device integrity should there be a sudden cabin pressure loss. The tests, completed to an altitude of 51,000 ft., are part of the program used by operators to obtain FAA authorization for inflight use of Jeppesen’s iPad mobile apps. Similar tests were conduced for the iPad, iPad 2 and iPad 3rd generation.
Twenty aviation associations are cautioning FAA acting Administrator Michael Huerta to focus more on safety and airspace access than privacy issues as it works to help facilitate the introduction of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) into the national airspace system (NAS). In a Nov. 8 letter to Huerta, the associations, representing business and general aviation, airports, airlines, repair stations, and air traffic controllers, among others, acknowledge the challenges FAA is facing as it attempts to help integrate UAS into the NAS.
Hawker Beechcraft named Horizontal De Aviación at Aeropuerto Internacional el Dorado in Bogota, Colombia, as an authorized service center to support Beechcraft King Air aircraft. Hawker Beechcraft says the Colombian aviation market is one of the fastest growing aviation segments in Latin America. Horizontal De Aviación has provided private, civil, military and state government aircraft maintenance for more than 23 years, and has served a number of Beechcraft models, including the King Air 90, 200 and 300 series.
Signature Flight Support signed on Fort Worth-based American Aero to its Signature Select program. American Aero is renovating its facility housed in the historic “Hangar 11N” American Airlines terminal building at Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (KFTW). American Aero will operate in a temporary facility while the renovations are ongoing. As a Signature Select fixed-base operation, American Aero will receive marketing and sales support and participate in Signature Status and Signature TailWins customer loyalty and rewards programs.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0724; Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-043-AD; Amendment 39-17215; AD 2012-20-09] – supersedes an existing AD that currently requires a modification to trim the edge of the bumper plate, including performing an inspection for damage or cracks of the bumper plate and base fitting, and replacing any damaged or cracked part. That AD also currently requires, for certain airplanes, reidentifying the bumper plate.
Business aviation leaders are hopeful that the finality of last week’s elections, along with a Washington that is taking up issues placed on hold in the weeks leading up to them, will bring a certainty to the market and serve as a catalyst to jump-start the languishing portions of the industry.
Bombardier and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM ) have reached a tentative agreement on a contract for about 825 workers at the company’s Learjet facility in Wichita, setting the stage to end the month-long strike. Bombardier’s Learjet unit and IAM Local 639 returned to the bargaining table Nov. 7 at the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).
Some Eurocopter Super Pumas are returning to offshore service after being retrofit with an older-style gearbox component following the controlled ditching of an EC225 in the North Sea on Oct. 22. Inspection of the main gearbox from the CHC Helicopters EC225 Super Puma revealed a circumferential crack in the bevel gear vertical shaft that drives the two lubrication pumps. The same vertical shaft was found to be ruptured in a Bond Offshore Helicopters EC225 that made a controlled ditching in the North Sea in May.
JEFF FILKINS was named regional sales manager for aircraft maintenance and management sales for JFI Jets. Filkins, who will be responsible for sales on the West Coast, formerly was West Coast sales manager for Honeywell Flight Support Services. He also has been an operations leader at Honeywell International’s Global Data Center.
Flexjet received conditional FAA authorization for use of Apple iPads as electronic flight bags for its Part 91 Subpart K fractional flights. The Phase 5 authorization follows six months of validation testing across the fleet, along with acceptance of the standard operating procedures. The company is planning to complete its transition from paper to electronic navigational charts by January.
BRANTLY Model B-2, Model B-2A, and Model B-2B helicopters with a certain main rotor blade [Docket No. FAA-2012-1093; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-020-AD] – proposes to require inspections of the main rotor (M/R) blade for a crack, nick, wrinkle, or bend and corrective actions, if necessary. This proposed AD was prompted by multiple reports of M/R blade cracks and an accident in which a crack that originated near the M/R blade trailing edge resulted in the loss of a large section of the M/R blade.
FAA should permit the use of personal electronic devices (PEDs), including mobile phones, on charter and fractional operations during nearly all phases of flights, the National Air Transportation Association contends, saying experience with most PEDs has shown no demonstrated safety issues with their use.
JIM PANKIN has joined Schubach Aviation as chief pilot. Pankin, a 27-year aviation veteran, will oversee pilot training, safety, personnel management and regulations compliance. He also serves as a captain on the Citation II business jet. Before joining Schubach Aviation, he spent three years as president of Executive Flight Support. He also served as director of operations for Air2Air Corp. and has managed several Eclipse 500 jets through a period when the manufacturer went through bankruptcy.
Bombardier appointed CAE as an authorized training provider for pilot and maintenance training for all Bombardier business jets in Europe, and plans to establish a new Bombardier-dedicated training center in Amsterdam. Scheduled to open in 2014, the new facility initially will offer pilot and maintenance training on Global 5000 and Global 6000 aircraft equipped with the Bombardier Vision Flight Deck. The site will complement CAE’s ATP location in London (Burgess Hill), U.K.
BAE Model BAe 146, and Avro 146-RJ series [Docket No. FAA-2012-1040; Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-029-AD] – proposes to require a detailed inspection of the end caps on the anti-icing piccolo tube for lost or loose end caps, and replacing or repairing the end caps if necessary. This proposed AD was prompted by a report of loss of the end caps on the anti-icing piccolo tube of the wing leading edge.
A new class of ultra-high-speed business jets may be emerging from the drawing board of one of the major manufacturers in that market. The new family would feature a long-range cruise speed of around Mach.95, and thin, less-swept wings, most likely made of composites for stiffness and with sharp leading edges. It would also have an area-ruled fuselage, optimized powerplants, and extensive use of natural laminar flow technologies on all surfaces, fuselage and nacelles.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-1003; Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-064-AD] – proposes to require replacing all three APDs with new detector assemblies. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of engine fire/overheat detector assemblies advance pneumatic detectors (APDs) failing to reset after activation due to permanent deformation of the detector switch diaphragm after being exposed to high temperatures.
National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen notes the prevailing sentiment has been that buyers of large business jets have been more immune to the effects of the prolonged recession. But Bolen disagrees with the sentiment. “The reality is the recession has affected them,” he says, but the needs of those buyers have shifted. “I just think the business model has changed,” he says.
BOB SCHICK was named director of safety and risk management for TAC Air. Schick has more than 20 years of experience with a focus on safety and risk management. He developed a safety management system in use at TAC Air’s fixed-base operations in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah, as well as Keystone Aviation’s aircraft management, charter and maintenance operations.
NetJets is set to add the first Bombardier Global aircraft to its fleet – a Global 6000. Bombardier and NetJets formally unveiled the Signature Series Global 6000 Oct. 28 at Orlando Executive Airport in Florida, and Bombardier says the aircraft will be officially handed to NetJets this quarter. The aircraft was part of an order placed in March 2011 for 50 Global business jets and options for 70 more. The firm order is valued at $2.8 billion. NetJets followed with a second order placed in June for up to 275 Challenger jets.
Seattle-based Aviation Partners Inc.(API) is testing a futuristic-looking split scimitar blended winglet design. The split scimitar blended winglet is a follow-on design from API’s blended winglet design. The split winglet features the addition of a blended ventral fin to the existing blended winglet design, as well as high-performance winglet tips (scimitar tips) designed using advanced computational fluid dynamics methodology.
