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| AVflash! Inside the USAF's Light Air Contract | back to top |  |
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Hawker Beech Ramps Up Fight With Air Force
Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture vowed the company will fight vigorously to overturn an Air Force decision to exclude its AT-6B from the bidding for a light air support platform. "We won't go away quietly," Boisture said in an interview. In a podcast interview with AVweb he said his company has sold hundreds of aircraft to the Department of Defense and it has never handled a bid in the way the LAS competition was dealt with. He said the DOD constantly changed bid criteria and processes without properly notifying Hawker Beechcraft and finally excluded the AT-6B from the competition days before awarding the deal to Embraer and its Super Tucano. Hawker Beechcraft has filed suit in Federal Claims Court alleging the bid was mishandled by the DOD.
Boisture said the case will be heard by the end of March. In the meantime, the Air Force has halted work on the LAS project. Air Force officials say they're confident the bid was handled appropriately and that the Super Tucano is a superior aircraft. It appears the issue could become a political football in Washington as lawmakers prepare to head back to the capital after a shortened Christmas break. Boisture said Hawker Beechcraft is gathering political support not only from the Kansas delegation but from politicians in other areas concerned about the jobs that could be threatened by Hawker Beechcraft's loss of the contract.
Podcast: Hawker Beech in a DogfightFile Size 7.4 MB / Running Time 8:05
Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture says his company hasn't been fairly treated in a bid for the Air Force's Light Air Support platform. He told AVweb's Russ Niles what he's doing about that.
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| On the Heels of Last Week's Boeing Announcement | back to top | |
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Bombardier Wichita Expansion Announced
Bombardier formally announced expansion plans for its Wichita facilities Tuesday, saying it will add about 450 jobs as it ramps up for production of the Learjet 85. At a news conference, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said he said the state was providing $16 million in incentives toward the expansion, which will start with a $52.7 million for paint, preflight and delivery facilities. The city and county governments in Wichita are chipping in $1 million each. That's in addition to the $600 million the company has already sunk into development and infrastructure for the Learjet 85.
In the future, Bombardier says it will add engineering, flight test and information technology facilities. "We want to build lots of airplanes here," said Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft. "Bombardier as a company is very, very happy here." The Learjet 85 is Bombardier's first composite design and was announced in 2007. First deliveries are expected in 2013. |
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| Bizjets in the Bull's-Eye — Again | back to top | |
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Bizjets Unfairly Targeted By Carbon Scheme
The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) says revisions are needed to the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to ensure it doesn't unfairly burden business aviation. EBAA says the controversial climate change initiative, which was recently changed to include aviation emissions, places a disproportionate cost on so-called "small emitters" like bizjet operators. "Business aviation is treated unfairly compared with other modes of air transport. On average, business aircraft operators must acquire up to 96% of their historical emissions in permits compared with only 15% for airlines," EBAA said in a news release.
EBAA says the EU could reduce the cost to small emitters through simplified administration and streamlined reporting and verification. The group also generally deplored the timing of the implementation of ETS on aviation when most sectors are already financially strained. "The year 2011, and one expects the year 2012 as well, had and will record negative air transport figures amidst depressed demand and rising operating costs," said EBAA CEO Fabio Gamba. 'The EU ETS is predicated on growth, and it becomes redundant if not harmful when growth is negative or lackluster at best." |
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| Investigating Air Shows | back to top | |
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NTSB Investigates Air Show Safety
The NTSB held a hearing on Tuesday to learn more about safety standards used in air races and air shows, and although an FAA official said current regulations are adequate, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman was less certain. "We have 11 ongoing investigations," she said at the close of the hearing. "Certainly, when there's accidents, we know that there's more that can be done." The board heard from a range of experts including air show organizers, regulators, and air show pilot Sean Tucker. Hersman said the panel showed that "if you have a great safety culture, it's always asking about what can be done better, and not saying we want to be complacent." The board doesn't create new regulations, but develops safety recommendations that are passed on to the FAA and other agencies.
John McGraw, FAA's deputy director for flight standards, told the board that he doesn't know of any need for "significant or substantive changes" to the current regulations. "If we become aware of a risk that exceeds the boundary of what we think is acceptable, we will make those changes," he said. "But not currently." John Cudahy, president of the International Council of Air Shows, agreed. "Are we regulated enough? I think we are," he said. "But that is not to say there isn't always room for improvement." Questions were raised about the qualifications of those who serve as air bosses, and whether they should have to pass some kind of certification. Tucker also suggested that perhaps air show pilots should be held to a higher standard. "The buy-in is a little too easy right now," he said. "It should be a privilege [to fly at air shows]." Others who testified for the board included EAA President Rod Hightower and Jim DiMatteo, who formerly worked as a race director for Red Bull Air Racing. DiMatteo noted that in his experience helping to stage air races around the world, the FAA has the safest standards. The board will issue safety recommendations as it completes its investigations. |
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| FAA Offers Better Browsing on the Go | back to top | |
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FAA Introduces Mobile Site
The FAA on Tuesday launched a new mobile version of its website, providing access to various features that are useful to pilots. The mobile version provides N-number lookup, airport status and delays, a library of Advisory Circulars, a locator to find the nearest Flight Standards District Office, and on-the-go wildlife-strike reporting. The site also provides access to FAA news and a link to the agency's full website. FAA Mobile works with iPhones, the iPad, many Android phones, and the Samsung Galaxy tablet, although not all operating systems are supported; click here for the full list of compatible devices.
The FAA said this new product is not an actual mobile application but a set of pages and services that have been optimized for viewing on mobile devices. FAA Mobile was created, the agency said, because mobile traffic to faa.gov grew from 1.5 million visits two years ago to 4.4 million in the last fiscal year. The mobile version was developed to "address this rising demand," the agency said. |
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| Who's Where | back to top | |
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New President at Avemco
Jonathan J. Greenway has been named president of Avemco Insurance. He was director of safety for AOPA prior to his appointment.
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. |
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| The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is You! | back to top | |
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AVweb Insider Blog: Cirrus Parachute -- A Successful Failure?
The full airframe Cirrus CAPS system by BRS has definitely saved lives. When deployed properly, it seems to work as advertised. But on the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli points out that it hasn't been successful enough to have given the Cirrus aircraft anything other than a barely average safety record. Why not?
Read more and join the conversation.
AVweb's Newstips Address ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 255,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. You're a part of our team ... often, the best part. |
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| AVweb Media: Look, Listen, Laugh and Learn | back to top | |
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Video: Got an Oily Hangar Floor? This Stuff Can Spruce It UpOriginal, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos Many of us dream of a gleaming gray expoxy-coated hangar floor illuminated by the glare of bright lights. But most of us actually have oil-stained concrete, dingy from years of abuse. If your floor is stained badly, a product called ReKrete can help improve it. Aviation Consumer's Paul Bertorelli demonstrates the product in this brief video.
Video: F-106 Corn Field Bomber, Convair Delta DartOriginal, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos This is an unusual story. The jet you're looking at is an F-106 Delta Dart. A storied interceptor in its day, it was built to exceed an Air Force requirement for 1.9 mach and continuous flight at 57,000 feet. It did both. And in December 1959, it set a speed record, of 1,525 mph, or about 2.3 mach, while flying at 40,000 feet. Its pilot at the time, Major Joseph Rogers, claimed the record might not be accurate. He was still accelerating, he said, at the time. But this particular jet is famous for a different reason. As the story goes, the aircraft you see here on February 2, 1970 flew itself into the ground -- a snowy field in Montana, where its engine continued to run for another hour and 45 minutes. Grounded, pilotless and still under power, with its radar still sweeping, the jet sometimes crept forward foot by foot through the snow as a small collection of onlookers watched. Its pilot, 1st Lieutenant Gary Foust, had ejected roughly two hours before that show was over. Foust's trip was just as interesting. He'd lost control of the jet while flying a mock engagement that led his and two other jets into harsh maneuvers in the thin, unforgiving air at 38,000 feet. Attempting to match a high-g reversal by another pilot, Foust's jet bucked. He entered a flat spin, and the jet fell, spinning slowly like a model on a turntable. The flight's two other pilots came to his aid, calling out recovery procedures. But by 15,000 feet the result seemed certain, and an instructor in one of the other jets ordered Foust to eject. Foust obeyed. But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and it could be it's that law that saved the jet. As Foust shot up, the jet's condition changed -- just enough for it to recover on its own and head off for the horizon. Legend has it that one of the observing pilots said on frequency, "Gary, you better get back in." In the end, the jet was recovered, rebuilt and put back to work as tail number 80787. But it was forever known as the Corn Field bomber. Delta Darts were phased out in the 1980s.
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| Names Behind the News | back to top | |
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Meet the AVwebBiz Team
AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the world's premier independent aviation news resource.
The AVwebBiz team is:
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