The newest and largest Air Traffic Control Center in Europe has been phasing in control since Jan. 5, and went fully operational when the controllers at Manchester Center handled the final aircraft from their old operations room before handing off control to their colleagues in Prestwick Scotland at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13. About 130 personnel from Manchester are being relocated to Scotland, which will bring Prestwick's workforce to 900. Prestwick in the North and Swanwick in Hampshire, near Portsmouth, now control all U.K.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Washington, D.C., named Kathryn Fraser as the Association’s manager of operations supporting GAMA’s work in safety, security and operations.
An item in the January Intelligence section (page 18) stated “A European Research project suggests that a crosswind could increase runway capacity by dissipating wake turbulence more quickly . . .” No kidding! Did I read this correctly? I sincerely hope that none of my (our) tax dollars are going to waste on such an inane and redundant exercise! Couldn’t they just talk to a few ATC types or a couple of seasoned airline pilots?
Mid-Continent Instruments, Wichita, announced the addition of Ryan Reid as Eastern Region outside sales representative. Tara Crain has been promoted to Information Technology supervisor and project coordinator.
Aero Dynamix, Inc. has received an STC for a Night Vision Lighting System for Schweizer Model 300C and 300C-1 helicopters. Aero Dynamix currently holds STCs for Night Vision Lighting systems for 28 aircraft models. Price: Contact vendor DeroDynamix, Inc. 3227 W. Euless Blvd., Ste. 300 Euless, TX 76040 (817) 571-0729 www.aerodynamix.com
Greenwhich AeroGroup, Greenwich, Conn., announced that Bob Fitzpatrick has been appointed senior vice president for Government and Military business and president of Summit Aviation, Inc., a fixed- and rotor-wing aircraft maintenance, repair and modification service provider in Middletown, Del.
Erroll Southers says he withdrew himself from consideration as the next head of the TSA due to the escalating political attacks against him. He had attracted criticism from Republicans since his nomination was submitted by the Obama administration in September. In an interview with our sister publication Aviation Daily, Southers said he had “become more of a distraction than an asset” to the TSA, and that the claims made against him had become more personal and absurd every week.
Textron, continuing its campaign to cut costs and raise margins, may shut down some Cessna metal work production lines in Georgia and Kansas and move the operations to Mexico, CFO and Executive Vice President Frank Connor said at the Cowen and Co. Aerospace and Defense Conference in New York on Feb. 10. Textron eliminated 8,000 jobs at Cessna last year and has consolidated or shut down more than 500,000 square feet of facilities.
“Project 170” is the name Bombardier Aerospace has assigned to the Global Express XRS’s planned successor, according to prospective customers. The customers, who must sign non-disclosure agreements, informed BCA Senior Editor Fred George that Project 170 is being designed to compete head-on with the 7,000-nm range, Mach 0.85 cruise Gulfstream G650. It will feature a five- to 10-foot fuselage stretch, a clean-sheet wing having considerably more area and fuel capacity, and new engines, perhaps a derivative of the Rolls-Royce BR725 that powers the G650.
The FAA has chosen Frasca International of Urbana, Ill. to supply the agency with a second Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD) for the Cessna Citation Mustang light jet. The device will be built to FAA Level 5 FTD standards and will be operated by the Aerospace Human Factors Research Lab at the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Piper President and CEO Kevin Gould assured PiperJet customers in February that development is again moving ahead with the hiring of 50 additional engineers. He now expects a first delivery of the single-engine jet in 2013. The company has also unveiled the two-seat PiperSport, a 100-hp light sport aircraft previously marketed as a kit by Czech Sport Aircraft (CSA). CSA will continue to manufacture the aircraft in the Czech Republic, but discontinue separate marketing of the kit version, putting Piper head-to-head with Cessna in the factory-assembled LSA market.
Rockwell Collins’ Venue, a high-definition cabin management system, will be installed as part of Nextant Aerospace’s Beechjet 400NEXT retrofit package. A recent agreement between the avionics manufacturer and Nextant, which has ordered 30 Venue systems, represents the initial aftermarket offering of the high-def unit. The first Beechjet 400NEXT equipped with Venue was to be delivered in February.
Cablevision Systems Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., announced the promotion of Philip C. Prosseda to director, aviation, with responsibility for all aviation services, aviation equipment and aviation facilities company-wide.
Evergreen International Aviation, the McMinnville, Ore.-based aviation services company, responded to the Haitian crisis with equipment large and small. The company, which has a fleet of 747s and helicopters, ferried supplies to Port-au-Prince for different agencies. In addition, the outfit operated at least one of its hand-launched, Elbit-made Skylark UAVs to capture images of the devastation that resulted from the devastating earthquake that struck the island.
A blank stare from your copilot may annoy but that is not as disconcerting as an instrument panel full of blank screens. The NTSB has now updated Part 830, effective March 8, updating and increasing the number of reportable “incidents” to include glass panel failures.
Lockheed Martin and Kaman have demonstrated cargo resupply using an unmanned version of the Kaman K-Max helicopter. A second contender in the U.S. Marine Corps competition is Boeing’s Hummingbird unmanned vertical lift vehicle. Over four days in late January at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, the unmanned K-Max demonstrated six resupply scenarios involving both remote control and autonomous operation, within and beyond line of sight.
Another reminder: FAA-licensed pilots need to replace their paper licenses with a credit card-sized plastic pilot certificate by March 31. The deadline does not apply to temporary pilot or student pilot certificates. The replacement certificate costs $2 and can be ordered through the FAA.gov Web site or by mail. There is no photo on the license, so pilots must also carry a government photo ID (driver’s license, military ID, etc.) to exercise their pilot privileges.
A new market survey conducted on behalf of Aerion Corp., the Reno, Nev., engineering group that has designed a new supersonic business jet, confirms earlier studies that suggested a market exists for about 300 such high-speed aircraft over a 10-year period, Aerion executives say. The latest study, conducted by Alden & Associates, is part of Aerion’s ongoing effort to convince an original equipment manufacturer to put its design into production.
With an airplane full of passengers heading for the vacation of a lifetime, the sleek Concorde was pushed back from the terminal at Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG) on July 20, 2000. The special charter carried 100 vacationers headed for New York, for a 16-day cruise from the Big Apple to South America. Just four minutes prior to takeoff roll, however, a departing DC-10 lost a portion of a titanium repair strap from an engine nacelle. The strap came to rest near the centerline of the runway.
The “crabgrass of aviation,” as one wag described it, is historically one of the most onerous tasks in a flight department (as measured by the junior status of those who perform it). When the envelopes arrive from Jeppesen or the National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO) with paper chart updates, the chore of removing the outdated charts and substituting the new ones in their proper order usually falls to some poor, woeful individual at the bottom of the pecking order, pitied by all and envied by none.
“Night Freighter Down in Lubbock” (Cause & Circumstance, January, page 58), is an excellent article that provides a comprehensive insight on the situation and crew actions as well as a good description of the accident aircraft’s systems.
Bombardier’s Global 5000, the truncated version of the Global Express fitted with smaller fuel tanks, has the best cabin of any business aircraft in this range class, along with the fastest cruise speeds and best runway performance, according to operators. They like its cockpit room, soft ride in turbulence, automated systems and three seating zones in the main cabin. Compared to the Global Express, the Global 5000 has a 5.9-foot overall shorter cabin and 5,800 to 7,000 pounds less weight at takeoff, depending upon Service Bulletins.
Delta Air Lines’ private jet subsidiary, Delta AirElite, has acquired Segrave Aviation, nearly doubling the size of the carrier’s business jet fleet. Atlanta-based Delta said the all-cash acquisition of Kinston, N.C.-based Segrave adds 21 aircraft to AirElite’s fleet of 24 airplanes. Delta AirElite is based in Cincinnati.
