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.
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.
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.
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AC Aviation, Inc., Janesville, Wisc., has hired Dan Morrison as director of Charter Sales and Andy Schweickert as director of Marketing. Margaret Clark has been promoted to Charter manager. Aerion, Reno, Nev., named Doug Nichols chief operating officer responsible for all operating, financial, business development and marketing activities related to the development of the supersonic business jet (SBJ). He succeeds Michael Henderson, who following his tenure as COO remains Aerion's principal scientist and a director of the company.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
The business aviation market is showing early signs that the momentum at the end of last year is carrying into 2012 with key indicators improving in January, according to initial analyst reports. Used aircraft sales continued to strengthen, and prices jumped dramatically in January for the first time in months, according to Jetnet's latest report. Business aircraft flights, meanwhile, reached their highest levels of activity in nearly a year, according to FAA and Morgan Stanley data.
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.
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.
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.
Rockwell Collins is entering the piston electronic control unit (ECU) business with a new dual-channel ECU that will be on the BRP Powertrain's new Rotax 912 iS piston engine. The Austrian engine maker celebrated the launch of the new four-cylinder,100-hp engine at the BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products) Powertrain factory in Gunskirchen, Austria. Designed for light sport aircraft (LSA), the 912 iS will provide up to 70% better fuel efficiency compared with other engines in the LSA market, BRP says.
The Friends of the Earth has filed a lawsuit claiming EPA failed to respond to its 2006 petition asking for the regulation of lead emissions from general aviation under the Clean Air Act. The petition asked EPA to find that lead emissions from the use of leaded aviation gasoline could endanger public health. Such a finding would clear the way for the EPA to restrict emissions from leaded avgas. Friends of the Earth claims, “EPA has repeatedly concluded that lead is extremely toxic to humans, wildlife and the environment and causes health effects even at low doses.
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.
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.
If a collaborative European effort succeeds, pilots are likely to become intimately familiar with Desdemona — no, not Shakespeare's Venetian beauty who eloped with Othello, but rather a new flight simulation concept for teaching aviators to recover from flight upset.
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.
In its 14th Turbine-Powered Civilian Helicopter Purchase Outlook report, released at Heli Expo, Honeywell says it expects global deliveries of new civilian-use helicopters will increase to 4,700 — 5,200 over the five-year period 2012–2016. The forecast shows slower near term economic growth prospects in key markets have added uncertainty to operator purchase plans this year, however, recent order momentum and strong purchase plans for 2012 bolster the near-term outlook.
