-- The Aircraft Electronics Association Convention and Trade Show will be held at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando on April 7-10. More than 30 hours of seminars and some 120 exhibits are being readied for this annual gathering. Subjects to be covered in the seminar program include the FAR Part 145 rewrite, in-house training to satisfy FAA and Transport Canada requirements, determining overhead costs, GPS training, tracking parts, how to close a sale and Internet training. Gov-ernmental issues will be discussed by an FAA/JAA/Transport Canada panel.
James O. Rice, Jr., VisionAire Corp.'s chairman and CEO, inked an order worth $175 million for JT15D-5s with Gilles P. Ouimet, Pratt&Whitney Canada's president and COO, in late January. VisionAire chose the 2,900-pound-thrust JT15D-5 to power its single-engine Vantage business jet because of its "unequaled reliability," according to Rice.
The Helicopter Association International presented its 1997 Outstanding Certificated Flight Instructor Award to Robert Holmes, a helicopter pilot/check airman for Chevron U.S.A. The award was presented at Heli Expo '98 in Anaheim, Calif. Holmes has been a member of Chevron's flight department since 1985.
Of the countries tracked by the DOT, only four now require spraying of insecticide with passengers still on board, down from 24 in 1994, when DOT began a campaign to stop spraying in the interest of passenger health. Grenada, Kiribati, Madagascar, and Trinidad and Tobago still spray while passengers are on board. Six countries allow spraying empty aircraft: Australia, Barbados, Fiji, Jamaica, New Zealand and Panama. For more complete information on spraying, check out this DOT Internet site: http://ostpxweb.dot.gov.
The movement toward global application of satellite-based communications, navigation and surveillance, and air traffic management systems (CNS/ATM) will be the center of attention at an ICAO-sponsored conference in May in Rio de Janeiro. The agenda: a discussion on the status and schedule for worldwide implementation of CNS/ATM.
A wave of consolidations has, for the last few years, been sweeping through the aircraft service market. Its most dramatic impact in business aviation was General Electric's fall 1997 purchase of Greenwich UNC, which included Airwork and the Garrett Aviation Services.
The National Aeronautic Association's prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy was awarded to Gulfstream Aerospace and the G-V program team. The company was recognized for introducing the "world's first ultra-long-range business jet." More than 80 G-Vs have been sold to date, according to Gulfstream, and the first delivery of a completed aircraft was in July 1997. The NAA has awarded the Collier Trophy annually since 1911 to honor significant achievements in aeronautics in the United States. Formal presentation of the award will be at a banquet in Washington, D.C.
In early February, NASA kicked off an international research effort that the agency hopes will validate a new runway friction index that can be simply applied to a variety of aircraft. The index is intended to assist air crews and airport management in making go/no-go decisions based on assessments of runway slipperiness from snow, ice or slush.
The Honeywell/Pelorus Satellite Landing System (SLS-2000) is expected to receive operational approval by summer-the final step leading to use of the first differential GPS system (DGPS) ground station. The system received FAA approval in August 1997. Commissioning of the ground station and an STC for the avionics were received in January. The first systems scheduled to go on line will serve Newark and Minneapolis-St. Paul international airports (August 1997, page 28 and November 1997, page 92).
Available from Paravion Technology is an STCed air-conditioning system for Bell 407s. The condenser mounts below the baggage compartment floor, pulling in air from the sides of the aircraft and discharging heated air underneath. The installed weight of the 7,000 BTU-rated system is 75 pounds. Standard features include dual forward evaporators and a third mounted in the rear of the aircraft. Uninstalled price: $19,000. Paravion Technology, 2001 Airway Ave., Ft. Collins, Colo. 80524. (970) 224-3898.
To compete in an increasing market for single-grade oils, Phillips 66 has reintroduced an SAE 50. Phillips discontinued single-grade oil in favor of multi-grade oils in 1970. Phillips concedes that it thought single-grade oils would become a "thing of the past."
Global Energy has entered the avcomps market with an aviation CD-ROM containing a full FAA database-more than 660 megabytes of information, says the Madison, Wis. firm. The CD-ROM includes the following: -- FAA written tests for certificates and ratings. -- FARs (required Adobe Acrobat reader is included). -- Pilot names, addresses, ratings and medicals (660,000 records).
Starting in the second quarter, AlliedSignal will offer Learjet 35/36 operators a -2C engine upgrade, which incorporates more-robust parts from higher thrust versions of the TFE731, thereby increasing ITT margins and extending maintenance intervals. The goal is to increase reliability to better than 6.7 unscheduled removals per 100,000 flight hours. The current mean time between unscheduled removals is about 10 events per 100,000 flight hours. (See related feature article beginning on page 76.)
Connecticut DOT has collected "three or four bids" to date in answer to Governor John G. Rowland's proposal to reduce state expenses by placing five state-owned general aviation airports under contract management. The airports affected would be Danielson, Groton-New London, Hartford-Brainard, Waterbury-Oxford and Windham. Danielson and Windham currently are under contract management by their FBOs. "Within the next three months, we should know if we'll be going forward with this," said a spokesperson in the state's aviation/ports office.
The number of fatal business jet accidents in the United States decreased from three in 1996 to one in 1997, according to Robert E. Breiling Associates. That one accident resulted in five deaths, compared to 11 deaths in three accidents in 1996. But the number of fatal U.S. turboprop accidents in 1997 increased to 14 from eight in 1996, and the number of fatalities rose from 38 in 1996 to 41 in 1997. Complete details of these and non-U.S.
U.S. Customs Service regulations pertaining to the filing of petitions in penalty, damages and seizure cases will be "significantly" revised to be briefer, clearer and allow for "more flexibility and useful contact" with government officials. Designed to administer cases more efficiently and fairly, these proposals will "promote a more customer-friendly atmosphere and eliminate needless or redundant provisions," said the service. Comments are due by April 3. For more details, contact Jerry Baskin at the Customs Penalties Branch in Washington, D.C.
Signature Flight Support significantly expanded its presence at Anchorage International Airport with the recent acquisition of the facilities of the former Anchorage Aviation Center. The new facilities will serve transient customers (including those with prior requests for overnight hangaring), while Signature's original and smaller site will handle tenant and avgas customers. Facility upgrading is planned. (907) 243-4328.
As Amsterdam's Schipol Airport becomes increasingly congested, plans are afoot to develop nearby LuchthavenLelystad for business aviation. Already a busy general aviation airfield with 125,000 annual movements (mainly single-engine training), construction on a new terminal is about to start and, over the next three years, the 4,100-foot runway will be extended to 5,900 feet and be fitted with an ILS. In addition, a 2,300-foot strip for light GA traffic is planned. Lelystad lies 27 miles northeast of Amsterdam with good freeway connections to Netherlands towns and cities.
University of Kansas has finalized its schedule of aerospace short courses for 1998. Some 32 courses in six locations will cover a wide variety of technical issues. For a catalog of the course descriptions and enrollment information, contact the University of Kansas, Aerospace Short Courses, Overland Park, Kan. 66213-2402. Phone: (913) 897-8500; fax: (913) 897-8540; e-mail: www.kumc.edu/kuce/app/aero.html.
Rulemaking has been proposed to require operators of older Airbus, BAC, Boeing, Douglas, Fokker and Lockheed aircraft to incorporate "repair assessment guidelines" for the fuselage. If enacted, the rule will serve to establish a damage-tolerance-based supplemental inspection program for repairs that already have been made.
