Real Clean Aviation Products has introduced Turbine Soot Master, a carbon soot cleaner and degreaser. According to the company it is designed to effectively address carbon exhaust buildup and staining that occurs on most turboprop aircraft. The product's streak-free formula dissolves carbon, grease and oil with very little effort. Soot Master is rinse-free and does not require the use of any water. Spray it on and wipe the surface clean with a microfiber or terry cloth. View the video at www.youtube.com/RealCleanAircraft
Aug. 7 — About 0845 CST, a Bell 214ST (N409SB) experienced a loss of tail rotor authority near Avalon, Texas. The pilots were not injured during the precautionary landing; however, the helicopter was substantially damaged. The helicopter was owned and operated by Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth. VFR conditions prevailed for the local flight operating without a flight plan. An initial report from the commercial pilot to the responding FAA inspector stated that they had departed Arlington Municipal Airport (KGKY) on a test and evaluation flight.
The “bible” for operations over the high seas is ICAO Document 4444, Section 15, which delineates general oceanic contingency procedures. An accompanying reference is ICAO Document 7030, which covers supplementary (unique) procedures applying to the eight ICAO regions. These two can be purchased through ICAO's main website in paper or online subscriptions at www.icao.int/publications/catalog. (They are not presented gratis on the ICAO website as FARs are on the FAA website and must be purchased. However, the full set is included in a Jeppesen JeppView subscription.)
The business and general aviation market is gaining ground in 2012, with industry billings improving by double digits and business jet and turboprop deliveries both increasing, according to GAMA. Billings for the first half of 2012 reached $8.202 billion, a 13.2% increase from the $7.246 billion in the first six months of 2011. The jump in billings corresponds to a 13.1% increase in business jet shipments in the first half. Manufacturers delivered 294 business jets in the first half, compared with 260 in the same period in 2011.
In July, Manassas Regional Airport (HEF), Virginia's largest regional airport, began construction to extend its longest runway by an extra 500 ft., to 6,200 ft. The five-phase project is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2012. In the meantime, runway length availability will be reduced to 5,000 ft., with a threshold displacement of 700 ft. In the last 30 days, there will be a further reduction to 4,700 ft. Check NOTAMs.
Business jet sales continue to bolster Bombardier's aerospace business, accounting for the increase in revenues from $2.085 billion in the second quarter of 2011 to $2.265 billion this year. Revenues for the six months, however, were down from $4.273 billion in the first half of 2011 to $3.764 billion through June 30 of this year. That decline in part was attributable to the slowing of Global deliveries in the first quarter.
Signature Flight Support parent BBA Aviation is bracing for continued volatility in the market for the remainder of the year, but BBA CEO Simon Pryce maintains that “medium term” indicators look much stronger. Business aircraft traffic was softer than expected — remaining relatively flat — keeping a damper on services overall. Even so, the company reported growth in revenue of 3% to $1.094 billion, thanks to an 11% increase in aftermarket services and higher fuel prices.
Embraer Executive Jets milled the first part for its mid-light Legacy 450 executive jet last week, marking the beginning of fabrication for the new aircraft. A forward fuselage component was milled from a block of aluminum alloy by a five-axis, high-performance machining center. The fully-automated milling process drew data directly from a digital mockup of the 2,300-nm-range Legacy 450. Once completed, the part was approved by a quality control process that employs laser devices for design validation and conformity with the digital mockup.
What follows is a compilation of actual inflight emergencies experienced by business aviation flight crews in oceanic airspace. Note the follow-throughs, cockpit resource management, and adherence to ICAO contingency procedures these tales reflect.
Beginning a design exercise on a clean sheet of paper has been a rare event in general aviation. The philosophy has always been you can tinker with it but, since it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. Witness the progression of the 1945 Beech Bonanza into the 2012 Baron, the 1945 Cessna 140 into the 2012 Stationair, the King KX 160 navcom to the KX 175, the RCA Primus 40 radar into the 21st century Primus 880. Even Garmin, with its image of being the great innovator, got into airborne weather radar by upgrading an ancient design (and very successfully, it should be noted).
CAE inaugurated pilot and maintenance technician training programs in Melbourne, Australia, for the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics. The program features a new CAE 5000 Series full-flight simulator, qualified to Level D standards by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Located in the Ansett Aviation Training facility, the CAE Melbourne location is part of CAE's expanding business aviation training network.
At the Latin American Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cessna announced that it has increased the range expectation of its new midsize Citation Latitude from 2,300 nm to 2,500 nm. In 2011, the Latitude was originally announced with an expected range of 2,000 nm, but Cessna engineers responding to customer input pushed the range figure to, first 2,300 nm, and most recently to 2,500 nm. “As we talked with more customers, getting to 2,500 nautical miles was imperative,” said Bob Gibbs, vice president, International Sales, South America.
The Citation CJ2, built from 2000 to 2006, filled a niche in Cessna's light jet product line that had been empty since the Citation I/SP went out of production in the early 1980s. The CitationJet and CJ1 were unable to fill that void, because their cabins were too short, tanks-full payload too puny and range too limited. The CJ2 remedied those shortcomings.
Asia Pacific Jets has ordered 10 Nextant 400XT business jets to be delivered over three years, with the first two delivered by the end of this year. Singapore-based Asia Pacific provides medical evacuation and corporate charter services. The company will also become Nextant's sales agent in Asia and has partnered with Hong Kong-based AirMed Asia, a subsidiary of medical transportation specialist AirMed International, to establish a new operating base for that company in Singapore.
The FAA has awarded Pro Star Aviation a Letter of Designation for the FAA Supplemental Type Certificate Organization Designation Authorization (ODA). This designation allows Pro Star to act on behalf of the FAA when approving and issuing STCs. Since 1998, Pro Star has developed nearly 50 FAA STCs in addition to managing STC projects for other applicants. As an ODA, Pro Star will manage and control the STC project from start to finish with minimal oversight from the FAA.
Gulfstream Aerospace has enrolled more than 140 aircraft in its Flight Operations Risk Management Service (FORMS) program, providing operators access to data that has been proven to reduce hazards in airline operations and is now migrating to business aviation. FORMS, Gulfstream's Flight Operations Quality/Assurance/Flight Data Management (FOQA/FDM) program, is modeled after airline programs that have become widely used to analyze operational data and improve flight training.
Gulfstream Aerospace has opened its first factory service center in Latin America in Sorocaba, Brazil. The Sorocaba facility, 97 km from São Paulo, has a 24,000-sq.-ft. hangar that can accommodate a mix of four to six large- and mid-cabin aircraft, and also includes 8,000-sq.-ft. of office space and a 3,000-sq.-ft. bonded parts warehouse. It is certified to perform maintenance, repairs and alterations on all Brazil-registered Gulfstream aircraft and can also service U.S.-registered Gulfstreams with FAA-certified technicians.
Cessna Aircraft is gathering market feedback on a potential 6-7 place single turboprop and developing a new version of its venerable Grand Caravan. Dubbed the ERV (engineering research vehicle), the concept plane has been flying for the past several years. But Cessna officials maintain the program is “not a go” until they are able to determine the market for such an aircraft. The aircraft is larger, though, than another concept piston that Cessna had tested and contemplated — the NGP (next-generation piston).
Piper Aircraft Inc. has reached a 10-year agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada for the continuing purchase of PT6A-42A turboprop engines to power Piper's flagship single-engine M-Class Meridian. P&WC is a United Technologies Corp. business unit.
Richard Santulli's Milestone Aviation Group has placed several major orders from three helicopter manufacturers. Most recently, Dublin-based Milestone increased its orders for Sikorsky S-92s from three to a total of 22. At this year's Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo, the company announced an order for 16 Eurocopter EC225 aircraft valued at $480 million to be delivered over five years. This is in addition to five new Eurocopter EC130B4 helicopters for its airmedical business, the first of which is planned for delivery in the second half of 2012.
ward Opportunities Each year, the NBAA's Schedulers & Dispatchers Committee promotes education and career development through scholarships and training awards supported by the generosity of industry donors. To date, the committee has awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships along with countless training awards. Applications for the 2013 scholarships and awards are available now on www.nbaa.org.
Sennheiser has launched the S1 Passive, a high-performance GA headset that offers pilots both excellent passive noise attenuation and optimum wearing comfort. The full-size headset was developed for pilots who want noise attenuation but do not want to use an active headset. It is also equipped with Sennheiser's ActiveGard feature that protects the pilot's hearing against extreme volume peaks that can occur during radio communications. If a signal above 110 dB is received, ActiveGard compresses the sound and everything remains clearly intelligible at a healthy volume.
Excellent article about the latency of cockpit-displayed Nexrad data (“Cause & Circumstance, August 2012). Equally important, though, is for pilots to realize that the Weather and Radar Processor (WARP) used to display precipitation data to Center controllers can be equally latent and should not be relied upon to obtain vectors that “thread the needle” between large convective cells. (Tracon weather displays more closely approximate real-time conditions.) Keep up the good work.
GE Aviation is launching two derivative engines of its recently certified H80: the H75 and H85 turboprop engines, the company announced July 23. The H75 will be rated at 750 shp for both takeoff and maximum continuous operation, and the H85 will be rated at 850 shp. Like the H80, the H75 and H85 engines will be manufactured at GE Aviation's facility in the Czech Republic and aimed at the agricultural, commuter, utility and business turboprop aircraft segments.
More diesel plans. Continental Motors Inc. (CMI), working with its Chinese parent AVIC International, is planning to invest in a line of diesel engines ranging from 160 hp to 350 hp or more. At the same time, CMI is pursuing the supplemental type certificate market, recently obtaining the first for a diesel option on the Cirrus S22. CMI President Rhett Ross stresses that the company plans to continue to support the aviation gasoline engine market and sees it remaining in the U.S. for some time.
