Mexico’s civil aviation authority (AFAC) has discontinued its annual entry permit for private aviation, with aircraft operators and aircraft only able to obtain single-use permits.

According to Juan Muniz, lead global regulatory service specialist with trip support provider Universal Weather and Aviation, the single- and multiple-entry permits have been replaced with a single-entry authorization (AIU), which is valid for 180 days. It will be issued to the aircraft on arrival at the destination, but local authorities must still be provided with the flight, aircraft, and crew information ahead of time.

The AIU will allow multiple international flights during that span, and the original must be carried onboard the aircraft. Muniz noted that the required documents must now also include “the layout of passenger accommodations” from the aircraft manual.

This change resulted from modifications to the country’s civil aviation laws and removed the multiple entry permits in an attempt to crack down on illegal charters operating in Mexico.

To process an AIU typically takes 24 hours; however, Universal stated that on normal business days, it could obtain authorization with just a two-hour lead time. The company added that there is no limit on how many authorizations an operator can obtain.

Veteran industry communications specialist Robert Stangarone has taken the role of president and CEO of the nonprofit Corporate Angel Network (CAN). Stangarone fills a position that had remained vacant over the past year with the departure of Gina Russo. In the interim, Courtney Easton, CAN’s senior director of operations and marketing, had steered the organization. CAN arranges free transportation for cancer patients aboard empty seats of business aircraft.

“The decision to bring Robert on board was driven by the recognition of his impressive background, extensive expertise, and proven success as a corporate leader, journalist, and pilot,” said CAN chairman John Rosanvallon. Stangarone brings some five decades of aviation and aerospace experience as a journalist, communicator, and consultant to his new role. For the past decade, he has managed his own consultancy, Stangarone & Associates, and more recently he took on the additional role of chairman and president of the New England Air Museum.

His career has included key communications roles with companies including Embraer, Cessna Aircraft, Safire, Litton, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, and Fairchild Dornier. A former flight and aerobatics instructor, Stangarone holds a commercial pilot license with instrument and multi-engine ratings and is type-rated in the Cessna Citation CJ series.

“Corporate Angel Network is a quintessential illustration of how the business aviation community contributes to our quality of life and helps save lives,” Stangarone said.

As a result of its investigation of the fatal crash of a Rockwell 690B Twin Commander on Sept. 28, 2021, the NTSB has issued a safety recommendation to Ontic, which owns the turboprop-twin product line, to add a spin-recovery procedure to the model 690 and 690A/B pilot operating handbook (POH). The 690C/D models’ POH already includes such a procedure. 

The accident took place after departure from Wisconsin’s Rhinelander–Oneida County Airport. After leveling off at 16,100 feet and accelerating to 209 knots groundspeed, the 690B decelerated to about 93 knots groundspeed and descended 500 feet.

According to the NTSB, “The airplane subsequently entered a rapid descent and a right turn. ‘Mayday, mayday, mayday’ and ‘we’re in a spin’ transmissions were broadcast to air traffic control. A witness, who was located about one mile from the accident site, observed the airplane in a nose-down attitude, descending at a high rate of speed, and spinning about its longitudinal axis.

“According to the aircraft performance study for this accident, the airplane pitched down in excess of 30 degrees and descended at a rate that reached 20,000 fpm. About the time that the airplane pitched down, the estimated normal load factor decreased from about 1.6 g to less than 1 g (normal load factor is the ratio of the lift of an aircraft to its weight).”

Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) is proposing to update its safety management system (SMS) regulations to adopt performance-based requirements and align them with ICAO-recommended standards and practices, as well as other international standards. However, the update will not extend SMS applicability requirements to Canadian air taxi and charter operators under CAR 703 and 704.

Currently, Transport Canada SMS requirements apply only to private operators (CAR 604), airlines (CAR 705), airports of specific sizes, and certain approved maintenance organizations. In its proposal, TCCA said that extending the application of SMS requirements to all commercial operators will be the subject of a separate proposal, the timeline of which hasn’t yet been established.

Canada’s existing SMS regulatory framework began in 2005 and “while safe and generally effective,” Transport Canada said it “increasingly recognizes its current framework is contending with areas for improvement and lessons learned in the time since SMS implementation.” For one, the framework’s basic structure creates challenges for industry compliance and inspector oversight because many requirements “lack alignment in their scope and description.”

For another, the existing regulations exclude Canadian aviation design and manufacturing organizations that are increasingly subject to SMS requirements in export contracts. Comments on the proposal are due by March 4.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) recently welcomed seven new members, including several companies in the advanced air mobility realm, as well as aftermarket and maintenance businesses. These additions bring the total number of memberships to 154.

New GAMA members include Everett, Washington-based BLR Aerospace and Victory Lane Aviation (VLA), an MRO provider headquartered in Concord, North Carolina. VLA is a Garmin dealer and an authorized service center for Epic, Piper, Textron, and Icon aircraft. BLR, which was acquired by aerospace supplier Ducommun International in 2023, develops performance-enhancing aftermarket products for airplanes and rotorcraft. 

Autonomous flight system developer Skyryse and delivery drone operator Wing, both based in California, are joining GAMA’s associate membership, a category that GAMA created in 2015 to represent hybrid and electric technologies.

Alaka'i Technologies and Crisalion, two companies developing eVTOL aircraft, as well as aircraft battery producer Cuberg have joined the association as “associate members EPIC,” a base-level category that enables participation on GAMA’s Electric Propulsion & Innovation Committee (EPIC).

The combined efforts of marine archaeologists and robotics experts may have solved one of history’s greatest mysteries: what happened to Amelia Earhart. On July 2, 1937, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were flying in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra when they lost contact with the U.S. Coast Guard. Despite extensive search efforts, no wreckage or definitive evidence of their whereabouts was ever found.

Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a South Carolina-based marine robotics company, believes it may have an answer. CEO Tony Romeo, alongside his brother Lloyd Romeo, believed in the “Date Line” theory proposed by former NASA employee and amateur pilot Liz Smith. This theory states that Earhart’s failed flight was due to her and Noonan forgetting to turn the calendar back a day as they crossed the International Date Line, which is an important calculation in celestial navigation. The mistake would have caused westward navigational errors of around 60 nm.

Following Smith’s projections for where Earhart’s plane could have been located, DSV used its HUGIN 6000 submersible vehicle to scan the ocean floor with sonar technology. After some searching, it discovered contours and shapes that resembled Earhart’s aircraft.

"We always felt that she [Earhart] would have made every attempt to land the aircraft gently on the water, and the aircraft signature that we see in the sonar image suggests that may be the case," said Romeo. 

Dexter, Michigan-based third-party maintenance network operator MRO Insider has established a team of 15 technicians and a dedicated group leader (DGL) for Asia, where some 1,240 business jets operate in the region—6 percent of the global fleet.

The company’s DGL coordinates the logistics of technical travel for maintenance crews and experts, facilitates the import and receipt of U.S.-made parts, and manages and updates service time frames.

“With the Asian business aviation market continuing to grow, our team is excited to announce the AOG and scheduled maintenance support within the region,” said MRO Insider president Andy Nixon. “This market is also dominated by large cabin aircraft, so it’s a win-win for operators flying over to the U.S. and needing support while here.”

Forecasters project the delivery of 460 new private aircraft in Asia from 2022 to 2028 and a doubling of the fleet size in the next decade. Large jets will account for 52 percent of the market share, added MRO Insider.

“With the fleet size in Asia expected to double in the next decade, a strategic expansion into Asia aligns with these market dynamics, positioning us to cater to the evolving needs in this thriving sector,” concluded Nixon.

AIN’s FBO survey is open for year-round feedback, but the deadline to vote in the 2023 survey (to be published in April) is February 3. The survey takes only a minute, and you can do it while waiting for passengers, on the shuttle bus to/from the hotel or any other time that is convenient for you. Participants will be entered to win a $500 Amazon gift card. Log on to https://fbo.ainonline.com/ to rate your experiences at the FBOs you visit.