The arrival of the proof-of-concept Cirrus Design SJ50, on July 30, at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture in Oshkosh was its 20th test flight since its first flight on July 3, company officials told Senior Editor Fred George. The POC flight test program is being kept low profile, with Alan Klapmeier, company cofounder, chairman and CEO, continuing to provide "no price, no date and no performance" specifics for production deliveries of the SJ50.
The article on the Howard 500 was excellent ("Howard 500: Bold End to an Era," July, page 42). I now have a better understanding of why human factors engineering was created in that same era.
Clinton, Mo.-based Aviation Fabricators recently received an STC for installation of one-, two- and three-place side-facing divans in the Cessna 441. The company - which specializes in cabin seating solutions, components and upgrades for cabin-class aircraft - says the divans will enable operators "to customize their aircraft by utilizing unused space, increasing capacity and giving their cabin the look of a much larger aircraft." For pricing and other information, visit www.avfab.com/cessna_divan.htm or call (660) 885-8317.
According to the FAA, weather accounts for about 70 percent of flight delays, with thunderstorms a prime cause. The agency is deploying an upgrade to its vintage 2001 Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS), which was previously operative in the Northeast corridor, to include all of the continental United States. The FAA says the new CIWS prototype provides zero- to two-hour forecasts of storm locations and can significantly improve the ability of ATC to use the maximum amount of safe airspace during severe thunderstorms.
Textron's Lycoming Engines announced the expected November FAA certification of its 210-hp, four-cylinder IO-390 gas-fueled piston engine, intended to replace the 200-hp IO-360 in light aircraft. The IO-390 has almost the same external dimensions as the less-powerful four-cylinder Lycoming and about the same net weight. The first application will be an IO-390-A1A6 retrofit for the Cessna CE-177 Cardinal.
Rapco Fleet Support, Inc. (RFS) of Hartland, Wis., has been granted Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) by the FAA for the company's replacement brake components for Sabreliner 40 and 60 series aircraft equipped with ABSC (Goodyear) brakes. RFS brake parts now can be used on all Sabre 40s and 60s to replace the original equipment on a part-for-part basis without restriction.
In the August Operations Planning Guide, the total variable cost numbers for the Dassault Falcon 900B should read $3,600.22; for the Bombardier Challenger, $3,195.16; for the Gulfstream G300, $3,224.67; for the Falcon 900C, $3,176.81; and for the GIV-SP, $4,210.15.
The dismal safety statistics of the aviation arm of the U.S. emergency medical service (EMS) industry have been sharply brought to public attention and regulatory scrutiny in the wake of the June 29 midair collision between two EMS helicopters about to land at a Flagstaff, Ariz., hospital. The record was detailed by Patrick Veillette in "Helicopter EMS: a Continuing Safety Failure" (August, page 44).
Not only can technicians injure themselves when removing and installing heavy wheels and brakes, but landing gear axle hubs on newer aircraft are plated with advanced coatings that are easily nicked and gouged. To help protect maintainers and aircraft, Houston-based Alberth Aviation has developed a dolly that fits most business aircraft-size wheels, and with the additional adapter can easily handle large brake assemblies as well.
Northern Air, Grand Rapids, Mich., announced that Karla Suwyn has joined the marketing department as a marketing specialist; Craig Douglass is a new staff accountant; and Melodie Hickel was named as a customer service representative.
AVIATION PROPONENTS have long noted that people are much more likely to be involved in an accident when traveling in an automobile than while flying on an airplane. But if you're having a real bad day -- and the emergency responders who show up to extricate you from a smashed automobile think your injuries necessitate priority transport in an emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter -- your chances of being in a second accident are considerably higher than they should be.
The standard Honeywell Primus Apex avionics package features three, eight-by-10-inch Barco AMLCD displays, with an optional fourth screen installed as the copilot's PFD. The system uses hub-and-spoke architecture, with a 12-slot Primus Epic modular avionics unit installed below the center aisle floor panel near the entry door being the hub. The standard package includes dual digital multi-mode radio systems and a single digital air data computer/attitude heading reference system (ADAHRS), along with a three-axis autopilot.
A Beech A200 (N11) had a landing gear malfunction resulting in a gear-up landing at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC). The airplane was operating under 14 CFR Part 91. The two airline transport pilots were uninjured, however the airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The local instructional flight departed SLC about 1415. It was VFR and no flight plan had been filed. The pilot-in-command reported that after takeoff from SLC, and obtaining a positive rate of climb, he selected the gear-up handle.
While "Are You Ready to Go Paperless?" was intended to educate readers about the convenience and importance of electronic record-keeping, and was not an evaluation of any one company or product, I do understand your irritation at its failure to mention Logbook Organizer. We planned to publish a box with the article, also composed by Mike Gamauf, that contained a list of available electronic maintenance management systems, and of course LBO was among them.
Pratt & Whitney's PurePower family of next-generation engines for airliners and business jets are expected to offer double-digit improvements in fuel burn, emissions, engine noise and operating costs. Cessna has selected the PurePower PW810C to power the Citation Columbus business jet, scheduled to enter service in 2014. The PurePower PW1000G (formerly known as the Geared Turbofan engine), was selected for the Mitsubishi and the Bombardier CSeries regional jets. Both aircraft are scheduled to enter service in 2013.
As of this summer, NetJets-Europe was carrying 1,100 pilots and 100 flight attendants drawn from 26 nationalities on its crew roster. Currently, the ratio of pilots to the 140-plus aircraft in the fleet is five to one.
?228-137?Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va., at a dinner co-hosted with Honeywell and held at the Churchill Cabinet War Rooms in London on July 12, awarded the Honeywell Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety to the Mode S Radar Tools Project for the invention and implementation of two important new tools for maintaining aircraft separation in high-traffic terminal areas. The Aviation Week & Space Technology Distinguished Service Award was given to Capt. Dave Carbaugh of the Boeing Co.
Thrane & Thrane has an upgrade for its Aero-HSD+ cabin communications system that enables the use of Wi-Fi-enabled PDA devices and cell phones for inflight e-mail, Web browsing and SMS text messaging The company says the low-cost data solution introduces a universal interface, allowing use of all major 80211.b Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones and PDAs in any phase of flight or ground operation. The company says data costs are kept low because the system uses MPDS (Mobile Packet Data Service) instead of the ISDN channels, which are typically used for Web surfing.
Executive Jet Management, Cincinnati, announced the addition of Steve Taylor to its aircraft management sales team. He will be responsible for the Western United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.
By John Wiley Competition for U.S. flying jobs is only going to get tougher with airlines announcing furloughs or filing for bankruptcy. Louis Smith, a retired Northwest Airlines captain, founder of the Future Airline Pilots Association and now president of FLTops.com, an aviation career information organization, says more than 2,200 airline pilots have recently lost their jobs, and more will likely follow.
DRF (Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht e.V./German Air Rescue, Filderstadt, Germany, has named Jorg Baudach to the post of director of Aircraft Operations, replacing Winfried Beikler.
?228-137?Sept. 10: NBAA Business Aviation Regional Forum, Hanscom Field, Bedford, Mass. www.nbaa.org ?228-137?Sept. 10-11: Chevron Product Integrity Training, Pittsburgh. Contact: Chevron Customer Service at (866) 557-3456 or e-mail to [email protected] ?228-137?Sept. 15-18: Flight Simulator Engineering and Maintenance Conference, Hilton Salt Lake Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. (410) 266-2008. www.aviation-ia.com ?228-137?Sept. 23: Green Aviation, the Novotel Hotel, Madrid, Spain. www.aviationweek.com/conferences
Journalists at this year's Farnborough International Airshow reported that the red-hot business aviation market seemed to have cooled some, at least in North America. And as charter activity waned a bit, more red flags went up.
