If you happen to be in Melbourne this coming Monday you may be interested in getting along to Moorabbin Airport and joining AirItalia Australia for the Australian launch of the new Vulcanair P68 retractable light twin. The Vulcanair P68 is the offspring of the popular Partenavia P.68 and the aircraft is aimed at the same market as the Tecnam P2006T, its fellow Italian-manufactured light twin. The launch takes place on Monday December 20 from1830-2030 in the Oxford Hangar (hangar 6) on Second Street. And the good folk at AirItalia will be putting on food and drinks for those in attendance. For more on the Vulcanair P68 click here.
Cessna representative Aeromil Pacific has laid out some interesting plans for what’s looking like another busy year in 2011. In February of the New Year the Sunshine Coast-headquartered company will officially open its new, larger hangar adjacent to Bankstown Airport’s Passenger Terminal (read more on this here). Aeromil will also use this event to officially launch the long-awaited Cessna C162 Skycather as well as the new Citation CJ4 business jet, both of which will also be on display at the Avalon Airshow a month later. Then in May Aeromil will host the two-day Cessna Caravan Operators Conference on the Sunny Coast for Caravan owners and operators from Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Then finally in November, following the success of the inaugural event this year, the distributor will again stage its ‘Cessna in the City’ GA promotional event in Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD. Plenty to look forward to here.
Hawker Beechcraft Services (HBS) is continuing work on the first Hawker 800XPR upgrade. The upgrade project for the mid-sized busines jet from Hawker Beechcraft is progressing through key phases and winglets are currently being installed on the aircraft at the HBS facility in the UK. Launched earlier this year, the Hawker 800XPR upgrade project includes the addition of composite winglets that increase the wing aspect ratio to reduce lift induced drag, new Honeywell TFE-731-50R turbofan engines for better range and cruise speeds, a new interior and custom paint designs. The aircraft is expected to be certified by the FAA early next year. The first Hawker 800XPR upgrade customer is Denmark’s JoinJet. And while we’re on the subject of Hawker Beechcraft, the airframe manufacturer has introduced a new section within the company to specifically handle the special mission market. The ‘Special Mission Product Line’ will focus on aircraft intended for photographic, air ambulance, flight inspection and weather modification missions, as well as a range of military applications.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released an evaluation of the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) as a predictive model for aviation safety incidents. HFACS is a hierarchical taxonomy that describes the human factors that contribute to an aviation accident or incident that is based on a chain-of-events theory of accident causation. As part of its evaluation the ATSB sought to identify relationships between the factors of the HFACS taxonomy and to assess the usefulness of HFACS as a predictive tool. To read the full report click here.
Piper Aircraft has announced two new appointments in its Customer Service organisation. US Marine Corps veteran Vincent P. Zarrella, who over the last eight years has worked his way up the Piper ladder, has been named director of Customer Service and will report to Piper Executive Vice President Randy Groom. And Jim Slaton, who joined Piper in 1997, has been promoted to senior manager of Parts Sales.
While much of the country has been going positively nuts over Oprah Winfrey’s visit this week, for Sunshine Coast helicopter pilots Andrew Cottee and Fred Van Beek it was merely business as usual as the pair, who work for McDermott Aviation, flew the big O on a charter flight to Uluru and the red centre. And as the Sunshine Coast Daily reports, the down to earth pair were far from overawed by having Oprah as their passenger: “We shook hands, I put her seat belt on and gave her a safety briefing,” Van Beek said. “I didn’t get a photo – I am not too high-flying.” Now that’s the spirit.
The Vulcanair P68 light twin. (Vulcanair Aircraft)
