Sikorsky's LifePort received a subcontract from L-3 Platform Integration in support of a Boeing 747-8 head-of-state completion project. LifePort will equip the upper deck of the aircraft with customized cabinets, partitions and a lavatory.
Even though I understand your reasoning on the trees (Viewpoint, July 2012), which are making Runway 11/29 at HPN less than optimal, I must disagree on this one. Why? Well, it has to do with our freedoms as Americans, and our right to do what we wish with our own property.
Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company (HBDC) is putting its AT-6 light attack/armed reconnaissance aircraft into low rate initial production (LRIP) in Wichita. The company says it started low-rate production in response to “significant indications of interest around the world” for the attack variant of its PT6-powered T-6 trainer. However, the costly step could also be a move to strengthen its position in the ongoing competition with Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Embraer A-29 Super Tucano for the U.S. Air Force's Afghanistan Light Air Support (LAS) competition.
ARGUS International Inc. (ARGUS) is a specialized aviation services company with global expertise whose mission is to provide the aviation marketplace with the information needed to make informed decisions and manage risk. ARGUS services include the CHEQ proprietary charter operator rating and due diligence program, TRAQPak market intelligence data and research services, and aviation consulting.
June 24 — About 1155 EDT, a Universal Stinson 108 (N39443), operated by a private pilot, was substantially damaged while ditching in the Atlantic Ocean, following a total loss of engine power during cruise flight near Portland, Maine. The private pilot was fatally injured. No flight plan was filed for the personal flight that departed Twitchell Airport (3B5), Turner, Maine, about 1030 in VFR conditions. According to preliminary data from the FAA, the airplane was in radio and radar contact with Portland International Jetport (PWM) Approach Control. About 10 mi.
A JetBlue copilot injured by a laser illumination July 15 is the latest victim of a nationwide phenomenon that has grown as much as tenfold since the FAA formally began taking reports in 2005. The laser illumination injured the JetBlue first officer over Islip, N.Y., as Flight 657 was on approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport at 5,000 ft. The captain reported two green flashes, one of which “caught the first officer,” and requested medical personnel meet the flight at JetBlue's Gate 24 after landing. The FAA reported that the first officer's injury was minor.
For more than a decade, Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has built a practice winning lawsuits and scoring landmark settlements under its state's Proposition 65. That law, originally entitled the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, is designed “to protect California citizens and the state's drinking water sources from chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals.”
The FAA and EASA have approved the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter for operating in Sea State 6 (SS6) conditions, completing the S-92A emergency flotation system sea state expansion. Certification by Transport Canada is expected soon. The S-92 helicopter optional emergency flotation system consists of three primary floats, certified for ditching in conditions up to and including Sea State 5. An additional optional five-float configuration is now certified for ditching in conditions up to and including Sea State 6.
For many companies, the security provided by a private jet is as important as its utility. But what are the benchmarks for security? Since corporations can take tax deductions for security expenses, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) created a standard for a “bona fide business-oriented security concern” to measure against personal flights being written off as necessary for security.
There's a hot competition between Nextant Aerospace and Hawker Beechcraft to determine which firm can retrofit the largest number of Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP light jets with Williams International FJ44 turbofans to make them fly faster and farther, quieter and more economically. At stake: The two firms together might reap as much as $9-10 billion in sales revenues, assuming the retrofits attract one third of the combined fleet of nearly 590 aircraft.
The Global Vision Flight Deck designations for the Global 5000 and 6000 do not represent FAA, EASA or Transport Canada model designations. They are Bombardier's commercial names for Global airplanes on which Major Change Modifications, known as “modsums,” 700T001900 and 700T901901 have been fitted to BD-700-1A10 (Global XRS) airplanes or modsums 700T901900 and 700T901902 have been installed on BD-700-1A11 (Global 5000) airplanes.
Jet Aviation has launched a global refurbishment program to “renew and harmonize” the look and feel of its FBO and major MRO facilities worldwide, beginning with the Geneva, Zurich and Basel facilities in Switzerland and focusing on the facility lobbies and customer and crew lounges, Completion of the Geneva and Basel facilities is scheduled for year-end. The Zurich facility is scheduled for completion in spring 2013.
Belize Belize is the only Central American country that was not solely a Spanish colony, with Spain and Great Britain disputing rule over the territory in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1854, it officially became the colony of British Honduras, and remained so until it achieved independence in 1981 and became Belize. (The independence process was inhibited by a border dispute with Guatemala, which continues toward a so-far unscheduled referendum in both states to determine whether to refer the conflict to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.)
Bombardier is the final manufacturer of large-cabin, long-range business jets to upgrade its flagship aircraft with large-format, flat-panel avionics, but based upon our recent demo flight, the wait was well worth the results. The Vision Flight Deck provides strong incentives for operators of older Globals with early 1990s vintage avionics to upgrade to the Global 6000's 21st century cockpit technology.
On May 14, with little advance notice, Teterboro Airport (TEB) was shut down to all traffic and remained closed for 5 hr. How much notice was given is unclear — some say it was 1 hr., while others suggest 12. Undisputed is the fact that TEB, among the nation's busiest general aviation facilities, was shuttered on a workday, surprising many users and forcing the reroute of scores of incoming aircraft. The reason? A presidential visit to the west side of Manhattan, directly across the Hudson River from the close-in New Jersey airport.
My town loves its trees, and boy, we've got 'em — sycamore, sugar maple, sassafras, scarlet oak, beech, birch, yellow poplar, black tupelo. If they can handle winter, they're here in abundance. The town crest features a spreading white oak. A Tree City USA for 10 years running, we have a tree committee, annually budget for tree plantings, which are overseen by our tree warden, and publish a directory of our “Notable Trees.”
Rockwell Collins has opened its Berlin Ascend flight information solutions office in the General Aviation Terminal area at the new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport, which will provide flight support services for European business aircraft operators. Specific enhancements to the Ascend flight planning tools have been introduced to support European operations including Eurocontrol Central Flight Management Unite (CFMU) routes and validation.
Beech is claiming that its Twin Bonanza is the strongest airplane in commercial aviation — designed and tested to withstand inflight loads equal to almost seven times its own weight. It's even got an airstair door so you don't “ever have to get near the engines.”
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and ITT Exelis have entered into a licensing agreement for Exelis to provide its real-time integrated next generation flight-tracking data for ERAU's academic research and analysis.
“A Disastrous Save” (Cause & Circumstance, June 2012, page 52 highlights the double tragedy associated with the crash of a helicopter attempting a rescue. Twenty years of flying U.S. Air Force rescue helicopters left me feeling that remote area operations are one of the most challenging flight operations a pilot can confront. This is due to the wide range of uniqueness each remote area brings. Add nighttime, weather and fatigue to this and you have an operation that probably should be in the Emergency Section of the AOM.
Flexjet joined other fractional operators suing the IRS over assessments of federal excise taxes. Flight Options and NetJets/Executive Jet Management already are enmeshed in lawsuits over refunds and imposition of the passenger ticket tax over certain activities. Flexjet filed its suit a couple of weeks ago, says Tony Gasaway, principal of Gasaway Tax Law. The lawsuits come as management companies face their own escalating tax assessments based on recent IRS guidance that management fees could constitute commercial air carrier activity.
After decades of overflying Central America, executives of U.S., Canadian, and European corporations in growing numbers are accelerating their commercial activities in the seven countries constituting the subcontinent and dispatching their owned and chartered business jets to take them there.
