FAA selected Pennsylvania and Tennessee to receive and administer State Block Grants under the Airport Improvement Program. Under this program, funding must be used to improve general aviation, non-primary commercial service and reliever airports. According to the National Association of State Aviation Officials, the two states were selected because of their strong aviation programs and able management. Over $400 million in AIP funds has been administered by the seven existing block-grant states in recent years (B/CA, August 1996, page 26).
The price of a green Boeing Business Jet, a derivative of the Boeing 737-700 scheduled for certification in late 1998, has escalated by $1.5 million to $32 million. But standard equipment on aircraft purchased after July 1, 1997 now includes a Flight Dynamics head-up display and a second HF radio. Training for BBJ flight and ground crews is expected to be provided by FlightSafety Boeing Training International, a new company being formed by FlightSafety International and Boeing. The new firm also will assume all the customer training that Boeing now handles by itself.
Did you hear the one about the difference between God and a pilot? God doesn't think He's a pilot. Or, how many pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb? The answer is one. The pilot just holds the bulb up to the socket and waits for the world to rotate around him or her. Or, what's the difference between a pilot and a turbine engine? The engine stops whining after the airplane lands. Hold it! This must be a schedulers and dispatchers meeting.
DOT and the Department of Defense said they reached an agreement assuring civil users of GPS the availability of a second frequency, but none of the candidate frequencies proposed so far are mutually acceptable to all federal agencies concerned. A second frequency is essential for civil use of GPS. Despite the current impasse, the feds promise a ``detailed plan...within one year'' for providing this second frequency.
AMR Combs refutes a published comment citing frequent near-misses between taxiing aircraft and ground vehicles on a service road adjacent to the FBO ramp at Denver International Airport. Jack Browning, vice president and general manager at AMR-Denver, is aware of only two or three ``almost incidents''--one recent--since the airfield opened in February 1995. He said the tower ``advises corporate pilots about the situation, and we monitor it all the time.
The November 1996 incident in which the pilot of a Skywest Airlines EMB-120 suffered an eye injury by a laser beam during an approach to LAX has prompted the NTSB to ask the FAA to expedite a simulator study to determine an acceptable laser beam power level. The NTSB also noted that Las Vegas ATC had recorded 51 laser incidents between October 1993 and October 1995. Additionally, the NASA-operated ASRS database includes reports of laser encounters in several states.
The biggest challenge in designing a seat meeting the 16-g certification criteria is the 1,500-pound vertical spine-loading requirement specified under FAA Technical Standard Order 127, according to Les Jennings, director of marketing for seat-builder Derlan, Inc. (formerly Tosington) of Santa Ana, Calif.
Now you can study for your master's degree in aviation, no matter where you live on the globe. School days at International Civil Aviation University (ICAU) are now in session. ICAU has no campus; its stock-in-trade is distance education via computer, with operations based in Melbourne, Australia. Its master's degree program in flight operations is open to anyone who holds, or has held, a valid Air Transport Pilot (ATP) license. A unique touch is that no undergraduate degree is required.
Customers were concerned after Superior Parts announced in 1996 that it wanted to sell its Superior Turbine division and get out of supplying components for Allison 250 engines. They counted on the company for supplying quality parts at reasonable prices and excellent warranties.
A state-of-the-art complex is in the works for Jet Aviation at Teterboro Airport. The FBO broke ground for a $4.5-million expansion that will include a 40,000-square-foot hangar built to accommodate simultaneously three of the largest long-range business aircraft, such as the Gulfstream V and the Canadair Global Express. With the new hangar, Jet Aviation will have a total hangar capacity of 200,000 square feet at Teterboro. Also under construction is an 8,600-square foot Jet Aviation support an-nex that will house offices and shops.
Garrett Aviation Services (Phoenix)--Perri Coyne is a new member of the company's marketing services staff, with a primary responsibility for public relations.
Investigators continue to seek the cause of a crash of an Israel Aircraft Industries Westwind 1124 during a night approach to Guatemala City. The accident killed the three crewmembers and two passengers--Bruce E. Haddad, GTE Corp. senior vice president of international operations and his wife. Safety analyst Robert E. Breiling says the aircraft, YV-160CP, was registered to Inversiones Liftoff of Venezuela and was destined for Dallas.
Both the Falcon 50 and the 50EX have TFE731 engines rated at 3,700 pounds of thrust for takeoff on a standard day, but that's where the similarity ends. Thermodynamically, the -40 is a 4,700-pound-thrust engine that is an offshoot of the -5B development program. It has a much more robust core with a one-third higher pressure ratio, made possible in large part by a new centrifugal flow, high-pressure compressor and single-crystal high-pressure turbine blades.
The 1997 Esso Network Directory, the third revised edition, contains information on the more than 120 Esso- and Avitat-branded FBOs in Canada. The 85-page pocket-size booklet contains the phone numbers, a list of services, radio frequencies, navigation data, hours of operation and the names of the general manager for each of the locations. Copies of the guide are available free of charge. Phone: (905) 678-3769.
Allison Engine Company has set a goal of early 1998 to complete a program of adding performance and operational enhancements to its line of Model 250-C20R Series II engines. The program, designated the Model 250-C20R+, has a goal of delivering better high-altitude, hot-day performance, re-duced fuel consumption and improved durability.
Aero Quality Sales (Stamford, Conn.)--This distributor of NiCd and lead-acid aviation batteries named George L. Drake as international sales manager, based in Stamford, and Ray Russell as international sales representative, with offices in London, England.
Newly STCed are Tel-Tail vertical tail/rotor floodlights from DeVore Aviation for Bell 407 and 430 helicopters. Included in the kits are mounting hardware, streamlined light assemblies with adjustable reflectors, quartz halogen lamps, lens covers to direct and disperse the light, gaskets and placards. Light assemblies are installed atop the horizontal stabilizer. The current draw is 5.4 amps. Kit price for the Bell 407--$2,144; for the Bell 430--$2,832. DeVore Aviation Corp., 6104 Jefferson, NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109. (505) 345-8713; fax: (505) 344-3835.
Shell Aviation is renovating its terminal building at Grand Strand Airport in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. A customer service counter and new carpeting, restrooms, and interior and exterior lighting are part of the remodeling efforts expected to be completed by early spring. The FBO now is open from 0630 hours to 2200 hours from Sunday through Thursday, and from 0630 hours to midnight on Friday and Saturday. Availability is 24 hours. A welcome addition to the airport is a customs office.
The 11th-hour proposal by a National Mediation Board mediator to end the American Airlines pilot dispute was even more restrictive than the tentative agreement approved by the Allied Pilots Association board of directors in fall 1996. APA President Jim Sovitch, who apparently supported the tentative agreement, called the mediator's proposal a substandard offer.
Whether you're a new copilot of a King Air, or a seasoned captain of a G-IV, the thought of advancing to ``head honcho'' of a corporate flight department probably has crossed your mind. It doesn't matter if the job title is chief pilot, aviation manager, director of corporate transportation services or just ``Top Gun''; the position is viewed by most business pilots (and increasingly, by maintenance technicians) as the ``top of the heap'' in business aviation.
Airport and Airway Trust Fund excise taxes that expired at the end of 1996 were reinstated effective March 7, but they are only effective until September 30. The NBAA, among other aviation trade groups, is hoping the temporary nature of the reinstatement will force Congress to consider a long-term commitment to the taxes. The association feels that these taxes are a proven and fair way to fund programs for improving the ATC system.
An Internet version of this company's directory of FBOs, airport identifiers, VORs, AM radio stations, airborne phone ground stations, frequencies for ATC towers and ARTCCs, and FSS phone numbers.
An industry-financed market research group has determined that at least 1.2- million American men and women have a strong desire to learn to fly and have the wherewithal to do so. What then accounts for the fact that student starts are at their lowest level since the Korean War?
A late summer closing is expected for Evandale, Ohio-based General Electric Co.'s purchase of Greenwich Air Services, an engine maintenance company based in Miami. Under terms of the purchase agreement, GE also obtains the rights to complete Greenwich's proposed purchase of UNC Inc., an Annapolis, Md. engine maintenance company that is the parent firm of Garrett Aviation Services in Phoenix and Airwork of Millville, N.J. In mid 1996, Greenwich completed the acquisition of the engine maintenance division of Dallas-based Aviall (B/CA, July 1996, page 17).
``One of our customers' biggest concerns was that, with the restrictions presented by the 16-g crashworthiness rules, we wouldn't be able to offer the same level of comfort in the Gulfstream V as in the G-IV,'' said Lynn Bedgood, Gulfstream Aircraft research and development program manager for completions. ``I'm happy to report that we have been able to retain the G-IV's seating comfort in the G-V. It was one of the requirements that we set when we launched the program.''
