KF Aviation, a Burbank, California-based tour operator, recently launched a helicopter sightseeing tour of the Los Angeles area. The ``Angels' Eye View'' tour, located at the Hollywood/Burbank Airport, operates 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and highlights attractions such as Griffith Park, Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood sign and celebrity homes in Beverly Hills.
The capabilities of its anti-noise system, Ultra Electronics of Cambridge, England has formed a fast-working dedicated installation team. In two weeks or less, the noise-squelching squad can have a prototype installation up and working in nearly any application. ``We end up doing a lot of demonstrations, and, really, until somebody's experienced the system, they won't buy it,'' says David Brown, ANC sales manager at Ultra.
FAA says that its proposed rewrite of pilot duty limitations and rest requirements for FAR Part 121 and Part 135 operations will apply to all scheduled as well as non-scheduled operations. The agency said an earlier announcement may have given the incorrect impression that the proposal would cover only scheduled operations using aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats (B/CA, August, page 15). A notice of proposed rulemaking is scheduled to be published in November.
The NTSB and the NASA Ames Research Centers are inviting all those involved in making transportation safer-and that, of course, includes flightcrews-to a symposium on ``Managing Fatigue in Transportation.'' The two-day program will be held in Tysons Corner, Virginia on November 1-2.
Surprise! Only 35 percent of all airline passengers at major hub airports actually connect to another flight. Some people actually want to go to Atlanta, Chicago or Washington-Dulles.
VHF upgrade: ICAO has set this date as the deadline for international business aircraft operators to be equipped with upgraded VHF receivers designed to provide better immunity from FM interference.
Leonard Alexander is the new base manager at this corporate aircraft management, charter and consulting service's newest facility at the Leesburg, Virginia municipal Airport.
Commander Aircraft Company of Bethany, Oklahoma has introduced a turbocharged version of its line of single-engine recips. Powered by a 270-hp Lycoming TIO-540-AG1A, the new 114TC maintains full power to 21,500 feet msl, or 3,500 feet below its max altitude. At 75 percent power, Commander says the cruise is 183 knots. Sea level rate of climb is 1,050 fpm. Range with full fuel (528 pounds) is 725 nm at long-range cruise setting. The ``basic IFR-equipped'' price is $348,500.
TPI International Airways-engaged in a high-stakes chess game with the DOT Inspector General (DOTIG)-has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Savannah to order DOTIG to produce key evidence in its case against the U.S. Air Force and the FAA.
What the FAA describes as an ``advanced general-aviation research simulator'' for human factors testing is now in operation at the agency's Civil Aeromedical Institute in Oklahoma City. The flight deck, reconfigurable to simulate aircraft from single-engine recips to business jets, is a non-motion device with a 150-degree-wide field-of-view color visual system capable of simulating both day and night, weather and airport variables, and various terrain features.
Fenwal's Portable Protection System (PPS), weighing in at 10 pounds and measuring 12 inches by nine inches by five inches, can be ``set up and armed in seconds'' to detect intrusions into the aircraft. To arm the PPS, the pilot places the anodized aluminum case on a level surface inside the aircraft and activates the sensor. An alarm sounds at every intrusion, and the unit notes the time of trespass. An internal battery powers the system, eliminating the need for wiring. The PPS unit is easily transferable from aircraft to aircraft. Price: $3,950.
Improper installation of a special-mission package in a Learjet 35A that Phoenix Air Group operated for the California Air National Guard was the cause of a December 14, 1994 crash in Fresno, California. The NTSB concluded the wiring in that aircraft, and 14 others like it, was improperly installed and did not include a current limiter, as specified in FAA Form 337. A short caused a fire, and the crew shut down an engine after receiving false engine-fire indications.
There comes a time in your career as a pilot when you think seriously that you might give away your first-born child just to get into the left seat of a (name your ultimate aircraft to fly for a living). But getting there doesn't have to exact such a high price or seem so un-attainable if you pick up a copy of Gregory Brown's Job Hunting for Pilots.
Federal Communications Commission has agreed to lower the registration fees for aircraft radio station licenses. Aircraft owners currently must register their radios with the FCC and pay a $115 fee that covers 10 years of radio usage. Effective September 18, the new fee will be $75. The Commission says it will not grant refunds to those who paid the higher fee. However, operators can apply for partial refunds if they sell their aircraft before their fee period expires.
Illustration: Illustration: Graph: Range/Payload Profile These three graphs are designed to be used together to provide a broad, but preliminary, picture of Falcon 900EX performance. For a complete operational analysis, consult Dassault's flight- planning manuals and FAA-approved flight manual when the aircraft is certificated in 1996. 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.
Like most people in the world of work, you've likely heard a lot about the Internet and all it has to offer anyone with a computer and a modem. But so far, you may not have heard what the Internet has to offer business aviation. We've been spending a little time in ``cyberspace'' lately, and discovered plenty of compelling reasons for you to sit in front of your PC, crank up your modem and see what's out there. Even if you're a regular user of one of the online services, you may have wondered what other areas of the Internet have to offer aviation.
Rockwell International filed a formal protest with the U.S. General Accounting Office, objecting to the Pentagon's decision to award the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) contract to Raytheon Aircraft. Rockwell's action follows the protest filed by Cessna in July (B/CA, August, page 17). Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin, head of another team competing for the JPATS contract, withdrew its protest, saying it held little hope that the decision would be overturned.
The ``R'' Series life rafts from Revere Aerospace Products are fully reversible and, thus, ready for boarding upon deployment. Arches and canopy inflate automatically. Puncture- and damage- resistant polyur-ethane fabric is lightweight and stows compactly, according to Revere. The ``R'' Series is equipped with two mooring lines-one short (for inflation) and one long (for safe mooring away from the aircraft). Reversible ramps facilitate boarding. The raft has a 15-second inflation time and is approved for a 150-percent overload accommodation.
Owners of approximately 280 Convair recip and turbine aircraft ranging from the Model 240 through the 990 now must turn to Tracor Flight Systems in Mojave, California for product support. In late July, the Austin company finalized its purchase of the Convair line from General Dynamics' Convair Division of San Diego. Tracor has assigned responsibility for the Convair aircraft family exclusively to the company's modification and maintenance facility in Mojave.
Continental Connection GP Express is pulling out of Denver by the end of this month, with the exception of three Essential Air Service routes. The carrier cites the high costs connected with the new Denver Airport and the dominance of United and United Express Mesa.
In an attempt to promote future cooperative efforts in aviation between the United States and the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.), Vice President Al Gore signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that primarily goads both parties to ``take measures to strengthen cooperation on civil aircraft certification.'' The memorandum is the prelude to a bilateral airworthiness agreement (BAA) to standardize certification procedures between the two governments.
For the half a dozen major FBOs in gleaming new facilities clustered along the western flank of Mexico's Toluca Airport (MMTO), the first phase of a monumental effort has been launched. The larger purpose is to transform this out-of-the-way, single-runway airport in a dusty industrial complex into a bustling international business aviation headquarters and service center.
National Air Transportation Association is leading an 11th hour effort to get Congress to repeal the 4.3-cents-per-gallon tax hike on avgas as well as jet fuel used by commercial operators. The tax is scheduled to go into effect October 1. Legislation previously introduced would not repeal the tax on commercial use of avgas (B/CA, April, page 22). Separately, effective September 1, New York State's Petroleum Business Tax on aviation fuel was decreased eight cents a gallon-from $0.1387 per gallon to $0.0559 per gallon.
