How good can life get? Patty Wagstaff, fresh from her induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, traveled to the Farnborough Air Show to fly demo routines for Raytheon Aircraft in the company's T-6 turboprop trainer. Wagstaff was inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 17, along with William Anders, Harriet Quimby and Jack Ridley. The T-6 is serving in the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, NATO Flying Training in Canada and the Hellenic Air Force of Greece. Wagstaff is a three-time U.S. National Aerobatic Champion and a six-time member of the U.S.
I NEVER HEARD IT, but supposedly movie-maker Woody Allen once famously remarked, ``Eighty percent of life is showing up.'' Having recently been sorely dependent on others to help me first to get my airplane home from far away and then to join in an important anniversary celebration (Yes, loyal readers, both events were described on this page previously) I am deeply indebted to those who made the effort to show up.
Accidents are unusual. Many accidents happen to good pilots who just happen to fly into illusion situations. ``Illusions'' are a form of ``pilot error'' -- the pilot isn't aware of making the error. Seek redundant information. Suspend belief in ``the obvious.'' Keep your head on a swivel (to avoid stabilization). Avoid fixation (of attention). This is a form of sensory deprivation, a kind of fog or cloud that masks ambient cues. Keep your head out of the cockpit in the pattern.
Gulfstream Aerospace has received FAA approval to install the Honeywell Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) on aircraft already equipped with the Honeywell Mark V enhanced ground proximity warning system. The STC authorizes all 11 Gulfstream and General Dynamics Aviation Services' service centers to install RAAS in more than 20 different business jets, including those made by Boeing, Bombardier, Cessna, Falcon, Hawker and Learjet, as well as Gulfstreams.
Williams International received FAA type certification on July 31 for its FJ44-3A turbofan engine for Cessna's new CitationJet 3 (See ``Cessna Citation CJ3,'' page 34). FAA officials presented the type certificate to Gregg Williams, president of Williams International, at the Experimental Aircraft Association's recent AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. The dual-channel FADEC FJ44-3A engine produces 2,780 pounds of thrust, a 14-percent increase in takeoff thrust and 12-percent more cruise thrust than the FJ44-2C engines on the CJ2.
WE KNOW THAT MOST accidents occur when tolerances line up unidirectionally. Sometimes, the tolerances are way out of the box, while at other times the unidirectional shift is very subtle. Such is the case of FedEx Flight 1478, which struck trees on short final approach and crashed short of Runway 9 at Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional Airport (TLH) just before dawn on July 26, 2002. The three cockpit crewmembers were seriously injured and the aircraft was destroyed by the impact and fire.
FOR MANY YEARS Alaska, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have not had any state sales and use taxes. Now there are a few more states that do not impose state sales and use tax on aircraft specifically. The first state to exempt the sale of aircraft from its sales and use tax was Connecticut, which, however, imposed a weight restriction -- therefore only exempting aircraft weighing over 6,000 pounds. Massachusetts followed a couple of years later and exempted the sale of all aircraft, regardless of weight, from its state sales tax. And effective Jan.
The King Air Foundation is restoring the first Beechcraft King Air, s.n. LJ-1, so that it can make a 30-leg flight around the world -- and the foundation wants celebrities to pilot each 1,000-mile, four-hour leg. The flight, planned for 2005, is expected to take 45 days. The LJ-1 has four seats, and passenger space on each leg of the flight will be auctioned and raffled to the public. Winners can pick the celebrity pilot they want to fly with on the trip.
Business Jet Center completed a $5 million expansion of its facilities at Dallas Love Field, including a new hangar and adjoining office and ramp space. Business Jet Center increased its square footage by about 24 percent, from 178,000 square feet to 220,000 square feet. Ramp space has grown 65 percent, from 9.6 acres to 16 acres.
Cessna is developing a series of Service Bulletins for installation of the new Honeywell Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS) on the Citation Bravo, Encore, Excel and X. Cessna released the Service Bulletin for the Excel in July and will release the remaining bulletins this month. The RAAS system improves situational awareness and helps protect against runway incursions by providing an aural advisory to the flight crew during taxi, takeoff, final approach, landing and rollout.
Paul A. Schweizer, who along with brothers Ernie and Bill founded Schweizer Aircraft, died Aug. 18 at age 91 in Elmira, N. Y. The son of Swiss immigrants, Schweizer became enamored of aviation as a teenager, and in 1930 he and his brothers designed and built a glider and taught themselves to fly it. Since then their company has produced over 6,000 aircraft, a third of them sailplanes and gliders, but today builds helicopters, UAVs, and covert surveillance aircraft.
New Piper Aircraft will offer Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck as optional equipment on all of its entry-level aircraft: the PA-28 family -- the Warrior III, Archer III and Arrow. The FlightMax systems have been available for about a year on the Saratoga II HP, the Saratoga II TC, the Piper 6X and the Piper 6XT.
Rene Co.'s 8400K Optical Micrometer measure the width of scratches and the vertical depth of surface features. The kit includes a Microm-eter with digital display, three bases for different surfaces, four lenses (two eyepiece, two objective), a flashlight with batteries and spare bulb, and an allen wrench. The digital display features a readout in inches or millimeters. In inches, the readout displays four places to the right of the decimal. Accuracy is 0.001 inches, resolution is 0.0005 inches. In millimeters, the readout displays two places to the right of the decimal.
Proposed Rules Honeywell TFE731-2 and -3 engines -- Replace certain low-pressure first- and second-stage turbine rotor discs. Lockheed 1329 airplanes -- Conduct repetitive inspections to detect crack damage in the front spar cap assembly of the lower vertical stabilizer and repair any damage. If no damage is found, rework the spar cap doublers.
Stage III Technologies has designated Aero-Propulsion Management Services of the United Kingdom as its sales agent for Europe and the Middle East. APMS provides engine repair and overhaul management and technical support for airline, regional airline and business aircraft. APMS has specific expertise with Rolls-Royce Spey and Tay engines installed on Gulfstream aircraft.
Jamie McIntyre has been appointed to the national board of directors of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. President of Romeo Oscar Inc., a Montreal-based aerospace marketing, advertising and public relations firm, McIntyre, a Steen Skybolt pilot, has been involved in aviation since 1975. Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame documents, preserves and publicizes the names and deeds of men and women whose contributions to Canadian aviation have benefited the country.
Stevens Aviation has received Transport Canada approval for the installation of several new systems into a Piaggio Avanti flown by a Canadian operator. The new equipment includes a Bendix/King KGP 560 GA enhanced ground proximity warning system, a BF Goodrich SkyWatch HP899 traffic advisory system and a Bendix/King 980 multi-hazard awareness system, which is designed to prevent controlled flight into terrain accidents.
Remember all that hype about the ``Office in the Sky'' concept over the last two decades? It's been waiting for cost-effective voice and broadband connections between airplanes and the ground. Now, it's finally becoming a reality because of a revolution in three satcom technologies. These three technologies, supplemented by a couple of others, are quickly making most conventional air-to-ground telecommunications links as obsolete in the cabin as LORAN and VLF/Omega receivers are in the cockpit.
The tolerance for RVSM OPS is plus or minus 65 feet for aircraft built after April 9, 1997, and plus or minus 130 feet for aircraft built prior. This equates to less than one quarter of a percent at FL 40. The basic components of an RVSM-compliant system involve the pitot/static system, which includes the pitot tube/static port, standby altimeter, VSI, airspeed/Mach and associated plumbing. The air data computer is the brain of the system. For domestic RVSM, U.S. operations can have a single ADC, but for international RVSM operations, you need two.
In the contacts B/CA made with Sentient and Blue Star, we summarized charter operators' complaints into a series of discussion points to which we asked management to respond. Sentient was represented by an unidentified marketing executive; Sitomer answered on behalf of Blue Star.
Rolls-Royce has created an outstanding animated ``Journey Through a Jet Engine'' that has earned ``Way Cool'' and ``Must See'' ratings at the usually hard-to-impress highest editorial level at B/CA. It's specific to the Rolls-Royce Trent, but clearly shows just how a jet engine works and relates airflow, temps, pressures and rpm to every stage from inlet to exhaust. Plus, it's spiced with foot-stompers like the fact that each high-pressure turbine blade in the Trent generates as much horsepower (800) as a Formula One race car engine.
In response to an FAA request, the NBAA has developed a simplified letter of authorization (LOA) process for FAR Part 91 operators seeking RVSM approval of their aircraft. The agency is currently reviewing the first draft of this document, although it is unclear how soon operators will realize the benefits of this streamlined process.
Are the charter card membership companies appearing to ``hold out to the public,'' or otherwise attempting to portray themselves as commercial operators? B/CA asked the DOT if it was ``observing'' the charter card movement and what its position was regarding the super brokerages.
Raytheon Aircraft and D&D Aviation Services of Marietta, Ga., have developed a package of services to simplify obtaining DRVSM operational approval for Beechcraft and Hawker aircraft. Using D&D Aviation Services' copyrighted Domestic RVSM Procedures Manual and International Operations Manual (IOM), the two companies can develop application data packages for aircraft operators and submit applications for approval on their behalf.
