China began authorizing some private helicopter flights without prior approval on an experimental basis in January on the southern island of Hainan, state media reported. Four helicopters, flown by eight pilots, will take part in the initial two-month experiment, the official Xinhua news agency said. Private aircraft currently need to have flight plans approved by the authorities, a process that can take from a day to a week, according to Xinhua.
Gulfstream Aerospace has purchased a building to house its growing research and development program. The 253,000-sq.-ft. facility is located adjacent to the company’s R&D campus in Crossroads Business Park, near its headquarters at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport. The acquisition is part of an expansion plan Gulfstream announced last November that includes building new facilities at the northwest quadrant of the airport, renovating several existing facilities on the main headquarters campus and expanding office and lab facilities at the R&D center.
The Finnish Aviation Academy has received FTD 2 FNPT II MCC dual qualification for its Embraer Phenom 100 devices manufactured by Frasca International Inc. The two devices to be installed feature TruVision Global 220-deg. visual systems. A Frasca-built avionics trainer for the Phenom 100s Prodigy Flight Deck is also in use there.
Your article on the crash of the Quest Diagnostics Baron 58 (“A Failed Culture of Safety,” February 2011, page 53) appears to have made the same errors as the NTSB “factual” report, as well as the mainstream press. I have worked in aviation as a non-licensed “dispatcher” or flight coordinator for an FAR Part 135/flight school operator, as well as a Part 91 corporate flight department. A phrase that’s missing from your article, the NTSB report and the press coverage is “. . .
Lindbergh Foundation 34th Annual Awards: Dean Kamen, noted inventor, educator and pilot, has been selected to receive the Lindbergh Award for 2011. GE Aviation is the recipient of the Foundation’s Corporate Award for Balance, and Milbry Polk, founder and director emeritus of WINGs WorldQuest will receive the Anne Morrow Lindbergh Award.
Another encroachment on FAA authority over air commerce. The National Park Service (NPS) has drafted a plan to restrain aircraft activity over Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP). The plan calls for new limits on the number of air tour operations, hours of their flights and minimum altitudes. The NPS draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), which covers air tour flights and calls for the “substantial restoration of natural quiet” over GCNP, is open for public review. Comments are due June 6.
Dennis Rousseau, president of AircraftPost.com — the Albany, N.Y.-based company that provides real-time valuations for more than 5,000 medium and large business jets — believes that aircraft prices have stabilized at roughly 25% under “a normalized market,” but that it may be up to three years before the excess inventory of used aircraft shrinks enough for airplane prices to reflect their true value. However, he cautions, “We need to be careful and not look at 2007/2008 as the ‘normal market’ to return to because prices weren’t normal; they were exaggerated.”
FlightSafety International will offer Bombardier Challenger 605 training to customers in Europe at the company’s London Farnborough facility in the U.K. Training is slated to begin early next year using a new FlightSafety-built full-flight simulator. The Farnborough center can accommodate 15 simulators and train 3,800 professionals annually. The site houses training programs for Bombardier, Cessna, Gulfstream, Hawker Beechcraft and Sikorsky models.
I chose my career field on a sunny summer day outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near Gatlinburg, Tenn. I was seven. We had been tooling along on a family vacation when up ahead we spotted an old, bubble front Bell 47. Beside it was a sign that read, "Helicopter Rides, $5." "Dad! Only $5! A helicopter ride! Can we? That would be sooo cool! Please."
Carter Aviation Technologies completed initial flight tests of its proof-of-concept Personal Air Vehicle (PAV), an aircraft that combines a rotor for vertical takeoff and landing with a propeller and wing for efficient high-speed flight. The four-place PAV uses Carter’s slowed rotor/compound (SR/C) technology. The rotor is unpowered, as in an autogyro, but when spun up by the engine it allows a “jump” takeoff. On landing, the energy stored in the high-inertia rotor allows the aircraft to autorotate to a “zero-roll” landing.
The FCC waived its spectrum allocation rules Jan. 26 to conditionally authorize Reston, Va.-based LightSquared to operate 40,000 high-power, ground-based 4G cell phone transmitters in a segment of the L-band previously allocated to Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), i.e. low-power satellite-to-earth service, immediately adjacent to the 1559-1610 MHz band used by GPS and other satellite navigation services.
Sikorsky Aircraft closed in February on an equity investment that gives the helicopter maker a minority stake in Eclipse Aerospace. The companies announced the agreement during the NBAA annual meeting and convention in October 2010, but neither party will disclose the deal’s value or the structure of Sikorsky’s holding. Sikorsky and Eclipse also entered into a “service level agreement” under which Sikorsky would provide global supply chain support and certain production restart services.
The flight was to be a simple aerial photography mission over a large expansion construction project at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). The Bell 206B maneuvered over the work area at about 400 ft. AGL. However, soon after slowing to a hover, the helicopter did a rapid 180-deg. right turn around the mast, stopped momentarily, then continued its clockwise spin. According to one witness, the helicopter continued in a descending turn until striking the ground violently, killing both the pilot and photographer.
Jan. 16 — At approximately 2000 CST, a Cessna 172A (N7262T) was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain 1 mi. east of Smiley Johnson Municipal/Bass Field (E34), Clarendon, Texas. The pilot, the sole occupant, was seriously injured. The cross-country flight originated at Abilene Regional Airport (ABI), Abilene, Texas, at approximately 1820, and was en route to E34. It was VFR at the time of the accident. When the pilot did not return as scheduled, family members became concerned. The FAA issued an ALNOT (Alert Notice) on Jan. 16 at 2345.
A new VIP version of the Dornier 328 has been launched by Germany’s 328 Support Services, the type certificate holder for the twinjet regional airliner. The so-called 328DBJ, which made its debut at December’s Middle East Business Aviation show, replaces the Envoy version of the 328 and will be the standard for all future VIP conversions, says 328 Support Services.
Dassault has delivered more than 100 Falcon 7X trijets to operators and the fleet has logged more than 60,000 flight hours since beginning service in mid-2007, according to the firm’s records. Based on accumulated fleet experience, operators say the aircraft provides an impressive step up in range, speed and cabin comfort compared to Falcon 900 series aircraft, the models most respondents in our survey said they previously operated.
Jet Works Air Center of Denton, Texas, has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to convert a Boeing MD-87 airliner into a 24-seat luxury VIP aircraft for a Middle Eastern client. The revamped twinjet will feature a luxurious cabin with a leading-edge entertainment system and Wi-Fi Internet access, said Jet Works President Trey Bryson. The MD-87, the first of this type converted by Jet Works, arrived at the completion center in mid-January.
The availability of the second-generation EASy II avionics package for the Falcon 7X now has slid to the end of 2012. The basic package includes more-powerful graphics modules, among several other hardware and software upgrades needed to support its increased functionality.
General Electric is counting on a joint venture with Avic to propel the company into the front ranks of avionics suppliers along with Rockwell Collins and Honeywell. With Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke looking on, GE Aviation President and CEO David Joyce and Avic Senior Vice President Zhang Xinguo signed an agreement Jan. 14 in Chicago to form a joint venture — GE-Avic Civil Avionics Systems Co. Ltd. — in Shanghai.
Slip into a 1997 to 2006 Citation Bravo and it feels as comfortable as your favorite pair of old shoes. But the performance and utility of these brogans are head-and-shoulders above the original 1978 through 1994 CE-550. The Bravo flies up to 2,000 ft. higher, 40 kt. faster and 300 mi. farther.
SimCom Training Centers has acquired the former PrestoSIM training center located near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and said it plans to “greatly expand” the facility with new flight training devices and training courseware, and updating the existing simulators. It said many of the existing staff will be retained and new instructors added.
Piper Aircraft is ramping up work on the Altaire, its first jet, with some 160 engineers now assigned to the project and metal work on the first conforming aircraft under way. The company reported that it has 157 orders in hand for the $2.5 million aircraft. Jackie Carlon, director of marketing, says the engineering department has released more than 1,000 drawings for the aircraft and that first metal was has been cut for the initial unit.
Frank Robinson worked at Bell Helicopter as a young engineer. So, when he decided to develop a simple, low-cost helicopter, he naturally opted for the elemental two-blade teetering main-rotor system as originated by Arthur Young at Bell but with the addition of coning hinges to allow the blade to flap upward under load.
Russian Helicopters’ Ka-32A11BC has been certified for all-weather operations by the Indian civil aviation authority. India is a key market owing to the difficult operating conditions in the country and the large potential market size. Russian Helicopters says about half of the more than 140 helicopters of this type that have been built are in service outside Russia. Brazil also has begun the process of type certification for the coaxial rotor helicopter, the manufacturer says.
