DAVID PERRIN was named sales representative for Aviation Instrument Services. Based in Charlotte, N.C., Perrin will specialize in helicopter component and instrument sales, as well as assist in customer component-repair management and exchange services coordination. He previously served with Philadelphia-based Sterling Helicopter and Winnipeg-based StandardAero. He also has managed his own part-time businesses, RWCP and MSP Associates. He has 17 years of helicopter maintenance experience.
CHRISTINE MANKA WILLIAMS was promoted to senior operations manager, refurbishment for Gulfstream Aerospace. Williams will oversee process changes and work performed in the trim, wood, finish and paint shops at the Gulfstream Savannah Service Center in Georgia. A 14-year Gulfstream employee, she most recently was assistant program manager for Gulfstream’s military and special missions unit.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) expects U.S. business travel spending to grow 5% this year, more than double the estimated 2.3% increase in 2010. The estimate and projection are based on the NBTA Foundation’s Business Travel Quarterly Outlook-United States, which projects trends over the next eight quarters. NBTA Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Michael McCormick says business travel spending in 2010 finished stronger than expected.
MARK MALKOSKY has joined FlightSafety International as assistant director, maintenance training business development and sales. Malkosky has 18 years of aircraft maintenance training experience, most recently with CAE. He also has served with Bombardier Aerospace and SimuFlite International.
Bombardier’s facility in Belfast, Ireland, will produce the primary wing structures for the new Learjet 85, adopting a new process developed for the company’s CSeries of commercial airliners.
Cessna Aircraft handed over three Citation Sovereign business jets to the Flight Inspection Center of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The latest delivery increases the Flight Inspection Center’s Citation fleet to 14. The center previously purchased 11 Citations, including Citation VI, X and XLS aircraft. The center inspects navigation, radar, communication/navaids systems and flight procedures at civil airports and surrounding airspace throughout China, Hong Kong and Macau. The Citation Sovereigns will be used for the calibration of navaid systems.
KELLY REICH was promoted to vice president of product support in Cessna Aircraft’s customer service organization. Reich will be responsible for post-delivery support for customers of Cessna’s entire product line. Reich, who has served with Cessna for 15 years, was most recently director of sales and program administration for service parts and programs.
The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a meeting on Jan. 11 to discuss a study on the effectiveness of airbags in general aviation aircraft. The safety board says it initiated the study to examine the effectiveness of airbags in mitigating injury in a survivable GA accident, identify any unintended consequences and develop procedures in documenting airbag systems in future investigations.
FAA was unusually busy in 2010 when it came to meting out proposed civil penalties, particularly for maintenance-related issues. By Aviation Week calculations, FAA proposed at least $39.4 million in maintenance-related civil penalties, and what likely is a record $50-million overall. FAA usually issues press releases about penalties of at least $50,000. In 2010, there were more than 30 such announcements involving dozens of airlines and other operators, as well as a handful of maintenance, repair and overhaul operators and flight schools.
SARAH MESPELT was appointed design coordinator for business jet broker Freestream Aircraft Limited. Based at Teterboro Airport, in New Jersey, Mespelt will provide interior consulting and specification services on completions of used and new aircraft. She will serve as liaison between Freestream and the completion centers on behalf of Freestream customers. Before joining Freestream, Mespelt served as an interior designer with Gulfstream Aerospace and Jet Aviation.
Private jet operator XOJet says it has posted 50% year-over-year growth in its business, including flight hours. And parent company TPG Capital is rewarding that growth by adding a Bombardier Challenger 300 and putting XOJet’s Challenger 605 into the fleet, for a total of five jets added in 2010. The company will invest more in infrastructure at its New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco bases. The New York office will open in the first quarter this year.
Skyservice Business Aviation of Quebec, Canada, has become the first international charter operator to join the Air Charter Safety Foundation Industry Audit Standard (IAS) Registry. The IAS was developed to provide an industry-wide standardized audit standard that demonstrates a level of compliance with regulatory requirements and Safety Management System.
Flying hours are inching up, used inventories are stubbornly stable and prices remain soft, according to a new analysis of business aviation. “Customers are still buying, but the shift is upmarket to larger, more capable, and more expensive models,” writes Rolland Vincent of aviation consultancy Rolland Vincent Associates.
PETER MCKERNAN was promoted to director of sales and program administration for Cessna Aircraft’s service parts and programs. McKernan is responsible for customer support activities for Cessna Citation and propeller aircraft, including part sales and support, warranty and ProAdvantage sales and administration. He joined Cessna in 1981 and spent the past 10 years as director of parts, service and customer accounting.
Deliveries of Daher-Socata TBM 850 single turboprops inched up to 38 in 2010, the company reported last week. While off from the 60 TBM 850s delivered in 2008, the 2010 results were two more than a year earlier and marked the fourth best year for the TBM program, Daher-Socata says. The deliveries pushed the total TBM 700/850 fleet to 545, including 222 aircraft delivered since the TBM 850 entered service in 2006. The original TBM 700 was first handed over in 1990.
Bell Helicopter has integrated six of its wholly owned support and service subsidiaries into Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. The company says the restructured operations will provide more comprehensive support, increase efficiencies, build on the Bell Helicopter brand and reduce confusion over existing brands. Affected operations are: Edwards & Associates and Aeronautical Accessories in Piney Flats, Tenn.; Rotor Blades in Broussard, La.; Acadian Composites in Lafayette, La.; Bell Aerospace Services in Bedford, Texas; and US Helicopter in Ozark, Ala.
BOMBARDIER CL-601, CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R and CL-604 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-1307; Directorate Identifier 2010-NM-049-AD] – This proposed AD would require operators to revise their approved maintenance schedule to include functional tests of the wing leading-edge thermal switches and inspections of the wing anti-ice duct piccolo tubes.
DASSAULT Falcon 7X airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-1306; Directorate Identifier 2010-NM-112-AD] – This proposed AD would require operators to conduct repetitive functional tests of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) heating system. If the RAT heater fails any functional test, it would have to be repaired before further flight. This proposal, which resulted from an MCAI originated by the European Aviation Safety Agency, is intended to prevent potential dormant failures of the RAT heater.
The U.S. controllers’ union has for the first time been given a seat on the FAA’s top advisory council. Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, will serve on the FAA Management Advisory Council (MAC) along with 12 other members. Rinaldi says NATCA’s involvement on the MAC is “reflective of the inclusive management style that [Administrator Randy Babbitt] has instituted at the agency.”
Despite the global recession that slammed business aviation over the past two years, the first 11 years of the new millennium were ones of notable accomplishments, new market penetration and heavy investment in the industry, says a new report from Plano, Texas-based consultancy Rolland Vincent Associates.
The National Air Transportation Association has released the revised 2011 guidebook “Refueling and Quality Control Procedures for Airport Service and Support Operations.” The 2011 revision includes an in-depth review of topics relating to aviation fuel handling, with photographs and a new, easy-to-read format. The 2011 revised guidebook includes chapters addressing safety; aviation fuels, fuel handling, quality control and testing; equipment; operational procedures; training; and, resources.
The first and second Embraer Phenom 300s to start commercial service in Europe have arrived in the U.K. at FlairJet’s London Oxford Airport facility. The new Phenom 300s will be based at Oxford Airport, joining FlairJet’s existing three Phenom 100s. But one will frequently operate from Cannes Mandelieu in the south of France during the summer. FlairJet plans to recruit additional pilots and operations staff over the coming months.
Cirrus Aircraft has begun delivery of new aircraft equipped with Garmin’s Perspective Electronic Stability and Protection (Perspective ESP) and Hypoxia Recognition and Automatic Descent Mode. Delivery follows recent FAA approval of the functions in the aircraft. The Perspective ESP system corrects excessive pitch attitude, roll attitude or airspeed. The Hypoxia Recognition function will provide an alert after long periods of flight at higher altitudes without communication and will provide for automatic descent.
