The sudden illness and death of William F. Fant, 58, of North Little Rock, Arkansas startled the business-aviation community. Stricken by liver cancer, he died July 3. Fant was the manager of technical support, government programs with Dassault Falcon Jet at the company's Little Rock, Arkansas facility. He was the first employee at the former Pan Am Business Jets Division (later to become Falcon Jet Corporation). Formerly, he served in the U.S. Air Force.
As expected, Wilcox Electric, Hughes Aircraft and TRW have won the $475-million, six-year FAA contract to develop and implement the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). WAAS will comprise 24 ground-reference stations and three satellites that will monitor and correct the precision of GPS signals. Installation is slated to begin in late 1997, with an early 1998 in-service date. (See this month's Observer, page 58).
The medical disqualification case of famed air-show pilot Bob Hoover will get special treatment from the FAA. David Hinson, FAA administrator, said, ``I'm as anxious as anyone else'' to see Hoover's health issues resolved. To that end, Hinson has directed the federal air surgeon to personally work with Hoover to close this issue. In addition, an independent team of medical experts, who have no ties to either the FAA or Hoover, is reviewing Hoover's medical tests.
Continental Connection GP Express is pulling out of Denver by the end of this month, with the exception of three Essential Air Service routes. The carrier cites the high costs connected with the new Denver Airport and the dominance of United and United Express Mesa.
U.S. Air Force is attempting to develop, demonstrate and evaluate innovative anti-jam filters for GPS receivers, saying there is ``a heightened awareness of the potential vulnerabilities of GPS signal reception to intentional and unintentional RF [radio frequency] interference.'' The potential for jamming is one of the issues being explored as civil aviation looks to rely increasingly on GPS satellite signals for en route navigation and approaches.
National Air Transportation Association, an FBO and air-taxi trade group, is urging the FAA to expedite approval of a rule change that would allow FAR Part 135 passenger-carrying operations in IMC in single-engine aircraft. The industry's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee recently endorsed the concept and sent a draft rule proposal to the FAA. Separately, the NATA plans to survey all Part 135 operators in order to develop a more-comprehensive statistical base that can be used to dispel public ``misconceptions'' about Part 135 operations.
Professional Flight Management is now offering PFM Windows software. Two modules are available-scheduling and recordkeeping-for Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT. The scheduling module features a status-at-a-glance calendar that allows multiple-aircraft operators to schedule passengers and crew without changing screens. The recordkeeping module tracks aircraft, crew and passenger activity. Crew-activity logs include training and crew-currency tracking.
KF Aviation, a Burbank, California-based tour operator, recently launched a helicopter sightseeing tour of the Los Angeles area. The ``Angels' Eye View'' tour, located at the Hollywood/Burbank Airport, operates 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and highlights attractions such as Griffith Park, Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood sign and celebrity homes in Beverly Hills.
While regional aircraft lead the way in active noise canceling, business aircraft might soon catch up. Two systems for King Airs-one from Stevens Aviation of Greenville, South Carolina and the other from Elliott Aviation of Moline, Illinois-were slated for certification in August.
FAA has received over 5,000 comments on the proposed changes to FAR Part 67 medical standards requiring more-stringent physical exams for some pilots. At press time, release of the final revisions was imminent. Meanwhile, the FAA is preparing a rule that would exempt holders of Recreational Pilot Certificates from FAA medical exams, instead allowing them to self-certify, a privilege that already is extended to glider and hot-air-balloon pilots.
Aerospace Safety Technologies (AST) of Minden, Nevada filed suit against AlliedSignal in July, alleging patent infringement in the sale of an electro-thermal anti-ice system to Continental Airlines. AST claims AlliedSignal's Electro-Thermal Ice Protection System (ETIPS) violates an AST patent for ``Electrically Conductive Laminate for Temperature Control of Aircraft Surface.'' AlliedSignal said the suit is ``without merit'' and that the company will ``defend itself vigorously.''
A U.S. Customs clearance office opened September 1 in the executive terminal building at Jeffco Airport in Broomfield, Colorado. Dave Gordon, airport manager, says the office will be staffed by a full-time agent Monday through Friday, from 0800 to 1700. Operators using the service will be charged a fee based on aircraft weight. Clearances also will be available after hours on a call-out basis with prior notification and an additional fee.
Fenwal's Portable Protection System (PPS), weighing in at 10 pounds and measuring 12 inches by nine inches by five inches, can be ``set up and armed in seconds'' to detect intrusions into the aircraft. To arm the PPS, the pilot places the anodized aluminum case on a level surface inside the aircraft and activates the sensor. An alarm sounds at every intrusion, and the unit notes the time of trespass. An internal battery powers the system, eliminating the need for wiring. The PPS unit is easily transferable from aircraft to aircraft. Price: $3,950.
The de Havilland Dash 8Q represents a new type of active noise control. Rather than mitigating noise with anti-noise, the system uses active, tuned vibration absorbers (TVAs) to ``stiffen'' the fuselage structure as propeller blades sweep by, thereby eliminating some of the vibration that normally is the source of noise.
Piedmont Aviation Services, Incorporated recently signed an agreement to manage an FBO at Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU). The former Aviation Services Group, now carrying Piedmont's title, is a full-service general aviation FBO with Piedmont managers on site. This latest arrangement, in addition to Piedmont's other full-service facilities, brings the company's fleet of FBOs to six.
Total deliveries of new U.S.-built GA airplanes in the first half of 1995 were up 12.1 percent compared to the first half of 1994, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). In the first half, deliveries compared to those of a year earlier (in parentheses) were: jets-105 (101), turboprops-107 (84) and recips-243 (221). GAMA officials said, ``As we reach the one year anniversary of the signing of the GA Revitalization Act, both the shipments and billings for this year to date show encouraging signs of recovery....''
A federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama dismissed a $25-million product-liability lawsuit brought by the estate of race-car driver Davey Allison against McDonnell Douglas Helicopter. Allison died from injuries sustained in the crash of an MD 500 he piloted on July 12, 1993. The judge said Allison would have survived had he been wearing a shoulder harness. (The aircraft was originally equipped with shoulder harnesses, but evidence showed the harnesses had later been removed.)
In an attempt to promote future cooperative efforts in aviation between the United States and the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.), Vice President Al Gore signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that primarily goads both parties to ``take measures to strengthen cooperation on civil aircraft certification.'' The memorandum is the prelude to a bilateral airworthiness agreement (BAA) to standardize certification procedures between the two governments.
United Airlines is testing a NASA-developed cockpit weather display that gives pilots real-time radar summaries and lightning maps. The weather data, supplied by WSI Incorporated and GeoMet Data Services, are transmitted to Comsat Aeronautical Services every 15 minutes. Aircraft receive the data via a satcom high-speed datalink network, where it is displayed on a color, active-matrix cockpit display. In earlier simulations, pilots using the system were able to remain an average of 39 nm from convective cells, compared to 13.2 nm using airborne weather radar.
Duncan Aviation's new ``PowerTurn'' service program for light and medium jets aims to keep maintenance downtimes to a minimum, and then guarantees that those downtimes will not be exceeded. Officials of the Lincoln, Nebraska company claim that the program, to date, has resulted in reducing downtimes as much as 20 percent, and ``in some cases more.'' Should the downtime exceed the agreed-to guarantee period, Duncan will rebate the customer a certain, predetermined dollar amount for each day the downtime overruns the contracted guarantee.
According to the DOT, Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) does not meet international security measures, and, therefore, it has taken steps to ensure that aircraft operators and passengers are alerted to this fact. U.S. airlines are required to warn passengers of the DOT's determination, even though the DOT did not say that aircraft operations at NAIA are necessarily unsafe. The Philippine government says a ``serious effort'' is under way to correct the deficiencies.
White Plains, New York's Westchester County Airport, one of the busiest U.S. corporate aircraft facilities, did not benefit from millions of dollars in revenues it generated, claims the DOT Office of the Inspector General (IG). From 1990 through 1993, concluded the IG, about $24 million in airport revenue was diverted to the county's general fund for non-airport-related purposes.
The capabilities of its anti-noise system, Ultra Electronics of Cambridge, England has formed a fast-working dedicated installation team. In two weeks or less, the noise-squelching squad can have a prototype installation up and working in nearly any application. ``We end up doing a lot of demonstrations, and, really, until somebody's experienced the system, they won't buy it,'' says David Brown, ANC sales manager at Ultra.
A heliport developer has concluded that the creation of a New York City heliport on a retired aircraft carrier is financially feasible. The study is being sent to the FAA for review. Meanwhile, the estimated start-up date is now early in 1997, about a year later than scheduled (B/CA, September 1994, page 34). Plans call for the USS Guadalcanal, an amphibious assault helicopter carrier, to be converted to a full-service heliport and moored in the Hudson River.
