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World Aircraft Sales, Sept 2013

by Ken Elliott

Forever the frugal partner, my wife for years diligently selected the lower cost shoe, then complained of foot pain and sought the advice of medical experts. She will willingly admit to ignoring my suggestion that the quality and subsequently price of the shoe is directly related to the comfort of the foot. One day after all other avenues were exhausted she relented and purchased an expensive pair of Walking Company shoes and has never looked back on the need to evaluate value when making choices.

Older and wiser today we both make decisions based mostly on a value equation. Another great example of that is choice of vacations, particularly accommodation. For some folks the vacation is about sightseeing and not where you stay. After experiencing several hotel mishaps, for us it became very important to consider the hotel. However that choice is subject to a value equation where price is only one of several...

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Hong Kong, 27 August 2013 – L’VOYAGE, Sino Private Aviation (HK) Limited (SPAL) and partner Jetcraft Corporation (Jetcraft) announced a one-year charity project, effective 1 September 2013, to support the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF HK)'s “28 Days to Save a Child’s Life” fundraising campaign (the Campaign). The charity project aims to raise over HK$1 million (US$136,800) to support the Campaign, in order to provide more than 2.2 million doses of vaccine to save children from Tetanus, one of the most deadly preventable diseases.

“We are honored to be one of the contributors to UNICEF HK’s ‘28 Days to Save a Child’s Life’ campaign. Being socially-responsible companies, L’VOYAGE and SPAL are committed to supporting this project.  We aim to donate 5,688 doses of tetanus vaccines per charter flight and 32,500 doses per aircraft sold. We hope that our contribution will encourage our industry peers to also join hands with UNICEF HK," explained Diana Chou, ...

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Absorption by Jetcraft, effective immediately, creates world’s largest business aircraft brokerage company

RALEIGH, NC, Aug. 8, 2013 – Jetcraft Corporation, an international leader in new and pre-owned business aircraft sales, acquisitions and trades, today announced the acquisition of the aircraft brokerage activities of ExecuJet Aircraft Trading (EAT), the business aircraft sales division of ExecuJet Aviation Group, of Zurich, Switzerland.

The coming together of two of the industry’s best sales teams will immediately benefit Jetcraft and ExecuJet clients by offering the largest selection of quality new and pre-owned business aircraft from around the globe. The newly combined Jetcraft sales force includes 20 senior sales executives, and another 20 sales, technical and marketing support staff, located in offices worldwide. Chad Anderson will remain President of Jetcraft and Andrew Hoy, formerly Managing Director, EAT, will oversee sales in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. ...

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Enhanced Flight Vision System Operations (EFVS Ops) is one of those NextGen elements that functions just below the radar. Because it is considered elective and more the purview of the business jet community it is not in the limelight of the regular Washington airports and air traffic focus on ADS-B, PBN and Data Comm where endless streams of funding finds eager experts justifying  business cases and promoting various benefits primarily to airlines. Meanwhile the rest of aviation sit and waits for rule making and mandates such as ADS B Out by 2020.

Speaking of rule making on June 11, 2013 the FAA announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for a comment period ending in September that essentially will allow zero visibility operations without the need for natural vision, an ability to land at zero runway visual range without the need for Category III aircraft, crew and runway certification! This profound leap of enablement is all the more incredible when you realize the FAA intend...

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RALEIGH, NC, July 23, 2013 – Jetcraft Corporation and its subsidiary Jetcraft Avionics LLC, today announced that their HUD Vision Access™ system is now available for sale and installation on the Bombardier Challenger 604 (CL604).

Last month, Kollsman announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had awarded a “lower landing credit” approved supplemental type certificate (STC) for the Kollsman enhanced flight vision system (EFVS) for the CL604. As a major Kollsman EFVS distributor to the business aviation aftermarket, Jetcraft has commercialized this offering and branded it as HUD Vision Access.

Fully integrated with existing avionics, HUD Vision Access makes the CL604 a more flexible and valuable aircraft by allowing pilots to safely taxi, take-off and land in total darkness, fog, rain, snow, smog and other reduced visibility conditions. Under FAR 91.175, HUD Vision Access permits pilots to descend below decision height (DH/DA) at most airports, reducing the need f...

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World Aircraft Sales, June 2013

by Ken Elliott

Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) represent one of those revolutionary technologies that transform cockpit management. It’s a technology with multiple applications for potentially minimal cost, streamlining aircraft operations while reducing both aircraft weight and environmental impact.

One major US Airline estimates that it will save 326,000 gallons of jet fuel a year and 16 million sheets of paper by replacing traditional paper-based flight bags with iPads across its fleet.

Unfortunately, as with many emerging and rapidly evolving aircraft technologies, authorization for use is a certification puzzle.

The operator is not simply approving an installation but also flight bag operations for that specific flight department. New aircraft owners may be spared that effort as production aircraft are delivered with single or dual flight bags standard, or as an option – in which case the aircraft OEM has typic...

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Both environmental conditions and weather are intertwined and together they can significantly impact avionic equipment selection and performance. The following paragraphs will address that shared relationship and the influence it has on aircraft operations and maintenance.

Understanding weather is not just knowing how to avoid storms or turbulence. You must understand the different types of environment and weather – the impact and equipment to detect and protect against these are listed for each event.

The environment and weather can impact all phases of flight and later ground storage of an aircraft, including layovers during trips. Its effect can be immediate, slow to act or simply hidden, like corrosion or the intermittent failure of avionics components sensitive to extreme heat and cold.

Many people don’t realize that electronics are thin adjacent layers of different natural or man-made materials that are highly sensitive to heat, cold, static and moisture. The more we minia...

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World Aircraft Sales, May 2013

by Sanjay Rampal

Interviews with key aviation companies help us understand the challenges facing Business Aviation in emerging markets. Here, David Dixon, Jetcraft Asia President and Mike Cappuccitti, Jetcraft Middle East Sales Director offer their views about the current state of their markets.

As a diversified player in an increasingly competitive global market, Jetcraft has never strayed from its core Business Aviation interests. Alluding to the company’s successful business model, Jetcraft Asia president and over 40-year aerospace veteran David Dixon explained “Our key approach is to get closer to the market with people in the field who understand the local requirements. This is why we have offices in Switzerland, Moscow, the Middle East, Hong Kong and soon a presence in Africa and Latin America.”

AN INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT

Buoyed by the prospects of international growth, Dixon believes that Asia is a hotspot ...

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JET Asia-Pacific, Spring 2013 - Industry Insider

Interview by Anthony Lam

Could you briefly introduce Jetcraft’s history and your role in the company?

Jetcraft was founded 51 years ago by my partner, Bucky Oliver. He’s based in Raleigh, North Carolina. At that time he was a pilot, and he was passionate about aviation. He was from a big family in property development, and his friends who wanted to buy aircraft would ask him for advice on what to buy, so that led to him starting Jetcraft as an aviation brokerage firm. Then he set up a maintenance center, and even became the Cessna distributor in North Carolina at one time.

When I joined Jetcraft in June 2008, I had been the head of marketing at Bombardier before that. I got to know Jetcraft from my days at Bombardier as we were selling them aircraft. When I left, Bucky approached me and asked me to run his company. I said I didn’t want to run it, but I would be interested in buying it. S...

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