The comment period was extended to July 19 on an FAA notice about the development of a safety program called GAIN-Global Analysis and Information Network. The aims of GAIN are to improve and expand the collection, awareness and dissemination of critical safety concerns. Specifically, the FAA wants the industry's input on what safety data are needed; what the best methods are for collecting and sharing the data; and what role industry can play in developing the prototype. For more information, call the FAA at (202) 267-4246.
FAA has adopted a new air-ground datalink message plan using ``next-generation'' VHF radios and yet-to-be-selected ``private datalink services.'' Messages would be routed through an aeronautical telecommunications network, which the FAA says ``automatically will select the best air-ground media based on the nature of the message.'' This strategy will provide a ``much more flexible and market-driven approach,'' the agency claims.
Most observers believed the ``zero accidents'' agenda proclaimed by Transportation Department officials was a bad idea the first time it was articulated nearly two years ago. But it wasn't until this spring, when those same DOT officials were trying to explain to the media why that ValuJet DC-9 with 110 unfortunate souls on board ended up in the Everglades, that the absurdity of ``zero accidents'' became so strikingly apparent.
Starting this month, two slots per weekday at Japan's Narita Airport will be dedicated to international business aircraft operations, according to the FAA. The slots will be available only to corporate aircraft with an MTOW of less than 90,000 pounds that operate between Japan and other countries. The issue of access to Japan has been an irritant for U.S. business aircraft operators for several years (B/CA, May 1995, page 12).
November 12, 1995 witnessed one of the more remarkable accidents in recent aviation history. It's remarkable in the sense that the aircraft and its occupants survived at all, when an American Airlines MD80 struck trees on a ridge line while on the final segment of a non-precision approach. One engine failed immediately, and the other began to lose power, yet the crew managed to herd the crippled aircraft to the extended overrun area of the runway.
Pratt&Whitney Canada purchased a 51-percent share in Anglo-African Airmotive at Lanseria Airport in South Africa, renamed the company P&WC CSC Africa and immediately designated it a customer support center. The facility will service PT6As, JT15Ds and PW100s. An estimated 1,020 P&WC engines are operating on aircraft in South Africa. Meanwhile, the P&WC PT6C-65 has been chosen by PZL-Swidnick of Poland to power a new model of the W-3 Sokol helicopter.
Thanks to an infusion of $2.5 million from businesses in Ames, Iowa, VisionAire Corporation says it will be able to start flight-testing a proof-of-concept prototype of the Vantage single-engine business jet in October (B/CA, May, page 128). Ames is set to be the U.S. production site for the six-person, composite aircraft. Groundbreaking for the facility is scheduled for late summer. Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites Incorporated of Mojave, California will build the prototype. At press time, VisionAire claimed 37 deposits.
To date, 22 FAR Part 135 operators have signed on with InterJet, a new service on the World Wide Web designed to increase charter bookings. Charter customers can visit the Internet site for free and quickly key in responses on a simple form that asks the dates they need an aircraft, departure location and the seating capacity or manufacturer of the aircraft they want to use. The computer responds with the names, e-mail addresses and phone/fax numbers of operators with available aircraft that fit the request.
The landing fee per thousand pounds of MTOW for both FAR Part 91 and Part 135 aircraft at Denver International Airport has been reduced about 35 cents-from $3.682 to $3.331. In addition, the minimum landing fee for Part 135 operations decreased by 50 percent-from $40 to $20. However, the minimum landing fee for Part 91 aircraft remains $40. Part 135 users can submit copies in person or can fax a copy of their operating certificates for filing at the AMR Combs FBO on the airport. Fax: (303) 542-5611.
Fairchild Aircraft has acquired 80 percent of Dornier Luftfahrt from Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) through the formation of Fairchild Aircraft Holding, a joint-venture company in which DASA retains 20 percent.
Some insurance companies offer discounts to flight departments that have an operations manual. However, Ed Williams, Associated Aviation Underwriters' (AAU) vice president of safety and engineering, and director of flight operations, believes more important reasons exist for every business-aircraft operator to have its own manual.
The United States and Canada started using new aviation weather report codes on July 1, about six months later than all other member-countries of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The format of surface aviation observations (SAs) and terminal forecasts (FTs) are changed to conform with standards set by ICAO. The new surface observations are called METARs. SPECIs, or special reports, are taking the place of SP and RS observations. Terminal forecasts have been replaced by TAFs, or terminal aerodrome forecasts. TAFs also follow the same basic format as METARs.
Under a recently adopted rule, helicopter manufacturers no longer have to test for increased noise levels when type-design changes do not pertain to the aircraft's controls or powerplants. Specifically, the exemption would apply to design changes pertaining to attaching or detaching external equipment, such as spotlights, cameras, airborne signs, cargo tanks, baskets, floats, skis and other similar apparatus. The new rule is expected to lower the cost and time involved in making these design changes.
A report sent to President Clinton and to members of Congress describes the positive results to date of the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA), a law signed into effect in 1994 that established an 18-year time limit for GA manufacturers' liability on aircraft (and components for aircraft) with less than 20 seats. According to the report prepared by GAMA, the GARA has helped the piston aircraft industry to create new jobs, reopen production lines, increase research and development funding, and launch a renewed effort to attract more student pilots.
France and the United States signed an air-safety agreement aimed at closer cooperation in aircraft inspections and maintenance. The FAA signed its first bilateral air-safety agreement in September 1995 with the Netherlands. A second accord was signed in December 1995 with Great Britain . . . SimuFlite's 16-hour maintenance training programs have been FAA approved as meeting requirements for Inspection Authorization (IA) renewal . . .
Unless there is another postponement, ``Nav Canada,'' the corporation being formed to take over the country's ATC system from the Canadian government, is scheduled to debut on September 1. Nav Canada, originally targeted for activation on April 1, is a nonprofit organization, with funding coming totally from user fees-many of them to be increased. At the same time, the present Air Transport Taxes system will be phased out over a period of two years. The Nav Canada headquarters office is in Ottawa, Ontario, and Ken Copeland was appointed chief executive.
Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force and a former president of Executive Jet Aviation, will be inducted this month into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. A World War II aviator, Tibbets piloted the B-29 Enola Gay on the first atomic bomb mission to Japan in 1945. Tibbets now lives in Columbus, Ohio.
A new online aircraft tracking service is expected to add soon the capability to show the inflight position in the United States of all IFR aircraft. Introduced on the Internet in May, Flyte Trax allows subscribers to enter an airline flight number and see the position of the aircraft and its destination ETA on a map. Subscription cost is $5 a month plus $2.50 for each access. The business aviation service is expected to include a way to allow only the operator of a particular aircraft to see where it is.
Fleet Aerospace Corporation of Toronto completed the purchase of the aerospace units of Hawker Siddeley of Canada and combined them into a new division called Orenda Aerospace Corporation. The division consists of the former Middletown Aerospace in Massachusetts, A-R Technologies in British Columbia and Orenda engine operations in Ontario. Orenda expects to receive certification by year-end of a 600-hp, V-8 engine that the company plans to flight test on a Beech King Air 90 (September 1995, page 26).
The Air Group (Van Nuys, CA)-Johnnie Spotts has joined this management and charter company as captain of Hawker and Gulfstream aircraft. Previously, he served as chief pilot at Petersen Aviation, also in Van Nuys. Dassault Falcon Jet (Paramus, NJ)-Kenneth D. Root joined the company as director of its Little Rock Jet Center in Arkansas. Previously, he worked for 22 years for Garrett Aviation Services.
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter officials acknowledge that the late-May destruction of a prototype of the MD 600N may delay certification of the no-tail-rotor (NOTAR) helicopter three months beyond its September target (B/CA, January, page 22). The test pilot escaped injury when the NOTAR aircraft's tail boom was severed by the main rotor, and the aircraft was consumed by fire after a hard autorotation landing. The company said the accident occurred while the pilot was assessing the effect of abrupt control reversals.
It happens every year. A flightcrew flies their airplane into severe convective weather. The airplane suffers grave damage or total destruction, and sometimes people are injured, or worse. When the pilots are interviewed after the accident, they are asked if they saw this particular convective event on their radar. And the answer is often a variation of ``Yes, but. . . .''
The World Wide Web is the site for a new information source about FBOs and the airports on which they are located. Known as AIRBase One, the service provides data on ground transportation, lodging and restaurants, as well as FBO data and airport data (including airfield diagrams). The information is free to users, but FBOs and other companies wishing to be listed in the database must pay a fee. Contact http://www.airbase1.com. AIRBase One was formed by the FBO Resource Group of Aurora, Colorado.
