I am deeply disturbed by your comments about the FAA administrator's premature departure due to a DUI incident in December last year (Washington Watch, January 2012, page 63). As an FAA certificate holder (ATP and CFI) for over 22 years, it does matter to me who is at the top of the world's largest and probably most-influential civil aviation administration.
At the invitation of the U.S. DOT, representatives from the NBAA and GAMA met with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's transportation working group to explain the benefits of business aviation and provide suggestions on oversight as the market expands in the region. A key point of emphasis was that business aviation is not in competition with airlines, notes Doug Carr, vice president of safety, security and regulation for the NBAA.
It has been more than two years, 786 days, to be precise, since our application for a simple, single-pilot FAR Part 135 air carrier certificate was filed with our local FSDO. While we were certainly not new to the bureaucracy and extended timelines that are trademarks of any FAA certification process, it was our reasonable expectation that within a year we would be close to certification.
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Cessna's third-generation CitationJet, the CJ1+, is a considerably improved version of the original aircraft, thanks to its more powerful engines, a 100-lb. MTOW increase and slightly better fuel efficiency. Compared to the original CitationJet and second-generation CJ1, this aircraft can climb directly to FL 410 in 27 min., less than half the time, cruise up to 20 to 30-kt. faster and fly 75-nm farther. It also has vastly improved hot-and-high airport takeoff performance.
Priester Aviation has added three new aircraft to its private jet charter fleet. The new aircraft include a Gulfstream G550, Citation CJ4 and Pilatus PC-12 NG, which will be supported by Priester's aircraft management and charter program. The 16-passenger Gulfstream G550 will be Priester's 16th large-cabin aircraft.
March 5 — About 1210 CST, a Sikorsky 269C (N1099N) operated by a private pilot received substantial damage when it impacted terrain during a forced landing near Staples, Texas. The personal flight was in VFR conditions. No flight plan was on file. The pilot and passenger reported no injuries. The flight's origin and destination are unknown. According to an initial pilot statement, he heard a “pop” sound and the helicopter yawed. He performed a forced landing and the helicopter hit the ground hard.
The Sept. 30, 2015 deadline for integrating unmanned aircraft into U.S. civil airspace, set in the new FAA reauthorization bill, is expected initially to be met using ground-based sense-and-avoid (GBSAA), a Pentagon official says. Using ground radars, GBSAA will allow “routine access” to airspace for unmanned aircraft transiting between their bases and restricted areas used for training, says Steven Pennington, U.S. Air Force director of bases, ranges and airspace.
Area navigation (RNAV) Required Navigation Procedure with Authorization Required (RNP AR) instrument approach and departure procedures are key components of the FAA's Next Generation air traffic management system and the European Aviation Safety Agency's Single European Sky (SESAR). Certificated U.S. air carriers, such as Southwest Airlines, along with NetJets pioneered RNP approaches as a means of gaining lower weather minimums at some of the airports they frequently use or to save fuel by flying tighter approach and departure paths.
The NTSB is proposing to alter the review procedures for FAA enforcement applications and to facilitate electronic filings. An NPRM, published in the Feb. 9 Federal Register, follows a December 2010 ANPRM that covered the standard of review for emergency determinations, discovery and information exchange, and electronic filing of documents. The NPRM questioned whether the agency should change its standard position that FAA's allegations against a party are true for the purposes of a five-day review of the emergency status of a revocation.
The distance from Dubai to Kabul is just over 1,000 nm. That's about two and a half hours in a Hawker 400XP — more than enough time to contemplate what might be awaiting in Afghanistan's war-ravaged capital. I know the unsettling feeling, because I made the trip in August 2007 on assignment for Aviation Week & Space Technology.
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. government's main audit agency, the FAA has to do a much better job of managing the big modernization programs that are essential to the success of the NextGen air traffic management system. A new GAO report the finds that although the FAA is improving in this area, there are still many cases where it is not following cost estimate and scheduling best practices. Specifically, the FAA should pay better attention to obtaining independent cost estimates, says the GAO.
General aviation in China has a strong long-term future, but it's important not to confuse its initial spike in orders with that market's long-term character, which may be very different. So says aviation analyst Brian Foley. “Dreams of a limitless upside must be tempered with realism.
Government and industry officials need to collaborate on ways to mitigate runway incursions before another disaster happens, says NTSB Commissioner Christopher Hart. “If we don't get our hands around this problem — and we don't have our hands around this — sooner or later it's going to happen again,” Hart told the Air Charter Safety Foundation's 2012 Air Charter Safety Symposium in February.
Helicopter Association International President Matt Zuccaro is appealing to the FAA to take action to “remove people who shouldn't be in the air.” During a “Meet the Regulators” session at February's Heli-Expo in Dallas, Zuccaro noted that some companies operate at unacceptable safety levels, but their actions get the most attention and hurt the entire industry. He conceded that it may be strange for a community to ask for more enforcement, but he notes that the industry must deal with the fallout of operators flying with thin safety margins.
The FADEC-equipped -3AP is one of Williams' most-advanced versions of the FJ44 turbofan family, producing 2,300 lb. of thrust for takeoff and weighing only 510 lb. Compared to earlier -3 engines, the -3AP incorporates many aerodynamic and durability improvements, plus it weighs 8% less and has 3% better specific fuel consumption. A fuel/oil heat exchanger eliminates the need for an anti-icing fuel additive.
EASA has finished its initial evaluation of the Gulfstream G650 in preparation for certification. As of Jan. 25, the four Gulfstream G650 aircraft in the flight-test program had accumulated more than 2,675 flight hours over 820 flights. The aircraft is expected to enter service in the middle of this year. The G650 received a provisional type certificate from the FAA on Nov. 18, 2011, with the full FAA type certificate expected by mid-year.
China and Russia will join forces to build general aviation aircraft in Erdos, China according to China's Peoples' Daily Online, The project to build four- to 12-seat airplanes is expected to produce 400 aircraft per year. China Oriental Sciences Group and the China-Russia International Investment Co. will partner with a Russian aircraft design firm. The Erdos project will not only involve manufacturing but also a general aviation research base, a general aviation pilot training base and an aviation club.
FAA Flight Standards Service Director John Allen is working to help expedite the process for business aircraft operators to obtain approvals for reduced vertical separation minimums (RVSM). Allen, speaking during the Air Charter Safety Foundation's 2012 Air Charter Safety Symposium on Feb. 29, agreed the agency has fallen behind on the work, but said, “I'll expect improvements,” moving forward. NBAA Vice President, Safety, Security and Regulation Doug Carr notes that as RVSM has become more commonplace, applications for approval have mounted.
“Normalized access,” allowing unmanned aircraft systems (UASes) to “file and fly” anywhere in the national airspace system (NAS), will require airborne sense-and-avoid (ABSAA) in addition to GBSAA, and will take longer to achieve, says Steven Pennington, U.S. Air Force director of bases, ranges and airspace (see above item). The FAA has yet to develop a plan for full integration of UASes into the airspace system by the 2015 target date set by Congress, but “the Defense Department, with GBSAA, will get there by 2015 because we routinely fly to the same place,” he says.
Nav Canada announced its traffic figures for February 2012 measured in weighted charging units for en route, terminal and oceanic air navigation services, in comparison to the last fiscal year. The traffic in February 2012 increased by an average of 3.6% compared to the same month in 2011.
The Gulfstream G280 received a provisional type certificate (PTC) from the FAA, the company announced March 2. The Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI) provisionally certified the G280 on Dec. 29, 2011. Gulfstream Aerospace says a software update for the aircraft's avionics is the final major milestone prior to full certification by the FAA and CAAI, expected later this year. According to the company, the three aircraft in the flight test program have flown more than 1,845 hr. during more than 685 flights.
The prototype Cessna Citation M2 made its first flight in early March. With Cessna engineering test pilot Peter Fisher at the controls, the flight lasted a little more than an hour and a half, and included tests of the avionics system, autopilot, aircraft systems and instrument approaches. The new light jet fills the gap between the Citation Mustang and the Citation CJ family. FAA FAR Part 23 certification is expected in the first half of 2013, with deliveries in the second half of 2013.
