Photograph: The prototype fly-by-light engine control system on a Bedchjet. The promise to have control-by-light systems in production aircraft is no fly-by-night quest. In an address to the Society of Automotive Engineers' General, Corporate and Regional Aircraft Meeting in May, Raytheon Aircraft Chairman and CEO Arthur Wegner discussed his company's progress to date to develop control-by-light (CBL) systems and their applications to general aviation in the next decade.
The first Boeing 727 executive aircraft modified with Rolls-Royce Tay engines entered service in May. The mod, part of the ``QX'' (Quiet eXecutive) program, is provided by San Antonio-based Dee Howard Company and includes the installation of winglets from Mobile Aerospace Engineering of Mobile, Alabama. At a cost of $13.5 million, the QX mod program enables the B-727-100 to meet Stage 3 noise levels and to have a maximum range of 4,200 nm. A QX mod costs $13.5 million.
The crew of Air Express 1632 was nearing the end of a 14-hour, seven-leg day. One more landing, and they could head for Louisiana's Shreveport Comfort Inn and 10 hours of rest. Well, maybe seven hours of actual rest. Bill Stadnik, in the left seat, had been flying the Brasilia for five years-two of them as captain. Maria Sanchez, the copilot, was just completing her first year with the company and had come to know the Embraer pretty well. Bill was flying this leg from Beaumont to Shreveport. Michael Cray dispensed peanuts and beverages in the back.
An influx of flux in your aircraft can be removed with the BrushClean System from Chemtronics, the company says. The flux-removal system includes a cleaning brush, a spray nozzle, an extension tube and a five-ounce aerosol container of the cleaning agent CFC Free Flux Off 2000. Users can apply the solvent to loosen and remove R, RMA, RA, synthetic and no-clean fluxes. The product dries ``quickly, leaving no residue and offers excellent material compatibility,'' according to Chemtronics. Recommended applications include SMD pads, plugs, sockets and printed circuit boards.
Come October, it will be eggzackly 35 years since I viewed the horrifying crash of a Lockheed Electra into Boston Harbor. The weather was severe VFR, it was mid-afternoon, and I and two companions were steering a gentle, narrow Commander into Logan Airport and starting to savor, in anticipation, the gustatorial repast awaiting us at Loch Ober, a three-star beanery in the bowels of Boston.
You'd think that all the bugs would be worked out by the time an aircraft reaches its golden anniversary-particularly when 12,731 units have been manufactured. Apparently not. The FAA recently published a proposed AD for Boeing B-17E, F and G models that would require removal of the wings to inspect the tubular spar chords of the inner wing for cracking and corrosion. The agency said that the inner wing-spar assembly is susceptible to moisture accumulation that can result in corrosion and cracking.
Safety concerns over a helicopter short-haul transport system to be ready in time for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta have been settled, according to the Helicopter Association International. ``We believe questions about how the system would operate and how the helicopters would be controlled have been answered,'' said an HAI official. The system, to be used primarily for small-package deliveries between area businesses, would entail about 50 rotorcraft flying from as many as 19 helipads.
On May 11, a Cessna Citation X brought New York closer to Los Angeles when it completed a coast-to-coast run from Teterboro to Van Nuys, California and back to White Plains, New York-all in one business day. Performance specifics were 4+49 hours en route from New Jersey to California, averaging 448 knots ground speed, and 4+10 hours en route from California to New York, averaging 525 knots ground speed. Despite hindering weather and wind, the aircraft demonstrated performance promises and remained on schedule.
B/CA queried several business-aircraft operators to see how they use trend monitoring and what benefits they derive from it. Here's what they had to say: Business Aircraft Leasing, Incorporated. Headquartered in Nashville, BAL owns a Beech King Air 200 that it places with corporate flight departments on short-term leases as a backup aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with a Shadin ETM.
Learjet is quite candid in responding to operators' complaints about the prior lack of a Learjet 60 simulator. ``There's no good answer [for why it was delayed],'' company President and CEO Brian Barents admitted. The Learjet 60 simulator, now installed in FlightSafety International's Tucson facility, was slated for FAA Level D approval by the end of June.
Dassault's Falcon 900EX tri-engine business jet made its maiden flight on June 1, just 10 days prior to the start of the Paris Air Show, where it was scheduled to be on static display and in flight demonstrations. The $25.95-million aircraft will have a range of 4,500 nm with eight passengers and NBAA IFR reserves, an increase of about 700 nm over the $23.95-million 900B, which Dassault says will remain in production. The 900EX represents the first application of the recently certified AlliedSignal TFE731-60 turbine engines.
At the Paris Air Show, Eurocopter introduced an AStar powered by a 858-shp Turbomeca Arriel 2, offering 124 more shp compared to the standard AStar's Arriel 1D1s. Dubbed the AS350 B3, the new helicopter uses the wider chord tail rotor from the twin engine AS355 N and is equipped with a FADEC. Eurocopter also introduced a more powerful BO-105 twin. Designated the BO-105 LS A3, the new model is fitted with the main and tail rotors designed for the BK 117 C1. Meanwhile, the new single-turbine EC 120 made its first flight on June 12.
IPTN, the state-owned aircraft manufacturer in Indonesia, confirmed an earlier disclosure that it plans to assemble its proposed N-250 twin-turboprop commuter in the United States (B/CA, May 1994, page 112). In mid-June, IPTN, the state of Alabama and the city of Mobile signed an agreement to assemble the aircraft at a facility to be built at Mobile's Brookley Industrial Complex. The first production version of the 64- to 68-passenger N-250-100 is scheduled to begin flight testing in 1996, with certification expected by the end of 1997.
Pratt&Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW305A engines on the Learjet 60 rank high among operators' favorite features. The turbofans are flat-rated at 4,600 pounds-thrust for takeoff up to 74F, but APR extends that thrust rating to 88F. The full-authority digital engine controls (FADECs)-a first for a Learjet-automate most functions including start, takeoff thrust setting, thrust adjustments for anti-ice bleeds and even automatic relight, should the need occur.
Bombardier and the Canadian Export Development Corporation (EDC) have joined in a new leasing venture to boost sales of the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ). CRJ Capital Corporation (CRJCC) is being formed on a risk-shared basis, with Bombardier and EDC each providing equal amounts of equity. Other private-sector partners also may join in. CRJCC will then provide financing on commercial terms for the CRJ aircraft.
FAA recently proposed a TSO to require manufacturers to prove that their wind-shear alert systems will issue warnings while flaps are in motion and while aircraft are in severe turbulence. The new TSO was prompted by an accident in which an aircraft, having received no wind-shear warning, crashed after encountering wind shear while the flaps were retracting. Honeywell, the manufacturer of the wind-shear alert system aboard the aircraft, said its delayed-activation feature averts nuisance alarms (B/CA, January, page 12).
Beech donated two Starship airframes (minus engines and avionics) to NASA for studies relating to the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) program (B/CA, October 1994, page 38). The airframes, originally Starship prototypes, will first be used as a test bed for AGATE-developed technologies. Ultimately, the airframes will be destroyed in crash tests to evaluate the crashworthiness of composite structures and new occupant-protection systems. Earlier, the LearFan met the same fate in tests (B/CA, March 1993, page 30).
Beech Aircraft Corporation has long had a reputation for high-quality aircraft, but being short on the future. As former export-department employee Alex Kvassay put it in his autobiography, Alex In Wonderland, the company was known for ``50 years of quality, uninterrupted by progress.''
Photograph: On June 12, Mesa initiated scheduled service with the first of two 79-passenger Fokker 70 regional jets (in the livery of America West Express). Mesa Air Group directors have rejected a Continental Airlines offer to take over ownership of Continental Express in exchange for a 32-percent stake in the company. The transaction would have given Continental effective control of the regional airline group.
Photograph: Older converted airliners are particularly suited for flight-testing new business turbine engines. Two 30-year-old-plus, four-engine Boeing 720 airliners are still in regular service in North America, but they haven't carried revenue passengers in decades. These two veterans, instead, are stuffed with test equipment and telemetering avionics. They are configured to fly with a fifth engine bolted onto a specially reinforced fuselage section just aft of the cockpit.
Italy's Agusta Group introduced a single-engine helicopter at the Paris Air Show in June. The prototype of the eight-seat, skid-gear A119 Koala is powered by Turbomeca, but Agusta is considering offering the Allison 250-C40. Certification of the A119 is scheduled for late this year. Agusta also unveiled another version of its twin-turbine A109 series. The new A109 (dubbed ``Power'') is equipped with two 639-shp PW206C turbines, putting the aircraft midway between the A109C with 450-shp Allisons and the A109K2 with 771-shp Allisons.
The news from Cessna at Paris is an internal training program aimed at making Citation Service Center employees more responsive to customer expectations in such areas as ``on-time delivery, fair treatment, fast response, no surprises and getting work done right the first time.'' The ``Sensible Service People'' program includes sending out an evaluation form with each invoice inviting customers to provide Cessna with comments on the quality of the service.
From the FAA's Aircraft Certification Service offices near Seattle, the 16-g seat controversy looks a little different than it does from industry's perspective. Led by Ronald Wojner, the organization views itself as a catalyst for safety. ``Our role is to be the spark plug for pushing incorporation of higher standards of safety,'' Wojner said in an interview with B/CA.
User charges in Europe are threatening regional air services, according to a comprehensive study recently completed by the European Regional Airline Association (ERA).
Consumer concern over commuter safety is waning, East Coast fares are rising and investors are betting on improved earnings for publicly held regional airlines in the June quarter.
