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.
Blame it on late summer slowness. When we last looked at monthly turbine aircraft sales, August transactions were so far behind the prior year's pace that comparisons were useless. Now, with August's full accounting on the record and the preliminary September report done, the outlook for 1997 looks much better, given expectations that 1997 will end on the same late year delivery rush that's become almost a winter tradition.
Note this offer from Los Angeles-based Cloud Nine Aviation: a 90-day guarantee to either sell your aircraft or it will purchase it. And in 90 days it will locate an aircraft for a client to purchase or the client owes the company nothing for trying
Elliott Aviation in Moline, Ill. will start marketing an ice detection and cockpit advisory system for King Airs. The system, manufactured by BFGoodrich's Rosemount Aerospace, weighs five pounds and can be installed in 16 man-hours. It comes with a two-year warranty and is available at an uninstalled suggested retail price of $9,700.
Art Wegner, chairman, president and CEO of Raytheon Aircraft Co., assumed the duties of chairman of the board of this general aviation trade association.
Executive Jet's NetJets program continues its explosive expansion with an announcement in late October that the company will form a joint venture company with Boeing Business Jets to offer one-eighth shares in BBJs, giving owners access to 100 hours of transportation annually. GE and Boeing formed a joint venture called Boeing Business Jets to market the 6,300-nm corporate version of the new 737, and GE also is one of NetJets' largest customers.
Dassault Falcon Jet says it is close to announcing a deal that will see its Falcon 2000 enter the fractional ownership game, and expects to make a formal announcement by the end of this year. Although details haven't been announced, it appears likely the aircraft will be sold to Executive Jet and marketed through the company's NetJets program, which is in its tenth year of offering shares and is by far the largest program and the only major one not operated by an aircraft manufacturer.
NASA studies show frequent ``power naps'' result in less sleep deficit overall on longer trips. But are you sometimes a sleep chaser, staring at the ceiling when it's your turn for a planned nap?
Pilots at US Airways, in reaching a tentative contract with the carrier in early October, placed such heavy restrictions on regional-jet operations by affiliate carriers as to essentially make them impractical. That agreement also is subject to rank-and-file ratification. It would prohibit the use of regional jets by US Airways Express carriers--wholly owned and independent--when any mainline pilots are on furlough. Even then it would restrict the total regional-jet fleet of all Express carriers to 15 aircraft of no more than 69 passenger seats.
A revolutionary way to take a pilot from zero-time through an instrument rating is just one of the projects being fine-tuned by the AGATE (Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments) group. The coalition spearheaded by NASA, the FAA, the general aviation industry and various universities reports several initiatives toward the goal of ``a small aircraft transporta-tion system that brings safe, affordable and convenient personal air transportation to a wide range of America's population.''
