GEnx-2B Upgrade Enters Service On Boeing 747-8

Honeywell Aerospace is developing technologies that could help pilots perform simple commands using only their thoughts. The company’s neurobotic control research is an offshoot of its augmented cognition work for military, which wants to find out when soldiers or pilots become task-saturated.

Daniel Clare, who stepped in to take the reins of Jet Aviation in July 2011, is going back to Gulfstream as CFO after steering a restructuring that has returned the aviation services business to profitability. Clare, formerly CFO at Gulfstream, moved over to sister company Jet Aviation to succeed Peter Edwards amidst a management shake-up and realignment of facilities. Both Gulfstream and Jet Aviation are General Dynamics companies.

FAA and airport funding are already emerging as key issues as Congress begins initial preparations for the next FAA reauthorization bill. Airport groups are urging a $4 increase in the passenger facility charge (PFC), airlines are appealing to Congress to refrain from looking at them as a piggy bank and business aviation groups are stressing the importance of retaining current fuel taxes.

Two House General Aviation Caucus members are taking steps to ease medical certification requirements for recreational pilots, a move that comes after FAA failed to act on a nearly two-year-old petition from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) seeking relief from third-class medical certification requirements.

Bell Helicopter is planning to build its SLS helicopter at a new facility in Lafayette, La. Bell CEO John Garrison jointly announced with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal plans for Bell to lease a newly built 82,300-sq.-ft., $26.3 million hangar facility at Lafayette Regional Airport. The facility, to be constructed on a 14.5-acre site, will be funded by the state of Louisiana.

Business aviation advocates are anxiously watching European Parliament (EP) deliberations on the next iteration of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS), worried that as deliberations focus on the scope of EU-ETS, important reforms for business aircraft operators will be left behind.

Beechcraft is nearing completion of the sale of its shuttered Hawker 4000 and Premier aircraft lines along with tooling and associated facilities. The company has long maintained that it had hoped to close on the sale of those programs by year’s end, and confirms that it is still on track this month.