Sun Air Jets, Camarillo, California, announced the addition of Greg Paxson to their Maintenance Management team. Greg will fill the role of Part 135 Director of Maintenance. Dave Anderson, Sun Air’s current Part 135 director of maintenance, will move laterally and fill the role of Part 145 accountable manager.
FlightSafety International, New York, promoted Tracy Clough to director, International Teammate Resources. Neil Whiteman has joined the company as vice president and senior counsel for FlightSafety Services Corporation.
NetJets, Cincinnati, named Robert Molsbergen president of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Executive Jet Management He will also serve as chief operating officer of NetJets Inc.’s international aircraft management business.
Summit Aviation, Middletown, Delaware, hired Jeremy Bennett as manager of Business Development. Christin Sherwood is the new Over-the-Counter Parts sales representative.
Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Georgia, appointed John R. “Bob” Ranck as the designated successor to Buddy Sams, senior vice president, Government Programs and Sales. Sams will retire at year-end. Ranck will become a member of the Gulfstream Leadership Team and report to Larry Flynn, president, Gulfstream, in January 2015.
FAA has declared the Griffiss International Airport unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test site in Rome, N.Y., as operational, making it the fifth of six sites to reach that status. In addition to the traditional UAS studies, the Giffiss site will also evaluate means of scouting agricultural fields through different types of sensors, including visual, thermal and multispectral equipment. “We are accomplishing two important missions with the launch of this test site,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says.
In the wake of two recent crashes within a week of each other in which the pilots are suspected of being rendered unconscious by hypoxia, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation (ASF) issued a safety alert warning to pilots to remain on guard to the condition’s symptoms. The first crash, which occurred Aug. 30, involved a Cirrus SR-22T en route to Manassas, Virginia, from Wisconsin, but entered restricted airspace in the Washington, D.C., and continued out over the Atlantic.
Robert A. (Bob) Hoover and R.W. (Bill) de Decker were selected to receive the National Business Aviation Association’s Meritorious Service to Aviation Award and John P. “Jack” Doswell Award, respectively. NBAA will present its top honors in October during its Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.
The reorganization at Bombardier saw additional departures in September as Ralph Acs, head of the Learjet line, Stephane Leblanc, his counterpart for Challenger programs, and Marie-Helene Pelletier head of the business aircraft unit’s supply chain, cleared out their desks.
Kenny Dichter is at it again, making business aviation more accessible to a wider group of users as he did when he cofounded the Marquis Jet Card program piggybacked on the NetJets fractional ownership operation. But the twist in his latest venture, Wheels Up, is that the turboprop and jet program isn’t based on 25-hr. jet cards but memberships.
Blackhawk Modifications is developing a new engine upgrade for the Cessna 208A Caravan and 208B Grand Caravan that will replace the standard 600-hp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114 or 675-hp PT6A-114A-hp turboprop engine with the 867-hp PT6A-140 engine.
Mountain Aviation, a Broomfield, Colo.-based charter and management firm, has come under new ownership by a private investment firm, a move the company says will help it expand its core markets in the Rocky Mountain region along with looking at new opportunities in the oil and gas and government markets. The company notes that it has extensive experience operating in rugged environments, giving it “a strong foundation for expanded capabilities” in the oil and gas and government markets.
Gatwick-based Air Partner, which numbers among its clients the British royal family, is reaping an upsurge in chartered jet travel, having raked in 5 million pounds ($8.3 million) in JetCard sales in the first six months of 2014.
Embraer’s U.S. footprint expanded considerably last month when it opened it’s a new $26 million Engineering and Technology Center adjacent to its Phenom assembly and customer center at Melbourne Airport in Florida. The 75,000-sq.-ft.
The Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association is planning to focus on industry growth during its next MEBAA convention Dec. 8-10 in Dubai. The event is expected to draw more than 8,000 participants, building on 20% growth in 2012 when 7,549 attended from 84 countries.
With some Fortune 500 companies examining their flight departments’ costs and exposure — with some prominent closures as a result — does this foretell a trend? And will upper management issue jet cards for business travel? B&CA asked principals of charter brokerages and operators marketing jet cards their opinions:
Bell Helicopter received orders from the first two customers to take delivery of Bell 429s in Poland. The orders were taken through JB Investments, Bell’s independent representative in Poland. Bell previously had sold three Bell 407GX to customers in Poland.
Business aircraft flight operations are poised to increase in September, marking the 10th consecutive month-over-month increase and the 17th out of the last 18 months, according to business aviation research specialist Aviation Research/U.S. (ARGUS) and FAA data. ARGUS, which tracks business aircraft flight operations in the U.S. and Canada, recently reported a 0.9% gain in business flight operations in August, and said operations are on pace to climb another 2.7% in this month.
Yingling Aviation recently acquired the assets of ICT Aircraft Services, enabling the Wichita services company to provide Type One deicing and Type Four anti-icing services for aircraft at Mid-Continent Airport. The acquisition includes two Premier deicing trucks equipped with heated 1,800 and 1,500-gal. Type One glycol tanks, 300-gal.
“In the U.S., charter is still picking up in heavy and midsize jets. There are some new, midsize models that might be feeding that.” The speaker is Air Charter Guide Product Director Bettina Gentile, presenting her assessment of the 2014 business jet charter industry. The publication maintains details on 2,400 active charter operators in its database. “Europe was growing but is now stagnating,” she continued. “Heavy and midsize categories are declining, while very light jets are increasing — Phenoms and the like.”
