Business & Commercial Aviation

Edited by Gordon GilbertS.M.G.
KF Aviation, a Burbank, California-based tour operator, recently launched a helicopter sightseeing tour of the Los Angeles area. The ``Angels' Eye View'' tour, located at the Hollywood/Burbank Airport, operates 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and highlights attractions such as Griffith Park, Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood sign and celebrity homes in Beverly Hills.

Staff
While regional aircraft lead the way in active noise canceling, business aircraft might soon catch up. Two systems for King Airs-one from Stevens Aviation of Greenville, South Carolina and the other from Elliott Aviation of Moline, Illinois-were slated for certification in August.

Staff
FAA has received over 5,000 comments on the proposed changes to FAR Part 67 medical standards requiring more-stringent physical exams for some pilots. At press time, release of the final revisions was imminent. Meanwhile, the FAA is preparing a rule that would exempt holders of Recreational Pilot Certificates from FAA medical exams, instead allowing them to self-certify, a privilege that already is extended to glider and hot-air-balloon pilots.

Staff
Aerospace Safety Technologies (AST) of Minden, Nevada filed suit against AlliedSignal in July, alleging patent infringement in the sale of an electro-thermal anti-ice system to Continental Airlines. AST claims AlliedSignal's Electro-Thermal Ice Protection System (ETIPS) violates an AST patent for ``Electrically Conductive Laminate for Temperature Control of Aircraft Surface.'' AlliedSignal said the suit is ``without merit'' and that the company will ``defend itself vigorously.''

Staff
A U.S. Customs clearance office opened September 1 in the executive terminal building at Jeffco Airport in Broomfield, Colorado. Dave Gordon, airport manager, says the office will be staffed by a full-time agent Monday through Friday, from 0800 to 1700. Operators using the service will be charged a fee based on aircraft weight. Clearances also will be available after hours on a call-out basis with prior notification and an additional fee.

Staff
Fenwal's Portable Protection System (PPS), weighing in at 10 pounds and measuring 12 inches by nine inches by five inches, can be ``set up and armed in seconds'' to detect intrusions into the aircraft. To arm the PPS, the pilot places the anodized aluminum case on a level surface inside the aircraft and activates the sensor. An alarm sounds at every intrusion, and the unit notes the time of trespass. An internal battery powers the system, eliminating the need for wiring. The PPS unit is easily transferable from aircraft to aircraft. Price: $3,950.

Staff
The de Havilland Dash 8Q represents a new type of active noise control. Rather than mitigating noise with anti-noise, the system uses active, tuned vibration absorbers (TVAs) to ``stiffen'' the fuselage structure as propeller blades sweep by, thereby eliminating some of the vibration that normally is the source of noise.

Edited by Gordon GilbertG.C.
Piedmont Aviation Services, Incorporated recently signed an agreement to manage an FBO at Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU). The former Aviation Services Group, now carrying Piedmont's title, is a full-service general aviation FBO with Piedmont managers on site. This latest arrangement, in addition to Piedmont's other full-service facilities, brings the company's fleet of FBOs to six.

Staff
Total deliveries of new U.S.-built GA airplanes in the first half of 1995 were up 12.1 percent compared to the first half of 1994, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). In the first half, deliveries compared to those of a year earlier (in parentheses) were: jets-105 (101), turboprops-107 (84) and recips-243 (221). GAMA officials said, ``As we reach the one year anniversary of the signing of the GA Revitalization Act, both the shipments and billings for this year to date show encouraging signs of recovery....''

Staff
A federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama dismissed a $25-million product-liability lawsuit brought by the estate of race-car driver Davey Allison against McDonnell Douglas Helicopter. Allison died from injuries sustained in the crash of an MD 500 he piloted on July 12, 1993. The judge said Allison would have survived had he been wearing a shoulder harness. (The aircraft was originally equipped with shoulder harnesses, but evidence showed the harnesses had later been removed.)

Edited by Gordon GilbertG.C.
In an attempt to promote future cooperative efforts in aviation between the United States and the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.), Vice President Al Gore signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that primarily goads both parties to ``take measures to strengthen cooperation on civil aircraft certification.'' The memorandum is the prelude to a bilateral airworthiness agreement (BAA) to standardize certification procedures between the two governments.

Staff
United Airlines is testing a NASA-developed cockpit weather display that gives pilots real-time radar summaries and lightning maps. The weather data, supplied by WSI Incorporated and GeoMet Data Services, are transmitted to Comsat Aeronautical Services every 15 minutes. Aircraft receive the data via a satcom high-speed datalink network, where it is displayed on a color, active-matrix cockpit display. In earlier simulations, pilots using the system were able to remain an average of 39 nm from convective cells, compared to 13.2 nm using airborne weather radar.

Staff
Duncan Aviation's new ``PowerTurn'' service program for light and medium jets aims to keep maintenance downtimes to a minimum, and then guarantees that those downtimes will not be exceeded. Officials of the Lincoln, Nebraska company claim that the program, to date, has resulted in reducing downtimes as much as 20 percent, and ``in some cases more.'' Should the downtime exceed the agreed-to guarantee period, Duncan will rebate the customer a certain, predetermined dollar amount for each day the downtime overruns the contracted guarantee.

Staff
According to the DOT, Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) does not meet international security measures, and, therefore, it has taken steps to ensure that aircraft operators and passengers are alerted to this fact. U.S. airlines are required to warn passengers of the DOT's determination, even though the DOT did not say that aircraft operations at NAIA are necessarily unsafe. The Philippine government says a ``serious effort'' is under way to correct the deficiencies.

Staff
White Plains, New York's Westchester County Airport, one of the busiest U.S. corporate aircraft facilities, did not benefit from millions of dollars in revenues it generated, claims the DOT Office of the Inspector General (IG). From 1990 through 1993, concluded the IG, about $24 million in airport revenue was diverted to the county's general fund for non-airport-related purposes.

R.B.P.; Edited by Gordon A. Gilbert
Results of an independently conducted late spring survey of NBAA members provide a statistical showcase of the operating, maintenance and training activity of the U.S. business aviation industry. The survey, which obtained information in more than 50 primary subject areas, was conducted in June by Association Research Incorporated of Washington, D.C. Mailed to 1,017 flight departments operating 2,201 aircraft, the survey drew an impressive response rate of 42.4 percent: 637 respondents.

Arnold Lewis
Embraer of Brazil is one of a number of international partners to join in a risk-sharing partnership on the new 22-passenger Sikorsky S-92 Helibus multi-role helicopter. First flight of the aircraft is scheduled for early 1998, with certification following two years later. Sikorsky believes there is a market for 5,000 S-92s through 2019-with 55 to 60 percent projected for military customers. Embraer will be responsible for a four-percent share of the projected $600-million program, including fuel system and sponsons.

Gordon A. Gilbert
The top two executives of Satellite Aero, an FBO at Wyoming's Jackson Hole Airport, signed an agreement in early June to purchase Western Aircraft, an FBO at Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho that is one of several divisions that financially troubled Morrison Knudsen Corporation has put up for sale. Besides providing line and maintenance services, Western Aircraft is an installation center for Saunders spar straps and Aviadesign hydraulic landing gear for Beech King Airs.

Gordon A. Gilbert
Amendments have been adopted that correlate certain FAR Part 25 large-aircraft airworthiness certification standards with similar standards in Europe's Joint Airworthiness Requirements (JAR Part 25). To provide guidelines for complying with the changes, the agency also revised AC 25-7, ``Flight Test Guide for Certification of Transport Category Airplanes.'' A similar set of FAR/JAR changes for smaller airplanes is in the proposal stage (B/CA, September 1994, page 15).

Staff
When you're considering an upgrade of your flight department management software, you'll hear many claims about competing products. Yet the top five or six management vendors evolved remarkably similar products even before they introduced graphical Windows, Mac and OS/2 editions of them. This resemblance is driven by the similar scheduling, tracking and reporting functions of most flight departments.

L.M.; Edited by Gordon A. Gilbert
It's like anything else. When you feel prepared, you're less likely to break out into a cold sweat, and you're likely to perform far better.

Linda L. Martin
MovinCool is not only the name of this product, but also describes the way to use it. Just roll it whenever or wherever needed, and Nippodenso's portable air-conditioning unit will provide refrigerated air with no installation required. Choose from eight models offering per-hour cooling capacity from 10,000 BTUs ($2,600) to 60,000 BTUs ($8,600). Extension ducts enable the air to be directed to ground crews, cabin or cockpit. Nippodenso of Los Angeles, 3900 Via Oro Ave., Long Beach, CA 90810. (310) 834-6352.

Gordon A. Gilbert
Collins Avionics and France's Dassault Electronique signed a memorandum of agreement to jointly develop a line of ground collision avoidance systems (GCAS). The two companies are considering: an integrated GCAS and traffic alert collision avoidance system (TCAS), GCAS with an integral global navigation satellite system sensor, and a stand-alone GCAS. A prototype GCAS is scheduled to begin flight-testing late this year. Certification is expected in early 1997.

ROBERT SEARLES
August marks the 50th anniversary of a controversial flight that not only was a milestone in aviation chronology, but also a dramatic event that irrevocably changed the course of history. Soon after the Boeing B-29 Superfortress named Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, killing nearly half of the city's 300,000 people, it became apparent that aerial warfare-indeed, the world-would never be the same.

Staff
The Astra SPX has one of the most versatile and capable avionics suites ever installed in a business airplane. All too often, system sophistication can overwhelm the pilot with myriad functions and arcane operating controls. Breathe easy. The Astra SPX's Pro Line 4 avionics, in our opinion, is one of the most intuitive layouts we've yet seen. This is Pro Line 4 at its best.