One of the important roles for any editor-in-chief to assume is serving as a facilitator for the editorial team, providing writers with the tools and encouragement they need to go after the tough or unusual story, and to grow within their careers. When Washington Editor Kerry Lynch suggested doing a feature on, well, nothing, I was intrigued since that would indeed be a challenge for even a top-flight reporter, and she is that. Specifically what she had in mind was walking the ramps, rooms and hangars of Signature's Ronald Reagan Washington National facility.
Wulfsberg Electronics and Chelton Avionics are now offering a new space-saving, panel-mounted navigation, communications and identification controller interchangeable with Bendix, AlliedSignal and Chelton Series III control displays. The FliteLine combined nav/comm control and display unit occupies half the space of earlier units, ideal for RVSM compliance. The controller features bright, full-color displays. Since the installation does not require new wiring, installation time is minimal.
Honeywell is offering its ``Astreon'' series of high-performance LED wing-tip position lights specifically designed for business jets. The modular design of the lights allows form-fit retrofit in a number of business aircraft including the Gulfstream IV and GV, Citation X, Learjet 31 and Learjet 60. The lights will be FAA approved under a new TSO that Honeywell has applied for and the G550 will be the first aircraft that will flight test and evaluate the lights.
The major components for the prototype Warrior (Aero Marine) Centaur six-seat amphibian have arrived at the company's Sanford, Maine, assembly and flight test center. Although the aircraft is designed in Salisbury, United Kingdom, parts are manufactured by a subcontractor in Richmond, Maine. The Centaur's first flight is scheduled for second quarter 2004 and production aircraft are currently priced at around $535,000, VFR equipped. The powerplant is a single 350-hp Textron Lycoming TIO-540, but a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6-powered version may be offered.
Usually Cause & Circumstance looks for lessons in the aftermath of tragedy -- cases in which lives are lost and aircraft destroyed. This month, under somewhat happier circumstances, we'll see what lessons the investigators drew from a scary mishap involving an Airtours International Boeing 757 crew that pushed the limits on a non-precision approach to an airport in the Dominican Republic. The accident occurred on New Year's Day 1998 as the charter flight from Bangor, Maine, arrived at Puerto Plata Airfield.
For many of the technicians who have done so, taking on the top maintenance position in a flight department was analogous to being thrown to the wolves -- with a pork chop hanging around their necks. They discovered that if one is not prepared to take command, the result can be departmental frustration, resentment and even chaos. Take for example the following case study. Bill was a senior technician in a four-aircraft flight department located in central New York. One summer morning, he was asked by the director of flight operations to come in a little early.
A BAE Systems real-time operating system (RTOS) has been selected for use on the fly-by-wire flight control system on the Sikorsky S-92 medium-lift helicopter and its military derivative, the H-92 Superhawk. The fly-by-wire flight system, which governs the operation of the main- and tail-rotor control surfaces, will consist of flight control computers, pilot control sticks, and sensors for processing aircraft pitch, roll and yaw data.
Jet Aviation West Palm Beach recently completed the first installation of a Max-Viz EVS-1000 enhanced vision system into a Dassault Falcon 50EX. Max-Viz systems use infrared technology to view runways, taxiways and terrain as well as potential obstacles on the ground or in flight. Jet Aviation mounted the IR sensor on the Falcon's vertical fin. The images are displayed on a small LCD monitor in the cockpit.
Flight data recorders (FDR) may be coming to super-light jets, if some safety advocates have their way. While no one cared to comment on the record, several sources told B/CA that the only way to ensure that certain single pilots will toe the line with respect to rules compliance is to mandate FDRs in their aircraft. The FDR not only would record several performance and environmental parameters, it also would automatically uplink the data to a central monitoring station -- in essence serving as a tattletale to Big Brother.
Burt Rutan + Steve Fossett + Sir Richard Branson = around the world in 80 hours. Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways announced Oct. 23 that it has commissioned Rutan to build a single-pilot, single-engine turbofan aircraft designed for nonstop global circumnavigation. The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer will be powered by a Williams engine (naturally) and flown by Fossett as lead pilot with Branson, a record-setting balloon pilot, as ``first reserve'' pilot. Both Fossett and Branson are multiple world record holders.
Boeing Air Traffic Management and the FAA recently completed a test series over the Gulf of Mexico to demonstrate precision surveillance and control of an airplane by satellite. The Boeing/FAA team demonstrated two-way controller-pilot digital voice communications and data transmissions; automatic dependent surveillance; and an uninterrupted transition between radar and offshore/oceanic air traffic domains, all via satellite link.
Mercury Air Group (MAG) has struck a deal to sell its 18 FBOs to Allied Capital Corp. of Washington, D.C. MAG will focus on growing its three remaining and profitable businesses -- MercFuel, Air Cargo and Government Contracting Services (Maytag Aviation). The Los Angeles-based company was facing an end-of-the-year deadline to pay off a $24 million senior subordinated 12-percent note held by the J.H. Whitney Co. Mezzanine Fund.
Savi Technology's Savi 602 system, a dual-frequency tracking and asset management device based on the company's EchoPoint Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) platform, has earned its STC from the FAA. Savi is the first to receive FAA certification for RFID technology, which transmits data over radio frequency waves. Tracking systems based on RFID technology can be used to locate just about anything, including meal carts and removable flight equipment, as well as tugs, GPUs and other ramp equipment that often gets misplaced or borrowed.
Two Bombardier Aerospace CRJ700s became the first 70-seat RJs in the Asia/Pacific region when delivered to Shandong Airlines of the People's Republic of China in October. Shandong currently operates 10 50-passenger CRJ200s.
Keith Products, Addison, Texas, won STC approval from the FAA for a vapor cycle air-conditioning system for the Cirrus SR22. The 12,500 BTU system, developed in conjunction with Cirrus, has an installed weight of 68 pounds and features an integrated cabin ventilation system and multi-speed evaporator blower unit. A pneumatic control valve allows the pilot to adjust the mix of ambient and conditioned air. For more information, contact Cirrus at (218) 788-3900.
London Biggin Hill, England, appointed Stephan Koss as senior vice president and general manager of Jet Aviation London Biggin Hill. Koss, who has 20 years of experience in the aviation industry, joined Jet Aviation Basel in 2001 as a maintenance sales engineer.
Rolls-Royce is celebrating 50 years of production for the T56 engine this month. The turboprop engine, which can produce between 3,250 and 5,800 shaft hp, has accumulated 180 million operating hours and is in service on C-130 Hercules, C-2A Greyhound, E-2C Hawkeye and P-3 Orion aircraft. Rolls-Royce has produced more than 16,500 of the engines to date and the company said that production could continue through 2015.
When you added a King Air B200C to the fleet a few years back, one of the first things your maintenance crew did was to ensure the aircraft is fully compliant with all applicable Airworthiness Directives (ADs). As it turned out, they discovered AD 87-22-01R1, a recurring inspection of the nose-gear fork assembly, was coming due. A related Service Bulletin recommended the inspection be made using fluorescent penetrant liquid. So, you ordered a Zyglo kit with a black light and your crew performed the inspection, which revealed no cracks.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) contacted leaders of aviation trade associations last week asking them to get in touch with their members in support of winning Senate passage of the FAA reauthorization bill. Mica told the organizations that the Bush Administration ``has stated in writing that it will not privatize the ATC system,'' and pointed out that of the 219 contract towers, 116 were privatized during the Clinton Administration. Those 219 contract towers account for 45 percent of the nation's total of 484, he said.
Four, 14-inch flat-panel displays dominate the G450's instrument panel, providing a wealth of easy-to-use information to the crew. PlaneView is one of the best implementations of Honeywell Primus Epic we've yet seen and it's highly intuitive, especially for pilots with previous SPZ-8000-series Gulfstream cockpit experience who are making the upgrade. The outboard display screens may be configured with an edge-to-edge PFD attitude indicator that's the largest we've seen in a civil aircraft.
Englewood, Colo., recently named George DeClue as Northeast U.S. account executive for the business and general aviation division. Based near White Plains, N.Y., DeClue will be responsible for all business aviation sales in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Eastern Canada. He brings over 16 years of aviation and computer technology sales and management experience to his new position.
Midcoast Aviation received an FAA STC for installation of dual Honeywell MCS-6000+SATCOM systems on Gulfstream V aircraft to provide worldwide cabin telecommunications via Inmarsat.
Considering how instrumental Fred McIntosh was in making the NBAA a key policy player inside the Washington Beltway, it's sad to consider that many current members of the organization probably have little or no direct knowledge of his work at the NBAA. That's why it was so appropriate the board made Fred the second recipient of the NBAA Staff Lifetime Achievement Award at the convention in October. Fred joined the NBAA in early 1964, about a year and a half after he left the U.S.
In keeping with an NTSB recommendation for ``a ground movement safety system that will prevent runway incursions'' by warning flight crews directly, the FAA has issued a contract to Optimus Corp. and its partner, Veracity Engineering, to evaluate and analyze existing and emerging runway safety technologies that could enhance pilot and controller situational awareness.
