Since the earliest days of aviation, pilots have been staring at gauges to help ascertain the condition of their machines and the world around them. Orville and Wilbur had three instruments on their first Flyer: a stopwatch, an anemometer for measuring wind speed and a tachometer. Subsequently and especially since the introduction of instrument flight and the development of the standard T cluster, engineers managed to cover every available inch of cockpit real estate with some type of instrument, button or switch.
— At about 1215 PST, a Beech 95-A55 (N9694Y) departed the runway during takeoff and collided with two parked airplanes and a hangar at Corona Municipal Airport (AJO), Corona, Calif. The certificated private pilot was not injured but the airplane sustained substantial damage. The personal flight was departing Corona with a planned destination of Phoenix. It was VFR and no flight plan was filed.
Piaggio Aero Industries is finalizing the sale of its industrial plant in Liguria, Northern Italy, to raise cash to invest in a new plant in nearby Villanova d’Albenga. Company officials maintain that Piaggio plans to launch the development of a new business jet, a $1 billion venture, but say they will not rush into a launch decision. According to preliminary data, Piaggio closed 2008 with revenues up 27 percent to €218 million, with an aircraft order backlog of about €460 million.
Pilatus Aircraft has designated Pro-Star Aviation of Londonderry, N.H., as its dealer for the Northeast U.S. Pro-Star will be responsible for PC-12 NG sales, marketing and service in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and Michigan. Pro-Star operates several facilities throughout the Northeast, including ones in Caldwell, N.J., and Portland, Maine.
A drop in business jet orders will force some 1,000 layoffs at Pratt & Whitney Canada, the company announced Feb. 11. Spokesman Pierre Boisseau said the layoffs, which will start in a few months, represent about 10 percent of the company’s global workforce. Pratt & Whitney Canada, based in Longueuil, Quebec, outside Montreal, is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
Piper Aircraft PA-46-350P and PA-46R-350T airplanes — Conduct an inspection to verify that the 35-amp and 250-amp current limiters are installed in the proper locations. If the limiters are not installed in the appropriate spots, then reinstall them in the proper locations. In addition, limit operation of the aircraft to daytime VFR conditions until the limiter installations are inspected and corrected.
Name withheld by request (Universal Avionics Systems Corp.)
I read with interest your January Viewpoint on the negative spin placed on business aircraft by the Congress, and of course the lapdog media with its pile-on mentality, during the hearings on the automotive industry bailout proposal (“Without Apology,” page 7). The fat, stupid cats running Detroit deserve an Oscar for sheer arrogance. However, you raise a very interesting issue once again — business aircraft as a sign of noblesse oblige.
— At 0200 EST, a Cessna 550 (N815MA) was substantially damaged when it impacted the runway during a forced landing, with the landing gear retracted, at the Wilmington International Airport (KILM), Wilmington, N. C. The airplane departed the La Isabela Airport (MDJB), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Jan. 3 about 2300. The certificated airline transport pilot captain, certificated commercial pilot first officer and five passengers received no injuries. It was IFR at the time and the crew had filed an IFR flight plan for the international flight.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association estimates more than one million people are employed manufacturing, servicing, flying and managing business aircraft, and in the doing contribute $150 billion to the U.S. economy annually. In addition to keeping legions at work in top-paying jobs, business aircraft facilitate and expand commerce for their users, and contribute mightily to reducing America’s trade imbalance.
“There were no serious runway incursions in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 — not a single Category A or B event during 12.8 million aircraft operations,” testified Lynne Osmus, acting FAA Administrator before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation. Category A and B runway incursions are the most serious, in which a collision was narrowly avoided or where there is a significant potential for a collision. Category C and D incidents present no immediate safety consequences to the public.
Baldwin Aviation and CAP Aviation Consulting Group have teamed to offer the “Power of Plus,” a complete Safety Management and Flight Data Monitoring package that combines Baldwin’s SMSplus, a Web-based safety management and monitoring program, and CAP’s FDMplus, a program that monitors pilot performance by measuring adherence to standard operating procedures and aircraft limitations. According to the companies, the new offering will improve the overall efficiency and safety level of flight organizations while reducing fuel consumption, maintenance and insurance costs.
“The Liz” was an attractive, converted Lodestar that flew Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd “Round the World in Eighty Days.” The Hollywood power couple were leasing a Lodestar and expected to buy one.
In White Plains, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen kicked off testimony saying, “It is important that we get this right. Overly broad or unnecessary regulations that do not take into account the unique attributes of business aviation will needlessly destroy companies and the jobs they create.” He recommended the creation of a government/industry Aviation Rulemaking Committee similar to that used to create the FAR Part 91K fractional ownership regulations.
B/CA And as promised to all with perfect answers, Capt. Syed M. Husain of Mississauga, Ontario will be receiving a 50th anniversary Business & Commercial Aviation picture frame. Thanks for following our Golden Anniversary coverage, and for your continuing support.
Jet Works Air Center of Denton, Texas, has obtained two new supplemental type certificates (STCs)—one for a Rockwell Collins AHS-3000S upgrade for the Learjet 31A, and another that covers installation of a Rockwell Collins data link system in the Piaggio Avanti II.
Col. Michael R. Gallagher, USAF (ret) (Hillsboro, OR)
Great analysis of an accident that never should have happened (“Warm Airplane; Cold, Snowy Ramp,” Cause & Circumstance, January 2009, page 72). You’d think we’d get tired of proving that contaminated airfoils just don’t work as well as clean ones.
One Saturday morning while John Alter was attending the Navy’s flight school in Pensacola, Fla., he was driving his Triumph TR3 with the top down when he spied “two young ladies all dressed up and on their way to a sorority tea and their car had conked out. They saw this naval aviator and somehow knew I could fix their car.” Alter got it started, but when he declined payment, they invited him and two buddies to a homemade spaghetti dinner. A year later, in June 1962, Alter was awarded his wings and he and one of those young ladies got married.
The 16th annual Aircraft Registry Forum, which will feature sessions on FAA Registry practices and the Cape Town Convention, will take place on Monday, February 9 and Tuesday, February 10 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. Co-chaired by Frank L. Polk of McAfee & Taft PC and Michael T. Amalfitano, Sr. of Banc of America Leasing, the forum offers presentations by noted experts in aviation law and financing. Besides exploring the key considerations of FAA and Cape Town rules, other sessions offered during the two-day conference include:
Also in trouble is the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program, jointly funded by the European Commission and Eurocontrol’s 39 member countries. Officially launched Dec. 8 with 15 aviation industry companies standing ready to join, the undertaking’s goal is to squeeze more aircraft into existing airspace. But it’s been abruptly derailed because apparently nobody consulted with Europe’s military entities and the ATC controllers. Europe’s military forces doubt the project’s merits and value. The controller community has multiple concerns.
The FAA is extending the 75-per-hour flight cap at New York La Guardia through Oct. 24, 2009, according to an amendment to the current rule filed in the Federal Register. The rule was set to expire last year, to be replaced by the controversial plan to auction slots at the airport, the “Congestion Management Rule for La Guardia Airport.” The amendments to the “Operating Limitations at New York La Guardia Airport” released Jan. 7 also include a provision to allow carriers to trade or lease operating authorities at the airport.
Who would have believed it? Embraer’s then-president Maurício Botelho convened a press conference at the Corcoran Museum of Art in May 2005 in Washington, D.C., He introduced Luís Carlos Affonso, whom he said would direct the design, development, manufacture and certification of a VLJ and a light jet, the Phenom 100 and 300 — and bring the Phenom 100 into service in 2008. Most of the reporters in the room were taken aback since Embraer was then primarily a builder of airliners.
