Effective August 17, several subareas of the Class B Airspace for North Carolina's Charlotte/Douglas International Airport will be reconfigured, but the 10,000-foot upper limit will remain. The changes generally reduce the amount of Class B Airspace, but during the proposed rulemaking stage, the FAA rejected several requests from general aviation representatives and advocates that the ceiling be lowered to 8,000 feet (B/CA, May 1994, page 20).
David Wolf, flight department manager for Rocky Mount, North Carolina-based Hardee's Food Systems, is typical of some of the operators who are going beyond the limits of their management avcomps. Wolf's flight department uses a popular DOS-based business aviation management system. He has recently begun manually transferring data from his management system to a Lotus spreadsheet to generate other types of information for use within the flight department and to provide information for Hardee's CEO and CFO.
The Gulfstream V has reached that satisfying point in the development of every new aircraft where it is taking recognizable shape. On May 31, the first G-V fuselage was joined. (See photo.) In July, the Vought-manufactured wing set and Fokker-built empennage were scheduled to have been mated to the fuselage, and the BMW/Rolls-Royce engines are scheduled to be mounted by early September in preparation for the aircraft's rollout prior to the NBAA annual convention in Las Vegas, September 26-28.
FAA is conducting a ``comprehensive review'' of its regulation and certification capabilities. The agency's goal is to determine what it will need to do ``to overcome the increasing challenges of regulating the aviation industry and certificating rapidly changing technologies as America enters the 21st century.'' An industry/agency task force chaired by Barry Valentine, FAA assistant administrator for policy, planning and international aviation, will direct the review, dubbed ``Challenge 2000.'' Spring 1996 is the target for its completion.
The new Canadair Special Edition (SE) is a transatlantic corporate version of the Canadair Regional Jetliner offering a full-fuel, non-stop range of 3,000 nm. Canadair says the aircraft can carry five passengers and a crew of three from Jeddah to London, or eight passengers from Jeddah to Stockholm. The SE features a maximum gross weight of 53,000 pounds to enable the aircraft to incorporate an additional 4,000 pounds of fuel stored in two new auxiliary tanks located aft. The tanks are designed and installed by PATS, Incorporated of Columbia, Maryland.
NTSB's ``Most-Wanted'' list of safety improvements has grown to 17 items with the addition of a proposal that commuter-airline rules be upgraded to the same safety standards as major carriers'. The Safety Board dropped two aviation issues from the list: brake-wear limits on transport aircraft and structural-fatigue testing. Besides commuter-airline safety, the ``Most-Wanted'' list also calls for improving flight data recorders and reducing runway incursions.
Bombardier Regional Aircraft Division and de Havilland Aircraft popped their new Dash 8 quiet interior at the Paris Air Show in June and, as expected, have spurned Active Noise Control (ANC) as ``inadequate.''
SoftComm Products' new Model C-45M ``Prince'' headset weighs less than 11 ounces and features eight built-in adjustment points so that every user is a ``perfect fit.'' Oversized earseals surround the ears and block out sound. The adjustable earcups are filled with a foam material yielding an average noise-reduction rating of -23 dB. SoftComm says Prince's advantages are its three-way articulating fulcrum, contoured mike boom, the RF immune microphone and heavy-duty gold-plated plugs attached to 70-inch cables. Price: $98. SoftComm Products, 2310 S.
In sharp contrast to the Clinton administration's proposal to corporatize the FAA's ATC system, Representatives Jim Lightfoot (R-IA) and John Duncan (R-TN), the chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, introduced legislation recently to remove the FAA from the DOT and restore it to independent-agency status. This joint action replaces the legislation previously submitted by Lightfoot alone. Business-aviation trade advocates have expressed support for an independent FAA.
Cessna Aircraft filed a formal protest with the U.S. government's General Accounting Office over the Pentagon's decision to award the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) to Raytheon Aircraft Company. The company asserts, ``It appears that the ground rules changed significantly during the bid process from a best-value-based Request for Proposal to a lowest cost/price decision.
It has been a long time coming-the 70-passenger de Havilland Dash 8-400 high-speed turboprop. The announcement of its official launch at the Paris Air Show in June could only be called anti-climactic. The selection of an engine that manufacturer Pratt&Whitney Canada said would never be built had been made. The market and engineering studies started by previous de Havilland owner Boeing needed only to be updated.
While cruising at 53,000 feet, the flightcrew enjoys lunch in the cockpit. Vibration-free and with hardly any noise, everything on the aircraft is under control. Suddenly there is a bang, fog and numbing cold. Either the aircraft has lost a door seal, an outflow valve has gone full open, a rate-limiting valve or a window has failed, or an engine has experienced rotor burst and parts have penetrated the pressure vessel.
The formation of Aero International Regional (AIR) has inalterably changed the architecture of regional aircraft manufacturing. Pending approval by the European Commission and the U.S. Justice Department-which is considered likely-the ATR partnership of France's Aerospatiale and Italy's Alenia, and British Aerospace units Avro Aerospace and Jetstream Aircraft, will become one.
Jetstream Aircraft, BAe's regional turboprop manufacturer, has received U.K. certification of the Jetstream 61. The 70-passenger aircraft is an improved derivative of the ATP airliner (originally certificated in 1988), with uprated engines, increased payload/range and a new interior design and layout. U.S. operators' interest will determine the pursuit of FAA certification.
In July, the old Piper Aircraft Company emerged from four years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as ``New Piper Aircraft, Incorporated.'' The company was renamed by its new owners, Newco Pac, an entity comprised of the Philadelphia investment firm of Dimeling, Schreiber and Park, and Teledyne Industries, Piper's largest unsecured creditor. Besides the new name, Piper also will get a new board of directors and a new logo. Charles Suma is expected to continue as Piper's president, but Stone Douglass will no longer serve as chairman.
Sandor (Alex) Kvassay, the ``irrepressible Hungarian refugee,'' was virtually single-handedly responsible for keeping Learjet in business during the hard times from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. A man of amazing satirical and dry wit, his autobiography opens some fascinating insights into the world of Wichita and selling airplanes abroad.
The medical caregiver's creed states, in part: ``First, do no harm.'' It's a concept the rulemakers at the FAA would do well to embrace as they work to reform the certification and operations regulations governing commuter aircraft (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 95-5). In essence, the proposed rulemaking would impose Part 121 operating standards on scheduled carriers now using 10- to 19-seat aircraft under Part 135, and it would require expensive modification of existing aircraft.
A procedural change aims to expedite the FAA response time to petitions for rule changes or exemptions. To the office that has jurisdiction over the parts of the FARs for which a petition is submitted, the FAA administrator delegated authority to deny a petition. However, the administrator will continue to review petitions that agency offices have approved. Formerly, the administrator would also review petitions in which subordinate agency officials recommended denial.
In 1990, when the DUATS weather-briefing system was launched, Flight Data, Incorporated (formerly Flight Data Centers) was one of the first aviation software firms to develop an automated DOS-based DUATS briefing program. The program wasn't particularly innovative, but it did introduce a lot of pilots to the concept of self-briefing with a personal computer.
Avcon Industries, holder of 92 Learjet STCs, expected certification in July for its empennage-mounted Avcon Fins on Learjet 35s and 36s. The fins, designed to improve low-speed stability and handling, are virtually identical to Learjet's Delta Fins on the Model 31 series. The Avcon Fins are being introduced at a price of $77,000 installed. Avcon Industries, based in Newton, Kansas, plans to display a fin-equipped aircraft at the NBAA convention in September.
The Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 will be the first air-transport aircraft to be equipped with Collins' new AVSAT 900 series flight management system, a satellite-based product set for certification in mid 1996. The AVSAT 900 can be used as a primary means for terminal, en route and non-precision approach segments and will eventually support precision approaches. The AVSAT 900 replaces a Honeywell FMS, and Collins officials said the company is working on an AVSAT 900 retrofit program for existing F70s and F100s.
Aircraft Technical Publishers' latest addition to its ATP Navigator CD-ROM product line is the U.S. Aviation Regulatory Library for Small Aircraft and Rotorcraft. The PC-based reference work is tailored to aircraft owners and maintenance facilities who require small-aircraft regulatory information. On a single disc, the library contains ADs, manufacturer service bulletins, TC datasheets, and selected advisory circulars and STC listings. Price: $1,295 for a one-year subscription, with biweekly revision services included. ATP, 101 South Hill Dr., Brisbane, CA 94005.
The Astra, since it was certificated in 1985, has earned a position as a performance star in the mid-size business-jet class (although sales have not been stellar). Indeed, it set 22 world records, clearly demonstrating Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI) engineering prowess. IAI now has an even higher performance Astra, the SPX, that is slated for certification in late September, less than 14 months after its first flight in August 1994. (The current Astra SP will remain in production.)
