A jury is set to begin hearing testimony in a 7-year-old patent infringement lawsuit between rival avionics vendors L-3 and Avidyne in a U.S. District Court starting in February. According to Avidyne, the court case centers on sales of Avidyne’s Entegra integrated avionics system between 2004 and mid-2005, when the system was the primary avionics suite for the Cirrus SR20 and SR22 single-engine general aviation aircraft.
Embraer continued to expand its work outside of Brazil with the groundbreaking of a new engineering center in Melbourne, Fla., and the beginning of deliveries from its new factory in Portugal. Embraer last week began construction of its 67,000-sq.-ft. Embraer Engineering and Technology Center USA. The center, located on 13 acres at Melbourne International Airport, will house capabilities including three-dimensional, computer-aided design, computational fluid dynamics, finite element modeling and virtual reality.
Gulfstream Aerospace’s new aircraft service center in Beijing, Gulfstream Beijing, has secured Part 145 approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and has officially opened. The center is one of only a few business aviation services facilities in China to have achieved CAAC 145 approval. The certification authorizes the center to work on aircraft registered in China. The facility is a joint venture between Gulfstream and Hainan Airlines Group subsidiaries Hainan Aviation Technik (HNAT) and Deer Jet.
A government-industry rulemaking committee is recommending that FAA create a single master electronic database encompassing all guidance documents to help improve the agency’s consistency in interpreting regulations. The Consistency of Regulation Interpretation Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), established in April to address issues surrounding FAA’s lack of standardization, presented its findings and recommendations to the agency last week. FAA will review the recommendations and forward them to Congress early next year.
NetJets took delivery of its first Bombardier aircraft, a “Signature Series” Global 6000, marking the beginning of a new fleet of the large cabin class that could include hundreds of Global and Challenger aircraft. The aircraft will help expand NetJets’ fleet, and also replace Gulfstreams and Dassault business jets that have traditionally filled the large-cabin role.
Embraer began flight tests of its Legacy 500 mid-size business jet on Nov. 27 at San Jose dos Campos, Brazil, after delays caused by the clean-sheet aircraft's fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2014, more than a year behind schedule. Problems with certification of software for the Parker Aerospace-supplied fly-by-wire system caused the delay, and forced Embraer to transfer responsibility for the software to BAE Systems—an experienced FBW developer and supplier of the main flight-control computers to Parker.
Almost three months after India relaxed its foreign investment rules in the aviation sector, international airlines are eying, albeit cautiously, minority stakes in the country's local carriers. Cash-strapped private airlines Jet Airways and SpiceJet are considering selling stakes to foreign companies, says a civil aviation ministry official. While Jet Airways is in talks with Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad Airways, low-cost local airline SpiceJet is said to be trying to interest Qatar Airways and Malaysia's AirAsia into taking part ownership.
Another mega-order for Bombardier's large-cabin business jets will add billions of dollars to the Montreal manufacturer's backlog—highlighting the growing bifurcation of the broader market.
Showtime for the biennial Middle East Business Aviation convention is set for Dec. 11-13 at Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport-Dubai World Central. Previous commitments in the U.S. that week preclude my attending, which is too bad, since the previous gathering (photo) was an eye opener for this first-time visitor to the glittering UAE, and well worth the ticket price.
Hawker Beechcraft has begun notifying customers of its decisions concerning Hawker product support, which essentially would orphan the Hawker 4000, should no buyer for the program emerge. This includes cancelling warranties, the guaranteed maintenance program SupportPlus and the Hawker 4000 Upgrade and Enhancement program. It also includes cancelling warranties and SupportPlus for the Premier 1A.
Multi Service Aero has developed a smart phone application of its FBO Locator that allows pilots and flight planners to locate Aero Card accepting merchants around the globe. Pilots can search by IATA, ICAO, country and city. Using the map utility, pilots can search a specific region by zooming into a given area where they can view all the Aero merchants, along with contact information.
Bombardier Aerospace's backlog has jumped 18.6% this year, as the Canadian manufacturer continues to bring in major fleet orders for its Global long-range large business jets. Bombardier Business Aircraft reported 45 net firm orders during the third quarter, up 50% from the 30 firm orders in the same period last fiscal year. These orders included three multi-fleet contracts for 19 Globals valued at $1.2 billion. The orders, combined with 38 firm orders for Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, helped push backlog to $26.1 billion by the end of September.
Honeywell says its business and commercial aviation products were top performers among its four business sectors in the third quarter and will remain so through 2013, despite expectations for a continued slowdown in the global economy. Sales for the Aerospace division, which includes business and commercial aviation as well as defense and space, were up 4% to $3 billion year-over-year in the third quarter due to a 9% increase in commercial product sales. Defense and space revenue decreased 1%.
Honda Aircraft named Skyservice Business Aviation as its authorized HondaJet sales representative in Canada. Skyservice is an aircraft management, maintenance and charter operator with facilities in Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary. Honda is currently evaluating its HondaJet sales and support network beyond North America and Europe.
Dassault Falcon received EASA and FAA approval to upgrade the ACSS TCAS 2000 installed on F900EX EASy, F900DX, F2000EX EASy and F2000DX to comply with the EASA mandate to upgrade all TCAS II systems for Change 7.1, be required by all airplanes operating within European airspace by the end of 2015. Change 7.1 simplifies advisories from “Adjust Vertical Speed, Adjust” to “Level off, Level off”; corrects missed and late TCAS reversals and descend advisory is changed to “Monitor Vertical Speed” at 1000 ft. AGL.
Jet Aviation St. Louis will induct its first BBJ in April 2013 for scheduled maintenance and interior upgrades. The project includes the first installation of Boeing's enhanced vision system service bulletins for a private aircraft. The BBJ 700 will undergo its 12-year inspection and gear overhaul. Jet Aviation St. Louis prepared to accommodate narrow body aircraft by expanding its facility and sending technicians to Boeing and to Jet Aviation's Basil, Switzerland facility for training.
The future of Hawker business jet lines, and the brand, is grim after Hawker Beechcraft decided to end negotiations with would-be Chinese buyer Superior Air Beijing and move forward as a standalone company. On Oct. 18, the Wichita-based company announced that the $1.79 billion sale was off to buyer Superior Air Beijing, after the two parties could not agree on terms. Instead, the company will emerge from bankruptcy as Beechcraft Corp.
Pratt & Whitney Engine Services (PWES) is moving its Long Beach, Calif. Regional service center to new, larger facilities to meet customer demand. PWES is part of the P&WC customer service network. The center opened Nov. 1 at its new location: 11190 Valley View Street, Cypress, CA 90630. The new 23,000-sq.-ft. building offers an additional 4,500 sq. ft. of usable space. The increased space allows for a new machine/clean line room.
Bell Helicopter appointed Shanghai Kingwing General Aviation Co., Ltd., (Kingwing GA) as an authorized Customer Service Facility (CSF) approved to perform field maintenance on Bell 429 aircraft. Kingwing GA currently provides charter, training, leasing overhaul and operational management services from five bases in Eastern China.
This aircraft can grow up: Recently unveiled, the Mooney Master is the new low-price contender for the FBO flight training market with an added dividend — for $1,600 the owner can convert the standard fixed gear to retractable, and end up with basically the same airplane as the successful Mark 21.
