Sun ‘n’ Fun Watch – NBAA, Cessna

NBAA Schedules New Even for Light Aircraft
With 60 percent of NBAA's 8,000 members operating just a single airplane to help advance their business, the National Business Aircraft Association will launch a new event specifically for light aircraft owners.
"We've been talking to those members about how we can better serve their needs," said President Ed Bolen, adding from that the organization decided to launch Light Airplane Conference & Exhibition, a new three-day annual event that will be held in San Diego, Calif., starting next March. The show will feature forums and workshops about safety for the single pilot, regulatory issues, taxes, and more, that will focus on business owners and other operators of light jets, turboprops, and piston airplanes. "We are confident that the Light Airplane Conference & Exhibition will be well received by our light airplane operators, who will now benefit from a show filled with exhibits and educational information sessions focused on their unique interests, and a static display that showcases their aircraft," Bolen said. The show will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, with room for up to 1,000 exhibitors. A static display for up to 50 aircraft will be located at the nearby San Diego International Airport. Next year's show is set for March 12, 13, and 14.

Cessna Launches Garmin G1000® Synthetic Vision Technology
Cessna is offering Garmin’s G1000® Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) on all its G1000-equipped aircraft. The Mustang will be the first business jet to integrate Garmin’s SVT, and Cessna expects to offer SVT on the Caravan family and all Cessna single-engine piston aircraft in the future.
Cessna plans to offer SVT for the Mustang as a factory option later this year. Current plans also call for the Garmin system to be available as an option for single-engine piston aircraft and Caravans within a year. In most cases, SVT capability will be available for retrofit to earlier production Cessna G1000-equipped aircraft.
Garmin’s SVT brings an entirely new level of situational awareness to the Mustang’s cockpit by displaying the aircraft’s position on an enhanced topographical database. The combination of synthetic terrain and terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS) helps pilots identify hazards to their current flight path by displaying terrain and obstacles that pose a threat to the aircraft with the appropriate TAWS terrain alert color. Garmin SVT also includes pathways, or highway-in-the-sky (HITS), which is depicted as three-dimensional rectangles that guide the pilot along enroute legs, VNAV legs, GPS/WAAS vertical approach procedures, ILS approach procedures, and arrival and departure procedures.
The fully functional Garmin G1000 system designed for the Mustang includes two 10-inch primary flight displays and one 15-inch multi-function display. Included in the system is the integrated GFC700 dual-channel, fail passive, digital autopilot. The Mustang was the first aircraft certified to take advantage of WAAS navigation features including WAAS LPV approaches that provide both lateral and vertical guidance. Garmin’s G1000 avionics suite also includes SafeTaxi, which gives a graphical representation of the aircraft in the airport environment.
Now certified in 47 countries, the Mustang became the first of a new category of entry-level jets to achieve full certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (September 2006) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (May 2007). Cessna delivered 45 Citation Mustangs in 2007 and the fleet has accumulated more than 10,500 hours. From Cessna’s facility in Independence, Kan., the company expects to deliver 100 Mustangs in 2008 and reach its targeted full production rate of about 150 aircraft per year by the end of 2009.

Cessna Displays Broad Lineup Including Mustang
Cessna featured 10 aircraft from its broad range of Citation business jets, turbo-prop powered Caravans and single engine aircraft at the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In last week in Lakeland, Fla. In addition to its Cessna 350 and 400, which debuted at the show, as well as single-engine pistons, Cessna also brought the Citation CJ1+, Citation Mustang, G1000 and TKS-equipped Grand Caravan and Grand Caravan with Oasis Interior.
Cessna’s aircraft display at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport is located outside the Cessna Center – a permanent 2,400-square-foot multi-purpose educational center built in 2006 with a $250,000 investment by the Cessna Foundation. When not being used as the company’s Sun ’n Fun Fly-In headquarters, the facility hosts workshops and forums.