Without a plan or checklist, controlling the potential financial, legal and perception damage in the aftermath of a disaster may be as difficult as dealing with the physical damage caused by the disaster itself. David Carlisle, co-captain and safety officer for the flight department at SunTrust Banks of Orlando, recently completed a Corporate Aviation Contingency Plan for his company and-with the following scenario--he goads those who still have such a plan on the back burner:
Mesa Air Group was hit with a $500,000 civil penalty in September by the FAA for indiscretions in the number of flight, maintenance and ground personnel as well as training and internal audit programs. The only problem is that the safety agency ``leaked'' details of the enforcement action before the tentative agreement between the two parties was official.
The publishers of the Air Charter Guide, a handbook packed with data on air taxi operators, brokers and their aircraft, recently introduced another information service. Released this fall, the Air Charter Guide Operations Statement is a compilation of survey information gathered to help flight departments evaluate jet charter operations around the world.
The latest volume of McGraw-Hill's AIM/FAR books uses liberal cross referencing and shaded areas to quickly identify new and changed information. Other features include a four-color airport markings section, the FAA's ``Flight Forum,'' thumb tabs and page headings. A free postage-paid midyear up-date is offered to all readers. Price: $26.95 hard-cover; $13.95 paperback. McGraw-Hill Professional Book Group, 11 W. 19th St., New York, NY 10011. (800) 262-4729.
The 1995 record-setting convention in Las Vegas will be a tough act to follow. But this year's event promises to be just as big and exciting when the business aviation industry gathers November 19 through 21 in Orlando. Already this 49th annual meeting has surpassed the 1995 show in several ways. Exhibit booth sales and the number of exhibitors have exceeded 1995's record total of 2,760 and 745, respectively. For the second year in a row, more than 20,000 people are expected to attend the world's largest display of civil aviation products and services.
The largest static display of aircraft in NBAA convention history is being prepared for presentation by Showalter Flying Services at Orlando's Executive Airport. From November 19 to 21, during the 49th annual convention of the NBAA, ramps adjacent to Showalter are expected to be chock-to-chock with more than 180 aircraft on static display. In addition, Showalter expects to handle some 600 transient aircraft. Executive Air Center, the other corporate aircraft FBO on the airport, also expects a heavy transient aircraft turnout.
William W. Greer, Learjet Incorporated's vice president of engineering, doesn't hesitate when asked why Learjet 45 deliveries didn't begin this year. ``Our initial [development] targets were overly ambitious. There's no way you can take an airplane from a clean sheet to certification [in less than four years].'' Yet, that's precisely what Learjet's top management had hoped to do when they discussed their plans at the September 1992 NBAA convention.
There seem to be two undeniable truths about fractional ownership: First, the concept is here to stay and, second, a lot of corporate pilots don't like it.
London's Heathrow Airport is celebrating its golden anniversary this year. The popular European gateway handles more international passengers than any other airport and ranks fourth worldwide in total passengers.
The second-generation AlliedSignal TFE731-20, slated for certification in December, looks a lot like the -2 engine that powers 30-series Learjets. The gear-driven fan and four-stage axial compressor are powered by a three-stage, low-pressure turbine. The single high-pressure centrifugal compressor is driven by a single high-pressure turbine.
Kemmons Wilson Companies, founder of the Holiday Inn hotel chain, officially opens an FBO this month at Memphis International Airport. The most distinctive feature of the new Wilson Air Center facility is its enormous 150-by-175-foot canopy for shielding aircraft during passenger embarking and debarking. At 27-feet high, the canopy can accommodate all but airliner-size corporate jets. The Wilson operation includes two hangars for storage and maintenance in addition to its two-story terminal building.
A display of real-time position data of any general aviation aircraft on an IFR flight is now available from Flyte Trax, an on-line system introduced in May with similar information for airline flights (B/CA, July, page 26). After obtaining clearance from Flyte Trax, subscribers can see the position, destination and ETA of aircraft on a map covering the entire U.S. national airspace system. Flyte Trax is a unit of Flyte Comm of Florida. Phone: (703) 836-1243; URL is http://www.amerwxcncpt.com.
For more than a decade Piper Aircraft's pressurized, single-engine Malibu airframe has intrigued modifiers and pilots as a potential candidate for gas turbine power. In fact, Piper itself even experimented with the concept briefly in the late 1980s, evaluating a Malibu equipped with an Allison 250 turboprop, but the company abandoned the project when it became preoccupied with internal financial problems.
The last major piece of the FAA's long-overdue program to modernize the flagging ATC network clicked into place recently with the award of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) contract to Raytheon Company of Lexington, Massachusetts. The company's task will be to replace obsolete displays, software and computers at 172 FAA ATC facilities and 199 Defense Department facilities. The first system is set to be operational by December 1998 in Boston.
It is hard to believe, but the FAA's DUATS program is almost seven years old. And at last, GTE DUATS, one of the FAA's two DUATS providers, has just released a new, Windows-compatible interface to DUATS. The new software, called Cirrus, enables its users to automate most of the process of dialing up and downloading DUATS briefings, creating flight plans off-line and filing flight plans. This is good news to pilots and others who found GTE DUATS' earlier DOS interface unattractive and clumsy to use.
On November 4, U.S. Customs is scheduled to implement a year-long test of the General Aviation Telephonic Entry (GATE) program. During this experiment, pre-approved U.S. or Canadian-registered general aviation aircraft having no more than 15 passenger seats and reentering the United States from Canada can land at virtually any airport and make only a phone call to clear customs. (See B/CA, October, page 18.) That's the theory.
Jet Corp of St. Louis has designed a cleaning and testing procedure for hydraulic filters used in Falcon Jets that allows operators to reuse certain SoFrance filters
Initial worldwide figures for September 1996 revealed nine new-jet sales, off 82 percent from 33 during in September 1995. Three new turboprops sold during the month, off 79 percent from 14 last year. U.S. jet sales tallied at: Six new, off 63.6 percent from 22 last year; 43 used, down 54.3 percent from 94 in September 1995. For turboprops, sales for the month were: Three new, down 70 percent from 10; and 28 preowned, off 65 percent from 80.
For airframe manufacturers, the benefits of fractional ownership programs aren't tough to understand. The programs are doing what years and years of more traditional sales haven't done: They are bringing new buyers into the market. Up to 80 percent of share buyers are described as ``concept buyers'' who have not owned business jets before. Moreover, as many as a quarter of the owners are seen as likely to buy additional shares, and the sense is that at least some of them will go on to buy their own aircraft.
Thirty-one members of the House Ways and Means Committee urged the Internal Revenue Service to reverse its new stand on treating major engine overhauls as capital expenditures rather than ``ordinary'' business expenses (B/CA, October, page 28). Capitalization means the cost of the work must be deducted over several years, resulting in additional taxes. ``Clearly the IRS is overstepping its authority,'' said the Committee, noting a change in policy ``of this magnitude'' should be subject to hearings.
