The telecom industry is abuzz with talk of "converged systems" that promise to offer an ultra-high-speed end-run around the established telephone companies by offering Internet-based voice, data and fax capabilities at significant savings. Digital airborne telephone and information vendors should be ready to take full advantage of this capability. It may take some time before it becomes clear which of the ground-based "converged system" telecom companies will be ready to link directly to your airborne phone, FMS, entertainment and inflight weather systems.
A user-fee-funded ATC system laid out in the FAA's "Air Traffic Services Improvement Act" provides the most detailed description to date of how the administration would structure a semi-independent ATC organization. Al-though few give the bill much chance of passage in the current Congress, which is nearing its summer recess and will then turn its attention to elections in the fall, the legislation likely will frame the debate over how best to structure the FAA.
The hangar shown here is under construction at New York's Republic Airport. It may not look smart at this stage, but when its completed later this year, corporate aircraft operator Maltaire will move its Gulfstream IV and other aircraft into a facility that virtually will have a mind of its own.
You might say he got homesick. After a 27-year career in the U.S. Navy during which he accumulated some 5,500 hours of fixed wing and helicopter time, new Helicopter Association International President Roy Resavage decided to take a more ground-bound tack. But after two years in the telecom industry, Resavage says he missed aviation, and is anxious to get back to his roots.
SimuFlite has added a CFIT course to its Advanced Airmanship program, a series of optional complimentary courses for pilots who train at the Dallas-based company.
The Diamond International flight department in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. became history in May with the sale of its last aircraft, a Boeing 757. The demise of the flight department follows the death in 1997 of Sir James Goldsmith, who acquired Diamond in 1981. The flight department had some interesting firsts in its 33 years of existence. For instance, Diamond's JetStar was the first Dash 6 model to cross the Pacific westbound in 1971 , and the company's G-IIB was the first aircraft to operate out of the Himalayan country of Bhutan in 1991.
The following are target dates for emerging turbine aircraft. These dates, supplied by the airframe manufacturers, are subject to change-and frequently do-as a result of design revisions, funding, testing delays or extensions, and/or the resolution of unforeseen problems. Each month, this table will endeavor to show the most-current schedule. Manufacturer Model AASI Jetcruzer 500 Turboprop Agusta A119 Koala Single Turbine
The spring deadline for commercial helicopter operators in Europe to comply with a revised set of operational requirements was expected to be rescheduled to a later date. At press time, the new date for complying with JAR-OPS 3 had not been finalized, but it is anticipated to be October 1 at the earliest, and could be as late as April 1, 1999 (October 1996, page 22).
In late 1994, Pilatus started delivering the PC-12 single-engine turboprop, and this spring, the Swiss company delivered its 100th unit. The aircraft was purchased by R.G. Edwards, owner of Unionville, Ontario-based Road Trailer Rentals. PC-12s are sold and supported in the United States through Pilatus Business Aircraft in Broomfield, Colo.
Gordon A. Gilbert QUIETING 727s WITHOUT HUSH KITS OR NEW ENGINES
DuganAir Technologies of Bellevue, Wash. has developed a way to bring Boeing 727s into compliance with FAR Part 36, Stage 3 noise levels without replacing engines or attaching hush kits.
Icom has introduced the IC-A4 hand-held com-munication trans-ceiver, a general aviation version of its model used for ground-crew communications. Instead of a keypad, the 15-ounce, pocket-size unit has up/down keys for changing channels. The IC-A4 receives all 760 channels, and can be programmed to store up to 19 channels in memory. An "alpha memory feature" allows the user to assign five-character alpha names to the channels. For nighttime operation, LCD backlighting illumines the display. Price: $299. Headset adapter is optional.
Until just a few years ago I considered the year 2000 so far distant as not to even talk about. It rather paralyzed the imagination to contemplate the 21st century. Now that the new century is coming into clearer focus, the awesome technology now present forebodes interesting events to take place in the world of air transport. Just as many things technological start off with a glitch, so do we enter the year 2000 with a computer brouhaha foreseen by practically no one from San Diego to Squantum.
Go to the Virgin Express Web site (www.virgin-exp.com) for a profile of Jonathan Ornstein and you will find a depiction of him in a Superman suit, the "S" on the chest replaced by a "V" for Virgin. It is classic Ornstein. Ornstein has risen quickly through the airline ranks amassing an enviable track record as he moved from lowly Air L.A. to Mesa Air Group, to Mesa unit WestAir, back to Mesa, to Continental Express, to mainline Continental, back to Continental Express, and on to Virgin Express in Brussels. Now, at 41, he's back at Mesa as CEO.
Garmin's new GNS 430, which made its debut at the 1998 Aircraft Electronics Association convention in Orlando, arguably is the firm's most significant avionics product since it announced the GPS 150 AVD in 1991.
Helicopter operators expect the fleet to grow by five percent over the next three years, and also foresee a four percent growth in the average number of flight hours and a three percent increase in employment, according to a Helicopter Association International member survey. Operators said they flew 518 hours per helicopter on average in 1997, but the figure ranged widely depending on fleet size.
Jet Aviation Business Jets in Zurich received JAR-OPS 1 certification, one of the first corporate aircraft operators to be recognized for meeting the same requirements of European commercial aircraft operators
The owner of a Little Rock, Ark. FBO is one of the founders of Skyshare, a new organization designed to provide shared aircraft ownership for owner/pilots and smaller companies on a franchise basis to FBOs. Richard N. Holbert, president of Central Flying Service, said that a Skyshare franchise package includes the following: all legal documentation, aircraft selection, national interchange agreements, pricing of services, marketing, accounting and maintenance. Franchise costs vary widely, with startup fees ranging from $15,200 to $27,000.
Skyforce Avionics, which makes liquid-crystal moving map displays, has been acquired by AlliedSignal. Skyforce is a British firm with U.S. sales and service operations in Chantilly, Va., but AlliedSignal will integrate Skyforce sales and support into its nationwide service center network. Meanwhile, the company will boost its 48 percent interest in U.K.-based Normalair-Garrett to 52 percent. NGL manufactures aircraft environmental control and oxygen systems.
The association elected three new members to its board of directors for three-year terms: Linda Barker, vice president of Business Aviation, an FBO in Sioux Falls, S.D.; Charles Johnson, president of Era Aviation, an Anchorage-based FBO; and John Willis, president of Raytheon Aircraft Services of Wichita.
FAA approved the Bombardier Aerospace Training Centre in Montreal as an FAR Part 142 facility. Part 142, established in late 1996, is designed to standardize training programs, eliminate regulatory ambiguity and increase the use of simulators and flight training devices. It also requires improved control of training specifications, such as training aids, instructor workload and facility environment (August 1996, page 21).
DeVore Aviation has developed a gun-like device to measure the intensity of strobe lights. Testing allows the operator to determine whether the strobes are meeting or operating below current FAA requirements. (Xenon bulbs usually decline in light output over time.) When the trigger is pressed, the hand-held, battery-operated Flash Measuring Gun displays a digital readout to the nearest candela. Price: $3,400. DeVore Aviation Corp., 6104-B Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109. (505) 345-8713; fax: (505) 344-3835.
The Cessna Citation family began with the Model 500, which first flew in September 1969. The twin-engine, eight-seat 500 was first delivered in 1972 and 349 units were built before an improved version was developed as the Citation I. A single-pilot version, the Model 501SP, also was developed. Many units were converted from the 500 to 501 model and vice versa, and 62 Citation Is and 278 Citation I/SPs were built, for a total of 689 units by the time production ceased in 1985.
