Hawker Beechcraft today announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the company's motion to enter into exclusive negotiations with Superior Aviation Beijing Co., Ltd. (Superior). Approval of this motion allows Hawker Beechcraft to spend up to 45 days exclusively negotiating with Superior regarding a strategic combination that would preserve jobs and product lines.
Business aircraft operators flying to the UK for the Olympics and beyond are being offered new reduced handling prices by Cambridge Airport – one of the designated Olympics airports.
Deal would leave the defense business — which in recent years has been Hawker Beechcraft’s most lucrative — as either a standalone operation or to be sold separately.
STS Aviation Group , Jensen Beach, Fla., promoted Mark Smith to group president of AeroStaff Services, Line Maintenance and Engineering Solutions. Tom Covella was promoted to group president of Component Solutions, and Philip Anson and Bob Greene to CEO and executive chairman, respectively, of the Aviation Group.
Wichita Aero Club , Wichita, Kan., elected six new board: John Ek, publisher of The Wichita Business Journal; Sean Weaver, executive VP of Assurance Services at Allen, Gibbs & Houlik; Stephanie Harder, manager of community affairs and internal communications at Cessna Aircraft Co.; Kim Nussbaum, publisher of The Wichita Eagle, and David Van der Wee, VP-marketing, business & general aviation for Pratt & Whitney Canada.
Hawker Beechcraft’s proposed sale to a Chinese firm was not a complete surprise. But that the smaller Superior Aviation Beijing emerged as the possible bidder instead of the larger Avic or China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. (Caiga) leaves some industry experts wondering whether the deal will close at the $1.79 billion asking price.
FlightSafety International , LaGuardia, N.Y., promoted Doug Gill to director of engineering of its visual simulation facility in St. Louis, Mo., and named Woody McClendon sales manager-rotorcraft training.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. has enrolled more than 140 aircraft in its Flight Operations Risk Management Service (FORMS) program, a flight operations quality assurance/flight data program that has been modeled after airline programs. FORMS compares data collected from a quick access recorder with parameters for takeoff, climb, descent, approach and landing. It provides operators access to operation data that can identify potential hazards and is used to improve training. The data also can be used to analyze airport-specific approach procedures that can challenge pilots.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model MBB-BK 117 C-2 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0659; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-061-AD; Amendment 39-17101; AD 2012-12-21] – supersedes an existing AD that requires revising the “Emergency and Malfunction Procedures’’ and “Performance Data’’ sections of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) by inserting three temporary pages into the RFM to alert pilots to monitor the power display when a generator is deactivated and provides procedures to prevent failure of the remaining generator.
Flexjet, the fractional ownership arm of Bombardier, placed orders for three Learjet 70 aircraft for delivery in 2013. The operator announced plans to add Bombardier’s newest Learjets – the 70 and 75 – to its portfolio shortly after the Canadian manufacturer unveiled them during the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition. But at the time, Flexjet did not have details of its initial plans to fold the new jets, the successor to the Learjet 40XR and 45XR, into its fleet. Flexjet says it is purchasing at least three of the 70 model for 2013.
Constant Aviation opened a new landing gear repair and overhaul facility at its Birmingham, Ala. location. The facility initially will service Beechjet 400A/XP landing gear, but add Embraer Legacy 600 and the Hawker 800A/XP landing gear in the coming months. The company invested more than $500,000 in tooling, equipment and inventory for the Birmingham services. The new facility is part of Constant’s strategy this year to expand its accessory offerings on the Beechjet, Legacy and Hawker airframes. The company also recently added a 25,000-sq.-ft.
The fractional aircraft ownership jet fleet, while not yet returning to growth, has held steady this year, down by only a few jets from 2011, according data released by J.P.Morgan. The fleet count dipped by one jet to 766 in May, and that compares with 770 by the end of 2011. But 101 jets had dropped out of the fleet in 2011, “with each month contributing to the decline except December,” J.P.Morgan says. Overall, the fleet has declined in 33 of the past 41 months since the January 2009 peak of 960 business jets.
Piaggio Aero has teamed with Saab to develop a special mission surveillance variant of its Avanti II pusherprop, the Piaggio Aero MPA (multirole patrol aircraft) for Abu Dhabi Autonomous System Investments (ADASI), a subsidiary of Tawazun. Saab will supply and help integrate a suite of airborne sensors and surveillance systems on the aircraft. Other changes will include additional fuel tanks, increased maximum takeoff weight and reinforced wing to provide an increased surface and higher aspect ratio. Plans call for the rollout of the first two prototypes in 2014.
Piper is expanding its presence in the Republic of Korea with the appointment of Korea Business Air Service Co., Ltd. as the company dealer for new aircraft sales in the South Korean market. The appointment is the latest addition in a concentrated effort by the Vero Beach, Fla., plane maker to build up its international presence. It also marks a re-entry for Piper into the Korean marketplace. Korea Business Air Service has locations at Gimpo Airport and Incheon International Airport near Seoul.
FAA’s proposed $13.57 million fine against Boeing is the second largest civil penalty ever proposed by the agency, topped only by a $24.2 million proposed fine of American Airlines in 2010 that has yet to be settled. FAA Friday announced the proposed fine for allegedly failing to meet deadlines for providing guidance to comply with the agency’s fuel tank flammability reduction rule. The rule, issued in July 2008, gave Boeing and Airbus until Dec. 27, 2010, to provide the regulator with aircraft-specific service instructions on replacing oxygen in fuel tanks with nitrogen.
Sikorsky’s S-76D intermediate-size helicopter is wrapping up certification flight testing after an eleventh-hour delay caused by cracking of mounts attaching the engines to the airframe.
BAE Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0189; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-133-AD; Amendment 39-17102; AD 2012-12-22] – requires performing a repetitive high frequency eddy current inspection of the stiffeners on the left-hand sidewall on the nose landing gear (NLG) bay for cracks, and repair or replace the sidewall if necessary. This AD was prompted by a report of a crack found on the left-hand sidewall well on the NLG.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0298; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-072-AD; Amendment 39-17096; AD 2012-12-16]– requires an external inspection, and if necessary an internal inspection, to determine if certain fuel access panels are installed, and replacement if necessary; optional repetitive inspections for cracking of the fuel access panels, and replacement if necessary, would defer the internal inspection; and eventual replacement of affected fuel access panels with new panels.
WOODY MCCLENDON joined FlightSafety International as sales manager, rotorcraft training. McClendon has more than 17,000 flight hours, including 7,000 in helicopters, flying support missions for law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services and corporate aircraft. He also has served as senior vice president, sales and marketing for PrivatAir, aviation manager for the UCLA MedStar program and as an instructor for FlightSafety.
DOUG GILL was promoted to director of engineering for FlightSafety International’s visual simulation facility in St. Louis. Gill has served with FlightSafety since 1998 in the visual simulation facility. Most recently he was manager of real-time software and display management systems.
