North Dakota recently enacted a bill limiting a ``resident'' general aviation manufacturer's product liability to just 10 years, eight years shy of a similar measure Congress passed in 1994 (B/CA, August 1994, page 7.) State officials hope GA manufacturers will be attracted by the law. It applies only to aircraft under 12,500 pounds, and buyer and seller must agree to adhere to North Dakota law. Also, purchasers must buy product-liability insurance.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena and other proponents of establishing a government corporation to run the U.S. ATC system have frequently cited New Zealand as an example of a country where such a corporate ATC structure has been implemented successfully.
A satellite communications system designed to give aviators more timely and detailed weather broadcasts is being phased in worldwide. World Area Forecast System (WAFS) broadcasts, a cooperative effort between the World Meteorological Organization, several U.S. agencies and ICAO, now reaches all countries in the Americas. Broadcasts originating in the United Kingdom reach Europe, Africa and Asia. In October, WAFS broadcasts are slated to reach countries in the Pacific.
The range of the proposed G-IVB is now about 4,450 nm--some 150 nm less than Gulfstream originally had hoped. Late in 1994, the company said it might introduce a longer-range replacement for the 4,200 nm-range G-IVSP (B/CA, October 1994, page 21). Gulfstream said additional range would accrue from increasing the wing span of the G-IVSP and incorporating the winglet design of the G-V. A decision on whether to develop the G-IVB is expected this summer.
Representative James Oberstar (D-MN) introduced legislation to make some or all FAR Part 139 certification requirements applicable to all airports served by scheduled aircraft with 10 to 30 passenger seats. Part 139 standards currently apply to airports serving airline aircraft designed to carry 31 or more passengers. The Oberstar bill (H.R.1545) is virtually identical to Senate bill S.682 that Senator Wendell Ford (D-KY) introduced earlier this year.
This is what the VisionAire Vantage will look like if all goes as planned. The St. Louis-based company recently contracted with Burt Rutan's Scale Composites to build a full-size, proof-of-concept prototype of the six-place, single-engine business jet. First flight is scheduled for March 1996.
Photograph: Loretta Cook, president of Women Employed in Corporate Aviation Network (WECAN), and pilot for the Gannett newspaper chain. WOMEN'S BUSINESS AVIATION GROUP LIFTS OFF This year's International Women in Aviation Conference staged recently in St. Louis held special significance for women employed in various facets of business aviation. A new group called Women Employed in Corporate Aviation Network (WECAN) was formed to serve as a support group for its members, ranging from pilots to those employed by corporate aircraft manufacturers.
Upon first glance, the cockpit of the Falcon 50EX easily could be mistaken for that of a Falcon 2000. The newest Falcon trijet, similar to the Falcon 2000, has a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 4 avionics suite with four 7.25-inch-square EFIS CRTs that dominate the instrument panel. Above the instrument panel is a newly designed glareshield control panel that houses display and flight-guidance system controls, including lateral and vertical navigation functions.
FAR Part 135 operators with 11 to 50 employees to whom alcohol-testing rules are applicable must begin implementing the rules on July 1. Key elements of the rules are as follows: The random-testing rate is 25 percent of the total number of eligible employees. An alcohol level of 0.04 or higher on the job means a violation. And, a recent change to the rules allows the use of less-expensive non-evidential breath- and saliva-testing devices for alcohol-screening tests. Evidential breath testing is still required to confirm positive results.
Free flight is safe and efficient flight-operating capability under IFR, in which operators have the freedom to select their path and speed in real time. Air traffic restrictions are only imposed to ensure aircraft separation, to preclude exceeding airport capacity, to prevent unauthorized flight through special-use airspace and to ensure safety of flight. Restrictions are limited in extent and duration to correct any identified problem. Any activity that removes restrictions represents a move toward free flight.-RTCA Select Committee on Free Flight
A call for ``free and fair access to airports'' topped the list of resolutions adopted by the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations at its recent annual meeting in Tokyo. Specifically, the IAOPA adopted resolutions as follows: -- For ICAO and all member-states to be encouraged to adopt as policy ``that all aircraft, including general aviation encompassing business and aerial work aircraft, have the right of access to public airports on fair and reasonable terms without unjust discrimination. . . .''
Imagine, for a few minutes, that you're contemplating an approach to an airport where the ceiling is indefinite and the visibility is RVR 700. The destination airport has a Category I precision approach landing system, requiring minimums of at least RVR 2,400 or one-half-mile visibility. It's as dark as a pitch pot and the approach lights are NOTAMed out of service. If you were flying a current generation civil aircraft, you would have no option but to divert to an alternate having better weather and, hopefully, high-intensity approach lighting.
Orion Consolidated Capital International of Reno, Nevada is now in the shared ownership business, and plans to launch its ``Aircraft Operational Assistance Program'' this month. The company, backed by private investment from Taiwan, will acquire a core fleet of eight Astra SPs and SPXs, and claims to have commitments from eight quarter-share buyers. Quarter shares in the SPs sell for $2.2 million. The fixed monthly fee is $10,500, and hourly rates run $1,289. Quarter shares entitle owners to 300 occupied flight hours of use per year.
Duncan Aviation is now providing all avionics repair and installation services at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport from a renovated facility at Jet Aviation's FBO. From the new shop at Jet Aviation, Duncan will handle all of Jet Aviation's avionics customers at Teterboro, plus its own customer base. The separate Duncan Avionics facility at Teterboro has closed. The new facility features more work space and an increased number of avionics technicians.
A mixture of kudos and denouncements greeted Signature Flight Support's announcement that as of April, it would start imposing (actually re-imposing) handling charges on transient aircraft operators who stop at Signature FBOs and do not meet an annual minimum fuel purchase. The charges range from $85 for the largest aircraft at a major location to $9 for the smallest aircraft at a non-major airport.
Anyone would find it hard to imagine any product or service bearing the name Garrett as being new to corporate aviation. The name's been a part of the business literally since its inception. In fact, Cliff Garrett did one of the first corporate completions on a surplus C-47 following World War II, and some say his accomplishment marked the birth of modern corporate aviation.
Without a doubt, the Falcon 50EX's substantial performance improvements are a direct result of its three new AlliedSignal TFE731-40 turbofan engines. The -40 has a 4,700-pound sea-level, standard-day thermodynamic thrust rating, enabling it to maintain its 3,700-pound takeoff thrust to 32C. In contrast, the -3 engine has a 4,050-pound thermodynamic thrust rating that only provides enough temperature margin to maintain 3,700 pounds to 22C.
Executive Jet Aviation (EJA) has set the pricing for the Gulfstream G-IVSPs it will be selling in its NetJets shared-ownership program. One-eighth increments cost $3.5 million and entitle owners to 100 occupied flight hours annually. A one-quarter interest costs $6.65 million and provides 200 occupied hours annually. The monthly management fee is $14,500 per one-eighth share; the occupied hourly rate is $2,480. EJA is slated to take delivery of 10 G-IVSPs this year and in 1996 as part of an order for up to 22 G-IVSPs and G-Vs.
A personal computer equipped with a CD-ROM reader can be a real advantage to anyone in aviation who frequently has to look up regulations, ADs, Service Bulletins and other documents. Aircraft Technical Publishers of Brisbane, California has introduced a CD that could be indispensable to many business aviation flight departments.
Total deliveries of new U.S.-built general aviation airplanes in the first quarter were up 14.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 1994, but deliveries of new business jets were off 9.6 percent, says the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. In the first three months, total deliveries compared to those of a year earlier (in parentheses) were: jets--47 (52); turboprops--52 (37); and recips--108 (92). Meanwhile, GAMA's new Piston-Engine Revitalization Action Plan to help revive sales of light aircraft is due out in August.
Advisory Circular 00-1.1 provides details and guidelines on how the FAA will apply a new law that essentially extends the FARs to government-owned aircraft (B/CA, April, page 26). The AC can be obtained from DOT General Services, M-443.2, Washington, DC 20590, or free of charge from these on-line services: NTIS FedWorld, CompuServe's Aviation Forum, the Internet, Telenet and the FAA's Flight Standards Bulletin Board. For more details, phone (202) 267-8094.
The FAA already is taking the first tentative steps toward free flight. In March, the agency expanded the National Route Program, which previously allowed pilots flying 1,500-mile stage lengths between 104 designated city pairs to fly direct in the en route segment if they stayed above FL 370. That program has now been expanded, and only the altitude restriction remains.
Dassault Aviation just became an even tougher competitor in the upper-end business aircraft class. Its Falcon 50 trijet, certified in 1977, currently is unmatched for its blend of cabin volume, maximum range and airport performance. That wasn't good enough for Dassault, especially with the emergence of the speedy Citation X. The firm has decided to replace the Falcon 50, currently the status-quo Caesar of the mid-size class, with a higher performance derivative-the Falcon 50EX-that will be fitted with more powerful engines and upgraded avionics.
Photograph: Loretta Cook, president of Women Employed in Corporate Aviation Network (WECAN), and pilot for the Gannett newspaper chain. 100 FLIGHTS FOR LIFESAVING TREATMENT On March 27, Carolyn King of Washington, Michigan, a lung cancer patient, celebrated her 100th flight coordinated by the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) of White Plains, New York. CAN is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding transportation aboard corporate aircraft to and from treatment centers for cancer patients.
