Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will partner with Aviation Week Group, the unit of the McGraw-Hill Cos. that publishes B&CA, to produce a series of Security and Systems Engineering seminars, beginning this year. ``The partnership will serve as a resource to strengthen the professional development of the aviation and aerospace workforce,'' said Dr. David Hosley, dean of ERAU's School of Corporate Training and Professional Development.
Fuel contamination can lead to clogged fuel filters as well as corrosion damage to fuel tanks, costing thousands of dollars in repairs. The Bugs Buster Fuel Test Kit was developed to provide on-site detection of bacteria or fungus without having to ship samples to a laboratory. Detection time varies depending upon amount of contamination, but results usually appear between five and 24 hours.
Elliott Aviation recently finished painting a Challenger 600 and a Falcon 50, the first time the Midwestern FBO did such exterior work on these types of aircraft. Since opening its completions facility in February 2003, Elliott has performed complete paint jobs on more than 70 aircraft. The facility, located at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Ill., features a state-of-the-art, downdraft paint booth capable of handling aircraft as large as a Falcon 900 or Challenger 604.
The GAMA board of directors elected James E. Schuster as its chairman for 2005. Schuster is chairman and CEO of Raytheon Aircraft Co. He previously served as GAMA's vice chairman and chairman of GAMA's Security Issues Committee. The board also elected Dean M. Flatt, president and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems, as GAMA's vice chairman for 2005. Flatt previously served as chairman of GAMA's Flight Operations Policy Committee and will now chair its Security Issues Committee.
Million Air SLC expanded its Provo, Utah, presence by acquiring Advantage Aviation in Provo. Million Air said the acquisition adds additional fuel services, hangar availability and a maintenance facility to its established operation there. ``With the additional maintenance facility and hangar availability, we will better be able to serve both our base and transient customers in Provo,'' said Leon Christensen, Million Air's senior vice president.
Thunder Aviation of Chesterfield, Mo., is in the process of rolling out more RVSM solutions for Falcon 10s and 20s. In February, Thunder Aviation expects to receive an STC for an RVSM package, developed in conjunction with Flight Test Associates, for Falcon 20s equipped with KFC-400 autopilots. Preliminary price for the modification is $155,000.
IN THE TORRID JULY HEAT of 1969, 250 grunts at a Special Forces camp in South Vietnam were eating dust and awaiting an air show in the form of two F-100 Super Sabres on an ``LZ Prep'' to create a helicopter landing zone (LZ) half a mile away. Some LZ Prep basics: Take a 750-pound bomb, fit the front with a 36-inch pipe ``extender'' and an instantaneous fuse, and drop it into the jungle. When the bomb explodes, its casing mostly above the ground, lots of lumber gets moved.
Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. (ASA), Newcastle, Wash., hired Jerry Blair as director of marketing. Blair has more than 17 years of experience in the general aviation industry.
It's been 27 years since the Falcon 50 prototype made its U.S. debut at the 1977 NBAA Convention in Houston, but few aircraft have proved its equal. Today, you can buy a very clean Falcon 50 for around $11 million. Some mid-1980s models are available for $8 million, according to Vref aircraft value reference.
Tohnichi's dial-indicating torque wrenches feature easy-to-read dial measurements and adjust torque from both clockwise and counterclockwise directions. Accuracies in each of these directions are within 3 percent. A moveable dial also enables the torque pointer to be set to the desired torque and the assembly to be tightened until the torque pointer reaches zero. The wrenches are available in U.S., metric and SI units of measurement. A memory pointer dial comes standard on all models. Resin grips and extension handles are available as options on some models.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash., appointed Brian Williams to the position of vice president and general manager of its Burbank, Calif., site.
As airlines' financial woes mount, and they try to shed obligations such as underfunded pension funds, the effects could wound millions of workers outside the airline industry. ``I have become increasingly concerned as the number of terminated plans grows and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) is forced to assume ever larger liabilities,'' said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who also serves as chairman of the board of the PBGC.
Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va., named Joan Sullivan Garrett vice chair of its board of governors. Sullivan Garrett is chairman and CEO of MedAire, Inc.
It amazes me that you have chosen to give space to beatify Richard Seaman's error in decision that he recalls in the January Flight Log (``Running Out of Time and Options,'' page 96). It only goes to show that aviation -- particularly corporate aviation -- is a strange gambler's home. Those who are time and again made heroes and keep their jobs are the lucky ones who made a dumb move and lived to regret it privately for years while they showed an outside shell of bravado yet become the guy who gets the boss through.
Two Bell 407 helicopters operated by Air Serv were conducting relief flights for victims in western Sumatra in Indonesia, deploying from the Melaubau airport. The helicopters arrived Jan. 12 aboard an IL-76 cargo plane from South Africa that also carried 88,000 pounds of relief materials. The flight was made possible by a donation of $655,000 from the Republic of South Africa Disaster Management Center. Air Serv leases the IL-76 from South African operator Naturelink.
Infinity Aviation Group, Nashua, N.H., an FAR Part 135 on-demand aircraft charter service, added a new copilot, John Pearl, for its Hawker 700 and 400.
Eight years after launching its Hawker Horizon program, Raytheon Aircraft won provisional FAA approval for the new business jet on Dec. 23, 2004. The Horizon is the company's second composite-fuselage model in production; the Beechcraft Premier is the other. Positioned at the top of the company's product line, the Horizon competes against other transcontinental business jets, such as the Bombardier Challenger 300, Cessna Citation X, Dassault Falcon 50EX, Gulfstream 200, Embraer Legacy and Falcon 2000.
NTSB board members and investigators are concerned that pilots do not appreciate the negative effects of wing upper surface ice accumulations and are urging pilots to take extra care with go/no go decisions involving contaminated wing surfaces.
Rolls-Royce (Allison) 250-B17 and -C20 engines -- Install a turbine energy- absorbing ring (part number 23035175) in the plane of the first-stage turbine wheel if the powerplant does not already have such a ring. If necessary, install first-stage and second-stage turbine nozzles and a gas producer support assembly, all of which are modified to allow for installation of the turbine energy-absorbing ring.
The DOT will take a larger role in planning and paying for enhancements to the GPS system's services to civil users. The U.S. Air Force owns and operates the GPS constellation, which now consists of 30 satellites. Despite efforts by the Clinton administration to give the civil side a greater say in GPS' future, civil stakeholders have remained somewhat marginalized, according to Jeffrey Shane, under secretary for policy at the DOT.
FlightSafety International, Flushing, N.Y., promoted James S. Waugh to the position of executive vice president. Waugh joined FlightSafety in 1976. In addition, Dick Grant was promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety's Savannah Learning Center. Grant was most recently the Savannah Center's director of standards.
How secure is business aviation in the post-9/11 era? For that matter, how secure is your operation? The questions and your answers to them are fairly fundamental. After all, one of the justifications for owning a private jet is security -- anonymity and protection when traveling and greater control over one's affairs. So even before the terrorist hijackings of 2001, a strong case could be made that business aviation was more secure than the airlines, perhaps the most secure component in aviation.
Air Serv International, a nonprofit humanitarian air transportation and communications specialist, has been active in tsunami-ravaged Sumatra and Sri Lanka. By mid-January its mixed fleet of business turboprop, turbine helicopter and heavy transport aircraft had flown a variety of relief and logistics flights on behalf of: Missionary Aviation Fellowship, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, World Concern, UN assessment teams, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and U.S. congressional delegations.
