General Aviation Manufacturers Association recently published its 1995 General Aviation Statistical Databook. The 30-page publication contains statistics and charts on 33 subject areas, including U.S. general aviation shipments, fleet composition, safety, flight hours, airports and pilot population. The booklet also has forecast data to the year 2005. Copies of the booklet are available for $10 each from GAMA, 1400 K St. NW, Ste. 801, Washington, DC 20005-2485.
Pilot and copilot Sheepskin Seat Covers offered by Sporty's Pilot Shop are said to keep seat occupants cool and dry in summer and warm in winter. One-inch-thick pelts are used in designing the seat covers, which fit over the complete seating area. Besides natural, the covers can be ordered in metallic blue, midnight gray, burgundy, pearl, plum, honey tan and several other choices. Price: $375 per pair. Sporty's Pilot Shop, Clermont County Airport, Batavia, OH 45103. (513) 732-2593.
McCaw Flight Operations has purchased the FBO facilities at Seattle's Boeing Field, formerly operated by Portland, Oregon-based Flightcraft. McCaw is primarily owned by Craig O. McCaw, a pilot and Seattle-based businessman. The facility is now known as Flight Center. Planned renovations include a remodeled terminal and kitchen area, a new flight-planning area and pilot lounge, and a larger fuel-storage farm. The general manager of Flight Center is Howard Trott.
Targeted for completion this month at KC Aviation's Westfield, Massachusetts facility are a replacement taxiway and a replacement ramp, an above-ground fuel farm, the addition of an interior refurbishment shop and an avionics installation shop. Meanwhile, the company has brought on three new salespeople: Edward A. Henry as regional sales manager for the mid-Atlantic region, John Lee as regional sales manager for the Southeast region and Doug Wendt as regional sales manager for the West Coast region.
Come October, it will be eggzackly 35 years since I viewed the horrifying crash of a Lockheed Electra into Boston Harbor. The weather was severe VFR, it was mid-afternoon, and I and two companions were steering a gentle, narrow Commander into Logan Airport and starting to savor, in anticipation, the gustatorial repast awaiting us at Loch Ober, a three-star beanery in the bowels of Boston.
FAA recently proposed a TSO to require manufacturers to prove that their wind-shear alert systems will issue warnings while flaps are in motion and while aircraft are in severe turbulence. The new TSO was prompted by an accident in which an aircraft, having received no wind-shear warning, crashed after encountering wind shear while the flaps were retracting. Honeywell, the manufacturer of the wind-shear alert system aboard the aircraft, said its delayed-activation feature averts nuisance alarms (B/CA, January, page 12).
Photograph: A corporate jet taxis across the Snowfree-heated dry and clear patch of taxiway Mike-5 this past winter. The condition of the tested taxiway looked like this throughout the 1994-1995 winter. The latest technology for removing snow and ice from runways and taxiways is, literally, hot news. An electric pavement-heating system called Snowfree is now being tested on a patch of taxiway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Engine-related dispatch reliability for the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) is 99.98 percent, GE Aircraft Engines reported recently, and it has a zero engine-caused, inflight shutdown rate. The high-time engine has logged 6,150 flight hours and 5,015 cycles. ``We conducted an analytical inspection of a 5,500-hour engine [in April], and the condition was excellent,'' said Lloyd Thompson, general manager of the Small Commercial Turbofan Department. ``The engine components could actually have continued in service for 8,000 to 10,000 hours.''
We hope FAA Administrator David Hinson and members of his traveling party had the opportunity to talk with lots of 19-seat aircraft operators while visiting the Regional Airline Association convention in San Antonio in mid May. And we hope those FAA officials were paying attention later the same week while attending a public hearing in Anchorage, Alaska to hear what people think about the DOT/FAA proposal to require FAR Part 135 operators to meet Part 121 standards.
Canadian manufacturer Bombardier announced at the Paris Air Show that it will proceed with development of the 70-passenger de Havilland Dash 8-400 regional- airliner derivative of the 50-passenger Dash 8-300. Development of the -400, which had been in the proposal stage since the mid 1980s, is scheduled to culminate in certification in late 1998. The twin-engine Dash 8-400 will be powered by the new P&WC PW150, a derivative of the PW100 turboprop family.
Jeppesen's new NavData Coordinate Directory provides location coordinates for airports, as well as navigation aids and waypoints within the contiguous 48 United States. The five-section directory includes decode lists for airport and navaid listings to facilitate cross-referencing. Softbound, the directory measures 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches, with seven holes to fit Jeppesen binders. The directory is available as a one-time reference ($19.95) or as an annual subscription service ($75 for six issues). Jeppesen, 55 Inverness Dr. E, Englewood, CO 80112. (303) 799-9090.
On July 10, Piper Aircraft could be out of bankruptcy, almost four years to the day after the company filed for Chapter 11 protection. A U.S. bankruptcy court scheduled a hearing for that date to examine the results of a vote by Piper's creditors on a reorganization plan, which was approved by the court on May 10. The plan calls for sale of the company to Newco Pac Incorporated, an entity owned by the Philadelphia investment firm of Dimeling, Schreiber&Park and Teledyne Industries, Piper's largest unsecured creditor (B/CA, May, page 14).
Following in the footsteps of Signature Flight Support and some other FBOs, Atlantic Aviation plans to start (perhaps as early as this month) charging customers who do not purchase fuel. The fee, applicable at five Atlantic FBO sites, will not apply to operators who buy fuel, and their per-gallon cost will be determined on a sliding scale based on the maximum fuel capacity of their aircraft. A formal announcement is planned for the NBAA convention in September.
One way that Sabreliner Corporation is helping to hold down costs is by keeping downtime to a minimum. The company's Midcoast unit recently introduced a video datalink procedure aimed at reducing the time it takes the manufacturer to approve structural repair projects. The procedure is currently available for Challenger and Falcon business jets.
FAA has clarified its previously released policy on enforcing applications for parts manufacturing approval (PMA). An FAA notice released in February stated, incorrectly, that all businesses producing aircraft parts must obtain a PMA (B/CA, April, page 26). In a notice published in early June, the FAA clarified that the enforcement policy applies only to firms producing parts for sale. Businesses making parts as incorporated in a repair or modification and not for sale ``over the counter'' are not subject to the enforcement policy.
B/CA queried several business-aircraft operators to see how they use trend monitoring and what benefits they derive from it. Here's what they had to say: Business Aircraft Leasing, Incorporated. Headquartered in Nashville, BAL owns a Beech King Air 200 that it places with corporate flight departments on short-term leases as a backup aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with a Shadin ETM.
Photograph: Older converted airliners are particularly suited for flight-testing new business turbine engines. Two 30-year-old-plus, four-engine Boeing 720 airliners are still in regular service in North America, but they haven't carried revenue passengers in decades. These two veterans, instead, are stuffed with test equipment and telemetering avionics. They are configured to fly with a fifth engine bolted onto a specially reinforced fuselage section just aft of the cockpit.
Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation of Harbin, China received FAA certification for its 19-seat, turboprop-powered Y-12, thus paving the way for sales to U.S. regionals. The STOL aircraft, powered by two P&WC PT6A-27s, was certified in China in December 1985 and in the United Kingdom in June 1990. The U.S. certification process took more than three years, and includes production of Chinese-made aircraft tires that can be sold in the United States.
FAA has approved the new AlliedSignal TFE731-60, that will power the Falcon 900EX, for an initial 2,500 hours between major periodic inspections (MPI) and 5,000 hours for compressor zone inspections (CZI). The CFE738, the General Electric/AlliedSignal turbofan that powers the Falcon 2000, has been approved for an initial MPI of 1,500 hours and a CZI of 3,000 hours. Separately, the FAA approved an extension to 3,500 hours between hot section/gear box inspections and 7,000 hours for an MPI on AlliedSignal's TPE331-12 and -14 turboprops.
From a recent issue of the New York Times: The scene is a small foyer outside the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria. The occasion is the American Heart Association's annual benefit dinner-dance. Says man in formal dinner suit, puffing on a cigarette: ``You know what I did when they prohibited smoking in planes?'' Queried woman in ball gown, puffing on a cigarette: ``No, what did you do?'' Retorted man in dinner suit: ``I bought my own airplane; now I have no problem.''
Photograph: During AHS ``Forum 51,'' Bell hosted a briefing on its new Model 407 at its research facility at nearby Arlington. Affordability has been a concern since the very beginning of rotorcraft development, so it's not surprising it was the chosen theme of the American Helicopter Society's ``Forum 51'' held in early May in Fort Worth. If helicopter manufacturers want to reverse the declining trend in sales, both acquisition and operating costs must be pared, said AHS Chairman C. Thomas Snyder of NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Honeywell is now offering regional airlines a power-by-the-hour maintenance program. Patterned after similar powerplant programs, the avionics manufacturer is offering one of three tailor-made maintenance programs for regional airlines, with a fixed fee each month after the warranty expires. USAir Subsidiary Jetstream International is the latest regional to opt for the program for its new Dornier 328 aircraft. Honeywell also is offering time and material and fixed-rate maintenance agreements.
Snowslide Wing Protection Systems are covers that fit on wings and tail surfaces to protect against snow and ice buildup, sun exposure, and blowing sand and debris. The lightweight protectors (3.5 to 3.75 ounces per square yard) are made of a nylon oxford denier with a polyurethane back, and are applied using clips and buckles. Two people can cover a medium-size corporate jet in roughly 10 minutes, the company claims.
Cessna plans to open its single-engine airplane factory in Independence, Kansas on Independence Day 1996. Late in 1996, production of new Cessna 172s, 182s and 206s will begin after a nine-year hiatus in the company's manufacture of single-engine recips. Construction of the facility started on May 22. Cessna has set its sights on a production rate of 2,000 units per year by 1998.
AvCom International's `95 Jet and Propjet Corporate Directory is a compendium of more than 18,000 aircraft in the world's business turbine fleet operated in the United States and its territories and 140 other countries. This 396-page reference lists 284 different models and derivatives, and 49 manufacturers. At the back of the book is a serial-number, make and model cross-reference index. Military-operated business aircraft are included. Price: $19.95, plus $3 shipping and handling in the United States. AvCom International, P.O. Box 2398, Wichita, KS 67201.
