Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) received the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence on March 26. The award is given to recognize members of Congress for their “votes on key manufacturing legislation identified by the NAM in the 112th Congress.” Bombardier and its Flexjet subsidiary hosted the event. “What happens in Washington matters to businesses such as ours and regions such as this one,” said Flexjet president Deanna White.
AINalerts
April 4, 2013 - 1:05pm
At the Aircraft Electronics Association convention held last week in Las Vegas, Ric Peri, AEA vice president of government and industry affairs, clarified new FAA rules governing avionics database updates during a regulatory training session. The new rules allow pilots to update databases, provided no tools are needed. Because the previous requirement was part of preventive maintenance but was removed from 14 CFR Part 43, “no records are required,” Peri said.
April 2, 2013 - 3:40pm
JA Air Center at Chicago-area Aurora Municipal Airport placed first in AIN’s 2013 FBO Survey for the Americas, the results of which were announced yesterday. The facility earned an impressive average score of 9.5 out of a possible 10. There were more than 12,000 evaluations for FBOs in 89 countries in this year’s survey.
April 2, 2013 - 3:35pm
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to end funding to 149 federal contract towers to conform with budget sequestration has some airports pursuing legal options.
April 2, 2013 - 3:30pm
Pilatus is proceeding with plans to unveil its twinjet project in May at EBACE, the Stans, Switzerland-based aircraft manufacturer announced today in conjunction with the release of its 2012 financial results. “The PC-24 project–the new business jet by Pilatus–is making good progress,” it said. “Last year, the board of directors gave the definite green light to the biggest, fastest and most complex aircraft that Pilatus has ever built.
April 2, 2013 - 3:25pm
Last week, the FAA issued a two-year renewal for Exemption 7897, more commonly known as “NBAA’s small aircraft exemption,” which permits NBAA members operating small aircraft “to take advantage of flexibility usually available only to operators of larger, turbine-powered airplanes,” the association said.
April 2, 2013 - 3:18pm
Bedford, Mass.-based Jet Advisors is offering a new tool, dubbed the Private Jet Index, to support the aircraft-selection process by ranking and statistically scoring more than 30 parameters. Company president Kevin O’Leary said the patent-pending index also considers the needs and wants of each individual buyer and then weighs the aircraft scores accordingly.
April 2, 2013 - 3:12pm
An Embraer Phenom 300 set three speed records for its class when it flew from Embraer Executive Jets’ headquarters at Melbourne (Fla.) International Airport (MLB) to Daugherty Field in Long Beach, Calif., with only one fuel stop. On the first leg, the twinjet flew the 1,380-nm route to El Paso (Tex.) International Airport in four hours, 16 minutes and 33 seconds. After a 27-minute fuel stop, it proceeded to Long Beach, completing the 607-nm leg in one hour, 55 minutes and 20 seconds.
April 2, 2013 - 3:07pm
Jet Aviation has joined the Paragon Aviation Group, a network of FBOs that is committed to providing “premium customer service.” As such, Jet Aviation’s six U.S. facilities–at Boston/Bedford, Mass.; Dallas and Houston; St. Louis, Mo.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Teterboro, N.J.–are part of the network, which now encompasses 23 locations in North America.
April 2, 2013 - 3:05pm
AOPA “vigorously opposes” the U.S. Federal Communication Commission’s plan to prohibit the future use of emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) that use a 121.5-MHz signal. The proposal will have a negative effect on aviation safety, according to AOPA, and the association told the FCC it should immediately abandon its proposed rule changes and defer to the FAA on matters of aviation safety. According to AOPA, there are more than 200,000 general aviation aircraft still carrying 121.5-MHz ELTs.
