Daily Archives: April 27, 2009

Onex part of duo bidding on AIG aircraft unit, report says

April 27, 20093:11 p.m.

Onex and Greenbriar Equity Group reportedly are bidding on International Lease Finance Corp., AIG’s aircraft leasing arm, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Onex became tied with Wichita after it acquired Boeing’s commercial aircraft division, now Spirit AeroSystems.  In addition, a partnership between Onex and GS Capital Partners  acquired Raytheon Aircraft, now Hawker Beechcraft.

Another group submitting bids to acquire ILFC is Thomas H. Lee Partners and Carlyle Group, the report said. The identity of a third bidder could not be determined.

AIG is likely to negotiate with the three groups for several weeks before it presents the winning bid to the New York Federal Reserve and US Treasury, which hold about an 80 percent stake in the insurer.

ILFC has ordered 168 aircraft worth $16.7 billion from Boeing and Airbus. The aircraft are to be delivered during the next 10 years. Forty-nine of them, worth about $3 billion, are scheduled for delivery this year.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off

Sub hunter P-8A Poseidon completes first flight

April 27, 200911:22 a.m.

Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon test aircraft made its first flight on Saturday, the company said.

The plane’s fuselage was built in Wichita by Spirit AeroSystems. The P-8A is a derivative of Boeing’s 737-800. The Navy plans to buy 108 P-8As to replace its fleet of P-3C aircraft.

During the flight, it performed a series of flight checks, reached a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet and landed after three hours, 31 minutes in the air.

“This is a significant accomplishment for the P-8A team, as it moves us one step closer to delivering the next maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft to the warfighter,” Capt. Mike Moran, P-8A program manager for the U.S. Navy, said in a statement.

Before take-off, the P-8A team completed a limited series of flight checkings, including engine starts and shutdowns. During the flight, test pilots performed airborne systems checks including engine accelerations and decelerations, autopilot flight modes and auxiliary power unit shutdowns and starts.

Formal flight testing by a Navy/Boeing team will begin during the third quarter of 2009.

Boeing describes the P-8A as a  “long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.”


By Molly McMillin | Filed under Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems | Comments (1)

Kansas pilots work to restore historic Wendover Air Field

April 27, 200910:51 a.m.

Six local volunteers from the Kansas Pilots Association took part in helping save a piece of U.S. history earlier this month.

They flew to the historic Wendover Air Field, a 1940s Army airfield, in Utah to help restore the airfield.

The airfield, located about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City, was the training site for the 509th Group for its mission to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

The Air Force selected a B-29 Superfortress and one of its best aviators, Col. Paul Tibbets Jr. to form and train a group devoted to dropping the bomb. Tibbets selected Wendover Air Field as the training site. He thought the remote location was perfect for the secrecy surrounding the project. For a time, it housed the Enola Gay, the B-29 Tibbets used to drop the bomb, “Little Boy.”

During the trip to the airfield, KPA volunteers excavated piled-up dirt and debris from a second bomb loading pit on the base, said Johanne Pachankis, who organized the trip. They found only a few relevant items, wooden framing, wiring leads, rusted piping and a piece of uniform cloth, she said. They cleaned the pit down to its concrete flooring.

Al Madero, Art and Alice Hatch and David and John Krueger also made the trip.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Uncategorized, pilots | Comments Off