AgustaWestland hopes to formally launch the so-called XX9 before year-end, according to company CEO Giuseppe Orsi. The XX9 is a light twin-engine, four-metric-ton rotorcraft, but other details are closely guarded. The product expansion plans come as the company is in the midst of a significant production rate increase, with the goal of reaching an output of 260 helicopters in 2010, up from 128 in 2005. The Finmeccanica company also is further growing its global footprint, signing an agreement with Russia's Oboronprom Corp.
Avidyne is developing new synthetic vision system (SVS) and enhanced vision system (EVS) upgrades for its Entegra product line. The SVS depicts 3-D terrain out to the horizon, based on aircraft altitude above the ground. The system also depicts obstacles, traffic and "Highway-in-the-Sky" (HITS) on the primary flight display. The EVS uses a Max-Viz EVS-100 infrared camera, which provides a daytime view at night, allowing pilots to see up to 10 times farther in marginal VFR conditions.
Honeywell launched the Bendix/King AV80R Series portable avionics system that includes a handheld multifunction display and two synthetic-vision equipped cockpit information systems. The synthetic vision systems, the AV80R Horizon 3D and AV80R Vision 3D, provide graphical renderings of the environment with a view of the aircraft position and situation outside the cockpit. The systems provide pilots with real-time satellite weather information, topographic terrain and aeronautic navigation information.
Business continues at a record-setting pace, according to GAMA, which reported $12.1 billion in billings in the first half of the year, a 24.1-percent increase from the same period in 2007. Total shipments were up 1.6 percent to 1,919 aircraft. GAMA President Pete Bunce said that expanding world markets are having a positive effect on the turbine segment. Business jet shipments totaled 663 units in the first six months, a 39.3-percent increase. Turboprop deliveries increased to 222 from 186 units. Piston shipments, however, were down 15.7 percent, to 1,034 units.
At 1439 PDT, a Cessna 172N (N75558) was substantially damaged when it hit trees while flying near McMurray, Wash. The commercial pilot and her two passengers were killed. The airplane was registered to Crest Airpark Inc., Kent, Wash., and operated by the pilot. It was VFR and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The cross-country flight originated from the Roche Harbor Airport (WA09), Roche Harbor, Wash., at about 1402 with an intended destination of Auburn, Wash.
Icon Aircraft flew the prototype of its A5, a Rotax 912-powered, two-place amphibious light-sport aircraft, for the first time on July 9 from a lake in California. With a base price of $139,000, the all-composite A5 is scheduled to enter production in late 2010. Icon is a California-based startup company comprised mostly of former Scaled Composites engineers. The 100-hp pusher runs on both automotive and aviation gasoline. The predicted top speed is 120 mph. The prototype made its public debut at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh.
Fractional operator Executive AirShare (EAS) picked up 18 Phenom 100 delivery positions from AvantAir in July, bringing its total firm orders for that Embraer aircraft to 28, with deliveries beginning in summer 2009. It holds 12 additional options. Executive also has four firm orders and four options for Phenom 300s. Executive AirShare is based in Kansas City, Mo., and also operates out of Wichita, Tulsa, Dallas and Fort Worth.
Comtran International has been awarded an STC for a 12-passenger executive version of the Dornier 328 JET. Models of the regional twinjet are being converted at the company's facility in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. The first modified aircraft, dubbed the Revolution Series 328, was completed and delivered to a European customer in July.
UK VIP charter specialist Titan Airways has added an all-business-class Boeing 737-300QC to its London-Stansted-based fleet. The airplane has been refurbished with 44 seats, upholstered in yellow and black leather. There are two club-four seat arrangements, each with a coffee table that can convert to a full working/dining table, separated by a fixed divider from the forward cabin, which offers 36 forward-facing, 62-inch-pitch seats. Titan says the new $1 million interior affords plenty of personal space and leg room.
From liftoff at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to touchdown at Downtown Manhattan Heliport (JRB) takes about 10 minutes. In one fluid motion, a US Helicopter Sikorsky S-76B sweeps its eight passengers across New York Harbor like a flying carpet.
- President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal Aviation Act, but had yet to name the new aviation agency's administrator. - A CAA-certificated Beech MS-760 arrived in New York by ship and was taken to Teterboro Airport for assembly. - A Lockheed JetStar boxed the country in a 5,860-nm demo tour, logging 14 hours, 50 minutes in the doing. The twin-engine jet was equipped with 640-gallon "glove" tanks.
Northrop Grumman is looking at more applications, including border surveillance, for its pod-mounted active electronically scanned array radar designed to be carried under the wing of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to detect and track vehicles and individuals using synthetic-aperture radar imagery and ground moving-target indication. The Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) is now being flight tested under a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program.
USUALLY, WE SAVE THE "lessons learned" comments for the end of this column, but this month's lessons are so important they need to come at the front. This case involved a well-experienced pilot dealing with an old light-twin. But with the median age of the light-twin fleet growing older and younger pilots moving into the aging fleet, a review of the basics seems in order. ?228-137?A light twin is simply a big single with its power divided and moved from the nose to each wing.
San Diego Air & Space Museum will be honoring the Class of 2008 on Oct. 25 at the Pavilion of Flight in the museum. The honorees are: Cdr. Scott Carpenter, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Cdr. M. Scott Carpenter is one the "original seven" Mercury astronauts and was the second American to orbit the earth in May 1962. Carpenter's goal during the three-orbit mission was to demonstrate that astronauts could work in space, a major prerequisite for America's Apollo moon missions later in the decade. Tuskegee Airmen
Santa Monica Airport (SMO) has become one of the first general aviation airports to jump into the carbon trading fray, formally establishing itself as an offset facilitator. In July, the Los Angeles-area airport added a feature on its Web site that allows aircraft operators to calculate their carbon footprint and purchase carbon offsets. The calculator will estimate carbon produced by specific flight distances and number of passengers. Santa Monica said the purchases will be channeled to nonprofit organizations involved in reforestation and alternative energy projects.
less record-keeping ("Are You Ready to Go Paperless?" July, page 106) I was dumbfounded. The first company to come out with a complete paperless record-keeping system was LBO. We were the first to come out with electronic logbooks with electronic signatures, we were green before anyone thought of the word "green." Not only do we do logbooks but all record-keeping for any aircraft in a paperless format. But we were not even mentioned in the article.
L-3 Avionics Systems has added Synthetic Vision to its SmartDeck Integrated Flight Controls and Display System. It will be available as an option on new SmartDeck systems or as an add-on for existing models after certification, which is expected later this year. L-3's Synthetic Vision uses GPS location and altitude data in conjunction with SmartDeck's terrain database to depict 3-D images of land, mountains, obstacles, water and runways on the PFD. This image moves in real-time with the aircraft.
The use of celebrity endorsements is an old, familiar convention in advertising, going back way before a B-film actor named Ronald Reagan hawked Chesterfields in postwar magazine ads or a post-Beatles Ringo Starr promoted Oldsmobiles on TV. From time to time such celeb-centered ads even show up in aviation publications, but in 1958 Business & Commercial Aviation published a series of them that were unique in style, length and authorship.
In the August edition of its market research report, analysts at the Global Equity Research unit of JPMorgan declared, "July 2008 was another leg down for the business jet market, with a substantial increase in inventory and a decline in average asking price."
Dallas Airmotive, Grapevine, Texas, hired Jay Randall as regional engine manager for the Northeast United States. He will provide sales and technical assistance on P&WC PT6A, JT15D and PW500 engines.
As important as it is to get your passengers where they want to go, it is essential that, once arrived, they come to a safe stop. Braking malfunctions can have terrible consequences even before the aircraft gets airborne -- a failure to actuate, a single side brake failure or total lock-up during departure could be disastrous. Few systems are as essential to safe flight as the one that is used only on the ground. As aircraft design rapidly advanced in the early 1920s, paved runways and higher landing speeds made the drag skids obsolete.
The NBAA expressed great concern regarding the DOT's Aug. 5 announcement calling for a public auction for an unused slot pair at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The association said a report submitted to the DOT in December 2007 by the New York Aviation Rulemaking Committee, on which the NBAA participated, predicted price increases and service disruptions for consumers, a loss of service to general aviation and possible violations of bilateral and multilateral aviation agreements.
It's tough to improve upon one of the most capable and versatile turboprop airplanes ever built, but that's exactly what Pilatus Aircraft has done with its next-generation PC-12. The latest iteration of the Swiss-built single, the PC-12 NG, was FAA certified in March 2008 and it incorporates some half dozen improvements, including a more robust powerplant that helps increase cruise over older models as much as 11 knots and gives it more range because of improved climb performance. The electrical, cabin pressurization and environmental control systems have been improved.
