Sikorsky Aircraft announced that it has delivered the 600th S-76 helicopter. Sikorsky Aircraft is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. More than 220 operators in 59 countries are currently flying S-76 helicopters. The S-76 fleet has accumulated more than four million flight hours since the first aircraft was delivered in 1979, according to the company. "The success of the S-76 has been built by meeting the needs of our customers throughout the product's long and distinguished tenure.
Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (P&WC) received Transport Canada type certification Dec. 30, 2005, for its new PW615F engine, selected to power the Citation Mustang. The company says it expects similar approvals from U.S. and European airworthiness authorities will be forthcoming. The PW615F is rated at 1,350 lbf and features a dual-channel FADEC. The engine's certification came less than a month after the Mustang received Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) from the FAA.
Richard "Dick" Rodriguez retired from the NTSB at the conclusion of this investigation at the age of 73 after serving both the NTSB and its predecessor agency, the Civil Aeronautics Board, as an air safety investigator for over 43 years. His friends and colleagues around the world know Dick as a great investigator who "wrote the book" for several generations of air safety specialists.
Prist Aerospace and Hammonds Fuel Additives have determined that the most effective treatment for in-tank anti-icing as well as preventing microbial growth in fuel tanks is to use Prist anti-icing fuel additive and Hammond's microbicide, Biobor JF and additive injector system. Prist will immediately label its products with this recommendation and the two companies will work together to develop a new pre-mixed fuel treatment to kill bacteria and eliminate ice formation in a fuel tank. Prist Aerospace Products P.O. Box 3087
Sound Initiative, an organization led by a group of airport officials "who are on the front line of the aircraft noise debate," is pressing Congress to pass legislation that would phase out within approximately three years U.S. operations of Stage 1 and 2 business jets weighing less than 75,000 pounds.
Duncan Aviation moved into a 2,000-square-foot facility at Wilson Air Center's new FBO at Houston Hobby Airport (IAH) February 15, to provide avionics line work, repair and some installations. Duncan Avionics Satellite facilities create local points of presence for the full array of the company's avionics services. Duncan Aviation satellites provide sales, service and warranty for more than 50 major manufacturers.
Eurocontrol is taking a wait-and-see approach to the coming VLJ's impact on the system. Victor M. Aguado, the organization's director general, said recently, "We have taken on board that around 400 VLJs have been ordered by European operators, but we do not yet know what the full impact will be.
William Wagstaff, senior editor for Aviation International News, has been honored posthumously with the 2005 Excellence in Communications Award for his dedication to covering the helicopter industry.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla., has named Thomas Connolly, Ph.D. chancellor of its Florida campus. Martha Hollis, Ph.D. is the new director of Distance Learning.
The 55-year-old pilot, a cardiologist as well as a 4,100-hour commercially licensed pilot, and his right seater, a 37-year-old A&P, taxied out to Runway 22 at Houston's Hobby Airport in morning VIC. The doctor's aircraft was a 1972 Citation 500, one of the originals, bearing s.n. 004, and rated for single pilot operation. The two men were heading for Corpus Christi, Texas. Shortly after the aircraft launched, a witness saw it roll hard to the right until it was inverted, and then crash onto the centerline of Runway 12L whereupon it exploded into flames.
Edited by James E. Swickard (Aviation Week report)
An emergency landing with just minutes to spare on battery power following an electrical generator failure capped the longest flight in aviation history by Steve Fossett piloting the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. Fossett established a new nonstop unrefueled distance record of 26,389.3 miles breaking by several hundred miles the earlier aircraft record set by the Voyager aircraft in 1986 and the Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon in 1999. Fossett took off Feb. 8 from the Kennedy Space Center and was aloft for 76 hours, 45 minutes before landing at 5:15 p.m. local time on Feb. 11.
The FAA is testing prototype screens placed between runways and their end-around taxiways -- built beyond the 1,000-foot runway safety area so that aircraft can move about the airport without having to cross active runways. But a crew preparing to depart must differentiate between aircraft crossing safely on the taxiway and a possible incursion on the runway itself. The screens provide a point of reference that enables pilots to focus on the runways in front of the screens, distinguishing aircraft moving on the taxiways behind the screens.
AvData's 2006 edition of its Jet & Propjet corporate aircraft directory is a comprehensive compilation of facts and information pertaining to business aircraft. More than 26,000 aircraft, operating in the United States and 146 other nations, are now listed on the pages of this easy-to-follow guide. Represented in this new 570-plus page edition are over 300 different models and model derivatives built by more than 46 manufacturers. A cross-reference index -- by make, model, serial number and registration mark -- is provided in the back of the book.
The concept of "security on the road" took on new meaning Oct. 9, 2005, when an unlocked Cessna Citation VII was heisted from a general aviation airport ramp and flown in radio silence at night through a major air traffic area to a landing two states away. There, five passengers allegedly boarded, and the aircraft was taken on a second nocturnal joyride before being returned to the airport and abandoned.
The destination was at minimums and forecast to deteriorate. Controllers were already vectoring for spacing and calling for speed reductions 300 miles out. As if that weren't enough, the Hawker crew was sweating fuel, as the right-seater continually recalculated reserves to the alternate. But the steely-eyed pilot, using years of SAM savvy, and polished in years of executive flying, played his ace and got a clearance direct to a fix he knew would let them jump the line.
After graduating cum laude from Harvard, Stimpson went home to promote the Seattle World's Fair. One VIP guest was FAA Administrator Najeeb Halaby, who was so impressed with the bright Washington State native he urged him to come to Washington, D.C., and work for him. That decision evolved into seven years at the FAA and a 25-year run as head of GAMA and then a five-year appointment as the U.S. representative to ICAO in Montreal, with the rank of ambassador.
The NTSB is urging the FAA to prohibit using the reverse thrust credit in landing performance calculations. The urgent safety recommendation is the result of information learned by the NTSB during its investigation into the recent Southwest Airlines runway overrun at Midway Airport in Chicago that killed a six-year-old boy in a passing car. "We believe this recommendation needs the immediate attention of the FAA since we will be experiencing winter weather conditions in many areas of our nation for several more months to come," Acting NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said.
Paula R. Derks (President, Aircraft Electronics Association, Independence, MO)
I just finished reading Bill Garvey's January Viewpoint, ("The Importance of 'Yes,'" page 7) and decided to stop what I was doing and take the time to complement him on his excellent column. Month after month I really enjoy reading it. Perhaps the decision this month to finally send my kudos is because I could relate so well to the topic.
FOR MANY YEARS, I have complained that each FAA office is its own fiefdom. I have not been alone in this complaint, and the FAA has made many changes over the decades in an attempt to bring uniformity to the agency. The adoption many years ago of the "practical test standards" for administering checkrides is an example of a practical way to bring uniformity to an important FAA function.
Cirrus Design Corp. reported 600 new aircraft shipped in 2005, a 9.2 percent increase over the previous year. The company registered 701 new aircraft orders during fiscal year 2005. Cirrus reached a production milestone by manufacturing its 2,000th airplane in 2005 while setting monthly sales records in January and November. According to 2005 GAMA shipment data, Cirrus remains the leader in high-performance, single-engine piston, four-place airplanes. The Cirrus SR22 was the world's best-selling airplane in 2005, the fourth consecutive year it claimed the honor.
Suspected Unapproved Parts (SUPs), also called "bogus" parts, are the subject of an FAA Fact Sheet issued on Feb. 14. This concise document leads the reader through the various categories of approved parts that can be legitimately installed on an aircraft. It also clearly describes the broad subject of SUPs -- generally, parts whose traceability fails to connect with an approved source that uses FAA-approved production and quality assurance procedures in its manufacturing or overhaul.
