Avidyne Corporation has presented its Technical Achievement Award for 2007 to senior engineer Steve Lindsley for his contribution to the development of an intuitive, high-integrated, dual-redundant Flight Management System (FMS) for general aviation.

The FMS that Steve helped develop is designed to be the easiest-to-use system available for GA. It is a fully-compliant RTCA DO-229D, Gamma 3 navigation system that allows pilots to fly WAAS precision approaches to ILS minimums, and is designed for Required Navigation Performance. Patent-pending GeoFill capability makes entering a complex flight plan very simple, reducing pilot workload significantly. Its unique Vectors Mode also contributes to situational awareness by drawing heading vectors onto the system’s moving map.

Embraer’s new Executive Jets Centre at Le Bourget Airport in France has received the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 Approval Certificate to operate in Europe. The facility is dedicated exclusively to the Embraer Executive Jets fleet.

The new facility joins the existing service centre network including OGMA, Portugal, and four other Embraer authorised service centres in the region. They offer maintenance for the Legacy 600 and will support Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 as they enter operation in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

The new service centre that has been refurbished in the spare parts inventory and in ground support equipment to offer specialised executive jets support and maintenance, will provide routine checks, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, and will be prepared to deploy rescue teams throughout Europe in support of Legacy 600 operations, as well as Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 upon their entry into service.

Located at one of the busiest airports in Europe, the Le Bourget service centre has a total area of 37,674 square feet (3,500 square metres) and a 20,451 square-foot (1,900-square-metre) hangar.

Ameco Beijing has opened one of the world’s largest hangars for the technical support of aircraft. Three hundred and fifty metres long and 110 metres wide, the maintenance hangar built by the joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa provides space for technical work on up to four Airbus A380s and other wide-body aircraft.

The 70,000-square-metre hangar enables the company to offer services to Air China as well as all customers flying to the new Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport. The new 3.5-kilometre-long terminal was opened in February 2008.

The new A380 hangar to the north of Beijing’s new Terminal 3 is a central element of the investment programme worth over 100 million dollars. Besides the A380 hangar, an additional overhaul hangar for wide-body jets is being built. Once it is finished, Ameco Beijing will be able to offer maintenance and overhaul services for 15 wide-body and 11 narrow-body aircraft.

Millennium Concepts, Inc., the Wichita-based aircraft design and completions firm, has launched a new website www.millennium.aero. The on-line site is located on the world’s first industry-based Internet domain, .aero reserved for aviation-related businesses.

The website details Millennium’s history and development to its current status in engineering, design, and certification of interiors for commercial aircraft. Its client base ranges from single engine turboprops to jumbo jets. Millennium’s list of customers includes Associated Air Centre, Bombardier, Cessna, Eclipse, Embraer, EADS Aerospace, Gore Design, Marshall Aviation, Quest Aircraft, Raytheon, and Yingling Aviation. It also has professional sports teams, movie stars, heads of state, and prominent casinos among its clients.

In addition to photos of Millennium’s employees and facilities, the new website includes details its services and products as well as interactive pages for potential clients and prospective employees.

Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines powered the first scheduled service of Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380 from Changi Airport to London Heathrow on 18 March 2008.

Nick Devall, Executive Vice President, Customer Business, Rolls-Royce, who was among the passengers, said the flight represented another historic landmark in the relationship with Singapore Airlines. “The Trent 900 has established a benchmark for low noise and emissions and today’s flight demonstrated how the engine and airframe combination operates well within the stringent noise limits for airports such as Heathrow.”

Singapore Airlines has placed firm orders for 19 A380s, all powered by the Trent 900. The first aircraft began its service between Singapore and Sydney in October 2007.

Rockwell Collins’ pilot controls, Horizontal Stabiliser Trim System (HSTS) and Head Up Guidance system (HGS) will be featured as standard equipment on the new Gulfstream G650 business jet. Deliveries for the aircraft are expected to begin in 2012.

The G650 flight deck will feature Rockwell Collins’ latest generation of pilot controls. The HSTS incorporates two independent means of drive and failure detection technology to meet the latest stringent certification requirements.

The HUD II on the G650 features Rockwell Collins’ HGS-6250 advanced active-matrix liquid crystal display technology and presents critical flight information in the pilot’s forward field of view.

With the new all-digital display the pilot will be able to see an integrated display of flight information and an infrared image from Gulfstream’s Enhanced Vision System (EVS) in almost all weather conditions.

Embraer successfully completed the wing and engine installation of the first Phenom 300 executive jet last week at its Gavião Peixoto plant. In addition, the first electrical power-on test was successfully completed on March 4.

“We are excited to see the Phenom 300 programme on schedule for a mid-year first flight,” said Luís Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice President, Executive Jets.

The cockpit features three interchangeable 12-inch displays - two Primary Flight Displays (PFD) and one Multi-Function Display (MFD). With a configuration to accommodate up to nine occupants, the Phenom 300 jet has a huge 76-cubic-foot (2.15-cubic-meter) baggage capacity. Two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535E engines, with 3,200 pounds of thrust each, power this jet. The aircraft is said to be capable of flying at 45,000 feet (13,716 meters) at a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.78 and is also designed for short-field takeoffs.

Expected to enter service in the second half of 2009, the Phenom 300 is priced at US$ 6.65 million, based on January 2005 economic conditions, in the baseline configuration, for FAA certification.

Avidyne Corporation and Southern Star Avionics, LLC of Mobile, Alabama have announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for retrofit of the Envision Integrated Flight Deck on a Cessna Model 414A, and adds the Cessna 400 series of piston twin-engine airplanes - including the 401(A,B), 402(A,B,C), 414(A), 421(A,B,C) – to the Approved Model List (AML) of aircraft authorised for retrofit of the Envision System.

Envision modernises the Cessna piston-engine twins with leading edge situational awareness and safety systems and an easy-to-use integrated flight deck. The platform aircraft used to obtain the STC, a 1982 Cessna 414A, N6822E, includes a single EXP5000 PFD and an EX5000 MFD with the S-TEC55X autopilot.

With its entry into service, it becomes the fourth twin-engine aircraft model to be authorised to fly with Envision. Avidyne has also collaborated with S-TEC on the design of the dual-PFD and single-MFD Envision/Alliant flight deck for King Air 90 and 200 series and Cessna 441 Conquest II turboprop aircraft.

Retail pricing for the Envision integrated flight deck for Cessna 400-Series aircraft begins at $34,995 for the EXP5000 PFD with STC Kit, plus $16,995 for the radar-capable EX5000 MFD. Options include the dual-antenna TAS600 traffic advisory system, MLB700 broadcast datalink weather, and TWX670 Tactical Lightning Detection.