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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 3309.PDF
BUSINESS & GENERAL AVIATION CORPORATE SHUTTLE JUSTIN WASTNAGE / LONDON PrivatAir to carry Airbus staff on A319s in Europe Swiss aircraft charter company to take on its first non-Boeing aircraft for services Swiss business aircraft services com pany PrivatAir will establish a base in Germany as part of a deal to run a corporate shuttle on behalf of Airbus. The Geneva-based com pany's aircraft charter division is to take delivery of two 126-seat Airbus A319s in a business-class layout in April ahead of taking over the shut tle service between Airbus's head quarters in Toulouse and three of its facilities in the rest of Europe. As part of the five-year deal, the aircraft will be registered in Ger many, with the company evaluating the location of its German office, either Hamburg, close to the Airbus site in Finkenwerder, or Diisseldorf, from where it runs an all-business class service for Lufthansa under its Swiss air operators certificate. One airaaft will be based in Finken werder and the other at Broughton in the UK. PrivatAir is also consider ing the location of its crew base, as the aircraft will be available for weekend private charters. The two A319s will be the first Airbus aircraft in PrivatAir's previ ously all-Boeing fleet. The company, which also operates a Cessna Citationjet shuttle on behalf of Procter & Gamble in Ohio and New York state, will now concentrate on winning further contracts, says chief operating officer Greg Thomas. The aircraft will be leased from US lessor C1T Aerospace and deliv ered direct from Finkenwerder. The A319 service will replace two 96- seat BAe 146s, operated by British European and WDL Aviation, and PrivatAir is exploring several other Airbus shuttle routes using smaller aircraft, Thomas says. CERTIFICATION Eclipse aims for December 2003 target Eclipse Aviation still hopes to meet the December 2003 certi fication target date for the Eclipse 500 personal jet by uprating its flight-test teleme try and data acquisition system, but admits it is run ning short on time while it waits for uprated engines from Williams International. The first aircraft has not flown since its maiden sortie on 26 July following problems with its 770lb-thrust (3.4kN) Williams EJ22 engines, acces sories and starter units. To meet Eclipse's original deliv ery target of January 2004, the company must now compress a 16-month flight-test effort into around 13 months, assuming it can restart this month. Flight tests are sched uled to be wrapped up around November 2003 to meet the certification target. Eclipse has invested heavily in upgrading its flight-test sys tem, which will be able to transmit 1,056 channels of data per test aircraft. The Bush Hawk is available in tail wheel, ski and float configurations UTILITY AIRCRAFT Bush Hawk variant to boost sales Found Aircraft Canada is planning to double production of its Bush Hawk XP in 2004 with the intro duction of a tricycle gear variant of the light utility aircraft. The Ontario, Canada-based company says the delivery last month of its first US registered Bush Hawk-XP to the government in Alaska has opened up a poten tially lucrative market for the all-metal single-engine aircraft, both in tricycle and tail dragger configurations. "The aircraft will be heavily used in Alaska and should get noticed by remote operators all over the world," says Found Aircraft director of marketing Andrew Hamblin. The tricycle Bush Hawk is a response to demand from owner flyers in North America, says Hamblin, but interest is growing in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Scandin avia and South America, he adds. Found Aircraft is producing one aircraft a month and has a backlog of around two years. "Once it has cleared we will introduce the tricy cle version. We expect it to outsell the tail dragger version in time," Hamblin says. The Bush Hawk is available in tail wheel, ski and float configurations. The Aeroset amphibious floats are set for certification next month. BRIEF AVIONICS CHOICE Gulfstream is staying with Honeywell avionics for its G300 and G500 business jets, descoped versions of the GIV- SP (now G400) and GV-SP (now G550). The G300 will use the G400's SPZ-8400 avionics suite and the G500 will feature the G550's PlaneView cockpit, based on Honeywell's Primus integrated avionics. CAPSTONE CREDIT The US Federal Aviation Administration's Capstone free- flight technology demonstration in Alaska is being credited with saving the pilot of a crashed Cessna 207. The aircraft's automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast track was used to locate its last known position after the emergency locator transmitter failed to trigger. MUSTANG ORDER London Executive Aviation (LEA) has ordered five Cessna Citation Mustang business jets for deliv ery in 2006-08. This is the largest single order for the aircraft in the UK, says the London City Airport-based charter operator. P180 RVSM AGREED Piaggio has received Transport Canada approval allowing its P180 Avanti twin turboprop to operate in reduced vertical sepa ration minimum (RVSM) airspace in Canada. FAA approval is immi nent, says the company. The RVSM retrofit includes an upgraded air data computer and an IS&S altimeter. Cost is around $80,000 and installation on a new P180 is $60,000. AGUSTA CRASHES An Agusta A109 crashed off the coast of Brittany on 31 October killing French celebrity baker and helicopter operator campaigner Lionel Poilane and his wife. Poilane, at the controls, took off from Issy-les-Moulineaux out side Paris, dropped off three passengers en route, and was approaching the islet in dark ness and thick fog just before 19.00. Investigators say Poilane appeared to have been looking for the landing pad when a wave caught the aircraft. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12-18 NOVEMBER 2002 33
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