Barrington Irving, the founder and CEO of Flying Experience and The Flying Classroom, detailed plans for a new aviation technical training center today at the NBAA Regional Forum at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport (KOPF). The Oliver G. Gilbert III Innovation Lab, named after the current Miami-Dade board of county commissioners chairman, is set to open this summer at KOPF.
The goal of the facility is to help students gain technical skills that enable them to have careers in business aviation, but which are also transferable to other fields. Irving told AIN that technical training at the lab will include line service skills such as tanker and tug operation, GPU utilization, lav servicing, and aircraft marshalling, as well as advanced remote pilot operations and aircraft maintenance.
During the reveal this morning, Gilbert handed Irving a check from the county for $100,000 to help fund both the new lab and the Business Aviation Training Center announced at NBAA 2022. The latter facility, set to open in 2027 on a four-acre lot near KOPF, is being developed under a partnership with NBAA, Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade Aviation Department, Atlantic Aviation, and Bombardier. Further, Gilbert said Signature Flight Support at Miami International Airport (KMIA) will donate five cents for every gallon of fuel sold to help fund Irving’s training facilities.
The U.S. Air Force plans to fly its Gulfstreams for a while longer. On January 27, the Air Force announced that Gulfstream Aerospace had been awarded a variety of contract modifications to support the service’s fleet of C-20 and C-37 (Gulfstream III, IV, V, and 550) models. The modifications have a combined value of $124 million.
The awards include an $87 million modification for contract logistics support services, bringing the cumulative value of the contract to $594 million, and $37 million for C-20 and C-37 engineering support contract services, bringing the cumulative value of that contract to $612 million. All work will be completed by Jan. 31, 2025, and Jan. 31, 2031, respectively. It will be performed in Savannah, Georgia; at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland; Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii; and Ramstein Air Base in Germany. It is being contracted by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma
The comparatively newer C-37As (GV) and C-37Bs (G550) are based at the 89th Airlift Wing, 99th Airlift Squadron, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; the 15th Airlift Wing, 65th Airlift Squadron at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; and the 86th Airlift Wing, 76th Airlift Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Tim Obitts, chief legal officer for fledgling sustainable fuel producer Alder Fuels, has been named acting CEO of the company following the December 27 dismissal of renewable fuel industry veteran Bryan Sherbacow as president and CEO.
“As a result of enhanced management processes, the company uncovered that the now-former CEO, Bryan Sherbacow, engaged in questionable financial transactions that benefited him personally,” the company stated. “Upon discovery, the Board immediately commenced a comprehensive review of the transactions and terminated Mr. Sherbacow for cause.”
After joining NATA in 2014, Obitts served as the president and CEO for three years before stepping down last September to join Alder.
Alder Fuels has struck a number of partnerships with companies such as Honeywell, United Airline Ventures, Directional Aviation, and Avfuel as it builds its business of converting biomass into a sustainable Alder Greencrude (AGC) that will meet jet-A specifications once refined. The company said it has “redeveloped its strategy to ensure the entirety of its resources are directed towards achieving the singular goal of advancing commercial deployment of AGC technology” and that it reorganized its personnel, operations, and partnerships to meet this goal.
“We wish to express our sincere gratitude to strategic partners, sponsors, vendors, and investors who have been incredibly supportive as we move into the second phase of our journey,” the company added in announcing the organizational changes.
Duncan Aviation has opened a fixed avionics support shop at Long Island's Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York. The move comes at the request of the MRO’s customers as demand in the region had increased since its closure of the satellite location at nearby MacArthur Airport in 2008, Duncan Aviation said.
The Republic Airport shop is in Atlantic Aviation’s hangars, and Pete Marte, a nearly 20-year Duncan veteran, is managing the operation in addition to Duncan Aviation’s satellites in Oxford, Connecticut; White Plains, New York; and Bedford, Massachusetts. Satellite avionics tech Pedro Roque is leading a team that will include Naimul Islam in the upcoming months. They will support Duncan Aviation customers, as well as drop-ins at the airport.
“Growth in the area has been significant since we closed our shop at MacArthur, and there is truly a great need for avionics support in the area,” said Matt Nelson, manager of satellite operations. “There are few shops anywhere in the area, so Pedro and the team will make a big difference to customers at Republic Airport.”
As Congress begins to build its FAA reauthorization bill, “we’ve got a lot of work to do,” particularly in areas of rulemaking, agency staff training, and international validations, GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce told lawmakers yesterday.
Testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee during its first hearing in 2023 on FAA reauthorization, Bunce warned of key safety rules that have been languishing in the agency as the ICAO and EASA move forward on initiatives. He added that the large rules sit at FAA legal or at the “black hole” in the DOT. He also reiterated concern about the turnover at FAA—40 percent of certification engineers have less than two years of experience—and said that training them has been hindered because of the dispersed workforce in wake of the pandemic.
NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, also testifying, stressed the importance of getting an FAA bill done in a timely fashion. He also urged the committee to pass a measure to keep the FAA operating and avert government shutdowns. Bolen further called for protecting business aviation privacy, 5G alternate means of compliance, overall collaboration, and an effective SMS regulation. He praised the merits of SMS as a “remarkable safety tool” but said, “It has to be done right, you can’t use a saw when you can use a scalpel.”
GE Aviation intends to establish a rotorcraft operations center to provide remote engine diagnostics and analytics to helicopter customers based on what it furnishes to its fixed-wing clients. “We’ve been working with some key customers on how we can provide that product to expand our services offering,” said Elissa Lee, GE director of commercial rotorcraft programs.
She added that GE would say more about it next month at HAI Heli-Expo. However, Lee did say that the company plans to make it available to commercial customers for its line of CT7 turboshaft engines, including Bell, Leonardo, and Sikorsky. A start date depends on demonstrated customer interest, but the nuts and bolts already are there. “It’s something that we use today internally,” Lee said.
GE—which provides its CT7-2F1 for the Bell 525 super-medium twin-engine helicopter—continues to work with Bell as it completes certification of the helicopter later this year. GE will offer its TrueChoice flight-hour maintenance program for the engine, which received FAA certification in 2019. Interest in TrueChoice is growing from operators of other CT7 platforms, especially among the Sikorsky S-92A community, Lee said.
The Senate Commerce Committee has rounded out its subcommittee chairs, naming Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) to lead the panel on aviation safety, operations, and innovation. Duckworth takes the reins from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), who remains on the committee.
A member of the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame, Duckworth has been active on a range of issues since first becoming a member of the House in 2013 and then the Senate in 2017. Duckworth is a former Black Hawk pilot who flew combat missions and lost both of her legs and partial use of one arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her helicopter during a mission north of Baghdad in 2004. She has since flown as a civilian pilot.
In Congress, she has introduced legislation to foster the aviation workforce and to ease access to general aviation airport funding, as well as pushed for increasing airliner evacuation standards, among other efforts. Duckworth steps in as the aviation subcommittee works to draft a comprehensive FAA reauthorization package.
The full committee will continue to be led by Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) taking over as the new ranking member from Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). The Committee’s first aviation hearing will be held on Thursday on Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections. That comes in the wake of the Southwest Airlines meltdown.
GPMS has received a supplemental type certificate from the FAA for its Foresight MX health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) on the Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk in cooperation with PJ Helicopters of Red Bluff, California. PJ, which is the launch customer for the installation, operates 11 UH-60As as a contract provider for aerial firefighting services.
Adding Foresight MX to the UH-60 can give the aircraft this capability or replace existing capability with a package that is substantially lighter and less expensive, according to GPMS. While legacy HUMS equipment can weigh up to 100 pounds, Foresight MX has an installed weight of less than 17 pounds and is one-third of the cost, according to GPMS v-p of sales Todd Powers.
Powers noted that the U.S. Army estimates that the installation of HUMS on its UH-60As saved $215 million over six years. Installation of Foresight MX provides operators with a “next-generation, predictive HUMS, flight data monitoring, and optimized rotor track and balance solution,” according to Powers. He also noted that legacy HUMS equipment is often stripped off UH-60As before sale onto the civilian or foreign military markets “because of International Traffic In Arms Regulations, obsolescence, and weight concerns.”
Requires replacement of the aileron autopilot servo mount clutch retaining bolt and washer. Prompted by an occurrence of corrosion in the clutch retaining bolt of aileron autopilot servo mount. A clutch retaining bolt failure can disengage the clutch from the drive pin and jam the aileron controls, which can affect the airplane controllability.
Requires installation of electrical bonding braid on affected search landing lights under the sponson. Prompting by missing electrical bonding, which could lead to total loss of electrical distribution in the event of a lightning strike.
Model(s): Global Express, XRS, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500
Published: February 2, 2023
Effective: March 9, 2023
Requires revising certain performance charts in the aircraft flight manual. Prompted by reports that the thrust reverser correction factors presented in certain airplane flight manual performance charts for landing on contaminated runways do not provide sufficient margin for stopping distances in some conditions.
Requires revising the existing inspection program to incorporate reduced inspection intervals for the anti-ice manifold assembly. Prompted by a determination that new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations are necessary.
Model(s): BO-105A, BO-105C, BO-105S, BO-105LSA1/A2, BK117A1/A3/A4, BK117B1/B2, BK117C1/C2, and BK117D2
Published: February 6, 2023
Effective: February 21, 2023
Requires inspecting for the presence of the main rotor swashplate inner ring and, depending on the results, accomplishing additional actions. This AD also prohibits installing an affected swashplate unless it is determined that the inner ring is installed. Prompted by a report of a missing main rotor swashplate inner ring.
Requires verifying serial numbers of certain pitch trim switches and replacement of affected pitch trim switches with new ones in the pilot and copilot control wheels. This AD would prohibits installation of affected parts. Prompted by an investigation that indicated that one of the springs in the pitch trim switch of the horizontal stabilizer had failed. The failure of the spring could result in the airplane pitching nose down when actually commanded nose up.
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