Small aircraft manufacturers waiting for money to rain down on them from the government will wait a long time. AVweb reported Thursdaythat the Senate had approved tax breaks worth $245 million for plane-makers but it was just the extension of delivery dates, to the end of 2005, on aircraft qualifying for bonus depreciation. Good news, indeed, but nothing really new…
There’s a tragic twist to the bizarre death of an aircraft mechanic in Grand Junction, Colo., last week. As we reported Thursday, John Hoffman died when struck by a propeller that broke off a pilotless airplane that taxied into a parked plane. At first, no one knew (or would say) how the plane started but it turns out Hoffman’s unidentified son had hand-started the plane and it got away from him…
Albuquerque-based Eclipse Aviation’s latest competitor may also soon become a neighbor. Excel-Jet, which is currently located in Colorado, announced it plans to move New Mexico to take advantage of incentives there. The company plans to build a $950,000 single-engine four-place jet called the Sport Jet…
If you’ve ever landed on a narrow runway, say 50 feet across, you might be able to empathize with these pilots. The plane was being delivered to a museum at the Rand Airport in South Africa. With our thanks to Mark Monse, the original e-mail stakes the claim, “(elevation 5568 feet with 4898 long x 50 feet wide runway!) The 747-200 outer-to-outer main gear tire width is 41.33 ft. Empty aircraft Vref (landing speed) was 115 kts!” The aircraft was delivered in March. Click through, here, for the pictures, and have a nice day … drenched in humility.
On The Fly…
Key Takeaways:
- Government tax breaks for small aircraft manufacturers are merely extensions of existing bonus depreciation deadlines, not new direct funding.
- An aircraft mechanic died tragically when his son hand-started a plane that subsequently got away and struck him with its propeller.
- Excel-Jet, a competitor to Eclipse Aviation, plans to relocate to New Mexico to capitalize on incentives for building its new single-engine Sport Jet.
- A Boeing 747-200 was successfully delivered to a museum in South Africa, landing on an exceptionally narrow (50-foot wide) and high-elevation runway.
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