Beginning with the June delivery of Serial Number 307, Cessna Citation Ultra business jets will be available with a single-point refueling/defueling system. Cessna says the system, which adds only about 27 pounds to the aircraft's empty weight, is not retrofittable to the more than 40 Ultras now in service. Other changes being incorporated into new Ultras include an ``environmentally friendly'' cooling fluid and an optional wide-door installation.
A quarter century ago, the last model of the Ercoupe, one of the most innovative general aviation aircraft ever built, rolled off the production line. An outgrowth of the pioneering general aviation research performed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in the 1930s, the all-metal, low-wing two-seater was designed to be an airplane that anybody could fly safely.
The following is a quiz, reprinted from the FAA Aviation Safety Journal, designed to test your knowledge of the new airport signs. (The answer key follows.) (1) Holding-position signs have a: (A) White inscription on a red background (B) Black inscription on a yellow background (C) Yellow inscription on a black background (2) Taxiway-location signs have a: (A) White inscription on a red background (B) Black inscription on a yellow background
Besides sleep debt and physical exertion, the following is a list of the other numerous causes of fatigue, many occurring simultaneously. Note that many are controllable, and every effort should be made to minimize the effects of these factors that can debilitate us: Noise and vibration. Self-medication, especially antihistamines. Hangover, even 12 hours after the last drink. Illness, such as a simple flu or cold. Hypoglycemia. Hypoxia, present above 5,000 feet on long trips.
The flight-test program for the Gulfstream G-V will involve four aircraft, with the first to fly in November. Flight-test aircraft No. 2 is scheduled to fly in mid-December; No. 3 at the end of January 1996; and No. 4 in April 1996. Certification should follow six months later. All four G-V test aircraft will eventually be used as demonstrators and will be available for purchase.
After more than a decade of gloom and declining sales, the general aviation manufacturing industry is finally showing some signs of resurgence. The most tangible evidence is construction of Cessna Aircraft Company's new single-engine production facility in Independence, Kansas, but other examples abound.
After a five-month study, a nine-member team of FAA engineers and airworthiness inspectors and experts from other government agencies discovered no design flaws in the flight-control system of Boeing 737s. The study of the aircraft was undertaken since, to date, the NTSB has been unable to determine the cause of the 1991 crash of a United Airlines 737 at Colorado Springs, Colorado and a USAir 737 near Pittsburgh in September 1994. The two crashes killed 157 people.
Bombardier and AMR Combs will offer shared ownership of Learjet 31As, 60s and Canadair Challengers via a new, Dallas-based firm: Business JetSolutions. By October, 16 aircraft are set to be in the program. Ownership is being sold in 100-hour blocks (one-eighth shares). Rob Gillespie is president of Business JetSolutions, while AMR Combs' Dale Niederhauser is president of JetSolutions LLC, the operations arm of the program. Dennis Keith, previously director of flight ops for Frito-Lay, was tapped to head the sales and marketing effort.
The range of the proposed G-IVB is now about 4,450 nm--some 150 nm less than Gulfstream originally had hoped. Late in 1994, the company said it might introduce a longer-range replacement for the 4,200 nm-range G-IVSP (B/CA, October 1994, page 21). Gulfstream said additional range would accrue from increasing the wing span of the G-IVSP and incorporating the winglet design of the G-V. A decision on whether to develop the G-IVB is expected this summer.
Imagine, for a few minutes, that you're contemplating an approach to an airport where the ceiling is indefinite and the visibility is RVR 700. The destination airport has a Category I precision approach landing system, requiring minimums of at least RVR 2,400 or one-half-mile visibility. It's as dark as a pitch pot and the approach lights are NOTAMed out of service. If you were flying a current generation civil aircraft, you would have no option but to divert to an alternate having better weather and, hopefully, high-intensity approach lighting.
Total deliveries of new U.S.-built general aviation airplanes in the first quarter were up 14.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 1994, but deliveries of new business jets were off 9.6 percent, says the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. In the first three months, total deliveries compared to those of a year earlier (in parentheses) were: jets--47 (52); turboprops--52 (37); and recips--108 (92). Meanwhile, GAMA's new Piston-Engine Revitalization Action Plan to help revive sales of light aircraft is due out in August.
A rule setting minimum experience levels for two pilots flying together in FAR Part 121 operations becomes effective August 25. The rule increases the amount of flight time pilots need to meet ``initial operating experience'' requirements. Also, pilots will no longer receive experience credit for observing another pilot; pilot trainees actually must perform the duties. Lastly, the PIC must carry out all takeoffs and landings during certain weather conditions and at particular airports if the copilot has less than 100 hours in type.
Photograph: Gray clouds and occasional rain do not slow the pace of the Paris Air Show. The Paris-Le Bourget International Air&Space Show bills itself as the world's largest and most important aerospace exhibition, a claim that is hard to dispute. The biennial event throws open its doors again this month, with the promise of more than 200 aircraft on display and dense crowds packing the 210,000 square feet of exhibit space in the enormous halls.
Photograph: Orenda believes that over the next 10 years, more than 5,000 aircraft will be candidates for its V-8 engine retrofit. The Orenda Division of Hawker Siddeley Canada hopes the claimed combination of strong, high-altitude performance of its engines and low maintenance and acquisition costs, will help them turn a marketing corner. Specifically, the division is looking for the company's line of aviation-oriented V-8 engines to capture a segment of the market that heretofore has been dominated by small turboprop engines.
A new noise ordinance at California's Long Beach Airport permits limited operations by most business jet models. The new noise policy follows several years of legal wrangling and out-of-court negotiations between the aviation industry and the airport authority (B/CA, March 1990, page 24). Provisions of the policy set noise limits for day, evening and night, and establish a ``noise budget'' for aircraft operations. Also, the policy sets up a GA noise committee to work with airport officials to ensure compliance with the ordinance.
The Transportation Department rescinded the requirement that calls for pre-employment alcohol testing in transportation industries already mandated to comply with DOT alcohol-testing rules. Earlier in the year, the DOT had asked the U.S. Congress to repeal the legislative mandate that places pre-employment testing in the overall alcohol-testing requirements (B/CA, May, page 11). Meanwhile, industry advocates are still arguing for the DOT to lower the random drug-testing rate from 25 percent to 10 percent (B/CA, January, page 11).
Socata, the subsidiary of Aerospatiale that produces single-engine aircraft, recently acquired Mooney's 30-percent interest in the TBM-700 single-engine turboprop. The company dissolved TBM S.A., the joint-venture holding company, and TBM N.A. in North America. Aerospatiale General Aviation in Grand Prairie, Texas will now provide TBM-700 support and marketing. Mooney helped launch the TBM-700 in 1987 by providing technological and marketing support.
Piper Aircraft appointed AMR Combs as its new distributor for Mexico. The Combs facility is located at the Servicios Aereos del Centro SA (SACSA) FBO on Mexico City's Toluca Airport. The Honeywell/Pelorus local area DGPS has been selected for installation at the Armidale Regional Airport in New South Wales, Australia. Certification is expected in the second quarter of 1996.
International business aircraft operators are reminded that January 1, 1998 is the deadline for upgrading VHF communication and navigation receivers to meet improved FM immunity performance standards. The standards, recommended by ICAO in its Annex 10 ``Aeronautical Telecommunications,'' took effect January 1 for newly manufactured VHF radios. But operators will want to determine if currently installed radios need to be modified to meet the 1998 deadline.
Photograph: Loretta Cook, president of Women Employed in Corporate Aviation Network (WECAN), and pilot for the Gannett newspaper chain. WOMEN'S BUSINESS AVIATION GROUP LIFTS OFF This year's International Women in Aviation Conference staged recently in St. Louis held special significance for women employed in various facets of business aviation. A new group called Women Employed in Corporate Aviation Network (WECAN) was formed to serve as a support group for its members, ranging from pilots to those employed by corporate aircraft manufacturers.
A mixture of kudos and denouncements greeted Signature Flight Support's announcement that as of April, it would start imposing (actually re-imposing) handling charges on transient aircraft operators who stop at Signature FBOs and do not meet an annual minimum fuel purchase. The charges range from $85 for the largest aircraft at a major location to $9 for the smallest aircraft at a non-major airport.
Dassault Aviation just became an even tougher competitor in the upper-end business aircraft class. Its Falcon 50 trijet, certified in 1977, currently is unmatched for its blend of cabin volume, maximum range and airport performance. That wasn't good enough for Dassault, especially with the emergence of the speedy Citation X. The firm has decided to replace the Falcon 50, currently the status-quo Caesar of the mid-size class, with a higher performance derivative-the Falcon 50EX-that will be fitted with more powerful engines and upgraded avionics.
Legislation pending in the House to repeal the 4.3-cents-per-gallon tax increase on jet fuel used in commercial operations should be amended to include aviation gasoline, said the National Air Transportation Association. At a meeting with the bill's sponsor, Representative Mac Collins (R-GA), NATA officials said ``If allowed to take effect [and it's on track for an October 1 effective date], the increase will unfairly penalize operators of piston-engine aircraft.''
Le Bourget's location is one of its beauties. The airport, which was established on the distant outskirts of Paris as a military airfield in 1917 during World War I, has no scheduled commercial traffic and is almost exclusively used for business flights. An occasional military aircraft drops in, heading for the small military enclave on the west side of the airport, and a commercial charter flight stops by now and then.
Raytheon's blockbuster pronouncement that it plans to buy E-Systems for ``about $2.3 billion in cash'' was the big, big aviation news in April. Raytheon's ownership of Beech and Hawker, though, makes it B/CA news. Concurrent with the news of the impending purchase of E-Systems was the overshadowed release that Raytheon/Beech plans to construct a new business jet, starting with ``a clean sheet of paper.''
