In an effort to maintain closer contact with Learjet customers, the Learjet Advisory Panel has established an electronic bulletin board system (BBS). Panel members are representatives from manufacturers and FlightSafety International, operators and others. To access the system, users need a 386 or higher PC, a modem (set to N-8-1) and a communications program. After registering with the system's main menu at (915) 949-5517, users also will be given access to other areas in the system, including bulletins, libraries, message areas and e-mail.
The FAA's proposed ``Commuter Safety Rule'' will add about $1 million to the price of a 19-passenger airplane. The cost of proximity floor lighting alone will cost $50,000 per airplane. That is what some regional airlines are being told by their aircraft suppliers. If that is true, it could challenge the economic viability of the 19-passenger airplane and mean the loss of air service to many small communities that simply cannot support larger equipment.
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.
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. . . .''
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.
The FAA effort to develop new and improved airport signs started in 1991. Although all FAR Part 139 airports were supposed to have new signs in place by the beginning of this year, about 40 airports had not finished installing them by the end of April.
After taking 77-year-old Allison private from General Motors in a management buyout, the Indianapolis-based engine manufacturer's leadership surprised the aviation community late in 1994 when it abruptly sold out to British engine builder Rolls-Royce for $525 million. The U.S. government approved the merger in March.
Cyril E. King International Airport in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands will soon have its first full-service FBO since 1992, when the airport was expanded and recommissioned. The board of directors of the U.S. Virgin Islands Port Authority selected Sr. Croix-based Bohlke International Airways to operate a full-time, full-service FBO at St. Thomas. Line services will expand gradually as the company begins in January 1996 to build toward full-service capability.
Cessna's awesomely quick Citation X mid-size business jet was not the AE 3007's launch customer. That distinction went to Embraer with its EMB-145 jet airliner. But so far in the Allison Engines development and certification program, the Citation X has done nearly all the flying. (And what it didn't do was flown by a Citation VII engineering test bed.)
Pilots flying within 300 nm of White Sands, New Mexico should be alert to possibly unreliable GPS signals until July 15. For the next month and half, the White Sands Missile Range is conducting signal-jamming tests of GPS to determine what effect electronic interference might have on signal reliability. The FAA reportedly has no objection to such tests as long as they will be ``highly restricted'' once GPS is approved as a primary means of navigation.
Netherlands-based Fokker Aircraft has received certification from the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority for its F70 twin-jet. The aircraft received Dutch and U.S. certification in September 1994, and the first production unit, a 48-seat corporate shuttle, was delivered to Ford Motor Company in October. Fokker hopes to receive certification for autoland capability later this year (B/CA, December 1994, page 28). Meanwhile, Fokker is implementing a major restructuring plan aimed at returning the company to financial stability.
As part of Israel Aircraft Industries' ongoing process to privatize several of its units, including the business jet line, the company disclosed it is looking for additional risk-sharing partners. IAI says this search for partners is being ``conducted in parallel'' with development of the Galaxy and the Astra SPX programs. Despite reports to the contrary, IAI says the search for a partner ``is not a prerequisite to the programs and by no means should it affect the original development and production schedules.'' IAI ``is committed'' to the programs.
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.
U.S. Coast Guard is proceeding with plans to stop operating Loran-C ground stations by 2000, despite efforts by thousands of Loran-C users to retain the system (B/CA, June 1994, page 15). The original Loran-C termination date was 2015. The Coast Guard cites a lean budget and the availability of GPS as reasons for an early phaseout. About 120,000 Loran navigation receivers are in aviation use. The FAA has yet to comment on the Coast Guard's stance.
The following companies provide ground-side communications access to satcom-equipped business aircraft: Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC) 2551 Riva Rd. Annapolis, MD 21401 (410) 266-2329 Avicom Japan Ltd. Business Coordination Department Kenchiku-Kaikan 5-26-20 Shiba Minatoku, Tokyo 108 Japan +81 3 5443-9291 Comsat/KDD Consortium Comsat Aeronautical Services Comsat Corp. 22300 Comsat Dr.
With successful initial testing in early February of Eurocontrol's new Integrated Flight Plan Processing System (IFPS), one of the most significant steps to eliminate a pattern of multiplying congestion and increasingly costly delays in Europe's airspace has been taken.
For now, air-taxi operators with any size aircraft and regional airlines with aircraft having fewer than 10 passenger seats are not included in the FAA's proposal to upgrade FAR Part 135 airlines to large air-carrier standards. Under the far-reaching proposal, airlines using aircraft with 10 to 30 passenger seats would have to meet Part 121, the standards that now apply to scheduled operations in aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats. Comments are due June 27. For further information, contact the FAA's Alberta Brown at (202) 267-8248.
The text of the latest edition of the FAA's Airman's Information Manual, dated March 30, now is gender neutral. For example, former references to ``airman'' have been changed to ``pilot.'' In 1996, the AIM will be titled the Aeronautical Information Manual. Taking the initiative with the FAA on the revisions was an 11-member FAR/AIM committee, with Cheryl Mackie from AMSI, an aviation training company in Merrimac, Wisconsin, and both Cammie Schreck and Keith Gerard, from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, leading the effort.
Raytheon Aircraft is flight testing a higher performance version of the Hawker 800 that will be available this fall. The 800XP (Extended Performance) will be powered by two 4,660-pounds-thrust AlliedSignal TFE731-5BR engines, which enable a 14-knot gain in cruise speed, shorter field performance and longer range. Also, design weights have been increased, the interior enhanced, and various systems improved. The price, however, stays the same: $9.95 million.
Now available as a new Windows-based software upgrade is the Helicopter Association International's Maintenance Malfunction Information Report (MMIR) system. Version 2.0, developed under the auspices of an FAA-funded feasibility demonstration (B/CA, November 1994, page 30), allows users to send MMIR data to the HAI via modem. From the HAI, the data are transmitted to the FAA for inclusion in its Service Difficulty Report (SDR) program. The HAI is offering the program free of charge. Phone: (703) 683-4646.
ALPA pilots for USAir have reached an ``agreement in principle'' with management that will have a definite trickle-down effect on the wholly owned USAir Express carriers. It calls for a ``package of concessions and returns.''
The DOT's inspector general's office (DOTIG)--in an apparently unprecedented move--has refused to produce a key witness in the $28-million military-contract appeals case of TPI International Airways (see B/CA, April 1995, page C10).
Mid Michigan Air Center, formerly Aero Services, is completing an upgrade of its FBO at Tri City International Airport in Saginaw. Mid Michigan and its new owner, Carl Muhs, acquired the facility earlier this year. The company recently installed a WSI PilotBrief II weather information system. The Hangar 6 Complex, the passenger terminal and the crew lounges are being remodeled.
Leasing can tie companies to a contract and to an aircraft that changing conditions and requirements make undesirable. Because of this limitation, most firms would rather be aircraft owners. Nevertheless, according to Peter Redman, president of Cessna Finance, leasing still is an option exercised by companies with special requirements or by large businesses applying very sophisticated financial methods.
