Business & Commercial Aviation

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.

Selected accidents and incidents in November and December 2015. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

Since helicopters generally operate at much lower altitudes than airplanes, the risk of collision with an unmanned aerial system (UAS) is much higher. In recent months the FAA has established an interim policy to speed up airspace authorizations for commercial UAS operators. Since March 23, 2015, the agency has granted authorization for flights at or below 200 ft. to any UAS operator with a Section 333 exemption (in simplest terms, someone using a UAS for commercial purposes).

It was a grim undertaking as we three accident investigators with the U.S. Forest Service started combing through the twisted metal of a Bell-Soloy 47 strewn across the side of a steep mountain in Utah. The helicopter operator had been contracted by the Forest Service to disburse grass seed over hillsides that had been badly burned months earlier in the summer of 1996. To accomplish this, the operator used a specially designed seeding bucket suspended by cables beneath the turbine-powered helicopter.

Officials from the helicopter industry and FAA will meet in Washington, D.C., Feb. 11-12, 2016, to discuss improving weather information availability, heliport standardization and IFR infrastructure. Despite some welcome new elements, gaping holes remain in the country’s weather information “grid.” There are many Non-Federal AWOSs that need to be added to the weather collection and information dissemination system.

Four minutes after takeoff on Nov. 4, 2010, not long after retracting slats and flaps, Capt. Richard Champion de Crespigny and the crew of Qantas Flight 32, flying an ill-fated Airbus A380 from Singapore to Sydney, heard the two most startling sounds of their flying careers. One of the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce Trent engines had just suffered catastrophic failure.

Before launching into the IFR system, pilots need to familiarize themselves with the instrument requirements for their particular helicopter. Within the same make, model and series of helicopters, variations in the installed avionics may change the equipment needed or the level of augmentation for a particular operation. The complexity of the automatic flight control system (AFCS), autopilot and flight director in some helicopters requires formal pilot training to understand the unit’s operation, limitations, failure indications and reversionary modes.

Perusing AvWeeks through 10 decades is quite a journey of discovery revealing the brilliance, ingenuity, doggedness, bravery, tragedies and breakthroughs that has delivered the aerospace industry to its place today.

According to a Victor private jet travel industry report, the three largest private jet travel markets in Europe are: France, with 19.2% of the flights; Germany, with 15.4%; and the U.K. with 12.8%. May 23 was the busiest day for travel in 2015, with 2,221 flights related to the Monaco Grand Prix. The top three airports for high-season private jet travel included Nice, France, with 13,250 flights; Olbia, Italy, with 6,220 flights; and Ibiza, Spain, with 5,634 flights.

Dassault Aviation’s business jet unit saw reduced orders and deliveries in 2015, a disappointing year that was offset in part by new export contracts for the company’s Rafale combat jet. Dassault took in orders for only 45 new Falcon jets in 2015, just half of what the company recorded the previous year. In addition, an order for 20 Falcon Netjets was canceled last year, and Dassault fell short of its goal of delivering 66 business jets in 2015, instead recording just 55.

Italian aerospace and defense conglomerate Finmeccanica has begun operations under its new corporate structure. Under CEO Mauro Moretti’s “One Company” initiative, launched Jan. 1, Finmeccanica-owned AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi and Selex ES have now been absorbed into the larger Finmeccanica entity and will operate as divisions rather than separate companies. Under the initiative, AgustaWestland becomes Finmeccanica Helicopters while aircraft manufacturer Alenia Aermacchi becomes Finmeccanica Aeronautics.

In aviation we’ve long recognized that “scud running” is immensely dangerous, and the protection of operating in the IFR system with an IFR-certified aircraft and IFR-proficient pilot can be an effective means to avoid CFIT-type accidents. In 1997, the FAA allowed passenger-carrying operations under FAR Part 135 for single-engine airplanes, justifying the rule change because it noted that the risk of CFIT far outweighed the risk of engine failure.

The low-drag design of modern business jets makes managing aircraft energy while descending from altitude a challenge. These aircraft tend to build up speed rapidly in a descent and don’t “go down and slow down” well. Such characteristics are especially problematic when ATC issues a late descent combined with an altitude or airspeed constraint.

The FAA is revising Advisory Circular AC 91-37A, Truth in Leasing, dated Jan. 16, 1978. Why? The regulation that the AC explains, FAR Part 91.23, has not changed.

Carter Aviation Technologies, plans to have its experimental CarterCopter at the Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-in and Expo at Florida’s Lakeland-Linder Airport April 5-10. The Wichita Falls, Texas, company says it is conducting demonstrations for potential joint venture partners. It hopes to create three separate joint ventures to develop three categories of aircraft from less than 2,000 lb. to 7,000 lb. gross weight. The company says it is discussing larger aircraft with major aerospace companies.

Associated Air Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, has obtained an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the installation of a Controller Pilot Data Link Communication System on a Boeing Business Jet VIP model. The system is part of the requirements for the Future Air Navigation System, or FANS. The STC was completed at Associated Air’s Dallas Love Field repair station.

Mitsui & Co. LTD, a large Japanese conglomerate involved in energy, machinery, chemicals, food, textile, logistics, finance, and other industries, has acquired an equity stake in Quest Aircraft Co., maker of the Kodiak single turboprop utility aircraft. Quest became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Setouchi Holdings, Inc., another Japanese conglomerate, in February 2015. The agreement between Setouchi and Mitsui was finalized on January 13.

Blue Sky Innovations has formed a general-aviation consulting service to help general aviation business owners and investors expand into foreign markets. Early projects will focus on growth opportunities among the U.S., China and Brazil. Tim Archer serves as president and CEO. Clients include fixed base operators, manufacturers, maintenance, repair and overhaul firms, flight schools, airports, charter operators and others.

Etihad Airways has formed a partnership with Victor, an on-demand operator, by which passengers can charter a Victor business jet to connect with their international Airbus A380 flights. Victor, which operates bases in California, New York and London, says it provides real-time availability, discloses transaction fees and specific operator and aircraft details without upfront commitments.

ExcelAire, based in Ronkonkoma, New York, has begun private jet charter service to Cuba. The charter firm has begun direct flights from 19 cities in the U.S. It completed its first trip to Cuba from John F. Kennedy International Airport on Dec. 21. U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba must comply with U.S. restrictions that require each visitor to obtain a visa/license, the company said.

Terrafugia, the Boston-based outfit developing a flying car, has been named a member of one of the four teams selected by the FAA to receive system engineering, research and mission analysis contracts. The team, which is being led by Mosaic ATM, also includes Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Virgin America, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and several other aerospace institutions and companies. It has been tasked with advising federal regulators on the future of air traffic management and aviation infrastructure.

West Star Aviation in Grand Junction, Colorado, has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), putting it in compliance with the China Civil Aviation Regulation, CCAR, Part 145 Maintenance Organization. West Star’s approval includes overhauling and repairing landing gear for business aircraft and services and ultrasonic, eddy current X-Ray, liquid penetrate and magnetic particle inspections.

In February 1966, BCA reported that the Beech 18 was undergoing flight tests, a circular runway design was found to have great benefits for larger airports, and the Gulfstream II was in the mockup stage.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Ft. Myers, Florida, has added a new Airbus H125 AStar helicopter, which increases its AStar fleet from two to three helicopters.