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.
In an advertising campaign earlier this year, Cessna claimed to dominate 65 percent of the business-jet market with its Citation fleet. Learjet was quick to jump at this claim, contending that Cessna used its own methodology to determine market share, including the exclusion of Hawker 1000 deliveries and shipments of business jets to U.S. government operators. Cessna's market share using ``traditionally defined'' methods is only 44 percent, Learjet said.
America Online's aviation lineup includes access to the following areas: -- Aviation on the Internet for access to Internet newsgroups, mailing lists and World Wide Web ``Aero Links.'' -- Aviation Forum online conferences, such as ``Military Training Routes,'' ``Robin' Hood: Simulated Instrument Flight,'' ``Aircraft Minimum Equipment,'' and ``Aviation Trivia Contest.'' -- A ``What is It?'' contest challenges users to identify the aircraft shown in an online image, and win an hour of free online time.
The newly formed Aviation Training Institute now offers a redeveloped, updated version of the Professional Line Service Training (PLST). Sponsored by Texaco, the program has been packaged into a core curriculum of eight separate videotapes, incorporating full-motion video, animation and computer graphics. Topics covered are: the FBO industry and line-service responsibilities, safety, fueling piston aircraft, fueling turboprop aircraft, fueling jet aircraft, towing, fuel-farm management and customer service. An optional fire-safety tape is available. Price: $2,495.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation has announced the winners of the 1995 McAllister Memorial Scholarship and the Burnside Memorial Scholarship. Daniel Seluk of Derry, New Hampshire and Jason Stallings of Vero Beach, Florida, both aviation management students at the Florida Institute of Technology, received the $1,000 scholarships based on their grades and a 250-word essay on the topic ``What three factors would you address in improving general aviation safety?''.
FAA has published a primer on land-and-hold-short operations, or LAHSO. The eight-page booklet explains pilots' responsibilities when they accept a LAHSO clearance, and it provides recommendations for performing the procedures smoothly and correctly. The document also makes it clear that the pilot has the final authority to accept or decline a LAHSO clearance. Copies of LAHSO: A Primer are available at no cost from the FAA. Phone: (202) 267-7770.
FAA has received over 5,000 comments on the proposed changes to FAR Part 67 medical standards requiring more-stringent physical exams for some pilots. At press time, release of the final revisions was imminent. Meanwhile, the FAA is preparing a rule that would exempt holders of Recreational Pilot Certificates from FAA medical exams, instead allowing them to self-certify, a privilege that already is extended to glider and hot-air-balloon pilots.
So, you are-or shortly will be-operating a helicopter. Congratulations! You have learned that helicopter safety considerations are essentially the same ones you learned in airplanes, plus there is an entire set of factors unique to helicopters. One of those factors is that you will be operating from the world's smallest airports, called ``heliports.'' Further, you may find yourself in the business of operating one of those ``airports'' yourself.
``Prospects for reversing the downward trend in demand for new aircraft seem greater in 1994 than in any year since general-aviation production began its precipitous drop 16 years ago.'' Those prophetic words were uttered just a year ago by John W. Olcott, president of the NBAA, on the eve of a show at which no fewer than six new business jets were announced.
Raytheon Aircraft recently named Lider Taxi Aereo S.A. of Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil as an authorized service center for the complete line of Beech and Hawker recip and turbine aircraft. Lider Taxi Aereo is enhancing its spares inventory, and its staff will undergo factory-approved maintenance training.
The following are some of the more common terms you'll come across on the Internet and online services. -- Address-Every Internet location starts with one of the following address codes, which give an indication of what software capabilities are required to access the site's resources: ftp://-A file transfer protocol (FTP) site (file areas). gopher://-A gopher site (gopher is the grandfather of the World Wide Web). http://-A Web site. news:-A newsgroup.
United Kingdom-based Rolls-Royce has established Rolls-Royce North America (RRNA) as the overseeing organization for the company's U.S.-based operations. RRNA comprises entities including Rolls-Royce of Reston, Virginia and Allison Engine Company in Indianapolis, as well as Rolls-Royce Credit and Capital companies, Peebles Electric, and Syncrolift. Richard T. Turner is chairman, and John W. Sandford is president and CEO of the new organization.
The former Textron Lycoming Flight Services FBO at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Bridgeport, Connecticut is now part of the Dallas-based Million Air family. Tom Sullivan, owner and operator of Million Air Hartford, has become the owner and operator of Million Air Bridgeport. The facility consists of a 44,000-square-foot hangar and a 12,000-square-foot office complex. The addition of the Bridgeport facility brings the number of Million Air FBOs to 25 in 16 states and Toronto.
Thomas H. Marlow, vice president of Houston-based Era Aviation, was elected chairman of the Helicopter Association International. Marlow, who has served on the HAI's executive committee in several capacities, also is chairman of the HAI's Olympic Support Committee. The committee is working with the FAA and others regarding helicopter operations at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
The recent crash of a drug-loaded aircraft attempting to depart from Toluca Airport (MMTO) has prompted the requirement to search all vehicles entering and leaving the airport.
Continental Express (COX) is tilting towards a $750-million deal for 75 Dornier 328s, including the existing 30-passenger model and the 48-passenger stretch. The company had a Lone Star Airlines 328 on the property for several days in late July, operating it against the company's Embraer Brasilias during real-time daily schedules for an ``apples-to-apples'' comparison, said COX President Jonathan Ornstein.
The sudden illness and death of William F. Fant, 58, of North Little Rock, Arkansas startled the business-aviation community. Stricken by liver cancer, he died July 3. Fant was the manager of technical support, government programs with Dassault Falcon Jet at the company's Little Rock, Arkansas facility. He was the first employee at the former Pan Am Business Jets Division (later to become Falcon Jet Corporation). Formerly, he served in the U.S. Air Force.
