It's been just over 20 years since the FAA and NASA launched the ASRS--a means by which pilots and others could report safety issues right away-anonymously-and without fear of being charged with breaking an FAR. That guarantee remains 100 percent fulfilled. ASRS program officials have processed 338,000 aviation incident reports, and not one has violated the confidentiality of a person filing a report.
There are the ``haves'' and the ``have-nots'' in the regional aircraft marketplace, according to today's conven- tional wisdom. The haves are those companies or consortiums with a family of products to present-from small to large, from turboprops to jets. The have-nots are those manufacturers that have opted not to link up with others and those that have chosen to expand their product lines on their own. Discussions with top manufacturing executives during the recent Farnborough Air Show clearly revealed this divergence.
MentorPlus isn't just marketing FliteStar, FliteMap and Approach Pro. The Aurora, Oregon-based company recently teamed up with GTE DUATS to develop a 32-bit Windows-based version of GTE's automated DUATS briefing and communications software. The product reportedly looks and operates like a simplified version of FliteStar for Windows. GTE will be making this software available free to more than 180,000 pilots.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel hearing arguments in October on a lawsuit to repeal the FAR Part 121 ``Age 60 Rule'' wanted to know why the FAA allows corporate and air-taxi pilots to fly beyond age 60. The FAA responded to the court that the duty of an air carrier to provide service with the highest possible degree of safety is different from that of other air transportation entities.
Would you like to increase your chances for promotion, salary increases and a more desirable job, or to improve your standing in your current job--and at a minimum of pain and inconvenience? A subcommittee of the NBAA Management Committee is working to make pilots' career goals come true with the introduction of a professional development program for NBAA members. The program is the substitute--a member-friendly substitute--for the NBAA's proposed certification program (B/CA, Intelligence, June 1994, page 15).
A proposed rule would order air-taxi operators, as well as airlines, to maintain passenger manifests for all flights to or from the United States. The manifest would have to be submitted to the DOT in the event of an ``aviation disaster.'' The manifest information must include the passenger's name, passport number and country of issue (if a passport is required for travel), and the name and phone number of an emergency contact.
Hans Kruger will be replaced as president of Saab Aircraft AB effective January 1, 1997, although that date is not confirmed. The move sustantiates rumors that have been circulating for some time. He will become head of the JAS-39 Gripen jet-fighter business unit after just under three years in the job of leading the commercial aircraft program.
Is South Korea's Samsung Aerospace Industries the white knight for bankrupt Fokker NV of he Netherlands? The Dutch press seems to think so. The two parties are mum. Dutch press reports have called Samsung an imminent rescuer of the remaining assets of Fokker in a proposed takeover package in which Samsung would control 70 percent of a new Fokker aircraft company. The Stork Group, which now controls some former [profitable] Fokker assets, and the Dutch government would each hold 15 percent of the regional-aircraft manufacturer.
Aviation Center at Stuart's Witham Field is planning a January 1997 groundbreaking for permanent FBO facilities. The new construction will include an executive terminal, maintenance operation and hangar storage. The buildings are scheduled to be completed by May 1997. (561) 781-4720.
Jet South, an FBO at Southwest Florida International Airport, recently opened a 24,000-square-foot hangar for aircraft storage and maintenance. (941) 768-3454.
American Eagle plans to spend $12 million renovating its Concourse ``G'' regional hub at Chicago O'Hare, including the installation of 20 new specially designed jetbridges that will mate up with the carrier's turboprop fleet. The first jetbridge will be in place this month.
Delta Connection Comair has pulled in some of its Canadair Regional Jet markets and added service to existing routes as well as some new cities. The carrier, which recently took delivery of its 38th and 39th aircraft, has reduced its Cincinnati destinations from 56 to 47.
By June 1997, possibly in time for the Paris Air Show, the French government hopes to have set the final terms for the anticipated merger of airliner-builder Aerospatiale and Falcon Jet-manufacturer Dassault Aviation. A blueprint for the merger, expected by January, will cover the legal framework as well as the capital and organizational structure of the merged company. The government expects to own two-thirds of the new entity, while the Dassault family might own up to one-third of the company.
International Aviation Services, Limited is gearing up to offer a multi-phase modification program to bring Boeing 727s into compliance with FAR Part 36, Stage 3 noise levels, as well as to update aircraft performance and systems.
Effective October 10, the FAA modified the Dallas/Fort Worth Class B Airspace by raising the upper limit from 10,000 feet msl to 11,000 feet msl, except in the reconfigured northern and southern sections. In addition, the dimensions of several DFW Class B sub-areas have been redefined.
Lord Corporation says it expects to receive FAA certification this month of an active noise-canceling system for the cabins of DC-9s/MD-80s. The company says its NVX Active System reduces interior noise ``as much as 70 percent.'' The system uses an array of actuators and microphones behind the bulkhead trim to achieve this goal.
Table: JET-A PER GALLON PRICES; (Fillup Flyer Fuel Finder-September 1996) (This table is not available electronically. Please see the November, 1996 issue.) We've read, and written about, the many times when so-called back-up ATC systems failed to do their job (B/CA, ``ATC on the Blink,'' January, page 52, for instance). But we don't often note the times things go exactly right. Here is a recent example of when ATC facilities remained on the air when everything for thousands of miles was without electricity.
New-start Corporate Express of Nashville hopes to fill the void left by American Eagle carrier Flagship in two Nashville markets--Knoxville and Tri-Cities, Tennessee. The carrier is leasing six British Aerospace Jetstream 32s from BAe Asset Management-Turboprops, the first of which was delivered in October, with the remaining five scheduled for delivery by year-end, in time for a January 1997 start date.
Thirteen turned out to be the lucky number for Bombardier as Sunday, October 13 marked the maiden voyage of the company's Global Express. The event officially launched the new business jet's flight-test program scheduled to culminate with Canadian and U.S. certification in the second quarter of 1998. Three more aircraft are slated to join a 2,000-hour flight-test project. The Global Express and the new Gulfstream V are scheduled to be on static display at the NBAA convention later this month in Orlando.
An October 16 airworthiness directive affecting some 24,320 Hartzell propellers was long in coming. As far back as mid 1992, the NTSB urged the FAA to require inspections of Hartzell hubs (B/CA, October 1992, page 28), but it wasn't until 1993-after a Mitsubishi MU-2 crash killed South Dakota's governor and seven others-that the FAA took action. The agency issued an emergency AD, but it called for hub inspections of MU-2 props only (B/CA, June 1993, page 28).
The recent consolidation of Rockwell's Collins commercial and military divisions into the Collins Avionics and Communications Division resulted in a change of leadership at Collins Commercial Avionics (CCA), the unit that supplies the business aviation market. John Girotto, who had been president of CCA, was appointed to lead a new Rockwell unit. Clay Jones, vice president of the Collins Air Transport Division, was named acting president of CCA.
Passengers who desire a choice when it comes to onboard entertainment will like what the Audiofile Audio On Demand System from Pacific Systems has to offer. Each passenger can choose from up to 200 digitally sorted music albums or audio books, and various media can be run simultaneously to accommodate all of the listeners. The 1/2 ATR short, 13-pound Audio-file takes the place of an extensive audio library and media storage system. A total of 144 hours of audio can be stored on a four-gigabyte hard disk.
Did you ever look at the display your FMS was generating on the EFIS or on a CDU page and ask: ``What's it doing now?'' If so, you're in the majority. Pilots, system designers, simulator instructors and accident investigators all tell me that most pilots are confused from time to time by the nuances of newer electronics, and many pilots haven't been able to take command of modern glass cockpits in they way they mastered earlier cockpit displays and avionics systems. Too often, there is a potentially lethal disconnect between pilots and their airplanes.
The Twenty Group, an organization comprised of some 20 independent and non-competitive FBOs that share information and ideas to increase their respective businesses, recently formed another marketing effort known as the Priority One Group.
