Air Transport Association President James May supports the Department of Homeland Security's anti-MANPAD study decision, saying it will help answer a number of questions, especially whether systems originally designed for use on military aircraft can be successfully operated and maintained over time in the civil environment. ``I think you have to go through the process,'' May said, but added, ``We think the costs [of going forward with implementation] are very significant.'' May pegged those expenses at $50 billion to $80 billion over a 10-year period.
Signature Flight Support, Orlando, has named Timothy McCole general manager of the company's Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) facility. McCole has been with Signature since 1992.
Frank Jackman has been named editorial director of three publications published by McGraw-Hill's Aviation Week Group: Overhaul & Maintenance, the World Aviation Directory & Aerospace Database, and the Homeland Security Directory. Jackman was previously editor-in-chief of those publications.
Avidyne Corp. awarded Mark Krebs its first Avidyne Technical Achievement award for his technical accomplishments in developing and certifying the world's first low-cost solid-state Air Data and Attitude Heading Reference System (ADAHRS), the heart of the company's FlightMax Entegra integrated flight deck system. Krebs is a senior engineer with Avidyne and holds a B.S. from MIT and an M.S. in engineering from Stanford University.
Noncorporate/executive jets were involved in eight fatal accidents that resulted in 16 deaths in 2003. That compares with 19 accidents, but just four fatal accidents, which resulted in nine deaths during 2002.
For more than 60 years, turbine aircraft engines relied on some form of mechanical control to vary the amount of fuel being fed to them. The original arrangement of cables, pulleys, horns and control rods is still in use on some aircraft models today. Effective in producing the desired results, this mechanical system relies on constant input and calculations by the pilot, and because of the elastic nature of its elements, the system needs regular inspection and adjustment by maintainers to compensate for tension and wear.
Bob Hoover and Gene Cernan have started a cooperative purchasing company, Jet Fleet International, to procure a broad range of aviation services and products at discount prices for its members. JFI's current partners include CAE SimuFlite, Avcard, Shell Aviation, Teledyne Controls, Pegasus Travel, Mercury Air Centers, Globalstar, Jeppesen, Wyvern Consulting and even Breitling Watches. JFI membership is currently free in order to build its member roster to the 2,000 mark. Members use an Alliance Platinum Card from Avcard for their purchases.
BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines are heading teams selected to enter final contract negotiations to provide detailed designs for systems to defend airliners against shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems). BAE, which uses a technology based on infrared lasers to defeat MANPADS, will work with Delta Air Lines and Honeywell. Northrop Grumman said it will also team with an airline. United is teaming with Avisys, Inc., an Austin, Texas, defense technologies and system integration company.
The first two of seven leased Raytheon Beech King Air B200s have arrived at the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force station at RAF Cranwell from the Beech facility in Kansas. The civil-registered aircraft will replace the RAF's aging Jetstream T1s. The B200s will be used for military multiengine pilot training and operated by Serco, which is contracted to deliver 5,500 flight hours per year over a period of five to seven years. RAF instructors are converting to the new aircraft type and the first intake of students is scheduled for April.
New Piper Aircraft will offer Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck as optional equipment on four of its single-engine models -- the Saratoga II HP, the Saratoga II TC, the Piper 6X and the Piper 6XT. Entegra consists of two large, high-resolution sunlight readable displays; an EXP5000 PFD with an integrated solid-state air data and attitude/heading reference system and EX5000 multifunction display. Piper includes Avidyne's Emax Engine Indicating and Fuel Management Systems at no additional charge.
The NAVAirWx moving map system has added some new weather products including echo tops, lightning strikes and winds aloft. NAVAirWx uses satellite broadcast technology to provide complete weather service to the cockpit, providing real-time access to NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs and many other weather products. The moving map provides glass cockpit functionality in a portable format utilizing Portable Digital Assistant (PDA) and electronic flight bag technology. Price: $2,000 AirGator 94 Smith Ave.
Just as the TSA has had to be educated about the nature and inherent security of business aviation, so it appears that ICAO, which sets policy for the aviation authorities of its signatory nations, needs an injection of reality on exactly what business and general aviation do and how they operate.
Ibis Aerospace appointed Deep Blue Technology AG in Hallwil, Switzerland, near Zurich as a distributor responsible for sales and service of its Ae270 Propjet in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yugoslavia-Macedonia. Deep Blue has placed orders for nine Ae270 aircraft, plus options for five more. In related news, Ibis expanded the sales territory of Rheinland Air Service, its German distributor, to include Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
The NBAA announced that 22 individuals passed the first Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) examination, administered in October 2003, in Orlando. The NBAA CAM Program is intended to identify and measure the aviation-specific knowledge and management skills of current and aspiring flight department managers. Through the certification process, the NBAA says it seeks to raise the professionalism and quality of management within flight departments.
The Global Express -- GEX -- the highly anticipated flagship of the Bombardier business aircraft fleet, is maturing into the aircraft promised by its designers in the early 1990s. Almost immediately after the superjet's introduction in 1999, it acquired a reputation as a high-tech hangar queen among early operators because of bugs in immature, complex systems, mismanaged completions at Bombardier's Tucson facility and wholly inadequate parts support. ``The aircraft was way, way ahead of its time.
Club Airways, a Geneva, Switzerland-based, members only scheduled business airline, is shopping for a larger aircraft, such as an Embraer Legacy or Fairchild Dornier Envoy 3 to operate from London City Airport to Dusseldorf and Moscow's Vnukova Airport. The chosen aircraft would be fitted with no more than 15 seats in line with the company's philosophy of supplying a first-class environment.
The NBAA is asking for proposals for one- or two-hour presentations to be given at the Ninth Annual NBAA Flight Attendants Conference, June 18-19 in Anaheim, Calif. Hosted by the NBAA Flight Attendants Committee, the conference usually draws corporate flight attendants in search of career-development information and opportunities. Presentation topics could include cabin safety, food handling, food service and passenger safety as well as management issues related to the duties and responsibilities of the corporate flight attendant.
The FAA will allow the use of enhanced vision systems below decision height or minimum descent altitude on straight-in nonprecision and CAT I ILS approaches. The proposed rule, published in the Federal Register, covers only operations using EVS, which it describes as Enhanced Flight Visual Systems (EFVS). It specifically does not apply to synthetic vision systems and requires that the system provide a real-time image displayed on a centrally located HUD, not just a panel or console display.
As business and general aviation people well know, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs to be held accountable to performance benchmarks, according to Republicans on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the committee, plans to hold hearings this month to lay the groundwork for legislation that would set performance measurements for the DHS. ``The American public is frustrated by a lack of accountability,'' said Rep.
The following description of how a veteran flight department prepares for and conducts an international flight illustrates the synergy that must exist in the post-9/11 world between corporate security and flight operations. The aviation manager who provided it asked that he and his employer not be identified. This is a Fortune 100 company with a large flight department engaged in frequent trips abroad. ``Let's say we're going to the Philippines,'' the aviation manager began. ``The schedule is released for a trip.
The NBAA's 15th Annual Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference, held Jan. 10-14 in Savannah, was the largest ever, drawing some 1,400 attendees and a record-breaking 236 exhibitors. In welcoming those attending the opening session, NBAA President Shelley A. Longmuir said the association was working hard to make the Transportation Security Administration Access Certificate (TSAAC) program -- a subject of keen importance to her audience -- succeed. Edsel B.
TEN MILES FROM the downtown post office of most any metropolitan enclave in the USA there is an airpatch and on this airpatch there is a hangar. This hangar is the eminent domain of Capt. Primo O'Donnal (chief pilot, Shippensburg Sheet and Mattress Co.), DFC, DSM, USNR, O.E.S., Cubmaster of Pack 33 and foremost exponent and practitioner of the COSHASTIRS. In fact, if it were not for Primo O'Donnal and a few dozen others of his ilk, the COSHASTIRS would fade out of the picture entirely. What's that you say, Herschel? Who and what are the COSHASTIRS?
For the third year in a row, Flight Options donated flight time to the Corporate Angel Network on behalf of its more than 2,000 owners to fly cancer patients to medical centers across the country in order for them to receive specialized, and often lifesaving, treatment. Corporate Angel Network typically transports about 160 cancer patients a month and recently flew its 17,000th patient.
An A for airmanship. On Jan. 5, Austrian Airlines Capt. Jan Michael Kurka successfully landed his Fokker 70 in a frozen field short of Runway 26 in Munich after a sudden simultaneous thrust loss on both engines left him with roughly 30 percent of normal thrust. In the subsequent emergency landing, none of the 32 people on board were seriously injured, but the aircraft's gear was ripped off. A preliminary examination of the Rolls-Royce Tays showed that the ice impact trays, mounted behind the fan to protect the core from ice, had ripped off both engines.
Parker Hannifin's Airborne Division has introduced its new 2J4 air filter with stainless steel housing. The unit is damage- and corrosion-resistant and is smaller and lighter in weight than existing filters. The FAA/PMA-approved filter is available through Airborne distributors and is a direct replacement for the 1J4 filter. Parker suggests that owners should check their parts manual to determine if the 1J4 was originally used on their aircraft. Such aircraft manufacturers include Grumman, Mooney, Piper and Beechcraft.
