Over the past several years, the still relatively young House and Senate General Aviation Caucuses have emerged into some of the strongest and largest on Capitol Hill. The House caucus, which exceeds 250 members, is the largest in the chamber, while the Senate caucus stood strong at 40 members.
RUAG Aviation has performed an avionics modification on an Airbus Helicopter AS350 B3e that provides significant advantages over the original avionics system, according to the company. Modifications include the integration of a Garmin G500H Electronic Flight Display and an L3 ESI-2000 Standby Indicator and a Garmin GTN650 Nav/Com Dual Installation. RUAG also installed an Avidyne TAS605 and a Cobham HeliSAS autopilot and a Freeflight RA4000 radar altimeter. Whelen LED strobe lights were installed on the fuselage.
Houston-based Galaxy Aviation is planning to add another facility at William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) after the Houston City Council approved a lease over the objections of existing airport tenants. For Galaxy, the FBO would be its third location since owner Black Forest Investments bought the original facility in late 2012. Black Forest has since increased its reach in the Houston market with the addition of a heliport in North Houston.
Bell made the first Model 429 Wheeled Landing Gear (WLG) sale in Europe and the aircraft will also be outfitted with the first Bell 429 MAGnificent luxury cabin interior created by Italy-based Mecaer Aviation Groug (MAG). The Bell 429 is the first helicopter certified through the MSG-3 process, resulting in reduced maintenance costs for operators.
Cessna’s Citation Latitude is getting another performance boost after flight trials demonstrated that the aircraft can fly farther and take off from shorter runways than promised. Cessna is changing its specifications to boost long-range maximum cruise to 2,700 nm, 200 nm more than previously promised. Takeoff distance is also now projected at 3,668 ft., compared with the previous 4,030 ft. The improved parameters mark the third performance bump that Cessna is giving the Latitude.
Garmin has received approval for its angle of attack (AOA) system for a range of general aviation aircraft. Garmin has begun shipment of the systems, which comprise a GI 260 AOA indicator, GAP 26 angle of attack probe and GSU 25 air data computer. The GI 260 AOA indicator provides audible and visual alerts as the aircraft approach stall angle of attack. The system corrects for weight, g-loading, density altitude and airspeed, providing a higher level of accuracy than lift reserve indicators. The system is priced beginning at $1,499.
