This is not a paper aircraft as our competitors contend,'' said a confident Louis P. Bartolotta, managing director for the joint venture between Bell Helicopter and Agusta. In mid-September, the second production AB139 was delivered to the government of Namibia, which plans to use it for utility and emergency medical transportation. The first customer AB139 was delivered in December 2003 to Elilario, an Italian helicopter public transport company.
Gulfstream's three latest aircraft, the large-cabin G350 and G450 pair and the new midsize G150, are the focus of the company's attention for the near future. FAA approval for the G450 was awarded on Aug. 12, with entry into service scheduled for second quarter 2005. The G350 is proceeding on track and just a few steps behind the G450, with FAA approval expected before the end of the year. Customer deliveries should start in autumn 2005.
Israel Aircraft Industries says it is injecting cash and resources into the Aviation Technology Group (ATG) Javelin two-seat light jet project, and will modify, market and produce the airplane for military training applications. IAI president and CEO Moshe Keret and ATG CEO George Bye declined to put a number on IAI's new equity stake in ATG, but Bye defined it as a ``generous'' minority share. IAI is also assigning engineers to help ATG certificate the Javelin.
``Like emergency room physicians, pilots possess an uncanny ability to `non-react,' which is one trait that sets them apart.'' So says Dr. Robert Rose, an industrial psychologist whose company, Rose Consulting, works with companies to strategize in testing and profiling to identify people with optimum traits for specific jobs.
Honeywell, as well as AlliedSignal and Garrett-AiResearch before it, has been in the engine retrofit, modification and upgrade business for nearly three decades, so the firm's business managers are savvy about what goes into a successful engine modernization program. Almost all of these programs have enhanced the resale value of the candidate aircraft, but not all by the amount of the initial investment by customers.
Universal Avionics Systems Corp.'s recently certified, high-definition EFI-890R primary display unit was the headliner at the company's NBAA booth in the Las Vegas Convention Center. John Hamby, new marketing and communications manager for the Tucson, Ariz.-based company, said most of the attention and briefings dealt with the 8.9-inch diagonal EFI-890R, which can be used as either a primary flight display (PFD) or navigation display (ND). The EFI-890R is targeted for the retrofit market, hence the R suffix.
Max-Viz, a Portland, Ore.-based maker of enhanced vision systems, has received an STC for the installation of its EVS-1000 on the Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop. The STC was completed and is owned by Western Aircraft of Boise, Idaho, one of six authorized Pilatus sales and service centers in the United States. The kit is available to customers through all authorized Pilatus service centers worldwide.
In the evolution of its business jet product line, Embraer is said to be considering aircraft both larger and smaller than the ERJ 135-based Legacy. But Marco Tulio Pellegrini, the company's market intelligence senior manager for corporate aircraft, says it's too soon to decide which way to go.
Gulfstream has selected Thales Avionics' Integrated Electronic Standby Instrument for the Gulfstream G150 business aircraft. Introduced in 1997, Thales' IESI provides the standby functions of aircraft attitude, airspeed and altitude, integrating three instruments into a single unit. Equipped with an active-matrix liquid crystal display, the IESI has already been selected for the Bombardier CRJ family, the Global family, the Bombardier Q400 turboprop airliner, and by Embraer, Boeing and Airbus.
CAE launched a pilot training program for the Embraer Legacy business aircraft at CAE's Phoenix training facility on the Arizona State University campus in Mesa, Ariz., where CAE operates an Embraer ERJ145 full-flight simulator. The program incorporates CAE Simfinity simulation-based classroom training aids that enable instructors to provide operationally oriented training. Recurrent pilot training, a four- to five-day program, began in May, while initial pilot training, 21 days in length, is scheduled to begin immediately.
Cessna will equip its single-engine aircraft with AMSAFE Aviation's Aviation Inflatable Restraint (AAIR) air bag system beginning in 2005. The air bags will be standard equipment in the pilot and copilot seats of all new Skyhawks, Skylanes and Stationairs. They are available for retrofit on existing Cessna singles through an STC.
The Helicopter Association International (HAI) is promoting its VerticalGateway.com, an open-source technology Web-hosting service subscribers can use to create and maintain Web sites using only a browser and Internet connection from anywhere in the world. Users can customize their sites through the Web with design, layout, colors and text options. Since most of the work is preprogrammed, VerticalGateway.com users need only to add content. The HAI Web-hosting team will set up accounts, help users get started and provide ongoing technical support.
Radius to Fix (RF) legs are the future for precise, repeatable flight-tracks, whether those tracks are departures, emergency OEI procedures, en route tracks, STARS, or especially, instrument approach procedures. Fly-by (FB) and fly-over (FO) waypoints for course changes are the ``NDBs'' of LNAV operations. Some day, hopefully sooner than later, all LNAV procedures will consist only of track-to-fix (TF) legs for straight segments, and RF legs for turning (or curved) segments.
Another operator will offer long-haul, all-business-class comfort for corporate flyers. Italy's Eurofly, a Milan-based airline, will launch flights to New York next summer. Eurofly intends to acquire an A319LR, configured for 48 seats, to start the service in June 2005. The airline aims to operate its A319LR service six days a week, from Monday to Saturdays. That equals an annual utilization of some 4,000 flight hours.
Even though the GAMA and NBAA boards have been meeting over the past month to discuss ways the associations can improve cooperation and coordination, the two groups have no plans to merge. Rockwell Collins and GAMA Chairman Clay Jones said at the NBAA Convention, ``The only thing we have decided is to continue working together.'' He noted that the associations have a long history of cooperation, and that both have benefited from their informal relationship -- particularly in lobbying efforts.
Fred McIntosh, who served for nearly 20 years in the NBAA's Operations Department, died in October. Instrumental in procuring the Small Aircraft Exemption for NBAA members operating aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds, McIntosh received the NBAA Staff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. A pioneer in noise abatement for the business aviation community, he also was the first recipient of the Flight Safety Foundation's Business Aviation Meritorious Award in 1975.
A palpable atmosphere of optimism permeated the 2004 NBAA Annual Meeting and Convention in Las Vegas, Oct. 12-14, which drew over 31,000 registrants and a record 1,000-plus exhibitors. Industry veterans and newbies alike charged the million-square-foot display halls with energy and went forth to slay the dragons of despond. The rumored divestiture of Learjet by Bombardier was contemptuously dismissed by Bombardier executives as they presented yet another new model Lear.
Honeywell Aerospace's 13th annual Business Aviation Outlook projects continuing demand for new business aircraft, with customers expecting to purchase more than 8,300 jets valued at more than $131 billion for the period 2004-2014. The outlook projects sustained near-term sales for traditional business aircraft, which it defines as those with a gross takeoff weight under 100,000 pounds. The survey indicates continued recovery in delivery levels over the next 12 to 18 months, based on the current U.S.
The forecasts hold good news for more than OEMs. The Rolls-Royce forecast noted that although 38 percent of the current fleet is more than 20 years old, while nearly 23,000 aircraft will be delivered over the next 20 years, only about 4,000 will be retired over the same period -- good news for fuel, services and maintenance providers.
London City Airport's corporate traffic has grown so fast that plans to expand LCY's Executive Jet Center have been moved up by three years. ``Executive Jet Center business is now 10 percent of LCY's annual business. Three years ago it was 1 percent, and in the next three years we expect it to grow to 20 percent. Aircraft movements will exceed 7,000 this year, three years ahead of our own business plan,'' said LCY Managing Director Richard Gooding.
On Oct. 15 the FAA awarded Cessna full type certification for the Model 525B Citation CJ3. Cessna President Jack Pelton said, ``We know this airplane will amaze customers.'' The CJ3 incorporates improvements made to the Citation CJ2, plus it has a longer cabin, new Williams International FJ44-3A engines and an advanced fully integrated Collins avionics system. Certified for single-pilot operation, the aircraft has a maximum cruise speed of 417 knots at 33,000 feet.
Avidyne received TSO approval for the XM WX Satellite Weather and Heads Up Technologies XM receiver interface for its FlightMax Entegra display systems. The addition of XM Satellite Weather gives FlightMax customers access to high-speed updates of high-resolution NEXRAD, graphical and plain English METARs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs and TFRs. In addition, the service provides lightning data from the National Lightning Detection Network while operating over the continental United States.
Value in a business airplane is based primarily upon range, speed and cabin divided by price. Guess which light jet out scores most others in value? Israel Aircraft Industries' Westwind 1124 series aircraft, manufactured between 1976 and 1985, can be purchased for $1 million to $2 million, depending upon age, hours and condition.
In ``Hot-and-High Required Climb Performance'' (B/CA, July, page 66), Fred George noted that FAA instrument departure procedures in no way account for engine inoperative takeoff and climb performance. To take that point further, FAA instrument departure procedures provide a constant climb gradient, but there's no requirement for the pilot to meet it. There are two general types of FAA instrument departure procedures: the Standard Instrument Departure (SID) and Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODP), known for many years as IFR Departure Procedures.
WHILE THE REST OF THE NATION was focused on the Nov. 2 elections, aviation insiders were anticipating a three-day meeting near Dulles International Airport that will go a long way toward setting the operating rules for commercial aviation for years to come.
