Westone Laboratories has introduced the SwivelComm, an adjustable headset earmold. The earpiece is intended for use with light-weight headsets, and it incorporates a three-axis pivot point that al-lows adjustment of the microphone position. SwivelComm is available through hearing health-care professionals, who take an impression from the wearer's ear and serve as a liaison with Westone. Price range: $75 to $100. Westone Laboratories, Inc., P.O. Box 15100, Colorado Springs, CO 80935. (719) 540-9333.
Honeywell Primus II radios will be standard equipment on all new-manufacture Cessna Citation business jets, including the new Ultra, Excel and Citation X models. The digital Primus II communication, navigation and identification system is controlled by a centralized, color flat-panel radio management display and companion audio control panel. The system combines push-button and tuning-knob operation to provide access and display of up to 12 stored com frequencies and 12 stored nav frequencies.
Using the industry's solid 1995 performance as a springboard, this should be a very good year for business-aircraft manufacturers. Most have improved their financial posture and offer attractive new products that should be enthusiastically received in a growing marketplace. Instead, because of a combination of political ineptitude in Washington and some underlying economic problems, 1996 promises to be a worrisome period that may spawn more concerns than confidence.
Now a weather server-but soon to be serving other graphical information-is Genesys from Airshow Incorporated. Genesys is an interactive, data-linked system that brings NexRad weather images into the cockpit for viewing on an LCD. The system uses the company's ground-based computer servers to uplink pilots' re-quests for weather images via a digital air-to-ground telephone. Genesys also can store data and graphics, and has expansion capability. The system soon will be able to serve up stock quotes, news bulletins, text weather data and sports information.
Avcon Industries of Newton, Kansas expects to receive certification soon for its empennage-mounted fins on Learjet 35s and 36s. The fins, designed to improve low-speed stability and handling, were originally expected to be STCed in July 1995 (B/CA, September 1995, page 42). The delay was caused by the temporary lack of a test aircraft and an unforeseen problem that necessitated the incorporation of additional nose-up trim capability.
San Antonio-based Fairchild Aircraft said a company-wide effort to reduce the weight of the Metro 23 has paid off. The basic operating weight of the 19-passenger, twin-engine turboprop was reduced by 113 pounds, translating into ``additional payload capabilities, fuel savings and fuel tankering abilities,'' according to the company. The B/CA-equipped max payload estimate of the aircraft before the revision was 5,000 pounds.
Fourteen operators of business aircraft based at New York's Westchester County Airport (HPN) were honored in January for their exceptional achievement in reducing sound levels during 1994. Specially designed ``Spirit of Noise Abatement'' awards were bestowed to representatives of these companies by the County of Westchester, the NBAA, the Helicopter Association International and the HPN Noise Abatement Office. The winners represent 25 percent of the corporate-flight-department population at the airport.
In the many decades of my career in aviation, the news of a fatal crash tears up my guts. Being witness to one up close is an indelible experience you are able to replay in your mind's eye so long as you live. In U.S. Navy flight training during World War II, we lost a few cadets whom I knew, but I did not see their accidents.
The 1995 accident record of U.S-registered turbine helicopters improved considerably over 1994's, reports Robert E. Breiling Associates, a Boca Raton, Florida company that compiles accident statistics. According to Breiling, the total number of accidents in 1995 was 75 compared to 101 in 1994. Fatal accidents dropped from 27 in 1994 to 16 in 1995, and fatalities plunged from 58 to 31. Each of the accidents is detailed in Breiling's 1995 Annual Turbine Helicopter Accident Review, which is available for $185. To order, phone (407) 338-6900 or fax (407) 393-9127.
New in the King Schools educational video line-up are IFR and VFR refresher courses to help pilots prepare for the biennial flight review. Each flight-review course includes three vid-eotapes. For VFR, the tapes are: the Complete Airspace Review, Communications, and VFR Regulations and Refresher. For IFR, the video titles are Weather Wise, the Complete Jeppesen Chart Review and IFR Regulations Refresher. Price: $79 for each set, or $39 for each tape. King Schools, 3840 Calle Fortunada, San Diego, CA 92123. (619) 541-2200.
Raytheon Aircraft Company (Wichita)-This aircraft manufacturer announces two promotions: Keith Nadolski to vice president of sales and marketing, and D. Scott Kalister to vice president of marketing.
Chadwick-Helmuth of El Monte, California introduced a new series of maintenance products at the Helicopter Association International annual meeting in Dallas in February. The products, which the company described as ``revolutionary'' and ``innovative'' include a small and ``inexpensive'' digital balancing unit for rotors and propellers, and a set of trunnion tools that reportedly ease and streamline the process of removing the rotor heads on Bell 205 helicopters.
-- March 19-Air Carrier Training: To comply with the applicable Part 121 training requirements, affected certificate-holders operating under FAR Part 135 must submit their transition plan. -- April 20-GPWS: All air taxi and commuter turboprops equipped with previously approved advisory systems and having 10 or more passengers must replace those systems with TSOed GPWS units by this date.
Until recently, airspeed and altitude tapes were considered state-of-the-art for EFIS displays. However, dials are making a comeback on some displays, in part because of findings from human-factors research that suggest that pilots perform better using dials than tapes. Dials have been part of aviation since the very beginning, and most pilots still learn to fly in airplanes equipped with good, old-fashioned ``huff and puff'' steam gauges. Indeed, economics more than performance issues were responsible for the introduction of tapes.
Pratt&Whitney Canada opened a comprehensive support center in Singapore to provide training, repair, overhaul, parts, testing and engine rental for users of the company's PW100 turboprop series. In addition, the new facility offers repairs and performs hot-section inspections for PT6, PT6T, JT15D and PW200-series engines. The facility occupies 48,000 square feet at the Loyang Industrial Estate.
In early February, Pratt&Whitney of Hartford, Connecticut was in the process of buying The Nordam Group's Propulsion Systems Division. Located in Springdale, Arkansas, PSD repairs components for both large and small turbine engines, including APUs. The companies hoped to conclude the sale by the end of this month. Nordam's Tulsa-based hush-kit manufacturing business is not included in the planned sale.
U.S. Justice Department dropped an investigation of alleged impropriety by Anthony Broderick, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification. Justice department officials said they didn't find sufficient evidence that Broderick had obstructed the Transportation Department's investigation into a bogus-parts issue, as Mary Schiavo, the DOT's inspector general, had alleged (B/CA, July 1995, page 11).
Mobil Corporation (Fairfax, VA)-Pat Andrews has taken over as manager of global aircraft services. Andrews takes over for Dave Sheehan, general manager of Mobil Administrative Services, who plans to leave at the end of this month.
Honeywell's Primus 2000 integrated avionics system made its debut in the Dornier 328 in 1993, and revolutionized the cockpit of the 30-seat regional aircraft. The system immediately became the most sophisticated avionics suite in this class of aircraft. Dornier departed from the traditional mix-and-match sets of analog and digital avionics that have been fitted to previous 30-seaters. Instead, the firm opted for five of the latest generation, large-format CRT displays, complemented by integrated radio control heads and factory-standard FMS.
-- FlightSafety International and Mitsubishi are cosponsoring-free of charge-four MU-2 Pilot's Review of Proficiency Seminars this year. For the convenience of charter operators, weekend dates were chosen. The dates and locations are as follows: March 29-30, Tampa; April 19-20, Cleveland; April 26-27, San Diego; and May 3-4, Houston. The agenda includes such topics as crew resource management, icing conditions, autopilot/flight control systems and operating tips. FSI's Houston Learning Center asks for a pre-registration from those interested. Phone: (800) 926-1521.
In addition to designing engines to perform economically, manufacturers are working to improve overall operating economics by designing new engines and variants of older designs with maintenance in mind.
In 1995, U.S. general-aviation manufacturers delivered the highest number of new aircraft since 1990 and reached the highest billings since 1981, according to GAMA. ``The industry is entering 1996 in better shape than in any recent year,'' Ed Stimpson, president of GAMA, said at the organization's annual State of the Industry address in January. ``Today's market is stable and more predictable.''
The follow-on to the Hawker 1000 business jet will have ``substantial composite content,'' says Raytheon Aircraft. The new business jet ``would make extensive use of advanced design, construction and production techniques developed for the company's new composite-fuselage Premier I light jet,'' says Roy Norris, Raytheon Aircraft's president. The new Hawker, which Norris said could fly before 2000, will be ``a considerably larger and faster aircraft than the Hawker 1000,'' and will have transcontinental range.
Plans are going forward to equip the FlightSafety Training Center in Cincinnati with a full-flight simulator of the Canadair Regional Jet airliner. The FAA Level D system, scheduled to be operational by June 1997, will be manufactured by FlightSafety Simulation of Tulsa. FlightSafety says the instructor operating station (IOS) will incorporate ``enhanced technology.'' The three touch-screen control panels of the IOS ``permit more rapid organization of the simulated flight.''
