One unique thing about aviators is that we all have a passion for flying, and almost all of us love showing that to others. Who can resist the natural curiosity of a child passenger who wants to come up front and ask about all of the instruments? That was exactly the spirit of the corporate crew who filed the following with NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System:
Pan Am International Flight Academy, whose Fort Pierce, Fla., training facility was heavily damaged and disrupted by the hurricanes that swept through Florida in 2004, will relocate its Career Pilot Development center to the company's campus in Phoenix. The move, expected to be completed by midsummer, will include moving the company's training fleet and a half dozen flight-training devices (FTDs) comprising four Frasca trainers, an AST Hawk and a Canadair Regional Jet unit.
Gulfstream received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) validation for the G350 business jet, which had won FAA type approval in November 2004. The G350 was announced in February 2004 as the successor to the G300/GIV-SP. Gulfstream designed the G350 to have commonality with the longer-range G450, G500 and G550. The four aircraft share several systems, including the PlaneView cockpit avionics suite, and have the same pilot type rating.
Despite persistent reports that Bombardier might sell its Learjet manufacturing operations in Wichita, Pierre Beaudoin, president of Bombardier Aerospace, says that won't happen. Asked about the possible sale of the Wichita facilities during a conference call on the company's fiscal 2005 financial results, Beaudoin responded that ``we have no intention of selling'' the Learjet operations, citing demand for Learjet models.
New Piper delivered the 200th Malibu Meridian to Ontario, Canada, customers Don and Jane Lockhard on April 1. The aircraft is the second Meridian shipped to the Lockhards, who also have owned two Piper Mirages and a Piper Malibu.
Turboprop operators were involved in 12 accidents in the first three months of 2005, down from 16 in the same period a year ago. Seven of those accidents involved private/business use of the airplanes, while four involved airplanes flown by commercial air taxi operators. There were four fatal turboprop accidents in the first quarter, down from six a year ago. Fatalities rose from 12 in the first three months of 2004 to 16 in the most recent period. Incidents declined by one, from 13 a year ago to 12 this year.
Gulfstream Aerospace received FAA STC approval for the installation of its high-speed Broadband Multi-Link (BBML) data system in G550 and G500 business jets. Coupled with a recent service license issued by the Federal Communications Commission to ARINC for SKYLink, Gulfstream said it can now begin unlimited installation of BBML systems on customer aircraft. The system was approved for installation on GIV and GV models in fall 2004. BBML is a dedicated satellite-based system that offers data speeds of up to 3.5 megabits per second.
Honeywell, Phoenix, named Peg Billson vice president and general manager for Honeywell Airframe Systems and appointed Greg Albert vice president and general manager of the firm's Aircraft Landing Systems division.
Cool heads prevail at the FAA, where Steven Wallace, director of the FAA's Office of Accident Investigation, said that despite the recent flurry of news and political reaction, the agency is not thinking of major regulatory changes as a result of the recent spate of business aircraft accidents. ``We try to stay away from statistical upticks [in accidents],'' he told The Weekly of Business Aviation.
The Citation 500 arrived as scheduled to begin its two weeks of Phase II inspection and repair. The job was really a glorified annual inspection on a fairly simple airplane. The independent service facility had targeted early Falcons and Citations as airframes with which to grow the company's maintenance business. Jobs like this with a first-time customer were confirmation that the strategy was working.
Kerry Lynch, managing editor of B&CA's sister publication, The Weekly of Business Aviation, was presented the Aviation Journalism Excellence Award for 2005 by the National Air Transportation Association during the group's annual meeting and convention in Las Vegas.
About 10,000 feet of pavement on Runway 13/31 at La Guardia Airport (LGA) will be rehabilitated later this year. The project includes milling and repaving the runway and upgrading its electrical lighting system. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the work will be coordinated with the FAA and that runway closures will be scheduled during weekends and nighttime hours to minimize the impact on airline travelers and people living near the airport.
Jet Aviation of Switzerland wants to be the first non-Russian-owned FBO at a Moscow airport by year-end. It is currently in negotiations with a potential Russian partner, whose name has yet to be released.
The FAA has been soliciting comments on two separate studies to decommission the Providence (PVD) VOR at Theodore Francis Green State Airport in Rhode Island and the Bradley (BDL) VOR at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. The Providence VOR sustains more than nine Victor airways and 12 approach procedures to local airports. Airways off of the VOR provide access to high-traffic general aviation areas such as Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Nantucket, R.I. The Bradley VOR provides airways to Boston and New York.
Globalair.com President Jeff Carrithers appointed Jeffrey LoParo as executive vice president of media sales and Patrick De Blanc as the company's director of corporate communications. In this new position, LoParo will lead the continuing expansion of the company's Internet media sales and business development efforts. De Blanc joins Globalair.com after a 28-year career in the business aircraft and general aviation industry. Both men are based at Globalair's new Dallas regional office.
Premier Air Center of East Alton, Ill., received an STC to install a Universal Avionics EFI-890R flat-panel EFIS display package on all models of Dassault Falcon 20 Aircraft. The Falcon 20 STC is certified under FAA Part 25 for approach and landing. ``This is the first flat-panel system built for existing flight decks,'' stated Lamont Durante, Premier's director, avionics sales and programs.
Gama Aviation Ltd. of Farnborough, England, was awarded a seven-year contract by the Scottish Ambulance Service to supply integrated emergency airlift using two new Beech King Air 200Cs and two Eurocopter EC135T2s, beginning in April 2006. The King Airs will be based at Aberdeen and Glasgow airports and will be fitted with a new patient loading system. The EC135T2s will be based at Glasgow and Inverness and contracted from Bond Air Services Ltd.
Olympia, Wash.-based Soloy plans a new turbine conversion for the Cessna 206. The new Soloy Turbine Cessna 206 will be equipped with a 450-shp Rolls-Royce 250-B17F/2 engine, which Soloy said will substantially improve hot weather and high-altitude operations and increase payload. The conversion uses a full-reversing Beta-controlled Hartzell propeller to enhance floatplane operations and short-field capability, the company said.
Duncan Aviation, Lincoln, Neb., named Randy Wilson the new program manager of its completions and modifications areas. Wilson, who joined Duncan in 1995, will be initially responsible for the launch of the Glass Box Project, a cockpit upgrade program that includes several airframes.
I am a Forest Service lead airplane -- our mission is low-level and very intense flying. I am concerned not only for our agency pilots, but also for the contract air tanker pilots. If you check our accident record, you'll see why I am concerned. We are required to work either 12 days on and two days off or six days on and one day off -- our duty days average 10 to 12 hours. I started this schedule sometime in February this year and it will last until maybe October or longer! I'm tired!! I attended your fatigue countermeasures workshop. I know what to look for.
As part of a major effort to improve its aftermarket support performance, Bombardier cut prices on some 6,000 Learjet and 8,500 Global and Challenger parts. Desmond Bell, vice president of Parts Logistics, said recently that the manufacturer had reduced parts pricing on average by about 20 percent. Meanwhile, the company has invested $67 million in expanding its parts inventory and this year is opening all-new parts warehouses in Chicago and Frankfurt.
Harold (Hal) E. Botsford, West Milford, N.J., a corporate aviation pilot for 50 years, died while giving a biennal flight check to a fellow instructor. He was 79. During his career, Botsford had been a pilot for Bill Lear and a part-time instructor at FlightSafety International. He was type rated in Learjets, Gulfstreams, Hawkers and Falcons.
MB Design's MB-2K FMS Adapter allows aircraft equipped with Honeywell NZ-920 flight management navigation computers to be upgraded to the Honeywell NZ-2000 in a matter of hours. According to MB Design, many operators ``realize the NZ-920 can no longer support the worldwide nav database and that it's no longer the answer to today's navigation issues.'' The MB-2K FMS Adapter was designed to allow an aircraft with single or dual NZ-920 computers to upgrade to the NZ-2000 overnight for return to service the following morning.
