Bombardier Aerospace announced that charter operator London Air Services of Richmond, B.C. ordered five Learjet 75s. The $65 million order makes the aircraft charter firm the Canadian launch customer for the light jet. London Air has a fleet of five Learjet 45XRs, a Challenger 604 and two Challenger 605s. It has a Global 7000 on order for delivery in 2017.
The FAA's Flight Standard Service is hoping to have guidance in place by October that would change the approach that inspectors take toward addressing minor compliance issues. Flight Standards Director John Allen said earlier this year that the agency's officials were “trying to change a culture within the Flight Standards Service” to encourage inspectors to work out minor issues with operators before immediately jumping to enforcement action.
The TSA is working to devise means such as gateway airports that would enable business aviation to access restricted airspace during TFRs, says Zach Carder, who handles business aviation issues for TSA. Carder, speaking at the June National Air Transportation Association 2012 Air Charter Summit, said he “recognizes fully that this is a tender topic” for the business aviation community, particularly as it is facing an increasing number of TFRs with the presidential election season heating up.
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.
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.
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.”
“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.
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.
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.
ARGUS TRAQPak data indicates that May 2012 business aircraft flight activity increased from April 2012 at 3.5% overall. The only month over month decrease was the fractional segment, down 1.0%. Part 135 activity was up 5.3% and Part 91 was up 3.9%. Reviewing activity year over year (May 2012 vs. May 2011) TRAQPak observed a 1.6% increase in overall aircraft activity. Results by operational category were mixed with Part 91sector activity up 4.3%.
The Beech King Air 350 is the largest business turboprop yet built by the Wichita manufacturer and by far its most versatile performer. More than 685 first-generation aircraft were built between 1990 and 2009 before it was succeeded by the more luxurious King Air 350i in 2010.
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.)
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.
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.”
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.
Every year, the NBAA's week-long Maintenance Management Conference (MMC) provides resources for learning both new technology and updating each attendee's personal knowledge toolbox. In addition, the event provides an excellent opportunity to network with fellow managers and provides insight for those interested in professional development or creating new career goals within the business aviation community.
Reflecting sour European market conditions, Jet Aviation is restructuring its Basel, Switzerland, location into two independently managed maintenance and completion business units, each reporting directly to Dan Clare, president of General Dynamics' Jet Aviation Group. Neil Boyle has been appointed vice president of completions and Johannes Turzer is vice president of maintenance at Basel.
Embraer Executive Jets' Melbourne, Fla., campus has received its own FAA Production Certificate to assemble Phenom 100s in the U.S. Previously, Phenom jets assembled in Melbourne were certified under the FAA type certificate granted to those produced in Brazil. “This is a significant milestone for Embraer and is the culmination of a series of achievements in the last year,” said Ernest Edwards, president, Embraer Executive Jets.
Jet Aviation has launched a new fuel sales service for its entire chain of Fixed Based Operations in the EMEA and Asia regions. Using its global purchasing power to negotiate a better fuel price with World Fuel Services, a leading jet fuels supplier, Jet Aviation has introduced the new fuel sales service to pass significant cost savings on to FBO and MRO customers visiting Jet Aviation FBO facilities in EMEA and Asia: London Biggin Hill, Dusseldorf, Riyadh, Dubai, Jeddah, Singapore, Zurich and Geneva.
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.
Exact Air Flight ET822 descended below MDA into dark, wooded terrain while attempting a night non-precision RNAV (GNSS) Runway 12 approach at Chicoutimi/Saint-Honore, Quebec, on Dec. 9, 2009. Both pilots were killed and two passengers — the only other occupants of the aircraft — were seriously injured when the Beech King Air A100 (BE10) struck the ground in controlled flight on the approach centerline some 3 nm from the threshold.
Honeywell expects certification authorities to sign off on several of its in-development cockpit upgrades before the year-end , including programs for the Falcon 7X and Falcon 2000 EASy II avionics upgrade Honeywell is conducting with Dassault Aviation. This Dassault program follows the upgrade already developed for the Falcon 900, which adds synthetic vision functionality.
The European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2012) concluded as one of the strongest EBACE shows yet. Organizers noted that as the third and final day of the show concluded May 16, 12,638 attendees had participated, representing 99 countries — both numbers on par with last year's show. 491 exhibitors were on hand, occupying a record-breaking 2,280 booth spaces across Halls 5, 6 and 7 of the Geneva Palexpo convention center. EBACE2012 featured 60 aircraft on static display.
I enjoyed your article on second-grade math (Washington Watch, April 2012, page 61). The only thing you could have added was the name of the culprit who caused this problem in the first place. That person would be the Un-Honorable Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley from Iowa. The aviation community in Iowa needs to spread the word about this scoundrel and get him voted out of office.
