Despite several high-profile accidents involving prominent personalities in the final quarter, the number of accidents involving U.S. business jet and turboprop operators decreased slightly in 2004, according to data compiled by Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. There were 67 accidents last year, 19 of which claimed a total of 53 lives. That compares with 68 accidents, 26 fatal, and 58 deaths in 2003.
Robert J. Gillette is the new president and chief executive of Honeywell's Aerospace business, a unit with $9.8 billion in annual revenues; he had been head of the company's Transportation Systems unit, which has annual revenues of $4.3 billion. Succeeding Gillette as Transportation Systems president and CEO is Adriane M. Brown. Gillette succeeds Robert D. Johnson, who plans to retire in January 2006, and in the interim will serve as non-executive chairman of Aerospace ``to facilitate an orderly transition,'' the company said. Johnson has been with Honeywell since 1994.
MY WIFE HAS SIX SIBLINGS, as do I, and most of them are married. We sibs and our spouses have pursued various career paths, becoming medical doctors, college professors, an attorney, a designer, a banker, a marketer, a writer, a dentist and homemakers. And one aviation editor.
Signature Flight Support has acquired the assets of Transit Aviation, Inc., an FBO at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Transit supports business and general aviation operators at MSY and also provides fueling services for non-scheduled commercial carriers and charters. The company's facilities include a passenger terminal built in 2001 and approximately eight acres of ramp space. The New Orleans FBO becomes Signature's 43rd location in the United States.
Eastern Aviation Fuels, Atlanta, named Terry Britt president and chief operating officer of Eastern Aviation Insurance Services, LLC, a new subsidiary aviation insurance agency of Eastern Aviation Fuels. Flight Options LLC, Cleveland, a provider of fractional shares in business aircraft and an affiliate of Raytheon Co., named Jerry Bemis vice president, maintenance. Bemis most recently served as vice president, line maintenance operations for Delta Airlines.
Raised on a chicken farm in British Columbia, Moller earned a master's and Ph.D. in engineering from McGill University. After a few years working on Canadair's CL-44 turboprop, he accepted an invitation to set up an aeronautical engineering program at the University of California - Davis. In 1972, he started a successful motorcycle muffler company, which he later sold. And in 1983, he founded Moller International with the intention of building an inexpensive VTOL aircraft, culminating in the four-place M400 Skycar.
Sandel Avionics shipped its 1,000th TAWS unit on Jan. 10 -- just over 18 months from its first sale. Manufacturing two versions of its popular ST3400 TAWS/RMI, for Class A and Class B applications, Sandel says it has become the industry's number two TAWS provider for corporate, regional and air transport markets. A 3-ATI-size system that features a TAWS database, processor and oversized, high-resolution color display in a single panel-mounted unit, the ST3400 meets TSO C151b for both Class A and Class B requirements.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics board of directors, Reston, Va., named Robert S. Dickman as its new executive director for the 35,000-member professional organization. Dickman, who is the third executive director since the AIAA's formation in 1963, retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2000 as the senior military officer at the National Reconnaissance Office.
Because the human eye is at least 20 times more sensitive to green than red, green lasers appear much brighter than traditional red lasers with the same power output. Approximately 100,000 green lasers were sold in the United States in 2004 -- double that of the previous year. According to John Acres, president of Bigha, Inc., ``the handheld laser is not a death ray.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp. has been granted an STC for its Powerline Detection System installed on Bell 206 helicopters. In the delivery of electricity, power lines create a radiating electromagnetic field. Safe Flight's Powerline Detection System is designed to sense this field and warn pilots when a helicopter is in the vicinity of an energized wire. It does not detect unenergized wires such as tower guys, messenger cables, etc. When an electromagnetic field is sensed, the Powerline Detection System emits an auditory alert.
Rolls-Royce Spey 555-15 engines -- Replace the magnesium split low-pressure compressor case (part number EU.73418A) with a compressor case that is a combination of a steel-front compressor case and a shortened split compressor case.
GE Transportation -- Aircraft Engines, through its Unison Industries subsidiary, has signed an agreement to purchase Aircraft Parts Corp. (APC) pending regulatory approval. The transaction is expected to be completed soon. APC, a privately held company, manufactures and repairs aircraft electrical systems, including starter-generators and generator control units for business and regional jets, helicopters and the military. Founded in 1960, APC has its headquarters on Long Island, N.Y., and a service center in Wichita.
Rolls-Royce (Allison) 250B and 250C engines -- Perform a one-time inspection of the fuel nozzle screen for contamination. If contamination is found, inspect and clean the entire aircraft fuel system before further flight. Also, replace the fuel nozzle with a newly designed fuel nozzle at the next fuel nozzle overhaul or by June 30, 2006, whichever comes first.
Raytheon Premier I airplanes -- Inspect the routing and security of the left and right main landing gear squat-switch wire harness installations for damage. Repair any damage or replace components and reinstall the squat-switch wire harness.
THE ITINERARY WAS simple enough: a quick, 225-mile hop from Salt Lake City to Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN), the Hailey, Utah, facility serving the Sun Valley ski area. But the trip's purpose was really something of a victory lap. The main passenger was a recently retired executive who had been battling cancer. He had undergone an operation to check the disease, and the post-surgical prognosis was apparently good. Now he and his wife of 34 years were returning to their new home in the mountains to enjoy the good life.
The Air Group, Van Nuys, Calif., named Ken Combs senior vice president and director of flight operations, based at its headquarters at Van Nuys Airport. Combs has 30 years of experience and 9,000 hours of flight time as both a military and civilian pilot.
Bombardier Challenger 600, 601 and 604 airplanes -- Revise the flight manual to provide the flight crew with procedures and limitations for operating an airplane with out-of-tolerance angle-of-attack transducers. Also, conduct repetitive tests of the transducers and take corrective action if necessary.
Reducing hazards related to ground and flight operations in icing conditions tops the NTSB's 2004-2005 ``Most Wanted'' list in aviation with two specific recommendations -- using current research to change aircraft design and approval for flight in ice conditions and giving flight crews accurate information to recognize dangers in flying in icing conditions. The recommendations have not resulted in an acceptable response from the FAA, NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said Dec. 5, 2004, during a news briefing in Washington, D.C.
Midcoast Aviation, Cahokia, Ill., named Thomas P. Hilboldt director of technical services. In his new position, Hilboldt, who has been with Midcoast since 1978, is responsible for overseeing more than 130 airframe and engine technicians who compose the technical services department at Midcoast's maintenance operations at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia.
Field Aviation of Toronto will acquire three new Bombardier Q300 turboprops and configure them for maritime surveillance missions for the Swedish Coast Guard. Field is the prime contractor for the Swedish Coast Guard's next-generation fisheries and environmental surveillance system.
Unscheduled engine removals are about as welcome as a surprise tax audit. Turbine engine reliability has increased to the point where many simply assume the engine will always make power and never need to be removed prematurely. The truth is, even the most advanced turbine powerplants are still susceptible to the age-old nemesis of machinery: wear and erosion.
The wave of potentially disorienting or injurious laser illuminations of aircraft cockpits has drawn the full attention of federal and local law enforcement agencies, as well as aviation regulators and associations. More than half a dozen were reported during late December 2004, including sightings in Colorado Springs, Cleveland, Washington, Houston, Chicago and Medford, Ore. On Dec. 29, a Citation with 13 people on board was tagged by a green laser on approach to Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey. On Dec.
As published by the FAA in the Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 88, May 7, 2003 (Docket No. FAA-2000-8560) Light -- The rate of ice accumulation requires occasional cycling of manual deicing systems* to minimize ice accretions on the airframe. A representative accretion rate for reference purposes is one-quarter inch to one inch (0.6 to 2.5 cm) per hour** on the outer wing. The pilot should consider exiting the condition.***
