A new Bombardier Flight Deck iPad app for Challenger and Learjets provides an electronic flight manual that can automatically receive updates from Bombardier. Updates to all Bombardier flight manual revisions, including temporary revisions, are received and implemented at the push of a button. The system uses advanced encryption technology and provides the necessary FAA, EASA and Transport Canada audit trail for paperless operations.
The GAMA Board of Directors approved Air Tractor as its newest member, bringing the association's membership to 77. Air Tractor got its start as the Snow Aeronautical Company in 1951. In 1958, Leland Snow moved the production facilities to Olney, Texas, where Air Tractor is headquartered today. With over 2,700 aircraft flying, Air Tractor manufactures an extensive line of agriculture aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney piston or turbine engines. Air Tractor aircraft can be found working over fields and forests across the U.S.
Nextant Aerospace announced a new manufacturing facility for the Nextant 400XT, FAA-certified remanufactured business jet. The newly acquired facility at Cleveland's Cuyahoga County Airport will accommodate an annual production rate of 48 aircraft, and will quadruple Nextant's production area and office space footprint. The facility features a large production hangar which can handle six aircraft simultaneously, a second hangar for aircraft delivery and completions and a third that will house an advanced aircraft painting operation.
Former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt is expected to continue an aviation consulting career following the May 10 dismissal of drunk driving charges that led to his resignation from the agency in December 2011. A district court judge in Virginia dismissed the charges, ruling that the police had stopped him without sufficient reason. Babbitt said he plans to remain in aviation as a consultant.
The FAA's multi-year process to clean up the civil aircraft registry last year by requiring all aircraft to re-register on a rolling schedule is now in effect. When the program was announced, the agency warned it would cancel registrations for any aircraft whose owner did not respond. The HAI discovered, “they weren't kidding.” Rotor News reported that HAI's Finance and Leasing Committee found some 300 helicopters with cancelled registrations. If any of those 300 is in active use, it's now illegal to fly them until they have been re-registered.
EMBRAER LEADERSHIP: Jose Antonio Filippo on June 4 will become Embraer’s CFO, filling a position vacated in April with the departure of Paulo Pinto Marques to a previous employer just months after taking the role. Filippo, who Embraer notes is an engineer by training, joins the manufacturer from Brazilian retailer Pao de Acucar where he was CFO. “Filippo is a great addition to our team. His expertise and experience will be of real value to the process of growth and development of the company,” says Embraer President and CEO Frederico Fleury Curado.
40 Years Ago May 22, 1972 – FAA proposes new regulations to separate certification for “air taxis” and “commuter operators” and to include flight and duty time requirements, increased maintenance standards, upgraded pilot qualification and potential for certificate denial based on previous illegal operations. 30 Years Ago
Cessna is expanding its comprehensive single-engine inspection program unveiled late last year to cover 100 series aircraft. In December, the company unveiled one of the largest aging aircraft programs to be undertaken for a fleet of single-piston airplanes. The program encompasses a series of supplemental inspections to address possible corrosion and fatigue stress on the Cessna fleet of nearly 145,000 100- and 200-series single-engine aircraft produced between 1946 and 1986.
Aviation groups are getting some support on Capitol Hill in their effort to quash an air tour measure in the comprehensive highway bill. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) would increase the National Park Service’s authority over air tour operators and airspace over national parks. Helicopter Association International warns that the amendment would be “devastating” to the industry, giving NPS control of large sections of the national airspace system.
Hawker Beechcraft named Harrods Aviation and Gama Support Services as support centers. Harrods Aviation at London Luton Airport, U.K., was named a limited service center to support Hawker 750, 800, 800XP, 850XP and 900XP business jets. Harrods provides fixed-base operation, maintenance and engineering services at both Luton and Stansted airports. Gama’s Farnborough facility will be a limited service center for Beechcraft King Air 200, 250, 300 and 350 aircraft and Premier business jets.
TRACY GANDY was appointed manager of Dallas Airmotive’s First Support operation, which coordinates aircraft-on-ground support through a network of field service technicians, mobile response vehicles, tooling and rental engines. Gandy will manage the First Support command center in Grapevine, Texas, and field service technicians throughout the U.S. He has a 30-year aviation background, most recently serving as program manager at Consolidated Turbine Service.
Swiss plane-maker Pilatus won a contract from the India air force for a fleet of 75 Swiss Pilatus PC-7 MK II turboprop trainers, beating out competition from Hawker Beechcraft, Grob and Embraer, among others.
FAA expects to publish within 30 days its new cost-benefit findings for applying recently adopted Part 121 crew rest rules to cargo carriers, FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta says. In response to a court challenge to the cargo carrier exemption filed by the Independent Pilots Association, FAA recently admitted that it erred in assessing the cost portion of its previous analysis.
VERNA FITZSIMMONS was named CEO and dean of Kansas State University Salina. She previously was an interim dean at Kent State University and an associate professor at Kent State’s College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology. While there she led efforts to select and install a $1.5 million air traffic control simulation lab.
FAA’s latest effort to modernize repair station regulations could create as many challenges as it solves, several industry experts say. The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published May 21 is the latest step in a 23-year odyssey to update FAR Part 145, the rules that govern repair station certification. FAA began looking at the issue in 1989, and in 2001 released final rules updating parts of Part 145 regulation.
BAE SYSTEMS Model 4101 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0489; Directorate Identifier 2011-NM-229-AD] – proposes to require an inspection to determine if a certain fire extinguisher is installed and the repositioning of the fire extinguisher bottle from a horizontal orientation to a vertical orientation, if necessary. This proposed AD was prompted by reports that the fire extinguisher in the toilet vanity unit needs to be mounted vertically rather than horizontally.
Daher-Socata has received type approval for its TBM 850 single-turboprop aircraft from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The aircraft met certification requirements for extreme weather conditions and other CIS requirements.
Aircell’s Aviator 200 communications system was approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency for installation aboard the Falcon 2000LX. Jet Aviation Basel secured the supplemental type certificate for the system, which enables near global email, light Internet and voice capabilities via Inmarsat’s satellite-based SwiftBroadband service.
The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending strengthened training and testing standards for experimental aircraft after a study revealed that a disproportionate number of crashes occur either on the first flight of an amateur-built aircraft or on a new owner’s first flight of a used amateur aircraft.
FAA is re-evaluating a policy established in the mid-1990s designed to preserve aviation history and keep historic airplanes operational. The Living History Flight Experience (LHFE) policy enables owners/operators of historically significant aircraft to operate under exemptions to current standards. The exemptions permit limited passenger-carrying flights for compensation to generate funds to maintain and preserve the aircraft.
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A recent spate of commercial carrier accidents and incidents in the U.S. involving hail and lightning strikes is prompting the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to seek improvements in weather information furnished to both air traffic controllers and pilots. NTSB recommends that FAA study the potential of providing real-time total lightning information on air traffic controller displays, both at air route traffic control centers and terminal radar approach control facilities.
