Swissport Executive Aviation opened a corporate aircraft handling service at Nairobi, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. This is the Zurich-based company's first such operation in Kenya and adds to its five existing facilities in South Africa and Tanzania. ``There are a number of business aircraft using Nairobi International and operators have been crying out for a quality service for passengers and crew,'' said Jeroen de Clerq, SEA's CEO.
Responsible for the reliable operation of technologically complex, high-ticket equipment, it's no wonder aviation maintenance managers quickly embraced the personal computer as a critical tool. Today, a hangar without a computer and Internet connection is a rarity. Manuals are available in electronic format; parts can be ordered online; there are software programs to help plan and schedule maintenance. Moreover, most new aircraft have a data port to download flight and maintenance information.
Lufthansa Technik, Hamburg, Germany named Andreas Meisel to succeed Wolfgang Gohde as senior vice president of the company's Aircraft Overhaul and VIP Jet Services. Gohde was named managing director of Lufthansa Systems.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp. developed a landing light status annunciator that informs helicopter pilots whether their aircraft's landing light is on or off. The unit also displays LDG LT FAIL if the landing light is not working, regardless of the landing light switch position. The annunciator is designed as a plug-in replacement for the existing landing light relay on the Bell 206 and other helicopters. Safe Flight's unit will allow operators to avoid aircraft rewiring required for Bell 206 replacement relays under a pending Bell service bulletin.
The proud history of Dornier, founded in 1910, could be at an end. An auction began March 7 of what remains of the company's inventory, including the only 728 airframe completed. German insolvency practitioner Pluta has been appointed by the district court at Oberfaffenhofen to look after the affairs of AvCraft Aerospace GmbH, a German successor company, closely involved with the turboprop and jet versions of the 328 commuter aircraft, and closely connected with the U.S. company of the same name. Most of the 345 employees have been laid off.
Large-format screens with enhanced graphics capabilities, like these Rockwell Collins Reconfigurable Flight Displays, are enabling engineers to present more information to the pilot in a fully integrated, readily identifiable fashion. The more intuitive the displays become, the greater the flight crews' situational awareness. ``With the capability we currently have with today's electronic displays, we now have to ask the question, since we can do anything with these instruments, what should we do?''
Flight Display Systems, Alpharetta, Ga., appointed Tom Austin Jr. as company president. Austin is responsible for driving sales, support and production operations of the company's cabin entertainment offerings.
Bombardier unveiled plans to change to a common engine for the CRJ700 and CRJ900. The CF34-8C5B1, a derated sibling to the CF34-8C5 engine used in the CRJ900, will give CRJ700 operators ``savings up to 15 percent in engine maintenance costs over 15 years,'' as lower thrust levels translate into extended time in service before overhaul and longer life of engine parts. The company also said it would offer a new long-range model of the 70- to 78-seat CRJ700.
It's a classic recipe that's been cooked up for millions of years. In March and April, strong and swift Northern Pacific cold fronts typically sweep across the Rockies, rushing into the Midwest at 600-plus miles per day. Ahead of the cold fronts, warm and wet air masses from the Gulf of Mexico move northward on a collision course. When the powerful wedge of the cold front rams under the warm, humid air, the big three ingredients -- lifting, moisture and instability -- come together in a violent mix.
In the March B&CA we stated that Marquis Jet is ``offering cards for either a Citation Excel/Hawker 800XP or Citation X/Citation Excel combination'' (Intelligence, page18 ). That information is incorrect. It should have read ``The company is offering cards for either a Citation Excel/Hawker 400XP or Citation X/Citation Excel combination.
The flight training department of fractional provider Flight Options, and the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, are collaborating on an aircraft deicing training video focused on business aircraft. The training video will feature Flight Options crewmembers deicing their aircraft at the company's headquarters in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County Airport and will stress the importance of proper aircraft deicing training.
Lufthansa launched a partnership with NetJets to provide executive jet connections to and from the airline's hub at Munich, Germany. The deal was signed in March by Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber and NetJets Chairman and CEO Richard Santulli. Lufthansa Private Jet will start up with six months of flight market tests, targeting a select group of Lufthansa first- and business-class passengers.
Despite the dramatic downturn in 50-seat regional jet orders, Bombardier and Embraer have hit new delivery milestones. The Canadian manufacturer delivered its 1,000th CRJ while its Brazilian rival delivered the 900th aircraft from its ERJ 135/145 family.
The Civil Air Patrol recently unveiled a hyperspectral imaging system that it said will help aircraft identify objects as small as one meter in size from half a mile in the air. It said the system, called ARCHER -- for Airborne Real-Time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance -- will increase CAP's effectiveness in search and rescue, disaster relief and homeland security missions. CAP, the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, said the system is the first fully operational large-scale hyperspectral imager in the United States.
The FAA ordered Platinum Jet Management to ``immediately cease and desist operating as an air carrier.'' The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company was operating a Challenger 600 that ran off the runway Feb. 2 at Teterboro Airport, collided with a passing car and smashed into a brick building. The agency took action after determining that Platinum was operating charters without an air carrier certificate or approved operations specification. The government claims Platinum entered into a ``charter management agreement'' with AlphaJet International, Inc.
FAA officials are recommending that an industry-based Joint Steering Committee examine accidents involving turbine-powered business aircraft to determine whether there are common themes in those crashes that could be addressed through application of best industry practices. Senior agency officials met on Feb. 19 with several industry leaders to discuss steps the industry could take to increase safety. The FAA officials stressed that they were not initiating rulemaking but were interested in identifying practices that could be promoted throughout the industry.
Kohlman Systems Research recently completed its 200th RVSM test flight -- on a Sabre 40 aircraft for Sabreliner Corp. The flight-testing specialist said that although it flew its first RVSM approval flight in 1997, the company performed over half of them in the last two years, averaging one per week since the beginning of 2002.
Rolls-Royce delivered the 500th AE 3007C-series engine to Cessna for the Wichita airplane maker's Citation X jet. Cessna launched the Citation X program in 1990, and the aircraft entered service in 1996. Originally powered by two 6,442-pound-thrust AE 3007C engines, the Citation X was certified to operate at 0.92 Mach. In 2002, Cessna upgraded the Citation X with AE 3007C1 engines, rated at 6,764 pounds of thrust, improving takeoff performance by 5 percent and enhancing climb performance at altitudes of 5,000 feet through 25,000 feet.
Even though one of the first tasks taught to maintenance trainees is how to correctly tighten fasteners using a torque wrench, it doesn't hurt to review helpful tips passed down by generations of technicians. Apply torque to the nut, not the bolt. On rare occasions you will have to torque a bolt head; the torque value is usually higher than an equivalent nut. Apply smooth and steady torque; don't crank on the wrench.
The NTSB is investigating whether freezing precipitation near Pueblo, Colo., was responsible for the fatal crash of a Cessna Citation 560 that claimed the lives of all eight people aboard. The accident aircraft was one of two Citations carrying Circuit City employees and vendor representatives from Richmond, Va., to Santa Ana, Calif. The airplanes had made one fuel stop in Columbia, Mo., and were planning to refuel in Pueblo.
Edward W. Stimpson, former GAMA president and U.S. ambassador to ICAO, accepted the post of chairman of the Flight Safety Foundation board of governors, succeeding former NTSB Chairman Carl Vogt. Stimpson noted that he had worked with the foundation while at ICAO, most recently on the issue of criminal prosecution after aircraft accidents. ``One of my main motivations for coming to the Foundation was the possibility to continue the types of safety-related work I was doing at ICAO, which focuses on governments, but in a nonprofit environment.
The U.S. Air Force ended Boeing's 20-month suspension from space launch competitions on March 4, opening the way for the company to compete with Lockheed Martin Corp. for the next Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract, which likely will cover 18 to 24 launches and be awarded in 2006.
PrivatAir added seven aircraft to its fleet of managed airplanes since the beginning of the year. The new additions include: a Learjet 55, a Falcon 2000, a Hawker 400XP and a King Air 350 based at the company's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility, a Falcon 900EX in Denver, and a Falcon 900EX and a Learjet 60 based in Teterboro, N.J. The company now manages more than 50 aircraft ranging from turboprops to a Boeing 757, operating out of bases in Europe and the United States. The company also operates three Boeing Business Jets and four Airbus A319s.
