The following FAA Maintenance Alert reinforces the importance of proper assembly when it comes to fasteners. Cotter pins work great, when they are installed! Loose fasteners are a danger that can be prevented. Three of the six reports mentioned below resulted in fatalities. The seriousness of what can happen if the tab comes loose is apparent from these accidents. Maintenance personnel need to be aware of this and be particularly diligent in using the proper hardware, and when installing hardware in flight control system connections.
Gulfstream Aerospace signed a sales representation agreement with Air Works India Engineering Private Ltd. to offer Gulfstream's line of seven business jet models to the Indian market. Established in 1951, Air Works India is an aircraft sales and service company based at Mumbai International Airport with facilities in Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad. There are currently nine Gulfstream aircraft based in India flown by public- and private-sector operators.
Keystone Aviation is building a 64,000-square-foot hangar that will increase the FBO's hangar capacity at Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Connecticut to more than 200,000 square feet. The hangar is slated for completion in October and will give Keystone enough capacity to accommodate aircraft such as the Gulfstream V and Global Express. The airport recently lengthened its runway to 5,800 feet, making it the second longest in the state. Keystone is an Avfuel dealer. The FBO offers an executive conference room, catering, courtesy vehicles and aircraft maintenance.
Bombardier Aerospace said that its new AOG parts delivery program, launched in December 2004 with Expeditors International of Washington, D.C., has met its stated goal of getting AOG parts to North American business aircraft operators within 12 hours or less of receiving the order. The accepted industry standard for timely AOG parts delivery is 24 hours from order receipt. Accelerated parts delivery is a key element in the company's plan to improve product support for Bombardier Learjet, Challenger and Global Express aircraft.
Dallas Airmotive, Dallas, named Ronald L. Worley Jr. director of sales, Rolls-Royce Spey/Tay Programs. Worley is responsible for sales management of the company's Spey and Tay customers in the business and general aviation sector.
Rolls-Royce selected NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi as the preferred site for relocation from the United Kingdom of its large-engines outdoor test facility. Rolls-Royce plans to spend $42 million on construction and facility upgrades in Mississippi and plans to do development work there on the Trent 900 for the Airbus 380 and the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The British engine maker announced in 2001 that it planned to close its outdoor testing facility at Hucknall in the United Kingdom.
Eclipse Aviation Corp. said a fleet of five flight-test aircraft and two static- and fatigue-testing airframes is being assembled at the company's Albuquerque, N.M., headquarters. The first aircraft began flight testing on Dec. 31, 2004; the second conforming aircraft is expected to join in flight tests this month.
Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher was forced to resign on March 6, the second time in the past 18 months that ethical problems have led to a change at the top of the aerospace giant. The Boeing board asked for and received Stonecipher's resignation following revelations of an affair with a female Boeing executive who did not report directly to him. Boeing Chief Financial Officer James Bell was appointed interim president and CEO, but is not a candidate as a permanent replacement. The company said it would immediately begin a search for a successor.
IMAGINE, IF YOU WILL, a perfect set of regulations regarding rest and duty periods for FAR Part 135 pilots that truly encompasses all aspects of cockpit fatigue by taking into account such disparate things as a pilot's age and life status (e.g., new marriage, new baby, new divorce or any variation thereof). These perfect rules would set duty limits based on whether the pilot flies the same route every day of every week, or somewhere new on every flight. Further, they'd take into account the day-to-day challenges of changing weather and varying equipment.
The FAA on, March 2, revised the emergency airworthiness directive for Cessna 402C and 414A airplanes. The new AD (2005-05-52) effectively increases the time between required wing spar inspections from as little as 15 hours to 110 hours. The AD replaces the visual inspection of the forward wing spars with an eddy-current inspection and continued visual inspection of the aft and auxiliary wing spars. That first AD was considered an interim measure to discover any existing large cracks in the Cessna twins' wing spars.
The FAR Part 135/125 Aviation Rulemaking Committee met face-to-face for the final time at the end of February, but still has some work to wrap up. The ARC's charter formally expires on April 8, but NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen, who chairs the committee, said the panel may need more time before it formally presents its recommendations for revamping Part 135 and Part 125 regulations. The ARC has basically agreed on its set of recommendations, Bolen said, but added that the committee now must complete writing the report.
Marla Gelfond, executive vice president, chief financial officer and founding partner of Jet Support Services, Inc. (JSSI) of Chicago, was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame on March 10. Gelfond was selected from among thousands of qualified entrepreneurs in the Chicago area.
Rotorcraft Enterprises' Start Pac Cool Air portable vapor cycle air conditioner unit can be taken in and out of a helicopter as needed. Initial installation of the Start Pac Cool Air can be performed in as little as two hours, and when not needed, the entire unit can be removed in minutes. The unit weighs 75 pounds and is rated at 12,000 to 15,000 BTUs. The Start Pac Cool Air can be mounted flat on the floor or upright against a bulkhead, and draws 16 to 75 amps, 28 volts DC. Price: $9,800 (Limited introductory price) Rotorcraft Enterprises
The costs of the war on Iraq, the war on terrorism and other spending priorities have caused the federal government to incur record spending deficits. In reaction, President Bush in February sent to Congress one of the leanest spending plans in his presidency, a $2.5 trillion package that trims funding at most federal agencies in an effort to control the mushrooming federal budget deficit. Aviation is affected.
MAKING MISTAKES IS A PART of everyday living. In fact, it's essential to life since that's how we come to identify wrong actions and their consequences and to develop strategies to avoid or overcome them in the future. A child puts his finger on a hot stove but once.
LIKE THOSE OF ARMY BRATS, my childhood and youth were invested with my dad's calling. He was a Toronto- and Cambridge-educated mechanical and aeronautical engineer who earned his pilot's license in 1937. The Cambridge University Air Squadron afforded him 125 hours in the Tutor and Audax, both Avro biplanes, along with the then-new Hawker Hind. Arriving back in Canada as war broke out in Europe, he never piloted an aircraft again -- and this, to me, seemed odd. I think I know why now.
Cirrus Design Corp. is now the world's second largest maker of single-engine piston aircraft. The Duluth, Minn., manufacturer delivered 553 new airplanes in 2004. Number one Cessna delivered 654 piston singles from its Independence, Kan., facility.
On the morning of Aug. 16, 1999, at about 0700 EDT, the flight crew of a Canadair CL-600 departed for Newnan, Ga., where they picked up a passenger whom they flew to New Orleans. Next, a deadhead to Houston, where two passengers boarded for a flight to Aspen, Colo. After fueling in Pueblo, Colo., the pilots departed for Columbia, S.C. The time was 2018. About 1:20 into the flight, the left windshield cracked. The captain called in the problem and was told to divert to Fort Lauderdale for repairs.
Newer models of the Dassault Falcon -- especially the 2000, 2000EX, 900EX and late-model 50s -- are among the hottest-selling business airplanes in today's robust used aircraft market. Skip Flint, director of preowned aircraft sales for Dassault Falcon Jet, said that 2004 was ``a great year'' for his organization. At the beginning of last year, the company had 21 aircraft in its inventory. By February 2005 there were just five.
Jet Professionals is teaming with the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) in a joint venture to deliver staffing solutions to PAMA members. The first product of the venture will be a Web site, implemented in three stages: The first phase will allow PAMA members to post their resumes on the Web in a confidential and safe environment. The resumes will be available for potential employers to search while looking for job candidates.
Sentient Jet, a Norwell, Mass., firm that arranges business jet transportation on aircraft operated by FAR Part 135 certificate holders through a private jet membership program, named a five-member independent safety board.
While the FAA is not undertaking knee-jerk regulatory changes, Kathy Perfetti, the FAA's national resource specialist for Part 135 operations, said the agency is casting a jaundiced eye at how companies are using d/b/a relationships. Accident investigators are having a hard time tracing who had operational control of aircraft in some of the most recent accidents -- including the King Air crash that killed Senator Paul Wellstone and the Challenger runway overrun at Teterboro in February (see side column).
AvQuotes.com offers no-charge access to over 60 maintenance and refurbishment providers throughout the United States. Quote seekers register basic contact information and use simple menus to specify the scope of work, preferences and other information related to they type of work that needs to be done. Requests are then posted on the AvQuotes site and immediately distributed to enrolled maintenance and refurbishment centers for their review. Quotes are provided directly to the aircraft operator by those maintenance and refurbishment centers.
One of the rotary-wing celebrities at the Helicopter Association International convention this February in Anaheim, Calif., was the AB139, the new medium hauler produced by Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. Not only was the big twin there to be admired, but also its makers got to announce that Seacor Holdings of Houston had signed for 20 aircraft, raising the order book count to an even 100.
Women In Aviation International celebrated its 10th anniversary at the group's annual convention in Dallas in March. The organization awarded more than 425 scholarships valued at $3.5 million to women seeking careers in aviation in its first nine years, and that total was expected to exceed $4 million by the end of March's meeting.
