Flexjet, Bombardier's fractional ownership unit, is adding the newest members of the Learjet product line, the 70 and 75, to its fleet. Flexjet announced plans to expand its portfolio three days after Bombardier unveiled the 70 and 75 light jet successors to the Learjet 40XR and 45XR. Flexjet is still ironing out the details of pricing and fleet mix, says Bruce Peddle, Flexjet senior vice president of marketing and sales. The fractional ownership provider is currently negotiating the order with parent Bombardier.
Rockwell Collins announced the opening of its Berlin Ascend flight information solutions office, which will provide flight support services for European business aircraft operators. The new office is in the General Aviation Terminal area at the new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport.
For less than one-quarter of the price of a new single-engine turboprop, you can fly a Mitsubishi MU-2B that will cruise close to 300 KTAS and consume about the same amount of fuel. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries built eight short-body models between 1965 and 1985 under two type certificates. Most desirable are the MU-2-26 “M”, -26A “P” and -40 “Solitaire” because they have the highest MTOWs.
The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) has recognized three individuals and one company for their contributions to the airport industry with awards presented at the association's 84th Annual Conference and Exposition in Phoenix. Bob Bogan, deputy executive director of Morristown Municipal Airport (N.J.), and Jim Rice, director of Michigan's Bishop International Airport, received the 2012 and 2013 Distinguished Services Awards, respectively. The Chair's Award was presented to Jim Elwood, director of Colorado's Aspen/Pitkin Country Airport.
Cessna unveiled the super mid-size Citation Longitude at EBACE. The Longitude will share its fuselage cross section with the Citation Latitude. Cessna is targeting FAA type certification and initial customer deliveries in the fourth quarter 2017. Some aero design features developed for Columbus will be incorporated in the Longitude, including its huge T-tail empennage, area-rule loft contours and moderately swept wing. The new aircraft will be powered by the Snecma Silvercrest, a clean-sheet 8,500- to 12,000-lb.
With ground vibration tests complete, on Prototype No. 1, the Embraer Legacy 500 is moving toward its first flight in the third quarter and the beginning of its flight-test campaign. The Legacy 500 is scheduled to enter service between fourth quarter 2013 and first quarter 2014. Embraer expects to roll out Prototype No. 2 soon followed by engine run and ground tests of the 500's Honeywell HTF-7500E engine. The Prototype No. 3 fuselage is complete.
Garmin will supply the avionics package for the Longitude. If it's similar to the one that will be installed in the Citation Latitude, it will feature three 14-in. screens and four touch-screen controllers quite similar to the system being installed in the new Citation Ten. The displays feature RGB LED backlight lighting that automatically adjusts for correct white balance for the life of the display. The screens have a 10,000:1 dimming ratio that accommodates the brightest daylight and darkest night ambient light conditions.
The FAA has granted TSO approval for Universal Avionics' third generation Airborne Datalink System, UniLink UL-800/801 Communications Management Unit (CMU). UniLink UL-800/801 Airborne Datalink features: FANS 1/A+ Compliance, Controller Pilot Data Link Communications Capability (CPDLC), multiple media routing, full ACARS/CMU functionality, ADS-C Auto-Position Reporting and hi-res weather graphics. The UL-800/801 interfaces with Universal Avionics' current FMS product line with either 4-in. or 5-in. Control Display Units.
Touted as “the world's first integrated intelligent aircraft cabin shading and noise reduction system,” the iShade iQ, InspecTech Aero Service's latest addition to its iShade series of electronic dimmable windows, is able to reduce cabin noise levels.
American Jet International, Houston, announced that Annette Vitello is the new director of operations, responsible for flight department operations, including management and control of business development. Aviation Partners Inc., Seattle, promoted Gary Dunn to vice president of sales and marketing. In addition to the sales and marketing activities for API's Blended Winglets products for business aircraft, Dunn's duties will include the sales of large winglet retrofits to corporate and head-of-state buyers of Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is developing a new process to expedite financing for business aircraft and helicopter exports, providing a critical avenue for financing to business jet makers at a time when financing worldwide is still scarce. Speaking at EBACE on May 14, Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg said Ex-Im Bank will work with industry experts on due diligence and credit analysis to speed up the processing of foreign-buyer financing.
Europe's business jet fleet total is down and likely to remain diminished for possibly another year due to slow new aircraft sales and used business jets sold out of Europe to buyers on other continents, aviation consultant Brian Foley says. During the past 12 months, 50 European business jets — about 2% of the total fleet — were sold to buyers on other continents. Outside Europe, the fleets have grown an overall 3%, Foley says. A vast majority, 79%, went to buyers in North America, mostly in the U.S. and Canada. Africa customers took the next highest total, 7%.
CAE is the first independent training provider to be qualified as a Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approved training organization (ATO) for maintenance training for Dassault Falcon aircraft under China's CCAR-147 regulation. The approval enables CAE to deploy maintenance training courses in China for all in-production Dassault Falcon aircraft, including the Falcon 7X, Falcon 900EX EASy, 900DX, 900LX, and Falcon 2000EX EASy, 2000DX, 2000LX aircraft models.
While modern business aircraft cabins offer superlative levels of comfort, they can be relatively noisy environments. Loud noise levels or even sporadic low-level noise over time can cause hearing impairment, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, annoyance, sleep disturbances and overall decreased performance. Obviously, operators should take steps to mitigate passenger noise exposure in their aircraft cabin.
Thus far, we've talked about eliminating or minimizing sound. But for some operators, maximizing a cabin's audio qualities is of great importance. For those whose key passengers expect nothing less than an airborne symphony hall, IMAX theater, arena event or just some quiet meditation, a fourth way may be the path to audio bliss.
Cessna Aircraft signed a new agreement with the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company Ltd., (Caiga) and the Shijiazhuang Municipal Government that the company says is a framework to deliver Wichita-built Cessna Caravan single-engine turboprop utility aircraft to Caiga's Shijiazhuang factory for final assembly, painting, production flight tests and sale within China.
As aircraft become even more com–plex, we tend to focus on improving aircraft systems knowledge, often at the expense of learning more about other important topics such as fatigue, teamwork and communication. To help busy technicians and managers keep up to speed on the importance of human factors concerns in the hangar, the FAA has a website that has collected information and training ideas with maintainers in mind. It's worth a visit: https://hfskyway.faa.gov/hfskyway/index.aspx
Peoria, Ill.-based OSF Aviation, a division of OSF HealthCare, has received the first of four Eurocopter EC 145s outfitted with an aftermarket wide area augmentation system (WAAS) from United Rotorcraft.
Honeywell expects certification authorities to sign off on several of its in-development cockpit upgrades before the year-end , including programs for the Falcon 7X and Falcon 2000 EASy II avionics upgrade Honeywell is conducting with Dassault Aviation. This Dassault program follows the upgrade already developed for the Falcon 900, which adds synthetic vision functionality.
NORTH Flight Data Systems of Arlington, Va., has received STC approval for the installation of their Lightweight Aircraft Recording (LARS) system in Eurocopter EC 155 series helicopters. Working with Metro Aviation, Inc., NORTH FDS integrated their voice, video and flight data recording system into the EC 155B1 airframe. The system provides six channels of audio, one channel of video, and in excess of 200 separate parameters of recorded digital aircraft data.
CAE is now conducting aircraft maintenance technician training at a new U.S. location, Sherwood, Ark., near Little Rock, home to the Dassault Aircraft Services (DAS) service center, the Dassault Falcon Jet production facility and the main Falcon Completion Center. CAE is providing maintenance training to Dassault service center production technicians, Dassault's frontline Customer Service staff and Dassault operators for the Falcon 7X, Falcon 900EX EASy and Falcon 2000EX EASy aircraft.
Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW210 engine has been selected by Eurocopter to power the next-generation X4 helicopter. The PW210-powered X4 is expected to enter into service by 2017. The engine will also power three other unspecified helicopters.
Dassault has approval from the FAA for steep approaches on all Falcon 900 EASy and Falcon 2000 EASy series aircraft. Both models had already received steep approach certification from EASA. With the most recent approvals, the entire current production Falcon fleet is now certified for steep approaches, which permits aircraft to operate at restricted airports with approach angles of up to 6 deg.
I enjoyed your article on second-grade math (Washington Watch, April 2012, page 61). The only thing you could have added was the name of the culprit who caused this problem in the first place. That person would be the Un-Honorable Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley from Iowa. The aviation community in Iowa needs to spread the word about this scoundrel and get him voted out of office.
The European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2012) concluded as one of the strongest EBACE shows yet. Organizers noted that as the third and final day of the show concluded May 16, 12,638 attendees had participated, representing 99 countries — both numbers on par with last year's show. 491 exhibitors were on hand, occupying a record-breaking 2,280 booth spaces across Halls 5, 6 and 7 of the Geneva Palexpo convention center. EBACE2012 featured 60 aircraft on static display.
