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.
Slower-than-expected business jet sales in the third quarter that hampered both deliveries and revenues are leading executives from Cessna parent Textron to prepare for another flat year in 2013. At the same time, though, the commercial sales of Textron's Bell Helicopter unit continue to pick up steam and helped buoy Textron's overall third-quarter results. Cessna's profit declined $3 million to $30 million in the third quarter. Business jet deliveries dropped to 41, compared with 47 in third quarter 2011, and backlog slid $196 million to $1.3 billion.
In your analysis of the King Air A100 accident (Cause & Circumstance, October 2012, page 56) you quite rightly focused on aircraft performance, and it reminded me why my preferred aircraft type was turbine Twin Commanders, which at MTOW climb at 1,000 fpm on one donkey, no sweat.
Net orders are slowly picking up for Dassault's Falcon line, reaching 37 through the first nine months of the year. Dassault values the new orders at €1.598 ($2.08 billion). This compares with net orders (orders after cancellations) of 30 Falcon jets valued at €1.391 billion ($1.81 billion) through the first three quarters of 2011. At the same time, Dassault's Falcon deliveries increased from 35 in the first three quarters of 2011 to 43 this year. The improved Falcon deliveries helped drive a 22% growth in Dassault Aviation's net sales of €2.521 billion.
The Office of Naval Research has awarded Rockwell Collins a contract to develop technology to locate and classify an adversary's attempts to interfere with GPS signals and disrupt military operations that will likely have collateral benefits to civil users. The three-year contract for the Modernized Integrated Spoofer Tracking (MIST) program calls for Rockwell Collins to develop technology and prototype system concepts to detect and locate the sources of transmitted signals that are intended to disrupt users' ability to navigate and communicate.
In 1994, the NATA viewed the imminent retirement of its long-time leader, Larry Burian, as an opportunity to raise the organization's visibility in Washington and on Capitol Hill. Accordingly, the board turned to James Coyne, a former congressman and Ronald Reagan White House aide, to get the FBO/charter group noticed. It didn't take him long.
Bombardier Aerospace announced two significant additions to its customer services network for business aircraft operators in the U.S. Over the next two months Bombardier will deploy Mobile Response Parties (MRP) to seven regions. Each MRP truck will be staffed by an avionics and a maintenance technician, and equipped with tooling to perform scheduled and unscheduled maintenance at an operator's location. The company also opened three more Regional Support Offices co-located with business aircraft service centers in Tucson, Ariz., Hartford, Conn.
To the best of my recollection I haven't met Ross Detwiler, but I have heard his name at some point over the years. Regardless, having just read your article in BCA I felt compelled to drop you a quick note.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced that it delivered its first super-midsized G280 aircraft Nov. 14. The fully outfitted business jet went to a U.S.-based manufacturer with a presence in 190 countries. The aircraft earned type certificates from the U.S. FAA and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel on Aug. 30.
Cessna will assemble Citation XLS+ business jets in China jointly with Avic general aviation subsidiary Caiga. A joint facility at Caiga's base at Zhuhai in southern China will make its first delivery of a Citation XLS+ in 12-18 months, says Cessna CEO Scott Ernest. Citations assembled at Zhuhai will be delivered only to Chinese customers. The agreement, signed by Cessna and Caiga at Airshow China in Zhuhai on Nov. 14, markedly extends a commitment to work with Chinese industry that the U.S.
The 2012 National Business Aviation Association Convention in Orlando, Fla. closed with 25,150 people in attendance, a number comparable to the final Attendee total of 26,077 for the 2011 Convention, and to the final attendee total of 24,206 for the 2010 event. The number of exhibitors at the Orange County Convention Center was 1,073; booth spaces totaled 4,361, an increase over last year's booth-space total. A total of 105 aircraft were shown on two separate static displays, and an additional four aircraft were shown inside the convention center.
Slow sales in the mid- and light segments are keeping business jet deliveries relatively flat for the year, but the market for turboprops has continued to gain momentum in 2012, according to the latest GAMA deliveery report. Manufacturers delivered 428 business jets through the first nine months of 2012, just one more compared with the same period in 2011. Turboprop deliveries, meanwhile, are up 10.5% to 368 units in 2012. Piston aircraft deliveries also inched up 3.5% to 597. With the improving turboprop shipments, deliveries on the whole are up 4.2%.
Blackhawk Modifications, which designs, develops and installs performance improvement systems for single- and twin-engine turboprop aircraft, has completed its 400th performance upgrade installation. Blackhawk's milestone customer is EagleMed LLC, of Wichita, Kan., a provider of air medical transfer services in the Midwest. Expansion led EagleMed to add two Blackhawk XP61-powered Beechcraft King Air B200s.
The Sikorsky S-76D helicopter won FAA certification. The company said the S-76D has a current backlog approaching a half-billion dollars and deliveries are expected to begin shortly. Standard features include all-composite, flaw-tolerant main rotor blades; an advanced Thales integrated avionics system and autopilot; health and usage monitoring system (HUMS), active vibration control; and Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210S engines. A rotor ice protection system is an option.
Used business aircraft sales slowed slightly, particularly in the light jet segment, and inventory began to creep back up in the third quarter. But used market indicators overall were a “mixed bag ” as pricing strengthened for both business jets and turboprops, according to industry analyst Amstat. The number of business jets available for sale, inched up from 13.3% of the fleet at the end of the second quarter to 13.4% at the end of the third. But this is still improved from 14% of the fleet that was for sale at the end of the third quarter in 2011.
Rockwell Collins' Ascend Aircraft Information Manager (AIM) secure data transfer and maintenance management system for Pro Line 4, Pro Line 21 and Pro Line Fusion-equipped aircraft, has been recently certified for Cessna CJ1+, CJ2+, CJ3, CJ4 and Hawker Beechcraft King Air B200 Series aircraft. AIM uploads flight critical database updates, and downloads maintenance information post-flight using Wi-Fi or cellular links to and from the Ascend Data Center.
The EU has postponed by one year its plans to include international operators in its emissions trading system (ETS). The decision followed meetings of the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) council in Montreal on market-based measures for emissions mitigation. The council on Nov. 9 said it would convene a high-level group to create a framework for a global market-based system. The EU cited the council in its decision to postpone the broader implementation of the ETS.
In its amended disclosure statement for the joint plan of reorganization, Hawker Beechcraft said that it needs to either sell or shutter the jet lines because “significant capital investments would be required to achieve competitive performance and product cost for the Hawker 4000 and Hawker 900XP aircraft.
In its 21st annual Business Aviation Outlook, Honeywell forecasts a market for 10,000 new business jets through 2022. In terms of overall delivery numbers, the outlook remains little changed from the predictions Honeywell made in 2011. But the fleet composition is changing, with a greater number of large-cabin, long-range aircraft pushing up billings estimates by 9% over 2011 levels. Large-cabin jets now account for more than 40% of new purchase plans, says Honeywell, which surveys more than 1,500 business jet operators worldwide for its annual outlook.
Gulfstream Aerospace, completing its strongest quarter of the year in terms of new orders, expects sales to grow further in the fourth quarter and is increasing its delivery estimates for 2012 to as many as 124 aircraft. Gulfstream continues to shine in the General Dynamics (GD) portfolio, leading the Aerospace group to a 30% increase in third-quarter revenues and a 20.3% increase in operating earnings. The GD Aerospace group includes Gulfstream and Jet Aviation.
