Airliner of the ’80s? Using present rocket techniques, 30-passenger hypersonic transport separates from supersonic booster at 120,000 feet, accelerates to 15,000 mph and then, with the power off, glides to an airport 6,000 miles away in one hour. That’s what commercial air travel may look like in 20 years, according to Leston Faneui, Bell Aircraft board chairman — if the government backs development.
The first H80 turboprop engine is in certification testing since March in a test cell at the GE Aviation Czech facility in Prague. The first H80 test engine met or exceeded all power ratings targets in multiple runs, said Paul Theofan, president and managing executive of GE Aviation Czech s.r.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Aviation. “Certification testing will continue this spring with endurance testing [scheduled to start in April] and EASA type certification anticipated this summer,” he said. Five development engines will take part in certification testing.
Strap into the left seat of a Global Express XRS equipped with Bombardier’s new Global Vision cockpit and you’ll see four, 15.1-inch flat-panel displays, the largest screens installed in any new business jet. You’ll also see sharper imagery from a new generation of video systems, including a synthetic vision system that uses the highest resolution terrain database that is commercially available and an IR EVS camera with four times the sensor resolution found on current generation Bombardier aircraft.
The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) and the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilots Associations (IAOPA) called for an improvement to data collection in non-commercial aviation internationally. The recommendation came during ICAO’s High-Level Safety Conference in Montreal.
A new BCA Ops & Safety Special Web site went live April 1, and the first series focuses on thunderstorms. The site is packed with BCA features, accident investigations, product specs, videos, photos and more. With thunderstorm season here (in the Northern Hemisphere) it’s worth a visit: www.aviationweek.com/bcathunderstorms.
FAA SAFO 10004 warns aircraft operators of possibly contaminated halon gas in fire extinguishers and provides testing information. With pure halon supplies dwindling, civil aviation will increasingly rely on recycled gas. But contaminated halon has been discovered in some aircraft fire extinguishers, which may harm personnel and be less effective against fires than pure halon.
This is the Caravan’s 25th anniversary, and Cessna will deliver the 2,000th CE208, a Grand Caravan, later this year through Africair, Inc., in Miami, Fla. The Caravan is certified in 100 countries and has amassed more than 12.5 million fleet hours
General Electric Aviation has begun line maintenance training courses at its headquarters in Evendale, Ohio, for M601E and H80 turboprop engines produced by GE Aviation Czech. Since acquiring Walter Engines two years ago, GE Aviation has used the heritage M601 as a basis for the H80, an 800-shp candidate for business and general aviation.
Californian Drohan can’t remember a time when he didn’t love airplanes — much to the horror of his parents and three older siblings who did not. After his father died when he was 12, a family friend introduced him to a small outfit selling biplane rides at Schellville Airport in Sonoma. Hooked instantly, he got an after-school job there and took pay in flying lessons. Then, diploma in hand, he earned his comm/multi/instrument tickets and in 1992 began Sunset Aviation, Inc., giving air tours over San Francisco Bay.
Over the years, business aviation has seen many advances and technological leaps forward. For those of us who have been around for a while, we have seen some remarkable changes. We fly some of the most advanced aircraft in the world, and many of them are more complex than front line fighters. For maintenance technicians and maintenance managers, the laptop computer is as important as the wrench for keeping aircraft flying safely. Just about anything you need — from schematics to Airworthiness Directives — can be retrieved with a few mouse clicks.
Blue Sky Network announced that Brazilian-based TAM Executive Aviation (TAM EA) selected Blue Sky’s D410A automated flight following and communication equipment to provide two-way text communication and location reporting to for its fleet of airplanes. The D410A is a compact, low-cost device that weighs less than a pound, can be moved between aircraft and mounted near the glareshield to exchange GPS and sensor data and text messages using the Iridium satellite network. TAM EA offers aircraft charter, maintenance and management services.
Level A is the most rigorous. Simply put, this software cannot fail without creating a catastrophic condition. Level A is the most rigorous. Simply put it cannot fail without creating a catastrophic condition. An autoland function, similar to a digital flight control system or a FADEC, requires Level A software. Level B software will be used in the NGFMS. Level B cannot fail without resulting in a hazardous or severe condition. Level C software could cause a major failure condition if it malfunctions.
In 2009, the U.S. business jet and turboprop fleet combined experienced 44 accidents including eight fatal accidents which resulted in 32 passenger and crew fatalities during routine business operational flights, according to Robert E. Breiling Associates, Inc. of Boca Raton, FL. Overall, this is 31 percent fewer accidents involving both jets and turboprops combined (44 accidents in 2009 vs. 64 in 2008) which occurred in 2009 vs. 2008. The number of fatal accidents is down with eight fatal accidents occurring in 2009 vs. 23 in 2008.
The FAA says it will consider special issuance medical certificates to pilots who are taking medication for mild to moderate depression, conditions that now bar them from all flying duties. On a case-by-case basis, pilots who take one of four antidepressant medications — fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa) or escitalopram (Lexapro) — will be allowed to fly if they have been satisfactorily treated on the medication for at least 12 months.
The sixth-generation head-up display from Rockwell Collins’ Portland, Ore.-based HGS division (nee Flight Dynamics) is an active-matrix LCD-based system using LED illumination. As a result, it offers far higher resolution than earlier CRT projection systems, the brightest imagery and the widest field of view of any commercial available HUD, according to Rockwell Collins. HGS-6000 systems are considerably more compact than CRT-based systems, affording 50 percent more headroom below the projector assembly.
OK, pop quiz: What is the name of the person who heads the federal Transportation Security Administration? What? You don’t know who’s in charge of all those TSA people digging through your luggage at the airport? Well, that’s all right, it was a trick question. There is no TSA administrator, a vacancy that has persisted since Edmund (Kip) Hawley resigned at the end of the Bush administration in January 2009.
The NBAA has developed an online registry for companies willing to donate their aircraft and flight crews to disaster relief efforts like the Haitian airlift and for individuals who wish to volunteer their services. The business aviation advocacy group is partnered with Corporate Aviation Responding to Emergencies (C.A.R.E.), which coordinates airborne relief missions, connecting operators with representatives in disaster areas or non-government organizations (NGOs) active there.
I think you are right. UAVs are the way of the future. We started out with a few hundred in Iraq and now there are many thousands. In fact, I'd say that if you could fly a private airplane in that country you'd stand a good chance of hitting one on landing or takeoff.
BLR Aerospace has received approval from Brazilian aviation authorities for the Everett, Wash., company’s winglet systems for King Air C90A, C90GT and C90GTi airplanes. FAA certification of the airfoils on those models was received earlier. BLR expects to eventually certify the system on King Air C90 and C90E models. BLR has delivered about 200 of its winglet systems, which originally were developed for use on King Air 200s and 300s. The systems improve the twin-engine airplane’s stability, cruise speed and rate of climb.
When ARFF teams respond to an aircraft mishap, the incident commander has a lot of quick decisions to make. Priorities will include concern for life, exposure, confinement and extinguishment. Proper “size-up” also will affect the application of the fire-extinguishing agent, the approach of equipment to the scene, lighting the scene, positioning of equipment relative to wind and escape slides, running hoses, isolating and cooling the fuselage, and securing the scene against re-ignition.
The FAA issued an emergency order suspending Darby Aviation’s air carrier certificate for a second time. The Muscle Shoals, Ala. company’s operating certificate was temporarily suspended in 2005 after a Challenger 600 departing from Teterboro Airport failed to lift off, ran off the end of the runway, crossed a highway and rammed into a building. In the investigation that followed, the FAA determined that the aircraft’s operator, Platinum Jet Management of Fort Lauderdale, did not hold an FAR Part 135 certificate and wrongly “piggybacked” on Darby’s ticket.
Hawker Beechcraft is transferring its laboratories for electromagnetic compatibility, mechanical and environmental testing to the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University (WSU), the Institute said April 5. The labs will be housed in two Hawker Beechcraft buildings in Wichita, and occupy about 49,000 square feet. An undetermined number of company employees currently working in the facility will be offered employment with WSU.
Embraer delivered the 1,100th Ipanema agricultural aircraft, April 7, in a ceremony at its Botucatu plant, 230 km from São Paulo, Brazil. The airplane was accepted by Foliar Aviação Agrícola Ltda., which already operates four Ipanemas in Brazil’s Tocantins state. The Ipanema is the world’s first production aircraft that leaves the factory certified to fly with hydrated ethanol automotive fuel.
StandardAero announced that it will reopen an engine shop at its Springfield, Ill., service center (SPI) and go operational in the third quarter of this year. Initially, the shop will be capable of providing major periodic inspections (MPIs) for Honeywell TFE731 engines. The shop may later service other engine types, depending on customer demand.
