I read “A Failed Culture of Safety” (Cause & Circumstance, February 2011, page 53) with great interest. Good article. I am sure you know the NTSB report on the Quest Diagnostics fatal crash was pulled from the Internet. Not good. I believe that our industry has a shared responsibility to operate safely for the benefit of all parties. Your observations regarding Quest Diagnostics are quite disappointing as it appears that Quest lacks a commitment to safe operations
Dulles International Airport, slated to be Washington’s jetport, won’t be ready for at least 15 months, Administrator Halaby told the committee, and the cost will be “substantially greater than previously estimated.” FAA type certification of the Lockheed JetStar is expected by June 30, with minor fuel system modifications, the latest change requested by the FAA.
It was the peak of thunderstorm season as the crew completed the final preflight preparations for their eastbound flight across the United States. The aircraft was at maximum certified weight and full of fuel. The Terminal Area Forecast (TAF) for the destination, Orlando International Airport (MCO), valid for the time of arrival, was benign, and the closest NEXRAD site, located in Melbourne, Fla., showed no activity near MCO. Their filed alternate was Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) and their aircraft was equipped with airborne weather radar.
It may be America’s 49th and largest state, but to Dave Hall, Alaska could almost be regarded as an “international destination” for business aviation operators.
The Helicopter Association International is partnering with the Experimental Aircraft Association to establish a new “home away from home” for the international helicopter community at EAA AirVenture 2011 in Oshkosh this summer. The partnership unites the producer of the world’s largest trade show dedicated to helicopters with the organizer of the world’s largest general aviation event, AirVenture, to be held July 25-31. The Heli Center will provide a central location for helicopter-related exhibitors to highlight their products and services to attendees.
Raytheon will install its Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) at 11 major terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities by 2015. An initial goal calls for five systems to be operational by the end of 2013, says Raytheon Director for Domestic Automation Michael Espinola. Dallas/Fort Worth will be the first of the 11 TRACONs to receive STARS, and the New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Northern and Southern California facilities are also among this group.
Becker Avionics and Axnes Aviation AS of Grimstad, Norway, signed a teaming agreement for sales, marketing and product support services for the Axnes Polycon Wireless Intercom System that allows rotary- and fixed-wing operators to have audio communications between crewmembers in an aircraft and away from the aircraft on the ground, as well as with ground support crews.
Business operators who run on avgas can now take advantage of a computerized maintenance tracking system from Fleet Aviation in White Plains, N.Y. assuming a rule of thumb that complete aircraft records are worth 25% of the aircraft value at resale, the software could pay for itself.
Dassault says its sales and business aircraft deliveries will fall this year, with uncertainty over when the market will properly recover. Although there has been a slowdown in order cancellations and a slight uptick in order activity in the business aviation market, company president Charles Edelstenne said that the uncertain macroeconomic environment makes it difficult to predict how quickly the market will rebound.
Air Partner’s advice for a successful evacuation: Analyze risk — how likely is it that you may need to evacuate staff; is there political unrest or volcanic activity in the area? Have a planned exit strategy. Ensure your staff know the drill and have practiced it. Engage a professional organization to carry out the evacuation.
Avinode Business Intelligence noted in March that external factors had a strong influence on overseas charter demand. “North Africa, for example, is still experiencing an atypical increase in requests as a result of prolonged political unrest in the region. While demand for flights out of Libya seems to have cooled considerably, Egypt and Tunisia experienced something of a rebound with business returning to historical norms. The earthquake off the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshu also had a powerful impact on demand.
American Eurocopter announced that Air Medical Resource Group signed an agreement to buy three AS350 B3e helicopters with options for four more, making it the U.S. launch customer for the updated version of the AStar family. The AS350 B3e has a more-powerful Turbomeca Arriel 2D turboshaft engine with FADEC. Certification is planned this summer, with deliveries before year-end, the company said.
In light of an increasingly strong charter trend, FlightWorks of Atlanta has added a Falcon 2000EX in Virginia and a Falcon 50EX in Tennessee. The company claims 15% year-on-year growth in charter sales.
Insufficient funding at FAA could curtail product development and slow job recovery Cessna’s chairman, CEO and president Jack Pelton told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, March 16. “Unless the FAA is provided adequate resources, and implements new processes and procedures to streamline the certification process, we believe it will not be able to keep up with service demand by manufacturers and this will severely diminish the competitiveness of U.S.
T his past Feb. 1, some aerospace heavy hitters came to Wichita, and they were on the prowl. Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, even upstart Nextant Aerospace — all were shopping for experienced workers at an informal job fair held at the local Marriott. They know that many of the assembly lines in this town are quiet and that the people who work on them may be sitting at home, waiting for an upturn, which is way overdue.
Bell Helicopter announced at Heli-Expo that the Bell Helicopter Training Academy received EASA Training Approval for Bell 206 series, 407 and 412 helicopters. In addition to normal theory approvals, the Training Academy has been granted practical approval, making it the first training school anywhere in the world to receive practical hands-on training approval from EASA. Academy graduates can now greatly reduce the amount of on-the-job proficiency demonstrations they need to become type-certified as a mechanic under European regulations, the company said.
The FAA is again operating under temporary funding, until May 31. The U.S. House of Representatives Transportation & Infrastructure Committee passed a bill (H.R.1079) to give the House time to work on the four-year bill the panel passed in February (H.R.658). That bill cuts $4 billion from FAA programs and facilities and sets the spending at fiscal 2008 levels. Under the cloud of uncertainty, the FAA has stopped most travel and placed a freeze on most hiring, according to FAA Flight Standards Director John Allen.
I just read Mike Gamauf’s “The Reluctant Aviator” (Flight Log, March 2011, page 68) and I really enjoyed it. The time spent with his father, I’m sure, was priceless. His description of wanting to fly for the Army was exactly what I went through as well. After four years as a Huey crew chief I went on to college and Air Force ROTC, where they were more lenient on eyesight restrictions (correctable to 20/20). Unfortunately, timing was not on my side when I commissioned (148 AFROTC pilot slots for the nation).
Led by Europe, demand for civil helicopters is showing signs of recovery, and deliveries in the 2011-15 period will be 5% higher than over the last five years, at 4,200 to 4,400 rotorcraft, projects Honeywell. A survey of more than 1,000 chief pilots and flight department managers operating 2,150 helicopters worldwide showed a 2% increase in their five-year fleet replacement and expansion plans. Although modest, this ends two years of declining demand, Honeywell says. Planned fleet utilization also increased in almost all regions.
The first approaches using Europe’s EGNOS satellite navigation system were flown into Pau Pyrénées Airport in France by a Dassault Falcon 900LX equipped with EASy II, the second generation of Dassault’s flight deck system. EGNOS augments the accuracy and integrity of the U.S. GPS satellite system to within one meter horizontally and two meters vertically, allowing LPV (Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance) approaches down to 250-ft. minimums.
Eurocopter booked 68 new orders and agreements comprising eight of its helicopter models from operators in the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia during Heli-Expo 2011. New business concluded during the March industry event in Orlando, Fla., included the EC145 T2 unveiled at the show, which won a total of 17 launch commitments. The upgraded version of Eurocopter’s EC145 incorporates a Fenestron tail rotor, more-powerful Arriel 2E turboshaft engines, a new avionics suite and a four-axis autopilot.
ExecuJet Aircraft Trading (Zurich, Switzerland) — Guillaume Chamoin has joined the aircraft sales arm of the ExecuJet Aviation Group, becoming the company’s second aircraft sales director in Europe. Based in Paris, he will primarily focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Before coming to ExecuJet, Chamoin spent the last seven and a half years with Bombardier and FlexJet.
Rockwell Collins announced the first installation of a Pro Line 21 avionics system on a rotary-wing aircraft. A Pro Line 21 Integrated Display System (IDS) was integrated into a Sikorsky S-61 long-range helicopter. The retrofit was a collaborative effort with Toronto -based Vector Aerospace.
The used aircraft market, while improving, remains a major concern, declared GAMA chairman John Rosanvallon during the association’s annual “State of the Industry” presentation.
The chief pilot of an FAR Part 91 corporate flight department that often fields Gulfstreams through Alaska to Asian destinations provided this succinct advice to flight crews who may be headed above 60°N latitude for the first time:
