The new 10,000-foot Runway 17R/35L at Kentucky's Louisville International Airport opened recently for VFR traffic only. Category I operations are scheduled to be added in March, and Category II will be added in June. Also in March, Runway 1/19 will close.
January came and went without the scheduled rollout of the 19-passenger S-92 Helibus (March 1997, page 18). The first three of five prototypes of the helicopter are still being built. A Sikorsky spokesman told B/CA the FADEC-equipped, GE-powered helicopter will begin its flight-test program in the third quarter. Certification is planned for 2000.
Other than the normal certification process, corporate aircraft customers will not encounter delays in having orders for Enhanced Ground Proximity Systems filled in a timely manner, according to AlliedSignal Avionics. A company spokesperson told B/CA that in anticipation of pending rulemaking and the decision by the major airlines to equip their fleets with EGPWS voluntarily, it prepared for increased production requirements. AlliedSignal currently is the only manufacturer of FAA-approved EGPWS units.
Efforts were under way to develop new ways to detect CAT even before a United Airlines B747 suffered a fatal encounter with clear air turbulence in December 1997. According to published reports, two laser-based systems are scheduled to be tested early this year. A unit called "Socrates" is being developed for the FAA by Flight Safety Technologies of New London, Conn., while Coherent Technologies of Boulder, Colo. has created the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system under the auspices of NASA.
Eric Anderson was elected chairman of this distributor of aviation parts. His predecessor, Robert Lambert, will continue as a director on the company's board.
Toronto City Aviation is a new FBO at Toronto City Centre Airport and the newest member of the Esso Aviation family. Currently only turboprop aircraft are permitted to use the 4,000-foot runway. (416) 361-1100.
Flight departments with their own fuel farms now have at least six places to turn for "FAA acceptable" training in safe fueling operation, proper quality control and fire safety training. Despite the fact that the programs are designed for FBOs, the trainers' primary customers, much of the information should be useful to corporate operators that are solely responsible for ensuring the quality of fuel storage and pumping fuel into the company aircraft.
If you read between the lines on the thousands of pages of reports recently released by various Washington-based commissions studying civil aviation, two things become clear. One is that the way the U.S. aviation infrastructure is managed and funded is due for a change. The second is that the management systems and infrastructure that immerge from this change will be based almost entirely on the requirements of the scheduled air carriers.
Heli Expo '98-the annual rotorcraft industry show that is scheduled to be held February 15 through 17 in Anaheim, Calif.-will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Helicopter Association International (HAI). But the event may be bittersweet for at least one person. The 1998 HAI convention will be the last one that Frank L. Jensen, Jr. will preside over as the leader of the Alexandria, Va.-based trade organization's staff. Jensen-a Charleston, S.C.
AMR Eagle's Regional Aircraft Maintenance Center (RAMCI) in Gwinn, Mich. has reached an agreement with Atlantic Southeast Airlines to perform C-checks on the Delta Connection carrier's fleet of 12 ATR 72s. Eagle and ASA are head-to-head competitors on behalf of their respective senior partners at the Dallas/Fort Worth hub. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Aircraft painting companies and other users of methylene chloride have been given regulatory relief from Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules aimed at lowering exposure rates to the caustic chemical (May 1997, page 17). OSHA is delaying the compliance dates to install engineering controls that limit exposure until December 10. The agency also extended the requirement for using respirator protection at the new, lower eight-hour, time-weighted average permissible exposure limit until August 31.
Implementation of a significantly expanded no-fly zone for the Grand Canyon has been postponed from May 1 to January 31, 1999 to allow time for the FAA to establish a new route structure for the park. These and other new rules are designed to reduce alleged aircraft noise problems at the scenic site (February 1997, page 22 and January, page 22).
FAA extended the special training and experience requirements for serving as pilot-in-command or instructing in Robinson R-22 and R-44 helicopters. Special FAR Part 73, set to have expired in December 1997, was issued in March 1995 to address several Robinson helicopter accidents involving low rotor RPM and mast bumping (April 1995, page 24). Since SFAR 73 was issued, no accidents of these types have occurred.
Rockwell completed its purchase of Hughes' Avicom International and added its former in-flight entertainment unit based in Pomona, Calif. to the Collins avionics product line in Cedar Rapids, Mich. Ken McNamara, who led the business under Hughes, continues in his leadership role as a vice president and general manager with Rockwell Collins.
Helicopter Association International named retired U.S. Navy Captain Roy D. Resavage to become the trade group's new president. Resavage, a helicopter pilot since 1969, served as executive officer of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy and as commanding officer of the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., and held other assignments during his 27-year military career. Resavage joins the HAI after working in various executive jobs at PrimeCo Personal Communications. He takes over as the HAI's president on March 16, when Frank L. Jensen, Jr.
This year's FAR/AIM from Aviation Supplies and Academics features the revised FAR Parts 61 and 141 in full, and includes free mid-year updates. The publishers identify all changes since the last printing and provide indexes for both the FARs and AIM. Price: $15.95. Aviation Supplies&Academics, 7005 132nd Pl. SE, Newcastle, Wash. 98059. (206) 235-1500; fax: (206) 235-0128.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association heightened its drive against FAA contract ATC towers with the publication of a new booklet. The 12-page booklet, sent to the aviation media, describes the alleged staffing shortages and safety problems of the contract tower program. The Washington, D.C.-based controllers' union has been campaigning particularly fiercely since two fatal accidents in 1997 within the airspace controlled by non-FAA towers (December 1997, page 26).
FlightSafety International has closed its short-lived joint venture with Petroleum Helicopters that offered primary flight training in Schweizer 300s and Bell 206 JetRangers in Lafayette, Louisiana (December 1996, page 26). FSI continues to train PHI pilots, and also continues to operate advanced helicopter training in West Palm Beach, Fla. and Fort Worth. Before closing, the operation was frequently on the move, starting in Vero Beach, Fla. and later moving to Dothan, Ala. and then Alliance Airport in Fort Worth.
Air Security International, an arm of Air Routing International, has identified what it calls the 10 "most dangerous, intriguing and complex locations" for business travel. The locations are: Algeria; Brazzaville, Republic of Congo; Central Africa; Dushanbe, Tajikistan; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lima, Peru; Manila, Philippines; Medellin, Colombia; Papua New Guinea; and Southern Russia. For more details on each of these areas, contact Air Security International in Houston. Phone: (713) 430-7300.
Operators of more than 2,500 Piper Cheyennes will be required to amend their flight manuals to prohibit beta power settings in flight, if a proposed AD is adopted. Similar NPRMs published in 1997 cover nearly 4,500 other turboprops (August 1997, page 12). The FAA says that intentional or inadvertent engine operations in the beta range can lead to engine overspeed or loss of aircraft control. In recent years, nine incidents and five accidents have been related to beta operation in flight, according to the agency.
