Duncan Aviation completed the first two Dassault Falcon 900B flightdeck upgrades under a partnership with Universal Avionics. The upgrade program includes technologies that would enable use of the latest NextGen capabilities, including Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) and Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance (LPV), Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC), Future Air Navigation System (FANS) 1/A+ and Link 2000+.
MARIN TODOROV was promoted to manager, specialty and enrichment training programs for FlightSafety International. Todorov has served with FlightSafety since 2006, initially working on development of the company’s web-based training programs and providing eLearning technical assistance. He was promoted to manager of eLearning Systems in 2008.
Henry Ogrodzinski, the president and CEO of the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) and a longtime industry advocate, died at his home in Washington, D.C. Jan. 22 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 65.
Gulfstream Aerospace signed a lease with the Brunswick and Glynn County Development Authority to expand its service center at Brunswick Golden Isles Airport in Brunswick, Ga. The company is planning to build a $25 million, 110,000-sq.-ft. maintenance repair and overhaul facility near its two existing hangars. Groundbreaking is expected to begin later this year, with the new facility opening in May 2015. Gulfstream expects that the new facility will result in the creation of 100 more jobs, a 50% increase over the existing base.
Washington A recently released audit lauds the FAA's Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (Asias) effort for its growth, but urges the agency to boost the program's effectiveness by putting more of its data into the hands of safety inspectors. The FAA, straddling a fine line, says it is trying.
LONDON — Certification of Airbus Helicopters’ new EC175 intermediate twin-engined helicopter is imminent, but the company does not plan to begin deliveries until the second half of 2014. The move, described as a “corporate decision” by Jean-Brice Dumont, head of engineering at Airbus Helicopters – formerly Eurocopter - will mean that launch customers will now receive their aircraft a year and a half later than originally envisaged.
Bombardier Aerospace is to lay off 1,700 employees in a bid to contain costs after stretching out CSeries development by at least 12 months and seeing business and commercial aircraft orders decline in 2013. Announced Tuesday in an internal memo to employees, the layoffs will be split between 1,100 in Canada and 600 in the U.S. Plants in Northern Ireland and Mexico are unaffected, the company says.
Despite a year of turnover within the Transportation Security Administration’s General Aviation branch, TSA has slowly built up the number of approved gateways that provide direct access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and has progressed on other initiatives to increase business aviation operations there.
OLIVIER ZUBER was named international sales manager for Africa for Dassault Aviation. Zuber formerly was Dassault Aviation’s Falcon marketing and business development manager for India. He joined the company in 2005 at the flight test center and then took a role in Customer Service before joining the New Delhi liaison office in 2011. In his new role, he will be based at the company’s Saint-Cloud, France headquarters.
Quest Aircraft Company recently handed over three of its Kodiak single turboprops to TAME AP Airlines. The aircraft will be used for passenger transport and eco-tourism in conjunction with the Ecuadorian Amazon Connectivity Project. The first aircraft is in Ecuador and the second two will arrive this month. The Kodiak has been certified in 14 countries, and Quest expects additional certifications this year.
FAA hopes to release a proposal later this year that would make permanent a requirement that helicopter operators use the New York North Shore Helicopter Route when flying near Long Island. FAA in July 2012 mandated operators to use the route, which previously had been voluntary. The controversial rulemaking drew protests from helicopter operators, who said it was completed under political pressure in an effort to appease local noise concerns.
Luxaviation, the European business aviation charter and management group, is continuing on its path of rapid growth through the acquisition of French charter and management company Unijet. The acquisition, completed through Luxaviation’s Belgian subsidiary Abelag, helps secure Luxaviation group’s position as one of the largest in Europe with a combined staff of 350 employees and 60 business aircraft.
Jan. 21-22, 2014—MRO Latin America, Windsor Atlantica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, www.aviationweek.com/events Jan. 30, 2014—National Business Aviation Association Regional Forum, Signature Flight Support, Boca Raton Airport, Boca Raton, Fla., www.nbaa.org Feb. 4-6, 2014—MRO Middle East, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE, www.aviationweek.com/events Feb. 5-7, 2014—National Business Aviation Association Business Aircraft, Finance, Registration and Legal Conference, St. Pete Beach, Fla. www.nbaa.org
Jet Aviation Basel was awarded a contract to complete the interior of an Airbus Corporate Jet ACJ-A320 for an undisclosed head of state. The aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to Jet Aviation’s completions center in Basel, Switzerland in the third quarter 2014. The A320 will be fitted with a bedroom, bathroom, lounge and office areas, along with a large executive staff area. Jet Aviation, which has completed an aircraft for the client in the past, is currently consulting with the customer to complete the design detail.
FAA is asking a U.S. district court to dismiss a lawsuit by the city of Santa Monica, Calif., seeking control over Santa Monica Airport, saying the case is invalid because it exceeds a statute of limitations. The agency further argues that the city is bound by a post-World War II agreement (a 1948 Instrument of Transfer) that requires the continued operation of SMO as an airport, and that the city agreed with that assessment long ago in its own legal findings.
Bombardier and its landing gear provider used a cleaner type of hydraulic fluid than required during the certification testing of key components of the Challenger 300 nose wheel steering system, potentially masking failure modes. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) revealed the finding in its final report on the runway excursion upon landing of a privately owned Challenger 300 at the Iqaluit Airport in Northeastern Canada on March 12, 2011.
FABIO REBELLO was named regional senior vice president, international sales, Florida and Latin America, for Gulfstream Aerospace. Rebello will be responsible for new and existing customers in Florida and Latin America, including the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and South America. He joins Gulfstream from Bombardier, where he had served as regional vice president of sales for Latin America since 2002. He had also served as regional sales director for South America for Raytheon Aircraft, and began his career in aviation as an engineer at Embraer.
A U.S. effort to provide public-private financing for NextGen equipage is making significant progress, with access to a fund specifically for general aviation users to be provided in the spring.
Louis Seno, who helped found and was the former president and CEO of Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI) and a former trustee of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has joined the university senior management team as vice president of corporation relations and government affairs. He will serve as a liaison between Embry-Riddle and the general aviation and aerospace industries, along with maintaining the university’s interests on Capitol Hill. Seno also remains chairman emeritus of JSSI and special advisor to the company’s board of directors.
A European Aviation Safety Agency draft rulemaking tackles a series of recommendations from accident investigators and working groups that call for beefed-up standards and maintenance practices for aircraft flight and data recorders (FDR).
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model EC135 P1, EC135 P2, EC135 P2+, EC135 T1, EC135 T2, EC135 T2+, and MBB-BK 117 C-2 [Docket No. FAA-2013-0340; Directorate Identifier 2010-SW-081-AD; Amendment 39-17630; AD 2013-21-06] – requires, for affected helicopters with a certain external mounted hoist system with boom support assembly installed, inspecting the boom for a crack and, if a crack exists, replacing the boom with an airworthy boom.
FAA communities pained last year by congressional gridlock and the long-feared effects of so-called sequestration budget cuts will benefit from a little more protection under the fiscal 2014 omnibus appropriations bill passed by Capitol Hill last week. The House passed the bill Jan. 15, followed by the Senate on Jan. 16.
