B/CA Show News - NBAA 2007 Day 1 - (Page 4) COMING UP TODAY N BA A 2007 Indian Magnate Is Moving on Epic Let There Be No Confusion: The Inclusion of Infusion Is Not an Illusion The tomb of architect Sir Christopher Wren in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, carries the bare inscription, “If you seek his memorial, look about you.” Kansas City-based Infusion Design is not an exhibitor; but if you seek its handiwork, look on eight of the major booths. Celebrating only its tenth birthday on Thursday, Infusion is an industrial designer with a commanding NBAA presence, with interior designs and mockups for four new programs, as well as four seen in Orlando last year. Newcomers comprise the Spectrum S-40 Freedom full-size fuselage; a short section of Aerion supersonic business jet; full-size mockup and half fuselage side for a new interior of the Adam A700; and a short, half-section of the new Learjet fuselage. Making second appearances are the Spectrum S-33 Independence, Premier 1A, Embraer Legacy and Hawker 900. Company president Sean Elsner says that no other company produces such a range of interrelated services as Infusion Design. For Spectrum, it designed the whole booth; for DeCrane, brochures and handouts. Some of the interior depictions found in brochures are not real mockups at all, Elsner says. Computer depictions give customers a feel for the aircraft while saving time and money that’s better devoted to test programs. Several OEMs have the firm’s work on the flight line. Taking into account the illustrious professional history of Benn Isaacman, now leader of strategic product development, Infusion has experience of interiors for most of the leading manufacturers in the U.S.— from the Learjet 24 to corporate 767. And that’s, literally, only half the story, for about half of Infusion’s efforts are in the nonaeronautical sector, with Ranger Boats, Rubbermaid, Procter & Gamble and Bose among its client. —Paul Jackson Watch for Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya to invest some $200 million to take a controlling stake in Oregon VLJ manufacturer Epic Aircraft. Kingfisher hopes to commence service from India to San Francisco and New York by April, and would use the small Epic jets to whisk premium customers from those hubs. Cessna Seems Poised to Buy Columbia Cessna (Booth 8550) is believed to be talking with Oregon’s Columbia Aircraft regarding a partnership or acquisition relative to single-engine aircraft. Columbia bills its Columbia 400 as “faster than any other certified single-engine, piston-powered aircraft on the planet, period.” And Cessna launched a new sportplane at Oshkosh this past summer. Sino Swearingen May be Sino No More Expect a big change in the major Taiwanese shareholding of Sino Swearingen, manufacturer of the SJ30-2 business jet. The company will hold a press conference today at 3 p.m. to detail new investments that will greatly reduce the 90% stake held by Taiwan. It will deliver the second customer airplane here today, to Action Aviation of the UK, the largest SJ30 (J30?) distributor in the world. Eurocopter to Unveil Helicopter Concept Rotary aircraft are the missing link in end-to-end transportation solutions, the gap between the business jet and downtown. Which helps explain why Eurocopter is seeing strong demand for executive helicopters, selling 126 so far this year, even though their outfitting doesn’t compare with that of a business jet. That’s about to change as Eurocopter unveils a new business helicopter concept here today at NBAA at 11 a.m., Booth 4351, with an onboard environment said conducive to work, to relaxation, and to the pure pleasure of flight. MultiScan Radar Comes to Business Jets Rockwell Collins (Booth 5500) is launching MultiScan weather radar for Pro Line 21 business jet cockpits, and has just announced Pro Line Fusion avionics, which brings enhanced and synthetic vision to the cockpit. Fully automatic MultiScan radar is being used by more than 100 airlines and is the standard for the 787. Embraer Unveils Two Mockups Brazil’s hard-driving airframer is filling out its business jet line with new mid and light mid jets, unveiling their distinctive cabin interiors at Booth 3737. Big, Very Big Names to Honor Jane Birch Jane Birch, author of the award-winning forthcoming book They Flew Proud, will receive the $20,000 Fifth Anuual Combs Gates award at the opening general session here this morning. It will be presented by astronaut Gene Cernan, fighter ace Bob Hoover, and Amanda Wright Lane, the great grand-niece of Orville and Wilbur Wright. Barrington Irving at Universal Display Spectrum Independence mockup by Infusion. Meet the young Jamaican from inner-city Miami who’s the first AfricanAmerican to fly solo around the world (in a Columbia 400 dubbed Inspiration), at Universal Weather & Aviation’s Booth 7666 this afternoon. 4 September 25, 2007 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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