The NTSB recently opened its investigation docket on the Dec. 8, 2014, loss of an Embraer Phenom 100 (N100EQ) — an accident that renewed community worries and complaints about operations at Montgomery County Airpark (KGAI) in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Because of habit, overconfidence, laziness or haste, some pilots have intentionally disregarded carefully crafted and accepted standard operating procedures. Too often, flouting SOPs undermines efficiency, effectiveness and safety.
The NTSB said its investigators have learned that the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation is conducting an investigation into an accident involving an Embraer EMB-500 on Feb. 15, 2013 (BFU interim report No. CX001-13), at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport (SXF), Germany. The interim report of the accident stated that the airplane rolled to the left during the landing flare resulting in the left wing contacting the ground. Investigators found ice accretions up to 10 mm in thickness on the airplane’s nose, wing leading edges and horizontal stabilizer.
By William Garvey, Molly McMillin, Jessica A. Salerno
General aviation aircraft deliveries fell 4% last year, with shipments of piston and turboprop aircraft down, while business jet deliveries rose, preliminary figures show. “It’s a mixed bag this year,” said Pete Bunce, president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), a Washington trade group that compiles the data. “The U.S. economy is still in a positive climb, but it is very anemic.” The health of the energy industry impacts the global market, especially the market for large-cabin, long-range aircraft.
Every technician has been there, standing face to face with an agitated pilot who opens a conversation with, “It happened again.” This is often accompanied with the same look of disappointment mothers give when their child present a less than stellar report card. Technical problems that appear and disappear are exceptionally frustrating. The lack of a definitive resolution can cause a corrosive environment in your team dynamic. Pilots need to trust their technician’s ability to hunt and trap these types of problems, and their return erodes that faith.
By William Garvey, Molly McMillin, Jessica A. Salerno
Mooney International Corp. has introduced the M20V Acclaim Ultra, a redesigned M20 aircraft. Sales began Feb. 11. The upgraded Acclaim includes a composite fuselage, pilot and copilot doors, a clean-sheet interior design and major avionics upgrades, including the Garmin 1000 with an integrated Garmin flight-management keypad. Production is in progress. FAA certification is expected in the second quarter of this year, with deliveries to begin by mid-second quarter of this year, the company said. The base price for the Acclaim Ultra is $769,000.
In March 1966, BCA covered a Queen Air conversion, Bell's new JetRanger and the BAC-111 flight deck with windows that were "said to show three more lights at 100 ft. than the next best transport."
An undistorted view of the outside world isn’t a luxury for pilots, it’s an absolute necessity for obvious reasons. Yet sections of the aircraft manual describing the proper windshield care are usually buried in an obscure chapter that doesn’t receive much attention in ground school training.
By William Garvey, Molly McMillin, Jessica A. Salerno
The first binding energy efficiency and carbon-dioxide (CO 2) emissions targets for aviation have been agreed to by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In all but a few cases, aircraft in production or development will meet the initial standard without modification. The global CO 2 standard will apply to all commercial and business aircraft delivered after Jan.
Teterboro Airport was the airport most requested in Air Charter Guide Worldwide Trip Builder itineraries during January 2016, according to an analysis of aircharterguide.com data. It received the most requests for both departures and arrivals of charter flights.
Teterboro Airport was the No. 1 business aviation airport searched on acukwik.com in January 2016, an analysis of AC-U-KWIK site traffic reveals. The top airport outside the United States was Mexico City's Toluca International Adolfo Lopez Mateos Airport, which ranked fourth. Super Bowl 50 increased interest in three San Francisco Bay Area airports.
As you begin maneuvering for the planned approach, the controller states that, due to a marine layer that has moved into the area, visibility has gone from the forecast 2 mi. to less than a quarter of a mile. You’ve come prepared. Thanks to the special onboard systems, this approach is authorized down to zero/zero conditions. It is flown completely by the autopilot.
Fuel—having enough of it and assuring its steady flow to the engines—is so central to an aircraft’s operation that by many measures, the machine is designed around its fuel’s inflight storage and delivery.
Richard Hanson, Government & Regulatory Affairs Representative for the Academy of Model Aeronautics, discusses his concerns that the FAA includes model aircraft in their recent move to regulate small drones.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Daher delivered 55 TBM 900s in 2015, which the company said was a 10% increase over the previous year, and the second best year since deliveries of the initial versions of the single engine turboprop began in 1991. Of last year’s total, 44 went to U.S. buyers and five to Brazilians. However, Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s airplane unit, said he expects this year to be a challenging one internationally. The TBM 900 is the current production TBM family, following the 850 and original 700.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
National Business Aviation Association’s Domestic Operations Committee has created a customs checklist to help business aviation operators meet Customs and Border Protection requirements at U.S. ports of entry. The challenge was in addressing local policies and logistical requirements that vary among the ports of entry, said Ron Bojanski, Midwest Aviation/Kiewit Engineering Canadian operations manager who led the project.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. plans to develop a new helicopter engine—the Hindustan Turbo Shaft Engine (HTSE) 1200. The announcement follows the first test run of the 25-kN (5,620-lb.) thrust Hindustan Turbo Fan Engine (HTFE) 25. “The HTSE-1200 can be used for helicopters of 3.5-ton class in the single-engine configuration such as the Light Utility Helicopter and for 5 to 8 ton class in twin engine configuration such as the Advanced Light Helicopter and Light Combat Helicopter,” said T.
The anti-lasing law has teeth — if law enforcement authorities can find and arrest the perpetrators. Here are some accounts of a handful of laser felons who were caught.
The Learjet 75, Bombardier’s marketing name for the Learjet 45-456 and subsequent units, has been in production since November 2013 and it offers a package of improvements that make it a far more capable business airplane than the original Model 45 introduced in the mid-1990s. It offers true full-tanks, full-seats loading flexibility, substantially better runway performance, sportier climb performance, improved fuel efficiency, longer range and better reliability.
The first fatal general aviation accident investigation in which I participated involved load shift. It was summer 1968. A low-time pilot was earning “free time” from an FBO by running an errand to a neighboring airport. There he picked up two cases of oil, stacked them behind the pilots’ seats in the Cessna 150 and returned to his home airport. Turning base to final, the airplane stalled.
When pilots are asked to perform a tough assignment, they should be provided the tools necessary to conduct the mission safely. Assigning a single pilot to a single-engine, VFR-only helicopter with insufficient weather information and without instrument system protection certainly seems contrary to that rule and, indeed, statistics show such circumstances make such operations among the highest risk sectors in civil aviation.
