Bombardier Aerospace has signed a Letter of Intent with Shandong Airlines Rainbow Jet Co. Ltd., of the People's Republic of China, for the purchase of four Challenger 604 corporate jets. The deal is worth $100 million and the aircraft will be used for the airline's new global charter business. The first aircraft is due for delivery in March 2002.
I marvel at business aviation, at the variety of its equipment, the diversity of its missions, and its responsiveness. It's a well-worn Navajo rumbling across the Alleghenies at night with a load of vital manufacturing parts strapped down in back, and it's a gleaming Global Express touching down in Santiago with a cargo of Atlanta executives, eager to do a deal.
Once all the dimples were deliberated, chads charted and George W. Bush declared winner of the Florida vote and, thereby, the presidency, a bellow began to emanate from Washing-ton, echoing all the way to the Grand Canyon and back again. Steve Bassett was shouting for joy, for redemption. His man had won; or more precisely, his enemy had lost.
Photograph: Kenneth Ricci Flight Options founder, chairman&CEO Flight Options, a fractional ownership program featuring pre-owned business jets, began operation in 1998 and today claims over 600 customers. The Flight Options fleet numbers 82 aircraft, including Citation IIs and IIIs, Hawker 800s, Falcon 50s, Challenger 601s and Gulfstream IVs. Kenneth Ricci, a 6,000-hour ATP and an attorney, is Flight Options' founder, chairman and CEO. Will an economic slowdown hurt the phenomenal growth of fractional programs?
Design similarities and differences between the Bell/Agusta 609 and the MV-22 tiltrotor have the potential to affect market acceptance of the civilian version of the tiltrotor in the wake of the latest MV-22 crash on December 11, 2000. The MV-22 accident was apparently caused by a hydraulic malfunction, according to a report in the January 1 issue of Aviation Week&Space Technology.
U.K.-based BBA Aviation will buy Gulfstream's engine overhaul and repair operations in Dallas, and Gulfstream will purchase BBA's maintenance centers in Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and West Palm Beach, Fla.
My midday meeting was 1,000 miles away and since B/CA has yet to take delivery of its Gulfstream Express BCJ EX, I bought a ticket on an early morning flight out of homeport, Westchester County Airport. It was still dark when we dozen sleepy pilgrims shuffled aboard the Comair RJ. I took my window seat and groggily watched the lighted digital clock on the terminal wall count down to push-back, which occurred right on schedule. Presently, we were climbing into a star-filled sky.
Australian air safety officials are crafting new rules that mandate personal flotation devices (PFDs) on commercial aircraft that fly even short distances over water. The move comes six months after a Wyhalla Airlines Piper Chieftain crashed into the Spencer Gulf along Australia's southern coast, killing all eight aboard. Current rules require PFDs only on flights that operate at least 50 nm from land.
Honeywell's new 905 gas generator, potentially the core of a new 3,000- to 6,000-pound thrust turbofan family slated to replace the venerable TFE731, made its first test-cell run in Phoenix on November 29, 2000. Launched last February 2000, the 905's first test-cell run originally was scheduled for the end of 2000. Honeywell says the 905 program is part of a plan to develop new families of engines to complement the 6,500- to 8,000-plus-pound thrust AS907.
Rockwell International plans to divide itself into two units -- Rockwell Collins and Rockwell Automation -- in a bid to increase its stock price while making both entities more attractive to potential buyers. Some see the move as a competitive response to General Electric's proposed acquisition of Honeywell International, Rockwell Collins' main rival in the aircraft avionics field. The split is likely to occur by May or June, pending regulatory approval.
Fuel State: OK Craig Sincock is president and CEO of AvFuel, a 27-year-old company that distributes avgas and Jet-A to some 700 FBOs around the United States, representing about 20-percent of the civilian aviation market. B/CA: How's the short-term fuel outlook? Sincock: It's good. There are adequate supplies of crude oil out there. Adequate supplies of Jet-A and avgas. B/CA: What about price?
``I feel enormous relief,'' Gary Burrell, co-founder and co-chairman of Garmin International, told B/CA last month shortly after an Initial Public Offering raised $147 million for the avionics firm. The December 8, 2000 IPO involved 10.5 million shares, all purchased by institutional investors at $14 per share. The company shares trade on the Nasdaq stock market (symbol: GRMN).
For the business aviation community the year 2000 was memorable for its economic solidity and expanding constituency. Aircraft manufacturers are reporting multibillion-dollar backlogs. Fractionals are growing at dizzying rates. Utilization is up across the board. Business aircraft operators are showing excellent returns. All in all, it's been a good year.
Masked by a year-long disinformation campaign, cleverly crafted around the development of the next-generation G-IV, Gulfstream officials startled industry observers by unveiling the new G-VSP. Gulfstream said the aircraft would have a maximum range of 6,750 nm with nine passengers. Additionally, it boasts more usable cabin volume than the Bombardier Global Express and has shorter takeoff distances. ``We absolutely, positively deliver nine-passenger, New York-to-Tokyo range all the time,'' said Gulfstream manufacturing chief Preston Henne.
Photograph: The Falcon 2000EX will offer 25-percent more range than the standard Falcon 2000. Dassault Dassault Aviation's newest offering is the Falcon 2000EX, a 3,800-nm, transatlantic twinjet slated to enter service in mid-2003. Priced at $24 million in 2003 dollars, the Falcon 2000EX will have almost the same range and six-passenger, tanks-full payload as the $28 million Falcon 900C tri-jet, albeit with a 6.6-foot shorter cabin. With the introduction of the 2000EX, Dassault has a twinjet to compete with Bombardier's Challenger 604.
Long before launching for the NBAA's 53rd annual convocation, I was well aware of business aviation's robust health. The association had presented me with convention facts and figures beforehand -- total number of vendors, booth space square footage, estimated attendees, aircraft on display -- which were all giddily impressive. Still, I was eager to get to New Orleans and take measure for myself. Once there, the full impact didn't strike until I began pacing the enormous Ernest N. Morial Convention Hall, most of which was full of airplane people and things.
Raytheon Aircraft plans to build the new, 2,000-nm-plus Hawker 450. Billed as the fastest, highest-climbing, largest-cabin aircraft in the light-midsize-jet category, the Hawker 450 will cruise at 0.80-plus Mach and feature double-club or center-club seating for eight in a stand-up cabin with 5.9-foot headroom, 6.0-foot width and 19.3-foot length. Positioned between Raytheon's Premier I and Hawker Horizon, the 450's main competitors will be Bombardier's 1,900-nm-range Learjet 45 and Cessna's 1,700-nm-range Excel.
Nestle into the cabin of a Galaxy and you might mistake it for a Gulf-stream II, if it weren't for the Galaxy's four-inch dropped aisle, plus the numerous and smaller cabin windows.
The FAA has called for inspections and modifications to the collective control levers of some 6,000 U.S.-registered Bell 206 helicopters by February 2001. If issued as a final rule, the FAA's proposal would mandate Bell alert service bulletins (ASBs) issued in March (No. 206L-00-116) and May (206-00-93, Revision A), respectively.
Confronted with recent budget cuts, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin has urged the public to support full funding for the agency's Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). Terming SATS ``crucial technology'' for the United States' future transportation needs, Goldin said, ``SATS is very significant priority for NASA that will change life in America by providing doorstep to destination transportation.''
Photograph: EAA members get acquainted under the Wisconsin sun. Clear prop! EAA Masses of faithful flying enthusiasts made their annual pilgrimage to Oshkosh, Wis., from July 26 to August 1, renewing old friendships, spending time with their families and also exploring what's newest and oldest in aircraft technology. The Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture has become an 1,800-acre aviation expo with a much broader based constituency than in its early years.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey assured EAA members, several of whom are senior or retired airline pilots, that the FAA has progressed to the second phase of studying its mandatory age 60 retirement rule for airline pilots during her ``Meet the Boss'' forum at AirVenture 2000 in Oshkosh, Wis.
Honeywell's RDR-4B wind-shear detection radar, recently certified with a smaller 24-inch antenna, will shrink again in size during the next two to three years, thus making it suitable for installation in business aircraft. This is the first time, since Rockwell Collins introduced the TWR-850 radar, that a solid-state radar has been designed specifically for business aircraft applications.
In as little as two years, a blend of Honeywell Primus Epic large-format, flat-panel displays and a new generation of Bendix/King panel-mount radios could make their debut in light business and general aviation aircraft. Honeywell officials were vague regarding a launch customer, but senior executives hinted that ``Project Echo'' could debut on Cessna's proposed new-generation aircraft, intended to bridge the gap between its light single-engine and Citation product lines.
