Essentially maintenance insurance and assurance, these programs are designed to provide flight department managers with predictable costs based on the department's specific flight activity. Thus, they help the manager budget maintenance realistically. Program providers boast that enrolled aircraft fetch a premium when resold. While some maintenance managers say that their operation rarely requires un-scheduled or high-ticket item protection, others feel the reliability of certain airframes, components and powerplants warrants insurance.
The war-risk and terrorism insurance coverage market is softening. In the immediate wake of 9/11, underwriters throughout the world had exercised options written into their customers' policies to cancel existing war-risk coverage on seven days' notice. Then, after the problem was assessed, airlines, general aviation operators and FBOs were offered ``revised terms'' for reinstatement of war-risk physical damage and liability coverages -- with purchase of additional premiums.
Jet Aviation Dallas completed four RVSM installations on Citations recently: a Citation 525, two Citation 560s and a Citation 501. The 501 also received an avionics makeover, according to Jim Munsell, Jet's avionics manager. Jet installed TAWS, GPS, an ELT and a multifunction display, as well as performing the 501's Phase 1-5 inspection, Munsell said. Jet Aviation Dallas is an authorized Citation Service Center.
THIS IS A STORY ABOUT Jim and George and Terry and Fred. It is a true story -- I was there. Their last names are unimportant because they are all dead. They died tragically and unnecessarily because of stupidity. Jim and George were pilots of exceptional skill. They were employed by a West Coast company specializing in corporate jet sales. Terry was a fetching blonde, a former stewardess married to a Chicago executive. Fred was a photographer on his first assignment with the jet sales firm.
Sen. Ernest ``Fritz'' Hollings (D-S.C.), whom the AOPA describes as ``a hawk on security issues and a champion of general aviation,'' successfully offered an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill on July 10, directing the Department of Homeland Security to continue funding the 1-866-GA-SECURE Airport Watch hotline, the association reports. The AOPA partnered with the TSA (now part of the Homeland Security department) to create Airport Watch to report suspicious activities at any airport to the government-operated National Response Center.
Bombardier Skyjet, Fairfax, Va., has entered into a sponsorship agreement with 2002 NCAA golf champion Troy Matteson, who recently kicked off his professional golf career on the PGA Tour. Matteson will serve as an ``ambassador for the Bombardier Skyjet brand.''
Air Methods just keeps on adding to its portfolio of aero medical operations. It announced on July 8 that it has started operations in Augusta, Ga., and Tallahassee, Fla. The Augusta operation is based at a local hospital and covers the city and surrounding countryside. In the Florida capital, Air Methods, through its LifeNet division, contracted directly with Leon County to provide services after Tallahassee Memorial Hospital ceased its air ambulance operation.
Aviation Professionals Sharing Information (APSI), founded at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, N.Y., celebrated its first anniversary by holding its first regional meeting at Signature Flight Support's new facility in Morristown, N.J. (MMU), attracting attendees from Hawaii; California; Washington, D.C.; New York; and Ohio. In a show of corporate support, Signature, Sun Jets of Camarillo, Calif., and Million Air flew personnel into MMU for the June 25 meeting.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge recently outlined what happens after the president decides to raise the national threat level. ``We then give advance conference calls that I'm engaged in, to notify governors, state homeland security advisers and key mayors,'' Ridge told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in June. Simultaneously, the DHS begins notifying other federal, state and local agencies and the private sector via the FBI and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunication System (NLETS).
The U.S. Defense Department is launching a campaign to reduce aviation accidents and other types of mishaps by at least 50 percent over the next two years.
Harrods Aviation Limited announced that its expanded FBO at London Luton Airport is open for business. The facility has a bigger passenger lounge, private VVIP lounge, conference facilities, panoramic views over the ramp, covered drop-off area and additional car parking. Crews now have a dedicated airside lounge with the usual flight-planning amenities and Internet access. The crew lounge has direct access to operations and ramp staff. The facility's location allows push-back directly onto the taxiway.
IN ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIE scenes, a swashbuckling pirate is about to lead his friend into a dark morass of vegetation. The friend stops short and says, ``We can't go in there! It's the fireswamp! We will never come out alive!'' The pirate confidently replies, ``Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has.'' He slashes a vine with his sword, and they step into the darkness as the music sounds a dour note.
George F. ``Rick'' Adam, Jr. CEO, Adam Aircraft Industries, Englewood, Colo. Upon graduating from the U.S. Military Academy, Adam transferred to the Air Force, where he specialized in computers and space launches. After executive stints with IBM, Litton, FMC and Baxter Healthcare, he joined Goldman Sachs, where he headed information technology as a general partner. He went on to form his own software company and, in 1998, began Adam Aircraft. 1 Whatever possessed you to get into the airplane business?
NASA ``built'' a virtual perimeter taxiway around DFW Airport to test the impact on ground safety. DFW has set a record of more than one million runway crossings without a single incursion -- unprecedented for a major airport. Perhaps realizing that a perfect record is unsustainable, the airport management sees perimeter taxiways as a means to further enhance safety by reducing runway crossings. NASA, the FAA and DFW management set up a virtual reality demonstration of a set of perimeter taxiways.
Stevens Aviation, Greenville, S.C., promoted Jon Moldovan Sr. from manager to director of aircraft certifications, engineering and modifications. In his new role, he is responsible for modifications to aircraft structures, furnishings, systems and equipment in normal and transport aircraft. Moldovan joined Stevens in 1996 after 11 years employed by Raytheon Aerospace.
Like the NBAA and NATA, the AOPA is turning up the heat on security-related flight restrictions. The AOPA in a statement said, ``The time has passed for a dispassionate review.'' The association is calling on general aviation pilots to help make the case. It wants to hear from members about problems they've encountered trying to operate in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) or in any of the presidential movement TFRs. ``We will take these very real operational stories to the decision-makers.
THIS COLUMN HAS OFTEN SUNG the praises of air safety investigators, especially those working for the NTSB. Their hours are long; their pay is modest; and their working conditions can be abominable -- witness ValuJet in the Everglades or American Airlines in the Colombian jungle. The whole business of air accident investigation has become quite sophisticated. In the beginning, the investigations were conducted to determine whether the machine had failed or the pilot erred.
The Learjet 40, a truncated iteration of the Model 45 and which succeeds the Model 31 as Bombardier's entry-level business jet, received its U.S. type certification on July 11. The company said deliveries of the $7.7 million, 1,700- to 1,800-nm aircraft will begin in first quarter 2004.
John Wayne-Orange County Airport (SNA), in Santa Ana, Calif., signed a contract with Megadata to equip the facility with the company's PASSUR AirportMonitor, an Internet flight tracking and information system. ``Our residents, communities and customers have asked us to provide transparency, accuracy and convenience regarding information about the terminal airspace,'' John Wayne Airport Director Alan Murphy said, adding AirportMonitor provides that. John Wayne is the 10th airport nationwide to launch the system.
NATA also sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) outlining its concerns with the FAA's final rule implementing Domestic Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (DRVSM) as it impacts small charter operators. DRVSM involves operations in airspace between FL 290 and FL 410. In the letter, NATA President James K. Coyne noted that 64 percent of the turbine aircraft operated by on-demand carriers are at least 11 years old and are likely to be phased out of use in the next five to 10 years.
The FAA will become more influential on the DCA issue if the Aviation Security Technical Corrections and Improvement Act is enacted. That legislation (H.R.2144), includes a provision that would restore nonscheduled commercial flights to DCA under a new security program to be implemented by the Department of Homeland Security, the TSA's parent agency.
Heli-Dyne Systems, Inc., expanding its reach beyond helicopters, has upgraded and delivered a King Air 300 to a foreign military customer. The King Air completion included integration of a Wescam MX-20, a camera and forward-looking infrared system designed for long-range surveillance and intelligence-gathering applications. The project was completed in 2002, but the customer asked Heli-Dyne to delay announcement of the delivery for security reasons.
Panorama Flight Service at Westchester County Airport (HPN), White Plains, N.Y., has signed a three-year agreement with ChevronTexaco to sell avgas and Jet-A.
