FlightSafety International, Flushing, N.Y., has announced three new appointments. Bill Magyar has been promoted to director of regional maintenance training operations. In his new position he will be responsible for FlightSafety's Maintenance Learning Centers in Wichita serving Cessna customers and Raytheon customers, and the Falcon Jet Little Rock maintenance training center. He has over 40 years of aviation maintenance experience. Jim Scott has been named director of government programs.
The Experimental Aircraft Association has enlisted actor Harrison Ford to serve as the new chairman of the EAA Young Eagles Program. Ford, who first began flight training in the 1960s but put those ambitions on hold until the early 1990s, is a pilot who is rated in rotorcraft and tailwheel aircraft.
Tech-Tool Plastics unveiled several new window replacement products for Bell 407 and Eurocopter EC 120 and BK 117 helicopters at the recent Heli-Expo 2004. For the BK 117 there's a new line of standard replacement windows. For the Bell 407, Tech-Tool introduced a custom aft door window with a long slide for photography and observation missions. And there's a new pilot's door window for the EC 120 without a slide, which enhances visibility. Call for pricing Tech-Tool Plastics 7800 Skyline Park Dr. Fort Worth, TX 76108 (817) 246-4694 www.tech-tool.com
But wait, there's more! Scaled back is not dead. Boeing's ATM organization demonstrated its technology for fusing radar and ADS-B data and processing it for display on a single screen. ``Rather than three potentially confusing blips representing the same airplane appearing separately on the radar screen, our demonstration flights show we can `fuse' signals to provide more accurate tracking,'' said Dave Jones, Boeing's Global Communications, Navigation and Surveillance System (GCNSS) program manager.
The FAA's final revised FAR Part 139 will require small airports handling scheduled commercial service of aircraft with between nine and 30 seats to meet safety and operational requirements including Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) regulations. Airports serving scheduled carriers using aircraft with under nine seats, or unscheduled operations with aircraft fewer than 30 seats, are not affected by the new rules, which were published in the Feb. 10 Federal Register.
AgustaWestland has begun a major plant expansion in Philadelphia. The new facility, scheduled to open by the end of the summer, will provide additional space for the manufacturer and will be the site for final assembly of the Agusta A119 Koala helicopter, which is currently manufactured in Italy. The expansion comes as AgustaWestland, Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter are teamed to compete on the US101, a derivative of the AgustaWestland EH-101, for the VXX presidential helicopter contract.
Johnston & Murphy's Signature Series of dress and casual shoes is designed for those who trek through airport security machines on a regular basis. The Signature Series features a soft gel cushion insert, a shock dispersion heel that minimizes impact and fatigue, and a durable rubber outsole for a high degree of flexibility. Most notably, the new shoes are constructed with a composite shank instead of the typical metal shank, which is the piece that frequently activates metal detectors at airports.
CSD, Inc. is expanding marketing and customer support for the PRIST family it acquired from PPG Industries about a year ago -- after serving as a licensee for a number of years. The PRIST brand includes a family of premium solvents, additives and lubricants designed for the aviation and aerospace industries. Among the better-known products in the family are PRIST Hi-Flash Hi-Flo/Lo-Flo additives and PRIST aircraft acrylic/glass cleaner.
The NBAA urged the TSA to consider a national rollout of the TSA Access Certificate program. The final round of compliance evaluations for Transportation Security Administration Access Certificate (TSAAC) holders was conducted on March 8. The TSA will review the proof-of-concept TSAAC program that has been under way at Teterboro (TEB), Westchester County (HPN) and Morristown Municipal (MMU) airports. The NBAA said that it anticipates that after this review, a determination will be made in favor of expanding the TSAAC program nationally.
In ``Where Are You, Really?'' (B/CA, December 2003, page 68) Dick McKinney described some of the dangers associated with using GPS for navigation in areas where imprecise methods may have been employed in determining the official latitude and longitude of objects. This time, we'll look at using GPS to show an aircraft's position on electronic airport diagrams, and how software and avionics manufacturers deal with various accuracy issues.
Executive Aircraft-Wichita has named Nick Murphy, an 11-year aviation veteran with 19 years in the electro-mechanical technology field, as its avionics manager. Murphy comes to Executive from Cessna Citation Service Center, Newburgh, N.Y.
Bombardier Aerospace has added Global Wings, Inc. of Tokyo, Japan, as the newest operator in its Bombardier Flexjet Asia-Pacific charter network. Global Wings will fly the new Learjet 45XR super-light business jet beginning this spring. Other operators in the Bombardier Flexjet Asia-Pacific network include: Rainbow Jet Co. Ltd. of China, Macau-based Jet Asia Ltd., Subic International Air Charter Inc. of the Philippines, Singapore-based Pacific Flight Services and ExecuJet Australia. All charter operators in the network are certified by Wyvern International.
Feb. 25 -- Arriving from Denver International, a Fairchild AS227 freighter was substantially damaged when it slid off of the runway during landing roll at Garfield County Regional Airport (RIL), Rifle, Colo. Neither the ATR pilot nor commercial first officer were injured. IMC prevailed at the time. The pilot stated that they had flown the approach at a higher speed than usual and, as a result, the airplane touched down approximately 2,500 feet beyond the approach end of Runway 26, which was wet with rain.
Smoke and Fire Prevention Systems is marketing lightweight fiberglass fabric curtains designed to contain smoke and toxic fumes in aircraft hangars. Toby Newcomb, executive vice president of the Clarksville, Va., company, says the translucent FabriLock fabric offers lower-cost protection than heavy drywall and metal smoke curtains. Moreover, he says his product is accepted by all building codes. In addition to locking in smoke and toxic fumes to protect lives and property, the translucent curtains help illuminate hangar interiors.
The Gulfstream G550 got its JAA recommendation letter and a type certificate from the new European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The G550 with its PlaneView cockpit and Enhanced Vision System was FAA certificated in August 2003. EASA certification allows the aircraft to be registered in 37, mostly European, countries.
Eaton Aerospace is the latest company to join the Chinese ARJ21 regional jet program. The agreement with AVIC 1 Commercial Aircraft Co. of Shanghai to supply integrated cockpit assemblies and cockpit lighting control assemblies makes Eaton the 11th supplier to the Chinese-led project. Mel Drummond, Eaton's vice president of product support and services, said that the contract is worth $20 million on more than 500 aircraft.
The NBAA has published a children's book, The Flying Office: Aviation Goes to Work, as part of the association's AvKids initiative. AvKids is designed to introduce students in grades two through five to aviation, and business aviation in particular, through a curriculum that incorporates science, math, geography and language arts. The Flying Office was written by Cassandra Bosco, NBAA director of public relations, who spearheaded AvKids, and veteran business aviation journalist Robert Searles, and is illustrated by Mike Perry.
Testifying in mid-March before the House Subcommittee on Aviation, GAMA President Ed Bolen and NATA President James Coyne urged the federal government to promptly develop security procedures that will return general aviation operations to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). According to Bolen, scheduled airlines [and FAA-operated and -chartered general aviation aircraft -- Ed.] were able to resume service to DCA because the organizations in charge of U.S. security were committed to finding solutions to security challenges.
Bombardier Flexjet, a subscriber to the NBAA General Aviation Desk at the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center since August 2001, marked a milestone for business aviation operators in becoming the first nonscheduled operator to successfully transmit flight intent data to the FAA's ATC host system.
ANSV, the Italian national air safety agency, issued a report on the Oct. 8, 2001, runway collision at Milan Linate Airport between an MD-87 and a Citation CJ2 that killed 118 people. The Citation was cleared to taxi for a Runway 36R departure via Taxiway R5, which does not cross either of Linate's parallel runways but has a holding point short of the extended runway centerline. The Cessna pilot correctly read back the clearance to taxi via R5, but mistakenly turned onto taxiway R6, which crosses the main runway, 18L/36R, and also has a holding point short of the runway.
Listen to the salespeople, and you might come away thinking business jets and turboprops never need maintenance. Tim Gronberg, Bombardier's field service representative based in Danbury, Conn., calls it the ``illusion that they never break.'' ``That,'' he says, in a sorry-to-burst-your-bubble tone of voice, ``is just not the case.'' Consider a single-aircraft air-taxi operator that's agreed to take a $20,000 charter. The crew shows up, the paying customer and guests arrive, and on the preflight the copilot notices the right tire has gone flat.
Signature Flight Support, Orlando, has named Jeffrey Magnus general manager of its Palm Springs International Airport (PSP), Calif., facility. In addition to operating as an independent aircraft sales and distribution director, Magnus was previously president of Magnus Aviation, a Wisconsin-based concern that owned and operated two full-service FBOs.
Avidyne's FlightMax EX500 free-play trainer allows the user to access virtually all pages and functions on a PC as they would on a real multifunction display (MFD). The fully customizable software simulates all onboard sensors which can be connected to the MFD, including weather radar, traffic (TAS/TCAS or TCAD), lightning (WX500 Stormscope) and terrain (EGPWS/TAWS). For users without all these sensors in their aircraft, the simulator's settings can be changed to match the user's actual aircraft configuration.
The Aircraft Maintenance Department at the John. D. Odegard School for Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D., was presented with the Diamond Certificate of Excellence Award by the FAA. Twenty-two maintenance technicians also received individual awards for their participation in initial and recurrent maintenance training. In addition, 13 technicians have earned AMT awards for five consecutive years and are eligible to receive the Gold Seal Award.
Honeywell is forecasting civil turbine helicopter sales will grow at a 2-percent compounded rate worldwide between 2004 and 2011. The manufacturer's sixth Turbine-Powered Civil Helicopter Purchase Outlook released March 14 projects deliveries of approximately 2,350 new civil-use helicopters during the 2004 to 2008 period, driven in part by increased demand for light single and intermediate twin-engine models offering newer technology. This would represent a 6.8-percent sales increase over the 1999 to 2003 period.
