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February 27, 2008
By The AVweb Editorial Staff
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Announcing the Online MBA for Aviation Professionals
from Daniel Webster College
Did you know that professionals with an MBA earn an average of $10,000 to $30,000 more per year? Within 27 months, you can be one of them!
Daniel Webster College MBA for Aviation Professionals is a fully-accredited, 100%-online program built for the busy schedule of the aviation professional. Being "on the road" is no
longer a barrier to career advancement. Call (866) 458-7525 or
click here for more
information. 
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The Russian government is poised to liberalize aviation regs and customs laws to make it easier for Russians to register their business aircraft in Russia. According to Russia Today, Russians spent $2.5 billion on private aircraft, almost all of them bizjets, last year but most are registered
elsewhere. Government spokesman Sergey Stepashin says that’s about to change but he didn’t specify when. “The rules for small aviation are not settled in Russia. The majority of planes
are registered abroad because of high customs fees. That’s why it’s now very important to change our aviation code, to make it possible to register a private business jet in Russia,” he
said. Meanwhile, with the industry expanding at 30 percent a year despite the laws, western companies are filling the market gaps.
Bombardier announced Tuesday that it had appointed Jet Aviation as its line maintenance facility at Vnukovo International Airport. The move means Challenger and Global model owners will be able to
get 24-hour service at the airport. ““Vnukovo airport is a strategically important location for the increasing number of Bombardier business aviation operators either based in or passing
through the region,” James Hoblyn, Bombardier spokesman said in a news release.
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Fly With Bose® Aviation Headset X™
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Quotes reprinted with permission: Professional Pilot, 2007 Headset Preference Survey, 12/07; Aviation Consumer, 8/07.
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DayJet has expanded its reach in the Southeast with the addition of Macon, Ga., Montgomery, Ala., and North Miami/Opa Locka Airports as “DayPorts”. The expansion brings to 10 the number of
hubs operated by the “per seat, on demand” service, which began flying in October. The company uses Eclipse 500 very light jets on its flights to 45 small and regional airports in five
southeastern states. According to the FAA’s aircraft registry DayJet now has 28
Eclipses. In a news release the company says its numbers validate
its business model.
CEO Ed Iacobucci said in the release that he’s luring passengers out of their cars and into the air since airlines are abandoning smaller markets and shorter flights for efficiency. The rapid
contraction of regional transportation options is causing many U.S. communities to become increasingly isolated,” said Ed Iacobucci, DayJet president and CEO. “Businesses in smaller
communities regularly miss economic development opportunities and suffer productivity losses because of this growing isolation.
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JA Air Center, Your Garmin GPSMap 496 Source, Is Looking to Purchase Used GPS Units, Avionics, and Aircraft
Call (800) 323-5966 for current value, with no purchase required. JA Air Center is your source for Garmin GPS and Avionics, including the popular GPSMap 496 with XM Weather, Terrain,
AOPA Airport Guide, Taxiway Database, and built-in StreetPilot Auto GPS.
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Call (800) 323-5966, or
click for more
information. 
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Air Partner has announced plans to build an upscale $14 million terminal and FBO at Biggin Hill Airport 14 miles from downtown London. Three other London-area airports, Farnborough, Luton and London
City, are at capacity for business jet traffic. “With other private-jet airports straining at the seams and turning away existing business, we have decided to consolidate our plans at Biggin
Hill,” David Savile, Air Partner’s chief executive told the Sunday
Times The facilities are expected to open next year.
Biggin Hill is famous for its role as an RAF base in the Battle of Britain but Savile said it’s been “something of a forgotten airport when it comes to corporate flying.” He said the
new development will change all that and noted that Biggin Hill has plenty of room for growth. Farnborough is permitted only 28,000 flights a year and weekend traffic is severely restricted (the
owners TAG Aviation are trying to change that) while Biggin Hill is licensed for 125,000 flights annually with no weekend restrictions.
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Mach 1 Headset by Lightspeed: Feather-Light at Less than an Ounce!
The "born to be worn" Mach 1 packs a lot for its size. Pilots have weighed in, and all agree the Mach 1 packs a lot of features into its feather-light design. A
high-performance in-the-ear (ITE) headset, the Mach 1 allows easy connection to cell phone and music interfaces. Enjoy supreme comfort with unbelievable noise attenuation.
For more information
and to view a video clip, click here. 
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 With more than $100 billion in orders booked at the Dubai air show last year, there were no signs of recession in the
business jet market, but Singapore's Air Show may tell a different tale for the airline industry. Early figures from the February 19-22 Singapore Air Show list orders at just over $10 billion -- much
lower than Dubai and significantly lower than analysts predictions of $15-$20 billion. With the Asian airline industry forecasted to boom, the discrepancy has analysts searching for answers. Some are
blaming the credit crisis, suggesting the global economy's impact on travel, or the airlines' difficulty in financing aircraft, may be forcing airlines to tie up more equity in aircraft purchases and
to adapt their financial strategies. Those factors may lead to a lull in purchases. Other factors affecting the slower-than-expected buying frenzy may include uncertainty in China and the United
States, where potential airline consolidations complicate aircraft purchase plans.
But in Asia an airliner buying spree has capacity set to expand by 8.8 percent in 2008, while demand is expected to rise by only 6.4 percent, according to The Economic Times. In the end, Airbus
said last week it expects orders for its aircraft this year to fall from last year's record of 1,341, landing this year closer to 700. Boeing does not give forecasts but expects plane orders from Asia
Pacific, alone, to top 8,300 in the next two decades.
 Canada's Bombardier is weighing customer interest in a planned 110- to 130-seat airliner, and considering the financial
influences that could see the final assembly of the CSeries take place in America. Global economic factors that currently have the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar as near equals could lead the
company to consider building a new plant in the United States, said Bombardier Aerospace President Pierre Beaudoin. The move could involve creation of as many as 2,500 jobs. First, however, Bombardier
is seeking firm orders before making a formal decision to move forward with the fly-by-wire, largely composite aircraft that aims for a 20-percent increase in fuel efficiency over current,
similar-capacity aircraft. With demonstrated interest, the company would expect to launch the CSeries program this year and bring the aircraft into service by 2013. ... And Bombardier may still decide
to do final assembly in Quebec, wing work in Northern Ireland and other manufacturing in Mexico. Bombardier has invested $145 million to research feasibility of the CSeries and believes neither Airbus
nor Boeing has expressed interest in developing similar aircraft anytime soon.
The development costs are currently projected at $2.5 billion with an overall cost of roughly $3.2 billion to include facilities and tooling. Bombardier would seek to split that cost between
governments, suppliers and Bombardier, itself. The company would hope to produce up to 230 CSeries aircraft per year with a list price of over $40 million per copy.
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Cessna Aircraft Company, the World's Largest General Aviation Manufacturer
Based on unit sales, Cessna Aircraft Company is the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes. In 2007, Cessna delivered 1,272 aircraft, including 387 Citation
business jets, and reported revenues of about $5 billion. Cessna has a current backlog of $12.6 billion. The global fleet of more than 5,100 Citations is the largest fleet of business
jets in the world.
More information
about Cessna Aircraft Company is available at Cessna.com. 
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Saving Lives — Just Another Day in the Jet
Charter Biz |
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As the stars and their entourages headed to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards a real-life melodrama was playing out in British Columbia and a corporate jet flew to the rescue. Officials with the B.C.
Transplant Society told the Globe and Mail that last Thursday when they tried to charter a jet from any of 11 companies that normally provides the service, they were told none was available. "As a
result of the Oscars going on in California, all of the [charter] jets had been spoken for," Bill Barrable, executive director of B.C. Transplant told the newspaper. "We were in a situation where we
could not secure a jet in the tight time frame that we needed to." At stake were seven organs ready for harvest from a man who had died in a rural town several hundred miles from Vancouver, where
seven patients were awaiting life-saving or life-enhancing transplants. So Barrable called his friend and former college mate Robert McFarlane, the CFO of Telus, a large Canadian telecommunications
company, and the firm’s Citation was on the way within an hour.
Organs must be harvested and then transplanted within hours for them to function successfully. Thanks to the Telus jet, which the company provided for free, the transplant team was able to harvest
the organs and have them working in the seven grateful patients in time. Brian Parsons, a 43-year-old firefighter from Vernon, B.C., got the donor’s heart and said he hopes to soon return to the
active job and life he enjoyed before his own heart became enlarged. "It was just one of those things where timing was not its best and all the jets not being available. ... I'm so grateful because I
know the outcome could have been very different," he said.
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Join NAA and Help Shape the Next Century of Flight
It's a great time to join the National Aeronautic Association ( NAA), the nation's oldest aviation organization. At $39 a year, NAA membership is a terrific value for any aviation
enthusiast! Members receive the Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine, plus access to aviation records, product discounts, and much more. Call (703) 527-0226 to become an NAA member,
or
sign up
online. 
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Acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell told delegates attending the annual HAI Heli Expo in Houston that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) will be up and running for helicopters
servicing offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico (and any other aircraft properly equipped) by the end of next year. Sturgell said the system designed by ITT is currently being evaluated and
that’s the last step before oil platforms are equipped with the gear to make the ground portion of the system work. Houston Center will get responsibility for using the ADS-B information to
separate traffic in the Gulf, which doesn’t have radar coverage.
Because of the lack of radar coverage, controllers have maintained 20 miles of separation (based on position reports) between aircraft. ADS-B will allow much closer separation limits while
increasing safety and efficiency. Oil companies and helicopter companies are facilitating the installation of the equipment by flying crews to the platforms where space and power are being donated for
the equipment.
A Virginia helicopter pilot will try to set a record for flying a helicopter around the world by making the 19,865 nm flight in 14 days. Scott Kasprowicz set a record for flying from New York to Los
Angeles earlier this year (15:09.10 with six fuel stops) in his AgustaWestland Grand. The trip will be made in a factory-standard Grand, with no range or speed modifications. “No team has tried
to set the around the world record like this before and we're excited about both the challenges and the rewards of such an attempt," Kasprowicz said.
Kasprowicz made the announcement with AgustaWestland officials at Heli-Expo 2008 in Houston. They said the combination of speed and efficiency of the Grand is making the flight possible without
extra gear. "We have complete confidence that the Grand will showcase the full extent of its performance capabilities during this record setting flight," said AgustaWestland spokesman Lou
Bartolotta.
Helicopter Association International says a total of 17,373 people attended Heli-Expo in Houston from Sunday to Tuesday, setting a new record and leaving the record number of exhibitors tired but
happy. A total of 573 companies displayed their wares at the event and there were 65 helicopters on the showroom floor, which covered 252,700 sq. ft. But it wasn’t all about ogling the shiny
stuff on the floor. Many participants left with an education and some had new jobs. At least 600 people took part in Helicopter Foundation International’s Professional Education Series and the
Heli-Expo job fair brought 800 jobseekers together with 35 employers.
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Dual Antenna Traffic Systems Simply Perform Better
Avidyne's dual-antenna TAS600 Systems detect other aircraft sooner and more accurately, avoiding the shadowing effects inherent with single-antenna systems. TAS600s actively interrogate other
aircraft, providing timely alerts and precise locations of conflicting traffic. Starting at just $9,990, the dual-antenna TAS600 provides full-time protection and higher performance. When it comes
to safety, you want to see the whole picture.
Go online for
details. 
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NEW HAI EXECUTIVES
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| HAI |
Helicopter Association International announced its new board of directors at its annual Heli-Expo, which ended Tuesday. They are: Christopher Erickson, Chief Repair Station Office/Compliance,
Erickson Air-Crane; Gale Wilson, President, Hillcrest Aircraft Company, Inc.; and Ardis T. Ashton Jr., Transportation Policy Manager, Bonneville Power Administration-Aircraft Services. The new
members of the executive committee of the Board of Directors are Patrick Corr, Chairman; Mark Gibson, Vice Chairman; David Chevalier, Treasurer; and Art Ashton, Assistant Treasurer.
Get a promotion or a new job? Your colleagues want to know about it, and AVwebBiz can get the word out. Drop us a line about the staff
appointment, with a nice recent photo, and we'll do our best to include it in our new section, "Who's Where." The items will be permanently archived on AVweb for future reference,
too.
More...
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AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.
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Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli
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Glenn Pew
Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings
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takes us inside the Falcon 7X.
