Coefficient of Thermal Expansion: Liquids increase in volume as their temperatures increase. The coefficient of thermal expansion is a measure of the rate of volume increase with temperature. A typical value for the coefficient of thermal expansion of kerosene-type jet fuel is 0.00099 per degree Celsius [(C)-1] [(0.00055F)-1]. At this rate, one gallon of jet fuel will expand 4.0 percent for an increase in temperature of 40C [1.000 gallon at 0C (32F): 1.040 gallon at 40C (104F)].
Each year at the Helicopter Association International's Heli-Expo, Honeywell and Rolls-Royce release independent forecasts of the helicopter market. Although they crosscut the marketplace quite differently, taken together they have been strikingly consistent with each other -- and strikingly prescient for the past two years. For the past four years, Rolls-Royce has teamed with the Teal Group, a specialized forecast company. Taken together, the forecasts in 2003 showed the tipping point for industry revival to be in early 2004.
Bombardier delivered a new Special Edition Bombardier Learjet 60 to the government of Macedonia for transporting senior officials. The eight-passenger aircraft, which is fully compliant with RVSM and European JAR-OPS1 regulations, features an Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, TCAS II and an APU, all now standard on Learjet 60s. The government will operate the jet under civil registry from Skopje, the nation's capital.
Schweizer Aircraft Corp. signed a contract with Caseright Aviation for 10 new 300CBi helicopters with deliveries beginning in early 2006. Caseright is a Schweizer Distributor for the United Kingdom and provides sales and service for Schweizer helicopters from its Turweston Airfield operation.
Bell unveiled mockups of the corporate and EMS versions of the Bell 429 GlobalRanger light-twin helicopter, the first implementation of its Modular Affordable Product Line (MAPL) concepts, at February's Heli-Expo in Anaheim, Calif. MAPL core goals include: 20-percent productivity improvement via speed and useful load improvements, 20-percent reduction in operating costs, 10 dB noise reduction and 99-percent dispatch reliability. Bell plans the first Model 429 deliveries in 2007.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey gave agency veteran Charles Keegan broad oversight of the agency's ATC planning efforts, naming him the FAA's vice president of operations planning in addition to his role as director of the Joint Planning Development Office (JPDO). Keegan is now ``responsible for both the short- and near-term planning for the [FAA's Air Traffic Organization], as well as the longer-term planning for the JPDO,'' the agency said. Blakey said Keegan's ``dual roles will give him a vantage point . . .
Safe Flight Instrument Corp. of White Plains, N.Y., was granted an STC for its Powerline Detection System for Bell 206 helicopters. The system is designed to prevent rotary-wing aircraft from striking electric power lines.
Aircraft Services Group, Inc., Ramsey, N.J., promoted Peter C. Wendt (formerly director of flight operations) to vice president of business development. In addition, the company's chief pilot, Patrick Cassidy, was promoted to director of operations.
Flexjet, the fractional ownership program of Bombardier Aerospace, said it experienced a strong rebound in aircraft sales and orders in 2004. The manufacturer reported a 32-percent increase in the sale of shares of Learjet and Challenger aircraft in the 12-month period ending Dec. 31, 2004, compared with the previous year. December was also the strongest month in sales Flexjet has seen in more than three years, and transactions completed during fourth quarter 2004 were up more than 70 percent compared with the same period in 2003.
AMSTAT, a New Jersey-based provider of aircraft market research, plans to soon ship a new software package that will help brokers, dealers and other aviation professionals monitor the corporate helicopter market. AMSTAT plans to track approximately 8,000 individual aircraft produced by Agusta, Bell, Eurocopter and Sikorsky.
The NTSB wants the FAA to limit the number of times a pilot can fail a flight check and to require FAR Part 121 and 135 carriers to obtain flight-check failure background data on new hire candidates. The NTSB recommendations stem from its investigation of a July 13, 2003, crash of an Air Sunshine Cessna 402C, which ditched in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas after an inflight failure of the right engine on a scheduled Part 135 flight. An adult and a child were killed.
Despite several high-profile accidents involving prominent personalities in the final quarter, the number of accidents involving U.S. business jet and turboprop operators decreased slightly in 2004, according to data compiled by Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. There were 67 accidents last year, 19 of which claimed a total of 53 lives. That compares with 68 accidents, 26 fatal, and 58 deaths in 2003.
Robert J. Gillette is the new president and chief executive of Honeywell's Aerospace business, a unit with $9.8 billion in annual revenues; he had been head of the company's Transportation Systems unit, which has annual revenues of $4.3 billion. Succeeding Gillette as Transportation Systems president and CEO is Adriane M. Brown. Gillette succeeds Robert D. Johnson, who plans to retire in January 2006, and in the interim will serve as non-executive chairman of Aerospace ``to facilitate an orderly transition,'' the company said. Johnson has been with Honeywell since 1994.
MY WIFE HAS SIX SIBLINGS, as do I, and most of them are married. We sibs and our spouses have pursued various career paths, becoming medical doctors, college professors, an attorney, a designer, a banker, a marketer, a writer, a dentist and homemakers. And one aviation editor.
Signature Flight Support has acquired the assets of Transit Aviation, Inc., an FBO at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Transit supports business and general aviation operators at MSY and also provides fueling services for non-scheduled commercial carriers and charters. The company's facilities include a passenger terminal built in 2001 and approximately eight acres of ramp space. The New Orleans FBO becomes Signature's 43rd location in the United States.
Eastern Aviation Fuels, Atlanta, named Terry Britt president and chief operating officer of Eastern Aviation Insurance Services, LLC, a new subsidiary aviation insurance agency of Eastern Aviation Fuels. Flight Options LLC, Cleveland, a provider of fractional shares in business aircraft and an affiliate of Raytheon Co., named Jerry Bemis vice president, maintenance. Bemis most recently served as vice president, line maintenance operations for Delta Airlines.
Raised on a chicken farm in British Columbia, Moller earned a master's and Ph.D. in engineering from McGill University. After a few years working on Canadair's CL-44 turboprop, he accepted an invitation to set up an aeronautical engineering program at the University of California - Davis. In 1972, he started a successful motorcycle muffler company, which he later sold. And in 1983, he founded Moller International with the intention of building an inexpensive VTOL aircraft, culminating in the four-place M400 Skycar.
Sandel Avionics shipped its 1,000th TAWS unit on Jan. 10 -- just over 18 months from its first sale. Manufacturing two versions of its popular ST3400 TAWS/RMI, for Class A and Class B applications, Sandel says it has become the industry's number two TAWS provider for corporate, regional and air transport markets. A 3-ATI-size system that features a TAWS database, processor and oversized, high-resolution color display in a single panel-mounted unit, the ST3400 meets TSO C151b for both Class A and Class B requirements.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics board of directors, Reston, Va., named Robert S. Dickman as its new executive director for the 35,000-member professional organization. Dickman, who is the third executive director since the AIAA's formation in 1963, retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2000 as the senior military officer at the National Reconnaissance Office.
Because the human eye is at least 20 times more sensitive to green than red, green lasers appear much brighter than traditional red lasers with the same power output. Approximately 100,000 green lasers were sold in the United States in 2004 -- double that of the previous year. According to John Acres, president of Bigha, Inc., ``the handheld laser is not a death ray.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp. has been granted an STC for its Powerline Detection System installed on Bell 206 helicopters. In the delivery of electricity, power lines create a radiating electromagnetic field. Safe Flight's Powerline Detection System is designed to sense this field and warn pilots when a helicopter is in the vicinity of an energized wire. It does not detect unenergized wires such as tower guys, messenger cables, etc. When an electromagnetic field is sensed, the Powerline Detection System emits an auditory alert.
Rolls-Royce Spey 555-15 engines -- Replace the magnesium split low-pressure compressor case (part number EU.73418A) with a compressor case that is a combination of a steel-front compressor case and a shortened split compressor case.
GE Transportation -- Aircraft Engines, through its Unison Industries subsidiary, has signed an agreement to purchase Aircraft Parts Corp. (APC) pending regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to be completed soon. APC, a privately held company, manufactures and repairs aircraft electrical systems, including starter-generators and generator control units for business and regional jets, helicopters and the military. Founded in 1960, APC has its headquarters on Long Island, N.Y., and a service center in Wichita.
