The owners of Stuart Jet Center at Florida's Witham Field plan to build an Exxon Avitat FBO at Boca Raton Airport. Phase one of the new facility, scheduled to open in 1997, will feature a 7,000-square-foot terminal and a 24,000-square-foot storage hangar. Also included will be a maintenance facility, 50 tie-down spots and a 300,000-square-foot ramp. In addition to refueling and maintenance, Boca Jet Center will provide charter, training and aircraft sales. (561) 220-6802.
Duncan Aviation recently premiered this drop-down weather door panel covering for Hawker 700 aircraft. The curtain, made of one-quarter-inch thick composite material, seals the entrance door and staves off cold air, rain and snow from the cabin. ``Ultra leather'' is sewn on the reverse side to match the aircraft's interior. While the aircraft is flying, the curtain is designed to dampen noise. When not in use, the curtain can be stashed in the headliner. Price: $14,000 to $18,000, depending on the ultra leather preferred and the scope of the job.
Air-taxi interests have asked the FAA to revoke the requirement in the new FAR Part 119 for the name of the certificate holder to be displayed on the outside of the aircraft. The FAA claims this information will assist inspectors during ramp checks, but the National Air Transportation Association sees it as a compromise to a passenger's security and privacy. The industry is asking the FAA to require only the operating certificate number to be displayed on the aircraft.
The EVAC-U8 Emergency Escape Smoke Hood from Brookdale filters carbon monoxide, toxic gases and smoke particulates through a multi-stage, chemical catalytic air-purifying filter. See-through, listen-through EVAC-U8 can be quickly donned by passengers, says the manufacturer, and it provides up to 20 minutes of filtered air. The user twists the lid off the beverage-can-size canister, pulls the hood on and breathes through the mouthpiece. All of the materials in the unit are heat and flame resistant. Price: $69.95.
It doesn't matter how professional you are, if you have the right stuff, how motivated you are or how big your paycheck is. Those things don't matter when you are faced with your physiology hitting the wall. When you hit that wall, your brain will shut you down, and you will sleep, regardless of what you are doing.''
Wing vertical up-gust testing on Embraer EMB-145 prototype No. 802 has been completed in the Brazilian manufacturer's static test rig. The tests-considered the most severe wing tests on the way to full certification this year-have been underway since January.
In August, Gulfstream Aerospace filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of 28 million shares of stock--about one third of its equity--at $23 per share. Forstmann Little paid the equivalent of about $4 a share when it purchased the Savannah-based manufacturer from Chrysler six years ago. The planned sale comes four years after Forstmann withdrew a planned IPO (B/CA, May 1992, page 16). At that time, Gulfstream was in a negative earnings situation.
Canadian Marconi and Denmark's Thrane&Thrane will join AlliedSignal to develop an Aero-I satellite communications system. Aero-I service, intended for regional airliners and smaller corporate jets, is scheduled to be introduced in mid 1997 by Inmarsat, the European-based satellite operating consortium (B/CA, January, page 20). Canadian Marconi will provide the antenna; Thrane&Thrane will be responsible for the satellite data unit; and AlliedSignal will handle the amplifier and market the final product.
Robotic Vision Systems' ID-1H ice-detection system received FAA approval as an alternative means of compliance with airline pre-takeoff ice inspection requirements. Instead of visual or tactile methods, the ID-1H uses an electro-optic system to detect ice and frost on wings or other critical surfaces, even through water or deicing fluid. The Hauppauge, New York company says the hand-held ID-1H sensor/controller also can ``see'' ice in darkness or during storms (B/CA, January 1995, page 12).
New FV-2000 head-up displays from Flight Visions now include a processor that updates flight information 10 times faster, a 25-degree field of view, larger display characters, a runway overlay symbol and a runway roll-out command. The Sugar Grove, Illinois firm also announced that total FV-2000 system weight has been cut to 21 pounds. Except for the reduced weight, all the upgrades are available as a no-cost software upgrade for current systems. The price for new units remains at $78,000.
Nearly complete is a program to allow all flights conducted within the contiguous United States at and above FL 290 to select minimum time/cost routes beyond 200 nm of a departure/destination. To date, eight of 10 phases of the FAA's National Route Program (NRP) have been implemented. To participate in the NRP, operators must ensure the selected route contains at least one navaid or waypoint in each ATC Center segment in which the route traverses. For details on the NRP, see Advisory Circular 90-91A.
Jet Aviation has assumed the management of The Eagle Group's recently renovated FBO on McCarran International Airport (B/CA, April, page 22). The three-year-old facility, previously known as the Las Vegas Executive Air Terminal, encompasses ramp parking for up to 200 aircraft and a 24-hour full-service terminal building that includes a large wing-shaped canopy over the entrance to protect arriving and departing passengers from the elements.
Owners of the newly dubbed Executive Jet Center, the former ATC Jet Center FBO at Florida's Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, recently opened renovated facilities. Open 24 hours, the redesigned operation offers traditional line services, on-site rental cars and crew loaner cars, free membership to a nearby gym, shower and snooze rooms, private phones and modem hookups. Other features are WSI flight planning, crew and passenger lounges, ``gourmet catering,'' hangar parking and a large-screen TV with satellite programming.
Airline passengers who first glance at Embraer's new EMB-145 from a distance initially might mistake it for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft's latest MD-80 variant. The long, lean fuselage; the moderately swept wing; and, most notably, the large aft-mounted turbofan engines elevate Embraer's latest regional airliner to the class of equipment once exclusively flown by the majors-the jetliners.
Less than a month after Fairchild Aircraft took over 80 percent of German aircraft manufacturer Dornier, it revived plans to develop a stretched version of the 32-passenger Do-328 twin turboprop regional airliner with 50 seats. Meanwhile, Fairchild is expected to make a decision soon on whether to launch a stand-up version of the company's 19-passenger Metro. A mockup of the aircraft has a 71-inch aisle height and a 14-inch aisle width at the floor. The cross section is 62 inches.
Among provisions in a House version of FAA reauthorization legislation is an increase in the percentage of Airport Improvement Funding allocations to smaller reliever and commercial airports. In addition, the draft bill would make permanent the state block grant program (under which certain states can administer AIP funds to smaller airports) and expand it to 10 states from the current seven (B/CA, May, page 18).
A new set of rules has been adopted to increase the use of simulators and flight-training devices, and to enable them to be approved for virtually all pilot training, testing and checking tasks. Based on a project started six years ago (B/CA, September 1989, page 22), the rules also establish an FAR Part 142 to cover a new class of schools called Training Centers. These are facilities like FlightSafety and SimuFlite that make extensive use of FAA Level A through D simulators.
FAA Level D certification is pending for two new business jet simulators built and operated by FlightSafety International. A simulator equipped with a head-up display for the new Dassault Falcon 2000 is scheduled to be installed at FSI's Learning Center in Teterboro this month. The first Cessna Citation X full-flight simulator has been installed at FSI's Wichita Learning Center, and the FAA certification process is under way.
After initially being proposed in September 1989, new one-engine inoperative (OEI) ratings for twin-turbine rotorcraft have been enacted (B/CA, November 1989, page 26). The rules, applicable to design applications made after August 19, establish certification requirements for optional 30-second OEI and 2-minute OEI ratings at higher power levels than previously available. The FAA says the new ratings ``will allow rotorcraft to safely carry higher payloads from existing fields or to take off from smaller fields with current payloads.''
Swiss manufacturer Pilatus Aircraft relocated its U.S. subsidiary from Vero Beach, Florida to Broomfield, Colorado. Broomfield is the home of Chris Finnoff, who in May was named president of Pilatus' U.S. operations. Finnoff is overseeing sales and support of the PC-12 single-engine turboprop in the Western Hemisphere. Meanwhile, Pilatus introduced a $135,000 option that increases the PC-12's payload/range options.
In designing approaches, the FAA builds in margins that are supposed to protect you from harm. However, those margins are sometimes razor thin. Understanding the basics of how approaches are built should raise your sensitivity about avoiding terrain, and may just keep you from becoming a statistic.
An AD that requires deactivating power to the windshield heat element on as many as 239 Beech 1900Ds also prohibits the twin turboprop from being flown into known icing. The AD was issued after two aircraft experienced a short circuit that overheated the windshield, causing smoke and minor fire in the cockpit. In both cases, the pilots turned off the windshield heat switch and landed without further incident.
The following staff changes have been made: Robert E. Brown is the new president and chief operating officer of the Aerospace Group. And Roy McNulty is the new chairman of Short Brothers, the company's regional airline subsidiary in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
An attempt at damage control by the DOT over its handling of events surrounding ValuJet Airlines and the criticism it has received concerning the monitoring of other low-cost carriers may backfire. An FAA report issued at the request of the DOT claims there is ``little difference'' in the safety record of low-cost carriers and major airlines. But not all the statistics support that claim.
