It was a summer evening in 1983. Business jet broker Barry Smith, his wife and son were in Giza watching the nighttime light show at the Pyramid of Cheops when the lights went out, as they occasionally do in Egypt. After his eyes adapted to the dark, Smith suddenly noticed the desert sky and its own magnificent light show. "Wow, look at the stars," he told his wife. "When I get home, I'm buying a telescope!"
A DIRECTOR OF FLIGHT operations for a major corporation lamented recently that executives who use and appreciate business aviation are reluctant to support it in public. Privately they talk about how the company aircraft makes travel more efficient and employees more productive -- factors that increase shareholder equity. But they are silent when asked to advocate this form of transportation, and are particularly mute when Capitol Hill is listening.
Zero Gravity Corp. will begin regular use of the space shuttle's runway and landing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. beginning June 24. The agreement follows a successful pilot program to expand runway access for non-NASA activities. Beginning with its first flight for the public, Zero-G will conduct up to 280 weightless flights annually from the facility's 15,000-foot runway using a modified Boeing 727-200 aircraft, called G-Force One.
Avidyne Corp. is offering a free 12-month subscription to XM's Aviator LT satellite weather service with the purchase of an Avidyne EX500 multi-function display (MFD) between April 1 and June 30. The EX500 features a 5.5" diagonal, high-resolution moving map display that can show flight plan information and Avidyne's exclusive two-way MultiLink datalink weather service. Options include interfaces to 19 different airborne weather radar systems, TAWS display, lightning and active traffic including Avidyne's TAS600 series systems.
A key issue facing European air traffic management safety is the shortage of skilled resources to support the implementation of Safety Management and Safety Regulation programs, a recent workshop held in April at Eurocontrol in Brussels heard. The workshop brought together representatives from air navigation service providers, air traffic management and safety consultancy companies, and manufacturers.
Altair Avionics Corp., part of the Pratt & Whitney Canada Service Center Network, has received additional European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certifications for its Data Transmission Unit (DTU) and IntelliStart+ aircraft data monitoring system.
Air Chef, Columbus, Ohio. Jeffery Mundy has joined the company as vice president of special projects. He is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris and will be responsible for the opening the company's operation in Le Bourget, France.
3M Aerospace introduced a new non-flammable, low-toxicity aerosol cleaner for the removal of oils, light grease, silicones, dust and particulates from susceptible electronics and wiring in the aerospace and military markets. 3M Novec Contact Cleaner is ideal for cleaning electrical or energized components including contacts, connectors, relays, switches, circuits, instrumentation and sensors, and it is compatible with aircraft wiring, electrical connectors and plastics.
On March 16, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen e-mailed a message to thousands of business aviation community members urging them to contact their congressional representatives in opposition to user fees for general aviation. (See "The Battle Over User Fees," page 58). "If you use a general aviation aircraft for a business purpose, you are under attack," Bolen wrote. "The commercial airlines have unveiled a plan that will allow them to assume a dominant role in running the air traffic control system and impose $2 billion in new user fees on our industry.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has already gone on record vociferously opposing user fees as a funding mechanism for the FAA and, especially, for ATC.
Raytheon Aircraft Services has completed the first retrofit of Rockwell Collins Integrated Flight Information System into a Hawker 800XP at its Little Rock, Ark., facility.
Ron Bertram, the leader of the Australian AOPA, was killed in a light-aircraft accident on April 5 at the Bankstown Airport, officials said. Bertram joined the Australian AOPA more than three years ago as a director. Bertram was "an active participant and champion for the general aviation community," said Greg Russell, CEO of Airservices Australia. "The association has lost a true reformer and a person dedicated to making AOPA more relevant and valuable to the aviation industry."
Blackberry and Palm Treo users can expect expanding service to their handhelds, but it won't be without effort. For one thing, the phone people who advertise Internet access for your phone, Treo or Blackberry may not make it clear that the page you get will be different from what you see over your desktop or laptop.
The pilot landed the Embraer 110 freighter at Savannah International Airport on Dec. 8 and the following morning ordered fuel for the airplane. However, when she had exited the twin turboprop, another pilot informed her that he had heard a "popping" noise" coming from one of the engines. Accordingly, the following day, the pilot started the airplane and taxied to a run-up area to conduct an engine check. It was then that the fuel truck arrived and the pilot elected not to refuel the airplane at that time so she could continue the run-up.
High-voltage AC, short for alternating current, electrical systems are installed in most large-cabin business jets because their electrically powered systems require more power than those of smaller aircraft. In AC systems, the positive and negative polarity alternates causing a reversal in current flow direction. Positive and negative polarity remains the same in a DC system and the current only flows in one direction.
Landmark Aviation, Tempe, Ariz., announced that David Lamb will be the new vice president and general manager for its Los Angeles International Airport facility. Tracine Anderson has been named general manager for Landmarks's Raleigh-Durham FBO.
According to the DOT's inspector general, the FAA ignored a $50 million threat to the Aviation Trust Fund posed by IRS jet fuel tax rule changes -- while asserting that possible Trust Fund declines mean that the agency must turn to a new funding mechanism, possibly based on user fees. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on FAA funding, Sen.
Cessna completed a one hour and nine minute first flight of the newest iteration of the Citation Encore, the Encore+, on March 22. The first production Encore+ completed its initial flight from Rockwell Collins' facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The aircraft arrived in Cedar Rapids as an Encore, where its FACECs were reprogrammed and Pro Line 21 avionics installed. The aircraft underwent testing for basic stability, flap and landing gear extension and retraction, controllability, trim actuation, engine operating characteristics and basic autopilot operation.
The FAA is expected to set up a government/industry group to draft recommendations for equipment requirements for a large-scale implementation of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). The technology enables aircraft tracking using GPS and allows aircraft to broadcast their positions and altitudes to other appropriately equipped aircraft and ground stations. It would virtually eliminate the need for the expensive network of surveillance radars, saving billions of dollars.
"Fifteen years ago, flight departments were the kind of folks who sat in a hangar, and, if they were lucky, they could strap together some computers, with some maintenance guys or pilots who knew networking," says Scott Bergin, chief of AIS. "They installed their own software and bought their own systems without much oversight by corporate [information technology departments].
Adam Aircraft, Englewood, Colo., announced that Craig Johnson has joined the firm as chief operating officer. Previously, Johnson was vice president, network-centric systems at Northrop Grumman Electronics.
Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, named Jeff Moore as senior vice president of operations. He replaces Kent L. Statler, who was named vice president and general manager of Rockwell Collins Services.
