A former U.S. Air Force altitude chamber at the old Williams Air Force Base in Mesa, Arizona is now being operated by the University of North Dakota's Center for Aerospace Sciences. Currently, the chamber is being operated approximately one week each month, and it is available for corporate pilot training.
FAA adopted more stringent training and flight experience requirements for operators of Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters. The special FARs are the agency's answer to the ``high number'' of accidents involving those aircraft. Since certification in 1979, the R22 has been involved in 339 accidents in the United States, said the FAA. Currently, about 855 R22s and three R44s are U.S.-registered. The FAA's action falls short of an earlier NTSB recommendation asking the agency to ground the helicopters and perform a certification review.
In 1996, Jetstream Aircraft says it will introduce an increase in engine power, revised stall speeds and new flap settings to permit takeoff payload increases. A 2.2-percent increase in thermodynamic engine power, the introduction of a nine-degree flap setting and the revised stall speeds will give typical improvements in takeoff weight of 300 pounds at a hot/high airfield, and 700 pounds on shorter runways in cooler conditions, claims Jetstream.
The Jetstream 41's panel reflects a blend of proven analog systems and new digital technology. Honeywell's SPZ 4500 avionics system features four, five-inch by six-inch EFIS tubes that are used for the EADI and HSI displays. The EADIs provide airspeed and vertical speed displays, but separate analog altimeters flank the gauges. Analog RMIs are located adjacent to the EHSIs.
General Electric engine specialists inspect one of the two CF34-3B turbofans assigned to the flight-test program for the new Canadair Challenger 604 business jet. The -3B promises to lower fuel consumption, improve climb speed and reduce hot/high takeoff distance, says GE.
Consider this: You may be able to drive through a stop sign or a red light without any harm whatsoever. You can cross a railroad track when the gates are down and live to brag about it. You can do either one several times if you are lucky. You can also fly into or near a thunderstorm and survive. Maybe you have already. Maybe you have been lucky.
Eighty years ago a rider attached to a U.S. Navy appropriation bill changed the course of aviation development forever. A little-noticed provision of the service's annual funding legislation, which was approved by Congress on March 3, 1915, authorized the creation of a committee of 12 non-salaried presidential appointees that would help coordinate aeronautical research in the United States.
Putting the wrong type of fuel into an aircraft is at least as big a concern as contaminated fuel. Most susceptible to the problem are high-performance piston singles and cabin-class piston twins that fuelers could mistake for turboprop aircraft. Turboprops equipped for overwing fueling also are potential candidates for contamination with avgas.
Christopher A. Hart, formerly a member of the NTSB, is the FAA's appointee as assistant administrator for system safety. Hart, an attorney, pilot and aeronautical engineer, reports directly to FAA Administrator David Hinson. Establishment of a high-level safety office was emphasized when the agency announced a new structure late in 1994 (B/CA, February, page 24). The head of the office is to be a ``safety ombudsman'' and ``not a policeman,'' Hart said.
Friends and acquaintances of the men shown here were quick to point out to us that in our January issue (page 34), the pictures were switched over the names of the two international marketing officials for Learjet.
Airline Educational Services of Anchorage, Alaska has produced a crew resource management video program designed for corporate aviation and for Parts 121 and 135 certificate holders.
Standard Aero, an engine overhauler based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, has acquired Turbine Overhaul Power Plant Support (TOPPS) from its former owners KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corporation. The acquisition of TOPPS, located in Tilburg, Netherlands, expands Standard Aero's capabilities in the repair and overhaul of P&WC PW100 turboprop engines that currently power the following aircraft: the ATR-42, -72, EMB120, Jetstream ATP, Fokker 50 and Dash 8.
Corporate headquarters sits in the corner of a remote Brunswick, Georgia, warehouse--an unfinished cubicle with a desk, a phone, a fax machine, two chairs, a computer that doesn't work and a filing cabinet. It has been burglarized on four documented occasions, documents stolen and hard drive crashed.
Researchers are baffled by brief but frequent spectacular flashes of red and blue light seen emanating from the tops of thunderstorms--some as high as 60 miles into the atmosphere. Scientists from the University of Alaska recorded the flashes using two business jets leased from Aero Air of Hillsboro, Oregon in summer 1994. Early speculations attribute the flashes to gamma rays, since the lights don't seem to be derived from an aurora or lightning. The flashes have been reported by pilots for years, but only now are being studied.
Picture a bum sitting outside a bank cadging quarters off the passersby. He's out there for years, bugging people for handouts, and he does pretty well--considering he never does anything constructive. But one day he gets greedy, walks inside with a threatening note and tries to hold the place up. Well, of course, the teller recognizes the bum and figures he's harmless. So the teller pushes the alarm button, and the security guys and cops come running and haul the bum off to the hoosegow.
Delta Airlines scored a coup early this year when it hired John Lauber, Ph.D. to be vice president of corporate safety and compliance. Lauber, who had just completed nine years as a member of the NTSB, is generally acknowledged as one of the leading aviation safety specialists in the nation, if not the world.
Aviation Material and Technical Support (AVMATS) received JAR Part 145 certification. The approval permits the St. Louis-based company to provide engine and avionics maintenance and modifications to European-registered aircraft and their components.
Las Vegas--Signature Flight Support is constructing a new terminal building at its FBO on McCarran International Airport. The building is scheduled to be completed shortly before aircraft start arriving in Las Vegas in conjunction with the NBAA's annual convention there September 26-28. Signature also is adding tenant hangars, expanding aircraft and auto parking areas, installing new security fencing and remodeling the maintenance shops. (702) 739-1100.
The approximately 3,500 NBAA member companies contribute a total of more than $1.1 billion per year to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund as a result of airline ticket purchases, an association survey says. Combined with $100 million in taxes on aviation fuel purchased for company aircraft, NBAA members collectively contribute an estimated $1.2 billion annually in aviation taxes to the Fund. ``This total . . . illustrates . . .
JET-A AND AVGAS PER GALLON PRICES (Filup Flyer Fuel FInder - February 1995 This table shows the results of a February 1995 independent survey of U.S. FBOs. The survey, by Fillup Flyer Fuel Finder in Cincinnati, reflects fuel prices reported by nearly 3,000 U.S. FBOs. All prices are full retail--before discounts, if any apply--and include taxes and other fees. Contact Fillup Flyer for individualized customer fuel surveys at (800) 333-7900.
AirTran/Mesaba Chairman Rob Swenson will leave the company under a preliminary agreement with Northwest Airlines to end an ``extremely confrontational relationship'' between the two code-sharing partners. The agreement calls for AirTran to spin-off its new low-fare jet operation--AirTran Airways--launched from Orlando in mid-1994.
DOT Secretary Federico Pena had a captive audience recently for reiterating his aviation reform agenda. While addressing the FAA's annual aviation forecast conference in March, he repeated his intention to move ahead vigorously to create a corporatized ATC system separate from other FAA functions, despite Congress' lukewarm response thus far. Regarding the industry/government safety conference held in January, Pena said his agency still promises the 100 ``specific initiatives'' to improve safety will be achieved by October 1.
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).
