The overwhelming majority of business jets flying the North Atlantic will not be approved or equipped to operate in the airspace designated for RVSM (reduced vertical separation minimums) by the scheduled implementation date of March 27. At press time, only the Canadair Challenger was RVSM-approved (see Intelligence 3). RVSM will initially apply from FL 330 through FL 370 within the MNPS airspace of the North Atlantic Tracks.
Fokker Aviation, the surviving support arm of Fokker, will fit the thrust reversers of Fokker 70 and 100 with an additional safety device and warning system to prevent inadvertent deployment of the reverser.
Mid-Continent Instrument Co. has premiered its MD41-900 GPS annunciator control unit. This 0.75-pound, panel-mount annunciator is especially designed for use with the new AlliedSignal KLN-900 GPS receiver. The unit combines navigation-source switching to the pilot's primary course deviation indicator or HSI with key GPS selection and annunciation functions. Up to seven remote relays and three separate switches are replaced by this unit. Price: $995. Mid-Continent Instrument Co., 7706 Osie, Wichita, Kan. 67207. (316) 683-5619; fax: (316) 683-1861.
Dassault Falcon Jet (Teterboro)-Roy Pickens was named vice president of industrial operations at Falcon Jet's Little Rock, Ark. facility where he will be responsible for new aircraft completions. Pickens was previously with Raytheon Aircraft's service operation in Little Rock.
One of Eurocopter's stars at Heli-Expo `97 was the EC-120, which made its North American debut during the show. The EC-120 will in the future be known as ``Colibri'' in French, which means hummingbird in English. The five-place, single-turbine helicopter will sell for $770,000, a price guaranteed through 1998. Production will begin in the second half of this year.
Cessna Citation IIs flown by Jet Aviation crews who have received special training in steep approach procedures have been cleared to land at London City Airport. Because of the relatively small size of the airport and its closeness to downtown London, operators are required to fly no less than a 5.5-degree approach angle, to employ noise-abatement departure procedures, and to generate no more than 94.5 EPNdB noise levels.
Table: FAA Funding Fiscal Years 1990-1997 (This table is not available electonically. Please see the March, 1997 issue). If you feel like you've heard it all when it comes to the arguments over user fees, you're probably right. The debate isn't new, nor are most of the ideas being pressed by advocates and opponents of the various plans to reinvent the FAA's funding stream. What is new this year-and what warrants the attention of everyone with an interest in the system-is a tremendous array of pressures in Washington to do something.
How much of the FAA's costs should be fairly allocated to general aviation is the subject of considerable debate. The most-recent publicly available study from the FAA looks at costs in 1991 and concludes that services to general aviation represent about 26 percent of costs, compared to 62 percent for the airlines and 12 percent for the public sector, primarily the military. The study concludes that in 1991, the government recovered about 97 percent of the cost of providing service to airlines.
Fibre-Shield steel storage tanks from Brown-Minneapolis Tank provide un-derground storage for fuel without the need for corrosion-protection monitoring. (Monitoring is not mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency). All tanks are built to ACT-100 standards using UL58 single- or double-wall steel tank construction, and are coated with polyester resin. Tanks in 300- to 50,000-gallon capacities are available in single- or multi-compartmented designs.
Global Aviation (Singapore)-David M. Sheehan has taken over as CEO of this Singapore-based charter operation. Sheehan recently retired after 30 years with Mobil Corporation's flight department.
La Guardia and O'Hare airports are testing a system designed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. that displays a range of weather information, including if there is a need for ground de-icing.
Skyplan FBO Management has taken over the control and operation of Shell's Aerocentres at Calgary International Airport and Edmonton City Centre Airport in Canada. Under an agreement hammered out by Shell Canada Products Ltd. and RMO Site Management, Shell Canada keeps a leasehold interest in both facilities, while Skyplan assumes administrative responsibilities.
Yet another company has launched an on-line flight tracking system. TheTrip.com, a full-service on-line business travel and reservations service, has introduced its FlightTracker service at www.thetrip.com. Visitors to the site can view up to 20 aircraft and five airports at a time. Queries by airline flight number give tabular displays of a flight's status, showing departure airport, destination, tail number or airline and flight number, ETD, ETA, flight status (i.e., ``In Flight''), distance to destination, and closest city, altitude and speed.
Erie, Pa.-based Lord Corp. has secured FAA certification for its NVX Active Noise and Vibration Control System for installation on McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80-series aircraft. One of the first installations is in a corporate MD-87, said Lord officials (B/CA, December 1996, page 20).
Fallout from the 1995 crash of an American Airlines Boeing 757 near Cali, Colombia has begun, and one of several post-investigation fingers has been pointed at perceived discrepancies in the pilot/machine interface. All 164 souls aboard Flight 965 perished a few days before Christmas when the aircraft crashed into mountainous terrain near Cali while maneuvering for the VOR/DME Runway 19 approach to Alfonso Bo-nilla Aragon International Airport.
Should pilots have a say in the design of non-precision approach profiles? The NTSB says yes, in some circumstances; and we agree. The concept was included in a list of recommendations released by the Safety Board in the wake of its investigation into the November 12, 1995 tree-strike incident involving an American Airlines MD-80 shooting the VOR Runway 15 approach to Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn. (See Cause&Circumstance, July 1996, page 84.)
The midair collision of Saudi Arabian Airlines and Kazakstan Airlines jets over India in November 1996 put a spotlight on the country's lagging program to upgrade its ATC system, which is considered one of the worst in the world. For three years, India has been upgrading its systems, but much of the new equipment wasn't in use at the time of the accident (that killed 349 passengers and crew), although the government pledged to put the upgrade on the fast track in the wake of the accident.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has set its spring 1997 schedule for the Aviation Safety Certificate Program at its Daytona Beach campus. May 5-8: Accident Investigation; May 9-13: Human Performance; May 14-17: Safety Management. For more information, call (800) 359-4550.
In Callback, the safety bulletin from NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System, a corporate jet captain reports a case of malfunctioning instruments from a most unusual source. Trouble began when during the takeoff roll, passing through 100 knots, the flightcrew noticed a difference in airspeed between the captain's and first officer's airspeed indicators. As the airspeed increased, the difference increased.
The G-V has more standard equipment than any previous Gulfstream aircraft, and it's all in- cluded in the manufactured bare empty weight. Almost 300 pounds of gear that previously was added during the completion process now is included in standard production. The observer's seat, for example, has its own audio panel and quick-donning oxygen mask. A triple-wide console replaces the standard double-wide console.
It's now old news, but Friday, January 10 was a pivotal day in the history of the Gulfstream V. Indeed, it was a red-letter day in Gulfstream's history because of the pitched battle between the firm and its competitors for control of the ultra-long-range business aircraft market.
Checking my larder after the Christmas rush, I found that my veggie bin was bereft of brussels sprouts, and my supply of rutabagas was in the red. Zitzing off to the Grand Union, I replenished my supplies and waited at the checkout counter whilst a spa-vined old frump sawed around in her purse for two pennies. My wandering eyes fixed on the tabloid rack, where one of the rags displayed a picture of Liz Taylor, fattened up to around 17 stone and scarcely resembling the perfect 10 she was when she wed Avram Hirsch Goldbogen. Mr.
No matter how good your troubleshooting system is, it won't help keep an aircraft in the air unless you can get to the problem to fix it. That shouldn't be a problem with designs now coming into the market, because in the words of Georges Pellegrini, an engineering representative at Dassault Falcon Jet, ``We've designed a revolution right into the product.'' The Falcon 2000, for instance, has three main-access areas where systems are consolidated, and the company says the hell-hole is so roomy and well laid-out that they prefer the term ``heck hole.''
In the final analysis, South Korea's Samsung Aerospace was interested only in Fokker's knowhow, and not in its Dutch production lines. Thus, talks of a Fokker rescue failed, and the manufacturer is talking of participating in the Airbus program in an attempt to keep its aircraft manufacturing activities alive.
Michael Bloomfield, CAMP Systems Inc.'s VP for its Andromeda scheduling system, has left CSI to purchase a company in an unrelated aviation market. CAMP President Wayne Hoppner says Andromeda development and support will continue as before, although some product development may be outsourced. The Ronkonkoma, N.Y. company's Internet-based e.Card access system for CAMP subscribers will be launched this winter, says Hoppner.
