Bombardier Aerospace broke ground this month on a factory-owned service center for business aircraft at Seletar airport in Singapore. The facility, which will open in the second quarter of 2013, will include 31,500 sq. ft. of hangar space and 23,800 sq. ft. of office and backshops. The center will provide light and heavy maintenance on all Bombardier Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft. The facility will serve as a center for a full-service hub in the region. Plans call for Bombardier to move its Singapore Regional Support Office (RSO) to the hub.
Aerion Corporation in July will begin the next round of trials involving a test article positioned under NASA’s F-15B aircraft as the Reno, Nev., engineering firm moves to validate its supersonic flight designs and continues to search for a manufacturing partner. The newly built test article, which includes a 40-in. vertical span by 80-in. chord, will not look like Aerion’s wing design but will behave similarly aerodynamically, enabling the company to collect further data on laminar flow, says Aerion COO Doug Nichols.
Under the shadow of a second lawsuit, Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) and Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) have submitted their bids in the restaged competition to supply 20 light-attack aircraft to Afghanistan. Technical and cost proposals for the Light Air Support (LAS) program were submitted to the U.S. Air Force on June 18. HBC is offering its AT-6 and SNC the Embraer A-29 Super Tucano. Contract award is scheduled for mid-January, leading to first delivery to the Afghan National Army air force in July 2014 — a delay of more than a year.
June 12, 1972 — Pan Am and Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation agree to establish Falcon Jet Corp. in New Jersey, with each owning a 50% stake but enabling Pan Am to divest itself of the liabilities of its Business Jet Division that distributed and marketed Falcon business jets. June 7, 1982 — Gulfstream Aerospace joins other general aviation manufacturers forced to resort to employee layoffs, cutting 5-6% of its 1,150 workforce and imposing a four-week production shutdown at its Commander Division in Bethany, Okla.
Bell Helicopter plans to open its first authorized flight school in China in conjunction with Guanchen Aviation. Eric Cardinali, executive vice president, customer support and services for Bell Helicopter, said, “Partnering with Guanchen Aviation to provide a high-quality, local flight-training solution is an important first step in meeting our customer needs in the region.
Gulfstream Aerospace will soon support business aircraft operators in northern California, Colorado, and Nevada by using a specially outfitted Field and Airborne Support Team (FAST) mobile maintenance vehicle. From its base at San Jose International Airport, the vehicle will service aircraft located in San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and Fresno in California, and as far east as Reno, Nev. Also, from December through early March, the vehicle will be based at Denver’s Centennial Airport to serve operators in Colorado during ski season.
Rockwell Collins has won a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop the synthetic-vision avionics backbone for next-generation helicopter operations under the Multi-Function Radio Frequency Program. Rockwell Collins is teamed with BAE Systems on the first two phases of the $5.1 million contract. An optional third phase would bring the award’s total value to $6 million. The contract calls for Rockwell Collins to develop a 3D synthetic vision-based imagery system that will be used with multifunction radar.
Gulfstream has received approval from the FAA and EASA to retrofit Gulfstream GV, GIV, GIV-SP, G400 and G300 aircraft with the cockpit upgrade known as PlaneDeck.
Despite a sluggish start to the year that will hold down deliveries at least through to 2013, Bombardier Aerospace expects the business jet market to accelerate over the next 10 years with the value of unit shipments nearly doubling through 2021 and then tripling in the subsequent decade. Bombardier is forecasting a market for 24,000 business jets valued at $648 billion through 2031. By 2031, business jet manufacturers are expected to be shipping 1,500 units annually, Bombardier says.
The average and median age of commercial jets being retired each year is dropping to the lowest level in two decades, an Aviation Week worldwide fleet analysis shows. For each year from 1997 through 2008, the average and median age for aircraft being retired ranged from about 28 to 30 years, aside from one dip in median age to 27 years in 2005. The retirement age broke out of that steady range in 2009, dropping to an average of 26.5 and median of 24.8 years, and has stayed at the lower level since then.
With law enforcement agencies eager to snap up new UAVs, Congress and the FAA are still at the early stages of trying to handle the resulting fears about the new form of surveillance. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), both in their first term, are sponsoring companion legislation that attempts to lend industry a hand by setting rules for the domestic use of UAVs before they proliferate. The bills would essentially require police to obtain a warrant for surveillance with UAVs as they currently do to wiretap phones.
Jet Aviation Dubai has been granted authorization to open an airside duty free shop by the Dubai Airport Authority, as well as the Dubai Duty Free authority. The company plans to open the shop adjacent to its FBO facility in the second half of 2012.
Gama Aviation, the global business aviation and services company, announced today that following a rigorous on-site safety audit conducted by Wyvern it has been awarded Wyvern's Wingman Certificate of Recommendation for its operations in Europe, the USA and the Middle East.
Nav Canada and Iridium are partnering on a project that will bring satellite-based air traffic surveillance to areas of the globe with no coverage, starting with the crucial North Atlantic routes.
June 20—National Business Aviation Association, the United States Aircraft Insurance Group and the Connecticut Business Aviation Group Runway Excursion Safety Forum, Key Air, Waterbury-Oxford Airport, Conn., www.nbaa.org June 20-21—World Aviation Event Ltd. Aviation Expo 2012, Bitburg Airport, Germany, www.expo.aero June 21-22—Business Aircraft Transactions Conference, Le Parker Meridien Hotel, New York, www.nbaa.org/events/atc/2012/
ROY AUKAI has joined Aloha Air Cargo as director of cargo operations, overseeing cargo and ground handling activities at the company’s five Hawaii stations. He has more than 39 years of transportation and airline experience, most recently with the Department of Transportation, Harbors Division. He also has been with Hawaiian Airlines.
The bottom in used business jet pricing “remains elusive,” says JPMorgan analyst Joseph Nadol. Average asking price fell 0.9% last month, with heavy jets down 1.5% and light jets down 0.3%. This brought May to “a new low for the cycle,” Nadol says. But medium jet prices inched up 0.6%. And, despite soft prices, inventory continues to shrink, down 10 bps in May. Used inventory of in-production models is now 10.6%, down from 11.1% in February, Nadol says.
Satcom Direct is expanding with a new business office and satellite testing and integration lab in Savannah, Ga. The office will house an avionics and testing lab, a training facility and support services for pilots, flight operations and maintenance staff. Satcom Direct provides satellite voice and broadband data products for business, military, government, and heads of state aircraft. The company is an Inmarsat Distribution Partner, Iridium Service Partner, and ViaSat Yonder’s preferred reseller.
WACO Models 2T-1A, 2T-1A-1, and 2T-1A-2 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0578; Directorate Identifier 2012-CE-019-AD; Amendment 39-17071; AD 2012-11-08] – requires inspection of the front and rear horizontal stabilizer spar assemblies with replacement of parts as necessary. This AD was prompted by cracking of the horizontal stabilizer spars, which could lead to failure of the horizontal spars with consequent loss of control. FAA estimates the AD affects 134 aircraft on the U.S.
