The new Embraer RJ-135 made its maiden flight on July 4, some two weeks ahead of schedule. In two flights totaling five hours, the 37-seater was put through its full operational envelope, including flight to FL 370, a maximum 0.78 Mach, all flap and landing gear configurations and full stalls at clean and full-flap configurations. Longitudinal and directional stability at aft and forward c.g. also was explored. "All tests confirmed that the ERJ-135 flight characteristics are just like the ERJ-145," said Satoshi Yokota, Embraer vice president-industrial.
The outcome of this November's election will play a major part in shaping the congressional agenda for aviation legislation in 1999. However, assuming that Republicans maintain their majorities in both the House and Senate, one of the most important initiatives will be an attempt by Representative Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) to do for aviation users what he accomplished for highway users this year.
The proposed FAA Reauthorization Bill rejects user fees and includes protection for general aviation airports. In approving the bill, the House Transportation Committee rejected the Clinton administration's plan to charge user fees and to create a Performance Based Organization for ATC. Also included: The FAA will have to reverse its decision not to release airman mailing addresses and the DOT is instructed to upgrade Loran-C throughout the transition to GPS navigation.
Skip Madsen was appointed executive vice president and CEO at this Duncan Aviation facility. Litton Industries (Woodland Hills, Calif.)-James W. Winchester, Ph.D. moved up to president of the company's Aero Products division, a provider of navigation systems. He succeeds Leo Webrand.
The economy is doing fine and flight hours are up significantly. Therefore, business aircraft operators that are planning on major maintenance, interior and paint work should schedule their appointments now for work to be performed three to five months from now. That's the word from shops we contacted.
Dassault Falcon Jet's 900B is getting a large-scale avionics upgrade and, in the process, will become the 900C. Certification efforts are underway using a Falcon 900B as the prototype. Customer deliveries are scheduled to start in early 2000 with serial number 180. (SN 179, the first actual 900C, will become a Dassault demonstrator.)
Those planning to attend England's biennial Farnborough Air Show from September 7 to 13 can expect to see most of the major business aircraft manufacturers, as well as many of the leading engine and avionics makers. In the no-show category are Cessna Aircraft as well as Russian companies Yakovlev, Antonov, Tupolev and Mikoyan. As usual, the first five days are for aerospace trade visitors, with the public days on Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13.
New Piper Aircraft is now selling its Malibu Mirage with a BFGoodrich SMARTboot tailplane ice detection and alert system as standard equipment. The six-place, single-engine Malibus are the first aircraft to be certificated with the SMARTboot. Under development since 1994, the system is designed to integrate the aircraft's current pneumatic deicer with ice detection technology that monitors up to three linear feet (by one inch wide) along the deicer area, as opposed to more typical systems that sense ice buildup at one single point.
After eight years as the European Business Air Show (EBAS), the annual event will have a different name and will welcome the airlines into the fold when the it plays again on May 20 to 22, 1999 at Germany's Dusseldorf-Express Airport. "We feel that the two sectors of aviation coexist in the same environment, and many aircraft operators are active in both business air charter and scheduled services," a spokesperson said. The event, newly dubbed Air Transport and Business Aviation, still will not include fighters, microlights, spacecraft or admit the public.
Those who remember the sparse attendance at the first NBAA Flight Attendants Conference in 1996 would have been struck by the robust group of participants gathered at the third annual conference held recently in Washington, D.C. Some 150 attendees discussed safety and training issues, inflight medical responses, the government's perspective on their livelihood and even the ways to work with U.S. Customs, Immigration and Department of Agriculture officials.
For a number of market and marketing considerations, OEMs will offer guaranteed cost programs as a sales incentive or marketing statement. These have not been included in the guaranteed maintenance cost program survey because they are offered to purchasers of new aircraft only, and because they are offered to purchasers of new aircraft only, and because they do not have a renewal option.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertPerry Bradley in New York City
The aerospace industry is on the cusp of a paradigm shift that will see increases in value replace increases in performance as the key market driver, Boeing Chairman Phil Condit said in an address recently to members of the Wings Club in New York City. "We have to fundamentally change our industry so we provide value to the customer," he said. Whether it's the business jet, airliner, military or even the commercial space market, in order to achieve success, companies will have to address cost of ownership, Condit contends.
TAC Air, an Arkansas-based firm with six FBOs in the Central and Southern United States, has gained a foothold in the Midwest with the recent purchase of Sky Harbor Air Service at Omaha's Eppley Field. The facility is now known as TAC Air, and TAC Air veteran Steve Pickle has taken over its management. The company plans to redecorate the interior of the terminal, upgrade ground support equipment and spin-off the FBO's charter operations.
Pratt&Whitney Canada received Transport Canada certification for its PW150 turboprop engine that powers the new de Havilland Dash 8Q-400, 50- to 80-passenger regional aircraft
Air Wisconsin has placed firm orders for four Canadair Regional Jet Series 200LRs. The aircraft will be domiciled out of the carrier's United Express operation at Denver.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertGordon A. Gilbert in Savannah
A status report on service and equipment issues led off Gulfstream Aerospace's 1998 annual maintenance and operations workshop this spring in Savannah. Approximately 900 people representing nearly half of the worldwide fleet of more than 1,000 Gulfstreams were in attendance, including the operator of the first Gulfstream to enter service-a G-I now being used for charter by an international air taxi company.
Shared ownership and lease programs using preowned aircraft were announced recently by Aviation One, a new company based in Quincy, Mass., and Chrysler Aviation of Van Nuys, Calif. Aviation One launched a program with three refurbished aircraft: a Citation I and II, and a Cheyenne 400LS. A one-sixteenth share lease in a Citation I is $110,000 annually, which includes the monthly management and lease payments and the hourly fee for 44 flight hours per year.
With the easy availability of cellular phones, nationwide pagers and Internet access providers, you might think that we have all of the communication options that we need. Well, there's more on the way. Just look up. In "Satcom's Second Generation" (July 1997, page 60), we outlined the next wave in aeronautical telecom. That article describes a number of ambitious plans to place large fleets of satellites in orbit that will become new networks of cellular phone antennas.
Northwest Airlink Mesaba Airlines is the first U.S. regional to offer first-class service. It had to. When Northwest decided to equip the carrier with British Aerospace Avro RJ 85 quadjets-nominally an 85-seater-to replace aging DC-9s on mainline routes, it faced a 69-seat limit in the scope clause with its pilots.
Discussions within Transport Canada may lead to a new rule requiring that inoperative or removed ELTs on commercial aircraft be a no-go item. Currently under Canadian (as well as U.S.) rules, aircraft are permitted to operate up to 90 days if an ELT is removed for repair or replacement. Canada's concerns stem from its investigation into at least two recent accidents, including the dead-stick descent and crash landing of a Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop near Clarenville, Newfoundland on May 18.
