Since its founding in 1984, Milwaukee-based Midwest Express has stressed in-flight service, meals on chinaware, and legroom, while most other airlines systematically cut all three. Now, while many airlines are scaling back plans for fleet expansion, Midwest Express has placed an order for four new Fairchild Dornier 328JETS with options for an additional 10 aircraft. The aircraft will be operated by Skyway Airlines, Midwest Express' wholly-owned regional carrier. The value of the deal is as high as $177 million if all options are exercised.
Jetflite in Helsinki, Finland, placed a Citation Excel in JAR OPS-1 charter service in October with a factory-new aircraft managed by the company. Jetflite's charter fleet also includes a Challenger 604, three Falcon 20Fs and a King Air 200. Jetflite's Web site is www.jetflite.fi.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) decision to extend its disaster relief loans nationwide came as welcome news to small aviation businesses ravaged by weeks of airspace restrictions stemming from the September 11 terrorist attacks. The program allows eligible businesses to apply for up to $1.5 million in loans at an interest rate of four percent over a maximum term of 30 years. The SBA set a January 21, 2002 deadline for loan applications. It previously limited the loans only to declared disaster areas -- New York and Washington, D.C.
Privatair Group CEO David C. Hurley, a longtime pilot and business aviation executive, has been elected to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's board of directors. An ATP-rated pilot with 15,000 hours flight time, Hurley founded flight Services Group in 1984. The Stratford, Conn.-based company was acquired by Geneva-based PrivatAir, S.A. in late 2000. Hurley also has held senior positions with Cessna and helped launch the Canadair Challenger program.
Alliance Scale has introduced a fully portable and remote aircraft-weighing scale system. The RW-Series Model features cast aluminum construction, one-inch LCD and battery operation with an AC adapter/charger. It comes in 10,000- and 20,000-pound capacities and is accurate to one percent of the aircraft's total weight. The system also has digital filtering to compensate for vibrations and can operate for 20 hours on a single charge. As a safety feature, the scales are designed to handle a 150-percent overload and come in single- and double-width versions.
Newport News/Williamsburg, Va., International Airport (PHF) has received an additional $7.7 million in Airport Improvement Progra, funds from the FAA to expedite completion of ramps and taxiways for the Aviation World's Fair to be held there in April 2003.
Edited by David RimmerBy Kerry Lynch, in Washington, D.C.
The FAA launched a formal investigation into the ``legality of the Naples Airport Authority's ban on Stage 2 aircraft'' at Florida's Naples Municipal Airport, jeopardizing the airport's eligibility for federal funding.
More than five years after a ValuJet DC-9 crashed into the Florida Everglades killing 110 people, the remaining civil and criminal charges against SabreTech are close to being adjudicated in the courts.
``On September 11, 2001, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the crash in Shanksville, Pa., changed our lives. The effect of these tragic events had a tremendous impact on the aviation insurance market. ``Direct aviation underwriters and their reinsurers are faced with what will probably be the largest loss in history. For the insurance market to recover, the entire aviation industry will feel the impact of rate increases.''
Six universities will research computerized small-area weather and chemical/biological material spread forecasting under a $34 million award from the Army High Performance Computer Research Center (AHPCRC). The University of North Dakota (Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences), the University of Minnesota, Clark Atlanta University, Howard University, Jackson State University and Florida A&M will team on the eight-year program using the AHPCRC's advanced computer resources, which include a Cray T3E-1200 supercomputer and IBM RS6000s.
Fairchild Dornier's Envoy 3 Corporate Shuttle is business aviation for the masses. Even though this aircraft's cruise speed seldom tops 400 KTAS, when compared to traveling by airlines, it can shave hours off trips.
John, the director of maintenance, needed a technician who could troubleshoot and repair wiring problems in the company's Gulfstream III. He already had an engine specialist, a sheet-metal guru and an all-around mechanic.
TAG Aviation has added two more aircraft to its charter fleet: a Falcon 900 based in Carlsbad, Calif., and a Citation X in Denver. TAG has more than 150 aircraft at more than 50 bases available for charter.
Indigo Air, the Chicago-based operator that promised to ``combine the best aspects of private and commercial aviation'' is regrouping and planning a major expansion almost 18 months after commencing service.
Nav Canada plans to implement 1,000-foot Reduced Vertical Separation Minima (RVSM) in the country's Northern Domestic Airspace effective April 18, 2002. RVSM will be effective from FL 290 to FL 410 inclusive from 57N to the North Pole. The transition airspace will extend from 52N to 57N. ``With the forecast of increased traffic in northern Canadian airspace, including the Polar Routes, the aspects of airspace capacity and operator economies will only become more significant,'' Nav Canada said.
Photograph: John Rosanvallon The new French entry in the transatlantic ``super jet'' derby has been christened. Gone for good is FNX, the temporary moniker Dassault assigned to its new top-of-the-line business jet. Henceforth, business aviation's first fly-by-wire aircraft will be known as the Dassault Falcon Jet 7X.
The Vision Awards program was not yet a year old when business aviation was confronted by the most severe challenges in its history. The consequences the September 11 terrorist attacks had on our aviation segment were immediate and draconian: all flights were grounded by federal edict. Most flying was subsequently restored, but not to its former level of freedom and anonymity. Those may never be fully restored.
Quiet Flight has introduced a headrest-mounted speaker box for installation on Raytheon King Air aircraft that is designed for use with its electronic cabin anti-noise system. The manufacturer claims that after multiple in-aircraft test flights, the headrest unit has proven itself effective on two-, three- or four-blade turboprop aircraft. In addition, recent changes in the design have cut installation time to approximately a day and a half. The system is designed to neutralize the propeller/exhaust noise enveloping the pilot's body, not just the sounds at the ear.
An EFIS retrofit is available for the Malibu Mirage. Meggitt obtained the STC for a single-side installation with the support of New Piper Aircraft. The Mirage STC installs a MAGIC Primary Flight Display and a navigation display in the pilot's instrument panel replacing six electromechanical instruments. Integral to the MAGIC system is a solid-state ADAHRS (Air Data Attitude Heading Reference System) sensor package that replaces the vertical and directional gyros that normally drive the flight instruments.
Edited by David RimmerBy David Rimmer Great Plains' Strategy: Hub-Bypass and Krispy Kremes
With only two Fairchild Dornier 328JETs and service to such disparate cities as Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Nashville and Colorado Springs, Great Plains Airlines is trying to prove that an independent regional carrier is viable in the world of hubs and code-shares.
Eclipse Aviation completed its move to new headquarters in Albuquerque, marking the transition of aircraft development and certification activities from Williams International in Walled Lake, Mich. Engine-maker Williams partnered with Eclipse on the new Eclipse 500 twin-jet, but was phasing out its participation in aircraft development. Eclipse transferred the engineering team to the new base at Sunport International Airport to join the sales, supply management, information technology, marketing and administration staffs.
Graseby Dynamics, a Smiths Industries company, has developed a lightweight chemical detector (LCD-3) for aircraft that alerts the crew if any nerve, blister, blood or choking agents are present. The unit can also detect Toxic Industrial Chemicals/Materials (TICS/TIMS) with a high degree of sensitivity. The unit detects the agents by drawing air in through a remotely mounted siphon, where it is ionized by a weak radioactive source. The molecules of certain types of agent vapors are characterized by their ability to form low-mobility ionic clusters.
The Dubai Air Wing operates two C-130 Hercules with special roll-on palletized Igloo VVIP interiors for Royal Flights. The aircraft, pictured at the recent Dubai International Airshow, is a C-130H-30, the other operated by the Wing is a Lockheed L-100-30. The -30 variant has a longer fuselage than the standard Hercules. Each aircraft can carry up to five of the linked air-conditioned and noise-dampened modules. Kitchen facilities as well as VIP seating are all part of the interchangeable modules.
A new Internet-based system will enable state and FAA airport inspectors to more quickly update airport safety data on the National Flight Center Database (NFDC), allowing the data to be more readily accessible by the aviation community. The old procedure required inspectors to mail their hard-copy inspection reports of safety data in the NFDC database. The data include operational information such as runway length, loading capacity, lighting and NAVAIDs, number of operations and based aircraft.
