Part 135 operators are increasingly adopting Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAPs), says Chris MacWhorter, senior technical advisor for FAA's Flight Standards Service. Currently, 19 Part 135 operators and eight Part 135/91K operators have the programs in place, which provide a means for employees to voluntarily report safety issues and events. The Air Charter Safety Foundation has begun a program that would enable smaller operators to participate and ACSF Director of Safety Russ Lawton says four operators are on board with more in the works.
How to Wave at Airplanes Guiding an aircraft to a parking spot is one of those everyday tasks that few involved closely consider. The military has always had a standard set of hand/wand signals, but rarely do you find one place with the “official” guide for airside civilians. Despite that, there exists a common set of signals used at airports around the world.
The hat caught my eye. An egg white gambler, with its distinctive wide brim and handsome crown. I had to have it. “Got any more like that?” I asked the old fellow wearing it. “No, but you can have this one. I don't have cooties or nothing.”
After reading, “Who's Up Front?” (February 2013, page 9) I'd like to share my thoughts on airplanes without pilots. PA announcement of the future: “Folks, welcome aboard No Pilot Airlines Flight 1 to Frankfurt. You're currently at 35,000 ft. just east of Boston. You are flying an engineer's dream, a plane without pilots. “The engineers have won. At this mo–ment there are 1,500 airliners airborne and 40 U.S. and allied fighters heading to destroy terrorist targets. All of those are pilotless.
Sikorsky is taking another look at the fixed-wing M-28 light twin-engine transport plane. It inherited the development when it took over PZL Mielec back in 2007. The aircraft has achieved some success, with a large sale to the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, and the company is confident of more future sales .
Enstrom said it was working on STC approval to fit Garmin's G1000H integrated cockpit system into its 480B light turbine helicopter. The company is hoping to achieve certification of the upgrade before September. The upgrade cost is expected to be around $155,000.
David Velupillai ( Marketing Director Airbus Corporate Jets Blagnac, France )
I was surprised to read that “GA Manu–facturers Embrace Fly-by-Wire” (February 2013, page 33) does not mention Airbus, despite its leadership in introducing the technology. You seem to mention every other manufacturer but Airbus, and even describe Dassault as the first to use FBW in a business jet (a claim that it makes but which is nevertheless untrue, as we have pointed out before)!
Bombardier's Global 5000, the shorter version of the Global Express and fitted with smaller fuel tanks, has the best cabin of any business aircraft in its range class, along with the fastest cruise speeds and best runway performance, according to operators. They like its cockpit room, soft ride in turbulence, automated systems and three seating zones in the main cabin.
AgustaWestland is testing a fan-in-wing, electric-powered tilt-rotor demonstrator for advanced rotorcraft concepts. Measuring several meters in wingspan, the “Project Zero” subscale demonstrator has been developed and flown in secret since 2011 at AgustaWestland's Cascina Costa facility in Italy.
IMP Group Limited (IMP), the Canadian conglomerate that owns Canjet, Innotech Aviation, Execaire and Pacific Avionics, continues to expand its aviation portfolio with the acquisition of Toronto-based Image Air Charter to compliment Execaire's charter and management services. The company, which has 60 employees, manages a fleet of 20 aircraft. Execaire employs 290 workers and has a managed fleet of 53 aircraft.
EASA certified both the Dassault Falcon 2000S and 2000LXS March 11. This puts the 2000LXS ahead of schedule. It was originally anticipated to enter the market in 2014, but Dassault now expects the aircraft to enter service in the second half of this year. The Falcon 2000S is slated for first deliveries in the second quarter. Dassault unveiled the Falcon 2000S during the 2011 European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition as a successor to the Falcon 2000DX.
Dassault expects to see a boost in Falcon sales and slight increase in deliveries to 70 Falcon business jets in 2013. The improving sales would follow a year in which Dassault's Falcon net order intake (minus cancellations) increased by more than 50%, from 36 in 2011 to 58 in 2012. Deliveries were up last year by three units from 2011 to 66. But with the lead time in orders to deliveries, Dassault's production output is still reflecting slow orders during the downturn and is well beneath the 2010 peak of 95 deliveries.
A U.K. helicopter operator has received EASA approval that would allow it to begin flying air ambulance operations using night vision goggles (NVG), with pilots using the goggles to make landings into unlighted sites near accident scenes. Until now, air ambulances in the U.K. were allowed to operate only during daylight, with nighttime operations limited to landings on lighted helipads. The rules particularly limited operations in the winter months, forcing emergency services to rely on ground vehicles to reach patients in remote areas.
Congratulations to Features Editor David Esler on the excellent article “NOTAMs in Transition” (January 2013, page 24). I am operations manager in the Frankfurt office of the European AIS Database (EAD), a Eurocontrol service that deals inter alia with 1,000 to 2,500 NOTAMs/SNOWTAMs/ASHTAMs daily. I also have worked on several publications with the intent of harmonizing NOTAM procedures and to make them more user friendly. One of the most popular papers is the “OPADD” (Operating Procedures for AIS Dynamic Data), of which I was one of the authors.
Rarely has aviation history witnessed an era when so many large business jet engines have been simultaneously in development and battling for market share.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has added Aircraft flight Coordinator Training to its online training programming. The AFCT is a certificate program that provides core flight coordinator knowledge with an emphasis on safety and technical expertise to assist crews with in-depth planning.
Rockwell Collins launched the latest enhancements to its Flight Manager website, which is an integral part of the company's Ascent flight information solution. The new features include dynamic graphical flight tracking and an electronic Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) for FAR Part 91 operators. The flight tracker uses a Google Maps platform to provide Rockwell Collins data link subscribers with a worldwide view of their aircraft's position in flight, as well as the flight path of completed and upcoming flights.
AgustaWestland announced that the fourth prototype of the new generation light intermediate AW169 helicopter successfully completed its maiden flight at AgustaWestland's Vergiate plant in Italy Feb. 7. The company says the AW169 program is on schedule to achieve civil certification in 2014. The first three AW169 prototypes have flown more than 150 flight hours to date. The fourth prototype, built in just 71 days, is in production configuration.
Lawmakers reintroduced bills in the U.S. House and Senate to establish flight paths and minimum altitudes for helicopter operations in Los Angeles County. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Feb. 4 introduced a bill in the House, while Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) are pushing similar legislation in the Senate.
Jan. 22 — About 1925 EST, a Cirrus Design Corp. SR20 (N140PG) operated by Epic Blue was heavily damaged after it deployed its Cirrus Airplane Parachute System (CAPS) while on approach to Danbury Municipal Airport (DXR), Danbury, Conn. The flight instructor, a private pilot, and a passenger were not injured. It was VFR and no flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed Groton-New London Airport (GON), Groton, Conn.
Corporate Angel Network has transported its 42,000th patient. The flight carried one-year-old cancer patient Alexander Hopper home to the Denver area after he received treatment for Retinoblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City. The milestone flight was operated by Ball Corporation, a CAN participating company since 1985. The charity arranges about 250 patient flights each month.
Six years ago when the plethora of new 10K business jet engines was emerging, one of the contenders was Rolls-Royce's RB282, at the time destined for a super-midsize aircraft proposed by Dassault Aviation and identified only as “SMS.”
SkyVector launched it World FBO Directory on the company online chart viewer. Pilots can view and use worldwide aeronautical charts, graphical weather depictions and flight planning tools. The FBO Directory integrates into SkyVector's mapping interface displaying real-time fuel prices on the charts in relevant currencies and units of measure. Users can filter for FBO features and facilities including participation in fuel card programs or amenities offered.
