Anticipating regulations clearing the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in U.S. airspace, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) is hoping to set a baseline of standards with the release of an “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations Industry Code of Conduct.” FAA is under congressional mandate to create a plan that would integrate UAS into national airspace by Sept. 30, 2015. The deadline is one of a series regarding UAS that FAA must meet for the gradual integration of the systems.
Baker Aviation has expanded its Texas operations with the acquisition of Dallas-based AeroMech. As a result, Baker will operate at two locations – Meacham International Airport (KFTW) in Forth Worth and Addison Airport (ADS) in Dallas. AeroMech, which has been in operation for more than 28 years, is a mobile maintenance specialist that provides aircraft inspection and repair work. Baker says the acquisition will enable the company to provide quicker turn times and additional hangar space for maintenance operation and expansion.
While the preliminary reorganization plan filed June 30 details an exchange under which Hawker Beechcraft’s creditors would take ownership of the company, the company is keeping all options open, including a potential sale of the company, the company told employees in a letter last week.
AgustaWestland is turning its attention to setting up training and support bases in China after suspending talks for private assembly of its helicopters in the country. The company is not rejecting the possibility of eventually coming to an agreement with Chongqing Helicopter over assembly of AgustaWestland helicopters. But, in the meantime, an opportunity exists to train more of the pilots and other specialists who will be needed if manufacturers are to fully exploit the market.
DASSAULT Falcon 7X airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2011-0222; Directorate Identifier 2010-NM-056-AD] – withdraws a proposed rule that would have required revising the maintenance program to incorporate a limitation that reduced time between overhauls and required an initial overhaul of the DC generator bearings. Since the proposal was issued, FAA has received new data that confirm the identified unsafe condition is not sufficient to warrant issuance of an AD. Consequently, the proposed AD has been withdrawn.
PEDRO MERCADO was named a national sales manager for product support interior refurbishment sales for Gulfstream Aerospace. Mercado will be responsible for interior refurbishment sales to customers based on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, from South Carolina to Maine. He previously spent five years as a service center supervisor for interior refurbishment at Gulfstream Long Beach in California.
Embraer and partner Avic plan to ramp up Chinese assembly of Legacy 600 and 650 business jets to six a year by 2015, with an initial focus on the local market. The operation will be profitable at that level, even though the plant at Harbin, built for the commercial aircraft from which the business jets are derived, has a capacity of 20 units a year, says Guan Dongyuan, Embraer’s president for China.
Bombardier’s latest announced Global order for eight aircraft valued at $507 million underscores the continued strength of the large-cabin end of the business jet market and the significant boost that the company’s 7000/8000 line has given to the Global family. The announcement, revealed June 30, involved the sale to an undisclosed customer of three Global 6000 aircraft and five Global 8000s. Actual terms of the sale were not disclosed. Bombardier based the transaction value on the 2012 list price for typically equipped aircraft.
CHRIS MAUPIN was appointed director of fixed-base operation (FBO) services for Jet Aviation’s facility at Houston Hobby Airport. Maupin will lead a 45-person team at the facility, which Jet Aviation acquired in February. He previously spent 14 years at Universal Weather and Aviation, where he was an integral part of the team that opened the first FBO in Mumbai, India.
EMBRAER EMB-135 EMB-145, -145ER, -145MR, -145LR, -145MP and -145EP airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0638; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-266-AD] – proposes that operators install or rework, as applicable, metallic diverters and aluminum sheets, modify the lights assembly on the tail boom rear movable fairing, replace the hood assembly with a new hood assembly and reroute its electrical harness. These actions are designed to prevent lightning strikes from causing certain parts to contact the pitch-control system, which could reduce airplane controllability.
The $105 billion highway funding bill, which President Obama signed into law Friday (July 6), provides a compromise on a provision that industry leaders feared could have devastated the air tour industry, but did not provide relief on the so-called fuel fraud jet fuel tax.
FABIO SCIACCA has joined FlightSafety International as director of sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Sciacca previously served with Piaggio Aero Industries, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including co-production sales representative, business development manager, and program manager of the company’s Pratt & Whitney Canada Turbo PW200 engine program. Most recently, he was international sales director for the Piaggio P.180 Avanti and Avanti II aircraft.
Calling the past four years an “epic correction” of the business aviation market, industry analyst Brian Foley warns that rather than waiting for an uptick, the industry should view the current situation as the “new normal” and adapt accordingly. “The pessimist in me says we’ll be in something of a steady-state situation for the foreseeable future, with occasional setbacks balanced out by spots of growth,” Foley says, adding that companies that have geared for the current time – rather than waiting for an uptick – will have an edge should things pick up.
ENSTROM F-28C, F-28C-2, F-28F, 280C, 280F, 280FX, TH-28, 480 and 480B helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0562; Directorate Identifier 2012-SW-038-AD; Amendment 39-17068; AD 2012-11-05] – adopts a new AD that supersedes an existing directive (AD 2011-26-10) and requires operators to modify the lateral and longitudinal trim actuator assemblies by replacing the actuator and limit switch bracket to provide a positive stop for the trim actuator.
Duncan Aviation, which recently opened a new 45,000-sq.-ft. paint shop at its Lincoln, Neb. facility, is planning to further expand the location with a new maintenance hangar. Duncan will begin construction of the hangar this fall, but has not yet finalized details on the project’s scope. “We are still evaluating our current and future needs as well as the continued economic climate,” says Duncan Aviation Chairman Todd Duncan.
CHRISTIAN OLIVIER was appointed vice president of operations for Esterline CMC Electronics. He will oversee operations, supply chain management, master planning, facilities management and IT across all three of the company’s facilities. He most recently spent 10 years with the Direction Générale pour l’Armement de France, where he held executive positions at Nortel Networks, STMicroelectronics and e2v Technologies.
Bombardier Aerospace has temporarily reassigned responsibility for key components and work packages of its CSeries contracted to Chinese partner Shenyang Aircraft Corp. (SAC). When Bombardier established the manufacturing system for its new 110- to 149-seat jet family, it allocated development and production of three fuselage sections — forward, center and rear — plus the empennage to SAC. It also charged the Chinese supplier with building the tail cone and wing-body fairing and center wing box. But that work allocation has changed.
FAA is mandating an offshore noise-abating route for helicopter traffic near Long Island, N.Y.—with exceptions for safety and weather—in an action that opponents contend will unjustifiably expand the agency’s authority to intervene in aircraft noise disputes.
A “drop-in” replacement for unleaded aviation gasoline is unavailable and alternative fuels would require a “significant” safety assessment, leaving a solution possibly years away, a committee has found. There is no market-driven reason for a replacement fuel due to the limited demand for avgas and its special characteristics, the panel also said. Safety, liability and expense are additional factors in what would be a complex approval and deployment process.
FERNANDO LACERDA DA SILVA was named sales director of new aircraft for Bombardier. Da Silva will be responsible for sales in Brazil. He has a 25-year sales career, including 12 years of Latin American business aircraft sales experience.
Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) quest to provide pilots with a stronger ability to defend themselves against enforcement actions took a step forward with the June 29 U.S. Senate passage of the “Pilots Bill of Rights.” The bill, S.1335, requires the FAA to present a pilot all relevant evidence in an enforcement action within 30 days and removes the “special statutory deference” as it relates to the National Transportation Safety Board appeals of FAA actions against airmen.
The U.S. business aircraft fleet marked a “big improvement” in the number of accidents, but not fatalities through the first half of the year, according to safety expert Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. The growing international fleet, meanwhile, improved both in terms of accidents and fatalities, Breiling says.
FAA has extended the comment period until Aug. 17 for a proposed policy clarification on the use of non-citizen trusts to register aircraft in the U.S. FAA on Feb. 9 released the proposed clarification, which would tighten the reporting and information gathering requirements for non-U.S. citizen trusts. The clarification was released following a nearly two-year dialogue with the industry on how to improve the accuracy, transparency and timeliness of aircraft registrations involving non-U.S. trusts.
