Hawker Beechcraft’s Global Customer Support (GCS) group is making final preparations for first engine run of the Williams FJ44-4A-32 turbofans aboard the Hawker 400XPR upgrade program. The company recently mounted the first engines to the Hawker 400XPR, replacing existing Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5R engines, and first run was expected within days, the company says. The new engines, which are slated for certification aboard the Hawker 400XPR in June, produce 3,600 lbst, flat rated at 3,200 lb. each – an 8% improvement over their predecessors.
In yet another sign of Western aerospace's interest in cementing ties with the industry in China, Cessna is teaming with state-owned aerospace conglomerate Avic. The U.S. aircraft maker signed two separate agreements with Avic and its related companies in ceremonies in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on March 23. The first pact is to establish joint ventures “that will pursue various activities pertaining to the development of general aviation businesses in China, including the establishment of an aircraft service network in China,” states Cessna.
Following their 3-0 victory over Thailand in the Asia League Ice Hockey Championship title, the UAE Ice Hockey team were given a royal welcome by UAE sports officials at the VIP Terminal of Royal Jet in Abu Dhabi.
Few people can claim that they changed the world; Steve Jobs and the team at Apple helped change it twice. First it was the Apple computer, providing people with personal computing power and easy interface. They did it again with the iPod/iPhone/iPad. The key to their success wasn't the technology itself, but adapting and integrating their devices to allow ease of use. In addition to the intuitive operation, Apple's devices are relatively accessible to new applications and tools, allowing people to innovate and rapidly field their ideas.
Aircraft Search & Aviation Professionals is the latest addition to the international network of Piper Aircraft dealers. The Aircraft Sales unit of ASAP will be renamed Piper India. Piper India has a strategic alliance with Saraya Aviation at IGI Domestic Airport in Delhi, for maintenance and service of Piper aircraft in the country.
Blackhawk has added Silverhawk Aviation of Lincoln, Neb., to its roster of marketing and installation facilities. Blackhawk provides performance improvement systems that expand the operational capabilities and safety of single- and twin-engine turboprop aircraft. Founded in 1991, Silverhawk Aviation began as a single-aircraft charter service. In its first decade, Silverhawk's fleet grew to 13 aircraft including business jets.
I manage a fleet of five G200s for Clay Lacy Aviation, and I couldn't help but notice some glaring errors in “Galaxy/Gulfstream G200” (Twenty/20, November 2011).
The AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI) finds little evidence of any difference in the safety records of general aviation aircraft with glass cockpits compared with those equipped with analog instruments. The ASI released a study, “The Accident Record of Technologically Advanced Aircraft,” that concludes that direct comparisons of aircraft with glass cockpits and those with analog cockpits are difficult.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has issued business licenses to three would-be general aviation (GA) operators, none of which have commence operations. The license holders are Blue Sky and Vietstar, both based in Ho Chi Minh City, and Seagull, based in the seaside town of Nha Trang, the director of the air transport department at the CAAV, Vo Huy Cuong, told Aviation Week in Hanoi. The aspirants have yet to receive air operator certificates (AOCs), and so far none has aircraft in Vietnam ready for the CAAV to inspect, he says.
Look for increasing production of larger fixed-wing airplanes for business and utility into 1963, following last year's trend when 70% of the 6,778 airplanes produced were larger than three-place and 14% were twins. Most active general aviation aircraft throughout the Western world will continue to be American made. The big four manufacturers exported 1,581 aircraft worth $29.5 million during 1961, nearly $9 million more than their yearly average for the past five years.
Eurocopter, with a 35% market share of the Indian civilian and military helicopter sector, wants to explore new areas, such as aerial and utility work, as well as emergency medical services in India and increase its market share by 2015. The leading Indian emergency medical helicopter provider has designed the EC135 and EC145 for Helicopter Medical Emergency Service (HEMS) and Disaster Management (DM) applications. “We have already started work with Indian companies, institutions, hospitals. . . .
David Grant, president of SyberJet, the commercial name for MT LC, is wasting no time in resurrecting and reinvigorating the ill-starred SJ30 program, only a year after acquiring the assets of bankrupt Emivest Aerospace in April 2011. He and his investment team believe so strongly in the basic merits of the aircraft that they are launching the SJ30-Plus, a substantially improved third-iteration of the former Swearingen Fanjet with more powerful engines, better hot-and-high takeoff performance, improved fuel efficiency and up to 200 lb. more tanks-full payload.
The Friends of the Earth has filed a lawsuit claiming EPA failed to respond to its 2006 petition asking for the regulation of lead emissions from general aviation under the Clean Air Act. The petition asked EPA to find that lead emissions from the use of leaded aviation gasoline could endanger public health. Such a finding would clear the way for the EPA to restrict emissions from leaded avgas. Friends of the Earth claims, “EPA has repeatedly concluded that lead is extremely toxic to humans, wildlife and the environment and causes health effects even at low doses.
The FAA is soliciting advice on a congressionally mandated pilot program to integrate unmanned aerial systems (UASes) into the national airspace. The mandate was adopted as part of the recently passed FAA reauthorization bill, along with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that was signed by President Barack Obama late last year. Congress directed the agency to establish six UAS test sites to help the FAA safely and efficiently integrate civil, public and military UASes into the same airspace with manned airplanes by 2015.
The FAA has certified GE Aviation's H80 turboprop engine. The U.S. certification follows European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification in December. “The U.S. FAA type certification on the H80 engine paves the way for entry into service on the Thrush 510G agricultural aircraft,” said Paul Theofan, president and managing executive of GE Aviation's Business and General Aviation Turboprops. The H80 engine is the first GE Aviation engine to receive its initial type certification from EASA.
Just a quick note to thank you for the “Spectrum Wars” (March 2012, page 52) article. You've managed to make a complex issue very understandable and this should be required reading for anyone in the Federal government who has any role to play in determining the future of this ill-advised (but well-meaning. . . aren't they all?) proposal to provide wireless broadband service. Let's hope that it is dead, and stays that way!
The FAA is predicting that the piston aircraft market will continue a long slide over the next 10 years and will average a decline in numbers and hours flown of 0.1% per year over the next 20 years. At the same time, turbine business aircraft are expected to increase at an average rate of 2.9% per year, the FAA says in its 20-year forecast that runs through 2032. Correspondingly, turbine aircraft hours are expected to pick up 4% per year, eclipsing the total number of piston hours by the end of the forecast period.
Early in the second grade curriculum in Virginia, children are introduced to the basics of inequalities: 1< 2, 4>3 and so forth. I asked my second-grader the other day if these were difficult concepts to grasp. He laughed and said, “No Mom, it's easy,” at least at that elementary level. Not so for some lawmakers it seems.
The Senate approved two seeming contradictory amendments on air tours to the comprehensive highway reauthorization bill before passing the legislation in a 74-22 vote March 14. One of the amendments, authored by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), has drawn strong opposition from industry groups because it gives the National Park Service (NPS) almost unchecked authority to regulate air tours over national parks, including the ability to shut them down altogether. The second amendment, sponsored by Sen.
Senior management changes at Cessna continue following the appointment of Scott Ernest to head the company, replacing Jack Pelton, in late May, 2011. The latest: Tim White, senior vice president of sales in the Americas, and his wife, Dianne White, vice president of corporate communications, left Cessna in March.
Prospects for President Obama's proposed $100-per-flight user charge are continuing to fade, at least this year, as 28 U.S. senators expressed their opposition to the proposal. In a March 12 letter, the senators wrote the president expressing concern that the proposed charges would create a disincentive for pilots to use air traffic control services or fly in controlled airspace. “By discouraging ATC use, the proposal may inadvertently create a less safe aviation environment,” they say, endorsing the current aviation excise tax system.
The SJ30-Plus panel will have at least three displays, perhaps as large as 14-in. The left and right PFDs will offer synthetic vision, dual flight directors and FAA-standard symbology colors. The central MFD or stacked MFDs will have full EICAS functionality that will eliminate the stand-alone annunciator panel. A solid-state, integrated standby instrument system will replace the trio of standby gauges in the current panel.
In our December 2011 special report on cabin electronics, we inadvertently overlooked the satcom antenna offerings from the Cape Town, South Africa manufacturing unit of Cobbham, Plc. This unit manufacturers the HGA-7001 antenna for air transport aircraft (certified on all new Airbus and Boeing airframes), the HGA-6000 antenna (used by Gulfstream and Dassault) and a range of Swift64 and SwiftBroadband (SBB) products used on business aircraft).
