West Star Named Bonanza Service Center
Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) announced at NBAA it has appointed West Star Aviation (Booth No. 3511) in Grand Junction, Colo., as an authorized service center to support its Beechcraft Bonanza, Baron and King Air models.
“West Star Aviation is known for its highly experienced staff and outstanding customer service,” said Christi Tannahill, HBC vice president, global customer support, in making the announcement.
An FAA-certified repair station, West Star offers airframe and engine repair and maintenance, major modifications, avionics installation and repair, interior refurbishment, paint, parts, surplus avionics and parts sales and accessory services. West Star also provides complete FBO services at facilities in Grand Junction as well as East Alton, Ill.
LHT Expands Pre-Delivery Protocols
Lufthansa Technik, the Hamburg, Germany-based completion and refurbishment center, has traditionally done pre-completion delivery inspections on aircraft on which it does completions. But now the company is offering to perform pre-delivery inspections for customers who have their aircraft refinished at other (non-Lufthansa Technik) completion centers.
On Monday at its booth (No. 7536), Walter Heerdt, senior v-p of marketing and sales for Lufthansa Technik, and Abdulaziz Al Rowaished, president of Aviation Link of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, signed a contract calling for Lufthansa Technik’s Aircraft Production Inspection Program team to do a pre-completion delivery inspection of a Boeing 777-200LR. Aviation Link is managing the completion process on behalf of an unidentified customer.
Runway Incursions Drop Again
The FAA reported that serious runway incursions in the fiscal year (FY) that ended September 30 dropped 50 percent from year-ago levels, the second year in a row they had been halved. For FY2010 the number dropped to six from 12 in FY2009, representing a continuation of the trend. Three of the six incursions involved commercial aircraft. The number of serious runway incursions had been as high as 67 in FY2000.
The FAA credited the installation of new technology, better airport markings, improved pilot training and the efforts of general aviation industry trade associations.
New technology includes runway status lights, currently in use in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego and slated to be installed at 23 more airports beginning next year.
StandardAero Names LA V-P
Mark Bianchi has been named vice president and general manager of StandardAero’s Los Angeles facility, the company announced at the NBAA Convention.
Bianchi comes to StandardAero from NetJets Aviation, where he served as senior and executive vice president of aircraft maintenance since 2006. He spent 18 years with US Airways, where his positions included manager of quality assurance and regulatory compliance, 737/757/767 fleet manager and base maintenance manager. He has an associate degree in applied science from New York City’s College of Aeronautics and holds an A&P certificate and an FCC general radio/telephone certificate.
Sales Exec Forms Bizav Advisory Firm
Aviation sales executive Tom Chapman has formed Synergy Jet Group, a firm that will offer sales prospecting development and implementation solutions for business aircraft manufacturers, their vendors and a variety of service providers.
According to Chapman, who serves as president of the Atlanta-based company, Synergy’s executives each have more than 25 years of experience leading sales and marketing campaigns at major aircraft manufacturers in the U.S. and internationally. Chapman, who is a pilot, has a degree in business administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has completed an executive education program at Harvard Business School.