HBACorp of Olympia, Wash. is getting set to embark this month into the rapidly growing area of ``telemedicine'' (providing emergency medical assistance to a flightcrew via telephone, satellite or radio). The new 24-hour subscription service, to be called FACTS AirCare International, will allow customers to link up at any time and from virtually anywhere with a physician on HBAcorp's staff, who will diagnose and recommend care for a passenger or crewmember with an immediate medical problem.
Toledo-based charter operator and full-service FBO Crow Executive Air, Inc. has acquired Flight Operations, Inc., formerly a Cleveland-based charter and aircraft management and maintenance company. The acquisition brings Crow's charter fleet up to 11 turbine- and piston-engine airplanes.
Photograph: GA's AWARD WINNERS. Guy Gardner, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification (center), presented the National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year award to James Trust (left) of Old Hickory, Tenn. and the National Maintenance Technician of the Year award to Leonard Beauchemin of Eastman Kodak (right). The awards are presented annually by GA and state aviation associations. It's mostly cheers and few jeers for the agency's redo of Part 61.
Indianapolis-based Allison Engines is studying a new 350- to 800-shp turbine that could ultimately replace its Model 250 line. The primary goal of the effort is to reduce the cost of small gas turbines to $100,000 or below. According to Allison president Mike Hudson, ceramics ``will play a role'' in reducing costs in the engine. A decision on whether to build the engine is expected to be made ``within the next six months'' said Hudson.
Rockwell Avionics&Communications (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)--N.J. Keating was appointed as vice president and general manager of Rockwell's Collins Air Transport Division. His predecessor was C.M. (Clay) Jones, who was promoted to executive vice president of Rockwell's avionics and communications businesses.
Table: Code - Sharing Groups - 1996 Passenger Boardings (This table is not available electronically. Please see June 1997 issue). Continental and Continental Express pilots are seeking a 38-percent pay hike to ``keep the golden goose flying,'' as one union official put it. The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP), which represents 4,000 Continental and 1,000 Continental Express pilots, placed its contract demands on the table in April in preparation for the existing contract's ``amendable date'' of June 30.
The latest attempt to squeeze more money from business and general aviation got under way a month ago. The National Civil Aviation Review Commission (NCARC) is a 21-member task force that is supposed to ``determine independently what the financial needs of the FAA will be in the short-and longer-term.'' More importantly, the commission also will be addressing the question of who should pay how much for the privilege of operating in the national airspace system.
Photograph: While certification airframes will be built in San Antonio, Sino Swearingen ultimately will handle final assembly only at its manufacturing plant in Martinsburg, W.Va., which is under construction and will be occupied by the end of this year. Walking the hangar floor at Sino Swearingen, President and CEO Jack Braly could see one of the company's technicians was having trouble rigging the ailerons on the prototype SJ30-2. ``Why don't I get you some help,'' Braly offered.
Sino Swearingen President and CEO Jack Braly doesn't have any pictures on the walls of his office, but he does have a picture window. It looks out over Sino Swearingen's 33,000-square-foot hangar in San Antonio. The SJ30-2 prototype is the focus of most activity in the hangar, but the massive steel frames that will surround the static test and fatigue test articles also are taking shape. In various corners, preliminary work on the next prototypes is progressing.
More than a timekeeper, Flightcom Corp.'s DVR300i panel-mount digital voice recording clock provides pilots with two other types of information. The clock's checklist mode allows pilots to record up to 32 checklist items, and a replay function records headset radio and cockpit audio for quick playback. To fulfill IFR requirements, the unit includes a count-up approach timer that displays running seconds for instrument approaches. Price: $585. Flightcom Corp., 7340 S.W. Durham Rd., Portland, Ore. 97224. (503) 684-8229; fax: (503) 620-2943.
Hartzell Propeller has consolidated its engineering, marketing and support functions into a new and expanded headquarters facility in Piqua, Ohio . . .
Aviation Resource Group (Aurora, Colo.)--Greg Ross has joined this FBO services firm as chief operating officer. W. Steve Dennis continues as president and CEO.
This year's 40-percent increase over the first quarter of 1996 in shipments of new U.S.-built corporate jets--63 versus 45 units--largely was responsible for helping increase the total number of shipments of all GAMA-member companies between the two quarters. The overall tally went from 225 to 237 airframes. Shipments of piston-engine airplanes increased 10.7 percent (122 to 135 airframes), but turboprop deliveries were off nearly 33 percent--39 units in the first quarter of this year compared to 63 in 1996. Meanwhile, deliveries of 20 non-U.S.
TSO and STC approvals of Universal Avionics Systems' UNS-1K, the Tucson firm's newest two-box, full-feature Flight Management System, is slated for this month. Priced at $37,000 (base), the -1K is aimed squarely at AlliedSignal's GNS-Xls product line. The UNS-1K CDU features a four-inch, full-color display but no graphics. The 2MCU remote box contains a 12-channel GPS sensor.
FAA's recently unveiled inflight aircraft icing plan sets out 13 major tasks that are intended to be the ``foundation for continued improvement over the next several years in our treatment of aircraft inflight icing.'' The most important tasks outlined in the 60-page report include: improving icing forecasting and detection, standardizing icing terminology between pilots and ATC, revising operating rules and improving aircraft design.
FAA says it will restore some of its AFSS 800-WX-BRIEF toll-free phone lines if enough pilots complain to the agency about unreasonably-long periods of busy signals. Starting in January, the number of toll-free lines were cut by more than 50 percent at some AFSS locations. Pilots should report busy signals to the FAA's Mike Sullivan at (202) 267-3061.
Williams/Rolls 2,300-pounds-thrust FJ44-2 turbofans will be installed on Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 001 later this summer for additional envelope expansion. The prototype aircraft has been flying with the smaller FJ44-1 engines. Later this year, the FJ44-2s will be installed on aircraft 002, the first production SJ30-2, which is expected to make its first flight in December. That aircraft is scheduled to be joined by 003 in February 1998. Certification of the aircraft is slated for November 1998.
FAA has discontinued installations of digital ATIS broadcasts until software changes are made to improve the synthesized voice quality. Almost immediately after digital ATIS was installed at several airports in 1996, the Aviation Safety Reporting System began receiving complaints from pilots that the broadcasts were often unintelligible (September 1996, page 24). Pilots also said that because they needed two or three repetitions of the broadcast to understand them, they would miss ATC instructions.
Photograph: Continental Launches Service At HPN American Eagle, in a move to upgrade its fleet, has placed an order for 12 additional ATR 72-210A turboprops from Aero International (Regional). The aircraft will replace 11 remaining Shorts 360s as well as up to 12 ATR 42s that will be taken in trade by AI(R), the former operated in the Caribbean by Eagle carrier Executive. The first aircraft will be delivered in July, with remaining deliveries paced through May 1998.
Society of Automotive Engineers has scheduled its aircraft ground deicing conference and exhibition for June 11-13 in Pittsburgh. The event will feature sessions on deicing fluids, crew training, storage facilities, environmental issues and liability concerns. In addition, 30 exhibitors will display deicing products and services. For information on attending, phone the SAE in Warrendale, Pa. at (412) 776-4841.
