Operators could spout off five favorite things they like about the aircraft almost faster than we could write them down. Speed, range and cabin comfort topped the list. They also say the G650 burns considerably less fuel at Mach 0.85 than other large cabin aircraft.
New charter operator World Health Jets of Jackson, Miss., has contracted with JDA Aviation Technology Solutions (JDA) for the company's 135Pro product. The program is a low-cost FAR Part 135 certification support program designed to simplify the certification process and lower costs. It includes manuals tailored to help new charter operators and corporate flight departments satisfy FAA requirements and while obtaining full-time support from the JDA expert 135 team. Visit www.jdasolutions.aero for more information.
Business jet operations last year topped 4 million, an activity level not seen since 2008, according to preliminary FAA data. The 4.072 million operations recorded in 2013, represented a 2.26% increase over 2012. Since the data is preliminary, this is likely to increase slightly once FAA finalizes December operations. Business jet operations peaked at 4.825 million in 2007 before falling 11% in 2008 to 4.291 million. Operations plunged almost 20% the following year to a decade-low 3.449 million. They have been on the rise every year since, but recovery has been slow.
Epic Aircraft is proceeding with plans to certify its E1000, a high-performance, carbon fiber, single-engine turboprop, which evolved from the Epic LT experimental aircraft. The Bend, Ore., manufacturer anticipates earning FAA approval by mid-2015, with deliveries beginning shortly thereafter. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-67A, the six-place Epic E1000 has a max cruise of 325 kt., a 34,000-ft. ceiling, and an economy cruise range of 1,650 nm.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) wants FAA to permit limited unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations before the agency's small UAS rule is finalized. Beyond that, the association is urging FAA to meet its revised deadline for publication of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on small unmanned aircraft, and to make the issue a top priority this year. The agency has been working on the NPRM since 2009 and has indicated it expects to publish it this coming November, a schedule, AUVSI notes, that is almost four years late.
TAG Aviation recently introduced iPad–based electronic flight bag (EFB) technology to its Switzerland-based fleet, featuring Jeppesen Mobile FlightDeck. Jeppesen will help to eliminate paper-based information from TAG's operations and increase overall operational efficiency. The company aims to achieve savings in fuel consumption by reducing the weight of each pilot's flight bag. On average, these can weigh from 40 to 50 lb. each. Jeppesen www.jeppesen.com
FAA is streamlining the process for obtaining certain letters of authorization (LOAs) for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) approval. Both the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and National Air Transportation Association (NATA) welcomed the changes.
Jan. 27 — About 0530 PST, a Beech C90 King Air (N350WA) experienced a hard landing at Columbia Airport (O22), Columbia, Calif. Axis Jet was operating the airplane under FAR Part 91. The commercial pilot and the airline transport pilot were not injured, but the airplane sustained substantial damage by impact forces and the post-crash fire. The cross-country aero-medical positioning flight departed Sacramento, Calif. It was VFR and there was an IFR flight plan filed.
MyTurbine is a mobile app from Dallas Airmotive designed to easily connect customers anywhere in the world with information about engines being serviced, AOG support and much more. Convenient icons allow for quick navigation to the services most used by customers such as the company's First Support global customers. Users can check cost estimates and completions dates on engines in process, find service locations and contact sales reps among others features.
There now are more than 50 Gulfstream G650 jets in service, an impressively large number of new aircraft deliveries for just over one year of production. Operators say the airframe, engines and basic systems have been remarkably trouble free, resulting in near flawless dispatch reliability. That's an impressive milestone as the G650 is the first completely clean-sheet Gulfstream since the 1967-vintage GII, doubly so because of the reliability of early serial number airplanes.
Is there a chance that the Standard Lateral Offset Procedure, or some variation on it, will be authorized for use in non-oceanic U.S. airspace? The answer is a qualified, “Yes.”
We feel “Finnoff PC-12 Upgrade” (February 2014, page 46), contains some inaccuracies that need to be corrected as to not mislead your readers. Excerpt: “The key to the additional speed was some clever negotiations with Pratt & Whitney Canada. Finnoff believed the -67P provided a surplus of climb power for PC-12NG, but it was loafing in cruise above 20,000 ft. So, he convinced PWC to develop an alternative operating envelope that would trade as much as 9% climb power for as much as 6.6% more horsepower in high altitude cruise at ISA+30C.”
Luxembourg-based Luxaviation has acquired Unijet, a leading French business aviation operator, through its Belgian subsidiary, Abelag. Based at Le Bourget in Paris, Unijet provides the group access to Europe's foremost business aviation airport. With the acquisition, the new group increases its staff to 350 employees and its fleet to 60 business aircraft based in Benelux, Germany and France.
Gulfstream Aerospace has enhanced its support of operators attending major U.S.–based events with the addition of its biggest and most capable Field and Airborne Support Teams (FAST) vehicle — a specially equipped 74-ft. (22.6 meters) tractor-trailer. The vehicle debuted at this year's Super Bowl at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Using the capabilities of the FAST vehicle, on-board technicians can perform: line-service repairs; engine exchanges; post-flight and storage inspections; unscheduled inspections; and cabin interior repairs.
Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, announced that James “Jim” Walker has joined the company as vice president and managing director of Asia Pacific reporting to Colin Mahoney, senior vice president, International and Service Solutions.
Correction: Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga., hired Kevin Brink and Scott Clarey as sales directors for North America. Kevin Dutton's name was misspelled under his photo in the February “On Duty” section.
When a modern swept-wing aircraft is properly maintained within its certification limits, it is safe. Operating outside of the certification limits or not maintaining the aircraft to its airworthiness specifications can carry a steep price in the high-altitude environment.
The 52-year-old pilot of Beech King Air N987GM, an E90 model, was certainly experienced — the FAA's airman records showed he reported 5,300 hr. total time at his most recent second-class physical examination even though, inexplicably, his personal logbooks showed over 9,000 hr., 6,500 hr. of that in multiengine airplanes. The logbooks also indicated the pilot had accumulated 718 actual instrument flight hours. Whatever the case, he had spent a good amount of time in the cockpit.
Gilbert W. Speed, the founder of SpeedNews publications and conferences, a Penton Media business as is Business & Commercial Aviation, died Jan. 27 after a long illness. He was 81. Speed's 60-year aerospace career began with his apprenticeship at the Bristol Aeroplane Co., thence as an engineer for Eastern Airlines and later with Pan Am where he worked on specifications for the Boeing 727 and 707 Freighter, Concorde and Dassault Fanjet Falcon. He founded SpeedNews in 1979.
The PC-12 you flew in “Finnoff PC-12 Upgrade” is based at Boulder Municipal Airport in Colorado, not California; and Boulder City Airport is in Nevada. Boulder, Colo.
Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc. (IS&S) received an FAA STC for its Autothrottle System and Standby Display Unit incorporated into its Integrated Flight Management System (IFMS). The IS&S-developed autothrottle allows a pilot to control the power setting of the aircraft's engines by setting a desired flight characteristic rather than manually controlling fuel flow.
A half century ago, the 280 kt., 1,800-nm range Howard 500 represented the pinnacle of business aviation's Big Piston Era. Durrell Unger “Dee” Howard of San Antonio, Texas, built 16 of these 5,000-hp beasts before losing the sales war to Leroy Grumman's new turboprop Gulfstream in the early 1960s.
It turns out 2013 was even harder for Sabreliner Corporation, which lost half of its business as a result of military budget cutting and defaulted on its bank loan. That, in turn, led to its sale to a Sabreliner Services LLC, which was reportedly formed recently by Innovative Capital Holdings LLC, a Florida investment firm. An investment group that included company Chairman F. Holmes Lamoreux previously had owned the company. As a result of the sale, Lamoreux is exiting, along with President Susan Aselage.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore officially inaugurated the new Singapore Air Traffic Control Centre (SATCC) during the Singapore Airshow in February. The Centre represents a quantum leap in the capacity and ability of CAAS in providing high-quality air navigation services.
