Light jets inevitably embody tradeoffs among performance, cabin comfort and operating cost. Beechjet 400/400A owners believe their aircraft represent the best balance of qualities for the class. This aircraft can climb directly to FL 410, cruise at more than 400 KTAS and still offer passengers the largest cabin cross section of almost any light jet priced under $5 million in the used market.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) is working with the United States Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to offer a ``Safety and Security of Airport Ground Operations'' course. According to USAIG research, ground-handling accidents have grown faster than any other category of aviation insurance claims, and have led to increased insurance premiums and resultant increases in the cost of doing business.
Dr. Sam Williams always thought small. In the 1950s, as a hotshot young engineer at Chrysler, he was thinking especially small when he played a major role in designing one of the first gas turbines for automotive use.
Of the many contributing factors cited by the NTSB in the ValuJet Flight 592 accident in the Florida Ever-glades on May 11, 1996, poor communication among maintainers ranked high on the list. Time-expired oxygen generators were removed from one aircraft, then, through a series of miscommunications, the uncapped, live units were placed in the aircraft's baggage compartment. The units ignited and turned the DC-9 into an inferno that plummeted into the swamp, killing all 110 people aboard.
THE 28-YEAR-OLD PILOT was building a solid career. He'd been flying professionally for seven years, accumulating 3,800 flight hours, and had just added an ATP to his ratings. By late 2001 he was earning his living flying a King Air C90 -- his first turboprop -- for Eastland Air, an Australian regional and charter outfit.
It looks as if non-RVSM aircraft will be able to climb and descend through RVSM flight levels to and from higher cruise altitudes when DRVSM takes effect, Jan. 20, 2005. The FAA provided a peek at RVSM procedural requirements and operational rules in an Oct. 25 advance copy of its Revised Aircraft Equipment Suffix Table for FAA Flight Plans. Get your hands on this one. It has provisions, including revised Aircraft Type/Special Equipment Suffixes used in Block 3 of FAA Flight Plan forms 7233-1, that took effect as early as Nov.
In a related development, Chelton's EFIS has found a home on rotorcraft. Edwards & Associates, the completion house for Bell Helicopter, ordered six Chelton FlightLogic Synthetic Vision EFIS systems. Five of the systems are for customer Bell 407s; the sixth is for Edwards' own demonstration aircraft. In 2003, Chelton received STC approval for the Bell 206, introducing, it says, highway-in-the-sky (HITS) and hover vectors to the rotorcraft market.
Edward W. Stimpson, a quiet force in U.S. aviation whose trademark was a Brooks Brothers suit with an untucked shirttail, is retiring as America's ambassador to ICAO. He and his wife, Dorothy, plan to return to their home in Boise, Idaho, after the current ICAO council session ends on Dec. 17. President Clinton nominated Stimpson for the ICAO post in 1999. Prior to that Stimpson led GAMA for a total of 25 years, a period that spanned times of boisterous growth and painful contraction for U.S. manufacturers.
Wilson Air Center was awarded a contract by Charlotte/Douglas County, N.C., International Airport (CLT) to operate the former Signature FBO facility there. The airport will retain ownership of the facilities, but Memphis-headquartered Wilson will run the day-to-day operations and be responsible for short- and long-term management strategies. Wilson Air Center anticipates a three- to four-month transition period for facilities improvements and staff training.
Stevens Aviation Denver (BJC) has added new ratings to its FAA repair station certificate. Under the amended certificate Stevens is now authorized to perform airframe maintenance on: Raytheon 390 Premier; Hawker Siddeley 125 series 600A, 600B, 700A and 700B; British Aerospace 125 series 800A, 800B, Hawker 800, 800XP and 1000; Dassault Falcon 50, 50EX, 900, 900EX and 2000; and Learjet 31, 31A, 35, 35A, 36 and 36A.
The Gulfstream G200 joins a growing list of aircraft that can be retrofitted with the AutoPower system developed by Safe Flight Instrument Corp. of White Plains, N.Y. AutoPower provides smooth and precise engine-target settings for airspeed control during critical phases of flight, particularly approach and landing. Because AutoPower holds speed and is smooth during all meteorological conditions, the system can reduce crew workload, enhance passenger comfort and extend range/payload potential, according to Safe Flight.
Sikorsky's new ``Quiet Zone'' gearbox, which is being installed on new S-76C+ helicopters built in 2005, also will be retrofitted on C+ aircraft already in service. The new gearbox provides a significant noise reduction in the aircraft's cabin and cockpit, achieving an interior noise level that Sikorsky claims is nearly 5 percent quieter than its nearest competitor in the corporate/VIP category.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp.'s Angle-of-Attack computer system has been integrated into Universal Avionics' EFI-890R Electronic Flight Instruments to create a Low Airspeed Awareness (LAA) display. Duncan Aviation's Battle Creek, Mich., facility recently certified and installed the first Universal EFI-890R system in a Challenger 601-3A.
NBAA's Almy and Blouin Promoted; Hubbard Signs On. Tidying up its new management team, the NBAA announced that two veteran staffers have been promoted, and a new senior staffer has joined the organization. David W. Almy has been elevated to senior vice president, marketing and communications, and Kathleen M. Blouin has been promoted to senior vice president, conventions and seminars. The association hired Dan Hubbard as vice president, communications, filling the void created by Almy's promotion.
In little more than seven weeks, as much as half of the U.S. business aircraft fleet won't be able to fly above FL 280 in North, Central and South American airspace, according to FAA projections. That's because those aircraft won't be equipped for operations in the Domestic Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums airspace between FL 290 and FL 410, where bi-directional altitude separation is being compressed from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet like it is in the rest of the world.
Warning of an impending FAA budget crunch linked to sagging Aviation Trust Fund income, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Russell Chew, the chief operating officer of the agency's Air Traffic Organization, provided a blunt assessment of magnitude of the money challenges facing the agency in a November briefing to reporters. Before 9/11, income to the Trust Fund was forecast to be $14 billion during the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2005.
It was about 4:20 a.m. on July 13, 2004, when the 911 call-center of Newberry County, in northwestern South Carolina, received a report about an injured woman who may have been hit by a truck near a rest stop on Interstate 26. Local emergency medical service (EMS) and state Highway Patrol units were dispatched and a medevac helicopter was put on standby. When paramedics found the woman a few minutes later, they asked that the helicopter be sent immediately.
AIG Aviation, Inc., a member company of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), has agreed to underwrite hull and liability insurance for the Eclipse 500 jet on behalf of the member insurance companies of AIG. Additionally, insurance broker Willis Global Aviation has provided preliminary rate projections for the Eclipse 500 owner-pilot market. ``AIG Aviation is confident in the Eclipse 500 and the pilot training program developed by Eclipse Aviation's management team,'' said William Lovett, vice president of AIG Aviation, Inc.
FOR SEVERAL YEARS, the number of players selling the air charter services of others has grown steadily . . . as have their claims of service and size (see ``Inside the Card Membership Programs,'' B/CA, September 2004, page 68). The DOT had been watching the developments with keen interest, and on Oct. 8 took action by issuing policy guidance on ``the role of air charter brokers in arranging air transportation.''
Honeywell is working on a new low-cost cabin pressure control system for next-generation business jets that features all-electric instead of electro-pneumatic operation. ``It integrates really well with avionics and will enable us to offer an air management system at a lower price threshold than has been possible before,'' said Russ Turner, president of Honeywell Engines, Systems and Services. ``We have done all the electronics and software, and demonstrated the control laws last year.
Oct. 8 -- The crew of a McDonnell-Douglas MD-11F, on an FAA-approved ferry flight with an inoperative center engine, planned to go from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska to Atlanta, where the repair was to take place. The crew elected to retract the center gear -- the freighter has three main gears -- to enhance performance and reduce drag.
Cessna sold 41 new Citations and six new Caravans at the NBAA Convention. And that doesn't include the 22 pre-sold aircraft it announced at the show. Here's an understatement from Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Roger Whyte: ``We had anticipated a positive response to our two new models and three newly certified Citations, but the number of new orders certainly exceeded our expectations.''
Blakey and Chew recounted FY 2005 budget steps already taken. Chew said officials are reviewing major capital programs, suggesting that key elements of the National Airspace Modernization Plan could be delayed or eliminated.
LightSPEED Aviation has entered the ultra-lightweight headset market with its new LightFlight L-1. The unit weighs only 0.5 ounces, attenuates 35-45dB of noise and has the same standard features as the company's premium headsets, including a cell/satellite phone jack, music input, electret mic, hi-fi stereo speakers and dual volume controls.
Embraer entered into an exclusive five-year distribution and logistics agreement with Sydney-based Hawker Pacific covering the supply of EMB 110 and EMB 120 spare parts in Australia and the Pacific Rim. Under the agreement, Hawker Pacific will acquire Embraer's entire inventory of spares currently housed at its facility in Melbourne, Australia, and take responsibility for the supply, order processing and distribution of all EMB 110 and EMB 120 spare parts to support the fleet in the region.
