Avfuel Corporation's new educational videotape series offers safety and preventive training for FBO line workers. Produced in conjunction with the American Association of Airport Executives, the six-tape program covers topics such as operating refueler equipment, properly receiving a transport load of fuel, quality assurance programs, aviation fuel inspections, customer service and com- munications, and fuel farm maintenance, as well as aircraft fueling. Each tape is self-instructional, is 22 minutes long and comes with a test manual.
In addition to the seminars, forums and technical briefings conducted during Heli Expo (see related item), the Helicopter Association International is offering its usual battery of pre-show educational programs. Here is a list of the programs and a brief description of each: January 27-February 1: Helicopter Operator Management Course-The objective of this course is to provide leadership skills to new or veteran managers of civil helicopter operations. Members, $1,445; non-members, $1,725.
Miller Aviation in Binghamton, New York, has been appointed as a distribution and installation center for the Lord Corporation NVX internal noise control system for Conquests and King Airs
This FBO announced two staff changes: Richard Spencer was named chief engineer of the avionics department and John Hill was appointed as avionics installation manager.
A little more than 14 years ago, Universal Avionics Systems Corporation (then known as Universal Navigation Corporation), a small upstart avionics firm, introduced its first FMS product, and it turned a lot of heads. The UNS-1 grabbed the attention of the business aircraft industry because it offered an unprecedented level of performance features. It was the first widely available navigation system capable of weighing and blending inputs from both short-range and long-range navigation sensors for optimum guidance accuracy.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has honored Preston A. Henne, senior vice president of the Gulfstream V program at Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah, with the 1996 AIAA Engineer of the Year Award. The presentation was made at the 1996 World Aviation Congress and Exposition awards banquet held October 24 in Los Angeles.
Brian Barents, president and CEO of Galaxy Aerospace Corporation, said Astra business jets will continue to be completed in Israel until the company sets up a U.S. completion center. He labeled ``inaccurate'' Astra Jet Corporation's statement to the press at the NBAA convention that emphasized a change in policy allowing future customers to take their aircraft to a completions facility of their choice.
Dassault Aviation has traditionally taken a conservative approach to corrosion control, starting with protective treatments to the bare metal used to fabricate Falcon Jet airframes: chromic oxidation for aluminum, cadmium plating for steel and phosphate coating for titanium.
Dallas Airmotive and Jet Support Services have entered into negotiations toward providing a menu-driven power-by-the-hour maintenance program for P&WC PT6A and JT15D engines and Rolls-Royce Spey and Tay engines. Dallas Airmotive president George Derby said the program ``covers both scheduled and unscheduled removals, LRU/accessory maintenance, troubleshooting and on-site field support, engine removal and reinstallation, and, . . . provides loaner engines any time the customer's engine is unavailable.''
The latest avcomps buzzword is real time. This month's new or upgraded avcomps all share the ability to do what they do in real time-as it happens. In today's real-time, globalized business world, extending this capability to business aviation seems only natural.
FlightSafety International is widening its effort to make standardized checklists for the aircraft in which it conducts training. Late in 1996, new checklists were scheduled to be available for the Learjet 31A and 35 equipped with the Model 200/300 AP. A new checklist for the G-IV also was set to be available by December. This year, the FSI/manufacturer project will result in new checklists for the Learjet 24D, 25D, 45, 55, as well as King Air Models F90, 200 and 350.
Steven J. Brown was appointed as the agency's chairman of the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee, and Robert E. Robeson, Jr. has been named vice chairman. Brown is the AOPA's senior vice president of government affairs, while Robeson is vice president for civil aviation with the Aerospace Industries Association.
Several fatal accidents of Mitsubishi MU-2Bs while flying in icing conditions prompted the FAA to order revisions to the flight manual of the twin-turboprop aircraft. AD 96-25-02 establishes a minimum airspeed for sustaining level flight in icing conditions, limitations on the use of flaps and cues for recognizing hazardous icing that is specific to the MU-2. The AD also requires wing illumination and taxi lights to be operational prior to flight at night into known or suspected icing conditions.
``If a CIC [corrosion-inhibiting compound] program is instituted when an aircraft is being manufactured, the airframe should last up to 20 years,'' Rick Freeman, aviation manager of LPS Laboratories of Tucker, Georgia, told B/CA. LPS manufactures CICs and the equipment used to apply them.
Despite the fatal crash of a Gulfstream IV on October 30, 1996, the U.S. fleet of business jets (FAR Part 91 and Part 135 on-demand oeprations) ended the first 10 months of 1996 with a better accident record than in the same period of 1995, according to Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Florida. However, the same cannot be said for non-U.S. business jet operaitons, nor for the U.S. and non-U.S. fleet of turboprops.
For avionics bench testing, the Sprint from Georator Corporation is a way to get a wallop of power conversion in a portable package. The 54-pound Sprint gives users up to 1.25 kVA frequency and voltage conversion. The unit can convert input power from 50 to 400 Hz to fixed frequencies of 50, 60, 400 or 420 Hz. Sprint measures 19 inches by 18 inches by 13 inches. Price: $2,695. Georator Corp., 9617 Center St., Manassas, VA 22110. (703) 368-2101.
Mercer County, New Jersey will issue a request for proposals before it chooses any new FBOs to serve the state's Trenton Airport. However, issuance of an RFP must wait at least 12 months, when former U.S. Navy property at the airport is scheduled to be turned over to the county. At that time, the county says it will solicit proposals from parties interested in building an FBO.
Rulemaking that has been urged by the U.S. air-taxi industry for years has been set in motion by the FAA. Under a proposed rule, the agency will allow single-engine aircraft-piston- or turbine-powered-to carry passengers for hire under FAR Part 135 IFR. Currently, only cargo can be carried by single-engine aircraft under Part 135 IFR. The agency, however, will impose special conditions, including engine trend monitoring with oil analysis, an autopilot or copilot, and redundant electrical systems or a standby battery. Comments on the proposal are due February 3.
This table shows the results of a November 1996 survey of U.S. fuel suppliers. The survey, by Fillup Flyer Fuel Finder in Cincinnati, reflects fuel prices reported by up to 1,863 FBOs. All prices are full retail-before any discounts-and include taxes and other fees. Contact Fillup Flyer for individualized customer fuel surveys and logistical data maps at (800) 333-7900 or on the Internet at http://www.fillupflyer.com.
John Rosanvallon, newly appointed president of Dassault Falcon Jet in Teterboro, New Jersey, looks forward to what he terms ``a consolidation of our leadership at the top end'' of the business jet market. He said Dassault will deliver at least 55 new-production aircraft this year. On taking office, Rosanvallon promised the company will continue to ``focus on customer needs'' before as well as after the sale.
Wilcox Electric is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the FAA's decision canceling the company's contract for the Wide Area Augmentation System and awarding it to Hughes Aircraft. In October 1996, the FAA rejected Wilcox's protest of the Hughes contract. ``Wilcox continues to believe that the FAA made a mistake in not re-competing the WAAS contract after easing technical requirements and extending contract delivery,'' said the company. WAAS is vital for primary-means, GPS-based precision approaches.
