Operators can obtain a copy of the new Pilot Guide to Small Aircraft Ground Deicing (FAA AC 135-17) from B/CA. The 46-page booklet contains information on deicing fluids and on application procedures for corporate jets and smaller-size aircraft. The booklet is similar to a previously published guide on ground deicing operations for larger aircraft. Copies of both guides are available, while they last, for $1 each (to cover postage and handling) from Business&Commercial Aviation, 4 International Dr., Ste. 260, Rye Brook, NY 10573.
Zurich Airport Authority petitioned the Switzerland Federal Office for Civil Aviation for permission to ban FAR Part 36, Stage 2 aircraft takeoffs between 1900 and 0900 hours daily. According to Sam Wenger, manager of the Swiss Federal Civil Aviation Environmental Section, permission to implement the ban probably will not be approved before year-end. But, Wenger also said he expected similar requests from airport authorities at Geneva, Bern and Basel.
Based on the results of flight tests and an aircraft engineering design review, the FAA says that the Model 690 Twin Commander is not susceptible to ``aileron snatch'' (an abnormal control surface overbalance), but operators must be aware of the importance of proper control rigging and avoid high airspeeds in turbulence. The NTSB said it believed that the phenomenon was a factor in 14 accidents involving the Twin Commander (B/CA, February 1994, page 22).
UNC Airwork's Miami engine test cell has been certified to test Pratt &Whitney Canada PT6A, PT6T Twin Pac and Allison 250 series helicopter powerplants.
The FAA has established a mailbox on the Internet to facilitate submitting comments on proposed rules. On February 15, Anthony Broderick, the agency's associate administrator for regulation and certification and a frequent contributor to CompuServe's AVSIG aviation forum, announced the mailbox's ``posting.''
FAA approved PAN AM Systems' lightning detection data to be used in reports by any certified Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) site. The technology locates lightning flashes within 30 nm of any participating AWOS and adds this information to the site's voice and data weather messages. The lightning report includes general direction and distance information. Approval followed the evaluation of the technology at AWOS sites in Minnesota in summer 1994.
So-called nonalcoholic beer contains only 0.3 percent alcohol (compared to 4.5 percent for regular beer), but does that make it legal per the eight-hour, bottle-to-throttle rule? The operative word appears to be ``beer,'' according to Richard O. Reinhart, M.D., B/CA contributor. In a recent issue of the NBAA Digest, Reinhart writes that the prudent thing to do as a pilot is to consider nonalcoholic beer ``as just another kind of beer, and treat it as an alcoholic beverage.''
European Business Air Show first timers Canadair, Dornier and Gulfstream will be among the ranks of exhibitors from 10 countries at this year's EBAS, scheduled for May 9-11 in the Bavarian capital of Munich, Germany. Also debuting at the show will be the Moscow-based aviation services company Avcom, whose presence will provide further evidence of the emergence of business aviation throughout Eastern Europe. (Avcom operates five Hawker jets from its new FBO in Moscow.)
The first Jetstream 41 full-flight simulator was commissioned in February at the Reflectone Training Center in Sterling, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. The FAA Level-C device was developed by Reflectone. It incorporates six-degree freedom of motion, digital sound and visual systems, and Reflectone's touch-window instructor station. A Harris NightHawk computer is used, along with an enhanced IVEX wide-field-of-view daylight visual system.
An airport surface detection system using secondary surveillance radar (SSR) has been designed by British Technology Group (BTG) which is seeking companies to develop and market it. London-based BTG recently demonstrated the system at Maastricht Airport in the Netherlands before the FAA, EU and other authorities. BTG says the system, called LIVE (Locating and Identifying Vehicle Equipment), requires no new airborne equipment, operates in all weather conditions, covers all movement areas and enables inter-operability with TCAS up to 300 feet agl.
NTSB experts are continuing their investigation into the fatal November 1994 runway collision involving a TWA MD-80 and a business-owned Cessna 441 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. But their initial findings have led them to urge controllers and pilots to improve voice communications immediately. Failure to do so, they argue, can only lead to more airport surface tragedies.
As the ink dries on this deathless prose, Denver's nabobs will be chanting ``Let heaven and earth rejoice!''--or will they? The infamous chutes that smash luggage electronically at the vast wasteland newly serving Denver's airlines have been declared fully operational. Hence, the long-delayed opening was, at this juncture, scheduled for February 28, but I hope you didn't bet on it.
In a joint effort at the 1996 Summer Olympics to be held July 20 to August 4, 1996 in Atlanta, the FAA and the Helicopter Association International will sponsor a low-altitude flight project. The project aims to evaluate new technology to enhance safety, improve ATC surveillance and reduce noise disturbances during low-altitude flight. The project also will examine the use of GPS navigation and communications for the control of helicopters flying below 2,200 feet msl.
In sharp contrast to the Clinton administration's proposal to corporatize the FAA's ATC system, Representative Jim Lightfoot (R-IA) introduced legislation in March to restore the FAA to independent-agency status. The legislation also aims to provide the agency with ``major personnel and procurement reforms.'' Lightfoot characterizes the administration's corporatization proposal as a ``tired, warmed-over attempt to sell the American people `time as motion.''' Most business aviation trade associations support an independent FAA.
Business aircraft operators using the FBO at the Denver International Airport will find fuel prices virtually the same as they were at Stapleton Airport (now closed), but landing fees are higher. The landing charge imposed by the city and collected by AMR Combs is $3.68 per 1,000 pounds with a $40 minimum. AMR charges $15 per day for parking. Operators using the new airport will also find that the cost of a cab ride to downtown has essentially doubled. You can contact the new AMR Combs facility at Denver by phoning (303) 342-5644.
Pilots don't have to rely on telltale signs of ice accretion on windshield wiper blades and OAT probes if the aircraft they fly are equipped with icing detectors. Rosemount Aerospace, a subsidiary of BFGoodrich, manufactures the Magnetostrictive Ice Detection system that automatically warns pilots of potentially hazardous ice accumulation. Such systems are installed on a variety of aircraft, including the Beech Starship, British Aerospace Jetstream 41 and Aerospatiale/Alenia ATR-72.
Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) manufacturer Bombardier has agreed that ``GE brings good things to life,'' selecting the CF34-8C turbofan to power the proposed new CRJ-X. The engine selection was made despite the fact that the Canadian manufacturer has yet to publicly decide whether it will even build the new 72- to 76-passenger business-jet derivative. That decision, the company says, ``is contingent upon the completion of market and engineering studies currently under way.''
Flight Safety Foundation's annual corporate aviation safety seminar is set for April 26-28 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The seminar's theme of ``Safety: Doing More with Less'' will be supported by more than 20 technical presentations. Other topics to be explored will be training resources, management, human factors and long-haul corporate jet operations. For more information, contact the FSF in Arlington, Virginia. Phone: (703) 522-8300.
Lack of a sufficient number of flight data recorder (FDR) parameters prompted the NTSB to recommend that upgraded recorders be required for FAR Part 121 aircraft, Part 135 regional aircraft with more than nine passenger seats and certain air-taxi aircraft. Specifically, the recommendation calls for air-taxi aircraft with 20 or more passenger seats and all multiengine-turbine-powered charter aircraft to be retrofitted with upgraded FDRs by January 1, 1998. At press time, the FAA had not responded to the recommendations.
FAR Part 25 Appendix C icing certification regulations largely are based on inflight icing research conducted during the late 1940s by NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
Airframe manufacturers' maintenance and operations meetings scheduled for the remainder of the year include: Cessna Citations in Wichita, May 1-3; Gulfstream jets and turboprops in Savannah, June 5-8; IAI Astras and Westwinds in San Diego, April 23-26; Raytheon Hawker Jets at Captiva Island, Florida, May 22-24; and Sabreliners, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, April 19-21.
Applied Aerodynamics recently received Joint Airworthiness Authority approval to perform maintenance on European-registered aircraft. Based in Carrollton, Texas, Allied Aerodynamics is an authorized Gulfstream components service center and specializes in the repair of radomes, flight controls, leading edges, doors, cowls, stabilizers and fairings.
Phoenix-based Honeywell Incorporated and Pelorus Navigation Systems of Calgary, Alberta, Canada signed an agreement for joint development and production of a ground-based portion of a differential GPS (DGPS) approach system. First production units are scheduled to be certified by year-end for Category I landings. Under the agreement, Honeywell will supply the GPS-related avionics and Pelorus will supply the remaining hardware and be responsible for integrating and testing the system, and performing site surveys and installation.
