The Citation CJ2, built from 2000 to 2006, filled a niche in Cessna's light jet product line that had been empty since the Citation I/SP went out of production in the early 1980s. The CitationJet and CJ1 were unable to fill that void, because their cabins were too short, tanks-full payload too puny and range too limited. The CJ2 remedied those shortcomings.
At the Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cessna announced that it has increased the range expectation of its new midsize Citation Latitude from 2,300 nm to 2,500 nm. In 2011, the Latitude was originally announced with an expected range of 2,000 nm, but Cessna engineers responding to customer input pushed the range figure to, first 2,300 nm, and most recently to 2,500 nm. “As we talked with more customers, getting to 2,500 nautical miles was imperative,” said Bob Gibbs, vice president, International Sales, South America.
Asia Pacific Jets has ordered 10 Nextant 400XT business jets to be delivered over three years, with the first two delivered by the end of this year. Singapore-based Asia Pacific provides medical evacuation and corporate charter services. The company will also become Nextant's sales agent in Asia and has partnered with Hong Kong-based AirMed Asia, a subsidiary of medical transportation specialist AirMed International, to establish a new operating base for that company in Singapore.
Gulfstream Aerospace has enrolled more than 140 aircraft in its Flight Operations Risk Management Service (FORMS) program, providing operators access to data that has been proven to reduce hazards in airline operations and is now migrating to business aviation. FORMS, Gulfstream's Flight Operations Quality/Assurance/Flight Data Management (FOQA/FDM) program, is modeled after airline programs that have become widely used to analyze operational data and improve flight training.
Gulfstream Aerospace has opened its first factory service center in Latin America in Sorocaba, Brazil. The Sorocaba facility, 97 km from São Paulo, has a 24,000-sq.-ft. hangar that can accommodate a mix of four to six large- and mid-cabin aircraft, and also includes 8,000-sq.-ft. of office space and a 3,000-sq.-ft. bonded parts warehouse. It is certified to perform maintenance, repairs and alterations on all Brazil-registered Gulfstream aircraft and can also service U.S.-registered Gulfstreams with FAA-certified technicians.
Piper Aircraft Inc. has reached a 10-year agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada for the continuing purchase of PT6A-42A turboprop engines to power Piper's flagship single-engine M-Class Meridian. P&WC is a United Technologies Corp. business unit.
Sennheiser has launched the S1 Passive, a high-performance GA headset that offers pilots both excellent passive noise attenuation and optimum wearing comfort. The full-size headset was developed for pilots who want noise attenuation but do not want to use an active headset. It is also equipped with Sennheiser's ActiveGard feature that protects the pilot's hearing against extreme volume peaks that can occur during radio communications. If a signal above 110 dB is received, ActiveGard compresses the sound and everything remains clearly intelligible at a healthy volume.
GE Aviation is launching two derivative engines of its recently certified H80: the H75 and H85 turboprop engines, the company announced July 23. The H75 will be rated at 750 shp for both takeoff and maximum continuous operation, and the H85 will be rated at 850 shp. Like the H80, the H75 and H85 engines will be manufactured at GE Aviation's facility in the Czech Republic and aimed at the agricultural, commuter, utility and business turboprop aircraft segments.
More diesel plans. Continental Motors Inc. (CMI), working with its Chinese parent AVIC International, is planning to invest in a line of diesel engines ranging from 160 hp to 350 hp or more. At the same time, CMI is pursuing the supplemental type certificate market, recently obtaining the first for a diesel option on the Cirrus S22. CMI President Rhett Ross stresses that the company plans to continue to support the aviation gasoline engine market and sees it remaining in the U.S. for some time.
Screening for drug or alcohol use is a common pre-employment check that has been around for decades. Typically this is something expected and planned for in advance. If a job applicant fails this test you can withdraw your offer of employment. For many of us in aviation, we also face the possibility of random testing due to the passage of the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act.
No pilot would deliberately penetrate turbulence so severe it could jeopardize control of the aircraft or the safety of its occupants. Yet as recent accidents have demonstrated, high-altitude flight can produce upsets due to the combination of high-speed aerodynamics and unique weather characteristics in the upper atmosphere.
A 43-year-old commercial pilot and four passengers were killed and a fifth serious injured on March 16, 2011, when a Beech Super King Air 200 crashed following a loss of control during takeoff from Long Beach (Calif.) Airport. Carde Equipment Sales LLC operated the airplane. At 0700, the pilot had filed an IFR flight plan to Salt Lake City — a 2-hr. flight — anticipating three passengers and a departure at 0830. VMC prevailed in the Long Beach area.
Anticipating STC approval, Hawker Beechcraft factory-owned service centers are scheduling Blackhawk engine upgrades for King Air 200s equipped with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics. The installation will replace the original Pratt & Whitney PT6A-41 or -42 engines with factory-new PT6A-52 engines. Blackhawk Modifications expects certification of the engine upgrade on Pro Line 21-equipped aircraft in the fourth quarter of this year. Pro Line 21-equipped King Air 200s require a separate STC to modify the engine instrument displays.
Robert Clare, Director of Sales for Universal Avionics, announced that Universal will open a new European satellite sales office in London, U.K. to support the region's growing avionics sales activity there. The office is slated to open in September. The London office joins Universal's other European office in Basel, Switzerland, which opened in 2004. The Basel office currently oversees all sales in Europe.
GKN Aerospace has won a contract from Triumph Aerostructures to design, build and supply composite winglets and ailerons for the Bombardier Global 7000 and Global 8000 ultra-long-range business jets. The ailerons will be developed and manufactured at GKN Aerospace's Munich wing structures operation, with the winglets work conducted by the GKN team on the Isle of Wight, U.K.
Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support (GCS) announced its Technical Publications and Customer Support Directories are available in the Apple App Store. The Technical Publications app is available for use with an IPad and requires the user to visit www.hawkerbeechcraft.com to create a user ID and password. The GCS Directory application is compatible with the iPhone and does not require login credentials. In addition to downloadable flight manuals, the Technical Publications app will include maintenance manuals for current production and supported aircraft.
When your airplane is over the high seas far from a suitable alternate and something breaks especially at night or in bad weather—the elements grow to seem immeasurably large and hostile.
“The most important thing with international procedures for contingencies is an equal understanding between the pilot and the controller on the actions the former is required to take,” Chris Dalton, ICAO's chief of air traffic management and a former oceanic controller, told BCA. “The pilot must have an understanding of what the controller wants him to do, otherwise the controller can't maintain separation and keep the airspace safe.”
Modern aircraft cabins, equipped with sophisticated arrays of electronics designed to keep passengers comfortable, entertained and in touch, are wonders to behold. But keeping all of today's cabin components in harmony requires an integrated, easy-to-use control hub.
NATA is reaching into the airline industry for a successor to longtime President James Coyne, announcing July 24 that Thomas Hendricks will take the helm as of Sept. 1. Hendricks was senior vice president, safety security and operations of Airlines for America, responsible for technical and operational functions, as well as advocacy and policy positions on flight operations, safety, engineering, air traffic management and security.
Light-sport aircraft developer Icon Aircraft selected Cirrus Aircraft to supply a significant portion of the composite airframe for the A5 amphibious airplane. Cirrus will produce the components at its Grand Forks, N.D., plant, alongside those manufactured for the SR20 and SR22 single-piston aircraft. Icon will integrate the components at its facility in Tehachapi, Calif., where all design, final assembly, finishing and testing will occur.
Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings has launched a new website to assist aircraft coatings specifiers, influencers and users. The site allows users to easily navigate or directly search via their specific market niche (general, business, commercial or military aviation markets) and/or product systems (interior, exterior coatings, primers, fillers, etc.). One highlight of the website is its detailed products and systems section that includes information specific to SKYscapes, the company's new basecoast/clearcoat exterior paint system.
Piper Aircraft continued to increase aircraft deliveries and grow revenues during the first half of 2012. During the second quarter of 2012, ended June 30, Piper delivered 39 new aircraft contributing $37,423,010 in revenue. That was up 18% from 33 aircraft in the same period in 2011, with revenue up more than 20% from $31,141,182. For the first half of this year, Piper delivered 76 airplanes, up 28% from 59 during the same period in 2011 while generating $69,001,213 in revenue, up more than 20% from $57,300,885 during the same period in 2011.
Safari Air Link of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has added a Cessna Citation Mustang 510, the first in Tanzania, to its fleet. Safari Air Fleet Director Peter Fox says the Mustang will provide more air transport services to the business sector, tourism and emergency health care in Tanzania. Safari currently operates two Cessna C206s, a C210, a C208 Caravan and a C206B Grand Caravan.
