ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection is recommending that member states adopt stricter noise and emissions standards. Specifically, the committee says that nitrogen oxide emissions from aircraft engines should be reduced by an average of 16 percent. No specific figures for new noise standards were proposed, but previous attempts by ICAO to get its member nations to lower noise standards have been unsuccessful.
The latest edition of Jeppesen's Federal Aviation Regulations Explained; Parts 1, 61, 91, 141 and NTSB 830, by Kent S. Jackson and Joseph T. Brennan, unscrambles the sometimes convoluted language of the FARs. This "unofficial" reference gives the reader an explanation of the regulations (unless the reg is self-explanatory), cross references to the regs and referral to related advisory circulars. The inclusion of NTSB case excerpts associated with regs, along with FAA chief counsel opinion excerpts, also helps to unlock complexities.
The Regional Airline Association will post a record of 1,475 to 1,500 attendees at its spring convention in Minneapolis in May, when the tallies are finalized, plus 186 exhibitors occupying 200 booths. That was a 17-percent increase in exhibitors over 1997's spring meeting at Reno.
The perpetual subplot of business aviation's 70-year story, it seems to me, has been the search for credibility. In the beginning, the skeptics abounded. Doubts centered on safety, endurance and reliability. Ultimately, technology and human imagination prevailed and our claims in these matters became believable.
This manufacturer of aircraft components made two appointments: Gregory J. DeSantis as vice president of operations for aircraft products and Sebastiaan Demarteau as vice president of worldwide customer support.
Currently available for retrofit to Securaplane's DAI-01 alarm indicator on its System 450 and Ultra Lite on-board security system is the DAI-08 Digital Alarm Indicator. Unlike the larger DAI-01 that requires a key, this unit features a 10-digit scrolling alphanumeric display that will indicate forced entry into an aircraft. The unit is armed and disarmed by push button, and is installed behind a small door outside the aircraft. A DAI-08 will be ready for use with the System 500 in August. Price: $3,340 for the indicator; $35,000 to $55,000 for the entire security system.
The Internet has spawned hundreds of Web sites dedicated to the year 2000 problem. The FAA has opened an entire site devoted to Y2K at www.faay2k.com. Here, you can find detailed information on the FAA's effort to address the Y2K issue, as well as links to other involved international aviation organizations.
FAA has approved Commander 114Bs and 114TCs for flight into known icing. The approval applies to aircraft equipped with the TKS deicing system and related components available from Commander Aircraft in Bethany, Okla. A company official told B/CA that the 50-pound deicing package for new aircraft costs $42,000 installed and $46,000 for retrofit.
In the FAA's continuing effort to establish common requirements between the FARs and Europe's JARs, the agency adopted a new design standard for transport aircraft. The rule requires that the airframe and landing gear be purposely designed to withstand structural stress caused by the initial pitching motions during the sudden application of maximum braking force. The rule goes into effect on aircraft for which initial type certification applications are submitted on or after June 26.
A Transport Canada task force is proposing almost six dozen ways to make on-demand travel safer. Air charter got Transport Canada's special attention when 1990-95 accident data showed that the majority of commercial aircraft accidents involved air taxi operators.
The trade feud that already had made it to the World Trade Organization and was thought to have cooled. It erupted anew in May when a Toronto newspaper reported that Bombardier of Canada had rejected an overture from Brazil's Embraer to sell a stake in the company to settle the trade issue.
With new daylight-readable liquid-crystal displays (LCDs or "flat panels") finding their way into business aircraft cockpits, are the days of cathode-ray tube (CRT) electronic flight instrumentation systems (EFISes) numbered? Jim Lauer, president of IFR Avionics (and current AEA chairman), doesn't think so.
Concerns raised by the Federal Trade Commission have prompted the suspension of an agreement under which Bell would purchase the part of Boeing that was formerly McDonnell Douglas Helicopter. The FTC requested that Boeing look for a better deal and Boeing says it will "market its light helicopter lines to other potential buyers." Terms of Bell's agreement were never disclosed. Bell is trying to acquire the MD500 and MD600 single-turbine lines, and Boeing intends to exit the light-helicopter business year-end.
After a rocky start in the latter part of 1996, U.S. Customs says its General Aviation Telephone Entry (GATE) program is operating smoothly and will be expanded to more airports. GATE allows pre-approved pilots and passengers flying from Canada to the United States to give U.S. Customs advance arrival notice by calling a toll-free number and obtaining a "telephone entry number" (November 1996, page 34). With that number, the pilot may fly directly to an approved U.S. airport of entry. Air taxi operators with crew only are now eligible to participate in the program.
Infra-Red Technologies' Model 100 Ice Cat aircraft deicing system uses flame-less infrared heat emitters to melt frost, ice and snow. To produce heat without flames or noxious chemicals, a gaseous fuel (natural gas, propane or butane) is burned inside a platinum-impregnated ceramic panel. Infrared rays transmit the heat to the aircraft surface. Ice Cat fits into a truck bed or other mobile unit, or can be permanently mounted. The FAA's Kansas City FSDO has approved the Ice Cat. Base price: $175,000 for a custom-designed system. Infra-Red Technologies, 1201 Burlington, N.
John McNamara was appointed president and CEO of this provider of general aviation flight-training devices and flight simulators. He succeeds Chip Adkins, the company's founder.
Tired of cruising along at 460 to 490 knots on those 12- to 14-hour international business trips? At the 22nd Dassault Falcon Jet Maintenance and Operations Symposium held in Nice, France in May, Serge Dassault, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, along with Bruno Revellin-Falcoz, executive vice president for research, engineering and cooperation, unveiled a scale model of a supersonic business jet that could cut travel times by one-third to one-half, compared to ultra-long-range, sub-sonic business aircraft.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertEdward G. Tripp in Ames, Iowa VisionAire Dedicates Vantage Assembly Facility Deliveries of the single-engine business jet are scheduled to begin late in 1999
VisionAire Corp. held a ceremony on May 26 to dedicate its recently built Vantage business jet production facility and flight test center at Ames Municipal Airport in Ames, Iowa. To emphasize the support and investment of the state and local community, Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad, Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco and Martin Jischke, Iowa State University president, shared the spotlight with VisionAire founder, chairman and CEO James O. Rice, Jr. Aviation notables attending included aircraft marketing legend James B.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertPerry Bradley in Montreal
Corporate operators will have a much easier time clearing Canadian customs under a new pre-clearance program called CANPASS-Corporate Aircraft. The program was announced by Revenue Canada officials at the recent annual Canadian Business Aircraft Association convention.
The city of Jacksonville plans to convert 6,000 acres of Cecil Field, a 17,000-acre naval air base, into a general aviation airport once the U.S. Navy leaves in March 2000. Herb McCarthy, director of the Cecil Field Development Office, says the city also is considering a plethora of other redevelopment possibilities for the air station that includes three 8,000-foot runways and one 12,500-foot runway. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, along with non-aviation-related companies, are discussing moving onto the closing base.
The Southern California Safety Institute in Torrance is bringing its Human Factors in Aviation Safety course to Albuquerque on August 31 to September 4. Topics to be covered include human error-mistakes, slips and accidents; flight discipline issues; loss of situational awareness; ergonomics; aviation physiology and introduction to Cockpit Resource Management. Students take home a textbook, lecture outlines and a certificate of completion. The tuition is $1,380. For further information or to register, phone (310) 540-2612; fax (310) 540-0532.
Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands believe they have developed a cost-effective alternative to WAAS and EGNOS. They've dubbed it Eurofix, which is a hybrid differential GPS/Loran-C navigation system that they claim offers better than five meter position-fixing accuracy 95 percent of the time up to 540 nm from a datalink transmitter. Three-meter position fixing accuracy is available at 320 to 430 miles from any transmitter in the coverage area.
