A $300 million deal involving the sale of eight Gulfstream aircraft to China’s Minsheng Financial Leasing Co. helped push the Export-Import Bank’s financial backing of the business aircraft and helicopter market to more than $1 billion.
Bell Helicopter sold two Bell 412EPI and two Bell 407GX aircraft to Chongqing General Aviation Co., Ltd. The helicopters will be used by the Chongqing Firefighting Department for firefighting and search and rescue missions.
The strength of the large business jet market has returned industry billings to near the record-high level of 2008, but unit shipments are still almost half of what they were before the economic downturn, according to the latest General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) report.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association added three new members, bringing its membership to 87 companies. The latest to join the association are Blackhawk Modifications, FreeFlight Systems and GE Honda Aero Engines. Waco, Texas-based Blackhawk, founded in 1999, provides engine upgrade kits for a range of turboprop aircraft, including Beechcraft King Airs, Piper Cheyennes, and Cessna Conquests and Caravans.
Aircell has surpassed the 2,000th installation of its Gogo Biz system in business aircraft. Aircell reached the milestone less than five years after it introduced the broadband service in June 2009. Aircell dealer Jet Aviation performed the first Gogo Biz installation on a Midwest corporate aircraft operator. Aircell expects further expansion as it begins to roll out the service in Canada beginning this year. “The business aviation market’s passion for the service continues to exceed our expectations,” says Aircell Executive Vice President and General Manager John Wade.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association board members last week continued their push to expand use of the FAA’s Organization Delegation Authority system. The manufacturing executives met with senior FAA officials, including Peggy Gilligan, associate administrator for aviation safety, to urge her to ensure more streamlined procedures are accepted and implemented throughout the agency.
The recently funded and newly renamed Mooney International Corp. is in final preparations for the resumption of its aircraft production lines this week, ending a five-year hiatus. The planned Feb. 26 restart follows a cash infusion that Mooney received in October from California-based engineering firm Soaring America Corp. That deal, backed by Chinese investors, concluded on Oct. 7 following months of negotiations.
PETER CUTLER was named vice president of customer support for Airbus Helicopters. Cutler, who will also continue as vice president of government programs, will be responsible for customer support in the U.S. for both the government and commercial business segments. He has more than 30 years of helicopter industry experience, primarily in the military aviation segment.
More than six months after the end of a nine-month halt to flights over hazardous environments by the Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) EC225, all operators of the heavy helicopters, the majority of which are used to support oil and gas platforms, have returned it to the air having implemented a series of interim fixes certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) last July.
Sikorsky Aircraft is bringing oil and gas platform operations into the 21st century with a new satellite-based approach system that takes the human calculation and guesswork out of legacy rig approaches in instrument conditions and at night. The system offers operators an automated arrival tool to reduce crew loading while increasing situational awareness.
The trouble began with the CJ610 and JT12, the kerosene guzzlers that launched business aviation's jet age. The showgirls at the Sahara and Flamingo just made things worse. The problem with the former was their ungodly racket, while the latter served as leggy magnets that got those single-spoolers howling at all hours. And too often the place of departure and return was Santa Monica Airport (SMO).
Petroleum Helicopters Inc. Sikorsky S-92A departs an oil-drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The company recently began using a Sikorsky-developed automated rig approach system to reduce the workload and increase the safety for S-92 pilots in night or low-visibility conditions. A special report starting on page 38 examines how trends in the oil-and-gas industry and the search-and-rescue business are impacting helicopter operations. The Petroleum Helicopters photo was altered to obscure details of the offshore rig.
Cessna kicked off the flight-test program of its Latitude midsize business jet, keeping the aircraft on schedule for a 2015 certification. The aircraft, which recently rolled out quietly before employees, took to the air three years after Cessna unveiled the aircraft during the National Business Aviation Association's annual convention in October 2011. The first flight, announced Feb. 18, tested flaps, landing gear, pressurization systems, anti-ice capabilities, stability and control. Flight engineers reported that systems performed as expected.
As the civil helicopter industry everywhere continues to expand and support economic growth, inconsistent safety methods and programs remain a stumbling block in many nations. Too often, growth in helicopter operations also means an increase in accidents.
Bombardier Aerospace has announced that Learjet has obtained the first flight test permit from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the Learjet 85 aircraft Flight Test Vehicle 1 (FTV1). In addition, engine run testing and low-speed taxi testing have been successfully completed on the flight test vehicle.
Business jet deliveries, which will be formally detailed this week by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, were tracking down by low single digits (1-2%) in 2013 from 2012 levels, according to preliminary Aviation Week data. This does not come as a surprise; industry leaders expected a soft year given the fact that several aircraft programs were pushed back in 2013. But with recent certifications and additional certifications anticipated this year, most of the business jet manufacturers are forecasting improved deliveries in 2014.
TRACY BIEGLER was promoted to president and CEO of Enstrom Helicopter Corp., succeeding Jerry Mullins, who retired. Biegler has 26 years of aviation industry experience, 10 of which have been at Enstrom. He most recently was vice president of the company.
Bell Helicopter – which has a regional service center in Singapore that also does maintenance and reassembly of helicopters – is looking to expand its technical capability there by doing more complex customization work. C. M. Hwang, Bell Helicopter managing director of commercial sales for Asia Pacific, says the facility in Singapore already has the capability to do some customization, but he describes this as minor work, in which the team in Singapore works from kits sent from the factory in the U.S.
JAMES WALKER has joined Rockwell Collins as vice president and managing director of Asia Pacific. Walker brings more than 25 years of aerospace and defense industry experience to Rockwell Collins, including 15 years with the Royal Australian Air Force, where he was commanding officer joint communications and deputy director, space intelligence and communications. He also spent 10 years with Boeing Company in Australia and most recently was CEO of AutoCRC Ltd.
Cessna was awarded a contract to deliver three Citation CJ4 business jets to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) through its special mission affiliate Kanematsu Corporation of Japan. The deliveries will mark the first of the model to Japan. The aircraft will be equipped with flight inspection systems for use to confirm the accuracy of air navigation capabilities, air routes, and air traffic control facilities.
Flying Colours was approved as a China Civil Aviation Regulations 145 Maintenance Organization under China Civil Aviation regulations, clearing it to work on Chinese-registered aircraft in Canada. Flying Colours has completed 15 Bombardier Challenger 850s for Chinese customers since August 2008, and has been contracted to outfit and finish seven Bombardier CRJ700s with VIP+ airline interiors for another customer there.
AIR TRACTOR Models AT-802 and AT-802A airplanes. AD 2010-17-18 R1 [Docket No. FAA-2014-0077; Directorate Identifier 2013-CE-021-AD] – proposes to supersede AD 2010-17-18 R1, which currently requires repetitively inspecting (using the eddy current method) the two outboard fastener holes in both of the wing main spar lower caps at the center splice joint for cracks; repairing or replacing any cracked spar; changing the safe life for certain serial number ranges; and sending the inspection results, only if cracks are found, to the FAA.
