Thrush is shipping its newly certified 510G agricultural aircraft, the first application for GE's H80 turboprop engine. Certification followed a two-year development program with both GE and Albany, Ga.-based Thrush Aircraft and comes just a few weeks after Thrush obtained type inspection authorization from FAA. GE obtained certification for the H80 engine, earlier this year. Thrush has built 11 of the H80-powered 510G aircraft and has begun initial deliveries both within the U.S. and to Latin American nations.
Eurocopter and Nextant Aerospace are the newest members 0f the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). The association now has 80 member companies worldwide.
Gene Condreras (President Panorama Flight Service Inc. Westchester County Airport (HPN) White Plains, N.Y. )
I'm concerned that the choice of observations attached to me in “Melbourne Muddle” (Viewpoint, October 2012, page 9) muddied my real concern about the continuing trend of airport sponsors placing private FBOs at a disadvantage through various devices.
On May 11, 1996, a ValuJet Airlines DC-9 departed Miami International Airport bound for Hartsfield International Airport, Atlanta. Shortly after takeoff, the crew was alerted by an electrical problem, rapidly followed by systems dropping offline and smoke in the cockpit. While making emergency calls to the tower, voices in the background could be heard shouting that the aircraft was on fire. The aircraft was cleared for an immediate return to Miami.
The next time you publish another hysterical column, please add a warning label stating: “Read in the Privacy of Your Office or Home.” I started reading “Day Trippers” while sitting by my cement pond, and after the first paragraph, I laughed so loud and so hard strangers at the pool literally turned their heads in my direction. A neighbor came by later and I showed him “Legal Humor” (Readers Feedback, September 2012, page 10) and then “Day Trippers.” He laughed as hard as I did.
Is the operational error problem a result of too much reliance by flight crews on cockpit automation? BCA received two points of view on one of aviation's more controversial subjects these days. “What we find in our contacts with the international operations community,” Dave Maloy, navigation resource specialist at the FAA's Eastern Region, reported, “is that the technology has led to complacency. 'Why do we have to do these crosschecks any more, since the technology is so good at protecting us?' crews ask us.
Cockpit Apps has launched iLOG, an app that provides flight crews an alternative to traditional pen and paper flight logs. According to the company, the easy-to-configure app follows a crew through a typical duty day, tracking critical components such as duty and flight time, VOR checks and RVSM altimeter settings. The app is also configured to record squawks as well as engine, airframe and component time. At the end of each day, crews can either electronically sign the documents using an iPad digital signature and email their flight logs to dispatch, or print them out.
Rockwell Collins' Airshow 3-D moving map is now available for download in the iTunes App store. The iPad app delivers a unique, interactive way for business jet passengers to view the world around them and stay informed during their trip. With a simple system upgrade, existing Airshow 4000 or Venue HD cabin management system users can take advantage of the new app.
Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics provide the backbone of the Gulfstream G280's PlaneView cockpit. The main instrument panel features three, 15-in., portrait configuration AMLCD adaptive flight display screens that are controlled by cursor control devices on the left- and right-side ledges and left and right standby multifunction controllers (SMCs) in the glareshield panel. Gulfstream invented the SMCs to provide each pilot with a full-function electronic standby instrument system that doubles as a display and test control box. The 3-in.-by-4-in.
Universal Aviation U.K., located at Stansted Airport (EGSS), has completely renovated its 10,712-sq.-ft. FBO. The updates include all-new crew and passenger lounges, a state-of-the-art business center and video conferencing facility, two client meeting rooms, private screening facilities and ultra-modern showers and changing rooms. The facility is home to Universal's ground-support business and its 24/7 European Operations Center, which offers trip facilitation within Europe and globally.
Bombardier Aerospace announced September 28 that it has received orders for a total of eight Global business jets from an undisclosed customer. The firm orders are for four Global 6000 and four Global 8000 aircraft. The customer had asked to remain unidentified. The transaction is valued at approximately $500 million based on the 2012 list price for typically equipped aircraft.
At the end of the last decade, it seemed fairly certain that a robust, seamless backup to GPS, in the form of enhanced Loran (eLoran), could be made available at a reasonable cost to GPS users in North America.
The embarrassing thing about international procedures is what a tiny percentage business aviation represents in terms of flights [about 6%] but what a large percentage we are in terms of operational errors,” lamented Nat Iyengar, captain and safety officer for a major corporate flight department. “Most of that comes down to bad procedures,” Iyengar continued. “We are too casual about the crossings due to the automation of our airplanes.” By “operational errors,” Iyengar was referring to:
DART Helicopter Services has expanded its office in Hawkesbury, Ontario, consolidating all Canadian divisions under one roof. Before the construction of the new office, the sales, marketing, customer support, engineering, accounting and manufacturing teams were not co-located. The 9,500-sq.-ft. office expansion allows the functions to come under one roof next to the manufacturing facility.
NTSB Vice Chairman Christopher A. Hart concurred with the Safety Board's findings and probable cause in this accident but expressed concern “that we are not giving enough attention to an emerging issue — the human factors issues associated with the improving reliability of automation.” What follows is excerpted from his concurring opinion.
While a University of Calgary undergrad in the 1970s, I flew ag planes in the summer. My boss, Bob Lukens, had good relations with the Hutterite community in rural Irma, convincing them that aerial spraying of their 5,000 acres of grain was a sound investment. While the religious group was close-knit and ultraconservative in speech and dress, their farming practices were some of the most modern in Alberta.
Jet Source announced the addition of an Embraer Phenom 100 corporate jet to its charter fleet, based at the Jet Source FBO at McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ) in Carlsbad, Calif. “The Phenom 100 is proving itself to be . . . ideally suited for those quick trips to San Francisco, Phoenix or more exotic locations like Cabo San Lucas in Mexico,” says Ian Ewing, vice president of business development for Jet Source.
The all-composite Learjet 85, arguably the most ambitious of Bombardier's several business jet development programs, is incorporating new processes and moving lots of dirt as it advances steadily toward first flight. Once certified and in service, the new model will be the largest, farthest ranging and fastest ever to bear the Learjet marque, and it will be the first FAR Part 25 business jet with a fuselage and wings fashioned mostly from composite material.
Just finished you article on heliport approval (and nicely done, BTW) (Point of Law, October, page 55) and was wondering if Federal approval supersedes any local prohibition or approval of a heliport. I know in Pennsylvania townships are required to allow for all types of usage in the zoning, but if I received federal approval, first, can the locals prevent me from building a heliport? How about if I also had state approval ? Does any of this help a situation?
Back in B.C. — before computers —days, many flight operations had some sort of a board upon which were pegs or pieces of plastic that got moved from a departure location to an arrival location as crews filed “On” and “Off” reports with the home office. Often I'd leave the office at night with an “Off” report from Anchorage and come in the next morning to see the peg placed firmly in the Shanghai column. That invariably produced a feeling of satisfaction for successfully completing another mission.
Blackhawk Modifications Inc., is expected to receive an STC for its upgrade package XP42A for Cessna 208 Caravans by year-end. The XP42A Upgrade Package includes a factory-new Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A engine rated at 850 shp, and a new wide-chord, 100-in. diameter Hartzell four-blade propeller. Also included: new composite cowling and high-efficiency inlet duct, new 40% larger oil cooler, the existing engine mount with a modified horse collar, new engine hose kit, new Blackhawk Hawkeye DigiLog engine gauges and new Frakes exhaust stacks.
The FAA has selected Harris Corp. Government Communications Systems to provide Data Communications Integrated Services (DCIS), with a subcontracting team that includes ARINC Inc., GE Aviation and Thales. DataComm supplements today's analog voice-only air-to-ground communications system with a digital system, and it will become the primary mode of communication in air traffic in the future. The FAA says DataComm will provide a two-way data exchange between controllers and flight crews for clearances, instructions, advisories, flight crew requests and reports.
