The American Council on Education (ACE) has listed several FlightSafety International maintenance technical training programs in its ``table of recommendations'' for college credit equivalence. FSI courses received a total aggregate recommendation of 185 baccalaureate credits. As an example, a typical 70-hour FSI Initial Course is rated at four upper-division (junior-senior) credits. Colleges and universities generally follow ACE's recommendations, accepting the credit equivalence recommendations based on their individual policies and curricula requirements.
Cessna plans to offer highly customized manuals and catalogs so that pilots, field service personnel and technicians quickly and easily can locate information without sifting through irrelevant content. Cessna is streamlining the way its service organization creates and publishes information by using Arbortext software to produce maintenance manuals, parts catalogs and flight manuals.
San Francisco, has promoted Lynn Dreifus to manager of flight standards. She will provide operational and technical support to TAG's clients, base managers, flight coordinators and crew members. Based at the company's White Plains, N.Y. (HPN) facility, Dreifus will continue as a Falcon 20 captain and recurrent training instructor on a part-time basis.
The AOPA has developed a real-time, online flight-planning tool that specifically displays up-to-date TFR and Special Use Airspace (SUA) information. One of the flight planner's many useful features allows pilots to easily alter routes to avoid TFRs or weather by ``rubber-banding'' the course to a new waypoint or fix outside the affected area. This new service is available free to AOPA members. Check it out at www.aopa.org. The Web site also offers a downloadable Intercept Procedures reference card.
Lots of folks were caught off guard when the G450, the next-generation GIV/G400, made its official debut on the eve of the 2003 NBAA Convention in Orlando. Gulfstream Aerospace succeeded in keeping the G450 Savannah's best-kept secret for more than five months following s.n. 4001's first flight on April 30. Serial numbers 4002, 4003 and 4004 also entered the flight-test program prior to the convention, putting the G450 on track for late 2004 FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification and first customer deliveries in early 2005.
New York, N.Y., has appointed Tim Marken as executive vice president of sales and Perry O'Grady as vice president of corporate development. Marken's most recent position was as managing director at Revolution Partners, a technology investment banking firm. O'Grady's previous position was director of channel management at a block-charter aircraft company.
3M Aerospace has introduced its new paint preparation system, which features a unique, closed paint delivery method with easy cleanup. The paint is mixed in a liner, which is connected to a direct filter and mounted to a spray gun and an adapter. As the paint is dispensed, the liner collapses, allowing the user to spray at any angle. On completion, the liner vacuum pressure is discharged, allowing the liner to be discarded and leaving only the spray gun and adapter to be cleaned.
This most professional English charter operator, with a Hawker 800 and five Learjet 45s -- plus five 45XRs on order -- boasts a singular pedigree. It was financed from the profits of a publishing empire built by two brothers born into abject poverty in London's East End. Meanwhile, the operation's managing director is a 38-year-old aerobat who flies weekend air shows in a hairy 460-hp Sukhoi Su-26M2. David and Ralph Gold were kids during World War II, doted on by a mum who cleaned tables in a cafe and sold buttons, books and comics from a stall to make ends meet.
Still more justification for business aviation: Air passengers find children more annoying than drunks, ``arm rest huggers'' and nosy neighbors, according to new research released at the World Travel Market in November by Gulf Air. Almost 47 percent said noisy or badly behaved children were the biggest irritant when traveling by airplane, beating out obnoxious odors (20 percent), drunk passengers (16 percent), ``seat-recliners'' (13 percent), ``arm rest huggers'' (10 percent) and people making unwelcome advances or conversation (7 percent).
Rockwell Collins introduced a flexible LCD flight display system designed for retrofit applications. The IDS-3000 Integrated Display System is part of Collins' Pro Line 21. This new display system is designed to easily replace existing analog and EFIS equipment with large-format, active-matrix LCD technology that integrates with most existing aircraft sensors, radios, flight management and autopilot systems.
When the head of a flight department vacates the hangar's corner office, could the next person in line be the director of maintenance? Although flight departments have traditionally been led by pilots, more and more DOMs are now getting the nod to run the whole operation. While still unusual, such a selection can make good sense. After all, for many pilots, flying a desk and staying rooted in one place can be a slow death; maintainers, meanwhile, are used to putting in long hours, day after day, at the hangar.
Flight Deck Resources is now offering its latest flight deck management system (FDMS), the SkyTab 770. The FDMS is a Class 2 portable electronic flight bag (EFB) as defined by FAA AC 120-76A and is capable of displaying Chartrax or JeppView digital charts, company policies and preflight planning applications, performance calculations and real-time weather information. The SkyTab 770 has an 8.4-inch LCD and weighs 2.3 pounds.
Sandel Avionics and Universal Avionics System Corp. successfully defended themselves in federal court against charges by Honeywell that their respective TAWS designs violated Honeywell's Enhanced GPWS patents. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge granted Universal's and Sandel's motions for summary judgment regarding the firms' non-infringement on Honeywell's EGPWS patents on the eve of the trial, which had been set to begin Oct. 31.
The White House intends to nominate TSA head Adm. James Loy as deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department, but has not announced a replacement for him at the TSA. Well regarded by both legislators and industry figures, Loy will fill the position vacated by Gordon England, who left HSD to become Navy secretary. Loy will be acting deputy secretary until he is confirmed.
3M Aerospace has introduced its new paint preparation system, which features a unique, closed paint delivery method with easy cleanup. The paint is mixed in a liner, which is connected to a direct filter and mounted to a spray gun and an adapter. As the paint is dispensed, the liner collapses, allowing the user to spray at any angle. On completion, the liner vacuum pressure is discharged, allowing the liner to be discarded and leaving only the spray gun and adapter to be cleaned.
Environmental Tectonics Corp. (ETC), maker of the GAT II general aviation trainer and high-g centrifuges, is considering adapting its GL-1500 spatial disorientation system to deliver upset recovery training to business jet and airline pilots. The GL-1500 is able to generate and sustain accurate g-loads through ``G-Pointing,'' a technology developed with the U.S. Air Force. Donald W. Baggett, head of ETC's Upset Domain Training Institute, says that current civilian upset training falls short of real world requirements, especially in the area of crew coordination.
Jerry M. Mullins is Enstrom Helicopter's new president and CEO, the company announced. Mullins was president and CEO of Heli-Dyne Systems Inc., Hurst, Texas. He succeeds Peter Parsinen, who had been heading the company on an interim basis during its search for a long-term successor. Enstrom manufactures the three-place, piston-powered F28F and 280FX; and the turbine-powered 480B, available in five- and three-place configurations, as well as the Guardian, a law enforcement aircraft.
Rockwell Collins' Pro Line 21 avionics system is now standard for Raytheon King Air 350 and B200 aircraft. The package includes three Collins liquid crystal displays, the FMS-3000 and GPS-4000A for flight planning and radio and satellite nav. Collins TCAS-II and the Integrated Flight Information System (IFIS) will be available as options for the Pro Line 21 system.
In the latter part of World War II, Allen David Ellies found himself on a steaming Pacific island assigned to a B-29, the bomber that was destined to bring Imperial Japan to its knees. In order for that to occur, however, the Super-fort crews needed the wherewithal to combat the heat and the isolation. And so they appointed Ellies, a navigator with resourcefulness, cheerfulness and focus in equal measure, to be their squadron ``liquor officer.'' So charged, he made runs to whichever island had a high-proof stash, and brought the bottles home. We won the war.
BizJet International, a Lufthansa Technik Service Co., has been granted an STC by the FAA for its Learjet 20 series RVSM installation. The system modification includes an IS&S digital air data computer, an autopilot interface unit and Rosemount probes. BizJet said it has the capability of handling four to six RVSM installs per month out of its Tulsa facility and the turnaround time is 14 days. In addition, the company said if the facility becomes too backed up with work, it would consider selling the STC installations to BizJet-approved facilities.
Harold A. Coghlan, owner of Magic Express Airlines, Inc., an air charter company based in Birmingham, Ala., received the 2003 Safety Officer of the Year award from the Southeast Region of Civil Air Patrol. Coghlan, a lieutenant colonel, serves as director of safety for the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol, Alabama Wing, into which he has incorporated many corporate aviation safety practices.
The Boeing Co. has created a top-level ethics office to monitor the company's business practices, financials and export compliance, among other things. The Office of Internal Governance consolidates internal monitoring functions -- previously performed by different organizations within the company -- under a single unit that reports directly to Boeing Chairman and CEO Phil Condit. Boeing Senior Vice President Bonnie W. Soodik, currently president of the company's Shared Services unit, will head the office.
For those who think the skies are crowded today, just wait. The emerging class of light and super-light, single-pilot turbofan aircraft could almost double the size of the business jet fleet during the next 10 years, according to several industry sources. The latest Honeywell Aerospace market forecast, for example, predicts that at least 9,500 light and super-light jets will enter the fleet by 2013. Adam Aircraft, ATG Javelin, Avocet, Cessna Aircraft, Diamond, Eclipse Aviation and Safire, among others, plan to introduce new single-pilot jet models.
David M. Tait, OBE CEO, Avocet Aircraft, Westport, Conn. A native Scot, Tait jokes that he got into the aviation business ``by mistake,'' and has remained for three decades. He helped launch Sir Freddie Laker's transatlantic Skytrain service, and then guided Sir Richard Branson in creating and building Virgin Atlantic. For his service, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Tait, now an American citizen, the Order of the British Empire in 2001. The following year he took charge of Avocet. 1 Eclipse, Mustang, Safire and Adam all have a long head start.
Fractional provider CitationShares says it can no longer be regarded as a regional operation. In fact, leaders of the Cessna/TAG Aviation joint venture noted recently that its aircraft have been operating throughout North America for the past year, including in lower Canada, and Mexico, as well as flying to Bermuda and Caribbean islands. The company is headquartered in Greenwich, Conn., and began operations concentrated along the Eastern seaboard, but now its sales efforts have expanded to include customers in the Rocky Mountain and West Coast states.
