A handful of airports in the Southeast are operating a new aircraft surveillance and alert system its makers call the WASP (Wireless Access Surveillance Platform). Telecommunications Technology Inc. collects video images and aircraft identification -- obtained by imaging the actual registration number on the tail or fuselage -- and funnels all the information to a central server in North Carolina. When the imaging system detects motion within its field of view, it auto-records the scene in a series of still images for editing by a human operator.
(Vero Beach, Fla.) - Robert Kromer has been appointed vice president of sales at this aircraft manufacturer. Kromer, who has 30 years of engineering and sales experience, will be responsible for sales of the company's new single-engine PiperJet. Kromer joined Piper from Sino Swearingen, where he was vice president of sales and marketing.
The Government Affairs Committee of the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) is concentrating its efforts to defeat user-fee proposals by focusing its legislative strategy on nine key states that the association says have "the clout to make a difference." On NARA's Capitol Hill Day, which is scheduled for Feb. 7 and 8, association members are planning to lobby congressmen and senators from Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Mississippi, Nevada and Ohio to "ensure NARA achieves maximum impact."
At least two associations -- the National Air Transportation Association and NBAA -- have urged the FAA to form an Aviation Rulemaking Committee to hash out landing distance calculation issues. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey responded recently that collaborative efforts "continue to be very useful and productive tools in our development of critical safety requirements, while minimizing the negative impact on industry," and said the agency is committed to collaboration on the landing performance assessment rulemaking project.
BBA Group PLC, the British holding company that owns the Signature FBO chain and engine overhauler Dallas Airmotive, has disposed of the last of its non-aviation holdings, changed its name to BBA Aviation PLC and says it is now completely focused on the aviation business.
Westchester County Airport (HPN) recently presented awards to 32 based operators that had achieved 100 percent compliance with the airport's voluntary noise-abatement programs during 2005. HPN has a voluntary midnight to 6:30 a.m. curfew, as well as a 93-dBA noise event limit. Introducing the 12th annual awards on Nov. 30, County Executive Andrew Spano underscored the sensitivities attached to HPN.
Innovative Solutions & Support is now offering a Class 3 electronic navigation chart program along with its recently announced glass cockpit upgrades. IS&S's full-color electronic flight bag product will consist of electronic navigation charts powered by Jeppesen, and applications such as takeoff, en route, approach, landing, missed approach and go-around information. The e-charts will also display own-ship position to pilots through a digital representation of the aircraft's exact, real-time position on the ground or in the air.
DAC International has introduced the GEN-X EFB system with AC 120-76A, Class 2 flexibility and Class 3 reliability. The intuitive software shell, GENESYS, supports digital chart data from Maptech, Jeppesen or Lido. The document reader allows users to view, link and search all manuals. Applications such as weather, performance, checklist, camera and electronic logbook can also be controlled through the GENESYS shell, according to the manufacturer. Price: Varies with options DAC International www.dacint.com
Duncan Aviation recently installed and updated the certification for Honeywell's Primus Epic Control Display System/Retrofit (CDS/R) for a Gulfstream III business jet. The three-display installation updated the STC to include the latest Epic version and software. The Epic CDS/R is an integrated system featuring eight-by-10-inch LCDs, which helps provide pilots with increased situational awareness. Within a year, the system is expected to be able to be upgraded to display electronic charts and graphical satellite weather.
I n an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Megadata CEO Jim Barry said, "We plan to be the 'Bloomberg' of aviation information." (Here he was referring not to the mayor of New York, but rather the eponymous financial data service that made him the Big Apple's wealthiest.) An ambitious goal, but the journey is well under way.
En route to Las Vegas, a Cessna 421B collided with terrain near Big Bear Lake, Calif. It was VFR and there was no flight plan filed. This was the first flight for the aircraft owner and his new pilot. A witness stated the airplane departed Runway 26 and rotated about 3,000 feet from the departure end with the flaps up. Just after liftoff, one engine "didn't sound right," but it didn't backfire. The aircraft yawed left then veered to the left, which is a standard maneuver to avoid overflying a school. The landing gear was still down.
The Canadian government is investing in two Pratt & Whitney Canada-funded projects to design, develop, test and optimize new fuel-efficient, reduced emission gas turbine engines. Two separate repayable investments totaling $350 million (Canadian) will complement P&WC's $1.5- billion R&D program and the involvement of universities and co-op students in the projects.
Embraer recently announced that Sirte Oil Co. has placed an order for an Embraer 170 jet configured in a single-class, 76-seat layout to transport company personnel from their main base in Marsa El Brega, Libya, to Tripoli and other station points within Libya. Delivery is scheduled for March. Embraer noted that this order was already accounted for in Embraer's order book as "undisclosed," and that the current order backlog is not affected by this announcement.
In Madrid, Bombardier Aerospace received the Batefuegos de Oro Award presented by the Asociación para la Promoción de Actividades Socioculturales (APAS) for "Greatest Technological Advancement in Firefighting." The following text was read as part of the presentation (translated from the Spanish): "In the 1960s the company designed the amphibious aircraft Canadair CL-215, which has evolved in the '90s into the CL-215T and later into the Bombardier 415.
Flight Explorer released version 7.0 of FE Professional Edition, which also provides an Earth-from-space global view of a flight. FE's system can now plug in ACARS position reports from anywhere in the world and from virtually any source, including ARINC, SITA, Iridium and Inmarsat, making the new viewer doubly useful.
A National Business Travel Association forecast reports that, "About 56 percent of respondent companies [will] use alternatives to commercial air travel, such as corporate jets, charter flights, fractional jet ownership or VLJs. That compares to 33 percent who reported using corporate jets or charters in 2004, and 27 percent in 2002." The association surveyed 189 travel managers for its forecast and almost 70 percent of those surveyed said they expect their companies' travelers to take more trips in 2007 vs. 2006.
Zurich-based charter company Comlux has taken delivery of the first Airbus A318 Elite - the newest and smallest member of the Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) family, which also includes the Airbus ACJ and A320 Prestige. Lufthansa Technik's Hamburg operation will outfit the aircraft with an 18-passenger VIP cabin. Comlux plans to place the aircraft in service by this spring, thus becoming the first to operate the new model. Comlux has two additional A318 Elites on order.
At 1441 EST, a Robinson R44 II was substantially damaged, and its pilot seriously injured, when it impacted a parking lot following an attempted landing on a shipping trailer at the Port of Baltimore in Maryland. The aircraft was to be delivered overseas to its new owner; the pilot was a last-minute substitution doing a favor for the previous owner. The shipping agent explained that he witnessed the accident as he attempted to direct and assist the pilot with his landing.
Viacom/Paramount Pictures Corporate Aviation, Morristown, N.J., announced that Ray Angwin has been promoted to director of flight crews and chief pilot.
I found Robert Searles' October 2006 Reflections about Major League baseball teams utilizing aircraft interesting ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game," page 70). Fred Zollner, one of the founders of the National Basketball Association after World War II, was the first to use aircraft for flying his basketball team, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. They moved to Detroit and became the Detroit Pistons. In the late 1940s, Fred had a DC-3, which he kept at Baer Field (FWA), the Fort Wayne Municipal Airport.
Indonesia has launched the trial phase of its new archipelago-wide airspace surveillance system with the deployment of three Thales ADS-B ground receivers - at Denpasar in Bali, Kupang in Nusa Tenggara Timur, and Natuna Island in the South China Sea -- linked by SITA communications systems and surveillance processors to Indonesia's control centers in Jakarta and Makassar. AirServices Australia provides project and technical support and remote monitoring capability. Indonesia's director general of civil aviation, Iksan Tatang, announced the trial in Jakarta.
The smoke plume on the east side of Los Angeles on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 1986, was clearly visible from the balcony of our apartment adjacent to LAX. The local news was reporting that an airliner had crashed into the suburb of Cerritos. My roommates, all Los Angeles-based pilots from a half dozen airlines, stood on the balcony watching that sick black plume rise. No one said the obvious, that the dark column marked the place of death for many.
US Helicopter Corp. started Sikorsky S-76 shuttle service between Manhattan and Continental Airlines' Newark, N.J., hub on Dec. 18, 2006. The company also operates a shuttle between Manhattan and American Airlines' terminal at New York's JFK. US Helicopter customers can check in, receive boarding passes for US Helicopter and Continental Airlines departing Newark, or American flights departing JFK, and complete security screening at the Manhattan heliport near Wall Street. Bags checked at the heliport will be through-checked to the passenger's final destination.
The FAA recently sent a revised funding proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review that is said to contain a host of new fees on aviation users as well as substantial increases in taxes, the Weekly of Business Aviation reported. The proposal is believed to call for more than tripling the jet fuel and aviation gasoline taxes as well as establishing new fees for operating in large hub terminal airspace. The FAA further is believed to be seeking peak-hour pricing authority for fees in the hub terminal airspace.
