Concerned that an FAA/industry Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) is making little headway on new runway landing distance parameters, the National Air Transportation Association in September urged FAA Flight Standards Director James Ballough to intervene. In late 2007, the FAA formed an ARC after receiving substantial opposition to a proposal calling for an additional 15-percent margin in landing distance calculations based on runway conditions at the time the aircraft arrives in the vicinity of the airport.
*United Airlines Capt. "Pat" Boling flew a V-tail Bonanza tanked with 402 gallons of avgas 7,090 miles from Manila to Pendleton, Ore., in 46 hours. It was the longest nonmilitary overwater flight in history.
Schedulers and dispatchers will be as eligible as flight crew members for points earned under Chevron's new rewards program. "If the flight department chooses to, it can share the points so that everyone benefits across the organization," says Bob Taylor, Chevron manager of branded programs. The new program is based on extensive market research that indicated a rewards program needs to be fair to all within a flight operation. Besides fuel, rewards include products and gift certificates that provide hundreds of options from retailers.
All national aviation authorities hold the sovereign right to enforce their own regulations on foreign-registered aircraft operating in their airspace. In the E.U., at least, this includes ramp inspections under the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft program, or SAFA.
StandardAero -- a designated PT6A overhaul facility based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada -- has received supplemental type certification of its program to replace the original Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-41 engines on Beech King Air 200s with new or serviceable PT6A-42 engines.
By the mid-1980s, Cessna knew it needed a successor to the Citation III, its first midsize aircraft. The 1982 model offered a cabin with 5.5-foot width, 5.7-foot height and 18.4-foot length, which provided considerably more comfort for six to eight passengers than Cessna's narrow-fuselage light jets. The Citation III also featured a moderately swept, super-critical wing that made possible 450 KTAS cruise speeds, fuel-efficient TFE731 turbofans, trailing-link main landing gear for smooth touchdowns and hot-wing anti-ice, plus advanced systems.
Patrick Veillette's "Helicopter EMS: A Continuing Safety Failure" (August, page 44) was excellent. The solution to the EMS accident rate in the United States is simple, but the FAA and NTSB as part of the Safety Management System have failed in their responsibility since 1978 to set a standard that will save lives. They continue to put Band-Aids on the problem when the patient is bleeding to death.
SEI of America and Aerolite America are teaming to promote and market turnkey completions to EMS operators of AgustaWestland A109 and AW139 helicopters in the United States. SEI of America is an FAR Part 145 Repair Station.
Pat,we're losing him! How far out are we? We need to get him there now!" The desperation in the flight nurse's voice was obvious as she and the flight paramedic reached into the medical equipment bag and retrieved a scalpel. As a last lifesaving move, she began cutting the abdominal muscles around the patient's chest because the muscle constrictions were preventing him from breathing. Blood sprayed all over the nurse and up the King Air's cabin walls. The look in both of their faces wasn't good.
Embraer plans to rewrite the rules for how airframe manufacturers will compete in the business jet industry from 2008 to 2017. What's at stake? This will be a decade-long, Olympics-scale contest in which a dozen major players will compete for more than $200 billion in new aircraft sales, according to the firm's internal projections. The Brazilian jet maker believes that its $3.3 million Phenom 100, its first purpose-built business jet, will be a game changer when the very light jet enters service before year-end.
Castle & Cooke Aviation is negotiating with Los Angeles World Airports to lease the former Jet Center and redevelop it into a new FBO with 100,000 square feet of hangar and 50,000 square feet of office and shop. Owner David H. Murdock is CEO of Dole Foods, among other business interests.
The International Air Transport Association signed a three-party commitment to a Flight Efficiency Plan with Eurocontrol and Europe's Civil Air Navigation Services Organization. The plan's objective is to expedite efficiency improvements in European air traffic management to achieve annualized savings of 470,000 metric tons of fuel per year in a six-month work program. If successful, this will save 390 million and reduce CO 2 emissions by over 1.5 million tons. "The air transport industry is in a perfect storm of high fuel costs and falling demand.
*RTCA, Washington, D.C., announced the selection of Margaret Jenny as its next president. Jenny succeeded Dave Watrous, who concluded his tenure in August after serving for 19 years.
Rockwell Collins announced new software feature enhancements to its Airshow 4200 and 4200D Moving Map Display and Flight Information System. New features include: Atlas Maps, one of three available map styles, features interstates, major highways and their association icon markets as a layer on top of a topographic map.
Most professional aviators are by now familiar with the concepts of a Safety Management System (see "SMS, Arriving for Keeps," September 2007, page 54), and ICAO has mandated that governmental regulatory authorities and thus the operators under their purview have SMS in place by Feb. 1, 2009. One critical component of SMS is a scheme that encourages people to report their mistakes -- a confession, of sorts.
Mike Grove does. Makes it himself - and his share comes to about 10 cases a year. He says it saves money at about three bucks a bottle, but that's not why he and his fellow members of a small amateur winemaking club near Redmond, Wash., pursue the grape. "It's a labor of love," he says. Grove's garage is the headquarters where reds are made; another member hosts the whites. Their 2007 bottling of red wine was entirely sangiovese, the grape that defines Chianti, and sometime in 2009 they'll get their first taste of it.
Jeppesen has received operation approval from the FAA for its Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) prediction report. RAIM is a technology developed to assess the integrity of GPS signals, and thus, the accuracy of airborne GPS navigation equipment. Effective Oct. 1, 2008, the FAA is requesting that aircraft operators and pilots who operate us U.S. terminal and en route RNAV environments, and who use GPS as a primary navigation method, obtain a RAIM prediction report prior to flight.
John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon, has been elected to the board of trustees of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "We are delighted to have John join Embry-Riddle's board. His extensive experience in advanced aircraft manufacturing and long-standing leadership in the aviation industry is an important addition to the University's board,' said Dr. John P. Johnson, president of Embry-Riddle.
In the midst of unprecedented growth for business aviation on the Continent, the European Parliament has tossed a noxious stink bomb among business aircraft operators there.
*Avidyne, Lincoln, Mass., has appointed Mark Sindone to the position of director of customer service. Jacob Ward was named regional sales manager for the Southeast Region of the United States. Dave Spector has joined the company as senior director of aftermarket integrated flight deck sales, responsible for overseeing the worldwide growth of retrofit installations of Avidyne's Entegra system including Alliant and Envision programs. Michael E. Glover was named director of OEM sales and strategic alliances.
Gulfstream will unveil the G250 at this month's NBAA Convention. The aircraft is to be a clean-sheet super-midsize to large-cabin design, powered by Honeywell HTF7500-series turbofans and fitted with a downsized variant of the G550 wing. It will be capable of carrying eight passengers 3,600 nm at 0.80 Mach, according to prospective customers. The reported wing design also suggests it will able to fly 3,000-plus nm at 0.85 Mach. The wing will have no leading-edge high-lift devices and will be heated by engine bleed air for anti-ice protection.
Bombardier officials severed Learjet's partnership with Grob Aerospace Sept. 17 regarding development of Learjet 85. As a result, Bombardier is taking over all responsibilities for design and manufacturing of the 3,000 nm-range midsize jet, the first clean-sheet Learjet since the Model 45 program was launched in 1992. The Learjet 85 is intended to be a virtually all-composite aircraft, a first for Bombardier. That goal remains unchanged following the severing of ties with Grob, which was renowned for its composite expertise.
*Million Air, White Plains, N.Y., has appointed John Powell to the position of line service manager responsible for overseeing ground operations, training and market growth.
Max-Viz and FLIR Systems, among other manufacturers, offer uncooled microbolometer IR sensors that are very sensitive to long-wave IR radiation, thus making them excellent detectors of terrain imagery in low light conditions. They haven't been proven to be as effective at detecting lights and terrain through obscuration as cryogenically cooled IR cameras, so none have yet earned approval for use in lieu of natural vision in accordance with the provisions of revised FAR Part 91.175.
*Bell Model 222, 222B, 222U, 230 and 430 helicopters -- Check tail-rotor blades for cracks, and replace any cracked blade with an airworthy blade before further flight. *Cessna Model 560 airplanes -- Install new minimum-airspeed placards and make associated revisions to the airplane flight manual. Also, recalibrate and test the angle-of-attack (AOA) system.
