Argus TRAQPak data indicates that August 2012 business aircraft flight activity increased from July 2012 at 5.7% overall. The results by operational category were all positive from the previous month, led by Part 91 flight activity posting a 6.6% month-over-month increase. Part 135 charter activity was up 4.3%. Fractional activity was up 5.1% over July. Comparing August 2012 to August 2011, TRAQPak recorded a modest increase of 2.0% in overall aircraft activity. Results by operational category were once again led by Part 91 sector activity up 2.7%.
Flight Design GmbH and Sandel Avionics Inc. are GAMA's newest members, bringing total worldwide membership to 78 companies. Flight Design is based in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, and manufactures the EASA type certified CTLS. Sandel Avionics engineers and manufactures terrain avoidance avionics for rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft.
An article in Intelligence (September 2012, page 24) states that Baker Aviation is the “only certified repair station in KADS,” yet our sister company, Elite Turbine Maintenance, has FAR Part 145 authorization (X5ER177Y) and we have been in business for over 13 years at Addison (Texas) Airport. Executive Vice President Aviation Services Elite
Gulfstream Aerospace has added eight technicians and an overnight shift from 10 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. at its Westfield, Mass. Service Center. The technicians can perform work for customers at the Westfield facility or can be dispatched for AOG situations within a 4 hr. drive.
Beijing and Shanghai are likely to get dedicated airports for business aviation, boosting growth prospects for the industry while relieving commercial airports of the accompanying airspace congestion. The director-general of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Li Jiaxiang, says building the two airports will be part of a set of policies that the agency is working on for the promotion of business aviation. “Business aviation needs greater convenience, speed and smoothness,” he noted at the Beijing International Business Aviation Show.
Aviation Resource Management added a 2001 Falcon 900EX to its FAA Air Carrier Certificate. The 12-passenger aircraft features high-speed Internet and is available for charter from Teterboro, N.J. Established in 1989, Aviation Resource Management is an Argus and Wyvern approved charter operator and aircraft management firm with a fleet based in Teterboro and Caldwell, N.J.
Ever wonder what your long-range nav system would look like if your aircraft were crossing the north pole? After “90 deg. N” appeared on the display, what would the FMS do? How would it orient itself coming out “the other side,” given that all directions radiating from the pole are “south”? Would the GPS sensors be able to triangulate a reliable position, given that the balk of the satnav constellation is concentrated in the mid-latitudes?
Airport groups are calling on the FAA to improve a draft Advisory Circular (AC) on airport safety management systems (SMS). The FAA released the draft circular at the end of June as a continuation of a 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA), however, wants the agency to convene an informal industry working group to improve the draft AC to provide “clear, practical guidance to airport operators regarding how to establish an airport SMS program and utilize the program to enhance airport safety proactively.”
Yes, Virginia, Scandinavia is part of Europe, and two of the countries featured here — Denmark and Sweden — are members of the European Union. What that means, if you're headed to either of those countries, is that your flight will come under the EU's notorious Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and taxed from point of origin to destination (i.e., not entry into EU airspace).
China Daily reports that the country is planning to open airspace beginning next year and implement reforms over the next 10. The country reportedly is launching pilot projects in northeastern, southern central regions and seven pilot cities to open airspace below 1,000 meters to general aviation flights. Airspace restrictions, however, have been problematic for existing operators.
Aircraft flight manuals are full of precision airport performance data and numbers obtained by aviation industry's most skilled and experienced test pilots.
The Gulfstream G280 won full certification from the FAA and Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI) Sept. 4. Several G280s are in completion with first customer delivery before year's end. Full certification comes nine months after the aircraft received provisional type certification from CAAI. FAA awarded provisional type certification in March. The aircraft was announced in October 2008 as the replacement for the Gulfstream 200 and first flew in 2009. The certification program involved three G280 aircraft that accumulated more than 2,150 hr. and 794 test flights.
While business aviation indicators appear stronger — deliveries up, the used aircraft market improving and the North America market ticking up — JP Morgan analyst Joseph Nadol cautioned in September that deliveries are could flatten during the remainder of the year and recovery is “not yet imminent.” Excluding Airbus and Boeing, business jet deliveries rose 11% through the first half of this year. But several market forces may stunt that growth, including a falloff in Hawker Beechcraft deliveries as the Wichita OEM remains in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Aiming to improve the consistency of the FAA's certification and approval processes, a government-industry committee tasked with drafting recommendations has received input from aviation groups to help meet its year-end deadline. The committee offered an online survey to stakeholders ending Sept. 25. The four-year FAA reauthorization signed into law in February mandated the creation of the Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to examine differing regulatory interpretations practiced by the FAA's various Flight Standards District Offices and Aircraft Certification Offices.
Gogo was granted a subordinate license from Industry Canada for Canada's air-to-ground radio frequency spectrum that enables Gogo to provide aircraft inflight connectivity over Canada. Gogo will operate on the same frequency over Canada as it does in the U.S., providing a seamless transition across borders. It also will service business aircraft currently using Aircell's Gogo Biz service. Aircell is a Gogo company.
Steering clear of potentially hazardous storms is about to get much easier. The new generation of three-dimensional weather radars, such as Honeywell's RDR 4000 Intuvue, promise virtually to eliminate the black art of manual tilt control and radar return interpretation that can enable storms to lurk undetected. The Gulfstream G650 is the business aircraft to be equipped with the Intuvue radar, and more applications are expected.
“Righting the Wronged” (Washington Watch, September 2012, page 65) reminded me of a similar flight I had in October 2008 in a Cessna P-210. Departing Olive Branch, Miss., the weather en route to Dalhart, Texas, my first fuel stop, required an instrument flight plan, which was filed and accepted. Flight Service gave me the weather information as well as the NOTAMs available for Olive Branch and Dalhart.
The DOT Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is calling on the FAA to improve management of a program that requires airports to assess potential wildlife aircraft strikes. “The FAA has not developed robust inspection practices, and its inspectors do not have the technical expertise to effectively oversee the program,” the report says of the FAA's Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Program.
The NTSB, citing a dozen incidents since 1993 involving large-aircraft wingtip collisions during taxiing, is urging the FAA and EASA to mandate anti-collision aids such as cameras that enable pilots to see their aircraft's wingtips from the flight deck without opening a cockpit window. The NTSB does not say which aircraft models need such systems, although it mentions Boeing's 747, 757, 767 and 777; McDonnell Douglas widebodies; and the Airbus A380 as likely candidates.
Denmark Jutting out of the Europe like a hand reaching for Sweden, Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries, at 27,000 sq. mi. (not including its possessions Greenland and the Faeroe Islands), about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.
Germany and the U.S. have signed an agreement to develop sustainable aviation biofuels on both sides of the Atlantic. The pact, signed at the ILA Berlin air show by German Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer and U.S. Ambassador Philip Murphy, will serve as a guide to accelerate cooperation to bring “drop-in” biofuels to volume production. Unlike other sustainable fuel programs, drop-in biofuels are similar enough to hydrocarbon fuels to allow them to easily “drop in,” or replace, current fuel sources. The U.S.
Bombardier's Learjet 75 reached another milestone with power applied to the first production aircraft's electrical systems on the Wichita production line the week of Aug. 21, as the aircraft progresses toward its 2013 entry-into-service. The Learjet 70 and Learjet 75 test aircraft are continuing their development work as the program moves forward.
The used aircraft market is continuing to strengthen as the numbers of available aircraft shrink across the board, according a JetNet report on July activity. The percentage of the business jet fleet for sale dropped to 13.5% in July, a near low since the market plummeted in 2008, welcome news for business aircraft makers who have been waiting for the oversupply of used aircraft to dry up and spur demand for new aircraft. The 13.5% is a slight improvement over July 2011 — when it was 13.7% — but it marks a consistent downward trend.
Rockwell Collins' Airshow 3-D moving map is now available for download in the Apple iTunes App Store. The iPad app delivers an interactive way for business jet passengers to view the world around them and stay informed during their journey. Existing Airshow 4000 or Venue HD cabin management system users can take advantage of the new app for passengers' iPads.
