"Certificate holders, including repair stations, are the safety net in the FAA's system," Aeronautical Repair Station Association Executive Director Sarah MacLeod said recently in connection with a suit filed in federal court by the association to block implementation of a rule extending drug and alcohol testing.
Intelligence | 15 ?228-137? Piaggio Jet to Be a Ferrari in the Sky? ?228-137? Chinese Enlighten Business Aviation Attitude ?228-137? ARSA Files for Relief From Non-Certificated Vendor Drug Testing, FAA Delays Implementation ?228-137? Turbine Aircraft Accidents Drop ?228-137? Chinese Enlighten Business Aviation Attitude ?228-137? FERAS Goes Through Hundred Barrier ?228-137? Kohlman Systems Research Wins Duncan RVSM Support Contract ?228-137? Raytheon Delivers First Hawker 850XP
Almost everyone loves to receive awards, and all the admiration, congratulations and smiles that are attendant to them. Today almost every kind of collective endeavor -- be it movie making, soccer playing or car selling -- has a shiny something that goes to the activity's best practitioner. Awards not only make the recipients feel good by recognizing excellence, they can be used to spur a particular type of activity as well.
When an organization has an aircraft accident, it is inevitable that upper management will focus on the aviation unit to avoid a recurrence. I know of a Twin Otter belonging to a large government agency that landed hard on a canted nosewheel and quickly departed the runway, plowing through bushes and a fence before coming to a halt. Both the aircraft and airman's ego suffered substantial damage in the mishap. The cause of the accident was determined to be the pilot's failure to perform the "before landing" checklist.
Flight Options has selected Aerospace Products International's Electronic Supply Program (ESP) to manage the recertification cycle and associated logistics of its life raft and survival equipment inventories. The fractional aircraft program, which operates some 200 aircraft including the world's largest fleet of 400A business jets, also will have access to API's inventory of Beechcraft spare parts.
Avcon Industries of Newton, Kan., is pursuing supplemental type certification of RVSM packages for Learjet 35s and 36s equipped with Collins APS-80 and JET FC-200 and FC-350 autopilots. The Avcon RVSM packages are to feature Kollsman air-data computers and Thommen repeaters.
Kohlman Systems Research won a contract to support Duncan Aviation's RVSM certification program for three Norwegian Air Force Falcon 20s. Kohlman will be responsible for flight tests to ensure air data and autopilot systems are RVSM-compliant as well as to generate the required static source error correction. Kohlman will develop the approval data package that includes the flight test report, compliance report, initial and continued airworthiness report, and airplane flight manual supplement.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has officially released the equivalent of FAR Part 135 operating standards and CCAR 135 is now in the rule book. This is expected to further encourage growth in both business and regional aviation. Asia Business Aviation Association President Jason Liao says that Hainan Airlines' business jet subsidiary, Deerjet, will be operating its five Hawker 800XPs under Part 135 and its managed Beechcraft Premier Is under CCAR Part 91.
Phil Michel, the veteran Cessna Aircraft marketing executive who announced plans in 2005 to retire in April of this year, will remain with the Wichita aircraft manufacturer for an indeterminate period. Steve Fushelberger, who was named in September to succeed Michel as vice president of marketing, left Cessna in mid-March for personal reasons. Michel told The Weekly of Business Aviation he plans to remain on board until a permanent successor is identified, hired and a transition is completed.
Following the collapse of nine months of negotiations between the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association the parties declared a stalemate and the FAA sent its pay proposal to Congress for review. Unless Congress intercedes within 60 days, the FAA will be able to impose its contract terms on the union.
Now it's easy to add full GPS navigation and hands-free calling capabilities to your mobile smartphone with Garmin's Mobile 20 -- a Bluetooth-enabled wireless GPS navigation system. Mobile 20 supports Nokia, Windows Mobile and Treo smartphones, and its integrated phone mount, the GPS 20SM, with a built-in GPS receiver and Bluetooth-enabled speaker and microphone, accommodates nearly any size. The Mobile 20's smart features include:
B&CA is excellent as usual. In "Preventing Overruns on Landing" (December 2005, page 61) I must take exception with the first bulleted paragraph under the heading "How to Prevent Runway Overruns," specifically that a steep approach results in a longer rollout. I find most pilots have the misconception that for a short rollout a flat approach is preferred. Quite the opposite is true. For example the POH of my Baron 58, in addition to a specific airspeed based on landing weight, requires an 800 fpm descent rate to achieve book performance.
As a commercial pilot with some experience in turboprops I want to congratulate Fred George on his incredible article "What's Wrong With the MU-2?" (February 2006, page 40). The article was full of technical answers to those skeptics who blame the machine on every accident. We have plenty of examples of miss-judged airplanes and the MU-2 perfectly represents the "fear of unknown" disease that sometimes surrounds aviation.
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the CJ1+ and CJ2+ under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance. Time and Fuel vs. Distance -- This graph shows the relationship between distance flown, block time and fuel consumption at high-speed cruise and long-range cruise for the CJ1+ and CJ2+.
AOPA is warning its members that scammers from the Netherlands, Nigeria and Thailand recently have been trying to fleece aircraft owners who have their airplanes up for sale. Typically, owners receive an e-mail from a prospective buyer who offers to pay higher than the asking price for the aircraft if the seller will send a check for the difference. The owner receives what looks like a legitimate check for the higher amount and sends the buyer a check for the difference. However, when the owner tries to cash the check, the bank tells him there are no funds in the account.
The CJ1+'s 1,965-pound-thrust FJ44-1AP turbofans are far more advanced than the -1A engines fitted to the CJ1 and CitationJet. The -1AP engines use several technology elements from the FJ44-3, the latest and most advanced version of the FJ44 model family. The -1AP's wide-chord, damperless fan, for example, is based on the -3 design. It has a 12-percent higher pressure ratio than the fan of the -1A. This enables the -1AP to generate considerably higher hot-and-high takeoff, cruise and climb thrust.
If you want to get a good discussion going in the crew lounge, ask your fellow pilots how they use angle-of-attack (AOA) instrumentation, assuming they use it at all. We did that recently with a number of experienced corporate turbine aircraft pilots and got answers ranging from "I don't -- it's placarded," to very sophisticated descriptions of how alpha can be used to maximize range and endurance.
I have hoped for an article like "What's Wrong With the MU-2" since the press coverage of the May 2004 BWI crash, but the thorough research, interviews of everyone and report on your test flight are well beyond what I could imagine. Thank you for devoting so many of your pages and pointing out some things I can learn about the MU-2.
Yesterday's "navigation fixes" gave way to today's "waypoints," all of which helped define our "course." In the ATC system of the future -- NGATS -- we will be filing for "trajectories."
This simple test will help determine whether you are a serious tool collector: Do you ever set aside "alone time" when your favorite tool catalog comes in the mail? Do you buy a tool just because it looks cool, or to be the first one in the hangar to possess it? When the tool truck visits your hangar, does the driver know you by your first name?
The fully integrated Pro Line 21 avionics suite aboard the CJ1+ and CJ2+ has features and functionality on a level with far more expensive aircraft. Indeed, the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 systems aboard the CE 525 family of aircraft offer the most features of any of the current production Citations, including Citations X and Sovereign.
Since a caveman fashioned the first hide-cutting instrument from obsidian or, maybe wooly mammoth molars, man has been fascinated with tools. Some of the world's greatest mechanical innovations were driven by our desire to get things done faster, more efficiently and with less muscle. By virtue of their occupation and usually by their predisposition, technicians of all types have a special relationship with and feeling for tools, since it is through them that they put food on their tables and achieve professional excellence.
Eclipse Aviation began production of the first customer Eclipse 500 jet in March. David Crowe, who is buying the first Eclipse VLJ, was on hand for the ceremonial launch of production. He expects to take delivery of his aircraft this summer. Eclipse is working toward FAA certification of the VLJ in the second quarter.
