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.
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.
Are you an “Innie” or an “Outie?” If you’re not sure, a key component of the FAA’s NextGen Air Transportation System plan to modernize the National Airspace System — ADS-B — will require you to decide. The FAA’s final NextGen implementation rules, which will establish performance requirements for avionics needed to operate in an ADS-B environment, are expected about now, but another wrinkle is gumming up the timetable.
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.
Executive AirShare became the first operator of an Embraer Phenom 300 under FAR Part 135. The Kansas City, Mo.-based fractional aircraft ownership and management company received the charter certification March 31. The Phenom 300 is is managed by Executive AirShare’s wholly owned subsidiary, Executive Flight Services. The aircraft is based in Fort Worth.
The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization is now operating under a Safety Management System (SMS), the agency announced recently. The move allows the FAA to manage risks involved with changing the National Airspace System, including installing, modifying and removing equipment, as well as modifying and implementing procedures and airspace changes. “An effective safety management system lets us manage both the risks and the challenges of introducing new technology into the National Airspace System (NAS),” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.
Fokker Services delivered the first Auxiliary Fuel Tank System (AFTS), installed in a VIP-configured Fokker 100, to an undisclosed customer. AFTS consists of four additional fuel tanks installed in the forward belly cargo compartment, increasing the range of the Fokker 100 to approximately 2,700 nm. Fokker Services developed the AFTS, while Fokker Aircraft Services did the installation at its Woensdrecht facility. Both companies are part of the Fokker Aerospace Group.
“Avionics Simulation” (April 2010, page 37) was apparently intended to bring your readers current on the status of avionics training. While you did a good job of covering what the traditional old-line establishment companies like Boeing-owned Jeppesen and Berkshire Hathaway-owned FlightSafety are doing, you completely missed out on where the true innovation is taking place. For instance, you failed to cover both King Schools and Redbird Simulators.
Jet Aviation is establishing a line maintenance and AOG service operation at the Le Bourget Business Aviation Airport near Paris in conjunction with Universal Aviation France SARL. Jet Aviation will provide line maintenance and AOG support for various aircraft types, including Airbus, Boeing Business Jets, Bombardier and Gulfstream at Universal’s Facility.
I agree with your UAV comments. I recently attended a UAS conference in San Diego. There were mostly military speakers, but even the FAA speaker acknowledged that there will be an increasing number of UAVs in the national airspace. Another speaker said that the first large aircraft UAVs will probably be transpacific freighters with a standby pilot for takeoffs and landings in populated areas. This is probably the right direction. We all need to spend our available time tending to our iPhones, our Facebook pages and our blogs.
Deer Jet plans to grow its business aircraft fleet from 23 to 35 by year-end, driven by China’s fast-growing business aviation market, and will become the first Chinese operator to dedicate an Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) to VVIP charter flights later this year. “Despite the global financial crisis’s impact over the past two years, the domestic business aviation market is experiencing fast growth owing to China’s rapid GDP growth,” Deer Jet Assistant President Zhao Hui said.
Spring is well sprung in the northern latitudes and the out of doors is alive with renewed growth everywhere. Almost. There is one area untouched by the natural vibrancy all around. Rather than green, its tableau is a lifeless, baked brown. It’s ugly and off-putting and, unfortunately, serves as my front yard — my welcome mat to the world.
Air Partner reported April 15 that it arranged nearly 3,000 flights of all types during the first half of its current fiscal year. If that trend continues, this could equal fiscal year 2008, the company’s best ever. In fiscal 2008, the company, a London-based charter broker with offices worldwide, logged 6,071 combined flights; in fiscal 2009, the total flights declined to 4,701, a drop of more than 20 percent.
Cessna CEO Jack Pelton also issued a call to action to the general aviation community to take a leadership role in defining solutions to environmental issues so that responsible stewardship works in conjunction with economic considerations required for industry growth, a call similar to that issued by aviation associations at AERO Friedrichshafen (see above).
FlightSafety International will offer training to customers on the full range of Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) engine products, under an agreement signed with the engine manufacturer this month. FSI will manage daily operations, develop and produce courseware material and provide Learning Management System capabilities. Flight Safety’s Learning Center in Montreal will lead the training support of Pratt customers and employees.
A 50 percent-plus decline in Learjet’s backlog during the past year is unsettling but not dire, Bombardier Aerospace President and Chief Operating Officer Guy Hachey said. Bombardier reported that a wave of cancellations in 2009 shrank Learjet’s order book to six months’ worth of production on Jan. 31, the end of the company’s fiscal year, down from 17 months a year earlier. Hachey says that Learjet’s backlog had been inflated to unsustainable levels during the business jet order frenzy of 2007-08.
Very seldom do writers get South Africa right. “Business Aviation in South Africa” (March 2010, page 38) certainly nailed it. I hope you were well treated back home as you did your research.
Thanks for the March issue given out at the International Operators Conference. Good magazine. I enjoyed the Global Express XRS and South Africa articles, but I especially liked Richard Aarons’ Cause and Circumstance. That column is far better than what I've seen elsewhere.
Rockwell Collins’ RTA-4100 weather radar is a breakthrough technology that provides pilots with hands-free weather threat detection. This 17-pound wonder automatically scans hundreds of cubic miles of airspace ahead of the aircraft to detect storms as far away as 320 nm. With Fusion systems equipped with an 18-inch radar, such as Global Vision, the weather avoidance range is greater than 320 miles. The RTA-4100 also has a Doppler turbulence detection mode that has a 40-mile maximum range.
Seconds after touching down on Quincy, Ill., Regional Airport’s Runway 13, United Express Flight 5925, a Beechcraft 1900C, collided with a King Air A90 taking off from Runway 4. Flames quickly engulfed both aircraft, trapping passengers and crews within. Bystanders rushed forward and tried to open up the 1900C’s air stair door but the flames and heat from the growing inferno forced them to retreat. All 12 people aboard the United Express flight and the two A90 pilots died in the conflagration. The accident occurred just after 5 p.m. on Nov. 19, 1996.
Last year witnessed one of the most precipitous declines in new general aviation aircraft deliveries in the history of the industry, according to GAMA. There were only 2,276 unit deliveries, a drop of more than 42 percent compared to 2008. Billings slumped to $19.5 billion, a decline of more than one-fifth from the year earlier.
North American Jet Charter Group (NAJet) is the first aircraft charter operator to receive FAA approval to operate appropriately equipped Eclipse 500s single-pilot in charter operations. The fully upgraded Eclipse 500 aircraft from the new Eclipse Aerospace, Inc. are now certified for flight into known icing conditions. In addition, the AvioNG system provides centralized control of virtually all Eclipse 500 systems and avionics functions. AvioNG includes ILS and GPS-coupled autopilot functions that significantly reduce pilot workload.
SESAR is the European equivalent of the FAA's NextGen system of air traffic control. It consists of 15 member groups representing 18 nations and more than 70 companies.
