Operators of Bombardier jets are dismayed because they now have to pay state sales taxes on parts purchased through Bombardier’s Smart Parts program. Several operators who spoke to AIN on condition of anonymity said one of the primary reasons they participate in Smart Parts is to control and budget annual operating costs. “This adds a new dimension to overhead we didn’t budget for 2010,” one said.
Aviation International News » May 2010
May 3, 2010 - 5:54am
The first World Cup soccer tournament to be hosted on the African continent
is expected to draw a big influx of business and private jets to South Africa
for the month-long event from June 11 to July 11. Flight-planning specialists are urging operators to start making plans immediately to avoid potentially serious constraints on landing and takeoff slots, as well as aircraft parking.
May 3, 2010 - 5:51am
For a charity whose existence depends upon the health of the business aviation industry, the recent downturn could have proven disastrous for Corporate Angel Network (CAN). But the nonprofit group, which provides free transport for cancer patients using empty seats on business aviation flights, managed to continue providing a high level of vital assistance.
April 30, 2010 - 11:24am
The Aircraft Electronics Association’s annual convention doesn’t rank as the biggest or most heavily attended trade show on the aviation event calendar, but for those who work in the avionics industry the time spent at AEA often proves more valuable than what can be gained from traveling to larger shows like the NBAA Convention and Ebace.
April 30, 2010 - 11:21am
International Communications Group (ICG) and Cobham Antenna Systems have been granted an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) for a dual-network satcom system named Sora that offers both Iridium and Inmarsat SwiftBroadband voice and data services worldwide. The first Sora (the Japanese word for “sky”) system was recently installed and certified aboard a Gulfstream G200.
April 30, 2010 - 11:18am
Garmin late last year released a new line of compact handheld GPS units, the aera 500 through 560 series. The four new aera units are priced from $875 to $2,199 and key differences between these and the older but still available 196 through 496 series is inclusion of Garmin’s City Navigator NT street mapping system (almost the same as Garmin’s nüvi automotive GPS units) and a touchscreen display.
April 30, 2010 - 11:13am
Ten years ago, in 2000, a slide presentation at a Washington aviation conference illustrated 12 distinct benefits of ADS-B: the “backbone of NextGen,” as it was later to be called by the FAA. But the presenter wasn’t an FAA official. It was UPS 747 Capt. Karen Lee, and her presentation followed industry ADS-B briefings given over the previous two years by the then UPS director of flight operations Capt.
April 30, 2010 - 11:11am
In response to an NTSB recommendation, Honeywell is revising the software of its Mark XXII enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) for helicopters. The Safety Board last month warned that the failure of the radio altimeter could prevent the EGPWS look-ahead feature from functioning in flight, unbeknownst to the pilot.
April 30, 2010 - 11:10am
EMS Aviation’s eNfusion AMT-700 high-gain satcom antenna has cleared an important hurdle after receiving a letter of assessment from Inmarsat approving the product as a class-6 multi-channel aeronautical antenna. Inmarsat’s blessing clears the way for sales and installations of the mechanically steered antenna, which is designed to support SwiftBroadband, Swift64 and Aero H/H+ satcom services worldwide.
April 30, 2010 - 11:08am
Dassault Falcon has delivered a Falcon 7X with Honeywell’s MCS 7120 SwiftBroadband satcom system as part of an installation that brings cabin Wi-Fi and VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) capabilities to the French trijet. Dassault said the installation is the first in a business jet capable of providing “fully managed” VoIP phone services in flight.
