Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. has enrolled more than 140 aircraft in its Flight Operations Risk Management Service (FORMS) program, a flight operations quality assurance/flight data program that has been modeled after airline programs. FORMS compares data collected from a quick access recorder with parameters for takeoff, climb, descent, approach and landing. It provides operators access to operation data that can identify potential hazards and is used to improve training. The data also can be used to analyze airport-specific approach procedures that can challenge pilots.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model MBB-BK 117 C-2 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0659; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-061-AD; Amendment 39-17101; AD 2012-12-21] – supersedes an existing AD that requires revising the “Emergency and Malfunction Procedures’’ and “Performance Data’’ sections of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) by inserting three temporary pages into the RFM to alert pilots to monitor the power display when a generator is deactivated and provides procedures to prevent failure of the remaining generator.
Flexjet, the fractional ownership arm of Bombardier, placed orders for three Learjet 70 aircraft for delivery in 2013. The operator announced plans to add Bombardier’s newest Learjets – the 70 and 75 – to its portfolio shortly after the Canadian manufacturer unveiled them during the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition. But at the time, Flexjet did not have details of its initial plans to fold the new jets, the successor to the Learjet 40XR and 45XR, into its fleet. Flexjet says it is purchasing at least three of the 70 model for 2013.
Constant Aviation opened a new landing gear repair and overhaul facility at its Birmingham, Ala. location. The facility initially will service Beechjet 400A/XP landing gear, but add Embraer Legacy 600 and the Hawker 800A/XP landing gear in the coming months. The company invested more than $500,000 in tooling, equipment and inventory for the Birmingham services. The new facility is part of Constant’s strategy this year to expand its accessory offerings on the Beechjet, Legacy and Hawker airframes. The company also recently added a 25,000-sq.-ft.
The fractional aircraft ownership jet fleet, while not yet returning to growth, has held steady this year, down by only a few jets from 2011, according data released by J.P.Morgan. The fleet count dipped by one jet to 766 in May, and that compares with 770 by the end of 2011. But 101 jets had dropped out of the fleet in 2011, “with each month contributing to the decline except December,” J.P.Morgan says. Overall, the fleet has declined in 33 of the past 41 months since the January 2009 peak of 960 business jets.
Piaggio Aero has teamed with Saab to develop a special mission surveillance variant of its Avanti II pusherprop, the Piaggio Aero MPA (multirole patrol aircraft) for Abu Dhabi Autonomous System Investments (ADASI), a subsidiary of Tawazun. Saab will supply and help integrate a suite of airborne sensors and surveillance systems on the aircraft. Other changes will include additional fuel tanks, increased maximum takeoff weight and reinforced wing to provide an increased surface and higher aspect ratio. Plans call for the rollout of the first two prototypes in 2014.
Piper is expanding its presence in the Republic of Korea with the appointment of Korea Business Air Service Co., Ltd. as the company dealer for new aircraft sales in the South Korean market. The appointment is the latest addition in a concentrated effort by the Vero Beach, Fla., plane maker to build up its international presence. It also marks a re-entry for Piper into the Korean marketplace. Korea Business Air Service has locations at Gimpo Airport and Incheon International Airport near Seoul.
FAA’s proposed $13.57 million fine against Boeing is the second largest civil penalty ever proposed by the agency, topped only by a $24.2 million proposed fine of American Airlines in 2010 that has yet to be settled. FAA Friday announced the proposed fine for allegedly failing to meet deadlines for providing guidance to comply with the agency’s fuel tank flammability reduction rule. The rule, issued in July 2008, gave Boeing and Airbus until Dec. 27, 2010, to provide the regulator with aircraft-specific service instructions on replacing oxygen in fuel tanks with nitrogen.
Sikorsky’s S-76D intermediate-size helicopter is wrapping up certification flight testing after an eleventh-hour delay caused by cracking of mounts attaching the engines to the airframe.
BAE Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0189; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-133-AD; Amendment 39-17102; AD 2012-12-22] – requires performing a repetitive high frequency eddy current inspection of the stiffeners on the left-hand sidewall on the nose landing gear (NLG) bay for cracks, and repair or replace the sidewall if necessary. This AD was prompted by a report of a crack found on the left-hand sidewall well on the NLG.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0298; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-072-AD; Amendment 39-17096; AD 2012-12-16]– requires an external inspection, and if necessary an internal inspection, to determine if certain fuel access panels are installed, and replacement if necessary; optional repetitive inspections for cracking of the fuel access panels, and replacement if necessary, would defer the internal inspection; and eventual replacement of affected fuel access panels with new panels.
WOODY MCCLENDON joined FlightSafety International as sales manager, rotorcraft training. McClendon has more than 17,000 flight hours, including 7,000 in helicopters, flying support missions for law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services and corporate aircraft. He also has served as senior vice president, sales and marketing for PrivatAir, aviation manager for the UCLA MedStar program and as an instructor for FlightSafety.
DOUG GILL was promoted to director of engineering for FlightSafety International’s visual simulation facility in St. Louis. Gill has served with FlightSafety since 1998 in the visual simulation facility. Most recently he was manager of real-time software and display management systems.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Craig Fuller was elected to a two-year term as chairman of RTCA, which works with industry and government leaders to develop recommendations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management system issues. Fuller succeeds Mitre Senior Vice President Agam Sinha. Also, Airlines for America President and CEO Nick Calio and National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen joined the RTCA board, alongside RTCA President Margaret Jenny and Sinha.
A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing July 17-18 will highlight the safety board’s long-standing concerns over a need to either update the emergency locator transmitter (ELT) requirements or incorporate new technologies to assist in the search and rescue of general aviation accidents. NTSB Member Earl Weener, speaking to reporters Friday, notes that 180,000 general aviation aircraft are still equipped with ELTs that use the 121.5 MHz frequency even though the internationally supported Cospas-Sarsat satellite system stopped processing such signals in 2009.
Market analysts are preparing for potential soft second quarter returns from business jet manufacturers and believe a slowing global economy may further dampen results for the rest of the year. Embraer already reported its second-quarter business aircraft deliveries, which were down from a year ago to 20 aircraft – 17 of its Phenoms and three of its larger business jets. In the second quarter of 2011, the Brazilian manufacturer delivered 20 Phenoms and three Legacy/Lineage aircraft for a total of 23.
CHARLIE MARINELLI was named senior vice president of charter sales for Solairus. Marinelli has held numerous senior management and leadership positions ranging from vice president of sales to serving as president of CornerStone Title Company. Most recently, he founded and was a principal of an executive/business coaching company.
JOSEPH RIVERA has rejoined Gulfstream Aerospace as director of international operations. Based in Savannah, Ga., Rivera will oversee Gulfstream’s international service centers in Luton, England and Sorocaba, Brazil, along with the new Beijing center that is expected to open shortly. He served with Gulfstream from 1997 to 2006 before joining Bombardier, where he most recently was general manager for the Tucson, Ariz., service center. He also had served as general manager for the Bombardier service center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
FAA last week formally reopened the comment period for a joint Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)/Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) petition to permit certain operations without the pilot holding a third-class medical. The comment period, which originally closed July 2, will stay open until Sept. 14 at the request of AOPA and EAA.
Katie Pribyl, who has served as director of communications for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association since 2005, was named vice president of communications for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Pribyl succeeds Andrew Broom, who departed to join HondaJet. Before joining GAMA, she was a line pilot on the Bombardier CRJ200 for Atlantic Coast Airlines and Independence Air. A graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a certified flight instructor, Pribyl also served with the FAA National Aviation Safety Data Analysis Center.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model EC135 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0566; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-008-AD; Amendment 39-17065; AD 2012-11-02] – revises an emergency AD that requires inspecting the ring frame between the rear structure tube (tailboom) and the tail rotor fenestron housing for a crack before the first flight of each day and replacing any cracked ring frame with an airworthy ring frame. Since FAA issued the AD, the agency determined that a pre-flight pilot check in conjunction with a recurring 25-hr.
BOMBARDIER Model BD-100-1A10 (Challenger 300) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2011-1089; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-110-AD; Amendment 39-17097; AD 2012-12-17] – requires an inspection to determine if a certain oxygen cylinder and regulator assembly (CRA) is installed and the replacement of affected oxygen CRAs. This AD was prompted by reports of deformation found at the neck of the pressure regulator body on the CRA.
AGUSTA Model AB139 and AW139 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0013; Directorate Identifier 2010-SW-043-AD; Amendment 39-17090; AD 2012-12-10] – requires, for helicopters with a certain generator control unit (GCU), replacing each affected GCU with an airworthy GCU. This AD was prompted by laboratory tests which revealed a potential fault in the overvoltage protection on a certain part-numbered GCU.
Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Environmental Health (CEH) is poised to expand a lawsuit it has filed against about two dozen fixed-base operations for selling aviation gasoline without warning people of their potential exposure to lead. CEH filed the lawsuit in the fall against up to 250 named and unnamed entities, but since narrowed its target to about two dozen companies that include Signature Flight Support’s facilities.
