Raisbeck Engineering delivered 245 performance systems for installation on 123 Beechcraft King Airs during the first six months of 2011, the company reports. Raisbeck averaged shipping more than 20 King Air units per month. U.S. sales increased to 68% of total sales during the first half.
Business aircraft flights were up slightly in June from May, as well as from June 2010, but the trends varied by aircraft and operational segments. Argus, which monitors business aircraft flight activity by operation and aircraft type through its TRAQPak program, finds that flights overall were up 0.4% in June over May, and increased by 1.1% compared with June 2010.
ROBERT HANG has joined Freestream Aircraft Limited as technical services/pre-purchase maintenance supervisor. In his new role, Hang will be responsible for pre-purchase inspections for the company’s clients. He worked at Ford Motor Company for 38 years, most recently as the maintenance and facilities manager.
JEFF ROSE was promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International’s learning center in Savannah, Ga. Rose has served with FlightSafety since 2001, beginning as an instructor for the Cessna Citation 500 series of aircraft at the Detroit Metro/Toledo learning center. He also has been program manager of Citation Ultra aircraft, program manager of Hawker 400XP aircraft, director of standards, and most recently director of training.
The new general aviation terminal at the east end of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport opened for business on July 11. The new facility replaces an older building currently located south of the airport’s east apron, about 500 meters away. The terminal will be able to handle almost 20,000 aircraft a year and planes carrying no more than 19 passengers. The terminal, designed by VMX Architects, has a gross floor area of 6,500 sq. meters (70,000 sq. ft.), including a 1,000-sq.-meter (10,780-sq.-ft.) terminal and lounge and 3,500 sq. meters (30,670 sq. ft.) of office space.
The number of proposed civil penalties continues to grow this year with the FAA’s latest announcement that it was proposing fines against eight operators for violations of the Federal Aviation Regulations. That announcement, which calls for civil penalties ranging from $66,000-$133,950, came the same day the agency announced it has revoked Bimini Island Air’s (BIA) air operating certificate.
Special conditions for the PW210S, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s newest turboshaft engine, have been issued by FAA. Because applicable certification standards do not cover an unusual design feature of the powerplant—a 30-min. all-engine operating (AEO) power rating—the special conditions were issued by the agency. The AEO rating was requested by the engine maker to support rotorcraft search and rescue missions that require extensive operations at high power. The effective date of these special conditions is Aug. 10.
A Daher-Socata TBM 700 single-turboprop flew 1,200-nm from Hong Kong to Beijing this month, in a trip that the French plane maker says marks the first single-engine general aviation aircraft authorized to fly between the two destinations. The aircraft was flown by pilot-owner Wei Chen, a Chinese citizen living in Memphis, Tenn., who is flying a 10-week trip around the world in his TBM 700. The trip will include stopovers in 40 cities and 21 countries. “Wei Chen’s flight is truly historic,” says Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher-Socata’s Airplane division.
Mylène Scholnick, a founder of Metrojet in Hong Kong and former NetJets and TAG Asia veteran, has opened a consultancy, Lenoma LLC, specializing in business aviation and commercial strategy and financing, particularly in the international arena.
SHEILA KISSANE was appointed airport infrastructure director for Cambridge Airport in the U.K. Kissane will be responsible for helping to increase business, regional and general aviation activity at the airfield, including running feasibility studies for planned infrastructure developments, generating proposals and upgrading the environmental focus. Kissane formerly has worked with Gatwick, Standsted and Dublin airports.
Jet Aviation is adding an Embraer Phenom 300 to its fleet of managed aircraft, making it the first Phenom 300 available for charter services in central Europe. The company is working in close cooperation with Swiss FOCA to obtain Swiss type certification. With delivery expected in November, the Phenom 300 will be managed by Jet Aviation and available for charter services as soon as certification for commercial transport is secured.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has increasingly used security directives to change policy, but should use them in cases of immediate risk and on a temporary basis, Mark Van Tine, president and CEO of Jeppesen and chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, told lawmakers last week.
Al Bateen Executive Airport posted a significant increase in business aviation traffic during the first half of the year, with almost 40% growth in private jet movements compared with the same period last year. The news follows the recent addition of Al Bateen’s fifth operator, Rotana Jet, which launched operations with a Gulfstream G450 jet earlier this year. Commercial movements at the Abu Dhabi airport rose 12% in the first half of the year versus the same period in 2010.
Thrush Aircraft has opened a full-service company in Brazil as part of a global expansion plan, the company says. Thrush Aircraft Brazil is based in Anapolis in the agricultural state of Goias. The facility will support Thrush owners and operators across Brazil, providing aircraft sales, service, training and support. The facility also will house final assembly of Thrush 510P models to be delivered to the Brazilian market. The company also is establishing a network of factory-authorized service centers across Brazil, with the first to open in August.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cites a series of operational errors made by the pilot as the probable cause of the 2009 crash of a Pilatus PC-12 in Butte, Mont. that killed 14 people. “The pilot’s pattern of poor decision-making set in motion a series of events that culminated in the deadly crash,” says NTSB Chairman Deborah A. P. Hersman. “Humans will make mistakes, but that is why following procedures, using checklists and always ensuring that a safety margin exists are so essential.”
MD HELICOPTERS Model MD900 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2011-0695; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-001-AD; Amendment 39-16740; AD 2011-14-05] – Conduct a visual inspection and an eddy current inspection (if necessary) of the lower rotor hub for cracks. If any cracks are found, replace the lower hub with an airworthy one, per the instructions of MDHI Service Bulletin SB900-117 (dated Jan. 14, 2011). This new AD, which supersedes an existing directive (AD 2010-18-52), is intended to prevent failure of the lower hub and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.
At the midpoint of the year, the business jet market had still not picked up “decisively,” says a new report from J.P.Morgan. “We continue to see mixed signals regarding new demand halfway through the year, calling into question whether 2012 will see a broad-based delivery upturn or only one at the high end,” analyst Joseph Nadol says in J.P.Morgan’s July Business Jet Monthly.
Landmark Aviation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has opened its Customs and Border Patrol facility. The 1,400-sq.-ft., $775,000 facility includes a holding cell, agriculture room, clearance space, computer room and office space. Designed by Tammy Edmonds Designs in conjunction with CSA Constructors, the Customs office will be able to accommodate passengers and aircraft up to the size of a 767.
Despite reports to the contrary, a veteran aircraft broker says she is not seeing any real indication of a recovery in business aircraft sales. Reports have painted a rosy picture of a rebounding economy, notes Janine Iannarelli, founder and president of Houston-based of Par Avion Ltd., but she has been asking “What recovery?” for months. She cites continued negative statistics, including the high unemployment rate and low rate of new housing starts.
FAA’s budget has a lot in common with airline passengers headed out of town on a holiday weekend—it is stuck in a long queue. A House Appropriations panel was supposed to begin considering a bill to fund the Transportation Department, and within that, the FAA. But the bill will likely have to wait until after the August recess, according to a key lawmaker, while Congress works to come to an agreement on the debt ceiling and other contentious spending bills for other departments, including the Environmental Protection Agency. But Rep.
Honda Aircraft recently completed its HondaJet production plant in Greensboro, S.C., opening the doors last week for the first time to the press. Although production facilities are now complete, CEO Michimasa Fujino says one of the reasons he selected the site for the $100 million plant (not including the equipment) is “space for expansion,” clearly implying there is more to come.
Cleveland-based Flight Options has inked a $167 million financing agreement with Brazil’s Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) that will help underwrite the fractional ownership provider’s purchase of Embraer Phenom 300s. The BNDES agreement will be guaranteed by the Brazilian Ministry of Finance and is advised by the Brazilian Export Credit Insurance Agency.
Embraer’s executive jet deliveries picked up in the second quarter, with 23 aircraft shipped—almost three times that of the first quarter. This brings the total number of business aircraft delivered through the first half of the year to 31. But deliveries are still off the company’s pace of last year, when the Brazilian plane maker shipped 40 in the second quarter and 59 for the year.
Thirty-three House lawmakers joined their counterparts in the Senate in appealing to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to hold off on changes to business jet privacy protections. In a July 11 letter spearheaded by House General Aviation Caucus co-Chairmen Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and John Barrow (D-Ga.), along with Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), the lawmakers call plans to essentially dismantle the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program “a troubling reversal of a decade-old policy established to uphold the privacy rights of Americans.”
