The JAA set March 31 as the deadline for comments on its proposal to set a 120-minute extended range, twin-engine operation (ETOPS) limit for JAA-registered business jets on commercial flights. (See page 48.) Opponents of the proposal feel that the 120-minute requirement is unjustified because no ETOPS-related accidents have involved business aircraft. Operators say a 180-minute ETOPS threshold is more flexible.
Mercury Aviation recently acquired the former Wofford Flying Service, an FBO at California's Fresno-Yosemite International Airport. The acquisition brings to 12 the number of FBOs operated by the Los Angeles-based company. Six of Mercury's FBOs were former Raytheon-owned facilities and were acquired in just the last few months (B/CA, October 1996, page 18).
Sportsman's Aviation Jet Center planned to start limited FBO services early this month at Santa Fe County Municipal Airport. By mid-month, the company is scheduled to break ground on a hangar and terminal facility. When construction is completed (expected by the end of March), the company will offer full line service as well as maintenance. In addition to office space, crew and passenger lounges, and a conference room, Sportsman's Aviation will have a computerized weather-briefing room, swimming pool, sauna, snooze rooms and even a daycare center.
The Air Group, a 16-year-old Van Nuys, Calif.-based company that manages about 30 aircraft in FAR Part 91 and 135 operations, recently set up a satellite facility in the eastern United States. The firm's new office, located at Teterboro Airport, is staffed by veterans from Atlantic Aviation and the former charter unit of K-C Aviation. Aircraft based at Teterboro full-time or part-time initially include a Gulfstream G-II and G-III, according to Scott Galdi, regional vice president and general manager at The Air Group's Teterboro location.
The French government plans to follow up the scheduled merger of airliner builder Aerospatiale and Falcon Jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation by privatizing the merged company. However, the government still plans to retain majority ownership of the new entity (B/CA, November 1996, page 20). The merger, targeted for later this year, will not include Dassault Systems, a unit that specializes in computer-assisted design and manufacturing programs. A name for the merged companies has not been selected.
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.
