Business & Commercial Aviation

By ROBERT A. SEARLES
Jim was making the single-pilot trip that was traditionally his corporation's final flight each week. He had flown the company turboprop into a midwestern airport to pick up the 55-year-old sales manager after that executive had finished dinner Friday evening with a major client. Now Jim and his passenger were heading back to base on the East Coast. The home airport was IMC, but no significant weather was forecast en route.

Staff
June 27 is the deadline for comments to the FAA on its far-reaching proposal to upgrade FAR Part 135 regional airline rules (B/CA, May, page 11). Under the provisions of the proposal, scheduled carriers using aircraft with 10 to 30 passenger seats would have to meet Part 121, the standards that now apply to scheduled operations in aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats. For further information, contact the FAA's Alberta Brown at (202) 267-8248.

Staff
Loral Corporation and the FAA have agreed on a contract that will allow the New York-based company to provide future workstations for air traffic controllers. The work-station project came to a virtual standstill last year when it was part of the long-troubled, and now largely-defunct, Advanced Automation System being developed by IBM's Federal Systems Company (B/CA, February 1994, page 28). The new workstations will be called the Display System Replacement (DSR).

Staff
In an effort to maintain closer contact with Learjet customers, the Learjet Advisory Panel has established an electronic bulletin board system (BBS). Panel members are representatives from manufacturers and FlightSafety International, operators and others. To access the system, users need a 386 or higher PC, a modem (set to N-8-1) and a communications program. After registering with the system's main menu at (915) 949-5517, users also will be given access to other areas in the system, including bulletins, libraries, message areas and e-mail.

Staff
Raytheon Aircraft is flight testing a higher performance version of the Hawker 800 that will be available this fall. The 800XP (Extended Performance) will be powered by two 4,660-pounds-thrust AlliedSignal TFE731-5BR engines, which enable a 14-knot gain in cruise speed, shorter field performance and longer range. Also, design weights have been increased, the interior enhanced, and various systems improved. The price, however, stays the same: $9.95 million.

Staff
FAA's recent approval of new, larger deicing boots for ATR aircraft did not negate several operating restrictions previously imposed on the twin-turboprop commuter. Installation of the boots is expected to be completed by June 1. A new AD ``will be issued as soon as possible that will address the operational and flightcrew procedures that are to be used in conjunction with the newly modified deicing boots,'' the FAA said.

R.B.P.
Although normally closed to corporate aircraft, Wake Air Force Base (PWAK) can accept aircraft in emergencies on a 24-hour basis. Emergency crews will be available, and VORTAC transmission will be turned on when emergency notification is received (Air Routing).

Staff
Barken International, a Utah-based maintenance, management and charter company, is one of the latest firms to introduce a fractional ownership program (B/CA, January, page 60). Called Interjets, the program offers buyers a 25-percent interest in Learjet 35s. Interjets is similar to other fractional ownership programs in that there is a monthly management fee, a discount rate for a minimum number of charter hours and a guarantee of aircraft availability. For more information, contact Interjets of Salt Lake City at (801) 539-7700.

Staff
Microfin Corporation of Providence, Rhode Island recently received European Joint Airworthiness Authority approval to perform maintenance on European-registered aircraft. The company specializes in metal-finishing services. JAA approval applies to aircraft registered in these European nations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Staff
Proposed noise abatement programs under FAR Part 150 have been submitted for approval to the FAA for San Diego's Lindbergh Field and Fort Worth Spinks Airport. An agency decision on both programs is expected in August. Under FAR Part 150, interested parties have the right to comment on the proposals. For more information, contact the district FAA airport or flight standards offices.

Staff
Piedmont Aviation Services recently relocated its Winston-Salem, North Carolina FBO to the company's remodeled corporate headquarters building. The new location offers a ``state-of-the-art'' weather and flight planning center, crew snooze rooms, a kitchen and vending area, and a passenger lounge three times the size of the previous one. Rental and courtesy cars still are available.

Staff
The future manufacturing site for Lycoming LTS 101 aircraft engines may not be the U.S Army-owned, AlliedSignal-operated plant in Stratford, Connecticut. The facility, which also builds Army tank engines, is on the Pentagon's military installation shutdown list. AlliedSignal, which purchased the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division in late 1994, has laid off hundreds of workers since then and disagrees with the closure decision. AlliedSignal said it wants to remain in Stratford as long as staying ``makes good business sense.''

Staff
Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) has successfully proven its new enlarged ATR-72 deice boots. The new boots extend farther back on the wing to prevent ice accretion atop the wing and forward of the ailerons. The boots, which nearly double the coverage of the original design, were developed following tests behind a KC-135 water tanker at Edwards Air Force Base, California in December 1994. Those tests were prompted by the fatal American Eagle ATR-72 crash on October 31 near Roselawn, Indiana.

Staff
The new Denver International Airport has received hundreds of complaints about aircraft noise, despite its mere three months in operation and its sparsely populated prairie surroundings. Part of the problem appears to be related to a local rule restricting westbound departures from Runway 25 to aircraft that meet Stage 3 noise levels. Another procedure puts aircraft in long straight-ins at relatively low altitude over residents of rural areas accustomed to low background noise levels and unaccustomed to numerous overflying aircraft.

Staff
Now available as a new Windows-based software upgrade is the Helicopter Association International's Maintenance Malfunction Information Report (MMIR) system. Version 2.0, developed under the auspices of an FAA-funded feasibility demonstration (B/CA, November 1994, page 30), allows users to send MMIR data to the HAI via modem. From the HAI, the data are transmitted to the FAA for inclusion in its Service Difficulty Report (SDR) program. The HAI is offering the program free of charge. Phone: (703) 683-4646.

Staff
Your scribe gets lotsa mail (and keep those cards and letters coming) from friends who enclose bits of info about aviation events which might have gone unnoticed. The latest, from the U.K., was a clipping from London noting that in a recent auction, a piece of the Red Baron Von Richtofen's Fokker aircraft received not one bid from the assemblage. It is only conjecture that the piece to be auctioned had a minimum bid price as a requisite to the auction, otherwise sumbuddy would have bid a quid or two.

Staff
FAA and Aeronautical Radio Incorporated (ARINC) have reduced the number of questions from the original questionnaire sent to operators using TCAS II with software upgrade version 6.04A. It's hoped that the shorter questionnaire will increase the response rate as to the effectiveness of 6.04A. Initial feedback shows it has been ``very positive'' in reducing the number of unnecessary RAs, said the FAA's TCAS Transition Program Office (TTP), but officials noted more input from operators is ``essential'' to an analysis of 6.04A performance.

Staff
NBAA's 1995 Business Aviation Fact Book contains an overview of the business aviation industry, including economic performance comparisons between companies that operate business aircraft and those that do not, the size and composition of the worldwide fleet of business aircraft, noise-level comparisons of business jets, fuel and safety statistics, flying activity, ATC and airport operations, aircraft sales and more. Single copies of the 36-page publication are available at no charge from the NBAA in Washington, D.C. Phone: (202) 783-9286.

Staff
FAA is proposing to require fuel system vent protection systems on transport- category aircraft used in commercial operations. The systems are intended to reduce the severity of post-crash fires. Comments are due June 2. Contact the FAA at (206) 227-2133. In a separate rulemaking proposal, comments are due June 5 on a proposal to revise windmilling and rotor-locking tests as well as vibration standards for aircraft engines. Contact the FAA at (617) 238-7119.

E.G.T.
As most corporate flight department managers who have renewed insurance coverage in the past few months have already learned, insurance costs are on the rise.

Staff
Continued progress with new business aircraft designs, enthusiasm in the civil helicopter market and questions cropping up from consolidation in the regional sector define the emerging aircraft story this year. This section lists available information about future programs that have progressed far enough to yield preliminary performance data. Some aircraft previously included, like the Canadair Challenger 604 and the Bell 430, have progressed to the point that they are now included in the appropriate aircraft charts.

A.L.
Table: Pistons/Non+Pressurized Turboprops (This table is available electronically. Please see the May, 1995 issue.) One year ago on this page, we suggested that 1994 ``may well go down in aviation history as the year of the regional jet.'' It did, and 1995 may well be a repeat. Delta Connection carriers Comair and SkyWest will operate 31 Canadair Regional Jets (CRJs) by the end of the summer, and together they hold additional orders and options for 59 aircraft.

Staff
Under a new law, serious accidents or incidents involving virtually all public-use aircraft (aircraft owned, leased or operated by civil governments) must be reported immediately to the NTSB. The law also extends the FARs to virtually all public-use aircraft (B/CA, April, page 26). Previously, government-operated aircraft were exempt from reporting accidents to the NTSB or complying with many FARs.

A.L.
Table: RESIDUAL CARGO CAPACITY (This table is available electronically. Please see the May, 1995 issue.) Delta Connection Business Express has now joined the growing number of regional airlines actively marketing their freight-carrying capabilities--and it is paying off, according to carrier officials. Airlines have gone to great lengths to fill empty airplane seats. Yield management has enabled carriers to anticipate the number of empty seats on a particular flight, for example, and offer those seats at a discounted rate.

Staff
ALPA pilots for USAir have reached an ``agreement in principle'' with management that will have a definite trickle-down effect on the wholly owned USAir Express carriers. It calls for a ``package of concessions and returns.''