William G. Nelson joined the company as vice president and general manager of the Long Island service center at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, New York.
After almost a year of serving customers from trailers, Martin Aviation is scheduled to open its new FBO terminal at California's John Wayne/Orange County Airport in November. The two-story structure will house a 21,000-square-foot hangar in addition to two executive conference rooms, a baggage storage area, kitchenette, refreshment area and pilot supply store. Crew amenities will include a lounge, flight planning room, showers, quiet rooms and private offices. Catering and rental vehicles will be available on site.
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.
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.
General aviation definitely has a booster in the State of New York. The Legislative Commission on Critical Transportation Choices, under the chairmanship of State Senator Norman J. Levy (R-Nassau County), recently took a close look at the status of general aviation in New York State-both in the public and private sectors. The Commission's report has been released, and it pronounces general aviation to be a ``valuable resource'' and a ``critical asset.''
The ``new budget realities of the U.S. Congress'' will continue to force the FAA to shrink its services, FAA Administrator David Hinson warned attendees at the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in July. General aviation is expected to be the first to feel the cuts, as the FAA considers further reducing the number of FSSes and closing control towers at smaller airports. Over the last three years, the agency has lost $600 million in funding and has shrunk from 53,000 to 48,000 employees.
Stress is common in everyone, and it can be put to good use. When we can't cope, or if we have unrealistic expectations of our lives, then stress becomes a distress and bad things can happen. Distress can preoccupy the mind with the loss of situational awareness. Here are some common self-perceptions that lead to stress: -- Everyone must approve of me. -- I am responsible for the happiness of others. -- I can change others. -- I can't fail. -- I need no one.
Five years ago, Doug Bowen joined some of his coworkers in a crew resource management (CRM) training session, and quickly realized the basic concepts being taught could be applied to his own department. Since then, Bowen-who is chief of maintenance for Enron Corporation and president of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association-has helped design a training program aimed at corporate flight departments and has adopted a strategy for annual maintenance resource management (MRM) training in his own department.
Officials at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport (EHAM) notified the EBAA that its General Aviation Terminal will be closed by year-end. Corporate aircraft will be welcome ``as long as capacity allows.'' The Schiphol Airport authority has taken over nearby Lelystad Airport and intends to develop it ``fully'' by the end of the decade. Corporate-aircraft handling after December 31 at Schiphol will be at a ``temporary site.''
A video-camera system from Puritan-Bennett Aero Systems is designed to provide passengers with ``high-quality'' external images of the corporate aircraft and landscape during all phases of flight. For the flightcrew, it provides views of the landing gear and certain control surfaces. The system has three cameras and a camera-control unit commanded from within the aircraft. One camera is mounted in the tail, for a wide view of the aircraft and the horizon, while the other two cameras are placed on the lower fuselage (shown) aft of the main gear.
Air New Zealand subsidiary Mount Cook Airline has placed an order for seven 66-passenger ATR 72-210 turboprops, giving the Franco/Italian consortium its first large order in the Pacific Rim. The new aircraft are to replace 44-passenger Hawker-Siddeley (BAe) HS748s beginning this month and culminating late this year or early in 1996. The sale was a major defeat for the 70-passenger de Havilland Dash 8-400, since the manufacturer has a major presence in Australasia.
The use of personal computers as aviation training aids has gained an important advocate. With the purchase of Charlotte, North Carolina-based MDM Systems, Jeppesen is adding PC-based flight simulation systems to its integrated pilot-training product line, which currently includes text, video and other computer-based products. MDM is a producer of a popular PC-based aviation training hardware and software system.
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.''
Preliminary analysis of data from flight tests that Robinson Helicopter and the FAA conducted jointly show, the R44 performing ``within the aircraft's certification requirements.'' Even so, the tests are not the final determinant in the government's investigation of the aircraft, but are the latest in a series of steps that the FAA began and the NTSB recommended early in 1994 to resolve alleged safety problems with the R22 and R44 single-engine helicopters (B/CA, June 1994, page 22). The FAA and the NTSB are continuing their investigations.
After a 30-year hiatus from the Northeast, the annual AOPA Expo will be held in Atlantic City on October 19-21. Over 8,000 AOPA members are expected to attend. The Expo exhibit hall at the Atlantic City Convention Center will showcase more than 300 exhibitors, educational programs and other convention events. Over 60 aircraft will be featured in the static aircraft display at nearby Bader Field.
A rewrite of pilot certification and training requirements of FAR Parts 61, 141 and 142 has been proposed. The proposal stems from a regulatory review program started more than seven years ago (B/CA, August 1988, page 21). The principal purpose of the rewrite was to make a comprehensive update of the rules. Most of the major changes to the rules are directed at recreational pilots and ground instructors. Comments are due December 11. For details, phone the FAA at (202) 267-3844.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani recently commissioned a study on the future of New York City's major airports-John F. Kennedy and La Guardia. Viewing them as major gateway airports, he feels they are lagging behind competitors, such as nearby Newark. The study, scheduled to begin in 1996, has been launched in an effort by the city to gain control of the airports from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and to improve their facilities and accessibility. It was not immediately clear whether general aviation will be addressed in the study.
Millville, New Jersey-based UNC Airwork is offering a warranty that covers all overhaul and maintenance work for the full TBO on P&WC PT6As and JT15Ds, AlliedSignal TFE731s, and Rolls-Royce Spey engines and engine modules. Airwork's new ``Engine Life Protection Plan'' is available to operators in the United States, Canada and other selected foreign locations. The company's engine trend-monitoring program is included free of charge. To obtain a facsimile of the warranty certificate, phone Airwork at (609) 825-6000 or fax 825-6408.
The current generation of high-performance turbofan aircraft are designed to cruise in the mid forties or above-not for boardroom bragging rights, but for exceptional fuel efficiency, to avoid the traffic congestion of lower altitudes and to top most of the weather. The result is a smoother ride for passengers. A few aircraft even push FL 510 when they are lightly loaded. A price must be paid, however, for such high-performance rewards: Pilots must exercise razor-edge pitch control during climb, cruise and descent.
Meanwhile, Centennial Airlines, of Englewood, Colorado, continues its quest to bring scheduled Part 135 service to two DIA satellite airports-Centennial and Jefferson County. Both general-aviation facilities are environmentally sensitive, with the residents in both areas fearing the impact of scheduled airline service on their neighborhoods. The start-up regional would like to operate 19- to 30-passenger aircraft from the two airports to the Western Slope communities, recognizing that it would have to depend upon O&D business travelers.
Responding to NTSB recommendations, the FAA will initiate rulemaking to require FAR Part 135 regional airliners with 10 or more seats, and certain air-taxi aircraft, to be equipped with upgraded flight data recorders. The formal proposal is scheduled to be published before December 31. Specifically, the proposal is expected to apply to air-taxi aircraft with 20 or more passenger seats and all multiengine, turbine-powered charter aircraft (B/CA, April, page 22).
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).
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....''
