Extra Aircraft has selected Honeywell's APEX integrated cockpit as the standard in its Extra EA-500 single-engine turboprop, beginning in 2006. The APEX system will feature digital communication and navigation radios, an FMS, a digital autopilot, two active matrix LCDs measuring 10.4 inches diagonal, mode S transponder, Engine Indicating and Caution Alert System, Traffic Advisory System (TAS), Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) and a dual-channel Air Data Attitude Heading Reference System.
Hang on to your rods and cones. The NTSB wants the FAA to tighten color vision screening procedures (recommendation A-04-46) for applicants of Class 1 and 2 Medical Certificates in order to prevent individuals with color vision deficiencies that could impair their ability to perform color-related critical tasks from being certificated without limitations (recommendation A-04-47). The tasks include -- but aren't limited to -- interpreting external glidepath information and cockpit displays that use color to convey information.
After Chicago Mayor Richard Daley shocked his city and the aviation community at large one day in early spring 2003 by sending backhoes under the cover of darkness to demolish Merrill C. Meigs Field's only runway, many asked, ``What's next?'' Would and could others follow suit and obliterate their local general aviation fields?
U.K. corporate jet charter operator Bookajet ordered seven Dornier Envoy 3s from Avcraft for Club Airways membership operations (see ``ber Class,'' page 84). They will be used on scheduled operations across Europe and soon to Moscow. Bookajet also holds another six options for the $14.5 million aircraft. The company plans to certify Envoy 3 operations into London City Airport by September. The Envoys are also to be deployed on Geneva-Moscow (Vnukovo) runs by the third quarter of this year.
IT'S EASY TO GET wrapped up in kvetching about the negative effect security restrictions are having on aviation. In covering business aviation these days, I tire of writing ever more about security-related Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) and TSA guidelines for general aviation airports. And, of course, there's the continuing battle by the business aviation community to convince federal security officials to reopen Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to business aircraft.
If one of those low-pressure monsters featured on The Weather Channel were to obliterate your hangar, scattering everything within to the horizons, your airplane could end up losing 15 percent or more of its value even if it was a long way away and suffered nary a scratch. The reason? The records that detail and confirm its history and care are lost, making the airplane something of an open question as a result.
Boeing has no plans for a major Boeing 737 redesign, as it continues to sell well and customers have voiced no complaints, says Carolyn Corvi, Boeing's vice president in charge of the 737 and 757 programs. ``We listen to our customers and our customers are happy with the plane,'' she told Aviation Daily. She said the 737-800 and -900 will take the place of the 757.
Rockwell Collins has created a Member Services Center (MSC) to support its Airshow 4000 and future cabin systems. Located in Tustin, Calif., the MSC provides a portfolio of content feeds, including BBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, SportsTicker and Intellicast Weather. The center's support staff is available 24/7. ``Our previous focus had been simply to maintain hardware support for the Airshow Network product family,'' explained Tim Rayl, senior director of Airshow Systems.
Part of any flight check is demonstrating the ability to cope with a variety of abnormal or emergency situations. These can involve anything from the typical engine failure on departure, to severe weather encounters, to less common system malfunctions and failures. The other day while administering a flight check for a company pilot, I introduced a simulated flight control failure.
Cessna Aircraft Co. has received an amended FAA Type Certificate (TC) for the 182T Skylane and the T182T Turbo Skylane that includes the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics system, which both aircraft feature as the NAV III premium avionics option. ``This is an historic day for Garmin and for Cessna,'' said Gary Kelley, Garmin's director of marketing.
There's a significant difference in the underlying technologies and associated cost between passive Traffic Information Systems (TIS) and active Traffic Advisory Systems (TAS). Ryan International claims to bridge the gap between these two traffic systems with its $7,990 9900B Traffic Collision Alerting Device (TCAD) that acts like a TAS but doesn't interrogate other transponders. Rather, it passively ``eavesdrops'' on transponders that have been interrogated from any source regardless of geography or proximity to an ATC radar site.
While fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls have been used in military aviation for decades, only recently have they gained relatively broad acceptance in the civil aviation world. Although the Concorde was the first civil aircraft to utilize FBW flight controls, the design really became popularized with the production of the Airbus A320, and later the Boeing 777. While the application of FBW technology in civil aircraft has been generally well received, it has raised some important questions.
In 1995, the Citation Ultra, and Citation V before it in 1988, finally put the ``Slo-tation'' jokes to rest. Up to that point, Citations always had been easy to fly, simple to maintain, and well supported by Cessna, but were stuck in speed class between turboprops and ``real'' jets. Learjet operators were surprised when Cessna created the Ultra, an airplane capable of climbing directly to FL 450 and cruising between 400 and 425 KTAS.
RIGHT NOW, MOST OF the states' legislatures are concluding their regular sessions and, therefore, most of the changes to taxation statutes and regulations affecting aircraft ownership and usage have been made. The following are some of the revisions and opinions that have occurred since August 2002, when we last covered the subject broadly: Idaho -- Effective May 1, 2003, the Idaho state sales/use tax increased from 5 percent to 6 percent.
The Dassault Falcon 2000EX EASy received certification from both EASA and the FAA in June. Previously certificated on the Falcon 900EX, the all-digital, all-encompassing, cursor-directed EASy cockpit is based on Honeywell's Primus Epic system. Dassault Falcon Jet reported 15 F2000EX EASy aircraft are in various stages of completion and deliveries should begin immediately.
The NBAA has scheduled three Business Aviation Regional Forums this summer in Chicago, Hong Kong and Seattle. The events provide a place for business aircraft owners, operators, manufacturers, customers and other industry personnel to discuss regional business aviation issues. The forums are scheduled for June 24 at DuPage Flight Center on DuPage Airport near Chicago, July 15-16 at Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre at Hong Kong International Airport in China and Aug. 26 at Boeing Field/King County International Airport in Seattle.
If business aviation is such a good thing, why don't we expand it to a wider group of employees, even all employees with a need to travel between corporate facilities?
Aerospace Filtration Systems' Inlet Barrier Filter system for Bell 407 helicopters is now certified in Canada as well as the United States and is available for retrofit. The IBF has been tested and approved with full snow clearance and no operating restrictions. The system includes a single filter design optimized for hover and forward-flight. According to the manufacturer, it also improves engine performance over the entire airspeed envelope. An optional access door allows the filter to be removed and replaced quickly, without removing the inlet fairing.
An STC has been granted for the installation of a Universal Avionics Systems five-instrument suite of integrated flat-panel instrument displays in a Challenger CL-601. The STC was accomplished by Mid Canada Mod Center of Mississauga, Ontario. The installation included the replacement of electronic ADI and HSI instruments with four of the Universal Avionics EFI-640 flat-panel displays -- an MFD-640 flat-panel multifunction display, TAWS, Universal Cockpit Display (UCD) and dual UNS-1F flight management systems.
Safire Aircraft has suspended most of its operations while it searches for additional funding. Notice came just days after it announced an ambitious schedule culminating in a first flight of the Safire Jet just prior to the 2005 NBAA Convention and about six weeks after Safire said it was restructuring ``to focus on the completion and development of the Safire Jet prototype.'' Safire President and CEO Camilo Salomon said, ``We encountered some unforeseen setbacks,'' but they hope to close on new financing shortly.
JetEquity, LLC acquired the Skyport FBO at New York's Westchester County Airport (HPN) from United Skyport Corp. on June 17. The acquisition adds an FBO to JetEquity's service portfolio, which includes aircraft management, charter sales and hangarage services. JetEquity, also headquartered at HPN, recently opened a hangar adjacent to Skyport and the main terminal. Skyport is one of five FBOs on the airfield.
The following NTSB information is preliminary, subject to change and may contain errors. May 2 -- All five passengers and two crewmembers aboard a Mexican-registered Commander 840 were killed and the aircraft destroyed after encountering weather during cruise flight. The IFR flight originated in Juarez and was destined for the Mexico City International Airport. The aircraft lost control and crashed in the vicinity of Milpillas, approximately 300 miles north of the Mexican capital.
Jet Aviation at Dallas Love Field has completed a major upgrade of the facility. Renovations to the FBO building include refurbishing the customer lounge, a multimedia conference room, expanded flight-planning capabilities, high-speed Wi-Fi Internet access, modernized restrooms and a new pilots lounge. Additional seating in both the customer and pilots lounges has been added along with a granite-topped customer refreshment center that serves fresh-brewed flavored coffees. The ramp expansion added 55,000 square feet, for a total of 185,000 square feet of ramp space.
ARINC is teaming with Florida-based Satcom Direct, a provider of satellite voice, fax and data communications, to integrate Satcom Direct's services with the ARINC Direct suite of data link, flight planning, weather and aircraft tracking information. Satcom Direct currently provides satellite access via the Inmarsat and Iridium constellations to more than 1,500 business aircraft. Users dial a global, 10-digit number and telephone calls are connected to the aircraft regardless of location.
Most operators would run from the tedious and expensive process of FAR Part 121 certification like the plague, but if you're contemplating operating a shuttle, either yourself or as a contractor to someone else -- and especially if you're going to be using large jet transports -- you should consider the benefits of operating under the more stringent commercial rules.
