The Corporate Angel Network reported that despite the tough economic times, corporate aircraft operators carried a record number of young cancer patients and family members to and from treatment centers in 2002. The 1,588 cancer patients carried on corporate aircraft, an average of 132 patients per month, was a 47-percent increase over 2001's numbers. A total of 500 U.S. corporations are members of the White Plains, N.Y.-based charity network. For more information, call (914) 328-1313 or go to www.corpangelnetwork.org.
The VanAllen Group, Inc., McDonough, Ga., a business aviation management consulting firm, has hired Robert Knebel as a senior consultant and Jeff Agur as director of business operations.
One of the paradoxes implicit in contemporary aviation is the mixture of cutting-edge and antediluvian technology that combines to make routine high-speed transoceanic flight possible. While we careen along in our state-of-the-art jets at 80 percent the speed of sound in non-radar airspace, oceanic air traffic controllers, relying on position reports conveyed over scratchy HF radios, continue to track us on little slips of paper -- just as they did 60 years ago.
Goodrich is selling its avionics unit to L-3 Communications for $188 million to help repay the $1.5 billion bridge loan it used to purchase TRW's Aeronautical Systems business in 2002. Avionics Systems had approximately $100 million in sales in 2002 and produces avionics for general aviation, business jet and military aircraft. The acquisition raises a number of questions in the area of possibly conflicting TCAS and TAWS products and programs, and left the fate of Rosemont, previously acquired by Goodrich, unclear.
FIRST, LET ME EXPLAIN my perceptions of the difference between a corporate pilot and a business pilot. A business pilot may be a businessman pilot who flies a single-plane operation such as a King Air or a double-breasted Cessna. In either case, the pilot has all the workload because no one else will do it. Weather, maintenance, fuel supply for the trip, groceries, en route refreshments, flight plan, ground transport if necessary. He or she can spot problems and correct them or make arrangements to have them corrected without grounding the aircraft.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp., White Plains, N.Y., has appointed Thomas D. Grunbeck to the position of vice president, sales and marketing. Grunbeck has a professional background in business development and aerodynamic design.
GAMA and AOPA executives hoped to educate Washington, D.C., insiders about the real world of general aviation security during a recent roundtable discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The discussion was a follow-up to last fall's Silent Vector exercise to explore possible U.S. reactions to a terrorist threat involving general aviation and energy sources; participants ended up grounding all general aviation aircraft on the East Coast.
The Helicopter Association International awarded Richard C. Kirkland, author and pilot, its 2002 Excellence in Communications Award at the recent Dallas Heli Expo. The HAI stated that ``through a lifetime of flying, storytelling and communicating with the media, Richard Kirkland has greatly contributed to the promotion of the helicopter as a safe, efficient and world-changing tool in society.''
Flight Explorer and CTA announced they have integrated two of their software products -- Flight Explorer Professional and FOS/NT (Flight Operations System for Windows NT/2000/XP). CTA's FOS/NT is a flight operations management and support system. FOS/NT's live electronic schedule board can replace ``the board on the wall,'' and its color-coded timeline gives a graphical view of aircraft and crew utilization and availability. Flight Explorer Professional updates aircraft positions every minute and refreshes screen views every 10 seconds.
Pro Star Aviation, Londonderry, N.H., has added Bob Gould to its sales staff. Gould, who has over 20 years of experience in aircraft marketing, will market maintenance sales.
Eclipse 500 customers recently were told they could have their deposit money back if they request the refund by March 7. Eclipse told its customers the company will be unable to meet timing or price guarantees in their current contract since it decided to change the engine. The new price for existing customers is $950,000 or $975,000, depending on when an order was signed. New buyers will pay $1.15 million.
The electronic situation display generated by CNS/ATM computers from ADS returns provides oceanic and remote-area controllers with their first virtual picture of aircraft operating outside of radar coverage. Here, in layperson's terms, is how it works. The ADS equipment in the aircraft logs on to the ground-based system via satcom, and the two ``agree'' on a reporting rate, say, every 15 minutes. According to the FAA's Roberta Leftwich, the interval can be driven by the separation standard.
There is a distinction between the satcom-based data link technology that has been used in oceanic and remote-area airspace since the 1990s and domestic U.S. controller/pilot data link communications (CPDLC) trials currently under way at Miami Center. The Miami experiment, a cooperative venture between the FAA and American Airlines that began in October 2002, is notable in that it represents one of the first steps toward development of a second-generation, high-capacity aviation data link, termed the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN).
DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead has called on the FAA to put the brakes on its budget, which grew from $9 billion in fiscal 1998 to $14 billion in 2003 -- a 64-percent increase in five years. The increases stem largely from higher operating costs, with payroll rising 41 percent in six years. That cost growth is unsustainable, said Mead, because it takes ever larger amounts from the general fund to make up the shortfall in Aviation Trust Fund revenue. Mead said he would like to see the FAA gradually halve its general fund withdrawals to about $2 billion.
President Bush plans to appoint Ellen G. Engleman, the administrator of the DOT's Research and Special Programs Administration, to chair the NTSB. A White House announcement said Engleman would be appointed for the remainder of a five-year term expiring Dec. 31, 2007, and said she also would be nominated for a two-year term as chairman of the agency. If formally nominated and confirmed, Engleman would take the NTSB seat currently held by longtime agency veteran John Hammerschmidt, who is now serving as acting chairman.
The General Aviation Coalition (GAC) led the group's first official meeting with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, her senior staff and advisors on January 21 in Washington, D.C., to discuss issues concerning general aviation such as security, airport access and funding, impending reauthorization legislation and certification. The coalition represents 16 general aviation organizations and usually meets with the FAA administrator twice a year.
The TSA is working with the NBAA and FAR Part 91 operators at Teterboro Airport, N.J. (TEB) to develop a security plan that would permit operators that meet specific training and operating standards to be exempt from certain security restrictions. The TSA wants to oversee the final development of a training protocol, initially proposed by the NBAA, that operators could complete to obtain a TSA Access Certificate (TSAAC).
Boeing has won a contract for three high-security aircraft for use by top Indian officials, including the president, prime minister and deputy prime minister. An official with India's interior ministry told Aerospace Daily India is buying three modified Boeing 737-700s for $154 million. The aircraft will be equipped with U.S. weapons and protective systems, a defense ministry official said, although he would not go into details. They also will feature showers, conference rooms and presentation facilities.
Heli-Dyne Systems transformed a Bell 430 executive helicopter into an air medical transport in 21 days. Heli-Dyne's Michael McCurley said a project of this magnitude would ordinarily take five to six weeks to complete. The fast-paced project was taken on to enable the customer to make the helicopter operational on a committed date. He credited the fast makeover to the use of a Heli-Dyne Modular Emergency Medical System (MEMS), a self-contained unit.
In May, the FAA will begin redesigning high-altitude airspace controlled by seven ARTCCs in the Northwest. The agency plans to publish a new, complex grid of waypoints in October, which will enable appropriately equipped aircraft to routinely file and fly point-to-point routes. All aircraft are supposed to benefit from the changes, but those equipped with Required Navigational Performance-capable flight management systems and RNAV will gain most. At first, the RNP redesign will be implemented at FL 390 and above.
Duane Woerth, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), noted that his union strongly supported most of the TSA's actions to increase aviation security, but ``this rule clearly crosses the line separating legitimate security measures from secretive, unaccountable government conduct.'' While the rule spells out in clear detail the process by which a certificate revocation would occur, Woerth said, there is absolutely no discussion of standards, procedures or criteria by which the TSA would make a determination that an individual is a ``security threat.'' The Pro
Honeywell Aerospace, Morris Township, N.J., has appointed William Birtcil as vice president of communications. Prior to joining Honeywell, Birtcil spent 12 years at The Pillsbury Co.
The FAA issued an emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) mandating revisions to the Bombardier CRJ700/701 Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) detailing new center fuel tank quantity limits. ``Discrepancies in the fuel distribution system, if not detected and corrected, could cause the center tank to overfill and fuel to leak from the center tank vent system or to become inaccessible, and could result in engine fuel starvation,'' the FAA said.
BAA plc, London, the international airport group, has appointed Mike Clasper chief executive to succeed the retiring Mike Hodgkinson. Clasper has been deputy chief executive of BAA since 2001.
Forecast International/DMS, Newtown, Conn., has named Douglas Nebinger as president. Nebinger had been serving as executive vice president of the company since 1992. In addition, Jonathan Watson has been appointed to the dual roles of director of sales & marketing and director of the Forecast Consulting business unit.
