There's been a half century trend toward reducing the number of flight crew members required to fly airplanes. Radio operators, navigators and flight engineers have gone the way of whistle-tuned transceivers, sextants for shooting stars and ignition system oscilloscopes. For the past three-plus decades, copilots also have been disappearing, as well, from FAR Part 23 turboprop and turbofan aircraft, leaving only a single pilot in the cockpit to handle all tasks.
Alakai Technologies, OpenAero and CAPACG have agreed to develop a flight-data management system using plug-and-play technology for piston-engine aircraft. The package is based on the Flight Operational Quality Assurance program for transport-category aircraft -- with one exception, there are no FAA requirements to be met. General aviation pilots will be able to monitor, as well as voluntarily and anonymously share, engine trend and flight ops data. They will also have the option of using the FDM system as a purely informational tool.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation has a new online program called Pinch Hitter that is intended to familiarize non-pilots with basic cockpit layouts so they can become more comfortable when flying as a passenger. The course lets users get some virtual flying practice by controlling the ailerons and rudder, and landing the airplane. It includes tips on what to do in the event of pilot incapacitation. Intended only for the non-pilot, it is not to be used as a "learn to fly" course for student pilots. The running time is 45 to 60 minutes. Price: Free
Statements from witnesses who knew the pilot of a Beech Baron that broke up over Georgia on April 22 suggest that the crash that killed the pilot and all four passengers probably resulted from the pilot's obsession with performing aerobatics in the aircraft. A friend of the accident pilot told investigators the deceased was planning to purchase the 1989 aircraft. N5647C took off from Jack Edwards Airport (JKA) in Gulf Shores, Ala., and broke up in flight about two hours later near Hamilton, Ga.
Alcoa executives responsible for the company's $3 billion per year aerospace business say they agree with Morgan Stanley analysts that the upturn in the commercial jet market is likely to extend until 2010 or 2011. The latest prediction is more positive than an earlier assessment that the upturn will end in 2008 or 2009, partly due to a growing economic rationale for fleet replacement - the need for greater fuel efficiency.
One aviation firm with some good news on the environmental front is Aviation Partners, Inc. (API) of Seattle, which designs blended winglets for a variety of business jets and airliners, including the Hawker 800 series, the Gulfstream II and the Boeing 737. API says installation of its winglets reduces an aircraft's fuel usage by approximately 7 percent.
Flexjet has made its first GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) profit since start-up in 1995, and is to add 24 aircraft per year for the next three years, says Michael McQuay, president of Flexjet and Skyjet USA. Flexjet now has 660 fractional owners and 110 card members. Its current fleet numbers 93 aircraft. McQuay says that "the Challenger 300 is the hottest product we offer and will eclipse other Flexjet fleet groupings this year.
FlightSafety International, La Guardia Airport, New York, announced that Patrick Coulter has been promoted to manager of the Toronto Learning Center. Rick Armstrong has joined the company as vice president, FlightSafety Simulation.
You may have heard this from someone else by now, and I would not normally bother with what is essentially a trivial error, but I think you (and perhaps the readers) will find this interesting. Robert Searles Reflections article in the April issue says that Renton, Wash.'s airport is named after Will Rogers and Wiley Post. In fact, as a glance at the Seattle VFR terminal area chart will show, it is the seaplane base (W36) on Lake Washington at the north end of that airport that is named for Rogers and Post.
When US Airways' FOQA program revealed that aircraft arriving in Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (KCLT) via the Runway 23 back-course localizer had a higher incident of unstable approaches, it was able to demonstrate to the FAA that the procedure was a primary factor in the unstable approaches. The FAA agreed with the data and as a solution installed a new ILS. In another study, the carrier found certain airports had a high incidence of steep descents on arrival.
Business jet ramp space will grow by 35 to 40 percent at London City Airport. A $60 million spend by LCY's new owners to increase airline ramp space plus other "tidying-up" will free up the space. Five extra airline stands built over the water, plus improvements to the airline passenger terminal, will all be ready for summer 2008. Managing Director Richard Gooding says the new consortium of owners (AIG Financial Products Corp. and Global Infrastructure Partners, the joint venture between Credit Suisse & GE Infrastructure) is anxious to speed up development.
DART Helicopter Services and its affiliated partner, Apical Industries, have received FAA approval for the Emergency Float and Emergency Float With Life Rafts systems for the R44/II helicopter. The two forward and two aft cylindrical floats are inflated electrically when the float deployment switch is activated. The optional integrated six-man life rafts are deployed via separate electrical switches.
"The Importance of Being in the Know" (November 2005, page 74) makes for quite interesting reading and is a very good human factors exercise but there is one term I do not know nor can find in any dictionary. What is a "high-g air-combat furball"?
A panel of staff members from key House and Senate committees recently predicted that legislation reauthorizing continuation of FAA programs will pass Congress this year, although tough decisions on how those programs will be financed remain to be answered. While no one disputes the importance of keeping FAA programs going, there had been speculation earlier this year that the ambitious legislative agenda put forward by the Democrats in the wake of their November election gains might make it difficult to get FAA reauthorization through.
Ballistic Recovery Systems, a manufacturer of whole-airplane parachute recovery systems for general aviation and recreational aircraft, reports that a pilot flying a Cirrus SR22 became the 200th documented life saved by a BRS product. Shortly thereafter, the company also learned that a German ultralight pilot had used a BRS system, which brought the total lives saved to 201. Save 200 occurred when a U.S. pilot departed Tucson on an IFR flight to Colorado. During the flight he encountered an in-flight emergency.
While the new alliance was taking its message to the media, the Air Transport Association was on the road educating its Texas airline members on its stance on the FAA reauthorization bill. The ATA tour was to continue for several weeks. ATA's official response to the new alliance was to say that linking hundreds of small communities around the country is what the national transportation system is all about.
Naverus, a Kent, Wash.-based company, has become the first third-party developer of RNP approach procedures approved by the FAA. The action is aimed at accelerating the adoption of performance-based navigation, addressing the frustrations of some airline and aircraft industry leaders with what they see as the slow pace of implementing these now-proven techniques, pioneered by Alaska Airlines in the mid-1990s.
(Wichita) -- Sean McGeough has been appointed vice president of international sales, taking over for Ted Farid, who has assumed the newly created position of vice president of new business development. McGeough -- who worked with Farid managing Hawker and Beechcraft sales directors in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East -- will be based at Hawker Beechcraft's international sales headquarters, which has been relocated from Geneva, Switzerland, to the manufacturer's production and service facilities in Chester, United Kingdom.
Universal Avionics officials said they expected to receive type inspection authorization by the end of March for the Tucson-based company's Gulfstream III flight deck retrofit. IFR Avionics in Van Nuys, Calif., is doing the installation, which features four Universal Avionics EFI-890 flat-panel displays. The EFI-890 is an 8.9-inch (measured diagonally), high- definition LCD that the manufacturer claims is the only large display on the market today that is capable of both synthetic vision and electronic charts.
Looking for opportunities to advance your career, or that of the technicians who work for you? There are plenty of ways to help build the skills and confidence to become better technicians, and better leaders, while improving the safety and effectiveness of your operation. Consider the NBAA's Professional Development Program (PDP) and Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) program. Both provide the skills and leadership training necessary to lead a well-run flight department.
As much as I enjoyed reading Bob Searles' "For the Record" in the March B&CA (page 48), there was one business jet round-the-world record missing -- one near and dear to the heart of every pilot/golfer out there (not too many of those, are there?). Thirty-one years ago, a red, white and blue Learjet Model 36, N200Y, named "Freedom's Way USA" launched at 1024 MST on May 17, 1976, from Combs Gates at the old Denver Stapleton Airport in quest of the medium jet round-the-world speed record.
FlightSafety International's Citation Mustang simulator in Wichita was recently granted FAA Level D and European Aviation Safety Agency interim Level C approval. Pilot training for Cessna's newest and lightest jet is under way at FlightSafety's Citation learning center in Wichita. Full EASA Level D certification is anticipated for later this year and FlightSafety plans to begin Mustang training at its Farnborough center outside London in the fourth quarter.
Aurora Jet Center has added 82,000 square feet of hangar space, 10,800 square feet of office space, and upgraded the lobby and pilot lounge at its facility at Southend Airpark in Aurora, Ore. An AvFuel dealer, Aurora is located 20 minutes south of Portland.
