Scheduled carriers operating turbine aircraft of 10 or more passenger seats must complete another list of specified equipment requirements in their ongoing transition to complying with FAR Part 121 (January 1996, page 15). Some of those equipment upgrades include: lavatory fire protection in aircraft up to 30 passenger seats, landing gear aural warning in aircraft up to 19 seats, emergency-exit handle illumination in aircraft up to 19 seats, protective breathing equipment in aircraft up to 30 seats and passenger flotation means in aircraft up to 30 seats.
Tulsa, Okla.-based BizJet will install Tracor Flight Systems hush kits that decrease sideline noise of GE CJ610-powered Learjets to 95 dB, allowing Learjet 23s, 24s and 25s to meet FAR Part 36, Stage 3, the company says. Also being offered is an upgrade that makes the CJ610 inlet more resistant to the stresses of drastic temperature change and vibration, Bizjet says.
Standard training for crews of new Global Express and Challenger 604 aircraft now includes physiology training from the University of North Dakota. The two-day course addresses hypoxia, use of supplemental oxygen, vertigo and spatial disorientation. The course includes two simulated flights in the altitude chamber at the UND Aerospace facilities in Grand Forks, N.D.
Engineers at GE Aircraft Engines are discussing updated versions of the CF34 turbofan engine to power the next versions of the Canadair Challenger 604 and 50-passenger Regional Jet. The new engine, to be called the CF34-3C, is expected to feature reduced fuel consumption, greater thrust for takeoff and climb, and lower maintenance costs. Meanwhile, GE and Garrett Aviation are proposing to replace the Rolls-Royce Speys on the Gulfstream II and III with the new 14,000-pound-thrust CF34-8C1 turbofans.
Innotech Aviation will open its 70,000-square-foot aircraft service complex in Montreal in December. The expansion will allow the company to perform a full range of maintenance, refueling and refurbishing services. Separately, Innotech and Airpro of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, are collaborating to offer business aircraft interior refurbs, coupled with repair and maintenance at Innotech's Vancouver location. Also, Innotech Vancouver has been designated an authorized Falcon Jet service center.
Post-FAA certification tasks for the Learjet 45 include approval for flight into known icing conditions, thrust-reverser operation and APU operation. Icing approval should be complete when initial customer deliveries begin later this month. JAA certification is slated for December. After a six-aircraft, 24-month, 2,200-plus-hour test program, the Learjet 45 earned its FAA type certification in September.
By the end of this year, NASA plans to offer free of charge a slide presentation on ``Alertness Management in Flight Operations.'' The presentation in-cludes 54 35-millimeter slides and a script that flight departments can use for education and training of pilots, managers, schedulers and dispatchers, and flight attendants. The script can be used as is or as a jumping off point for specific policies and guidelines on fatigue countermeasures for an individual operation. To order, phone (415) 604-6647 or fax (415) 604-2177.
Pilots in favor of keeping Loran-C navigation service beyond 2000 should submit their comments to Booz Allen&Hamilton of McClean, Va. via fax to (703) 917-3023 or e-mail to [email protected] before December 15. An earlier item on this subject carried the incorrect contact numbers (October, page 18).
The new managers of Rolla National Airport say they have resolved long-time problems of service quality and fuel prices. They claim to have improved customer service, and promise fast turnarounds and the lowest fuel prices within 100 nm. There are no ramp fees, the pilot lounge has been remodeled and the airfield is served by two rental car companies. (513) 299-4498.
Aircraft Technical Publishers, which provides aircraft maintenance data on CD-ROM, asked the National Civil Aviation Review Commission for its assistance in convincing the FAA to release a notice of proposed rulemaking that would authorize all operators to use electronic record-keeping systems. Electronic systems are currently approved only on a case-by-case basis. ATP says the proposal was created in 1991 through the Aviation Rule Making Advisory Committee, an FAA/industry group.
Direct operating costs of new-production MD Explorers are now $394 per hour, an 8.1-percent improvement over the previous $430 per hour, according to The Boeing Co. The company attributes the DOC decrease to extended life-limits of several major components on the helicopter.
Fortune magazine and The VanAllen Group, an Atlanta-based aviation-consulting firm, will conduct a series of five one-day seminars starting in April 1998 in Dallas, New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles to describe the benefits of business aviation to top executives of companies that currently do not use business aircraft.
John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and James Oberstar (D-Minn.) have introduced a bill, H.R. 2626, that would allow FAR Part 135 air charter operators to hire pilots and put them to work on an interim basis while conducting the required background checks on the new employee. The air taxi industry asserts the current requirement has been an extreme burden because pilots can't be hired until the required pilot records are received by the new employer from current or former employers. It is a process that often takes more than 30 days, according to the industry.
FAA's notice of proposed rulemaking to harden the rules for operating in icing conditions would apply to 122 different airplane models with pneumatic boots, including: Citation Models 500, 501, 550 and 551; Gulfstream Is; Pilatus PC-12s; TBM-700s; Sabreliners; Fairchild F-27s and FH-227s; Cessna 425s and 441s; Piper Cheyennes; Twin Commander turboprops; Model 2000 Starships; King Air Models 90, F90, 100, 300 and B300; and Piaggio P-180s.
De Havilland is preparing the Dash 8-400 for its approximately one-year flight test program, following its first flight expected in late October or the beginning of this month. The 70- to 78-passenger twin-turboprop regional airliner and corporate shuttle is scheduled for certification in early 1999. A second aircraft will fly in early 1998.
New additions include Wayfarer Exclusive and QuickQuote, designed to provide users with a method for making online charter reservations and gaining a fast indication of charter costs. Next year, the site will offer expanded aviation links, condensed aviation news and more.
This site features sample pages from the company's helicopter value and price guide, and acquaints users with the company's other helicopter consulting services.
American Port Services, d.b.a. FBO AvCenter at Pittsburgh International Airport, has launched Nova 2000--the development over the next two years of a comprehensive, full-service Business Aviation Center. Ground breaking occurred on October 8. (412) 472-6700.
As promised, the FAA released a series of 24 proposed ADs that would tighten up the rules for operating in icing conditions in airplanes with unpowered ailerons and pneumatic boots (August, page 10). The new rules would apply to 122 different models representing more than 12,000 U.S.-registered airplanes.
