Ian Becker (Boys Town, Neb. ), San Diego, Calif. (Boys Town, Neb. )
The arrival of BCA every month is a highlight in my life, and the February issue is another stellar example of this. Viewpoint has a way of segueing from an interesting tidbit, or familial tale, into a serious deliberation concerning general aviation. It never fails to spike my sinews and provide a good old-fashioned jolt! And it inspired me to share an idea.
Cessna established a Citation service facility in Prague, located at sister company Bell Helicopter's service facility at Prague Ruzyne International Airport. Cessna and Bell are Textron companies. Certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency in February, the center has begun performing scheduled and unscheduled maintenance operations.
Whatever your motivation it is clear that your intent in reporting on David Sokol's resignation (AWIN, March 31) was to besmirch his character. There is not one iota of evidence suggesting insider trading by Sokol; get your facts straight prior to launching a tirade. While you may be building a résumé that will have your considered for employment by NBC, the New York Times or CNN, reporting honestly and fairly would serve mankind far better than your guttersniping.
Decades ago, I was responsible for providing technical support for several out-of-production aircraft models. I had to maintain the manuals for each type and had a full bookcase to care for. The oldest model came out in the late 1940s and its entire manual fit snugly into a three-ring binder. As the aircraft progressed in time, the manuals became larger. The latest model aircraft (1970s vintage) took up about half the shelf space. Volumes of maintenance data, vendor manuals, parts lists and overhaul instructions were in constant need of updating and revision.
New 360-channel VHF transceivers with 50-kc spacing by Narco are: 6-lb. Mark 7 (left), $1,195 and the 12.5-lb. Mark 10, which is combined with a 190-channel navcom receiver. Lightweight DME — the 14-lb., $2,250 UDI-2 by Narco — has a panel-mounted unit with frequency selector and 100-nm range Vortac distance indicator, a small antenna and a remotely installed power supply.
CAE sold two helicopter full-flight simulators to customers in Italy and China as rotary-wing training continues to show signs of being a growing market. Rotorsim, a joint venture between CAE and helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, has ordered a second AW139 simulator for its training center in Sesto Calende, Italy. The CAE 300-series simulator, with a 210-by-80-deg. dome display system and six-axis electric motion system, will be delivered in 2012.
The market for previously owned business jets and turboprops is moving in the right direction, according to the most recent statistics provided by JETNET, the Utica, N.Y.-based provider of corporate aviation information.
Duncan Aviation, the Lincoln, Neb.-based aircraft service and support company, has introduced a “Phased Interior Maintenance” program that is designed to help operators better plan for interior projects while increasing the longevity of a functional, aesthetically pleasing interior. Under the concept, interior refurbishment can be phased-in over several years by matching various levels of refurbishment tasks with annual and routine aircraft maintenance events.
The European Aviation Safety Agency certified Honeywell's TPE331-12JR turboprop engine on the Cessna Caravan. Honeywell claims that with the TPE331-12JR conversion, Caravan operators experience up to 40% more power than with the production engine. They also save as much as $40 per hour in operating costs due to longer maintenance intervals, fewer life cycle-limited parts and better fuel efficiency when compared to the standard OEM engine. The engine also passes Germany's stringent maximum fly-over noise level of 78 dBA.
During its most recent gathering at Orlando's Heli-Expo in early March, an industry-wide sigh of relief was heard as the helicopter community celebrated the conclusion of a year during which it managed to survive. Forget growth for the moment, the industry seemed to say, as it focused on how it had weathered the storm and what its plans will be when the clouds clear.
Cessna took orders for 30 aircraft at the Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In & Expo in Lakeland, Fla. “The opening days of Sun ‘n Fun were very positive, and while the storm on Thursday [March 31] interrupted that mood somewhat, the exhibitors and the crowds bounced back to finish the show strong,” said Mark Paolucci, Cessna's senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Cessna took 16 orders for the new Corvalis TTX and 13 orders for high-wing single-engine pistons.
While studying at Florida Atlantic University in the late 1960s, I'd make a little money and build a lot of hours ferrying new crop dusters and other airplanes to various foreign destinations, mostly around the Caribbean and in South America.
Having raised four children, you'd think I'd be much more vigilant about saying “Yes” too easily simply because its contingent obligation seems so removed in time. After all, “You promised!” is one of the most potent tools in a child's weapons locker.
Concern about potential GPS receiver overload jamming by high-power cell transmitters operating on a frequency band adjacent to GPS frequencies has spread across the national fabric — far beyond aviation users and GPS manufacturers.
Stabilizing aircraft valuations, robust corporate earnings and climbing stock prices may have given aircraft buyers enough confidence to resume purchasing previously owned, turbine-powered aircraft. But the uncertainty and potential economic damage caused by high oil prices, political instability in North Africa and the Middle East, and the Japanese nuclear crisis have some experts concerned that the fledgling recovery could be in jeopardy.
Bell/AgustaWestland BA609A Tiltrotor With robust sales of the AW139 helping the AgustaWestland division of Finmeccanica claim 29% of the $4.16 billion global helicopter market as measured by 2010 deliveries — that's second only to Eurocopter — the status of the AB609A tiltrotor joint venture with Bell Helicopter Textron has seemed only to grow murkier.
Honeywell's HTF7000, the 7,000-lb.-thrust class engine that powers the Bombardier Challenger 300 — with others soon to follow — now has amassed more than one million flight hours and operators say it's powerful, economical and, most importantly, reliable. The turbofan now meets or exceeds virtually all their expectations, even though it went through some minor teething pains during initial entry into service in mid-2003.
It's just a mess. First there's NextGen and its attendant ADS-B component nobody wants to pay for. Next, a coalition of avionics makers studied LightSquared's proposal to add a big, new Internet service in a frequency adjacent to GPS — and concluded it will wreak havoc on navigation devices. But that's if the increasingly intense solar flares don't do it first. Then there's the occasional need to dodge errant volcanic dust or clouds of radiation. In addition, GPS coordinates in Japan may have moved by as much as 13 ft. following the earthquake in March.
FAA granted type certification March 18 for Honeywell's 7,445-lb.-thrust HTF7250G turbofan that powers Gulfstream's new G250. Engine certification represents a substantial milestone in the development of the G250, paving the way for planned aircraft certification at the end of this year. The engine's internal architecture is closely related to the 6,826-lb.-thrust HTF7000 aboard the Bombardier Challenger 300, retaining its 34.2-in.
Cleveland-based Constant Aviation has completed its first STC'd installation of a Wi-Fi system, along with Aircell's Gogo Biz Inflight Internet, in a Gulfstream IV. The company also is completing its STC for installation of Aircell's Gogo Biz Inflight and Wi-Fi in the Cessna Citation X, Hawker 800A/XP, Beechjet and Embraer Phenom 300.
StandardAero Business Aviation says it is the first maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider certified to perform the installation of Honeywell's Primus Elite flight deck system in Falcon 900C and 900EX aircraft. The recently issued STC enables StandardAero to replace five aging CRT cockpit displays with five modern, integrated, state-of-the-art Honeywell Primus Elite (DU-875) LCD units. The retrofit can be performed at any one of StandardAero's four facilities: Springfield, Ill.; Augusta, Ga.; Houston or Los Angeles.
HondaJet certification flight testing confirmed that the light business jet exceeds the maximum speed promised to customers, says Honda Aircraft. The first FAA-conforming prototype has achieved 425 KTAS at 30,000 ft. and a maximum Mach number of 0.72 above that altitude. The performance commitment for the production HondaJet is 420 kt., the Greensboro, N.C.-based company says.
Jet Aviation has received approval to lease additional land at Singapore's Seletar Aerospace Park, where it plans to build a second hangar and an engine overhaul shop. Jet Aviation Regional Sales Director Luke Chiang says the Singapore government's Jurong Town Corp., which manages Seletar, has granted Jet Aviation a lease on a plot of land next to its current facility. The new hangar will be 6,000 sq. meters (64,000 sq. ft.), twice the size of its existing facility and able to accommodate eight Gulfstream G650s simultaneously, says Chiang.
Aero Dynamix Inc., Euless, Texas, named Tonka Hufford operations manager, project development. He most recently was president of RSG Aviation. Aero Law Group, Bellevue, Wash., has added Paul Lambert to its team of lawyers responsible for clients in sales, leasing, financing and the exchange of business and commercial aircraft.
I read with some distress “Backdoor Rulemaking” (Washington Watch, April 2011, page 61). The purely economic arguments made in the column did nothing to diminish the need for hard time duty limits for all crews. Multiple studies have shown the extreme danger of fatigue in air operations; some have even scientifically equated a 17-hr. day to being legally drunk (0.05% BAC).
