CAV Ice Protection has named AirNet Systems an authorized installer of the CAV TKS aircraft ice protection system. The authorization covers AirNet’s headquarters facility at Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, along with facilities in St. Louis and Tampa, Fla. Installation work has begun at the 53,000-sq.-ft. Rickenbacker facility. The appointment is part of a strategy to make TKS installation more accessible to customers, says Ken Weaver, CAV Ice Protection vice president – sales and marketing.
Embraer’s results slid in the first quarter thanks to sagging commercial sales, but an improved mix of business jet sales helped buffer the results and an improving backlog positions the company to gain strength throughout the year.
Jet Aviation completed a refurbishment of its fixed-base operation (FBO) in Geneva. The company plans to hold an opening celebration of the updated facility during the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE). The project nearly doubled the facility’s size to 648 sq. meters and includes a new Jet Aviation brand design that is being incorporated throughout Jet Aviation’s FBO and maintenance, repair and overhaul network.
DASSAULT Model Falcon 7X airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2013-0306; Directorate Identifier 2013-NM-049-AD; Amendment 39-17417; AD 2013-07-13] – requires revising the aircraft flight manual (AFM); performing operational tests of the oxygen mask oxygen assembly; and replacing affected stowage boxes, which terminates the AFM revision and operational tests. This AD was prompted by failure of the flight crew oxygen supply due to a potentially defective flight crew mask oxygen assembly.
SUSAN ASELAGE was promoted to president for Sabreliner. Aselage also serves as vice chairman and vice president, secretary and assistant treasurer. She was the second employee to join Sabreliner when it was established in 1983. She most recently had managed the corporation’s risk insurance program and maintenance of all corporate records. Her duties have expanded to include supporting current customers and generating new business, while overseeing operational efficiencies and improvements.
SHARI JONES was named senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Xojet. Jones will be responsible for developing integrated brand strategies for the San Francisco-based operator. Jones has more than 15 years of corporate brand management and marketing experience, most recently holding a consumer marketing position at Levi Strauss & Co. She has also served as a consultant with Bain Co., where she worked with clients in the consumer products, health care and private equity sectors.
The Santa Monica Airport in California is more than doubling its aircraft landing fees of $2.07 certified maximum gross landing weight per 1,000 lb. to $5.48 beginning Aug. 1. The Santa Monica City Council approved the change last week in an effort to cover what city officials have said has been a continuing shortfall that’s been ongoing for years. The fees will be applied both to transient and based aircraft.
Composites manufacturing is proliferating through the supply chain, but the technology is far from new. Carbon fiber was introduced into aircraft production in the 1970s, and it will have taken more than 40 years of researching, testing and scaling up to reach the levels of composites manufacturing expected when the Airbus A350, Boeing 787 and Lockheed Martin F-35 reach full-rate production.
Dassault Aviation is marking the 50th anniversary of its Falcon premium business jet line with a demonstration of a Falcon 900LX business jet in Dubai on June 9.
The UAE's director general of the country's civil aviation authority (GCAA), H.E Saif Al Suwaidi, has called for greater cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders in the local aviation industry as new systems are being introduced to reduce air traffic congestion in the region.
The FAA is seeking companies to conduct airport operations and safety research at the agency’s William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., and is accepting responses through May 9. According to a market survey issued on April 30, the agency is specifically looking for “competition level” companies able to conduct research, test and demonstration efforts related to operational efficiency, safety and enhanced infrastructure.
In response to industry criticism of its “sequencing” process, the FAA today will roll out a proposal aimed at providing better servicing for a wide range of certification applications.
The FAA says it is “well underway” in responding to recommendations from a government and industry aviation rulemaking committee called together over the past year to evaluate how the agency’s certification and approval processes might be streamlined and improved. The work was mandated under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which called on FAA to consider reforms aimed at reviewing and approving certification applications “in a fair and timely fashion.”
Sporting an analog computer, 1,500 mi. of wire and enough electricity to light a city block, Flight Safety Inc., new Grumman Gulfstream simulator recently went into operation training and upgrading pilots of many Gulfstream-owning corporations. The simulator took one year to build with the combined talent and knowledge of Link, Grumman and Atlantic Aviation. It costs almost as much as a flying Gulfstream and weighs nearly half as much.
Beechcraft Corporation announced that it has appointed Cutter Aviation in Phoenix and Flying Colours Corp. in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, as authorized service centers (ASCs) for the company's King Air, Baron and Bonanza products.
Piper Aircraft announced two major trainer fleet orders at Sun 'N Fun in Lakeland, Fla. Piper on April 10 announced a three-year agreement with Airline Transport Professionals (ATP), one of the largest flight schools in the U.S., for 15 Archer TX single piston trainers, equipped with Garmin G500 glass cockpit avionics suites, for delivery this year. The order includes options for up to 85 more.
During the first quarter of this year, Embraer delivered 29 aircraft, 17 commercial airline jets and 12 business jets, On March 31, 2013, Embraer's firm order backlog totaled $13.3 billion, an increase of $800 million over Dec. 31, 2012. The company delivered four Legacy 650s, five Phenom 100s and three Phenom 300s, one of which was the first U.S.-built 300 delivered to a U.S. customer. Embraer kept the first Phenom 300 off the Melbourne, Fla. production line as a demonstrator.
Conklin & de Decker released their 2013 State Tax Guide for General Aviation. The Guide contains the latest taxes and fees imposed on general in all fifty states and it addresses the sales and use taxes applicable to aircraft sales, ownership, leases, parts and labor. The Guide also provides subscribers continuous updates throughout the years by simply downloading the latest changes, as they occur, from the Conklin & de Decker webite.
I would like to express ICAO's gratitude to BCA, and especially David Esler, for the recent “NOTAMs in Transition” (January 2013, page 24) for which he had interviewed our technical officer in this area, Mike Hohm. I don't think I've ever seen anyone capture the topic as well as Esler did and I was particularly impressed with how he took a very technical and challenging subject and presented it in a clear, interesting way. It was heartening to see Hohm's insights and contributions on behalf of our organization given their due in such a well-written piece.
