If you've ever wondered what happens to the thousands of NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports, wonder no more. Now, on your home or office CD-ROM-drive-equipped computer, you can comb through 140,000 of them submitted over the past five years and compiled for you by AeroKnowledge. The ASRS records reference such concerns as fatigue, experience level, advanced systems, airspace/controller conflicts, TCAS effectiveness, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), flight training, runway incursions and hundreds of other safety factors.
Alliance Plus is the name of a new program from AMR Combs and Bombardier. The program, designed to lower operating costs, provides participating owners of newly purchased Learjets and Challengers with ``turnkey'' aircraft management. Services include charter, crew training, maintenance support and discounts on fuel, insurance and flight planning. Participants keep 95 percent of the revenue when they book a charter or keep 85 percent of the revenue when the trip is booked through the Alliance Plus Center.
Effective April 23, the Independent Safety Board Act Amendments enacted in fall 1994 will change the definition of ``public aircraft.'' The upshot is that many operations involving government-owned or -leased aircraft used for carrying passengers will have to meet virtually all FAA safety regulations for certification, maintenance and training--unless they qualify for narrowly defined exemptions. Previously, public aircraft were excluded from many FARs. For details, phone the FAA's Dave Catey in Washington, D.C. at (202) 267-8094.
Baldwin Aviation and Martinair, both of Richmond, Virginia, have merged their helicopter charter and management companies to form HeloAir Incorporated, based in Sandston, Virginia. Robert W. Baldwin, formerly president of Baldwin Aviation, was appointed president of HeloAir. The new firm intends to expand operations beyond its current fleet of three helicopters.
Eight additional airports are designated user-fee facilities by the U.S. Customs Service. User fee airports are not international or landings rights airports; however, customs service is available for a fee. The newly designated airports are: Florida's Daytona Beach Regional, Sarasota-Bradenton and Melbourne Regional; Michigan's Willow Run; Tennessee's Tri-City Regional; Texas' Addison; Illinois' Pal-Waukee and Oregon's Medford-Jackson.
I've shared with you on other occasions ideas from aviation psychologist Bob Besco (Capt. AAL Retired). Recently, Bob has been looking into the captain-copilot dynamic, with emphasis on the copilot's Catch-22: You are damned if you ignore a captain's mistakes; you are damned if you do or say something about them!
NTSB said poor decision-making and relative inexperience of the captain led to the June 18, 1994 crash of a Learjet 25D during an ``unstabilized'' ILS approach in fog to Dulles International Airport (B/CA, August 1994, page 18). The accident killed all 12 persons aboard--the pilots, four adults, one teenager and five children. Also, the Safety Board found that the captain (who had 87 hours of Learjet PIC time) was not authorized to make the approach, the aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder (as required), and only eight passenger seats were installed.
The new MD 630N, a seven- to eight-seat single-turbine helicopter (foreground) is the newest member of the McDonnell Douglas Helicopter NOTAR family. Posing with the 630N are the five-place MD 520N (center) and the eight-seat twin-turbine MD Explorer. A decision on the manufacture of the 630N will be made later this year.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' production of wing skins marks the initial manufacturing process for the first Bombardier Global Express. Mitsubishi also is responsible for building the center fuselage of the long-range business jet. In other program developments, a joint definition phase was nearing completion at press time. This phase involved the resolution of key design issues by some 425 engineers from all major systems participants. The Global Express is scheduled to make its first flight in the second quarter of 1996.
Two winter events demonstrate the FAA is serious about beefing up its efforts to increase airspace capacity and reduce delays. The agency named a long-time FAA executive, 26-year-FAA-veteran Carl Schellenberg, as director of the Office of System Capacity and Requirements. The FAA says Schellenberg will be responsible for formulating the agency's strategic plan for improving system capacity. Then, the FAA sponsored a three-day government/industry workshop in March to discuss ways of improving the efficiency of airport ground operations.
Gulfstream Aerospace recently opened a parts facility in Bahrain to extend spares distribution to operators in the Middle East, Africa and surrounding regions. Gulfstream says parts warehoused in Bahrain can be shipped on a 24-hours-a-day basis. Customers will continue to contact Gulfstream directly for parts service. Separately, Tom Bell, Gulfstream vice chairman since March 1994, returned to Burson-Marsteller as president and CEO. Bill Boisture, Gulfstream's executive vice president, assumed Bell's operational responsibilities.
Aircraft manufacturers normally start the FAA icing certification development and screening process on the computer terminal and in a wind tunnel capable of generating icing conditions. A manufacturer uses the results of the computer modeling and wind-tunnel tests to determine what ice-protection systems will be needed for aircraft certification.
By the time they caught a glimpse of the darkened runway as the rotating beacon flashed by, it was too late to make it. A cockpit voice recorder picked up the last few seconds of the flight: ``We're not gonna make it; we're not gonna make it. We gotta keep it controlled . . . we gotta go straight in . . . we're not gonna make it; we gotta go straight in.''
Duncan Aviation is to provide all avionics installation and related services at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport from Jet Aviation's facilities. Under an agreement signed in February between the two companies, Duncan will handle all of Jet Aviation's avionics customers at Teterboro in addition to its own customer base. The separate Duncan Avionics shop at Teterboro will close. Meanwhile, Jet Aviation will concentrate on engine and airframe maintenance.
It was no accident when show planners chose ``Fan the Flame'' as the theme for this year's Professional Aviation Maintenance Association's Annual Trade Show and Symposium, coming to Cincinnati May 9-11. With that banner, organizers seem to have aptly named the association's redoubled efforts to enhance member benefits, attract new members and further build professionalism in the aircraft maintenance field.
Pilots might begin noticing new phraseology for position-and-hold clearances from ATC. In December 1994, the FAA directed controllers to begin informing holding traffic of the closest aircraft that is cleared to land. Approaching aircraft also will be advised of holding traffic.
How big a problem is fuel contamination? Not very big, but then neither is the amount of contamination it takes to ruin your whole day, your career or even your life.
Icing, as a potential threat to aircraft, ebbs and flows through history like the ocean tides that flood certain sections of the coast. In an effort to guard aircraft and coastlines from the most probable and predictable onslaughts of nature, engineers have carefully devised cost-effective defenses.
The Official Airline Guide is one of the most effective ways to justify the acquisition of a corporate shuttle aircraft. Run your fingers down the pages, and you'll find a list of dozens of smaller cities that have little airline service. The air fares to many of those cities, which have not benefited from the competitive effects of airline deregulation, have skyrocketed.
Frank Robinson, president of Robinson Helicopter in Torrance, California, claims pilot inexperience is a factor in accidents of R22 and R44 helicopters. But, the NTSB believes main-rotor stability problems are more of a factor and asked the FAA to ground all 900 helicopters. In four recent accidents in which rotor blades hit the fuselage, the Safety Board said the pilots-in-command were ``experienced'' and ``adequately trained'' and the total of 340 accidents of U.S. R22s is ``unusually high'' compared to other helicopters' accident records.
FAA is warning operators to ensure they land on the proper runway (either 13/31 or 5/23) at Wyoming's Sheridan County Airport (SHR). The agency says a new and longer runway (14/32), approximately 2,000 feet southeast of and nearly parallel to Runway 13/31, is not completed, yet it has been mistaken on ``numerous occasions as the active runway.'' Construction of Runway 14/32 is scheduled to be completed in April and commissioned for use shortly afterward.
New safety information on preventing controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents is now available. Flight Safety Foundation has published a four-page checklist so that pilots can evaluate their awareness of CFIT factors. SimuFlite Training International sponsored the initial printing and distribution of the checklist. To get a copy from FSF, call (703) 522-8300. Meanwhile, all FlightSafety International learning centers are now offering a half-day course on CFIT and the advantages and limitations of GPWS.
The demise of Page Avjet in December 1994 was prompted, in part, by an expansion of its facilities in the early 1990s in anticipation of a growing maintenance and modification market that never materialized. This overcapacity, ``against the background of a depressed aircraft and maintenance market,'' led to a belief by company officials that Page Avjet ``is unlikely to return to profitability in the foreseeable future.'' At press time, Page's facilities in Orlando and Fort Worth were empty and a buyer or lessor was being sought.
Now that a competitor's patent has expired, Insight Avionics is again marketing its Strike Finder thunderstorm detection systems in the United States. The system uses broad-band digital sampling to display electrical activity caused by thunderstorm activity. Zoom control provides weather depiction for 200-, 100-, 50- and 25-mile radii. A ``time travel'' button generates a time-lapse weather depiction for trend identification. When slaved to HSI compass systems, the Strike Finder maintains a heading-up relative display. Price: $4,995. Insight Avionics, P.O.
Key industry leaders, such as FAA Deputy Administrator Linda Daschle and Representative James Oberstar (D-MN), met in late December 1994 to brainstorm ways to increase student pilot starts.
