Hawker Beechcraft’s May 3 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing is enabling the Wichita, Kan., airframer to sort out its supplier relationships, a senior executives says. With uncertainty hanging over the company’s financial future in the run-up to the filing, some suppliers were holding off shipping parts, impacting the aircraft maker’s ability to build its product. The company has issued rolling furloughs, in addition to layoffs, in part to adjust to supply issues.
12,638: The 12th Annual European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva drew 12,638 attendees from 99 countries, nearly the same as last year. The convention also hosted 491 exhibitors that occupied a record-breaking 2,280 booth spaces, while 60 aircraft were on static display thanks to a 10% increase in ramp space.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model BO-105A, BO-105C and BO-105S helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0503; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-032-AD] – proposes to requires repetitive inspections of the MGB oil filter and MGB magnetic plug. If the MGB oil filter or MGB magnetic plug contains metallic fuzz, depending on the amount of metallic fuzz, this proposed AD would require cleaning the magnetic plug, flushing the main transmission, changing the oil, and performing a ground run.
Cessna’s unveiling of the Longitude last week brings the Wichita airframer back to the super mid-size market that it walked away from just a few years ago. In 2008, at the height of the business aircraft boom, the Textron division launched the ambitious Columbus with great fanfare. A year later, with business aviation sales tanking, the company aborted the $750 million development plan. Now, with hints of recovery, Cessna is returning. However, the Citation Longitude represents a far more modest and cheaper development effort, reflecting a more modest market outlook.
WILLIAM CLAREY was appointed sales director in Gulfstream Aerospace’s North American Sales, East Division, Mid-Atlantic Region. Clarey, based in Northern Virginia, will be responsible for sales in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. He joins Gulfstream from Hawker Beechcraft, where he was sales director for the Pacific Northwest. He also has held sales positions of increasing responsibility for Phoenix-based Cutter Aviation and Boise, Idaho-based Western Aircraft.
The Aircraft Performance Group (APG) has updated its iPreFlight application for the iPad to enable standalone computation of takeoff and landing performance without the Internet. The app integrates their Runway Analysis and Weight and Balance systems with a flight-planning module. In addition, the latest version has a Mobile Content Management and Document Management system.
FAA is formally revoking standards used to build emergency locator transmitter (ELT) equipment that transmit via the 121.5 MHz frequency, a move largely expected since the internationally supported Cospas-Sarsat satellite system stopped processing such signals in 2009.
STEVE SIMPSON was promoted to director of training for Executive AirShare, a regional fractional ownership company that operates Embraer Phenom, Hawker Beechcraft Beechjet and King Air aircraft. Simpson has more than 35 years of aviation experience, including a career in the U.S. Air Force and Naval Reserves. He also spent 22 years as a pilot with American Airlines and has served with CAE Simuflite.
Bombardier Aerospace has begun work on the two first flight test Learjet 85 aircraft, and the complete aircraft static test article is under way, with the production of composite components including the unique 32-ft. composite pressure fuselage. Joining the forward fuselage to the main pressure fuselage, as well as the assembly of the aft fuselage, vertical stabilizer and tailcone fuselage sections, are ongoing at Bombardier sites in Wichita and Querétaro, Mexico.
Embraer’s Phenom 100 has flown 100,000 flight hours, a little more than three years since it entered service in December 2008. The company has delivered 240 of the entry-level executive jets worldwide. “This is a significant milestone achieved in such a short time,” said Luciano Castro, Embraer vice president of executive jet programs. Designed for high utilization, the Phenom 100 can accommodate up to eight occupants.
Bombardier has developed a document management application for use on the Apple iPad. The Bombardier Flight Deck app provides an electronic flight manual capable of automatically receiving updates by Bombardier. The app further enables flight departments to independently manage and distribute their own documentation to their fleet. Bombardier test pilots worked with the Bombardier business aircraft technical publications team to test and refine the functionality over the past year.
Field Aviation has teamed with Hawker Pacific to collaborate on sales and installations of Field Aviation’s Bombardier DHC-8 flight deck upgrade. Developed in concert with Universal Avionics for classic Dash 8 100/200/300 series aircraft, the upgrade includes five Universal EFI-890R, high-definition flat panel displays. Four displays present navigation and flight information, while the fifth center display provides engine information. The system provides upgrade paths for synthetic vision, radio control units, flight management systems and weather radar upgrade.
London Oxford Airport and London Heliport, which recently came under single ownership, are partnering to coordinate interlining service during the London Olympics this summer. An exemption to the no-fly zone during the Olympics will enable travelers to fly into London via the heliport. London Oxford Airport is working with local operators including Capital Air Services and PremiAir to facilitate travel to the heliport during the Games. The airport expects a threefold increase in travel during peak periods of the Olympics.
Associated Aircraft Group (AAG) has established helicopter operations at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, which is a 10-min. flight to Manhattan aboard one of the company’s Sikorsky S-76 helicopters. AAG operates a fleet of S-76 helicopters in both fractional and full management programs with bases in the New York and Philadelphia areas.
A Secret Service-imposed temporary flight restriction (TFR) that shut down New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport May 14 with little advance notice is raising fears over airspace restrictions on the horizon as the presidential election season enters full force. The TFR shut down Teterboro for nearly five hr. on a Monday, when the airport – the nation’s busiest general aviation facility – typically experiences peak traffic. The TFR was issued shortly before it took effect, causing the rerouting of dozens of aircraft.
AERONAUTICAL ACCESSORIES high landing gear forward crosstube assemblies installed on Agusta Model AB412 and AB412EP; and Bell Helicopter Textron, Model205A, 205A-1, 205B, 212, 412, 412CF, and 412EP helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0502; Directorate Identifier 2010-SW-097-AD] – proposes to require creating a component history card or equivalent record for each affected crosstube, and determining and recording the total number of landings. The AD also requires inspecting each crosstube for a crack and replacing cracked crosstubes.
HAWKER BEECHCRAFT Models 58 and G58 airplane [Docket No.FAA-2012-0218; Directorate Identifier 2012-CE-003-AD; Amendment 39-17051; AD 2012-10-02] -- requires inspecting for oversized or deformed fuel hose clamps and replacing as necessary. This AD was prompted by installation of oversized clamps on fuel vapor return and/or fuel vent lines in the outboard sections of the left and right wings. FAA is issuing this AD to correct the unsafe condition on these products. FAA estimates the AD affects 244 airplanes on the U.S.
MARYLIN THOMAS has joined business aviation sales and support firm Acass as director of contracts. Thomas has served in aircraft contracts for 10 years, working with both business and commercial aircraft transactions. An attorney, Thomas has been a member of the Quebec Bar since 1991.
ALFRED MORENO was named as principal aviation architect for HNTB. Moreno, who will be based in the firm’s New York office, will be responsible for developing HNTB’s aviation architecture practice in the eastern U.S. He has more than 26 years of experience, working on a range of airport, housing, retail, commercial and health care projects. He has steered both design and management of projects. Most recently he had been involved in projects at John F.
The business aviation market in Europe remains a concern, even as the North American market appears to be climbing back. The relatively weak order environment was reflected at last week’s European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Geneva, where solid deals were few. But OEM chiefs agree that sales prospects in the U.S. are mounting. “April was a very good month for us,” says Embraer CEO Frederico Fleury Curado.
ZIPPORAH MARMOR was appointed as director of aircraft sales and leasing for business aviation sales and support firm Acass. Marmor returns to her native Canada from Monaco, where she was vice president of sales and marketing for New Jet International. Before that, she served with Bombardier Business Aircraft.
Nextant Aerospace is quadrupling its space at Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Airport to boost production of the Nextant 400XT remanufactured business jet. The newly acquired facility will accommodate an annual production rate of 48 aircraft. The facility includes a larger production hangar that can handle six aircraft simultaneously, a second hangar for delivery and completions and a third for aircraft painting.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model EC135 helicopters, except the EC 135 P2+ and T2+ [Docket No. FAA-2012-0500; Directorate Identifier 2010-SW-014-AD] -- proposes to require, at intervals not to exceed five hours time in service (TIS), visually inspecting the upper and lower plain journal bearings of the sliding sleeve to detect a dislocated plain journal bearing on helicopters with swashplate sliding sleeve, part number (P/N) L623M2006101, installed.
