DOT Secretary Norman Mineta named six new members to the FAA's Management Advisory Council (MAC). The MAC advises FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and other senior agency officials on matters of management, policy, spending and regulations. Members are volunteers who retain their private sector positions. The new members are: Angela Gittens, director of the Miami, Fla., International Airport; Alan R. Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue Airways; Robert L. Crandall, retired CEO of American Airlines; Paul E.
Jet Partners' UltraJet division ordered 100 Avocet ProJets. UltraJet is the private jet club membership arm of Jet Partners. The ProJet is a new 6- to 8-place, twin turbojet developed specifically for the air taxi and charter business, officials say. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in January 2007.
Aviation Research Group/U.S. has launched its Safety Officer Support Program (ASOS), which provides an Internet-enabled solution for operators that need to set up and run a fully functional flight safety program. ASOS offers business aircraft operators safety materials and articles for distribution to crews, maintenance personnel and management. Members receive progressive, monthly audit checklists, procedures, research briefs, event tracking and industry benchmarking of enforcement actions, accidents and incidents.
AvantAir (formerly Skyline Aviation) has exercised its last two Avanti options, bringing the fractional operator's Piaggio P-180 Avanti fleet to 12. This order extends Piaggio's order backlog for the Avanti into 2006. Piaggio America announced at the NBAA convention that the AvantAir order is the second major transaction between the companies in the past 13 months.
Stevens Aviation Dayton has two new STCs, covering the installation of a Honeywell MK VI Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) and a Honeywell CAS-67 Traffic Collision Avoidance System II in King Air 200s and B200s. The EGPWS uses GPS and a terrain database to give pilots a clear picture of terrain or obstacles ahead of and below the aircraft that may pose a collision threat. The TCAS-II displays air traffic information and conflict advisories.
Taking a cue from Marquis Jet Card, CitationShares has introduced ``Vector,'' its own jet card program. Vector is aimed at the ``concept customer'' who has no aviation background and no interest in the complexities of aircraft ownership and operations. The Vector card provides 25 hours of prepaid flight time operated under FAR Part 135. The card will carry the same benefits and access to the CitationShares fleet as fractional shares without the ownership details.
BAe Systems Regional Aircraft has delivered a Jetstream 32, s.n. 835, to Rompetrol Logistics SA of Bucharest, Romania, for its newly created flight division. The aircraft has been reconfigured from a 19-seat airliner interior into a 12-seat corporate layout and will be used as an executive shuttle for Rompetrol Logistics and for local charter services.
The FAA approved Horizon Air Bombardier Q400s equipped with Rockwell Collins' Flight Dynamics HGS-4200 head up guidance systems to make single-engine approaches to CAT III airports with ceilings as low as 200 feet and 1,800 feet RVR. Steve Bush, Q400 technical pilot at Horizon Air, commented, ``This is a great advantage in selecting more desirable alternate airports, simplifying fuel planning and increasing payload capability when many of our destinations have low visibility.
Operators of Williams International/Rolls-Royce FJ44 turbofans can now use Jet-Care International's engine performance monitoring program, which officials say can improve long-term efficiency and maintenance management of the engines. The FJ44, whose thrust ratings range from 1,900 pounds to 2,400 pounds, provides power for a variety of business aircraft, including Cessna's Citation CJ1 and CJ2, the Raytheon Premier I and the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2. There are now approximately 1,200 Williams-Rolls engines flying in the corporate fleet.
-- Keep safety a priority, even when schedules are tight. -- When available, fly an instrument approach rather than a visual, especially for a night arrival. Doing so improves instrument proficiency (especially for non-precision approaches) and heightens safety. -- When making a VFR approach, abide by the IFR circling minimums and procedures. -- When possible, choose a straight-in instrument approach rather than a circling maneuver.
Nice Truck! There's no mistaking Avitat Westchester's mobile commissary with its eye-catching graphics when it rolls up to restock aircraft galleys on Avitat's HPN ramp with everything from ``diet root beer to miniature Tabasco bottles.'' Special Services Director Todd Dolphin says Avitat aims to provide complete one-stop shopping for hungry crews and passengers, asserting, ``We've got everything,'' in the truck's 200-plus item inventory, ranging from catering to newspapers to toiletries.
The DOT has released its five-year strategic plan. Among its safety goals is reducing fatal commercial accidents to 0.01 per 100,000 departures by 2008. The plan emphasizes operational errors and runway incursions, noting that the DOT Office of Inspector General believes the FAA should improve its efforts in these areas. Another goal is to develop a three-year plan for operational error prevention, and a National Runway Safety Plan.
ElectronicFlight Solutions, Inc. has released its latest Windows-based training module for general aviation autopilot systems. The CD-ROM software now covers the operation of the Bendix/King KAP140, KFC225 and the S-TEC 55/55X. The theory, function, operation and procedures also encompass the Bendix/King KFC150/200/250 autopilots as well as the entire line of S-TEC general aviation autopilots. As an integral part of the software program, the package comes with access to KEFS -- ElectronicFlight Solutions CompleteLearning Airpark.
Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. (ASA) has introduced a line of International Pilot Logbooks, which comply with both FAA and ICAO/JAA record-keeping requirements. Two sizes of the international logbooks are available. The Master Log is designed for professional aviators or those who fly frequently. There are columns on each page for date, aircraft, departure and arrival airports, aircraft category, operational conditions and pilot function. The standard pilot log is a more compact version of the Master Log, with most of the same tools.
When Linden Blue, then president of Beech Aircraft, announced the coming of the Starship at the 1983 NBAA Convention in Dallas, the radical canard-configured airplane took the aviation industry by storm. And why not? Designed by Burt Rutan, of ``Voyager'' fame, the Starship looked like a harbinger of the next millennium, and Blue promised it would establish a new paradigm for business aircraft: a turboprop that would run with the big dogs, exhibiting ``jet-like performance'' while burning 40-percent less fuel.
Blue Sky Network of La Jolla, Calif., has STC approval for its Iridium satellite-based fixed installation C1000 voice and data terminal for aircraft. At the same time, the company announced its D1000 terminal for GPS-based position reporting and tracking through its SkyRouter packet data network. Users can log onto SykRouter.com and instantly track their D1000-equipped aircraft, and exchange e-mail and text messages. The D1000 is designed for fixed installation or full portability.
The DOT strategic plan calls for the FAA to adjust its Operational Evolution Plan, already released in draft form. The department wants the FAA to address the uncertainty of airlines' ability to pay for new technologies and to balance its use of airport improvement program grants and passenger facility charges to ensure adequate capacity and security. The DOT set a number of milestones for the FAA in cost and performance management, including completing the introduction of the cost accounting system.
Sabreliner Corp. has promoted Gina Bey to manager, special projects, and has relocated her to the company's Perryville, Mo., operation. Bey's specific duties will include management representative/ team leader for ISO/AS implementation, government and commercial proposal development and engine-related support for the Sabreliner fleet.
AirTracks is TEAC's new inflight moving map software, featuring two- and three-dimensional topographical route maps, and unique simulated views of the aircraft during takeoff, landing and even from the cockpit. Detailed images of the planned route taken by satellite can be acquired with resolutions up to 1 meter per pixel. AirTracks allows operators to tailor how the information is displayed, and because it is software based, it can be ported onto existing inflight servers or used on TEAC's Map File Server.
THE NTSB IS MAKING another attempt to get the FAA to discard its Big Chief yellow tablet and orange crayon mentality and come up with a way to measure industry flight activity on a near-real-time basis so that accurate safety assessments can be made.
Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Wichita, selected Pete Reynolds to represent general aviation at its 47th Symposium in Los Angeles, which took place in September. Reynolds was chosen for his role as project test pilot for the Learjet 28,and his more than three decades of jet flight-test experience, starting with the Learjet in 1973. He recently retired from his leadership of the Bombardier Flight Test Center and formed PTR Aero, a flight-test consulting company.
Choosing an on-demand air transportation system for your company and making it work is the main theme in John Sheehan's new book, Business and Corporate Aviation Management. Getting started in this complex technical field can prove a bewildering experience for the uninitiated. Once begun, managing an on-demand air transportation operation requires skill and knowledge to continue it successfully.
