Photograph: Honeywell's AS900 flight-test team Backslapping and handshaking were prevalent at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on January 28, as Honeywell's Boeing 720 flying test bed touched down after the successful first flight of the firm's new AS900 turbofan engine. Pre-launch delays caused by a brand-new digital test suite aboard the Boeing cut the ambitious four-plus hour test card by one half, however, since FAA rules require the test flight to be completed by sunset (1756 local time).
Frustrated with waiting months for Avionics Displays Corp. (ADC) to deliver its flat-panel displays, Tucson-based Universal Avionics Systems Corp. (UASC) bought the company. Over the past two years, Norcross, Ga.-based ADC's development and production assets were stretched thin by long-term projects, delaying UASC's new family of LCD flat-panel displays for more than 12 months.
UPS-AT (nee II Morrow) has developed a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)-compatible GPS engine, one capable of improved navigational accuracy, integrity and higher signal availability than the current generation of IFR-certified GPS receivers. Developed in conjunction with NavCom Technology, a Redondo Beach, Calif.-based GPS engineering firm, the unit will equip UPS Airlines' entire fleet of 229 jet freighters, and integrate smoothly with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) hardware now being tested.
Global Express operators will have the option of installing a BAe Systems (formerly GEC-Marconi) HUD2020 Visual Guidance System by September, according to Kevin Hoffman, chairman of Aerospace Concepts, a completion weight-reduction and consulting firm based in Montreal. The BAe Systems Head-Up Display (HUD) is offered as an alternative to the Sextant Avionique Head-up Flight Display System (HFDS), now Bombardier's factory-standard HUD option for the Global Express.
Here's a fact that will make you feel good: According to Robert P. Mark, author of Professional Pilot Career Guide, some 12,000 pilot jobs were filled this year. While the numbers are forecast to decrease after 2000, the industry will still require some 8,000 to 9,000 pilots per year until 2007 as Vietnam War-era pilots begin to retire in droves.
BFGoodrich became the second firm to announce a low-cost Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) box when it introduced its Landmark TAWS8000 at the NBAA Convention in October. The TAWS8000's terrain avoidance capability complements the firm's Skywatch and TCAS791 traffic alerting systems and its Stormscope hazardous weather detection systems, thus providing protection from the three major causes of fatal accidents.
Imagine flying with an instrument panel display system that produces a virtual VFR window to the outside world, one that provides a clear, daylight view of terrain and aircraft attitude in three-dimensional perspective.
Lynton Aviation of Denham, England, has ordered eight Raytheon airplanes, including four Premier I business jets, and has been appointed as Raytheon Aircraft's sales representative for the Hawker, Beechjet and Horizon in the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. The FBO also will be a ``master dealer'' for Raytheon's propeller-driven airplanes in the same region. Reportedly, three of the four Premiers already have been earmarked for customers, as have one of the two King Airs and both Barons that Lynton is acquiring.
Efforts to install 8.33-kHz radios in aircraft before Eurocontrol's October 7 deadline are reaching fever pitch in Europe. Aircraft with a CAA dispensation will be allowed to fly into the country without radios having 8.33-kHz spacing until the January 2001, but beginning October 7 they will not be allowed into the congested airspace over the European continent above FL 245.
Metro Business Aviation, the largest FBO chain in the United Kingdom, is erecting a new hangar at London's Luton Airport. The 23,000-square-foot building, which is to be operational in November, is designed to accommodate aircraft as large as the Boeing Business Jet or Airbus A319CJ.
If you have an aircraft equipped with an older-generation GPS receiver, you may be in for an unwelcome surprise, come the third week of this month. This is when Week Number Roll Over (WNRO) potentially will become a problem for some GPS receivers.
Under pressure from lobby groups, the European Joint Aviation Authorities' (JAA) technical operations committee has rewritten a notice of proposed amendment on extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) for business aircraft. The proposed amendment allows commercially operated business jets under 45 tonnes (100,000 pounds) MTOW to fly up to 120 minutes from the nearest diversion airport. This is extended to 180 minutes once special aircraft systems and crew procedure requirements have been met.
Sometimes it can seem as if the skies in which we fly are unchanging and there's little we don't already know about weather, particularly as it pertains to aviation.
Bombardier Aerospace has named Benn Isaacman as its chief of design, with responsibility for all Bombardier business aircraft paint schemes and interior designs. Since 1984, Isaacman has run his own Tucson-based design consulting group, which designed the paint and/or interiors for many business aircraft, most recently the Fairchild 328JET and 728JET, and the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2.
Garmin International and AirCell have unveiled the NavTalk Pilot, a combination hand-held GPS receiver and analog cell phone for airborne use. The unit has a 12-channel GPS receiver, a Jeppesen navigation database and a monochrome LCD map display. As a backup for FMS or GPS, NavTalk Pilot provides 100-meter navigation accuracy, but is not certified for IFR use.
The AEA's 42nd Annual Convention and Trade Show's theme might well have been ``Draw Me a Picture,'' due to the proliferation of flat-panel cockpit and cabin display systems. AEA members, though, say they have been increasingly stymied by local FAA officials when they pursue installation approvals of advanced avionics.
AlliedSignal is rolling out two new Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS) that put the price of the technology more in reach of operators. The most sophisticated of the two, the Mark VI EGPWS, is intended for operators of on-demand air charter and small regional aircraft and is priced at $23,900. The box will meet the proposed FAA requirement for Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS).
ATR Size Approx. Vol. W L subscript 1 In super- + or - + or - + or - + or - script 3 Liter .03 In .76 mm .04 In 1.0 mm Dwarf 95 1.56 2.25 57.15 12.52 318.0 1/4 Short 215 3.52 2.25 57.15 12.52 318.0 1/4 Long 335 5.49 2.25 57.15 19.52 495.8
The Aviation Workstation Import Utility from Dallas-based ediSys Corp. is designed to ease the importation of comma-delineated files from spreadsheet and database programs into Aviation Workstation, a pilot and aircraft logbook program that features more than 20 reports and charts. The new utility is free to users of Aviation Workstation and can be downloaded from the ediSys Web site at www.aviationworkstation.com. The site also offers a way to convert data from other electronic logbooks to Aviation Workstation using the free conversion utility.
CAMP Systems International's computerized business aircraft maintenance support program for Falcon Jets will continue, following the renewal of an agreement with Dassault Aviation. This is the 26th year of the relationship between the two companies. Meanwhile, CAMP's Web site (http:// kisp.campsys.com) has been revised and updated with new information about its range of products and services.
Echo Flight, Inc. has tapped DTN Kavouras Weather Services (www.dtn.com) to provide current and forecast weather for display on Echo Flight's StratoCHEETAH Flight Manager II GPS moving map and datalink system, which made its debut at the 1998 Experimental Aircraft Association show in Oshkosh. The addition of DTN's weather services enables pilots to obtain recent radar returns from ground radars and current meteorological information on airport conditions anywhere in the United States.
Computer-based training software developer S2 Software (www.s2w.com) of Troy, Ala., has added several models to its line of PC-based training programs. The newest models include the Hawker 700, 800 and 800XP, in addition to the Citation I and II. The company also is developing similar programs for the Gulfstream II.
Speaking of logbooks, AlliedSignal and Aircraft Technical Publishers have teamed up to offer an electronic engine and aircraft maintenance system for operators of AlliedSignal's entire line of turbofan and turboprop engines. The ATP Maintenance Director electronic maintenance logbook provides users with maintenance forecasting and SB/AD tracking tools for a single aircraft or an entire fleet. In the near future, AlliedSignal will provide the full original configurations for all 470 TFE731-20/-30/-40 engines in service.
