Jet Aviation has added a Moscow-based Global 5000 to its managed aircraft fleet. The company is working in close cooperation with Swiss certification authorities to bring the aircraft onto its AOC, and expects the aircraft to be available for charter services in December 2012.
NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher A. Hart concurred with the Safety Board's findings and probable cause in this accident but expressed concern “that we are not giving enough attention to an emerging issue — the human factors issues associated with the improving reliability of automation.” What follows is excerpted from his concurring opinion.
As aviators, we now take the global positioning system (GPS) and its constellation of transmitting satellites for granted. The U.S. Air Force manages the constellation to ensure the availability of at least 24 GPS satellites 95% of the time. For the past several years, the Air Force has been flying 31 operational GPS satellites, plus 3-4 decommissioned satellites (residuals) that can be reactivated if needed.
Embraer's new Legacy 500 is undergoing final validation tests of the fly-by-wire flight control system of the midsize business jet, and is hoping to finally obtain clearance for the aircraft's first flight within weeks. Software issues with the fly-by-wire system have pushed back first flight by almost a year. But the system is fully installed, and executives are optimistic that those issues are well behind them. Once it resolved the fly-by-wire issues, Embraer had hoped to have the first prototype flying by the end of September—but that schedule has slipped.
Aerospace Education Corporation hosted its 4th Biennial Aviation and Aerospace Career Fair on October 4th and 5th at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY. The goal of the event was to educate middle and high school students about careers in aviation and aerospace and was attended by almost 2,500 people, who were able to meet with 30 exhibitors, speak with the pilots and technicians at over 10 aircraft on static display and listen to a presentation by NASA Astronaut Daniel Burbank about his time in space.
Lessons learned from the fatal crash of a Gulfstream G650 test aircraft in Roswell, N.M., could bolster safety for airframe manufacturers and flight test departments globally. Along with determining a probable cause for the accident, which killed two test pilots and two flight test engineers, the NTSB issued 10 recommendations, many of which called for the dissemination of information about the underlying reasons for the accident, and program countermeasures that may eradicate errors made during the G650 test program.
The all-composite Learjet 85, arguably the most ambitious of Bombardier's several business jet development programs, is incorporating new processes and moving lots of dirt as it advances steadily toward first flight. Once certified and in service, the new model will be the largest, farthest ranging and fastest ever to bear the Learjet marque, and it will be the first FAR Part 25 business jet with a fuselage and wings fashioned mostly from composite material.
Jet Source announced the addition of an Embraer Phenom 100 corporate jet to its charter fleet, based at the Jet Source FBO at McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ) in Carlsbad, Calif. “The Phenom 100 is proving itself to be . . . ideally suited for those quick trips to San Francisco, Phoenix or more exotic locations like Cabo San Lucas in Mexico,” says Ian Ewing, vice president of business development for Jet Source.
Thrush is shipping its newly certified 510G agricultural aircraft, the first application for GE's H80 turboprop engine. Certification followed a two-year development program with both GE and Albany, Ga.-based Thrush Aircraft and comes just a few weeks after Thrush obtained type inspection authorization from FAA. GE obtained certification for the H80 engine, earlier this year. Thrush has built 11 of the H80-powered 510G aircraft and has begun initial deliveries both within the U.S. and to Latin American nations.
Universal Aviation U.K., located at Stansted Airport (EGSS), has completely renovated its 10,712-sq.-ft. FBO. The updates include all-new crew and passenger lounges, a state-of-the-art business center and video conferencing facility, two client meeting rooms, private screening facilities and ultra-modern showers and changing rooms. The facility is home to Universal's ground-support business and its 24/7 European Operations Center, which offers trip facilitation within Europe and globally.
Eclipse Aerospace announced an anti-skid braking system (ABS) as a new option for the Eclipse twin-engine very light jet. The new ABS is available as an option on new production Eclipse 550 jets and will be offered as a retrofit to the existing fleet. In-aircraft testing is complete with certification and availability expected within six months. ABS allows for maximum braking energy and skid control without the need for a conventional hydraulic system, which is unique to the Eclipse Jet.
Piper Aircraft and Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP) announced that beginning Dec. 5, 2012, access to all Piper maintenance publications and regulatory documents will be available exclusively through the ATP Aviation Hub Online Service and ATP's NavigatorV Desktop Platform. Piper says ATP's single integrated solution offers several advantages for users including learning one simple software platform for publication access, daily revision updates to all content, and eliminating the cost of installing and managing software.
Bombardier Aerospace has opened a Regional Support Office in Moscow (Denisovskiy Pereulok, 26, Moscow), operated by Bombardier Aerospace Service Russia LLC. It will serve as a regional support hub for commercial aircraft customers in Russia and the CIS. According to the company, when the office is fully staffed it will include support resources for operators of Bombardier business aircraft and have as many as 15 customer service managers, liaison pilots, field service reps and mobile response technicians.
The Carlyle Group is set to buy the FBO chain it helped create nearly three decades ago. But its reacquisition of Landmark Aviation comes at a price believed to be $200 million more than when Carlyle sold the chain five years ago. Carlyle and Landmark owners GTCR and Platform Partners announced the sale on Sept. 14, but did not disclose terms of the agreement, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Carlyle sold Landmark in August 2007 to Dubai Aerospace under a $1.9 billion package deal that also included StandardAero.
Since many pilots, even some very experienced ones, admit they are not completely aware of the real nature of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and its ground-based counterpart Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS), we offer a brief primer. WAAS is a Space-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), as is Europe's EGNOS, India's GAGAN and Japan's MSAS. All are intended to be compatible and even interoperable.
I had a nice chuckle over the first paragraph of “Day Trippers” (Viewpoint, September 2012, page 9). I know what I would've done with my shoe if that smart-!@# said the same to me. It sounds like a great journey to the West Coast. Your story is just another reminder of why I am happy I took the corporate route for my career. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the laugh! Captain/Safety Advisor SCANA Corp. Columbia, S.C.
China's Kunming Changshui International Airport, located in the southwest China, has installed a custom built-in airport bird control manufactured by Bird-X. The first device used was the BroadBand Pro, an electronic device that combines sonic and ultrasonic broadcasts to repel birds up to six acres. The ultrasonic frequencies are nearly silent to humans. The second device was the Mega Blaster Pro, a highly powerful sonic bird control system that uses intermittent distress calls to create a “danger zone” that frightens birds away for good.
Mark A. Carolla Airlines, Rail, Maritime & International Affairs Consultant Pierce, Pugliese & Carolla Air Analytics LLC (Herndon, Va. )
The “Fast Five” interview with the Reason Foundation's Robert Poole (September 2012, page 25) prompted this letter. Back when I was a kid traveling the New York State Thruway, my late dad used to point out the billboards facing the Thruway and the New York Central Railroad's main line, which taunted, “You'd be there by now if you flew Mohawk!” That was true — and Mohawk Airlines eventually eclipsed the passenger train as a means of getting around the Empire State for day business travelers.
NASA's Langley Research Center, Mitre and several partners have completed the first in a series of inflight evaluations of cooperative automatic sense-and-avoid (SAA) algorithms for unmanned air systems (UAS), in large part to validate a new testbed that will be used for more advanced trials next year. SAA is regarded as one of the top priorities — and one of the most difficult issues to solve — in the FAA and Defense Department's effort to safely integrate manned and unmanned aircraft in civil airspace.
Rockwell Collins' new GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR) enables operators to take advantage of evolving RNP/RNAV and ADS-B capabilities. It fulfills the requirements for aircraft navigation position source, Category III ILS, Category I Global Positioning Landing System (GLS) and accessing RNP/RNAV airspace (down to RNP Authorization Required 0.1). It also meets the GPS position and availability requirements for ADS-B Out mandates.
A few years back, I received a call from a man who wanted to compare his department with ours. I've found such “benchmarking” exercises to be a great way to share good ideas and hear what's working for others. Organizations such as the NBAA, manufacturers' websites and the Chief Pilots' Roundtable provide invaluable help in running flight organizations through that technique, disseminating information that's applicable to both administrative and technical operations. I looked forward to what I could glean from this man's large operation.
Robert E. Breiling Associates Inc., a global resource for business turbine aircraft/helicopter accidents and incidents and their analysis, has provided BCA with a current world accident picture. The data presented show the U.S. and non-U.S. fleet accident/incident data by major operator type through the first nine months of 2012 versus 2011. Data are preliminary and may change as the year progresses, particularly with non-U.S. data, which are obtained from numerous international sources. Business Jets
Eurocopter Canada Limited delivered an AS350 B3e to Blackcomb Aviation for its utility and heli-skiing operations in British Columbia. Blackcomb now operates seven Eurocopter aircraft: one AS350 B3, one AS350 B2, four AS355s, one EC130 B4 and one EC120 B.
CAE will provide a suite of products, engineering services and simulation-based technology tools, including a simulator, to support the design, testing and certification of the Global 7000 and Global 8000 aircraft platform as part of Bombardier's Integrated System Test and Certification Rig (ISTCR).
