Ozires Silva, Brazil's ``Mr. Aviation'' and the founding chairman of Embraer in August 1969, warned in August 1995 that the biggest challenge facing the newly privatized manufacturer was establishment of a government-backed financing program for the new 50-passenger EMB-145 regional jet.
Using crew resource management (CRM) techniques is not just for multi-crew operations. Several B/CA articles have taken a look at how CRM can be used by the single-pilot operator, and now there is a new book on the subject.
Sikorsky Aircraft has received FAA certification for the S-76C+ twin-turbine helicopter. The S-76C+ is powered by the Turbomeca Arriel 2S1, which features greater power output than the 1S1 in the S-76C. The S-76C+ also incorporates a full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) and single-crystal turbine blades. The Stratford, Connecticut company claims the new model will provide greater single-engine performance and better fuel specifics over the S-76C. A C+ retrofit kit for S-76Cs will be available by year-end. U.K.
Russia's Yakovlev said it planned to buy Fokker, the Dutch company that went bankrupt earlier this year, after its owner, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, dropped financial support. However, officials in Amsterdam overseeing the Fokker bankruptcy said many technical issues and bureaucratic hurdles need to be resolved before a deal can be made. Meanwhile, Fokker's assembly lines will remain open for several months since the company recently was given the go-ahead to build more aircraft.
Those headed to San Diego during the Republican National Convention, August 12-15, or to Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, August 26-29, can expect to run into increased air traffic, ground congestion, and possible delays and special ATC procedures, including slot reservations for IFR arrivals and IFR departures. Secret Service procedures may cause additional restrictions or delays. Check local NOTAMs for further details.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the FAA said they successfully tested a ``soft arrestor'' bed designed to prevent runway overrun accidents. The bed, made of a cellular cement, is designed to deform under an aircraft's weight. In the test at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, an agency Boeing 727 traveling at 55 knots was stopped within about 300 feet. The bed was 332 feet long, 40 feet wide and two feet deep at its highest point. The first production system is planned to be installed on JFK's Runway 4R later this year.
National Ocean Service is expected to publish the first edition of a Dallas area Helicopter Route Chart well in advance of its October 10 effective date. The chart's information will coincide with the introduction of major airspace changes for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (B/CA, June, page 17). For information on helicopter route charts for Dallas as well as other areas, phone the National Ocean Service at (800) 638-8972.
Rudy's Inflight Catering has opened a dedicated corporate aircraft catering operation near Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York . . . Tampa, Florida-based Gulf Coast Avionics has opened its first European facility-in Valencia, Spain.
An increase in corporate aircraft international operations and a plethora of new procedures have prompted the NBAA to issue a revised edition of its Oceanic Flying Operations&Procedures manual. An NBAA survey found that only 18 percent of its membership does not fly internationally sometime during the year. New procedures include the need for an FAA letter of authority by October for flying in the North Atlantic (NAT), the implementation of reduced vertical separation minimums in March 1997 in the NAT and the planned shutdown of Omega stations in late 1997.
Just as the FAA proposed restrictions on sightseeing flights over Rocky Mountain National Park, the agency was allowing air-tour operators in Hawaii to again fly below a formerly imposed minimum altitude (B/CA, November 1994, page 28). While the Hawaii rule was established ostensibly for safety reasons, the FAA admits the Rocky Mountain proposal is aimed at reducing the alleged impact of aircraft noise. Critics of the proposal say the noise issue is outside the agency's authority and is unjustified besides.
Larry Mustico has been appointed manager of aircraft maintenance sales for this business aircraft engine overhaul and repair facility that also services airframes and avionics.
For many of the several hundred attendees at the Canadian Business Aircraft Association's annual convention held in Ottawa, Ontario in early June, one of the highlights was the chance to get chummy with the owners of Canada's new corporate-run air navigation system, Nav Canada (B/CA, November 1994, page 58).
Aviation authorities for Russia and the other Commonwealth of Independent States members awarded certification to G-III, G-IV and G-IVSP business jets. The certification is a first for a U.S.-designed and manufactured business jet. Gulfstream officials said the approvals for their aircraft were received under ``new joint CIS certification rules for transport-category aircraft'' that are in harmony with FAR Part 25 requirements. Non-U.S. aircraft, such as Hawker Jets and Falcon Jets, already were certificated in the CIS.
Five short months ago, the FAA was a place of quiet optimism. The agency, while plagued with political nibbling from the DOT, had been freed by Congress from Wagnerian procurement and personnel regulations and was about to show the rest of the government how a smart, trim agency could get things done.
Former U.S. Navy pilot and FAA Administrator Donald D. Engen is the new director of the National Air and Space Museum. The position had been empty since May 1995 when the former director, Martin Harwit, resigned after an imbroglio over the exhibit of the B-29 Enola Gay (B/CA, July 1995, page 20). Most industry interests view Engen's appointment as a plus for the future of the museum, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. (See this issue's Washington column for details and comments on Engen's appointment.)
The more than 5,700 jets and turboprops now required to have flight data recorders will have to upgrade them to increase the amount of data they can collect, if the FAA adopts proposed rulemaking. Although the agency says its FDR proposal addresses the intent of several NTSB recommendations, the Safety Board is disappointed because the FAA ignored recommendations to retrofit Boeing 737s immediately.
This supplier of digital voice systems for aviation brought on David Sisson, former president of Superior Air Parts, as its vice president of aviation products.
This manufacturer made three appointments: Jeff Dunbar, formerly with Mooney Aircraft, as regional sales manager for domestic business jet sales; Michael Guillemot, previously with Mooney Aircraft and AlliedSignal Aviation, as regional sales manager for the Eastern division; and John Chandler, formerly with the Falcon Jet sales department, now is regional sales manager for the western division of Raytheon.
The French government hopes to work out the details for a merger of airliner-manufacturer Aerospatiale and Falcon Jet-builder Dassault into a single company by January 1997, about a year sooner than previously announced. The government wants to combine profitable Dassault with unprofitable Aerospatiale and own at least two-thirds of the new entity. The Dassault family is expected to hold from 25 to 33 percent of the new group. However, previous attempts to combine France's two largest airframe builders have failed and, in the past, Dassault has opposed the merger.
No question about it; the new Embraer EMB-145 regional jet is turning heads. The 50-passenger aircraft-billed as a jet at turboprop costs--received high marks following its month-long demonstration tour of the United States in May and early June. After flying the aircraft, some say the Brazilian manufacturer is too conservative about the airplane's performance and production potential. The company is rushing to correct that.
Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and 34 others were killed on April 3 when their USAF CT-43A, a Boeing 737-200, struck a mountain while attempting an NDB approach to the airport at Dubrovnik, Croatia. The accident that befell what amounts to the USAF corporate flight department, astonished the civil aviation community not so much because of the VIP passenger list, but rather because of the lack of sophistication of the aircraft's avionics suite and a similar lack of sophistication in the USAF's operational procedures.
Boeing and General Electric have banded together to enter the ultra-long-range business aircraft sweepstakes with a version of the next-generation Boeing 737. The companies say it will be capable of flying New York to Tokyo nonstop with NBAA IFR reserves. A completed aircraft with auxiliary fuel tanks is expected to cost about $35 million. Certification is scheduled for late 1998.
St. Louis-based Sabreliner Corporation is taking major steps to improve safety, training and quality throughout the company, but particularly at its Miami-based SabreTech unit, which has been implicated in the May 11 crash of a ValuJet DC-9 in the Everglades. It's alleged that SabreTech, acquired by Sabreliner in June 1995, erroneously labeled filled oxygen canisters as empty.
Even in Washington, someone in authority eventually makes the right decision, as evidenced by the Smithsonian Institution's selection of former FAA Administrator Donald Engen to head the National Air and Space Museum, effective July 1. Engen's appointment is good news for the museum's legions of fans, its beleaguered staff and everyone who wants to see this monument to aviation regain its luster and become even better.
