Aerospace Diary

EBACE Convention News » May 15, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews Air Works is expanding its maintenance, repair and overhaul capability in its home market of India. May 14, 2012, 1:50 PM Air Works is India’s only exhibitor at this year’s EBACE show­–perhaps surprising, given the high expectations for business aviation growth in that country and the fact that EBACE’s catchment area has been extending eastward in recent years. Election fever is mounting in India–despite the fact that voting is still two years away–and, according to some commentators, the country is suffering from what is being termed as a “policy paralysis,” which is holding back long-anticipated reform of the aviation industry. Against this backdrop, companies such as Air Works are moving ahead with expansion plans in spite of Indian government atrophy. In fact, the maintenance repair and overhaul specialist has ...

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews May 15, 2012, 2:30 PM A Pilatus PC-12NG with special Formula 1 livery showing the Sauber C31 race car, will fly the Sauber F1 Team direct to the racetracks of Europe in 2012. On its first mission last weekend, it flew the eight-man team, plus team manager Peter Sauber, to the first race in Spain landing in Sabadell, a small aerodrome with a 3,300ft runway, close to the Barcelona circuit. “One of the best features of the PC-12 is its ability to land on, and take off from, very short runways,” said Sauber. “It leaves us free to avoid the big, inefficient airports. We were back at the aircraft within a few minutes of the race finishing and airborne shortly afterwards, thanks to the smooth air traffic control service. We really can save a lot of time, and that obviously means greater efficiency and a better quality of life for ou...

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews May 15, 2012, 2:45 PM Maintenance, repair and overhaul group SR Technics (SRT) is stepping up its push into the aircraft completions business, but is in no hurry to grab market share at any price. “We want to be the best and reliable rather than jumping for every dollar,” SRT president Andre Wall told AIN yesterday. “We’re so big…we want to make sure we’re not under pressure…[because] if the customer is not happy, they will never come back,” he added. One major advantage of Swiss-based SRT ...

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews May 15, 2012, 6:45 PM London-based Andrew Winch Designs is well on its way to establishing its brand in the aviation sector, having worked on 12 completions and two refurbishments in the past decade. The company will end the year with the delivery of an ACJ, A340 and a BBJ2 (based on the 737-800),  Jim Dixon, Andrew Winch’s director and head of the aviation design department, told AIN here at the show yesterday. The company also expects to deliver two more next year. Stringent certification requirements are making aviation design more challenging and restrictive, said Dixon, who added that regulations often are made while a design is under way, leading to upheaval in the design studio. He cited the example of a rule change three years ago on materials that stipulated the use of polycarbonates (such as Lexan) in plac...

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews Kadri Muhiddin, executive chairman and CEO of Amac Aerospace. Photo by Mark Wagner May 15, 2012, 8:00 PM AMAC Aerospace’s recently acquired 16,000-sq-ft, $10 million hangar in Istanbul will be up and running by the end of this year, according to Kadri Muhiddin, executive chairman and CEO. The facility is to be used to provide maintenance support for the Pilatus PC-12NG , for which the company was recently appointed a fully authorized and exclusive sales agent in the Middle East. “In the interim, we will subsidize the work with small jets,” Muhiddin told AIN . AMAC has a total work force of 500 with sales of $1 billion. AMAC will market the Pilatus in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey. While only a handful of the turboprop singles are fl...

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews May 15, 2012, 9:00 PM A new 3,600-sq-ft customs-clearance facility has been constructed at Hector International Airport in Fargo, North Dakota, on the north general aviation ramp between two of Fargo Jet Center’s main hangars. It is equipped with the latest technology to expedite U.S. Customs clearances and improve the experience for international passengers. Fargo Jet Center is exhibiting here at EBACE (Stand 456).

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews May 15, 2012, 10:30 PM Bell Helicopters (Stand 7091) has delivered six of its newest aircraft–Bell 407GX and Bell 429 –in Europe and Ukraine, it announced at EBACE. “The Bell 407GX is attracting interest from corporate, private and utility operators due to its speed, range and state-of-the-art Garmin G1000H flight deck, which maximizes pilot situational awareness,” said Danny Maldonado, executive vice president of commercial sales and marketing. Bell is showcasing the 429 outfitted for corporate missions at EBACE. The aircraft is midway through a European demo tour. Upcoming stops include Belgium, Czech Republic, UK and Serbia.

EBACE Convention News » May 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews May 15, 2012, 9:45 PM The threat to civil aviation posed by man-portable air defense systems ( Manpads )–such as shoulder launched missiles–in conflict areas around the world is resulting in a requirement for intelligent systems to help counter the attacks. Saab’s Civil Aircraft Missile Protection (Camps) system has increasingly been used to combat such threats, Hannes Prinsloo, technical product manager South Africa for Saab told AIN . Camps is the first and only European anti-Manpads protection system suited for protecting civil fixed-wing aircraft from missile attacks, he said. “Presently, we have a customer in the Middle East. Camps is also installed on a Naturelink Aviation aircraft based in South Africa, flying for the UN,” he added. The system costs $1 million with additional costs for installation. “We get requir...