BRIAN PANNING was appointed as a sales director for Tempus Aircraft Sales & Service, an Englewood, Colo.-based authorized sales and service center for Piper and Pilatus aircraft. Panning will be responsible for Pilatus aircraft sales in Southern California, and new and used jet acquisition and sales worldwide. He has more than 30 years of aviation industry experience, most recently as the Western Pacific U.S. sales director for Hawker Beechcraft. He has also worked with Gulfstream and Galaxy and served as vice president of sales at Jeteffect.
Business aircraft activity has begun to pick up this year, with flight hours improving in all jet categories and Part 135 hours jumping 13.8% in January, according to the latest report from industry analyst Argus. Business aircraft traffic overall was up 1.7% in January, compared with the same month in 2012. All categories of business jets posted gains, with mid-cabins improving the most at 4.1%. Small cabins followed at 2.1%, while large cabin business jet flight hours tracked with the overall gains at 1.7%.
JACK MILL has become vice president of engineering for Piper Aircraft, taking on the role he has held on an interim basis for several months. Mill has more than 30 years of aircraft design and engineering experience. He has served with the company since 1985, and held positions in design, engineering management and Piper’s delegated FAA organization.
Bombardier saw a dramatic jump in its Aerospace backlog in 2012 to $32.9 billion, but the company is cautiously scaling up production this year. Bombardier’s backlog in 2012 grew 38% from the $23.9 billion in 2011 as net orders for its business aircraft almost doubled to 392. The company reported net orders for 191 business aircraft in 2011, but that only included an 11-month period because of a change in the company’s fiscal year.
The White House is adopting a tough public relations campaign against China and other online hackers believed to be carrying out what has been described as the greatest theft of intellectual property in history. On Feb.
More than two decades have passed since the last commercial helicopter was built in the U.K., but civil rotorcraft production could be on the verge of a comeback. While the last flirtations with the commercial sector—in the 1980s by what was then Westland were not especially successful—AgustaWestland, the helicopter manufacturing arm of Italy's Finmeccanica, believes it is time for its Yeovil-based U.K. subsidiary to reembrace the commercial world.
Now entering the final stages of designing its Model 525 Relentless medium twin, Bell Helicopter is taking lessons not only from its own past, but from another major manufacturer. Build will start in the second quarter, aiming for a first flight in 2014.
Orbital Sciences Corp. hopes to launch its first Antares rocket next month, paving the way for a second commercial cargo service to the International Space Station (ISS) by summer. The plan assumes a successful on-pad hot-fire test of the liquid-fueled Ukrainian-built rocket, but it will not be delayed by inconclusive results from a NASA probe into the cause of a fairing-separation problem that destroyed the $388 million Glory atmospheric-research mission in 2011.
Despite the financial and legal issues that have recently afflicted its parent, Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland is pushing ahead with development and flight-testing of three new rotary-wing aircraft at the same time.
President Obama's crusade to increase a small sliver of taxes on the nation's wealthiest has long capitalized on a convenient symbol of privilege: the corporate jet. Those talking points are landing like stray arrows on the makers of business jets, and manufacturers are fuming.
While industry accepts that the light single-engine helicopter is very much in demand, it is often difficult for manufacturers to justify investment in such machines when medium and heavy helicopters yield greater profit margins. For companies like Eurocopter, which last year sold more than 200 examples of its Ecureuil family, the decision to spend money creating a new light helicopter is a tricky one, especially with no sign of demand for the existing aircraft abating soon.
The African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA) has published its inaugural white paper, the first in a series of anticipated AfBAA reference documents, which will be made available to the public.
LONDON — Eurocopter is planning to retrofit the worldwide AS350B3e fleet with a modification to solve a tail rotor issue by August. The manufacturer, owned by EADS, says the retrofit, which involves the removal of chin weights fitted to the tail rotor assembly and the installation of a load compensator, will fix issues suffered by operators of the B3e variant of the Ecureuil single-engined light helicopter that was launched by the manufacturer at the 2011 Heli-Expo event.
Hawker Beechcraft is developing both short- and long-term plans to address a recurring landing gear part fatigue cracking problem highlighted by the NTSB.
The long-delayed solicitation for proposals to host six unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test sites across the U.S. has been issued by the FAA, along with the agency’s proposed approach to addressing public concerns over privacy.
Hawker Beechcraft’s seven U.S. factory-owned service centers were recognized with the Diamond Award from FAA’s Maintenance Technician Program. The award recognizes 100% employee participation in the program and is based on the number of hours of FAA-approved aviation maintenance training received throughout the year. The centers include two bases in Atlanta, along with facilities in Tampa, Indianapolis, Wichita, Houston, and Wilmington, Del.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model EC 155B, EC155B1, SA-365N1, AS-365N2 and AS 365 N3 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2013-0075; Directorate Identifier 2012-SW-104-AD; Amendment 39-17336; AD 2013-03-02] – supersedes an AD that currently requires inspecting certain tail rotor hubs (TRH) for a crack and removing any cracked TRH. This AD requires the same actions but adds more part numbers to the list of affected TRHs. This AD is prompted by further analysis that indicates that additional part-numbered TRHs must be inspected for cracks.
An International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) committee has agreed to recommend an additional 7 dB reduction in noise levels for aircraft, with the new limits to be put in place at the end of 2017 for large aircraft and the beginning of 2020 for smaller ones, including most business jets.
Piper Aircraft’s drive to level-load its deliveries kept shipments stable through the fourth quarter even as the Vero Beach, Fla.-manufacturer ramped up production, leading to double-digit gains in revenues and deliveries.
QUINN HAMON was named director of safety for regional fractional operator Executive AirShare. Hamon previously served as chief pilot for AirNet Systems in Columbus, Ohio. He also has served as a flight instructor with Pan Am International Flight Academy.
Garmin International has developed a GRA 5500 all-digital radar altimeter for transport, business and general aviation aircraft, as well as helicopters. Garmin says the new unit enables consistent and accurate altitude tracking, even over challenging environments such as rough terrain, tree canopies, sand and choppy water. “The GRA 5500 meets the highest altitude accuracy standards only previously seen in products for transport and military aircraft,” says Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation sales and marketing for Garmin.
