MONTHS AGO when the NTSB released factual information on the November 2004 crash of a Gulfstream III at Houston we synopsized that material here in Cause & Circumstance (B&CA, May 2005, page 96). The facts suggested that the crew somehow lost the picture of their aircraft's actual point in the airspace since they seemed confused by what the avionics system was telling them and even if it was set up properly as they descended into the terrain three miles southwest of Hobby Airport.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft has renewed its commitment to market the BAe 146 and Avro RJ series of regional jets as corporate and VIP aircraft. The family of aircraft combines an airliner size cabin for the price of a midsize business jet, and is aimed at a very special sector of the corporate/VIP/charter market where access to difficult and remote airfields is required. BAE Regional Aircraft staffers believe there is a market opportunity to replace many of the aging second-generation airliners now used in the role.
Hawker 800XP and Schleicher ASW-27-18, Smith, Nev., Aug. 28, 2006. According to the NTSB's Preliminary Report, the flight crew was cleared by air traffic control from 16,000 feet to 11,000 feet on arrival into Reno. Oakland Center transferred the flight to Reno approach control just prior to the collision. The captain reported that they were cleared to descend and as she looked outside she noted something out of the corner of her eye to the left. Suddenly, a glider filled the windshield.
The FAA's new FAR Part 135 operations specification (op spec) addressing operational control will change how the jet charter industry does business, and according to the National Air Transportation Association's Eric Byers, "some operators will like it and some will not." Byers, vice president, government and industry affairs, believes the new op spec will provide "more depth" in terms of how operators put together their management agreements, "making sure everyone has crossed their 't's' and dotted their 'i's.'"
ICAO's new Multi-Crew Pilot License program, designed to prepare pilots to operate as first officers in as little as 13 months, is prompting the industry to reevaluate aviation maintenance training programs. "Current basic training does not prepare mechanics to work on modern airplanes," says Steve Pennington, director for maintenance training and standards at Boeing subsidiary Alteon Training, which is exploring MPL-type training for mechanics.
The October 2006 issue of B&CA was recently left in my cockpit. I had a chance to read it and thought I would offer some thoughts, however trivial they may be. Those of us in the airline industry are working extremely hard to reverse the public sentiment toward the airlines. No matter what airline management may do, the workers on the line are doing everything possible to make it a safe, profitable and enjoyable industry.
The HondaJet has been named the winner of Popular Science magazine's 2006 "Best of What's New" in the Aviation and Space category. The aircraft was chosen from among dozens of aviation products for its breakthrough design and innovative features, representing a significant step forward in its category.
Phil Felper, 90, former chief pilot for Square "D" Corp., died in his sleep on Nov. 2, 2006, in Chicago. During his long aviation career, he ferried troops, equipment and airplanes to Europe during World War II. While at Square "D," he flew the company's Gulfstreams Is, IIs and IIIs worldwide.
At 1709 EST, a flight attendant was seriously injured when a Challenger 600 maneuvered to avoid another airplane while on approach to Teterboro Airport, N.J. An FAA inspector reported that the accident airplane was descending through 3,000 feet on a northeasterly heading when the pilots received a resolution advisory from the airplane TCAS. The copilot was flying the airplane when the RA was issued and she did not initially respond to the advisory.
Editor's Note: Brent Moldowan is director, Flight Coordination at TAG Aviation in Rye Brook, N.Y., where he supervises 32 flight coordinators, both in New York and San Francisco. In 2006, he agreed to run in the New York City Marathon, held on Nov. 5, as part of an effort to raise money for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It was his first marathon. What follows is the post-race report he sent to his sponsors. 0500 - Alarm goes off after a horrible night's sleep. I now seriously question my commitment.
Merrill Lynch analysts have revised upward an earlier forecast on aircraft deliveries by Gulfstream Aerospace. A report by the financial firm said the revision is "consistent with our thesis on the business jet cycle - but with the delivery peak likely occurring in the 2009/2010 time frame versus our prior forecast calling for the peak in 2008/2009." Merrill Lynch maintained its prediction that Gulfstream will deliver 127 business jets in 2007 and 130 in 2008. But the projection for 2009 jumped from 111 to 135, and from 104 to 120 in 2010.
The Republican-led 109th Congress is history; the Democratic-led 110th Congress will be tasked with completing appropriations legislation for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2006, for many government agencies, including the DOT. The tax extension provisions include a measure to provide some relief to air ambulances and crop dusters against IRS anti-fuel-fraud requirements that tax jet fuel at the highway diesel fuel rate and permit refunds of the difference only to registered vendors.
JetBird, Dublin, Ireland, announced that Patrick Raftery was appointed to operations director. He will be involved in developing the firm's European operating model in preparation for launch in early 2009.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) has been named ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for the next session of Congress. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) will chair the committee. Mica currently chairs the House Aviation Subcommittee. Oberstar and Mica are both considered to be well-informed and open- minded on aviation issues.
PASSUR's radar receiver comprises a single antenna at a single site. Another dependent surveillance system using many antennas spread over an area beneath the airspace to be controlled is multilateration. The deployment of these systems has already taken place in Europe and Asia and takes advantage of the fact that all airline and most general aviation aircraft are transponder equipped. The antennas are simple, easier to site than radar's, non-rotating and inexpensive.
For scheduling and dispatch professionals with decision-making responsibilities for inflight telephone communications, the latter half of 2006 was abuzz with news that bears on current equipment purchase choices and planning for the future. Now that MagnaStar has gotten a one-year reprieve from Verizon (to December 2007), the window has opened wider for providers offering the replacement solution.
EADS Socata has appointed IndUS Aviation as its authorized sales representative for the TBM 700/850 in India. IndUS Aviation Inc. is an American/Indian aircraft manufacturing company with headquarters both in Dallas and Bangalore. In 1994, Dr. Ram Pattisapu, an Indian who is president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of India and migrated to Texas, founded IndUS Aviation, which produces the two-seater Thorp T-211 trainer and sells various aircraft in India.
Boeing and PrivatAir announced the latter is getting a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to be configured as a business aircraft. PrivatAir, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, becomes the first business aviation operator to purchase the 787. The order is valued at $153 million in 2006 dollars, and Boeing's Orders and Deliveries Web site lists it as a 787 BBJ. The 787 complements PrivatAir's existing Boeing fleet, which includes a newly acquired 767, a 757, three Boeing Business Jets (BBJs) and one BBJ2.
In December, the NTSB called directly on airlines to follow the runway landing distance calculations the FAA recommended in a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) in August 2006. The FAA originally released a policy statement that would have required commercial and fractional aircraft operators to incorporate a 15-percent safety margin in landing distance calculations based on runway conditions at time of arrival.
Millennia released an alerting feature that works through your dispatch software's e-mailer, Outlook or Lotus Notes calendar anytime a triggering event occurs, which is basically whenever a new trip is scheduled or a change is made to an existing trip. Dispatchers and schedulers have control over how the triggering events are managed and who receives the alerts. And if ops professionals want their print output to look good, Millennia's new Report Design Studio will turn you into a graphic designer who can crank out the boss's itinerary with flair.
Upon receiving an FAA production certificate for its Citation Mustang assembly line in Independence, Kan., Cessna technically delivered its first Mustang to a customer, Mustang Management Group (MMG) of Fresno, Calif., then immediately leased the aircraft back for 10 months for use as a demonstrator. MMG plans to use the Mustang in its Scott Aviation subsidiary for flight training when it actually takes delivery. The certificate authorizes Cessna to build, flight test and grant airworthiness certificates for its newest and smallest Citation.
The second Bell/Agusta BA609 tiltrotor prototype recently made its first flight as the first prototype passed the 100-flight-test-hour milestone at Bell's flight test center in Arlington, Texas. The second, s.n. 60002, flew at Agusta/Westland's facility at the Italian Air Force airfield at Cameri, Italy. Pietro Venanzi was the pilot and Herb Moran copilot for the 52-minute flight. The third prototype is already at the Cameri facility and s.n. 60004 is on the assembly line in Fort Worth.
A new Eurocontrol survey shows that air traffic safety has continued to improve in Europe since the tragic accidents at Italy's Linate-Milan Airport when an SAS airliner and Citation collided, killing 118 people, in 2001 and over Uberlingen, Germany, where a TU-154 and DHL 757 collided in 2002; ATC lapses were factors in both accidents.
