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.
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.
