Saab Sensis has completed deployment of its ASDE-X advanced airport surveillance system at 35 of the largest U.S. airports. The airport surface detection equipment, model X system combines data from surface movement radar, multilateration and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) to give controllers an accurate picture of surface movements. It also provides conflict alerts. The company also said it won a contract from U.K. ATM provider NATS to install a wide-area multilateration system for Edinburgh Airport.
It seems that over the past year the world has experienced every type of major disaster — and many small ones as well. From floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, hurricanes and tornados, there is no telling what Mother Nature will throw at us next. I predict locusts or frogs. If you cannot fly away before a natural disaster strikes, riding out the storm can be a nerve-racking experience. While the wind and rain howls is not the time to wonder if your insurance policy has you covered.
Aero Dynamix, Inc., Euless, Texas, announced that test pilot Dwayne Williams has joined their growing team of night vision goggle professionals. The company is an industry leader in NVG cockpit modifications. Aviation Personnel International (API), San Francisco, promoted Colleen Kelly to vice president, Client and Talent Relations, responsible for the retained recruitment of aviation professionals of behalf of Fortune 500 companies and private individuals.
These preliminary graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Eclipse 550 under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance based upon Eclipse 500 AFM data, Eclipse Aerospace projections and our estimates. Actual performance of the Eclipse 550 may fall short of these projections because of empty aircraft weight gain compared to Eclipse 500 aircraft.
Kevin Bredenbeck, Sikorsky chief test pilot, who flew the revolutionary X2 Technology demonstrator last year to an unofficial speed record for conventional helicopters, has been recognized by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots with the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for the year's outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing. Bredenbeck, who is also Sikorsky's director of flight operations, accepted the award at a ceremony in California in September.
Plenty of diehard Eclipse 500 skeptics scoffed at Mason Holland, chairman and CEO of Eclipse Aerospace, when he announced at the 2011 NBAA Convention that his firm intended to resume building the aircraft sometime in 2013. Cynics all but buried the very light jet (VLJ) concept after EA500 production stopped in 2008, writing it off as a misguided, overhyped folly of Vern Raburn, founder of failed Eclipse Aviation (See Fast Five, page 25.)
Piaggio's Avanti II has been granted type and production certificates by Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, enabling the twin turboprop to be legally registered and operated throughout the Russian Federation. “We are really happy to have achieved Russian certification for the Avanti II on schedule. This now opens the way for our first aircraft deliveries [there],” said Alberto Galassi, Piaggio Aero CEO.
Rated at 5,730 lb. thrust for take–off, the Latitude's P&WC PW306D engines will have virtually identical interior parts to the 306C powerplants fitted to the Citation Sovereign. FADECs provide carefree engine management and thrust/temperature/rpm limit protection.
The September edition of J.P. Morgan's Business Jet Monthly report noted that prices rose slightly in August for used business jets that are out of production but still have derivatives being manufactured.
August 2011 statistics on the used aircraft markets contain good news, says Jetnet, the Utica, N.Y.-based provider of corporate aviation information. In the first eight months of this year, the year-to-date average asking price for business jets rose 3.5%, while the industry maintained double-digit growth (11.4%) in used business jet retail sale transactions.
The FAA insists that it will make major strides with a vital air traffic control upgrade by year-end, but serious questions are being asked in Washington about whether revised timetable and cost estimates can be met. The En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program was “re-baselined” midyear, but the agency has already missed an important near-term milestone in September. The FAA says this delay will only be a matter of months, and if that is true it would help ease the skepticism of lawmakers and government watchdog agencies.
Rated at 900-lb. thrust for takeoff, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A is the smallest member of the PW600 family that also is installed on the Cessna Citation Mustang and Embraer Phenom 100. The engine features a conventional, two-spool design with an inner shaft attached to the wide-chord front fan that is powered by a single-stage low-pressure turbine. The outer shaft has a single-stage, axial flow compressor and a single-stage centrifugal flow high-pressure compressor.
It began as a maker of cast-off airplanes and at one point was near collapse, but Bombardier Aerospace is demonstrating enviable resilience during the market downturn, thanks in large measure to its top end business jets, while investing billions in new models.
Next year, Bombardier's Global 5000 and 6000, fitted with Global Vision cockpits powered by Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics, will be the first production business aircraft to enter service with head-up displays with synthetic vision system (SVS) background imagery.
There are certain flight conditions and control inputs that can overstress the main rotor mast components of a semi-rigid system, resulting in catastrophic failure. Consequently, it's vital that pilots fully understand the limitations of this type of system.
After three decades in the automotive industry as a top executive with General Motors and Delphi in the U.S. and Europe, Guy Hachey returned to his native Quebec in April 2008 as president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace. Five months later, the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a global financial crisis that decimated the business aviation industry. In a recent interview with BCA Editor-in-Chief William Garvey and Aviation Week & Space Technology's Joseph C.
The Latitude's new Garmin G5000 system has three 14-in. screens and four touch-screen controllers quite similar to the system being installed in the new Citation Ten. The displays feature RGB LED backlight lighting that automatically adjusts for correct white balance for the life of the display. The screens have a 10,000:1 dimming ratio that accommodates the brightest daylight and darkest night ambient light conditions.
A drag-reducing upgrade kit developed for Boeing MD-80 operators has received supplemental type certification from the FAA. Developed by Long Beach, Calif.-based engineering company Super98, the first part of the kit is initially designed to reduce fuel burn by 2.5% or more, with a further 1% benefit available from a more extensive upgrade. Fuel savings were verified in flight tests of an instrumented MD-83 in late 2010 and earlier this year.
Israel Aircraft Industries invented the super-midsize business aircraft in the mid-1990s when it launched its IAI 1126 Galaxy. These aircraft can fly eight passengers 3,200 nm and land with NBAA IFR reserves. They offer nearly Gulfstream GII cabin dimensions, but with the fuel consumption of a standard midsize jet. On a 1,000-nm trip, for instance, the aircraft actually burns slightly less fuel than a Hawker 750 or Cessna Citation Sovereign. IAI earned FAA certification for the Galaxy in December 1998, and 53 units were delivered from 1999 to 2001.
Based on its most recent poll of aircraft dealers, Vref Publishing Inc., the Arizona-based provider of data on the resale market, reported in the third quarter edition of its Market Leader newsletter, “There has been a surprising amount of activity. Early this summer, many dealers reported, 'they've never been busier.'”
Oliver Stone, managing director of the new London-based aircraft brokerage, Colibri Aircraft Ltd., believes the market for previously owned business airplanes is gradually recovering. In today's market “typically, the newest and largest planes are doing the best,” says Stone. “The ultra-long-range, large-cabin jets are actually doing quite well. Prices have stabilized and inventory is thinning out.”
The city of Taegu slid behind us as we turned east for Tsushima Island, midway across 100-mi. strait separating South Korea and Japan. I was number two in the third flight of LT-6Gs, which we were handing over to the then-new Japanese Air Defense Force, near Nagoya, where they would be overhauled and returned to their intended role as training aircraft.
ExecuJet Aviation Group, the Swiss-based aviation management company, reported in September that it has experienced continued growth in new and used aircraft sales since the beginning of the year. The company predicts the trend will continue well into 2012. Year-over-year figures show ExecuJet's deliveries this year increased by almost 100%, with aircraft sales revenues up by 90%.
Conklin & de Decker will hold its 12th annual Aircraft Acquisition and Planning Seminar in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 6 and 7 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. The meeting is designed to help the aircraft buyer, owner or aviation professional understand how to make informed aircraft purchasing and owning decisions.
