As Bombardier's FlexJet fractional-ownership program approaches its 20th month in operation, the company says it has assembled a fleet of 21 Learjets and Challengers for fractional ownership, and the ownership base is near 100 customers. Bombardier expects its FlexJet fleet to double over the next two years. Beginning in early 1999, the company will add 25 Learjet 45s to the program, along with two Global Express aircraft. Meanwhile, the company is adding the Raisbeck luggage locker to all its FlexJet Learjet 31As.
Bombardier has become the first business jet manufacturer to receive approval of a reduced vertical separation minimum data package. Under the Transport Canada approval, Challenger 604s equipped with the optional package meet requirements for operating in RVSM airspace. Meanwhile, the NBAA argues that RVSM imposes severe operational and economic penalties on business aviation. RVSM implementation is scheduled to begin on March 27.
PATS, inc. received an STC for a central oxygen system designed to replace the oxygen-generating canisters on Boeing 737s. The Columbia, Md. firm made the first installation on a 50-seat, corporate B737 operated by ITT. The PATS system, adaptable to other corporate airliners, consists of four oxygen bottles that replace 50 canisters. PATS says its system not only eliminates the problem of disposing of depleted oxygen canisters, but it also supplies considerably more oxygen than a canister system.
Imagine an emergency situation in which people unfamiliar with your aircraft must gain entrance from the outside to assist you and your passengers. Could they operate the door mechanism? Is its operation obvious? If not, do the markings on the door (and other escape openings) contain clear instructions for would-be rescuers? Investigators at the NTSB believe it would be worth your while to check.
As part of its ongoing safety program directed specifically at Boeing 737s, the FAA issued an AD requiring operators to adopt flight procedures that will enable pilots to maintain control during an uncommanded yaw or roll condition. Procedures also address a jammed or restricted flight control condition. The FAA considers both conditions to be ``remote.'' This AD is the latest action directed by the FAA to address concerns about what caused two similar, but as yet unexplained, accidents involving B737s.
Roger McCutcheon of Napier, New Zealand and Fred Bahr of Bahr Aero in Seattle recently opened Eastern Flight Centre at Napier Airport. The new facility features Air BP fuel, a lounge, food and beverages, as well as a flight-planning room, conference room, pilot-accessories shop, hangar storage and tiedown, and free shuttle service. Phone: +64-6-834 1997; fax: +64-6-834 0757.
This site allows sellers to list aircraft parts free of charge. Potential buyers can search for parts worldwide. When a parts search is complete, a screen lists all of the companies that have the parts, their con-dition and availability. A request for a price quote can be automatically sent.
Versions of the Hawker 125 have been in existence almost since the dawn of the business jet; therefore, the history of the Model 125 in some ways mirrors the growth and evolution of the entire industry. That's what makes Hawker: The Story of the 125 such compelling reading.
Leddy Greever, former Beech Aircraft marketing executive and well-known business aviation advocate, died in Wichita at the age of 83. Greever spent 37 years at Beech, most of that time in sales, before retiring from the company in 1978. He was a company spokesman for many years and was a key player in several trade associations, including GAMA and the NBAA.
The Flight Safety Foundation's 1996 Admiral Luis de Florez Award was presented to Edward D. Mendenhall, director of flight operations for Gulfstream Aerospace. Mendenhall received the honor for his leadership in developing training strategies to reduce controlled-flight-into-terrain accidents and for developing the FSF CFIT Checklist to be used by flightcrews to evaluate CFIT risks for specific flights.
Business aircraft and airline passengers now can use Airshow 400 video monitors to catch up on the latest CNN news, stock quotes, sports and weather while en route. The recently introduced live update service is called Airshow Network, and it joins the Dow Jones stock quotes, Accu-Weather and WSI weather graphics already available to Airshow On Line subscribers. CNN video text will become available this year.
When it comes to ground deicing aircraft, the menu of options available to operators is expanding rapidly. Helping spread the word about some of the advances was the goal of a recent seminar at New York's West-chester County Airport hosted by Joseph E. Seagram&Sons' flight department.
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.
Operators can obtain a copy of the Pilots Guide to Large Aircraft Ground Deicing (FAA AC 120-58) from B/CA. The 40-page booklet, published by the FAA in September 1992, contains general information in addition to specific procedures concerning ground deicing operations of transport-category aircraft. Single copies of the Guide are available, while they last, for $1 each (to cover postage and handling) from B/CA, 4 International Dr., Ste. 260, Rye Brook, N.Y. 10573.
The same big aviation issues confront mostly the same aviation leadership in the 105th Congress as it begins its 1997 season. When lawmakers went home in October to campaign for reelection, they left unanswered a question that nagged them throughout 1996: how the FAA will be funded. Aviation taxes expired at the end of December 1996, as they had a year earlier, and the same forces that produced an eight-month lapse last year appear to be just as strong this year.
If slick dudes wear sharkskin suits, does it follow that slick airplanes should too? Possibly. A research program involving 3M and Europe's Airbus Industrie is trying to answer that very question. Officially dubbed the Airbus Industrie Riblet Investigation Program, the program involves applying a special drag reduction film to surfaces of airliners operated by Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa. The film is textured with tiny peaks and valleys--or micro-grooves--that create a boundary layer of laminar airflow, improving fuel efficiency.
Magellan Systems has produced one of the first three-in-one avionics units combining two-way digital communications, GPS-based navigation and automatic dependent surveillance capability. Developed in cooperation with ARINC, the 7.8-pound CNS-12 communicates via ARINC's GLOBALink/CNS two-way datalink service targeted to business aircraft fleet operators. Its multiple capabilities allow pilots to receive and transmit operations reports, position updates, weather reports and other flight information.Price: $17,595. Magellan Systems Corp., 960 Overland Ct., San Dimas, Calif.
Universal Avionics Systems of Tucson, Ariz., says that in December 1996, its Canadair Challenger made an historic transoceanic flight using combined data from GPS and Russia's GLONASS satellite navigation systems. The GPS and GLONASS data were received by an Ashtec GG24 engine feeding into a Universal UNS-1D FMS. Officials for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ashtec said the GG24 provided horizontal position accuracy within 16 meters for 95 percent of the time.
With a stated purpose to ``improve customer follow-up'' as well as to consolidate its U.S. presence, French manufacturer Socata Aircraft recently set up shop at Florida's North Perry Airport. By midyear, the company says, it will have its own repair station, increase its spares inventory and eliminate delays in updating technical publications and the processing of warranty claims. Socata builds the TBM-700 turboprop and piston-engine aircraft. A TBM operators conference is scheduled for the second quarter.
From AlliedSignal Aerospace comes an accumulator staging valve (ASV) for helicopters that can be retrofitted on nearly all Allison 250 series I, II, III and IV engines. The purpose of the installation is to reduce rotor droop. The valve changes the volume of the engine control accumulator, according to the power demands on the engine. Price: $3,000 to $5,000, plus installation, depending on application. Allied-Signal Aerospace, 2525 W. 190th St., Torrance, Calif. 90504. (310) 323-9500.
The Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft, arguably the matriarch of the mid-size class, seems to age as well as vintage Bordeaux wine. It offers one of the largest cabins in its class. It has airliner-like systems, such as fully-powered hydraulic control actuators, leading edge slats and glass windshields. It's light on the controls, it's easy to fly, and it's hard to make a bad landing because of its long-travel, trailing-link landing gear.
Let's hope the new FAA administrator is kind to business aviation, because under the FAA Reauthorization Act, the term of office is extended to five years. David Hinson was the last termless appointee, and he resigned in late 1996 after serving only about three years. People being considered for the post include Assistant DOT Secretary Frank E. Kruesi, former NTSB member Carl Vogt and American Airlines senior executive Robert W. Baker.
