So what do you think would happen if a commercial entity proposed creating a new wireless communications network that threatened to disrupt the Global Positioning System, causing catastrophic GPS signal losses for military, government, industrial and private users — jamming everything from smart bombs to oil tankers to Toyotas — and undermining the foundation of the FAA's NextGen ATC system?
Sikorsky announced that Transport Canada had certified the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210S engine that will power Sikorsky's new S-76D helicopter. P&WC and Sikorsky are subsidiaries of United Technologies. The engine has accumulated more than 8,700 hr. in test cells and flight tests. S-76D senior program manager Tim Fox said delivery of the first aircraft to the launch customer is slated for 2012.
BLR Aerospace of Everett, Wash., has earned certification of a new LED lighting system for King Air 200s equipped with the company's winglets. The FAA-certified advanced LED lighting system also is available for all King Air 200GT, 250 and 300 series aircraft. Approval of the light system from both the European Aviation Safety Agency and Brazil's Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil is expected soon, says BLR. In addition, the company expects to win an FAA STC in early 2012 for installation of the lights on King Air 90s.
The Latitude's new Garmin G5000 system has three 14-in. screens and four touch-screen controllers quite similar to the system being installed in the new Citation Ten. The displays feature RGB LED backlight lighting that automatically adjusts for correct white balance for the life of the display. The screens have a 10,000:1 dimming ratio that accommodates the brightest daylight and darkest night ambient light conditions.
Rated at 5,730 lb. thrust for take–off, the Latitude's P&WC PW306D engines will have virtually identical interior parts to the 306C powerplants fitted to the Citation Sovereign. FADECs provide carefree engine management and thrust/temperature/rpm limit protection.
It seems that over the past year the world has experienced every type of major disaster — and many small ones as well. From floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, hurricanes and tornados, there is no telling what Mother Nature will throw at us next. I predict locusts or frogs. If you cannot fly away before a natural disaster strikes, riding out the storm can be a nerve-racking experience. While the wind and rain howls is not the time to wonder if your insurance policy has you covered.
Next year, Bombardier's Global 5000 and 6000, fitted with Global Vision cockpits powered by Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics, will be the first production business aircraft to enter service with head-up displays with synthetic vision system (SVS) background imagery.
There are certain flight conditions and control inputs that can overstress the main rotor mast components of a semi-rigid system, resulting in catastrophic failure. Consequently, it's vital that pilots fully understand the limitations of this type of system.
Plenty of diehard Eclipse 500 skeptics scoffed at Mason Holland, chairman and CEO of Eclipse Aerospace, when he announced at the 2011 NBAA Convention that his firm intended to resume building the aircraft sometime in 2013. Cynics all but buried the very light jet (VLJ) concept after EA500 production stopped in 2008, writing it off as a misguided, overhyped folly of Vern Raburn, founder of failed Eclipse Aviation (See Fast Five, page 25.)
Rated at 900-lb. thrust for takeoff, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A is the smallest member of the PW600 family that also is installed on the Cessna Citation Mustang and Embraer Phenom 100. The engine features a conventional, two-spool design with an inner shaft attached to the wide-chord front fan that is powered by a single-stage low-pressure turbine. The outer shaft has a single-stage, axial flow compressor and a single-stage centrifugal flow high-pressure compressor.
These preliminary graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Eclipse 550 under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance based upon Eclipse 500 AFM data, Eclipse Aerospace projections and our estimates. Actual performance of the Eclipse 550 may fall short of these projections because of empty aircraft weight gain compared to Eclipse 500 aircraft.
After three decades in the automotive industry as a top executive with General Motors and Delphi in the U.S. and Europe, Guy Hachey returned to his native Quebec in April 2008 as president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace. Five months later, the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a global financial crisis that decimated the business aviation industry. In a recent interview with BCA Editor-in-Chief William Garvey and Aviation Week & Space Technology's Joseph C.
Oliver Stone, managing director of the new London-based aircraft brokerage, Colibri Aircraft Ltd., believes the market for previously owned business airplanes is gradually recovering. In today's market “typically, the newest and largest planes are doing the best,” says Stone. “The ultra-long-range, large-cabin jets are actually doing quite well. Prices have stabilized and inventory is thinning out.”
Hawker Beechcraft has received a type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the manufacturer's Hawker 800XPR. The performance-enhancing package for the popular twinjet received FAA approval earlier this year, and deliveries have begun.
A drag-reducing upgrade kit developed for Boeing MD-80 operators has received supplemental type certification from the FAA. Developed by Long Beach, Calif.-based engineering company Super98, the first part of the kit is initially designed to reduce fuel burn by 2.5% or more, with a further 1% benefit available from a more extensive upgrade. Fuel savings were verified in flight tests of an instrumented MD-83 in late 2010 and earlier this year.
Kevin Bredenbeck, Sikorsky chief test pilot, who flew the revolutionary X2 Technology demonstrator last year to an unofficial speed record for conventional helicopters, has been recognized by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots with the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for the year's outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing. Bredenbeck, who is also Sikorsky's director of flight operations, accepted the award at a ceremony in California in September.
Sept. 25 — At 1341 local time a Bell 412SP, (Indonesia registry PK-OVC), crashed in a jungle under unknown circumstances 150 km east of Selaparang Airport, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The helicopter was operated by PT Airfast Indonesia under the provisions of the Indonesia Civil Aviation Regulations and was on a cargo flight. It sustained substantial damage and both crewmembers were fatally injured in the crash. The flight originated at Dodo Camp Airport and was destined for Lemurung Camp.
Conklin & de Decker will hold its 12th annual Aircraft Acquisition and Planning Seminar in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 6 and 7 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. The meeting is designed to help the aircraft buyer, owner or aviation professional understand how to make informed aircraft purchasing and owning decisions.
A wide disparity continues to exist in today's pre-owned business aircraft market, “and just about any adjective will accurately describe some part of the market,” says Carl Janssens, editor of Aircraft Bluebook's Marketline newsletter.
Israel Aircraft Industries invented the super-midsize business aircraft in the mid-1990s when it launched its IAI 1126 Galaxy. These aircraft can fly eight passengers 3,200 nm and land with NBAA IFR reserves. They offer nearly Gulfstream GII cabin dimensions, but with the fuel consumption of a standard midsize jet. On a 1,000-nm trip, for instance, the aircraft actually burns slightly less fuel than a Hawker 750 or Cessna Citation Sovereign. IAI earned FAA certification for the Galaxy in December 1998, and 53 units were delivered from 1999 to 2001.
August 2011 statistics on the used aircraft markets contain good news, says Jetnet, the Utica, N.Y.-based provider of corporate aviation information. In the first eight months of this year, the year-to-date average asking price for business jets rose 3.5%, while the industry maintained double-digit growth (11.4%) in used business jet retail sale transactions.
Aero Dynamix, Inc., Euless, Texas, announced that test pilot Dwayne Williams has joined their growing team of night vision goggle professionals. The company is an industry leader in NVG cockpit modifications. Aviation Personnel International (API), San Francisco, promoted Colleen Kelly to vice president, Client and Talent Relations, responsible for the retained recruitment of aviation professionals of behalf of Fortune 500 companies and private individuals.
ExecuJet Aviation Group, the Swiss-based aviation management company, reported in September that it has experienced continued growth in new and used aircraft sales since the beginning of the year. The company predicts the trend will continue well into 2012. Year-over-year figures show ExecuJet's deliveries this year increased by almost 100%, with aircraft sales revenues up by 90%.
The city of Taegu slid behind us as we turned east for Tsushima Island, midway across 100-mi. strait separating South Korea and Japan. I was number two in the third flight of LT-6Gs, which we were handing over to the then-new Japanese Air Defense Force, near Nagoya, where they would be overhauled and returned to their intended role as training aircraft.
