BFGoodrich's Rosemount Aerospace in Burnsville, Minn. is working with the FAA to gain approval of a system to detect ice on wings prior to takeoff. Called HALO, the system comprises a processor unit, a cockpit display and two ultrasonic sensors installed on each wing. HALO has been test flown by Northwest Airlines.
The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association bestowed several awards at its Annual Symposium and Trade Show this summer. Awards of Merit went to Ralph Michalka, Kalamazoo Aircraft, and Leonard Beauchemin, Eastman Kodak Co. The PAMA/ATP Award, presented in conjunction with Aircraft Technical Publishers, went to Richard Wellman of Signature Flight Support. Donald Filippone, from the Heart of Georgia Technical Institute, won the PAMA/Flight Safety Foundation Joe Chase Award. The Certificate of Appreciation was awarded to Robert A. Holmes of Airwork Corp.
Airline transports and business aircraft Doppler weather radars operate on the same principle to detect turbulence. It's called ``pulse pair processing.'' The radar's computer chops the incoming precipitation echoes on each azimuth into range samples that are about one-tenth mile apart. These are called range gates or range bins. Then it looks at the Doppler shift in the echo frequencies between range bins. Using the Doppler shift, the radar computes the relative velocities between pairs of range samples, hence the name ``pulse pair processing.''
This maintenance and modification subsidiary of Sabreliner Corp. promoted two executives at its Little Rock, Ark. operation: James N. Zarvos to vice president and general manager of the maintenance center and FBO, and John C. Warren to director of technical services.
Pacific Coast Avionics moved its radio and instrument supply business from Auburn, Wash., where it was established in 1991, to Aurora State Airport in Aurora, Ore
The Clinton administration--generally late and usually lacking in substance--has lived down to its repu- tation once again. Faced with finding someone to head the largest, most complex and arguably the best ATC system in the world--not to mention overseeing the world's most-successful aircraft manufacturing industry--the White House did everything wrong.
President and COO Don H. Davis, Jr., 57, takes over the flight deck as CEO at Rockwell International effective October 1. He will succeed Donald R. Beall, 58, who is retiring after serving as chairman and CEO for nearly 10 years. Davis is slated to succeed Beall as chairman in February 1998. Beall said, ``Now that we have completed the major steps in the strategic transformation of Rockwell into a highly focused electronics company, it is an appropriate time for me to turn the reins over.''
Several new hangars at Florida's Ft. Lauderdale International Airport are being built by Sheltair Aviation, and the nubmer of based aircraft at the airport is approximately 900. In our July issue (page 20), we said that Banyan Air Service was building the hangars and that the airport's 900 aircraft were based at Banyan.
FAA's rewrite of pilot certification requirements of FAR Part 61 and training rules of Parts 141 and 142 go into effect August 4 (June, page 39). Among the many revisions, clarifications, rewording and updates, the new rules eliminate the requirement for six hours of instrument flight in six months to maintain instrument currency. The new rules only will require that a pilot perform six approaches, along with a hold and tracking a course using nav instruments, within the previous six months.
Peachtree City, Ga.-based World Class Aviation has acquired an extensive rotable and consumable inventory of Shorts 360 spares from AMR Eagle and will expand its support for the aircraft. Eagle carrier Executive Airlines is phasing the 360 out of its San Juan, Puerto Rico-based fleet. World Class will distribute the Shorts inventory from its facilities in Peachtree City and Oshawa, Ont.
By Dan Manningham A flight management system may think at the speed of light, but never forget that it has the brain of a gnat.
There is a poster that commemorates a pilot's retirement from the noble pursuit of flight. It shows a miniature captain in full uniform standing at the massive nosegear of an immense transport. The little captain has a fierce and angry look on his face as he delivers a vicious kick to the nose tire. The caption reads, ``You miserable bastard! You never did anything right unless I made you do it!''
The University of Southern California is offering a 10-day Aviation Safety Program Management course from September 8-19 at its Los Angeles campus. The program aims to develop the appropriate skills and practical knowledge of those responsible for planning, directing or managing an aviation safety program. Tuition is $2,330. To register, call (213) 740-3995.
Jonathan Howe, NBAA president from 1986 to 1991, was named director general of this association representing 460 international airports and airport authorities. Howe succeeds Oris W. Dunham, Jr.
Two upcoming Radar Seminars conducted by Archie Trammel of AJT, Inc. will be held on August 29 at the Holiday Inn at DFW Airport and September 19 in Van Nuys, Calif. Each one-day session covers aspects of airborne weather radar operations and interpretation. At the completion of the course, all students receive a 137-page course guide, along with a Jeppesen-size copy of AJT's Airborne Weather Radar Pilot's Operating Guide. The registration fee includes continental breakfast, lunch and refreshments. For further details and to register, call (903) 778-2177.
Prototypes of three programs supporting the Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) are under development by the Air Transport Association, Flight Safety Foundation/Battelle Corp. and the Operational Airport Safety Information System of the Netherlands. The FAA created GAIN in 1996 to enable the collecting and sharing of international safety data. GAIN conferences have been held in the United States and England (May, page 20).
On September 30, Bombardier plans to open a regional airline parts distribution center at Charles de Gaulle Airport for its CRJ customers. The new facility also will provide 24-hour AOG service and offer parts repair, overhaul, lease and exchange programs.
Business is good. So good, in fact, that management has been flogging your midsize corporate jet at unprecedented utilization rates. You and the maintenance chief have anxiously been watching the hours mount up and the TBOs on the plane's engines count down. Overhauls will be due soon.
A study of loss-of-power accidents among four categories of aircraft from 1990 to 1994 conducted by safety expert Robert E. Breiling revealed that single-engine turboprop aircraft (including crop dusters) experienced fewer crashes than reciprocating-engine singles and twins, chalking up a safety record nearly as good as their multiengine turboprop siblings. Breiling used NTSB and FAA databases to reach his findings.
In the May issue of B/CA I referred to the Delta pilots who were taking me to ABQ via ATL as ``drivers'' (instead of calling them motormen or throttle jocks). A Mr. J. Wiley, whose address was given as [email protected], took me to task, using 560 words to criticize my one-liner (Letters, July, page 6). Obviously, Mr. Wiley lives under-water and is not a constant reader of Greenhouse--or else he ain't hep to the patois of pilot talk.
Several other LEO and MEO satellite systems--notably Globalstar, ICO, Odyssey and Teledesic--are currently under development and slated for launch in the next several years. All of these programs are well-financed by major telecom industry giants. Even if they don't all provide aeronautical services, they are likely to become familiar features of the global telecom landscape.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will give New Jersey's Linden Airport $3 million if it does something to keep general aviation aircraft away from Newark Airport airspace also used by airlines. The Port Authority maintains that general aviation flights are causing expensive airline delays at Newark. At press time, the operators of Linden Airport had not responded to the offer.
Israviation Ltd. displayed its ST-50 prototype for the first time at the Paris Air Show. The ST-50 is an all-composite, pressurized, five-place, single-engine pusher turboprop priced at $1.25 million. The Israeli company said it has four firm orders. Design efforts began in 1993, and the prototype has logged 75 hours since its first flight on December 7, 1994. Certification is expected by mid 1998. The ST-50 will come with a four-tube EFIS and weather radar. A flat-rated 600-shp P&WC PT6A-135B will power the aircraft.
Airbus Industrie officially launched a corporate jet version of the A319, a twin-engine airliner certificated for 124 passengers in April 1996. Designated the A319CJ (for corporate jet), it will carry up to 50 passengers and, with a lower payload, have a 6,300-nm range. Certification is scheduled for spring 1999. CFMI or IAE fanjets power the A319.
