Is passenger weight and balance a critical consideration for your flight operation? Sporty's is now offering a portable passenger scale. The digital unit uses four AAA batteries and can measure weights up to 300 pounds. Thanks to its trim 9.5-by-9-by-1.75-inch size and 2-pound weight, the scale can be easily stored when traveling. Price: $39.95 Sporty's Pilot Shop Clermont County/Sporty's Airport Batavia, OH 45103-9747 Phone: (800) SPORTYS Fax: (800) 359-7794 www.sportys.com
In the late 1930s, a can-do high school dropout by the name of Bill Remmert was bucking rivets in the Curtiss-Wright hangar at Lambert Field in St. Louis. One day he met Bob Werner, a young Curtiss engineer, and the two became fast friends. Remmert, who had started a flying club, even taught his new pal to fly. When World War II erupted, Remmert served as a company tech rep in China and later became a Naval officer charged with inspecting materiel production. Werner, meanwhile, went off to help build transport gliders.
THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, give a little, take a little, Greehouse Patter was to be found in the back of Skyways, the official publication of the NBAA. The last Skyways owner and publisher, Lois Henry, sold the publication to American Aviation, Wayne Parrish Permitee. As can happen in the publishing business, Skyways, although it was a good magazine, eventually disappeared and this column migrated to B/CA. Greenhouse weathered the transitions and we have enjoyed happy togetherness all the way.
Dassault Aviation recently achieved its third ISO 9001 certification after a November 2003 audit performed by the Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI). Three years ago, Dassault Aviation was the first company in France to be certified under the strict criteria of ISO 9001-2000.
Deliveries of the Premier I, Raytheon Aircraft's first-ever, clean sheet jet, now are approaching 70 units, so B/CA recently surveyed operators to determine how well the aircraft is living up to their expectations. It turns out they love its speed, roomy cockpit, cabin and baggage compartment, Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite and handling qualities, but many early aircraft operators report they experienced dispatch reliability woes, as one might expect from a leading-edge-technology design aircraft.
Piedmont Hawthorne, Winston-Salem, N.C., has announced several personnel changes: Steven Levesque has been promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer; Marge Becker has been promoted to senior vice president of accounting and administration; and Steve Leidigh has rejoined the company as general manager for the Ocala, Fla., FBO.
The second edition of the 2003 NBAA Compensation and Benchmark Survey is now available to members, but not to nonmembers. The recompiled results include data submitted by 1,080 aviation departments. The survey participants have free online access and can view the results as Adobe PDF files as well as create their own aircraft-specific and location-specific reports for salary data. NBAA members who did not participate in the survey may purchase access to survey results by contacting the NBAA's Sarah Dicke at [email protected].
-- Clayton M. Jones, Rockwell Collins, will continue as chairman of the GAMA board; -- James E. Schuster, Raytheon Aircraft, will continue as board vice chairman and chair the Security Issues Committee. Other chairmen and their committees are: -- John Rosanvallon, Dassault Falcon Jet, Communications Committee; Dean Flatt, Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems, Flight Operations Policy Committee; -- Lee D.
Embraer has delivered an EMB 145 SA aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). Dubbed R 99-A by the FAB, the Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft is equipped with a powerful mounted radar and special systems to intercept and analyze radar and communications. It will be assigned to the Amazon Surveillance Program, which operates seven other surveillance and remote sensing aircraft.
These three graphs are designed to provide a broad sketch of the G450's performance, based upon projections from Gulfstream's engineering team. Time and Fuel vs. Distance -- This graph shows the performance of the G450 at 0.80 Mach recommended long-range cruise and 0.85 Mach high-speed cruise. Using an average 0.775 Mach long-range cruise speed will extend maximum range, but only slightly. The numbers at the hour lines indicate the miles flown and the fuel burned for each of the two cruise profiles. Also not shown on this chart is the G450's warm day performance.
Avfuel Corp. is establishing a new business unit to provide flight planning services. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company said that the division, named Avfuel International, will offer free flight planning, competitive fuel prices through Avfuel's commercial contract fuel program, and bonus AVTRIP points. The flight planning program will be launched in January 2004 at the NBAA's Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference in Savannah, Ga.
On a clear mid-June day this year, a group of reporters and dignitaries gathered on the southern portion of the grounds of Dulles International Airport (IAD) to watch the arrival of the last flight of an Air France Concorde. The aircraft was destined for the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the new, cavernous annex of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), whose main facility on Washington, D.C.'s mall attracts an average of nine million visitors annually.
On a singularly high note, Bombardier Flexjet Europe is teaming with the Royal Opera House to offer Trust members and friends of the House privileged access to its Flexjet Jet Membership service. As part of this agreement, Flexjet Europe will sponsor the Royal Opera House's About the House magazine and air charter clients will receive special behind-the-scenes access to the House.
SimCom Training Centers will provide authorized training for pilots and maintenance technicians of the Ibis Ae270 turboprop. A comprehensive training manual supported with computerized courseware will be augmented with hands-on parts and training aids. SimCom plans to construct a type-specific simulator for the Ae270 within three years following the first delivery aircraft in North America. Price: TBD SimCom Pan Am International Flight Academy 6989 Lee Vista Blvd. Orlando, FL 32822 Phone: (407) 275-3900; Fax: (407) 275-0031 www.panamacademy.com
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash., has been granted two patents for its SAFEtrip ground fault interrupter fuel system safety device. Crane says SAFEtrip substantially enhances fuel system safety by mitigating damage from high-current ground faults and reducing the potential for fuel vapor ignition. It is compatible with the requirements of the FAA's SFAR that addresses fuel tank system fault tolerance evaluation requirements. Crane says the interrupter can be retrofitted into existing aircraft fuel systems.
A new FAA Web site presents graphical depictions of TFR airspace. The site, http://tfr.faa.gov, includes a list of published TFRs with links to a page that shows details of the TFR area overlaid on a sectional chart, and a text description of the restricted airspace. It also offers a U.S. map showing active TFRs across the country. ``This Web site exists largely because the AOPA spent the last two years pressuring the FAA to give pilots a clear picture of where the restrictions are,'' said AOPA President Phil Boyer.
One of the obvious attractions of investing in smaller fractional programs that use preowned equipment is lower share purchase prices. However, maintenance costs for used aircraft are almost always higher than for new ones, and some older types are prone to corrosion. ``So what are your obligations and liabilities?'' Bill Quinn, president of Aviation Management Systems, asked, rhetorically. ``When will the engines come up for mid-life?
Officials of the FAA's Southern Region presented the Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Diamond Award of Excellence to Atlantic Aero, Inc., of Greensboro, N.C., for the fifth time in the last seven years. Ninety percent of its technicians took part in the FAA's AMT Awards program in 2002. The AMT program was established in 1992 to recognize FAA certified aviation technicians and their employers who participated in extracurricular aviation maintenance training and other continuing education courses.
GAMA supports FAR Part 91 Subpart K, the new fractional ownership rule, calling it an important milestone in the evolution of business aviation. According to the association, the most positive aspect of the new rule is that it recognizes fractional programs as private rather than commercial operations. GAMA also praised the new rule for clearly defining fractional ownership, clarifying and assigning operational control responsibilities, and codifying many of the ``best practices'' now being voluntarily used by fractional ownership programs.
Health and security service provider MedAire, Inc. has been certified to new ISO 9001:2000 quality standards. Meeting the new measure is a requirement for continued ISO 9001 certification after 2003. The tougher certification standards require even greater management involvement in the quality process and place additional emphasis on customer and supplier relationships. ISO 9001 is a set of universal standards for a quality assurance system that is recognized around the world. Currently, 147 countries have adopted the ISO standards.
The White House 9/11 terrorist attack commission issued a subpoena last month to obtain documents from the FAA. Nearly simultaneously, the FAA delivered to the commission dozens of boxes of material that agency officials claimed satisfy the request. The commission in May requested all documents relating to the FAA's tracking of the hijacked airliners and communications with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
EagleMed of Wichita has become Sky Connect's latest customer for aircraft tracking services. EagleMed provides patient transport with a fleet of King Airs and helicopters. Allen Zon, EagleMed's director of operations, said, ``We will now have the ability to proactively advise medical centers of patient ETAs without having to constantly interrupt the flight crew for verbal status reports.''
Raytheon affiliate Flight Options plans to add an Embraer Legacy to its fractional fleet by the end of this month. The company has signed an MOU for up to four of the RJ derivatives, which will be configured to carry 13 passengers. The aircraft will feature walk-in access to a 240-cubic-foot baggage compartment, the largest in the Flight Options fleet.
