Walter C. Pague passed away July 1 at the age of 95 in Middletown, Ohio. Returning from service as a Naval aviator in 1945, he was the first pilot at American Rolling Mill Company, now Armco, and founded its flight department, retiring in 1980. In 1946 he was one of the 13 founders of the Corporation Aircraft Owners Association, which evolved into today's National Business Aviation Association. Pague served on the association's board of directors from 1947 to 1964.
New noses for the Twin Beech: A Royal Canadian Air Force Beech 18 is a flying test bed for the 500-hp Canadian P&W turbine (top, left). Volpar tricycle gear conversion by Capital Aviation, Springfield, Ill., of the Beech C-45H, delivered to Midland Investment of San Antonio (bottom, left).
One afternoon in the late 1990s, I was at United Air Lines' central maintenance facility. During a break in one of the presentations on marketing MRO services to other carriers, my minder whispered in my ear, “Wanna' see something really cool?” — a question for which any journalist has but one response.
Here are some examples of actual incidents in which Boeing's Aircraft Health Management (AHM) service played a role in keeping 'em flying: A flight en route lost its weather radar, an MEL item that would have grounded the aircraft after arrival at its destination. The fault had been reported to the operator's central maintenance facility via ACARS, analyzed and the necessary part identified, ordered, and transported to the arrival airport. The aircraft landed, the part was installed, and the flight continued after a brief delay.
The ability to maneuver is severely restricted around many business jet airports in mountainous terrain, such as Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, Colo. (ASE) and Truckee-Tahoe, Calif., Airport (TRK). Often such airports are served by rather infamous instrument approach procedures with missed approach points (MAP) that terminate at significant heights and/or a long way from the runway.
From the simplest knives of the caveman days to the most advanced computers of today, tools have helped make our lives easier and enabled us to do amazing things. Aircraft maintenance technicians have a special relationship with tools. From wrenches to laptops, we just cannot work on aircraft without them. However, a lost or misplaced tool can cause missed flights, damage or even destruction of an aircraft. Keeping tools where they belong through good tool control is the cornerstone of good maintenance practices.
While keeping tools from being left behind is an important part of any foreign object damage (FOD) control program, do not forget about the importance of keeping debris, trash and flotsam out of your aircraft. The National Aerospace FOD Prevention Inc. website (www.nafpi.com) can help maintenance managers develop and manage FOD control programs. The group provides access to experts on the subject and provides links to helpful hints and training materials for FOD prevention.
Push up the throttles in the Hawker 200 on takeoff and you might think you're strapped in a Learjet 25, considering this aircraft's rapid runway acceleration, excellent climb performance and near Mach 0.80 cruise speeds in the mid-forties. That's to be expected. The Hawker 200 has the best thrust-to-weight ratio of any business aircraft in current production, even edging out the athletic Cessna Citation CJ4.
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Hawker 200 in a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Hawker Beechcraft's chief sales engineer, Martin Tuck, provided the chart data. Please note: These data are preliminary and are subject to change as a result of flight tests leading up to aircraft certification, now slated for the first half of 2012.
The Hawker 200's Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit looks a lot like that of the Premier IA, with its three 10-in. by 8-in. AFD-3010E LCD screens, stand-alone annunciator light panel and dual multifunction CDUs in the center console. The most obvious difference is the Meggitt EPD-40002 integrated electronic standby instrument system that replaces the cluster of three standby instruments aboard the Premier IA.
The FADEC-equipped -3AP is one of Williams most advanced versions of the FJ44 turbofan family, producing 3,050-lb. thrust for takeoff and weighing only 528 lb. Compared to earlier -3 engines, the -3AP incorporates many aerodynamic, weight reduction and durability improvements. The two-spool engine features a wide-chord fan, three axial-flow compressor stages, a single centrifugal high-pressure compressor powered by a single stage high-pressure turbine and a two-stage low pressure turbine that powers the axial compressor and fan.
Leave the boundaries of the United States and you lose the locally available feed from FAA radar (known as ASDI, for Aircraft Situation Display to Industry) because, as everyone knows, radar stops at the horizon's edge. Once you head out over the water, you can continue to rely on air traffic management to provide position information via the traditional transoceanic longitudinal reporting points. But if you want more frequent near-real-time position and tracking info, you'll need to sign up for satellite tracking services.
Air Ledger is a new “cloud”-based package from Aero Management Solutions of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., designed to improve communication and relations between aircraft owners and managers. Version 1.0, launched in early June, enables owners to review financial data transparently without requiring a dedicated application but via simple Internet access allowing online review as well as submittal of invoices. The company says that with this scalable solution, owners can configure reports to their liking and that use of the system reduces risk of loss of records.
Jeppesen received Department of Homeland Security approval to issue Form I-20s to non-U.S. students in the company's dispatcher training program who are seeking a visa. The procedure streamlines the visa process for students and offers a marked improvement over applying for a business visa, which, according to Jeppesen, often results in denial of application and causes delays. The company says it can help out with B-1 (business) and M-1 (student) applications for those seeking a dispatcher certificate from the FAA.
Gama Aviation received Wyvern approval for all its operating bases in Europe, the Mideast and the Americas. The business aviation services company is based at Farnborough, England. In receiving the seal of safety excellence, The Wyvern Standard, Gama agrees to meet strict standards audited annually and monitored continually.
Some aircraft accident and incident investigations require years of meticulous laboratory analysis, human factors studies, meteorological research, flight deck simulations and inflight experimentation before a probable cause can be determined. Alternatively, some incidents provide investigators with few mysteries, but rather a collection of facts that leave them simply amazed that such things can happen in modern sophisticated aircraft operations.
So what was Barack Obama doing 24 hr. before his now infamous June 29 press conference in which he repeatedly bashed “the tax break for corporate jets?”
Air Traffic Organization (ATO), Washington, has appointed David Grizzle chief operating officer.` Avantair Inc., Clearwater, Fla., has hired Robert DeGrie as vice president of maintenance responsible for the Maintenance and Materials departments including the Camarillo, Calif.; Clearwater/St. Petersburg; and Dallas locations. Christopher Gleason has joined the company as area sales manager for Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah.
2011 Operations Planning Guide Aircraft operating costs are presented in a format that separates the data into seven separate areas: Mission Costs, Variable Costs, Fixed Annual Costs, Periodic Costs, Personnel Costs, Training Costs and Facilities Costs.
Aviation Research Group/US is the industry leader in providing specialized aviation services to companies that manufacture, finance, operate, maintain, and market commercial and business aircraft, as well providing products and services to consumers worldwide.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp.'s Power Line Detection System (PDS) has been certified for installation on the Enstrom 480B helicopter, and the system will soon be available for retrofit on the approximately 90 in-service models of that rotorcraft. The PDS also will be offered as an option on new production models of the light turbine helicopter built by the Menominee, Mich., rotary-wing manufacturer. Enstrom has already delivered PDS-equipped 480B helicopters to the Royal Thai Army as part of a 16-aircraft contract.
Fokker Aircraft Services recently handed over a converted Airbus A320 airliner to MasterJet, a Geneva, Switzerland-based operator. The makeover — which was done at the company facility in Woensdrecht, Netherlands — included a complete teardown of the airline interior and installation of five separate cabins, including a private suite with bedroom, bathroom and office; a conference and dining area; separate executive lounge; and special first-class seating area.
Rockwell Collins has introduced a digital high-definition (HD) upgrade to aircraft equipped with its ACMS and CMS-1 cabin management systems. The upgrade includes HD monitors, dual Blu-ray disc players and an HD audio/video distributor that also can upscale analog content to HD quality. The avionics manufacturer says the upgrade enables passengers to enjoy a high-end home-theater experience without the expense and downtime required by changing control switches and modifying the woodwork.
St. Louis-based JetCorp Technical Services has received an STC for the installation of Aircell's Cabin Telecommunications Router (CTR) in a Bombardier Challenger 300 business jet. The CTR provides in-cabin Wi-Fi capability for the Gogo Biz Inflight Internet service, which enables passengers to use their BlackBerry, iPhone and other Wi-Fi enabled devices inflight at connectivity speeds equivalent to ground-based hotspots.
