FAA officials are looking at possibilities to tackle what they fear may be a looming pilot and mechanic shortage, including a concept for a private/public “U.S. Aviation Academy” partnership that would encourage new students to help feed the entire aviation system.
Nordic Aviation Capital has ordered 12 Bombardier CRJ1000s, which will be leased to Garuda Indonesia, the previously announced launch customer for the CRJ1000 NextGen in the Asia-Pacific region. Based on the aircraft’s list price, the order is valued at about $595 million. In addition to the 12 leased CRJ1000s, Garuda Indonesia has ordered six of the airplanes directly from Bombardier and holds options for 18 more.
June 12, 1972 — Pan Am and Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation agree to establish Falcon Jet Corp. in New Jersey, with each owning a 50% stake but enabling Pan Am to divest itself of the liabilities of its Business Jet Division that distributed and marketed Falcon business jets.
Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd.’s U.S. division Vision Technologies Aerospace Incorporated has received bankruptcy court approval to proceed with its purchase of parts of Pemco World Air Services assets, including the company’s Tampa, Fla., maintenance business and its Boeing 737 freighter conversion supplemental type certificates (STCs). The deal, struck in late May and announced June 8, was blessed this month by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware. It is anticipated to close next month, ST Engineering says.
Duncan Aviation has installed an Aircell broadband system with WiFi in a Cessna Citation 560XL. This FAA supplemental type certificated (STC) installation also will apply to the 560XL/XLS. The Lincoln, Neb.-based company owns a dozen STCs for incorporating broadband with Wi-Fi in business aircraft and has completed installations on nearly 300 aircraft.
The Airbus Foundation is partnering with the United Way of the Plains in Wichita to sponsor an educational and mentoring program called the Airbus Foundation Flying Challenge. The effort, valued at up to $250,000, will connect employees from Airbus and engineering students from Wichita State University (WSU) with middle-school aged at-risk children in the community. Airbus and WSU mentors will urge the students to stay in school, improve their studies and consider a career in engineering.
Despite a sluggish start that will hold down deliveries at least through this year, Bombardier Aerospace expects the business jet market to accelerate over the next 10 years with the value of unit shipments nearly doubling through 2021 and then tripling over the subsequent 10 years. Bombardier is forecasting a market for 24,000 business jets valued at $648 billion through 2031. By 2031, business jet manufacturers are expected to be shipping 1,500 units annually, Bombardier says.
The general aviation accident rate has been “stubbornly resistant” to safety initiatives designed to lower the number of mishaps, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman said last week, kicking off a two-day NTSB forum in Washington to find ways to decrease the number of GA accidents, particularly among the personal flying segment of Part 91 operations.
Nav Canada and Iridium are partnering on a project that will bring satellite-based air traffic surveillance to areas of the globe with no coverage, starting with crucial North Atlantic routes.
Members of the House are trying to reinstate a rule to allow businesses to write off the cost of a major purchase – such as an aircraft – in the year the purchase is made rather than to spread the expense over many years. Bonus depreciation expired at the end of 2011, but a new bill, sponsored by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), would extend the write off through 2012.
CAE received Level D approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia for a Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 full flight simulator. The simulator is housed at the Ansett Flight Training Center outside Melbourne. The location is CAE’s first business aviation training location in Australia.
Boeing still expects to fly its company-funded MC-12S Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance Surveillance System (Emarss) risk-reduction prototype this year pending a decision by the contractor on full-rate production, says Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network and Space Systems. In addition to the Boeing-funded prototype, four Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER aircraft are being modified with MC-12S equipment under government funding. They, too, are planned to fly this year.
Piper Aircraft has sold 10 M-class aircraft for delivery to retail customers in Europe so far this year. The latest transaction involves a Meridian single-engine turboprop that will begin service with a business owner in Spain later this year. Winters Aviation, Piper’s authorized new-aircraft dealer in Belgium and France, closed the sale during a recent exhibition in Cannes, France. Three Meridians have been delivered in France so far this year.
Jet Aviation Zurich recently received approval from the Thai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to provide maintenance support to aircraft registered in Thailand. With the authorization, the company is now approved to perform maintenance on Cessna 208, 510, 525, 550, 650 and 750 series aircraft; and Hawker Beechcraft B200, B300, B350, 400, 400A, 400XP, 700, 800, 750, 800XP, 850XP, 900XP airplanes registered in Thailand. This includes support for Williams International FJ44 series and Pratt & Whitney PT6A, JT15D and PW530 series engines installed on these aircraft.
Africa’s first full-motion helicopter flight simulator has been commissioned by Eurocopter in Johannesburg, South Africa. The simulator, designed to train pilots and flight engineers operating Super Puma and similarly compatible helicopters (including the South African Air Force’s Oryx), is located at the SimAero training center adjacent to O.R. Tambo International Airport.
Embraer received a production certification (PC) from FAA to assemble Phenom 100s at its facility in Melbourne, Fla. The PC comes a little more than a year after the Brazilian manufacturer opened the facility and six months after the first U.S.-produced Phenom was delivered. But until now, Phenoms assembled in Melbourne had been certified under the FAA’s type certificate granted to those produced in Brazil, Embraer says.
BELL 205A, 205A-1, and 205B helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0601; Directorate Identifier 2008-SW-033-AD] – proposes to require replacing the starter/generator power cable assemblies and their associated parts and performing continuity readings on certain helicopters. This proposal was prompted by the determination that the power cable assembly connector can deteriorate, causing a short in the connector that could lead to a fire in the starter/generator, smoke in the cockpit and subsequent loss of helicopter control.
BELL 205A, 205A-1, and 205B helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0601; Directorate Identifier 2008-SW-033-AD] – proposes to require replacing the starter/generator power cable assemblies and their associated parts and performing continuity readings on certain helicopters. This proposal was prompted by the determination that the power cable assembly connector can deteriorate, causing a short in the connector that could lead to a fire in the starter/generator, smoke in the cockpit and subsequent loss of helicopter control.
NetJets’ announced orders and options for up to 450 business jets worth nearly $10 billion are bringing substantial long-term aftermarket business to both Bombardier and Cessna, along with their suppliers.
Rolls-Royce broke ground on a new $50 million jet engine test facility at the company’s outdoor testing site at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The Mississippi Development Authority is helping to support construction and workforce training at the facility, with additional support provided by Hancock County. The new jet engine test facility is the company’s second such company facility to be built in the U.S.
FAA issued special conditions for certification of the Gulfstream G280 because the new business jet will have novel or unusual design features associated with the architecture and connectivity capabilities of the airplane’s computer systems and networks, which may allow access to or by external computer systems and networks.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is cautioning pilots to be aware that in-cockpit Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) information can be up to 15-20 min. older than indicated on display and that relying on such information for real-time reports can cause safety problems when aircraft are transiting through fast moving weather systems. The safety board issued a safety alert that the actual age of NEXRAD data “can differ significantly” from the age indicated on the cockpit displays.
Jet Aviation Dubai has obtained FAA approval to perform maintenance on the Bombardier Challenger 604 and 605, as well as Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. FAA awarded Jet Aviation Dubai approval to support light scheduled maintenance (A checks) on the aforementioned Airbus airplanes and base maintenance on Bombardier Challenger 604 and 605 aircraft.
