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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hawker Beechcraft Services has won FAA certification of a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) on Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21-equipped King Air C90GTi aircraft. The WAAS installation offers operational flexibility and cost savings associated with direct area-navigation routes, which enable improved access to special-use airspace or high-traffic or terrain-challenged airports.
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.
A new stand-alone Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) was announced by Tucson, Ariz.-based Universal Avionics Corp. on April 15. The AHS-525 is solid-state system provides aircraft analog and digital pitch, roll and heading data and can directly replace increasingly difficult-to-maintain mechanical gyros. The system integrates with flight deck displays, flight control systems, flight management systems, weather radar, terrain awareness and warning system, flight data recorders and multiple other avionics systems and subsystems.
TSA’s revised Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) has been passed from TSA to the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), beginning the vetting process prior to being published as an NPRM, possibly this fall, says Brian Delauter, TSA’s general manager for general aviation. Delauter told a well-attended meeting of the Westchester Aviation Association Mar. 26 that the agency was seeking a less adversarial relationship with the industry.
-When it comes to buying parts, always know who you are buying from. Modern day pirates are still out there trying to pass off unapproved copies or timed out parts. High-resolution scanners and publishing software can make up fake paperwork and few will be able to tell the difference. To help fight fakes, many manufacturers provide a service that tracks part history. Catching these crooks is very difficult and law enforcement often is not really interested in pursuing this type of crime.
Stevens Aviation of Greenville, S.C., has received an STC for installation of a runway awareness and advisory system in the Learjet 60. The unit employs logic algorithms that determine the appropriate sequence and timing and adjusts advisory distances based upon aircraft groundspeed to maximize and enhance crew reaction time to potential ground hazards. This enhancement, part of the Stevens Aviation Business Liner upgrade, helps improve flight crew situational awareness and minimizes the risk of runway incursions.
Fokker Services’ recently established Remarketing Support Center has been awarded an exclusive contract to remarket two Fokker 70s that have been operated as corporate shuttles. Both twinjets are configured with 48 business-class seats and have a range of more than 2,150 nm. Target markets for these aircraft include corporate shuttle applications for natural resources companies. Alternatively, the aircraft can be converted to a standard airliner configuration with up to 80 seats.
Airbus forecasts a market for around five large corporate jets a year in the Asia-Pacific region, the majority of them in greater China, to replace existing aircraft and grow the regional fleet. Large corporate jets, which Airbus defines as seating 15 or more passengers, currently number about 150. Airbus hopes to win at least half of this market.
To mark the centenary of Lyon-Bron airport near Lyon, France, the airport authority is inaugurating a new business aviation facility. Authorities stated, “Lyon-Bron airport has become the third largest business aviation airport in France.
Solid economic growth and a rapid rise in the value of Brazil’s currency, the Real, have eroded Embraer’s advantage in labor costs, says CEO Frederico Fleury Curado. “People feel we have the advantage of low-cost labor, but that’s outdated information,” he said. Curado notes that Embraer will assemble Phenom 100 in Melbourne, Fla. He says the cost of building and finishing a Phenom in Florida is “about the same” as the cost of building it in Brazil and shipping it to North America. “Yes, we are cheaper than in Germany,” he says.
Frasca International received FAA Level 7 qualification on a Bell 206B Flight Training Device installed at FlightSafety International’s Learning Center in Lafayette, La. This is the highest level of qualification for Flight Training Devices and only the second FTD qualified to the Level 7 standard. The first was a Eurocopter AS350 FTD installed at FSI’s facility in Tucson, Ariz. The FTD is fixed based with a vibration platform and is integrated to FlightSafety’s Vital X visual system using Frasca’s spherical display screens to provide a 200 x 70 field of view.
Air Methods, the Centennial Airport-based company that claims to be the world’s largest air ambulance operator, has received an STC for installation of the Cobham Digital Audio Control System in the Bell 429. Air Methods’ Products Division in Colorado recently installed the system on a Bell 429 aeromedical helicopter that was to be delivered to the Air Methods Mercy One hospital-based program in Des Moines, Iowa.
The large number of previously owned business aircraft that remain on the market has made it increasingly difficult for owners of older airplanes to sell their vintage models, causing a syndrome referred to as “pricing compressibility.” This has occurred because the limited number of prospective buyers who are actively seeking an airplane have an array of similar but better equipped, more modern, lower-time, more efficient aircraft from which to choose.
“A Failed Go-Around” ends with a paragraph encouraging pilots to study their performance numbers and techniques for a go-around while on the runway. Though implicit in your suggestions, it should be explicit: Consider the damage from an overrun relative to the damage from a failed go-around. Going off the end of the runway at 50 knots is generally more survivable than going off of the runway at full thrust and close to flying speed.
Jim Bennett, Starbucks aviation manager in Seattle and president of the Pacific Northwest Business Aviation Association, offers some organizational guidelines: Define your target constituency. In the case of the PNBAA, we focused primarily on corporate flight operations and those who support the business: service providers, insurers, law firms, FBOs, FAR Part 135 operators, charter/management companies, repair stations and OEMs. Our members are from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.
For most Americans, Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer. But for the people of St. Louis, Labor Day 1998 marked a major milestone in the course of a most amazing duel.
John Lee Baker, AOPA’s president from 1977 through 1990, and only the second person in that position, passed away Mar. 11 at his home in Angier, N.C. Baker was a U.S.A.F. fighter pilot in the Korean War, and then earned a law degree from Creighton University. He served on the staff of Sen. Roman Hruska (R-Neb.), and then was appointed assistant administrator in the FAA’s office of general aviation affairs.
Cessna likely will mark a low point, the first quarter of 2010, but results should improve with lower second-quarter losses — or possibly break even, JP Morgan wrote analyst Joseph Nadol. “The benefit of first-half visibility on traffic data and likely growing business confidence, particularly international, [is] driving a better order-demand picture starting in the second half of 2010,” the analyst said.
