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.
Because it's growing and changing so quickly, the Internet isn't something you'll ever learn completely. The best you can hope to do is try to keep up with major issues. The online services, such as America Online, CompuServe, Delphi and the like, have developed discussion groups devoted to Internet-related topics. In your interest group, you can post all the ``dumb'' questions you can think of, just ``lurk'' in the background and learn from discussions between other users, and download pertinent files for further information.
The past two years have been eventful and generally positive for owners of Twin Commanders, and the first annual fly-in and convention of the Twin Commander Flight Group (TCFG) on June 15-18 in Oklahoma City attested to it. The meeting attracted more than 50 Commander aircraft and about 250 operators and industry representatives from around the world.
Two ``government'' Learjets made headlines in the last year for the worst of reasons. One was a U.S. Air Force C-21A that crashed on April 17 near Alexander City, Alabama. The accident claimed all eight persons aboard, including an assistant Air Force secretary and a major general. The other was a Phoenix Air Learjet 35A operated under contract to the California Air National Guard for which it flew training-support missions. Called ``Dart 21,'' this aircraft crashed when attempting an emergency landing with an electrical system fire.
High Altitude Radiation Monitoring of Vermont Service (HARMS) has developed a tracking system to monitor aircraft occupant exposure to ionizing radiation, an occupational hazard on certain high-altitude flights. HARMS issues a badge on a quarterly basis to its customers. Then, the badges are collected and analyzed by radiation-specialist physicians after the next quarter's badges are sent out. Customers are notified immediately of unusually high readings. Price: $150 per person for badge and service. High Altitude Radiation Monitoring Service, P.O.
Two free videotape productions-one from the AOPA and the other from King Schools of San Diego-provide tips on cutting aircraft noise and living in harmony with airport neighbors. The AOPA introduced its 20-minute videotape, ``Flying Friendly,'' narrated by AOPA President Phil Boyer, this spring. Flight departments, airport managers and local pilot groups will find the video to be a well-illustrated how-to production, suggesting and showing safe noise-reducing flying techniques.
Honeywell's FANS 1 system was certificated in June, enabling operators of Boeing 747-400s to take a significant step toward implementation of CNS/ATM. So what does that mean? If you're confused by new terminology being bandied about in the avionics and ATC worlds, don't worry; you're probably not alone. Industry observers are referring to the ongoing changes in the way airplanes and pilots relate to ATC as ``revolutionary as the jet engine,'' so perhaps it's fitting that those changes be accompanied by a whole new set of acronyms.
All 18 of United Beechcraft's service facilities in the United States have replaced the customary ``time-and-a-half'' charges for overtime maintenance work with a posted rate plus an hourly premium charge. The new overtime charge for piston aircraft service is posted rate plus $10 an hour; the overtime charge for turbine aircraft maintenance is posted rate plus $15 an hour. Additionally, Beechcraft has added a second shift and increased service hours at its facilities in Wichita, Little Rock, Van Nuys, Tampa and Birmingham.
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.
Mechanical failure, a flight-manual deficiency and human error led to the April 17 crash of a U.S. Air Force C-21A Learjet short of the runway at Alexander City, Alabama, according to an Air Force report. The right standby fuel pump remained energized after starting the aircraft, resulting in a fuel imbalance following an attempt to transfer fuel to a fuselage tank. Air Force training, unlike civilian training courses, did not include teaching pilots to recognize this type of malfunction.
The company expanded its domestic sales force with appointments of these two regional directors: Brant Dahlfors for the Pacific Northwest and Gary Bokowy for the Upper Midwest.
America's undying love of baseball, seemingly unshakable until the 1994 players' strike, helped make the 1989 film Field of Dreams a modern classic. But for even the most ardent fan, it took a passion for the national pastime, plus a leap of faith, to believe that Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella should heed a mysterious voice that told him to build a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield in order to reconcile himself with his deceased father, a former pro ballplayer.
VisionAire of Chesterfield, Missouri chose Ames, Iowa as the production site for the company's planned Vantage single-engine business jet (B/CA, September, page 60). Ames was selected, VisionAire said, with the expectation that financial incentives promised by local, state and other agencies will be forthcoming to meet the $2.4 million that VisionAire needs to fund development of the prototype. The company anticipates construction of the assembly plant to be completed by June 1997. First flight of the Vantage is targeted for April 1996.
Illustration: Illustration: Graph: B/CA Comparison Profile (% Relative to Average) These graphs present range, fuel and payload information that is designed to show the capabilities of the Challenger 604. Do not use these data for flight planning. Time and Fuel Versus Distance This graph shows the plot of two missions: the first flown at maximum-speed cruise and the second at long-range cruise. The numbers at the hour lines indicate cumulative miles and fuel burned for each of the two profiles.
Duncan Aviation of Lincoln, Nebraska recently received FAA certification for installation of a Flight Visions FV-2000 Head-Up Display in Gulfstream IVs. The initial installation was in a G-IV owned by DuPont of Wilmington, Delaware. Earlier this year, Elliott Aviation of Moline, Illinois received the first STC for a HUD in a business jet-an FV-2000 in a Citation II (B/CA, July, page 20).
Sitting in a cockpit for six hours or more is now a common occurrence. While most crewmembers and passengers tolerate a long-haul trip fairly well, everyone will have some kind of discomfort. Often the problems are mild, but some will be physiologically impairing, or at the very least, a distraction. When endured concurrently, these prolonged-trip situations can ruin an otherwise successful flight. Here are some examples of potential discomforts:
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.
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.
Avcon Industries, holder of 92 Learjet STCs, expected certification by the end of July for its empennage-mounted Avcon Fins on Learjet 35s and 36s. The Newton, Kansas company will officially introduce the modification at the NBAA convention in Las Vegas this month (Booth 3916).
If someone offered a system that promised to reduce cabin noise by 50 percent to 90 percent, would you consider it? What if that same system weighed less than 100 pounds, and cost under-sometimes well under-$100,000? It's a choice regional airline executives already are making, and corporate flight department managers may well find themselves considering the same option-perhaps as soon as this fall. The system is called active noise control (ANC), and it's coming soon to an aircraft near you.
The 1995 Discover Awards for automotive excellence were awarded to Chrysler and Ford, in that order. Two Chrysler executives named Castaing and Eisenhauer put their heads together and developed a new engine using an energy-storing device known as a flywheel. The flywheel itself goes back to Methuselah, but is far better at storing energy than batteries are. With little success, vast sums have been spent on trying to develop battery-powered cars. A battery-powered car can scarcely make it from Rochester, New York to Buffalo without stopping at McDonalds for recharge.
