Arthur Stockmann joined this charter operator and corporate aviation management company as director of operations. Previously, he worked in various management capacities for Xerox Corporation's flight department.
A number of educated, ambitious young aviators have gotten jobs or created flying jobs for themselves because they knew how to do a feasibility study . . . and then kept that job because they knew how to continually justify the aircraft.
It's convenient for those who have felt the sting of FAA enforcement to vilify the agency as a faceless, regulatory bureaucracy unsympathetic to pilots and aircraft operators. But FAA critics often forget that the agency includes many dedicated individuals who have helped the United States develop an unrivaled technical expertise in many areas and who strive to help keep the U.S. aviation system the safest and best in the world.
Most general aviation interests are guardedly optimistic that over the next five years, Meigs Field will prove its value to Chicago officials and, thus, remain open indefinitely. Under an agreement between the state of Illinois and the city, Meigs must remain open for at least five years. Then, Chicago will be free to close the airport. The settlement also calls for the state to fund an ILS and for the city to make repairs to the runway.
Edited By GORDON A. GILBERTRichard O. Reinhart, M.D.
Some sections of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 1996, and the new rule that allows individuals with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) to be issued a third-class medical certificate, hold numerous implications for career aviators. Here's a brief look at some of these ramifications:
Installation of a device intended to stop aircraft safely if they overrun a runway was recently completed on the end of Runway 4R/22L at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The arrestor system consists of about 2,000 eight-by-four-foot blocks of aerated, cellular cement that are designed to absorb the force of even the largest jet transport and stop it without causing injuries to those aboard. Similar systems may be installed at other airports, according to an FAA official.
General aviation advocates have always had a hard time communicating the value of non-airline flying to the general public. While economic impact studies often make the financial case for GA, the eyes of John Q. Public usually glaze over when they are bombarded with statistics.
Signature Flight Support signed an agreement with Zimex Aviation Holding of Zollikon, Switzerland to develop an FBO at Zurich International Airport. Construction of the facility, previously referred to as the Zimex Business Aviation Center, has been under way since 1996 and is expected to be completed in March (B/CA, July 1996, page 24). In addition to housing Zimex Aviation Maintenance, the FBO also will contain the offices of Zimex Aviation Group, which offers business aircraft charter and management. A customs clearance office also will be located there.
Great Western Aviation opened an FBO at Utah's Bountiful Skypark Airport. The opening coincided with the completion of a major makeover of the VFR airfield's movement areas, terminal building and crew amenities. Line services at Skypark include fueling and maintenance. Meanwhile, the company recently added a 15,000-square-foot storage hangar to its headquarters FBO at Utah's Ogden-Hinckley Airport. The new hangar, equipped with a floor heating system, can accommodate aircraft up to the size of Gulfstream IVs.
Teledyne Controls has licensed from Hughes Defense Communications the exclusive marketing, sales and customer service rights to the former Magnavox MagnaStar airborne telephone system
Cessna's Citation Bravo and Dassault's Falcon 50EX business jets have received FAA certification. The Bravo certification, originally scheduled for April 1996, is a provisional approval, but deliveries of fully certificated aircraft are expected to begin this spring (B/CA, October 1994, page 21), said Cessna. The Falcon 50EX has full certification, and the first delivery of the tri-engine aircraft was expected to have been made at the end of January to an operator in Europe. The first U.S.
More than 200 pages of data on Jet Aviation's global aircraft services and operations. Access to each of the company's facilities is provided through geographical or type of service inquiries. Pilots also can get fuel prices at each U.S. Jet Aviation FBO.
Gulfstream hopes to receive FAA certification of a Honeywell/GEC Marconi HUD for G-IVs in March, followed soon after by approval for G-IVSPs. Certification in the G-V is expected in July. The HUD was originally slated to receive approval on the G-IVSP in July 1996 (B/CA, November 1995, page 20). Certification took longer than expected because the HUD includes the software and redundancy required for Category III approaches as well as for an enhanced vision system, according to a company official.
Honeywell and Trimble Navigation offer the HT9000 GPS Navigator as a retrofit option for light- to medium-class business jets and regional airliners. The HT9000 system offers the choice of a 330-key compact control-display unit or 350-key compact ARINC CDU. The system supports ARINC digital, analog and discrete input and output interfaces. Price: $33,000 to $41,000, depending upon configuration. Honeywell, 5353 W. Bell Rd., Glendale, Calif. 85308. (602) 436-8000.
Gulfstream expects that customer G-Vs will start entering service by the end of March. Deliveries of green aircraft to completion centers started in December 1996, when the FAA granted provisional certification. This provisional approval came just two months later than originally scheduled when the G-V program was officially announced four years ago (B/CA, October 1992, page 52).
In consolidating its corporate headquarters and other functions at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport in January, Dassault Falcon Jet left behind the spares distribution center in Moonachie. However, this facility will be absorbed within the company's new headquarters later this spring, said Falcon Jet. The new main phone number for all of Dassault Falcon Jet's offices is (201) 440-6700.
Effective July 17, the ceiling of the Los Angeles Class B Airspace will be lowered from 12,500 feet msl to 10,000 feet msl. Other changes include raising the base altitude west of Santa Monica from 4,000 feet msl to 7,000 feet msl, and expanding the eastern, southern and southeastern boundaries. The revised configuration comes nearly five years after the FAA held public meetings on the proposed changes (B/CA, June 1992, page 26) and two years after publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking (B/CA, January 1995, page 18).
FAA adopted a rule requiring the lowering of the maximum allowable concentration of carbon dioxide in occupied areas of future transport aircraft from the present ceiling of three percent to 0.5 percent (B/CA, June 1996, page 16). Since virtually all currently manufactured business jets and airliners already meet this requirement, the rule was enacted to apply to new aircraft designs, according to an FAA official.
Electric-motor-driven fuel pumps are being given a new lease on life by Parker Hannifin Corporation's Airborne Division. The company is offering factory-rebuilt fuel pumps that comply with the higher FAA standard for a rebuilt product, with the added bonus of a much-improved warranty. In the rebuilding process, the latest design improvements are included, and all worn components are replaced with new, original FAA/PMA replacement parts. Price: $737 to $2,500, depending upon manufacturer and model of aircraft being serviced.
Federal excise taxes on aviation fuel, cargo hauling and commercial passenger transportation expired on New Year's Eve. Therefore, as in early 1996, FBOs and air-taxi operators must revise their tax-collection policies and methods (B/CA, September 1996, page 17). The expired wholesale distributor tax should reduce jet fuel prices by 17.5 cents per gallon. Other federal taxes that have expired are the 10-percent passenger-ticket tax, the 6.25-percent cargo tax and the $6 international departure tax.
