Although the FAA zeroed LAAS funding for FY 2005, the agency told prime contractor Honeywell it isn't killing the program completely and wants to accelerate it again in the future, John Oelschlaeger, Honeywell's director of Satellite Landing Systems, told B/CA's sister publication, Aviation Daily. Honeywell and the FAA are negotiating a new agreement that reduces the scope of work in the current contract and spreads it over a longer period.
Two employees of Keystone Helicopter Corp., West Chester, Pa., were recently honored for their achievements. Aircraft maintenance technician Tom Greer was presented the Chief's Certificate of Appreciation by the U.S. Park Police in recognition of his 10 years of providing safe, high-quality helicopter maintenance for the U.S. Park Police Aviation Unit in Washington, D.C. In addition, John Profico earned the FAA's Charles Taylor ``Master Mechanic'' award, which is presented to certificated mechanics and repairmen who have worked in aviation for at least 50 years.
The FAA released advisory circular AC 43-210, Standardized Procedures for Requesting Field Approval of Data, Major Alterations and Repairs, intended to further standardize the field approval process. The FAA noted that the guidance is not regulatory and does not establish minimum standards. What this means is that it does not eliminate the problem of major differences in requirements and procedures among the various regions. The procedure is ``one means, but not the only means, for requesting field approvals for certificated products,'' the FAA said.
The National Air Transportation Association's Industry Excellence Awards will be presented at a May 19 luncheon at its Annual Meeting and Convention in Las Vegas. Adm. James M. Loy, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will receive NATA's Distinguished Service Award. The William A. ``Bill'' Ong Memorial Award, given for extraordinary achievement and extended meritorious service, will go to Al Ueltschi, founder and chairman of FlightSafety International.
Ibis Aerospace announced the first flight of its second production Ae270 Propjet (s.n. 7) from the flight-test facilities of Aero Vodochody near Prague, Czech Republic. The Ae270 flight-test fleet is comprised of five aircraft: serial numbers 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7. Serial numbers two and four have been designated as dynamic and static test articles. Serial number 6 is presently undergoing certification for an executive interior at Southstar Interiors in Uvalde, Texas.
In a nondescript, dark lab that sits between the mighty Mississippi and the Anheuser-Busch brewery in a blue collar corner of St. Louis, Rich Conrad is brewing something futuristic. Conrad is the program manager for the Stereo Airfield Collection (SAC) program, an aviation safety initiative under way at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The goal of the program is to build precise 3-D digital maps of hundreds of airports around the world for the U.S. military.
(a) Instrument approaches to civil airports: Unless otherwise authorized by the administrator, when an instrument letdown to a civil airport is necessary, each person operating an aircraft, except a military aircraft of the United States, shall use a standard instrument approach procedure prescribed for the airport in Part 97 of this chapter.
THE CELL PHONE GOES OFF late in the day. It's one of your senior captains calling from Colorado. This, the second day of a three-day winter trip to Vail, was downtime for both pilots and the flight attendant, and they had all headed for the slopes. It turns out that the day's skiing excursion had been planned well in advance, since all three crewmembers were experienced skiers. Although you were unaware of the outing, that sort of thing is typical.
Finally! After getting some time and experience under your seat belt you have been promoted into the left seat of your company's flight operations. So now, do they give you a Supervisor's Manual or send you to CEO school? Not likely. Still, whomever selected you for the position thought you had the maturity and leadership potential to carry out the job. You may have been lucky enough to be promoted from within and already have a working knowledge of your aircraft and people.
MD Helicopters Inc. (MDHI) kicked off its sixth visit to Heli-Expo by announcing three sales and several pending deliveries. Pea Aero Taxi, of Brazil, has ordered an MD 600N slated for delivery this fall. The aircraft will be used for charter work in the Amazon jungle, company officials said. In addition, one MD 520N and one MD Explorer have been sold to the company's new distributor in Russia. Those deliveries also are planned for this year.
With its 10-by-8-inch DU1080 flat-panel displays borrowed from the Primus Epic suite, the XLS's cockpit seems inspired by the Sovereign's design. Primus 1000 CDS, though, retains the well-proven hub-and-spoke architecture of the original P1000 design, with integrated avionics computers at the heart of the system. The units are now IC-615 boxes that have additional slots for popular peripherals such as basic NZ-2000 FMS cards, a feature conspicuously absent in the original IC-600, which require separate, stand-alone FMS boxes.
Honeywell is touting its Bendix/King IHAS 2000 Integrated Hazard Avoidance System as a low-cost, easily retrofitted system to provide data link weather and traffic information in the cockpits of corporate aircraft, including older jets. The manufacturer points out that the TSOed KMD 250 MFD, in combination with the KDR 510 VDL Mode 2 data link weather receiver, can superimpose data-linked weather over a GPS-driven map display. Adding a KT 73 Mode S Transponder with Traffic Information Service (TIS) displays traffic information from many FAA sites across the country.
FlightSafety International, Flushing, N.Y., has announced three new appointments. Bill Magyar has been promoted to director of regional maintenance training operations. In his new position he will be responsible for FlightSafety's Maintenance Learning Centers in Wichita serving Cessna customers and Raytheon customers, and the Falcon Jet Little Rock maintenance training center. He has over 40 years of aviation maintenance experience. Jim Scott has been named director of government programs.
The Experimental Aircraft Association has enlisted actor Harrison Ford to serve as the new chairman of the EAA Young Eagles Program. Ford, who first began flight training in the 1960s but put those ambitions on hold until the early 1990s, is a pilot who is rated in rotorcraft and tailwheel aircraft.
Tech-Tool Plastics unveiled several new window replacement products for Bell 407 and Eurocopter EC 120 and BK 117 helicopters at the recent Heli-Expo 2004. For the BK 117 there's a new line of standard replacement windows. For the Bell 407, Tech-Tool introduced a custom aft door window with a long slide for photography and observation missions. And there's a new pilot's door window for the EC 120 without a slide, which enhances visibility. Call for pricing Tech-Tool Plastics 7800 Skyline Park Dr. Fort Worth, TX 76108 (817) 246-4694 www.tech-tool.com
But wait, there's more! Scaled back is not dead. Boeing's ATM organization demonstrated its technology for fusing radar and ADS-B data and processing it for display on a single screen. ``Rather than three potentially confusing blips representing the same airplane appearing separately on the radar screen, our demonstration flights show we can `fuse' signals to provide more accurate tracking,'' said Dave Jones, Boeing's Global Communications, Navigation and Surveillance System (GCNSS) program manager.
The FAA's final revised FAR Part 139 will require small airports handling scheduled commercial service of aircraft with between nine and 30 seats to meet safety and operational requirements including Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) regulations. Airports serving scheduled carriers using aircraft with under nine seats, or unscheduled operations with aircraft fewer than 30 seats, are not affected by the new rules, which were published in the Feb. 10 Federal Register.
AgustaWestland has begun a major plant expansion in Philadelphia. The new facility, scheduled to open by the end of the summer, will provide additional space for the manufacturer and will be the site for final assembly of the Agusta A119 Koala helicopter, which is currently manufactured in Italy. The expansion comes as AgustaWestland, Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter are teamed to compete on the US101, a derivative of the AgustaWestland EH-101, for the VXX presidential helicopter contract.
Johnston & Murphy's Signature Series of dress and casual shoes is designed for those who trek through airport security machines on a regular basis. The Signature Series features a soft gel cushion insert, a shock dispersion heel that minimizes impact and fatigue, and a durable rubber outsole for a high degree of flexibility. Most notably, the new shoes are constructed with a composite shank instead of the typical metal shank, which is the piece that frequently activates metal detectors at airports.
CSD, Inc. is expanding marketing and customer support for the PRIST family it acquired from PPG Industries about a year ago -- after serving as a licensee for a number of years. The PRIST brand includes a family of premium solvents, additives and lubricants designed for the aviation and aerospace industries. Among the better-known products in the family are PRIST Hi-Flash Hi-Flo/Lo-Flo additives and PRIST aircraft acrylic/glass cleaner.
The NBAA urged the TSA to consider a national rollout of the TSA Access Certificate program. The final round of compliance evaluations for Transportation Security Administration Access Certificate (TSAAC) holders was conducted on March 8. The TSA will review the proof-of-concept TSAAC program that has been under way at Teterboro (TEB), Westchester County (HPN) and Morristown Municipal (MMU) airports. The NBAA said that it anticipates that after this review, a determination will be made in favor of expanding the TSAAC program nationally.
In ``Where Are You, Really?'' (B/CA, December 2003, page 68) Dick McKinney described some of the dangers associated with using GPS for navigation in areas where imprecise methods may have been employed in determining the official latitude and longitude of objects. This time, we'll look at using GPS to show an aircraft's position on electronic airport diagrams, and how software and avionics manufacturers deal with various accuracy issues.
Executive Aircraft-Wichita has named Nick Murphy, an 11-year aviation veteran with 19 years in the electro-mechanical technology field, as its avionics manager. Murphy comes to Executive from Cessna Citation Service Center, Newburgh, N.Y.
Bombardier Aerospace has added Global Wings, Inc. of Tokyo, Japan, as the newest operator in its Bombardier Flexjet Asia-Pacific charter network. Global Wings will fly the new Learjet 45XR super-light business jet beginning this spring. Other operators in the Bombardier Flexjet Asia-Pacific network include: Rainbow Jet Co. Ltd. of China, Macau-based Jet Asia Ltd., Subic International Air Charter Inc. of the Philippines, Singapore-based Pacific Flight Services and ExecuJet Australia. All charter operators in the network are certified by Wyvern International.
Feb. 25 -- Arriving from Denver International, a Fairchild AS227 freighter was substantially damaged when it slid off of the runway during landing roll at Garfield County Regional Airport (RIL), Rifle, Colo. Neither the ATR pilot nor commercial first officer were injured. IMC prevailed at the time. The pilot stated that they had flown the approach at a higher speed than usual and, as a result, the airplane touched down approximately 2,500 feet beyond the approach end of Runway 26, which was wet with rain.
