Two new programs from the NBAA will be available to non-members as well as members of the association. First, a newly published Business-Pilot Operations Manual is an effort to extend the professionalism of larger corporate flight departments to smaller flight departments and businessman-pilots. The association will introduce the manual at the first of a series of seminars this month. Another new NBAA program is a software package designed to help flight departments document the value of business aircraft. The new software is scheduled to be available in June.
Airframe designs of normal and transport-category rotorcraft submitted for FAA certification after June 11 must meet upgraded crashworthiness and occupant-protection standards. The adopted revisions essentially are unchanged from those proposed two years ago (B/CA, June 1994, page 22). Specifically, the FAA increased the static-design inertial load factors for restraining heavy items such as fuel tanks, crew and passenger seats, and for articles carried in cargo areas and baggage compartments.
The accident that killed test pilot Robert Overmyer apparently is not stopping Cirrus Design from continuing its attempt to develop production aircraft. Overmyer was killed March 22 when the experimental Cirrus VK-30 kit airplane he was test-piloting crashed. In addition to testing the modified VK-30, Overmyer also had been managing flight tests of the four-place, 200-hp SR20, the company's first attempt to move from building kit aircraft to building production aircraft (B/CA, May 1995, page 113).
ICAO is on the verge of accepting GLONASS in its Global Navigation Satellite System and to give it the same status as the U.S. GPS. This decision will be the culmination of Russia's five-year effort to get ICAO to recognize its GLONASS satellite-based navigation system on an equal footing with the U.S. GPS. GLONASS now has an entire 24-satellite constellation in orbit. Separately, Inmarsat also plans to offer navigation off its satellite network, but as an augmentation to GPS and GLONASS, not as a replacement.
Johnson Controls has acquired the Louisville, Kentucky FBO formerly operated by Signature Flight Support. A new terminal and three hangars being built at the FBO, now known as Johnson Controls Av Center, are expected to be completed by July. The new hangars will be able to accommodate large business jets. Johnson Controls also operates an FBO in Pittsburgh as well as the airports in Teterboro and Westchester County.
A London-based company failed to launch an aircraft fractional-ownership program and reportedly it has been dissolved by its parent, Air London International, a London-based air-charter firm. In late 1994, JetCo signed an agreement with Raytheon to purchase four Hawker Jets, four Beechjets and four King Air B200s (B/CA, October 1994, page 24), but never followed through with that agreement. Later, the company opted for Citations instead, but that plan also was scrubbed.
Dassault Aviation's Falcon 50EX made its first flight on April 10 with a two-hour hop in which the intercontinental business jet climbed to 41,000 feet and cruised at 320 knots (0.80 Mach). Stalls at reduced power also were performed. The aircraft, powered by three AlliedSignal TFE731-40 engines, outperforms its Falcon 50 predecessor in climb, range and speed-without additional fuel consumption, says Dassault. The $16-million 50EX is scheduled to receive certification in the third quarter.
HBAcorp, the Olympia, Washington-based FACTS cabin and cockpit crew emergency training company, lost its FACTS-II truck-mounted mobile training device in an April 7 head-on collision with another vehicle near Kingman, Arizona. The accident left the FACTS-II drivers uninjured, but two people in the other vehicle were killed. The 26-foot-long, four-way and motion-based simulator replicated the cabin and cockpit of a corporate airplane and was used to provide on-site training (B/CA, November 1993, page 42).
By June 19, comments are due on the FAA's proposed revision of flight- and duty-time rules. The FAA extended the original comment period by 90 days, but no other reprieve is expected. The air-taxi industry and other segments of general aviation are harshly criticizing the proposal. They say it fails completely to recognize the difference between on-demand air-charter operations and those of scheduled carriers and, thus, is an unjustified and costly burden on air-taxi operators.
Raytheon Aircraft Services signed an agreement in mid April to sell six of its 18 FBOs to Mercury Air Group. The sale will increase the number of FBOs operated by the Los Angeles-based company from five to 11. The Raytheon FBOs to be sold are located at California's Ontario International Airport; Bedford, Massachusetts' Hanscom Field; Hartfield and Peachtree airports in Atlanta; and Corpus Christi and Addison airports in Texas. Raytheon maintenance services will remain at Addison after the sale.
Photograph: Heads Up Technologies' voice checklist management system with checklist data update cartridge. Angle-of-Attack and Stall-Warning/Wind-Shear Detection AlliedSignal Avionics Avionics Specialties Rosemount Aerospace Safe Flight Instrument Corp. Antennas Aire-Sciences, Inc. AlliedSignal Avionics Chelton, Inc. Collins Commercial Avionics Comant Industries Dayton-Granger, Inc. Dorne and Margolin, Inc. Foxtronics, Inc. Honeywell Business&Commuter Div. Meriden Electronics Corp. Narco Avionics Radio Systems Technology Sensor Systems, Inc. SFIM, Inc.
The Million Air FBO at California's Long Beach Daugherty Field has taken over the FBO services previously offered by Aeroplex Aviation. Consequently, all of Million Air's transient aircraft services will be shifted to what is now the Million Air ramp, formerly managed by Aeroplex. Million Air will use its previous service ramp for administration only. Aeroplex will continue to handle leasing of hangar space and offices.
AlliedSignal says its new -3D modification of 731 turbofans increases ITT by up to 36C in cruise and is expected to increase engine durability and reliability. The upgrade includes a new fourth-stage compressor disk and seal system, a new controlled-fit combustor, a more durable HP turbine nozzle assembly, a new HP turbine rotor, new first- second- and third-stage LP turbine rotors and new carbon seals. STCs covering Falcon 50s, Hawkers, IAI 1124s and Sabreliner 65/65As will be available soon; the Lockheed JetStar II will follow by year-end.
The engine for the Global Express and the Gulfstream V is meeting or exceeding its specific fuel consumption target of 0.65 at 35,000 feet and 0.80 Mach, said BMW/Rolls-Royce. The BR710 is scheduled for certification in August, and Bombardier is slated to get its first shipset this month. Engines flying on the G-V prototypes are ``near production specification,'' a spokeswoman said, adding that the engine is being fine-tuned as certification approaches.
Ground proximity warning systems that comply with new FAR Part 135 rules include GPWS units manufactured by Centaurus Systems of San Diego as well as the former Sundstrand units now built by AlliedSignal. A previous item said that the AlliedSignal GPWS was the only unit approved. Air taxi and commuter-airline turboprops with 10 or more passenger seats and previously equipped with ground-alert advisory systems are required to replace those units with TSOed GPWSes (B/CA, April, page 24).
Photograph: Production of four flight test aircraft for the Astra Galaxy program has been moved to Israel to keep the aircraft on track for first flight late this year. New technology comes to the fore with this year's emerging aircraft. Making their Handbook debut are the Raytheon Premier I, which heralds a new era for the folks at Beech, and the Bell/Boeing D600, a small civil tilt-rotor expected to get the go-ahead by the end of this year.
After a lengthy investigation, the NTSB concluded that flight restrictions on Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters have reduced accidents, and called on the FAA to make permanent the restrictions contained in Special FAR 73 (B/CA, September 1995, page 24). The Safety Board said Robinsons have lightweight, low-inertia rotor systems, and the aircraft are very sensitive to cyclic inputs, making them vulnerable to main rotor loss of control.
Kestrel Aircraft Company is developing a family of composite, cantilever high-wing singles. The first in the line, the 160-hp K-160, made its first flight on November 19, 1995, and certification was expected this spring.
