Before departing on a months-long cruise, submarine skippers often hold an open house for family and friends. Once inside the cramped confines of a sub's living quarters, civilians are almost always shocked to see how food for the voyage is stored: in a word, everywhere -- behind conduits, in crannies between cabinets, under floorboards, overhead, below and on all sides. And the aftershock comes when they see the tiny galley that feeds a nuclear sub's company of around 120 sailors.
President Bush signed the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act (H.R. 4343) into law on Dec. 13, 2007, thus raising the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 60 to 65. The bill, Introduced by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, passed unanimously through both houses of Congress. The law stripped the pilot retirement age provisions out of the FAA reauthorization bill into a stand-alone bill.
Eurocopter closed out 2007 with a sale of 11 new helicopters to the Spanish Interior and Defense Ministries. The Director for Traffic will take delivery of four AS355NP twin-engine and two EC135 twin-engine helicopters valued at 20 million euros. The military contracts for five AS532AL (Cougar) helicopters were valued at 116 million euros.
Aerion, which reports letters of intent in hand for $1.5 billion worth of its Supersonic Business Jet (SSBJ), is still negotiating with potential OEMs to manufacture its aircraft. It hopes to announce that manufacturing partner later this year. If its schedule holds, Aerion estimates that the aircraft would earn certification and enter service by 2014. The Aerion aircraft is designed to cruise at up to 1.15 Mach over land without producing a sonic boom and 1.6 Mach over the oceans. The SSBJ will seat up to 12 passengers and have a range of more than 4,000 nm.
The FAA plans to expand improved taxiway centerline marking requirements to all certificated airports as part of an effort to reduce runway incursions, the agency announced in mid-January. The FAA also is recommending regular recurrent driver training for people with access to the movement and ramp areas at certificated airports. The announcements stem from a "Call to Action" plan that the FAA and industry unveiled in August 2007 to improve airport safety by focusing on cockpit procedures, airport signage and markings, air traffic procedures and technologies.
Three of jet charter's traditional limitations -- a fragmented industry, lack of consistency and reliance on managed aircraft -- are being addressed in bold new business plans that have emerged in the United States over the past 18 months.
The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University plans to open a new facility as we go to press that will provide 14,000 square feet of additional research space. The facility will house environmental testing equipment including an anechoic chamber, a reverberation chamber, two fluid susceptibility chambers, a temperature/humidity/altitude chamber, a rate of heat release chamber, an aircraft insulation tester and two shaker tables.
Challenger 300 operators' top 10 issues on which Bombardier is focusing in 2008: (1) Wood laminates on cabinetry (2) Proximity switch electronics unit -- landing gear nuisance messages (3) Spoileron electronic control unit -- nuisance CAS messages (4) Pro Line 21 LCD flight display reliability (5) Phantom battery drains -- caused by door system and clock (6) Essential power CAS messages (7) Improved reliability for radio altimeter
NetJets and the union chapter that represents more than 2,600 NetJets pilots, signed what they said was a significant amendment and expansion to a prior agreement. 75.7 percent of eligible members voted in favor of the measure. Voter participation was a hefty 95.8 percent. The two sides had been working toward agreement since April 2007. The agreement, which was signed on Dec. 7, 2007, will become amendable in five and a half years -- however, a provision included in the new contract that allows for a three-year extension should NetJets meet certain parameters.
To some degree every aviation manager wonders, What are my crews really doing out there on the road? Are they following the SOPs? Practicing good CRM? Are they making good decisions? Are we really safe? How can I know? Absence of an accident offers some comfort, but does not imply safety, nor does it guarantee an accident-free future. Things go awry in everyday flight operations, and -- let's be honest here -- managers don't know about a lot of them!
Adam Aircraft won Type Inspection Authorization approval for the A700 twin jet aircraft from the FAA in early December 2007, clearing the way for FAA pilots to conduct flights in the aircraft. The third fully conforming aircraft, serial number 5, should begin flying in February, with s.n. 6 expected to take to the air in May. Receipt of the TIA "confirms we are on target for achieving FAA certification of the A700 in 2008," said Duncan Koerbel, president of the Denver-based manufacturer.
Flightline Tallahassee inked an agreement with The Hiller Group as supplier of fuel and equipment as of mid-December 2007. Parent company Flightline Group broke round for a new 26,000-square-foot Regional Service Facility, which the company claims is the largest such project ever at Tallahassee's airport. Plans include a training center and Center of Excellence for DayJet, the on-demand air taxi service provider, as well as a sales and service facility for HondaJet Southeast.
Regarding the avionics on the Gulfstream G200 (20/Twenty, October 2007, page 112), it is not the only GAC family member to have Collins avionics - the G100 has Pro Line 4, and the G150, Pro Line 21. As the OEM account director handling Gulfstream for Rockwell Collins during the time of the G150 program, I can assure you this is the case.
The French defense ministry has selected the Eurocopter 120 light helicopter for its new lead-in rotary-wing training program, one of several training initiatives to be outsourced to private operators. The ministry said the EC120 operator also had been selected, but could not yet be divulged. The selected operator will determine the number of rotorcraft to be procured. France has already contracted with EADS to use Grob aircraft to provide lead-in training for air transport pilots.
SatWest LLC, the Albuquerque-based provider of satellite business solutions, has been granted an STC for the L-1 satcom kit for Learjet 31, 31A, 35, 35A, 36 and 36A airplanes. The system was developed in conjunction with DC Aerospace, LLC.
Washington aviation lobbyists competed to see who could say the nicest things about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) after she decided to accept the post of ranking Republican member on the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the hotly contested FAA reauthorization bill (see Washington, page 75). By replacing Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who retired from Congress at the end of December 2007, Hutchison will move into a critical position. Lott had joined forces with Sen.
Executive AirShare, Kansas City, Mo., named Keith D. Plumb president and chief operating officer. He takes over the position from company founder Robert D. Taylor, who will continue to serve as chairman and CEO.
*Bell 204, 205, 210, 212 and 412 helicopters - Replace certain rotor blades serviced by Rotor Blades, Inc. with airworthy ones. *Bell 206A and B helicopters - Remove certain main-rotor latch bolts. *Bell 206, 222, 230, 407, 427 and 430 helicopters - Replace certain rotor blades serviced by Rotor Blades, Inc. with airworthy ones. *Cessna Citation 525B airplanes - Incorporate an electrical-power relay circuit-protection kit.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation is offering a series of free Web-based general aviation safety seminars recorded at AOPA Expo in October 2007. The ASF SafetyCast series provides 17 hours of Webcasts that cover a range of topics from presenters including aviation author and humorist Rod Machado, ASF Executive Director Bruce Landsberg, AOPA Medical Certification Services Director Gary Crump and AOPA General Counsel John Yodice. The Webcasts are available at www.asf.org.
