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 Terminal forecasts have been replaced by TAFs, or terminal aerodrome forecasts.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.
Before year-end, Gulfstream says it will introduce a guaranteed direct operating cost (DOC) program for new G-IVSPs. Called ServiceCare, the program will cover all airframe, engine and avionics maintenance (including parts and labor) and the inclusion of all mandatory service bulletins and ADs. ServiceCare is available for a seven-year period and is transferable to the next owner. There is an initial subscription fee plus periodic payments based on hourly usage. All work must be done at Gulfstream or an authorized service center.
The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association's (PAMA) 25th annual convention held May 14-17 provided ample demonstration that the organization is on the move. A record number of attendees gathered in Nashville for PAMA's largest-ever trade show and symposium. Over the last several months, PAMA hired its first full-time executive director, opened an office in Washington, D.C. and continued marching toward its goal of boosting membership to 5,000 by the end of the year.
The receivers of bankrupt Fokker Aircraft said the company can manufacture 15 additional aircraft to raise money to help pay off some of the Dutch manufacturer's debts. As a result of the completion of these aircraft, Fokker Aircraft's assembly lines will remain open at least until April 1997. Fokker's aircraft manufacturing activities were suspended in March after the company filed for bankruptcy (B/CA, May, page 16).
AeroLink, an aviation World Wide Web site, has launched an online airframe and avionics parts locater service called LOCATE!. Unlike some other parts finder services, LOCATE! listings are available to any buyer on the Web without any fees. Because no fees are charged to the consumer, LOCATE! will rely on advertising to fund its operation. The securing of advertisers as well as parts for LOCATE! will be handled by AvReps International of Albuquerque. LOCATE! can be accessed through AeroLink's Web page, http://www.aerolink.com, or directly at http://www.avparts.com.
It's virtually impossible-and not necessarily desirable-to include every detail of flight-department operations in an operations manual. But below are a list of questions that you may wish to ponder when crafting your company's guide to procedures and practices. -- Who should be allowed to enter and sit in the cockpit? -- What non-company personnel can fly on the aircraft? -- What standards and policies should be developed regarding part-time pilots?
FAA has adopted a six-and-a-half-year-old proposal to add airframe and equipment requirements for FAR Part 25 aircraft seeking certification to operate up to an altitude of 51,000 feet (B/CA, January 1990, page 13). Previously, such requirements were handled on a specific case-by-case basis under the agency's ``special conditions'' procedures for addressing ``novel or unusual'' design features not covered by the existing FARs.
North American manufacturers delivered 90 civil helicopters in this year's first quarter compared to 97 units in the first quarter of 1995, says the Aerospace Industries Association, a Washington, D.C. trade organization. The manufacturers and number of helicopters delivered in the first quarter of 1996 (with first quarter of 1995 shown in parentheses) were: Bell-34 (36), Enstrom-3 (2), Hiller-1 (0), Kaman-2 (0), McDonnell Douglas-3 (8), Robinson-34 (54), Schweizer-17 (6) and Sikorsky-2 (4).
Georgia Tech, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Maryland have been designated National Rotorcraft Centers of Excellence under a program sponsored jointly by industry, the U.S. Army and NASA. The universities will conduct research to improve the design, safety and reliability of future helicopters. Some specific areas of study will be noise reduction, vibration control and weather-related issues. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California administers the program.
