Typically, powerplant technology has been the forerunner of breakthroughs in aircraft capability. As director of new business development for AlliedSignal Commercial Propulsion, Ed White is devoting considerable time to formulating the company's view on whether there is a market for a new class of entry-level turbine aircraft. The company has already done market surveys and forecasts, and is undertaking more comprehensive analysis this year. He shared some of his research with B/CA. MARKET SIZE
Bradley Brownell joined this FBO as Raytheon 125 program manager in the aircraft services division. -- Bombardier Aerospace (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)-This business aircraft manufacturer has appointed two new sales directors for the Challenger and Global Express: Douglas Greaves, based in New Jersey, for the Mid-Atlantic region, and Don McLaughlin, based in St. Louis, for the Midwest and Plains states. Also, James Swindells was named vice president of completion sales and marketing for business aircraft.
Air-charter operators could not have a better partner in promoting their business than the airlines that form the National Business Travel Association (NBTA). Mark Johnson, president of NBTA and the corporate travel manager at Cessna Aircraft, told air-charter executives at NATA's recent air-charter leadership conference that he could not think of any business that has gone down as fast as airline travel.
SMR Technologies of Sharon Valley, Ohio received STCs covering 29 electrothermal propeller deicers, most of which apply to Beech, Cessna and Piper piston and turboprop twins. The company competes with its former corporate parent, BFGoodrich, which dominates that market. SMR said the price of its system is comparable to BFG's, but it believes its deicers are both easier to install and more durable because of a special erosion-resistant compound that is applied to the face of the deicer, reducing life cycle cost.
Chapp's Checker checklists-13-page, spiral-bound, pocket-size checklists for most Cessna and Piper single-engine aircraft-are the latest development from CCS, Inc. The 3-1/16-inch-wide pages are laid out in sequential order from cabin check, exterior check and engine start right on through tie down. One page covers V-speeds for the particular make and model, and the back page lists general data about the aircraft. Price: $11.95, including mailing charges. (Specify aircraft make and model.) CCS, Inc., 1705 Girard Dr., Louisville, Ky. 40222.
Available now from Norstar Chemical Products is the Star-kit, combining four aircraft cleaning and grooming products into one portable case: 32 ounces of Starshine, a one-step washing and waxing spray; 32 ounces of Starclean oil and grease remover; 16 ounces of Stargloss aircraft paint treatment wax; and eight ounces of Starclear windshield cleaner and polish. The kit includes a wax pad applicator, polishing cloth and bug-remover sponge. Price: $69.92. Distributed by Alpha Coatings, 310 W. 12th St., Washington, Mo. 63090. (800) 875-3903.
As expected, Boeing officially selected Collins to provide the avionics for the Boeing Business Jet. Specifically, the BBJ will be delivered with Collins Series 900 comm and nav sensors (with 8.33 kHz frequency spacing), GLU-920 Multi-Mode Receiver (with GPS), 100-nm range TCAS II and color weather radar with five-mile forward-looking scan for detecting wind shear. Boeing is scheduled to roll out the BBJ in late summer.
EMERGING AIRCRAFT TARGET DATES The following are target dates for emerging 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 Milestone Target Date AASI Jetcruzer 500 Turboprop Certification 3rd Quarter 1998
In the third edition of his book, FAA Medical Certification: Guidelines for Pilots, Richard O. Reinhart, M.D. gives readers the impression that he is looking them squarely in the eye and saying, "Take responsibility for your medical status and medical certificate. You are not the pawn of your doctor and the bureaucracy; take control." The author, who is a senior FAA aviation medical examiner and a contributor to B/CA, preaches what he practices by skillfully developing his theme "keep ahead of your health and certification."
FAA is expected to adopt a proposal that clarifies the new rules pertaining to passenger-carrying commercial flights in single-engine airplanes (September 1997, page 28). The most important clarification is that although gyro instruments must have redundant sources of energy, each source need not power "all" the gyros, as currently stated. Also clarified: In one-pilot/autopilot operations, only gyros on the pilot's panel need be working, but on flights using two pilots, gyros on both panels must be working.
Galaxy Aerospace guarantees that the operating costs of Israel Aircraft Industries' Galaxy business jet will average below $850 per hour over a five-year period or 2,000 hours. The guarantee program is an unusual as well as gutsy move. While such guarantee programs are not uncommon, they are usually established close to or after an aircraft enters service. The Galaxy is not yet halfway through certification test flying and is not scheduled to enter service until early 1999.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Aerostructures Corp. signed on as a risk-sharing partner for the Bell 609 civil tiltrotor, and will take over some of the fuselage fabrication that originally was assigned to Boeing. In February, Boeing quit the commercial helicopter business and turned its 49 percent share of the 609 program over to Bell. Aerostructures, formerly a unit of Bell Helicopter parent company Textron, was at one time a subcontractor on the Bell/Boeing V-22 military tiltrotor. As of early March, Bell had commitments for 61 tiltrotors from 36 customers.
The NBAA is sharpening its focus on business aircraft safety matters through the formation of a Safety Committee to provide its membership with "advice and guidance on all matters relating to the safe operation of aircraft." John Lauber, Airbus Industrie vice president-training and human factors, will chair the group. Pat Andrews, Mobil's manager of global aircraft services, is co-chair. The committee's members come mostly from the ranks of NBAA companies.
February 22, 1994 proved to be both a terrible and a grand day in Starship history. A Starship, serial number NC-35, dropped onto a snow- and ice-covered runway in Roskilde, Denmark from about 50 feet after an aborted takeoff. The airplane slid along the remaining runway and continued for about 100 yards before coming to rest, its landing gear collapsed and its wings and belly smashed up. Fortunately, no one was injured.
During the next few months, Jet Aviation will build three hangars and renovate its existing maintenance and completions facilities at the company's West Palm Beach International Airport base. The hangars, two of which are scheduled to be completed by November, are intended for tenant operators and will be large enough for Global Express and G-V aircraft. Construction of the third hangar is set to start in early 1999.
Air taxi operators are exempt from new rules that require enhanced passenger manifests on international flights. Although the FAA did not exclude on-demand operators from new rules requiring installation of fire prevention systems in certain aircraft cargo compartments, the agency delayed rulemaking for further comment from the air taxi industry. Comments are due June 17. For details, contact the FAA at (425) 227-2114.
An FAA/industry task force analyzing the FAA's National Air Space modernization efforts concluded that the agency's current course is unachievable because of technical risk, disagreement among users, bureaucratic infighting and insufficient funding. The task force recommended slowing development of the wide-area augmentation system, datalink, and ADS-B air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities critical to free flight.
On October 1, 1999, all aviation medical examiners are scheduled to start using a new, mandated Windows-based software package from the FAA. The new technology is intended to streamline the pilot medical examination process and improve the accuracy of data.
If you're flying in the area of Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Del. on May 9 or 10, you may share the airspace with a high altitude rocket-even if only for an instant. The weather rocket is scheduled to blast off from the park on the afternoon of May 9 (or May 10 as the backup launch day) and climb to a height of 45 miles. Watch for a temporary restricted area to be established that will also include Warning Area W-108, and segments of V-139, J-121 and J-124. For schedule updates, contact the FAA at (718) 553-4521.
Deliveries of the Learjet 45, which received certification in September 1997, are delayed until mid-month at the earliest because of recurring bleed-air tube coupling leaks in the anti-ice system. The high-pressure engine bleed air used for anti-icing is hotter and of higher pressure than on most previous Learjets, resulting in more stress on the couplings. New design couplings currently are being evaluated. Function and reliability tests must be completed before upgraded parts can be retrofitted, thus allowing initial deliveries to begin.
Where have we heard this before? High-performance airplanes for the owner-pilot. General aviation aircraft deliveries exceeding 20,000 a year. Low-cost small turbine engines. Personal jets.
In its legislative agenda for this year, the National Air Transportation Association intends to make it clear to Congress that its members do not want to be lumped in with the airlines when it comes to taxation and regulation. And it will continue to fight "an as-yet-undefined user fee scheme that proposes to switch excise tax funding to user fee funding by the year 2000," said NATA President James Coyne. "It's an issue we hoped would have gone away."
