Five airports eventually will be selected by the FAA to participate in a program to convert their ownership from government to private industry. As a first step, the agency is developing procedures to be used by interested public airport sponsors and private parties to apply for inclusion in the program. Congress has authorized the DOT to exempt the selected airports from meeting certain requirements in connection with receiving federal funding and in using airport revenues for airport-related purposes.
Canada's ATC system has been funded for the most part by an airline ticket tax. But--general aviation operators take note--that is about to change. A formal notice of proposed user fees when operating in Canadian airspace is scheduled to be issued this month by Nav Canada. Publication of the proposal will be followed by a 60-day comment period with the aim of introducing a fee structure for large aircraft late this year.
Wayfarer Aviation (White Plains, N.Y.)--The aviation charter company has named the following members to its customer service team: Paul Class, Amy Fischer and Jennifer Pandolfo.
Critics who said that the initial version of the Wide Area Augmentation System will fall short of its intended capability have been proven right (May, page 9). The FAA concedes that the first phase of WAAS will not give sole-means Category I landing capability. But the agency says not to worry: The current plan allows for almost 10 years of dual operations between initial- WAAS capability and ILS decommissioning.
Airport sponsors and authorities have until June 30 to file applications with the FAA for Airport Improvement Program grants if the moneys are being requested for Fiscal 1997. Applications received by the FAA after June 30 will be deferred until the next fiscal year.
Brian Barents, president of Galaxy Aerospace Corp. (GAC), immediately addressed the top concern of IAI Westwind and Astra Jet operators at GAC's first Maintenance&Operations meeting, held in San Diego from May 5 to 7. Product support in the past, Barents conceded, suffered from ``some limited resources.'' His goal, first stated at the 1996 NBAA convention, is nothing less than to provide the best customer support in the business aircraft industry.
At press time, there were still no reports of aircraft engine problems stemming from ``out of specification'' fuel that was unwittingly pumped between April 3 and April 22 by Kansas City Aviation Center. The supplier, Avfuel Corp., and KCAC began fuel testing immediately to determine exactly ``how off from spec'' the fuel was. Contamination was discovered only in the underground storage tank, not in the above-ground tank, although both were filled from the same Avfuel shipment.
If there proves to be another gap between recorded transactions and physical deliveries, as seemed to occur dramatically in the past month, April won't look so lackluster. As it stands from available records, however, April was a pit. Only 49 transactions were recorded, a whopping drop of 77.4 percent and 168 planes from 217 transactions ultimately recorded in April 1996. No April category broke into triple digits; several made only single digits; and one struggled into the growth column. Here's the preliminary breakdown for the month:
Bombardier's Global Express has more partners sharing engineering, manufacturing and (in some cases) risk than has any other business aviation aircraft project in history. As the program moves deep into the flight test phase, representatives of these participating companies are on hand for continuing engineering evaluation at the Wichita flight test center and engineering labs at Montreal and Toronto.
Gulfstream received FAA certification of the Honeywell/GEC Marconi HUD 2020 for G-IVs and G-IVSPs and expects to deliver 40 units this year. Approval came nearly a year later than originally scheduled (November 1995, page 20). HUD certification in the G-V will follow shortly. The HUD includes the software and redundancy required for Category III approaches as well as for an enhanced vision system planned for 1998. Gulfstream intends to pursue Category III approvals at Category I airports. The HUD option costs about $460,000.
Dassault Aviation says the first flight training device for the Falcon 50B should be operational by year-end, and the Falcon 50EX simulator should be ready by mid 1998 . . .
Airborne Investments, a Cincinnati-based aircraft sales, brokerage and valuation services firm, recently introduced ``Fractional Value$. The company said this service ``provides an evaluation of the residual value of fractional aircraft shares'' by aircraft model, serial number, features and times, ``based on the annual usage trends unique to the fractional program being considered.'' The cost of the Fractional Value$ service is $395. For more information, contact Airborne Investments. Phone: (606) 578-9100; fax: (606) 578-9166; e-mail: [email protected].
House aviation leaders and general aviation trade groups say the FAA should not apply new U.S. overflight fees to GA. The fees became effective on May 19 (May, page 24). In a letter to FAA acting administrator Barry Valentine, the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said the target of the fees is ``foreign commercial air carriers'' and there was never an intent to charge GA. The FAA expressed concern over the safety implications of charging GA, but included that segment of aviation regardless.
Schweizer Aircraft's new Model 330SP single-engine turbine helicopter is the step-up replacement for the original Model 330. Getting thumbs up from the FAA are three major (and retrofittable) changes: main rotor blades with more area, high-stance landing gear and a larger main rotor hub. The Elmira, N.Y. company said performance improvements over the Model 330 are a 13-percent increase in maximum cruise speed (92 to 104 KTAS), a 17-percent increase in the maximum specific range and a seven-percent increase in maximum specific endurance.
Photograph: VANTAGE TUCKS IN LEGS FOR CRUISE TESTS. Activation of the retractable landing gear recently opened the way for the proof-of-concept VisionAire Vantage to progress through high-performance flight testing. To date, the six-place, single-engine business jet has reached 35,000 feet msl and more than 350 KTAS in nearly 20 hours of flight time. The St. Louis company plans to produce four additional aircraft by early 1998: two for continued flight tests and two for ground tests (May, page 130). Talk about putting one in a holding pattern.
Magellan Systems Corp.'s portable SkyStar moving-map GPS receiver does triple duty as a navigator, preflight planning tool and an in-flight manager. The unit enables pilots to access five personalized checklists and five customizable aircraft data files for weight and balance calculations, best-glideslope determinations and E6B functions. An updatable Jeppesen database provides airport details, radio navigation data and air-space information.
Operators required to meet EPA, OSHA and DOT hazmat rules may be interested in the compliance workshops offered by the Environmental Resource Center in Cary, N.C. One- to three-day courses are offered in various cities until the end of September. For registration information or to obtain a course summary brochure, phone (800) 537-2372.
Bombardier expects Global Express No. 3 to resume test flying in July after undergoing repairs to the skin on the bottom of the aircraft, which was damaged from an April 25 gear-up landing at Downsview Airport in Ontario, Canada. No one was injured in the accident, which occurred just four days after S/N 9003 made its first flight. Investigation of the circumstances surrounding the mishap continues, but Bombardier did disclose that the crew mistakenly left the gear operating handle in the up position.
Monte Mitchell, until recently the executive director of the Aircraft Electronics Association, received enormous applause at his retirement celebration at the AEA annual convention in Palm Springs in April. AEA members' praise for Mitchell was indeed appropriate, but the Association's long-term success has had as much to do with the eye-watering pace of technical developments in avionics as it has had with Mitchell's efforts.
Salt Lake City-based Perry Group and Fokker Services in the Netherlands chose the Rolls-Royce Tay 620 to replace the F28's Spey turbofans for their proposed upgrade of the Fokker F28 (February, page 20). The partners hope to announce a go decision at the Paris Air Show this month or shortly thereafter. The aircraft will sell for $9 million. For more details, see article beginning on page 96.
The sale of 20 Hawker 800XPs and the decision to increase support of 22 Hawker 1000s already in the NetJets program does not mean Raytheon Aircraft has given up launching its own fractional program. The company has for months been quietly researching fractional ownership and aligning staff for a possible program of its own. Raytheon Aircraft Chairman Art Wegner said he continues to be interested in a shared ownership plan covering Beechjets and King Airs.
A heavy-damage acrylic restoration kit from Micro-Surface Finishing Products tools up operators to do their own refinishing of scratched, crazed, gouged and hazed aircraft windows. The product is designed so that the user can render optically clear windows using standard tools and few steps in the process. Suggested retail price: $68.75. Toll-free technical support is available. Micro-Surface Finishing Products, Box 818 Wilton, Iowa 52778. (319) 732-3240; fax: (319) 732-3390.
Photograph: Hawthorne Dulles became the second FBO on the airport when it opened in September 1990. The full-service facility plans to occupy a new 18,000-square-foot hangar and a 12,000-square-foot office complex on the west side of the airport by year-end. The city that made the filibuster famous--it's little wonder that airport development has lagged behind demand for aviation facilities.
