Tired of cruising along at 460 to 490 knots on those 12- to 14-hour international business trips? At the 22nd Dassault Falcon Jet Maintenance and Operations Symposium held in Nice, France in May, Serge Dassault, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, along with Bruno Revellin-Falcoz, executive vice president for research, engineering and cooperation, unveiled a scale model of a supersonic business jet that could cut travel times by one-third to one-half, compared to ultra-long-range, sub-sonic business aircraft.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertEdward G. Tripp in Ames, Iowa VisionAire Dedicates Vantage Assembly Facility Deliveries of the single-engine business jet are scheduled to begin late in 1999
VisionAire Corp. held a ceremony on May 26 to dedicate its recently built Vantage business jet production facility and flight test center at Ames Municipal Airport in Ames, Iowa. To emphasize the support and investment of the state and local community, Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad, Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco and Martin Jischke, Iowa State University president, shared the spotlight with VisionAire founder, chairman and CEO James O. Rice, Jr. Aviation notables attending included aircraft marketing legend James B.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertPerry Bradley in Montreal
Corporate operators will have a much easier time clearing Canadian customs under a new pre-clearance program called CANPASS-Corporate Aircraft. The program was announced by Revenue Canada officials at the recent annual Canadian Business Aircraft Association convention.
The city of Jacksonville plans to convert 6,000 acres of Cecil Field, a 17,000-acre naval air base, into a general aviation airport once the U.S. Navy leaves in March 2000. Herb McCarthy, director of the Cecil Field Development Office, says the city also is considering a plethora of other redevelopment possibilities for the air station that includes three 8,000-foot runways and one 12,500-foot runway. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, along with non-aviation-related companies, are discussing moving onto the closing base.
The Southern California Safety Institute in Torrance is bringing its Human Factors in Aviation Safety course to Albuquerque on August 31 to September 4. Topics to be covered include human error-mistakes, slips and accidents; flight discipline issues; loss of situational awareness; ergonomics; aviation physiology and introduction to Cockpit Resource Management. Students take home a textbook, lecture outlines and a certificate of completion. The tuition is $1,380. For further information or to register, phone (310) 540-2612; fax (310) 540-0532.
Researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands believe they have developed a cost-effective alternative to WAAS and EGNOS. They've dubbed it Eurofix, which is a hybrid differential GPS/Loran-C navigation system that they claim offers better than five meter position-fixing accuracy 95 percent of the time up to 540 nm from a datalink transmitter. Three-meter position fixing accuracy is available at 320 to 430 miles from any transmitter in the coverage area.
Pilots' lack of action, inappropriate action and lack of positional awareness have been found to be the primary causal factors in 76 of the approach and landing accidents involving business jets during 1980-1996. The majority of the accidents occurred at night. These conclusions are the result of the Flight Safety Foundation's Operations and Training Working Group's recent study of 287 fatal approach and landing accidents (ALAs) worldwide involving airline and business jets.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertHugh Whittington in Ontario, Canada
Nav Canada released its long-awaited user charge proposal for small- to medium-size propeller-driven, piston and turbine aircraft. Comments are due July 31 and the charges are scheduled to go into effect November 1.
The NTSB is suing a law firm for violating a 1996 federal law barring attorneys from soliciting business from aviation accident victims or their families within 30 days after an accident
A bill to goad the FAA to require TCAS II on large cargo aircraft fizzled in committee, but Representative William Lipinski (D-Ill.), the bill's sponsor, is working to get the bill incorporated into the FAA reauthorization bill. A spokesperson for the congressman said any TCAS provision, like the original bill, would seek a staggered phase-in for the equipment-first for new cargo aircraft with MTOWs of more than 33,000 pounds and eventually on all large-cargo aircraft.
The 1,000th Hawker business jet, a Model 800XP, is on the assembly line at Raytheon Aircraft. It is scheduled to be delivered to Gainey Corp. of Grand Rapids, Mich. later this year. The original Hawker program was launched as the de Havilland 125 Jet Dragon in 1960. The prototype 125 made its first flight in August 1962 and customer deliveries started in September 1964. Shortly after the aircraft's introduction, de Havilland became part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, which led to the 125 subsequently becoming known as the Hawker HS 125 series.
Tokyo's Haneda Airport, about 20 minutes driving time from downtown, has opened to general aviation. Houston-based handling agent Air Routing International says that Japan is allowing four GA operations into Haneda each day, but non-Japan-registered private flights must first land at an international airport in Japan and clear customs before proceeding to Haneda.
Sales of business turbines moved somewhat erratically over the most recent twelve month period (June 1997 to May 1998), according to Wichita, Kan.-based Aviation Data Services, Inc. Used jets in the United States were up, both in the current 12-month period (averaging 97 units per month versus the prior 12 months figure of 89) as well as when compared to last month's average (94 units).
Signature Flight Support's West Palm Beach facility recently was approved by AlliedSignal as a TFE731 line service center and designated by Bell Helicopter as a service center for Model 206 and 407 rotorcraft
Business aircraft will pay a landing fee as well as a parking fee when Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport opens-scheduled for this month. The landing charge will be HK$2,600 (about US$335) for aircraft up to 20 metric tons MTOW (44,800 pounds) and HK$74 (about US$9.55) per additional ton. The parking charges will be assessed in six-hour increments and divided into three categories, ranging from HK$50 (about US$6.45) per parking unit for aircraft with wingspans under 49 feet, up to HK$350 (about US$45.15) per parking unit for aircraft with wingspans up to about 120 feet.
By mid-summer, RTS Rework will begin restoring P&WC PW100 turbine gears and gear shafts. The Fort Worth company recently introduced an "insulation blanket" restoration process for PT6As and PW100s
In late May, Boeing commenced four to six weeks of winglet feasibility tests with the goals of boosting the climb, cruise and fuel economy performance of the BBJ. If all goes well, the BBJ might lose its 10th belly fuel tank and still achieve a 6,200-nm maximum range.
Pilatus Business Aircraft is now delivering its PC-12 single-engine turboprop with tiplets, instead of winglets. Fitting the aircraft with tiplets rather than the larger winglets substantially reduces the roll control force, but it results in virtually no discernible change in aerodynamic performance or empty operating weight, according to Pilatus Business Aircraft officials in Broomfield, Colo. PBA demonstration pilots have noticed a one- to two-knot increase in cruise speed of tiplet-equipped aircraft because their smaller size slightly reduces form drag.
Palm Springs and Paris, France-Signature Flight Support recently acquired FBOs at Palm Springs Regional Airport and Le Bourget Airport in Paris. At Palm Springs, Signature said it doesn't plan any "major" changes at the former Million Air FBO acquired from owner Harold Lee. Ross Knowles will remain as general manager. (800) 763-8299 or (619) 320-7704. At Le Bourget, Signature acquired the former Air Luxor FBO. Karen Acquino, general manager at Signature's FBO in Zurich, will oversee operations at Le Bourget until a permanent manager is appointed.
Auster Aviation Group of Sugar Grove, Ill. recently received its air taxi certificate and will operate with an initial charter fleet of two jet models and a turboprop
Something rather unusual occurred on the 49th flight of Israel Aircraft Industries' new super-midsize Galaxy in late May. After completing only one-sixth of the scheduled 1,000-hour development program, IAI's engineers were sufficiently satisfied with the Galaxy's performance and handling qualities that they invited B/CA to fly and evaluate the aircraft. This marked the first time that anyone outside of company or certification authorities had flown IAI's newest business jet.
