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| AVflash! Signs of Life in the Economy | back to top |  |
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Business Aviation Picking Up In Boston
The business aviation sector got some positive press from the mainstream media this week when The Boston Globe reported that corporate jet activity was up by 7 percent in 2010 at Hanscom Field, a small GA airport close to the city. Bill Herp, president of Linear Air, said his business doubled in 2010 compared to the year before. Herp charters four Eclipse jets out of the field, charging about $1,500 an hour. Rectrix Aviation, another local charter company, said business was up 15 percent, and they hired three pilots and added a jet to their fleet in September. The number of jets based at Hanscom has increased by a third in the last three years, and the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the field, is planning to expand.
"We have a waiting list of aircraft that want to come into Hanscom," Massport executive director Thomas Kinton told the Globe. Plans call for 400,000 square feet of new hangar space, plus expanding a current 18,000-square-foot hangar to three times its size. The project may face opposition from neighbors, however, who have challenged the FAA's expansion plans in court, saying that local historical sites and a wildlife refuge will be adversely affected by added traffic. Neighbors have challenged aviation activities in the area in the past, even filing lawsuits against individual pilots who they said were practicing noisy aerobatic maneuvers too close to homes. |
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| G1000 Going to Europe | back to top | |
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Garmin G1000 For King Air Gets EASA Approval
Hawker Beechcraft's King Air twin turboprop continues to be a popular airplane around the world, and now European owners of the 200 and B200 models can retrofit their cockpit with the Garmin G1000 panel. "Receiving EASA validation is an important milestone for Garmin's G1000 retrofit program, and we believe it will be a popular avionics upgrade for owners and operators," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. The panel installation creates a weight savings of 200 pounds. It includes one 15-inch multi-function display and two 10.4-inch primary flight displays. The retrofit already is FAA-approved for the C90 and 200 series King Airs, and Garmin says it should also get the FAA OK later this year for the 300 and 350 series.
The G1000 installation on the King Air 200/B200 includes a three-axis automatic flight control system, coupled space-based augmentation system approaches, terrain awareness and warning system, and dual integrated solid-state attitude and heading reference systems. The STC also includes approval for Garmin's synthetic vision technology. Available as an option is a ChartView feature that overlays the aircraft's position on an electronic version of Jeppesen's charts and airport diagrams. The G1000 is the standard panel for Cessna's Citation Mustang jets. |
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| Flying in Asia? Maybe Taiwan Can Be Your Charter | back to top | |
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Taiwan Government Starts Charter Service
The Taiwanese government has entered the business jet charter business. The government-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC) flew its maiden flight last Saturday from Taichung City in the interior of the island state to Kinmen Island, off its coast. The company is using Astra SP aircraft it imported in 2000. The company hopes to run both domestic and international charters and has set its sights Hong Kong, Macau, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila. The big plum in the Taiwanese charter business is behind a geopolitical roadblock.
By far the most lucrative routes for the state-run company and other private interests that might be interested would be hops to China, which, despite the tense relationship between them, is Taiwan's most important trading partner. As we reported in November, a Taiwanese start-up, Win Air, has put a G550 in service and is the first privately owned charter company to operate in the country. It too, is hoping diplomatic relations between the two governments will allow direct private flights over the strait. |
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| Getting Around Gets Easier in India, Too | back to top | |
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Seaplane Service Started In India
It seems like every aspect of Indian aviation is in a growth mode and a new service was added last week. The first seaplane service to the Indian islands of Andaman and Nicobar has been launched using a Cessna 208B on amphib floats. And, like a lot of Indian aviation enterprises, it will rely heavily on foreign pilots and other personnel to stay afloat. There is only one Indian pilot who has flown the Caravan and none have flown it on floats. A couple of American pilots will keep it island hopping while the company starting the service, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd., finds and trains locals to get their feet wet. The Indian government is pretty enthusiastic about the venture and predicts a big future for seaplane service.
In a media event hosted at Mumbai Airport, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told those present that tourism is growing by leaps and bounds on the islands off the coast of India and the market for seaplane service should grow. "The Centre is permitting 100% foreign direct investment in this sector and service providers like PHHL should float a subsidiary to run a fleet of seaplanes," Patel said, "We want to see PHHL emerge as a 500-aircraft entity." |
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| The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is You! | back to top | |
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AVweb's Newstips Address ...
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Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 200,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips
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| Opinion & Commentary | back to top | |
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AVweb Insider Blog: FlightPrep Responds
FlightPrep's enforcement of its patent on online flight planning has created a lot of discussion. AVweb had some questions we felt went unanswered, but FlightPrep's Travis Cannon joins us as a guest blogger on the AVweb Insider with responses.
Read more and join the conversation.
AVweb Insider Blog: The Bottom Line
Could there be more to the bottom line than just money? In the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, Mary Grady looks at a new initiative aiming to recognize that profit is not the only worthwhile measure of success, especially when it comes to retaining students in flight schools and getting them through the program and into certification.
Read more and join the conversation.
AVweb Insider Blog: Flight Plan Fumbles
Are flight plans more trouble than they're worth? They can be, as Paul Bertorelli was recently reminded. If FSS has ever dropped your VFR flight plan or failed to close it when you ask, check out Paul's latest misadventure on the AVweb Insider blog.
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| AVweb Media: Look, Listen, Laugh and Learn | back to top | |
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Video: 757 Overrun Video Ignites Pilot SpeculationOriginal, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos Video shot by a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 2253 as it overran Runway 19 at Jackson Hole, Wednesday, shows unusual operation of the aircraft's systems, according to some pilots. The 6,300-foot runway sits at an elevation of 6,451 feet and the pilots landed in light snow at about 11:37 a.m. About seven inches of snow had fallen in the area since midnight, but the runway itself was reportedly in good condition with good braking coefficients. The aircraft appears to be on the ground prior to passing the PAPI lights and wind sock, which would be appropriate. In the video, the engine's thrust reverser panel first moves just after touchdown, but it does not fully open and the outboard spoilers are not visibly deployed. Because of that, things quickly get more interesting. A full ten seconds after touchdown, the thrust reverser panel moves from barely open to closed. The thrust reverser panel does not begin to reopen, this time fully, until approximately seven seconds later, 17 seconds after touchdown. The engines do not appear to spool up until roughly ten seconds after that. That means the 757 rolls on the runway for 27 seconds before the reversers appear amply engaged. It departs the end of the runway roughly nine seconds later. Pilots who claim to be familiar with the 757 have left comments in professional pilot forums online stating that the thrust reversers on the 757 can sometimes refuse to engage. Others have speculated that a hydraulic problem or a problem with the Boeing's air/ground logic system could have prevented the spoilers, reversers and, most important, the brakes from working properly. For this flight, no one was injured and the aircraft came to rest in packed snow, and still on its gear, about 350 feet beyond the runway overrun area. The NTSB is working the case and should have good cockpit voice and flight data recorder information already in hand. And we'll know if blame will be placed primarily with the crew, with the aircraft, or both.
Video: IFR Magazine Shows You How to Use a GPS for NDB-Only ApproachesOriginal, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos You can't legally fly an NDB approach in the clouds using a GPS unless it says "or GPS" in the title. But there's nothing that says you can't practice VFR what it's like to fly an approach with a bearing pointer and no moving maps. Come along with IFR magazine editor-in-chief Jeff Van West and see how to make your glass cockpit (or portable GPS) go retro to fly an old-school NDB approach just for the fun and proficiency of it.
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| Who's Where | back to top | |
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Who's Where? You Tell UsGet 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. |
| Names Behind the News | back to top | |
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Meet the AVwebBiz TeamAVwebBiz 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.
The AVwebBiz team is:
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