General aviation groups this summer have agreed to highlight skills to avoid loss-of-control incidents as part of a multi-pronged effort to stem the recent increase in accidents that has raised the concern of industry, FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board. The FAA recently held a meeting with a number of general aviation stakeholders to look at both short-term and long-term initiatives to help turn the accident rate, which has been stubbornly flat over the past five years and up in the past six months.
There now are 260+ Phenom 100 aircraft in service. The aircraft went through some teething pains as first deliveries began in December 2008, but operators say it has evolved into a highly reliable means of business transportation in the last 30 months.
EASA has a far different requirement for supplemental oxygen aboard high flying jets. EU-OPS 1.770 (b)(iii) and (iv) only require that O2 masks “be within immediate reach of flight crew members” and that “quick donning” masks be installed for flight crewmembers in pressurized aircraft flying above 25,000 ft. Similarly, the ICAO Annex 6 3.4.4.2.2 rule for supplemental oxygen use essentially is the same as the EASA regulation. Canada, in contrast, requires one pilot to use an oxygen mask above FL 410, according to CAR 605.32.
Steve Orr (Supervisory Special Agent/Pilot (Ret.) Drug Enforcement Administration Houston, Texas )
Thank you so much for your detailed, informative and comprehensive analysis of the Gulfstream G650 (April 2013, page 24). I do not know how long it took me to read it, but I was impressed with the facts that, as a professional pilot, I demand in an article. I read about six periodicals a month about flying and after reading a terrible article on the Bombardier 6000 in another magazine I decided to write to you. Excellent work and this is why I subscribe to BCA.
FAA has no studies on the possible toxicity of pilots' breathing 100% oxygen for prolonged periods, but Jeffrey Sventek, executive director of the Aerospace Medical Association, co-authored just such a study using rabbits in the mid-1980s. The goal was evaluate the possible side effects of breathing almost pure oxygen on the rabbits' cardiovascular systems. Significant changes in the rabbits' responses to certain enzymes that regulate blood pressure and heart rate were recorded after 72 hr. of almost continuous exposure to pure oxygen at normal atmospheric pressure.
London Gatwick Airport has reopened a helicopter landing site after a 12-year absence. Based at the end of taxiway Uniform on the west side of the airport, the helicopter aiming point (HAP) reopens after two years of feasibility discussions and joint planning between Gatwick officials and Signature Flight Support.
CSI Aviation launched a more innovative and customer friendly website in support of its growing marketing efforts. The website enables customers to clearly view the company's value-added aviation management services from arranging charter, managing aviation programs, to using mission-specific aircraft for mapping and data collection and surveillance. The company also has a new logo. CSI Aviation Albuquerque, N.M. www.csiaviation.com
EmptyLegMarket, an online marketplace for empty-leg flights, launched a mobile version of its website. The mobile website has the same listings that are on the full version of the company's website, however the mobile version has been optimized for viewing on various mobile devices.
In April a Gulfstream G650 set a city-pair speed record between Shanghai and Newark, N.J., by covering more than 6,855 nm (12,695 km) in 13 hr. and 32 minutes. The manufacturer said the aircraft departed Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 10:38 p.m. local time on April 18 with five passengers and four crewmembers on board. Once airborne, ATC held the aircraft below 31,000 ft. for an hour before it could climb to its normal cruising altitude of 41,000 to 51,000 ft. (12,500-15,500 meters).
Dassault Aviation's Mystere 20 s.n.1 took to the skies for the very first time on May 4, 1963, and the French planemaker is holding celebrations and displays throughout the year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that signal event. The centerpiece of the moveable feast is s.n. 1 itself. The aircraft has undergone a three-year restoration by a team of former airline and Dassault employees.
I read the instructions carefully and double-checked my passport to be sure it contained two consecutive blank pages. Good to go. All that remained was to get a mug shot and then send the package to the facilitator to obtain a visa. I well understood the importance of those empty pages.
Ametek Sensors & Fluid Management Systems (SFMS) was selected by Embraer as a supplier for the recently awarded U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) contract. Embraer teamed with Sierra Nevada Corp. on the program and is producing the Super Tucano for the LAS contract. Ametek was selected to provide products including advanced triaxial accelerometers and Amphion solid-state relays.
Alpha Air Center of Joplin Regional Airport (KJL) in Webb City, Mo., plans to open a new 5,000-sq.-ft. executive terminal this summer. The new terminal will include a range of amenities, including showers, conference rooms, flight-planning equipment and dedicated pilot and passenger amenities. The fixed-base operation is an Avfuel dealer that participates in Avfuel Contract Fuel and Avtrip points programs.
Just a quick one to say how much I enjoy your pieces each month and to ask that y'all not let BCA evaporate into a non-paper effort given its still-important role and the value of a paper-based magazine that does what you do.
Hawthorne Global Aviation Services is adding its third location in a little more than a year with the recent acquisition of development rights at Chicago Executive Airport. Hawthorne, which teamed with Moelis Capital Partners in 2010 to build a nationwide fixed-base operation (FBO) chain, closed on a deal May 6 to acquire the rights from Sovereign Development Group and hopesto begin construction later this month on a nearly 40,000-sq.-ft. terminal and hangar facility.
Embraer has received both FAA and Brazilian Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC) clearances for installation of its Prodigy Touch flight deck aboard the Phenom 300. NetJets is launching the new flight deck aboard the Phenom, and Embraer is offering the suite as an option for other Phenom 300 aircraft beginning in the fourth quarter. Based on the Garmin G3000 platform, the Prodigy Touch incorporates touch-screen technology with automation designed for single-pilot operation.
The Southwest Airlines flight had been uneventful, but shortly after the Boeing 737 touched down at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 8, 2009, the right main landing gear's inboard wheel and brake assembly separated from the aircraft. The pilots managed to taxi the jetliner off the runway and onto a taxiway where all 142 occupants deplaned. Airfield crews recovered the sizeable broken components that upon examination revealed fatigue cracking emanating from the brake mounting bolt-hole.
There's been a lot of e-chatter lately concerning the place of pilots in aviation's future. The sentiments expressed celebrate the good old days when pilots, not engineers, were in charge and when the men at the controls were rugged individualists. In following these messages, it seems the fabled Pan American China Clippers were flown by pilots with “the right stuff.”
Jet Aviation's six U.S. FBO facilities — Boston/Bedford, Mass.; Dallas and Houston, Texas; St. Louis, Mo.; Palm Beach, Fla., and Teterboro, N.J. — have joined Paragon Aviation Group's network of independent FBOs nationwide. The new partnership increased the total number of connections available to support customer requirements to 23 locations in North America.
Beechcraft hopes to sell most of its jet programs by midyear. Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture said earlier this year that the programs have attracted a fair amount of interest and recently told Wichita reporters that he expects a bidding process to begin shortly. Options exist for the programs, ranging from a support organization buying the lines to maintain the existing fleet, to a manufacturing operation purchasing them to bring them back into production.
When Blain Stanley, international operations director at Aircare FACTS Training, begins a class on cabin emergency training for flight crews, he asks the pilots — many of whom have described their passengers as “Type A's” — if they think their charges would be assets or liabilities during an emergency. According to Stanley, the nearly universal answer is the latter.
Michelin and the Federal Aviation Administration Safety Program (FAASTeam) have teamed to offer pilot and aircraft maintenance technicians an online tire maintenance course titled “The Impact of Tire Maintenance on Aircraft Safety.” FAASafety.gov is the primary training website for pilot and aircraft maintenance technicians. There are FAA incentive credits available for taking the training courses, which cover a variety of topics. This new course helps expose pilots and AMTs to the possible consequences of inadequate tire inflation pressure and the damages of FOD.
3M introduced a new line of masking tapes aimed at “Making Masking Simple.” Built on increasing levels of performance, the new products include: Value Masking Tape 101+ for basic jobs such as marking and wrapping; General Use Masking Tape 201+ for bundling, labeling and identifying; Performance Yellow Masking Tape 301+ for industrial paint masking, color coding and sealing; High Performance Green Tape 401+/233+ for high-performance industrial painting of aircraft trucks and other special vehicles; and Specialty High-Temperature Masking Tape 501+ for the highest degree of i
