Two dozen of the windshield failures in the U.K. database involved rotorcraft. Of those, 19 resulted from high-speed collisions with birds, with the potential for shattered windshield pieces flying violently into the cabin and piercing the flight crew or cabin occupants. For example, on Dec. 5, 2008, an Aerospatiale AS355 was cruising near Leominster when a large bird was sighted just prior to impact. The windshield shattered and the dead bird’s carcass struck and injured the student pilot in the left seat.
German authorities are investigating the loss of a Learjet after the aircraft collided with a German air force Eurofighter Typhoon. Two people died when the Learjet 35A of aerial target company Gesellschaft fuer Flugzieldarstellung GmbH (GFD) crashed into the countryside on June 23 near the village of Olsburg, between Kassel and Dortmund.
The following information is derived from the NTSB’s preliminary report on the fatal accident involving a Gulfstream GIV at Hanscom Field (BED), Bedford, Massachusetts, on May 31, 2014.
T he NTSB has completed its investigation into the loss of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 — a Boeing 777 that crashed into a seawall then cartwheeled on Runway 28L at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on July 6, 2013 — with a widely anticipated probable cause finding that the crew let the airplane get low and slow during an unstabilized visual approach.
Aircraft operating costs are presented in a format that separates the data into seven separate areas: Mission Costs, Variable Costs, Fixed Annual Costs, Periodic Costs, Personnel Costs, Training Costs and Facilities Costs.
June 1— About 1400 EDT, an employee from the FBO responding to a de Havilland DHC-6-200 airplane (N223AL), received fatal injuries when she was struck by an operating propeller blade as she walked toward the cockpit while the airplane was standing on a ramp at the Middletown Regional Airport/Hook Field (MWO), near Middletown, Ohio. The airplane was registered to and operated by Win Win Aviation Inc., under FAR Part 91 as a skydiving flight. The local skydiving flight was standing on the MWO ramp while waiting for passengers to board when the accident occurred.
The FAA in June gave its first approval for commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UASes) over land, clearing energy giant BP to operate the AeroVironment Puma AE, a UAS that is 4.5 ft. long with a 9-ft. wingspan, to conduct surveys over Alaska’s North Slope. The agency had previously approved certificates for use of UASes to conduct aerial surveillance over Arctic waters, but this latest certificate of waiver enables BP to use the Puma to survey pipelines, roads and equipment at Prudhoe Bay.
Aerion, the supersonic business jet concept long promoted by billionaire Robert Bass, has undergone a major redesign. The designers have brought forth the new Aerion AS2, which features a Gulfstream G450-sized cabin with a galley, forward and aft lavs, 5,000-nm range and three new production engines — yet to be identified — producing 15,000 lb. of thrust each. “You could say it’s our follow-on aircraft,” Bass observed during the EBACE unveiling.
It was sad to read we had lost Jim Christiansen (Intelligence, June 2014, page 14). I first met Jim 30-plus years ago at a management seminar for small flight departments that he facilitated with Dick Van Gemert of Xerox. He was generous with his time and shared his knowledge and expertise freely with those of us who were new to our positions.
