Embraer recently hosted its first conference for Asian-based Phenom operators. The event, which took place Nov. 3 in Mumbai, India, was part of the Brazilian manufacturer’s Embraer Executive Operators Conference series for customers, operators and service centers. The fourth edition of the Legacy 600 and Legacy 650 conference took place just a few days earlier, on Oct. 31, in Jakarta, Indonesia. Both meetings provided operators with the latest technical, maintenance and flight operation updates.
MIKE GUILLEMOT has joined Sojourn Aviation as a partner. He will be responsible for expanding Sojourn’s operations, with the initial focus on the Chicago region. He most recently was Hawker regional sales manager for Hawker Beechcraft Corp., based in the Chicago area for 16 years.
JOE VOLKER has joined Flightline Technical Services as an aviation technician. Volker has 11 years of experience repairing, installing, testing and inspecting avionics on general aviation aircraft. He also served 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an electronics technician.
James R. Greenwood, 91, a public relations executive in the business aviation industry for decades, died Nov. 4 in Green Valley, Ariz. Greenwood, a U.S. Navy veteran and pilot, began his public relations career in the late 1940s doing promotional work for Miami All-American Air Maneuvers. He later joined aviation legend Bevo Howard, operator of a flight training academy in Moutrie, Ga.
The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation has elected Robert Stangarone and Katie Pribyl to its board of directors. Stangarone is vice president of corporate communications for Embraer, and Katie Pribyl is director of communications for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). “Their experience as both gifted communicators and respected members of the aviation community will be welcomed in our mission to better the environment through the innovative use of science and technology,” says Larry Williams, chairman of the foundation.
TAY TIANG GUAN has joined the Flight Safety Foundation Board of Governors. The appointment covers a three-year term. Tay is deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), where he is responsible for the safety regulation of the aviation industry in that country, as well as the Singapore Aviation Academy, which is the training arm of CAAS. He has more than 23 years of civil aviation experience.
General aviation manufacturers are on pace for near double-digit declines this year, based on the statistics through the first nine months. And, over the past three years, the numbers show the dramatic toll the economy has taken on the industry, with deliveries down by half (see chart on Pages 5-6). But the third-quarter unit shipment report from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), which was released last week, shows a slight upturn in shipments of turbine aircraft over the past three months.
Blackhawk, the Texas-based provider of turboprop engine upgrades, has received a Brazilian supplemental type certificate for its Cessna 208B Caravan XP42A performance package. Company officials say Brazil has one of the largest fleets of Caravans flying in commercial, civil, military and law enforcement roles. The Brazilian approval follows certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency in September and approval from the FAA in June.
Titan Airways has added a new Cessna Citation CJ2+ to its charter fleet. The London Stansted-based operator purchased the six-seat light jet directly from Cessna. Titan Airways plans to offer the aircraft for ski charters this winter, as well as for a variety of other duties, including organ transplant missions and aircraft on ground flights to provide vital spares.
Signature Flight Support, already one of the largest fixed-base operation (FBO) chains worldwide, is continuing its rapid expansion with the acquisition of a majority stake in Arrindell Aviation Services (AAS), based at Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM/TNCM) on the Dutch side of St. Maarten. The acquisition strengthens Signature’s foothold in the Caribbean and follows the addition of a facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico earlier this year.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND MBB BK 117 C-2 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2011-1075; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-011-AD; Amendment 39-16836; AD 2011-21-13] – Revise the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) by inserting certain temporary pages into the “Emergency” and “Performance Data” sections of the RFM to alert the operators to monitor the power display when a generator is deactivated and take appropriate actions as needed.
Signature Flight Support this month added a voluntary “California Proposition 65 Defense Fee” of $0.25 per gallon in an effort to raise funds for the California Avgas Coalition, which is fighting a lawsuit filed by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) that essentially is intended to discourage and/or end the distribution, sale and use of aviation gasoline in California. The lawsuit seeks, among other things, stringent penalties against up to 250 companies involved in the sale and/or distribution of avgas.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. and Max-Viz donated an infrared camera to Kansas State University Salina’s avionics program to enable students to obtain hands-on experience with infrared technology. The Max-Viz EVS-1000 camera is designed to help pilots to see more clearly using infrared technology “Our avionics students are going to see this equipment in the industry, so getting experience with it in the classroom will be an advantage to them once they enter the workforce,” says Raylene Alexander, assistant professor of aviation and avionics program lead.
Accelerating NextGen air traffic control systems is not being held back by the technology itself, but the inability to develop processes and procedures to support the technology, General Aviation Manufacturers Association President and CEO Pete Bunce says in testimony to the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee. Bunce, who testified Nov. 7 during a T&I field hearing on NextGen, says FAA needs to leverage research resources from various accounts to expedite deployment.
RUAG Aviation, which operates an authorized Cessna Service Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, has won European Aviation Safety Agency Part 145 approval to provide base and line maintenance for the CitationJet 4. The facility, which is located near Munich, also is authorized to work on CJ4s flown by operators based in Aruba, Bermuda, Bosnia, the Cayman Islands, Canada and Qatar. RUAG expects to add other country approvals in the near future.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is formally reactivating an industry-based advisory panel that will provide recommendations to improve aviation security procedures and equipment. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano named 24 members to the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), marking the first official appointments to the panel in the Obama Administration.
Duncan Aviation plans to open a new 45,000-sq.-ft. paint shop at its Lincoln, Neb., facility next spring. After four months of construction, the hangar’s main frames are complete, along with extension of the ramp at Lincoln Airport (LNK). It is anticipated that the hangar will be enclosed by the middle of this month. Duncan says the new $10.5 million shop will be able to handle some of the largest business aircraft, including the Gulfstream 650, Bombardier Global Express and Dassault Falcon 7X.
Hawker Beechcraft, grappling with a weak third quarter and mounting losses, Friday afternoon issued another round of layoff notices as part of a company-wide restructuring. Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture on Nov. 4 told company workers that affected employees were expected to receive 60-day “Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice” Nov. 11. “The necessary reductions in force will affect all levels of our company,” Boisture says.
GENERAL ELECTRIC CT7-8A, CT7-8A1, CT7-8E, and CT7-8F5 engines [Docket No. FAA-2011-0942; Directorate Identifier 2011-NE-29-AD; Amendment 39-16840; AD 2011-21-17] – Conduct daily visual inspections of the fuel filter differential pressure switch for fuel leaks and for excessive cracking of the switch mounting flanges due to stress corrosion. Also, install a collar kit over the fuel filter differential pressure switch as a terminating action to the daily inspections.
FAA has singled out the civil aviation authorities of Germany and Italy for having too few operational safety inspectors, according to industry officials involved in aviation safety and a senior European Union official. There is no threat of the FAA downgrading these two nations to Category 2 in its International Aviation Safety Assessments program, but the U.S. agency expects Europe to fix the problem promptly, says the official. Germany has already responded by going on a recruitment drive for more inspectors, adds the politician.
A Eurocopter EC 130 B4 tour helicopter crashed on Hawaii’s Molokai island last Thursday, killing the pilot and all four passengers, according to preliminary press reports. The single-engine rotorcraft was said to have slammed into a mountain ridge near an elementary school shortly after a heavy downpour and was engulfed in flames. The rotorcraft, which was operated by Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, was less than a year old.
RUEDI KRAFT was appointed vice president of market development and completions sales for Jet Aviation Basel. Kraft will be responsible for overseas sales for the completions business in the European, Middle East and Africa, and Asia regions. He formerly served Jet Aviation affiliate Gulfstream Aerospace, where he was regional vice president for the Middle East and North Africa since 2002. He has been a board member of the Middle East Business Aviation Association since its inception in 2006.
GAMA Group plans to establish a new base in Hong Kong during the first half of next year. The new Asian facility will be the fourth regional base for the U.K.-headquartered business aviation charter, management and maintenance company, which has other operations in Europe, North America and the Middle East.
