Thank you so much for your note. I have always enjoyed working with the women in the aviation business, and upon reflection it occurred to me that it wasn't simply a coincidence that they were such strong, able individuals. Rather, they had to share those characteristics to succeed in an environment that wasn't always so welcoming. My compliments on your success. Keep up the great work.
Avidyne Corporation's Envision integrated flight deck was STC'd for installation on Cessna 400 piston twin-engine airplanes. Southern Star Avionics, LLC in Mobile, Ala. worked with Avidyne on the retrofit, which initially was installed on a Cessna Model 414A. The STC also covers the Cessna 401(A, B), 402 (A, B, C), 414(A) and 421(A, B, C) twin-piston airplanes. Avidyne and Southern Star originally teamed on an STC for the installation of the Envision EXP5000 PFD on Cirrus SR20 and SR22 airplanes.
At the Savannah S&D convention, Universal Weather and Aviation unveiled enhanced mobile trip planning through a handheld device, including direct access to flight information and fuel quote requests on a screen optimized for a BlackBerry device. The Trip Status tool now views crew and passenger information, trip documents and an e-mail message history. Universal's scheduling software sends trip info directly to handhelds. Users can cross-check passengers against the TSA's No-Fly and Cleared lists.
On March 13, Gulfstream Aerospace finally took the wraps off its next-generation G650, a completely clean-sheet, ultra-long-range business jet that will be capable of flying eight passengers 7,000 nm at 488 KTAS when it enters service in 2012. Gulfstream had struggled to keep the program out of the public eye for well over three years while it courted potential customers, solicited their inputs and molded the design to deliver on all promises.
Continental Airlines, Boeing and GE Aviation plan to conduct a biofuels demonstration flight in the first half of 2009 in an effort to identify sustainable fuel solutions for the aviation industry. The biofuel flight demonstrations will use a Boeing 737 NG equipped with CFM56-7B engines; CFM International is a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma.
Hawker Beechcraft secured several international certifications -- including European Aviation Safety Agency approval - for its Hawker 900XP. Hawker Beechcraft began delivering 900XPs to European customers in December 2007. The aircraft, a follow-on to the Hawker 800 series, also received certification in Australia, Aruba, the Czech Republic, Macau, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The Federal Aviation Administration awarded type certification in August 2007.
Universal Weather and Aviation announced at the Singapore Airshow that it has opened a new scheduling center in Manila, Philippines, providing scheduling services for operators based throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The new Universal Scheduling Center offers trip scheduling and logistical information on airports, customs, hotel accommodations, permits, fuel pricing and more. "We are fully operational and serving clients," said Jim Reed, operations manager, Universal Weather and Aviation Scheduling Center.
Intelligence | 11 * GA Groups Concerned WIth Aircraft Registration Proposal * Technology Proving Answer to Cutting Aircraft Emissions * Inspector General Report: Business Jets Contribute to Congestion * Brazil Building Up Viracopos Airport Edited by James E. Swickard Commentary 7 | Viewpoint By William Garvey An Inclination to Share 22 | Business & Commercial Aviation 1958, a Year in Review 78 | Point of Law By Kent S. Jackson
The Air Transport Association claims a report by the DOT Inspector General (IG) on National Airspace System (NAS) usage concludes that business jets (referred to as non-air carriers) are not fully paying for their proportional use of air traffic control services and contribute to air traffic congestion at TRACON facilities. However, NBAA President Ed Bolen said, "our understanding of what it says is very much at odds with some of the assertions that have been made about it" and set up a meeting with the IG for clarification.
Another new rollout at the Savannah convention was FlightView's Dispatch version 4.7, scheduled to ship in mid-March. The software's Bulletin Board tool will upload and track user-selected flights on the ground or en route and also save tracked flights for continued tracking. Improved weather data are aimed at better forecasting of likely weather-related delays. Users can also customize and streamline views to as little as a tail number up to complete aircraft data. Dispatch 4.7 will be sold direct, says FlightView.
THE LAW GOVERNING carriage of candidates is changing again. For most people, flying with politicians sounds even less appealing than flying with small children. But with the airlines running cartoon ads claiming that private aircraft are slowing down airline travel, now is a good time to give office seekers a real-world education about general aviation.
Citing a need to increase and maintain the accuracy of data in the Civil Aviation Registry, the FAA wants to institute new procedures, including reregistration of all current active aircraft and renewal of all registration certificates every three years. The FAA claims that the extra paperwork would not impose significant costs on owners. However, several general aviation groups take issue with aspects of the proposal. The AOPA says the plan could increase the cost of registering an aircraft to $130 from the current $5.
Outsourcing heavy inspections has become the norm, NBAA Director, Technical Operations Eli Cotti observed recently. "It seems to me that the majority of single-aircraft operators that do not have a maintenance department are having to outsource everything," Cotti said. "So who do they have as a resource or someone with the experience to help them go through a major inspection without fumbling and potentially losing a lot of money?"
"Contrary to the report from Chicken Little, the sky is not falling," declared Carl Janssens, editor of the Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest, in the first-quarter edition of his company's quarterly Marketline newsletter. "For aircraft sales, business is good, and the sky is blue."
A Cessna 210, N968CC, was destroyed upon impact with terrain following a loss of control while in cruise flight near Baytown, Texas. The non-instrument-rated pilot was fatally injured. The 197-mile cross-country flight originated from Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA), New Iberia, La., with West Houston Airport, Houston, Texas, as its intended destination. A preliminary review of the airplane's radar track shows it approached from the east. At about 1830, the airplane initiated a descent from 6,500 feet.
FlightSafety International announced March 14 that the company's first Gulfstream G450/550 interchangeable flight simulator has received FAA Level D qualification. Located at FlightSafety's Learning Center in Long Beach, Calif., the simulator is equipped with the company's electric motion and control loading technology and a Vital visual system. The Gulfstream G450/550 training program in Long Beach also features a new interchangeable Graphical Flight-deck Simulator, a key component of MATRIX, FlightSafety's integrated training system.
The FAA has set the date for changing all 20 ARTCC host systems to assign preferential routes based on the equipment capability that schedulers and dispatchers enter in the ICAO FPL item 10 field and the area navigation value in item 18. When the En Route Automation Modernization replacement program is complete and operating (first one up is scheduled to be Salt Lake City in October 2008), it will assign routes the same way. After June 5, filing a domestic NAS flight plan will deprive the filer of preferential route assignments.
At about 1748 EST, a Cessna Citation 525, N102PT, crashed in a wooded area in West Gardiner, Maine. The private/instrument-rated pilot and one passenger received fatal injuries and the airplane was destroyed. It was IFR at the time of the accident; a flight plan was filed for a flight from Augusta, Maine, to Lincoln, Neb. The flight originated from Augusta State Airport around 1745. The airplane was fueled and moved from the ramp into the FBO's hangar earlier that morning at the pilot's request.
I just had a quiet moment (it seems there are far too few of these) to sit down and read your March Viewpoint ("Deserving It," page 7). What a terrific piece -- it made me smile! Although I have had it pretty easy (in my opinion), I know plenty of women who have had struggled to make their mark in aviation. I believe that most of us wouldn't change the past and our experiences for all the money in the world -- it made us who we are today and helped many become, as you stated, "driven."
