The winners of Aviation Week's annual Laureate Awards, honoring extraordinary achievements in the global aerospace arena, were announced at a gala dinner in Washington DC on March 5, 2015.
It’s hard to get a better look at a runway incident than having dozens of steerable electro-optical cameras and millimeter-wave radars trained on the impending action.
On Thursday, March 5, a technical problem with our enewsletter program caused the March 10 issue of B&CA Digest to mail prematurely. We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience. The true newsletter will mail on Tuesday, March 10.
Airbus Helicopters today presented its all-new H160 all-composite civil helicopter and the first product introduced with the Airbus Helicopters corporate identity and its new numbering designation.
ExecuJet Aviation Group is expanding the company's managed fleet in Africa with the addition of a Falcon 900B, Hawker 800 and Bombardier Challenger 604.
The sleek design of the Airbus Helicopters H160 is supposed to represent a major change in direction for the company, with new development processes and production techniques.
The inaugural business aviation regulation working group took place on the 25th of January 2015 at the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) headquarters in Dubai, less than two months after the initiative was announced.
It is a given among pilots universally that they must not let their aircraft alight or roll upon any surface not strong enough to support it. That goes for the runway, the ramp and everywhere in between. (Just because you were able to taxi it there, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to taxi it back out.)
An old Washington hand — he was legislative director for then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and a member of the Defense Science Board — Adcock also worked on government affairs for Daimler-Benz.
While the sound of spinning rotors may mean lifesaving, safety or profit to members of the rotary-wing community, to most in the general population, the sound is just noise. Too often, unwelcome noise. And that’s a problem for everyone.
This month we are looking at another recent approach stall accident involving a large airplane with a highly experienced pilot serving as PIC. The NTSB says the FAA’s oversight of the operating company — Fresh Air Inc. — was lax, the operation of the airplane was sloppy and the crew coordination was poor. Training records were haphazard and de facto SOPs did not comply with the aircraft flight manual (AFM).
Pilots operating under Part 125 are not required to receive any specific training as defined by the FARs. However, per 14 CFR 125.287(b), captains are required to meet certain experience requirements, and both pilots are required to receive an annual competency check. In addition, per 14 CFR 125.291(a), each pilot-in-command (PIC) must receive an instrument proficiency check every six months. The instrument proficiency check is generally a more comprehensive check, so Part 125 allows the pilot to substitute an instrument proficiency check for the competency check.
Many of today’s pilots never had the opportunity to operate aircraft with big, radial, piston engines. These powerplants are beefy and complex and have systems to extract extra energy from heat and to deal with high heat and pressures. A water injection system, also known as anti-detonation injection, or simply ADI, is one of them. Another is an auto feathering system, designed to accelerate the feathering of a failing engine while preventing the manual feathering of the running engine. Choosing to use either or both systems creates takeoff weight restrictions.
Rated at 1,695 lb. thrust to ISA+10C, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F is scaled-up version of the PW615F that powers the Citation Mustang with hot-section durability improvements added to withstand the rigors of the high-cycle operating environment of air-taxi operations. An automatic performance reserve feature boosts engine output to 1,777 lb. thrust in the event of engine failure on takeoff, if APR is armed prior to takeoff roll.
The Embraer Phenom 100’s Prodigy avionics package is a highly evolved and customized version of the Garmin G1000 system used in several other light turbofan aircraft, including the Cessna Citation Mustang. Embraer chose to fit the aircraft with three identical 12-in. AMLCDs having the same basic internal functionality. Any of them can assume the identity of a primary flight display or multifunction display. Using reversionary modes, this design feature allows the aircraft to be dispatched with one of the three displays inoperative.
General aviation aircraft deliveries and billings rose more than 4% in 2014 over 2013, although results in individual segments were mixed. Deliveries of business jet and piston-powered airplanes rose in 2014, for example, while shipments of turboprops and rotorcraft decreased. Total worldwide general aviation airplane deliveries rose 4.3%, from 2,353 units in 2013 to 2,454 units in 2014.
The general aviation industry contributed $219 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013 and supported 1.1 million direct and indirect U.S. jobs, according to a just-released 16-page report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. That’s up dramatically from the last study performed in 2004 and 2005, when the industry contributed $150 billion to the U.S. economy, said General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) President and CEO Pete Bunce. The last study was done when the industry was ascending and before the economic downturn.
The third prototype of the AgustaWestland AW609 commercial tiltrotor is set to fly in May, paving the way for deicing tests of the aircraft at year-end. Engineers are currently assembling the aircraft in Italy, where shakedown flights will be conducted before it is dismantled and sent to Philadelphia in preparation for testing of the aircraft’s deicing system in Minnesota toward year-end.
Jet Aviation is managing the FBO at Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau, Bahamas, and has plans to add new hangars and remodel the interior. The Nassau facility features 305,000 sq. ft. of ramp space and includes on-site Customs and Immigration, concierge service, 20,000 sq. ft. of hangar space. It also plans to repave and expand the ramp and add new tenant hangars.
