Smoke and Fire Prevention Systems is marketing lightweight fiberglass fabric curtains designed to contain smoke and toxic fumes in aircraft hangars. Toby Newcomb, executive vice president of the Clarksville, Va., company, says the translucent FabriLock fabric offers lower-cost protection than heavy drywall and metal smoke curtains. Moreover, he says his product is accepted by all building codes. In addition to locking in smoke and toxic fumes to protect lives and property, the translucent curtains help illuminate hangar interiors.
The Gulfstream G550 got its JAA recommendation letter and a type certificate from the new European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The G550 with its PlaneView cockpit and Enhanced Vision System was FAA certificated in August 2003. EASA certification allows the aircraft to be registered in 37, mostly European, countries.
Eaton Aerospace is the latest company to join the Chinese ARJ21 regional jet program. The agreement with AVIC 1 Commercial Aircraft Co. of Shanghai to supply integrated cockpit assemblies and cockpit lighting control assemblies makes Eaton the 11th supplier to the Chinese-led project. Mel Drummond, Eaton's vice president of product support and services, said that the contract is worth $20 million on more than 500 aircraft.
The NBAA has published a children's book, The Flying Office: Aviation Goes to Work, as part of the association's AvKids initiative. AvKids is designed to introduce students in grades two through five to aviation, and business aviation in particular, through a curriculum that incorporates science, math, geography and language arts. The Flying Office was written by Cassandra Bosco, NBAA director of public relations, who spearheaded AvKids, and veteran business aviation journalist Robert Searles, and is illustrated by Mike Perry.
Testifying in mid-March before the House Subcommittee on Aviation, GAMA President Ed Bolen and NATA President James Coyne urged the federal government to promptly develop security procedures that will return general aviation operations to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). According to Bolen, scheduled airlines [and FAA-operated and -chartered general aviation aircraft -- Ed.] were able to resume service to DCA because the organizations in charge of U.S. security were committed to finding solutions to security challenges.
Bombardier Flexjet, a subscriber to the NBAA General Aviation Desk at the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center since August 2001, marked a milestone for business aviation operators in becoming the first nonscheduled operator to successfully transmit flight intent data to the FAA's ATC host system.
ANSV, the Italian national air safety agency, issued a report on the Oct. 8, 2001, runway collision at Milan Linate Airport between an MD-87 and a Citation CJ2 that killed 118 people. The Citation was cleared to taxi for a Runway 36R departure via Taxiway R5, which does not cross either of Linate's parallel runways but has a holding point short of the extended runway centerline. The Cessna pilot correctly read back the clearance to taxi via R5, but mistakenly turned onto taxiway R6, which crosses the main runway, 18L/36R, and also has a holding point short of the runway.
Listen to the salespeople, and you might come away thinking business jets and turboprops never need maintenance. Tim Gronberg, Bombardier's field service representative based in Danbury, Conn., calls it the ``illusion that they never break.'' ``That,'' he says, in a sorry-to-burst-your-bubble tone of voice, ``is just not the case.'' Consider a single-aircraft air-taxi operator that's agreed to take a $20,000 charter. The crew shows up, the paying customer and guests arrive, and on the preflight the copilot notices the right tire has gone flat.
Signature Flight Support, Orlando, has named Jeffrey Magnus general manager of its Palm Springs International Airport (PSP), Calif., facility. In addition to operating as an independent aircraft sales and distribution director, Magnus was previously president of Magnus Aviation, a Wisconsin-based concern that owned and operated two full-service FBOs.
Avidyne's FlightMax EX500 free-play trainer allows the user to access virtually all pages and functions on a PC as they would on a real multifunction display (MFD). The fully customizable software simulates all onboard sensors which can be connected to the MFD, including weather radar, traffic (TAS/TCAS or TCAD), lightning (WX500 Stormscope) and terrain (EGPWS/TAWS). For users without all these sensors in their aircraft, the simulator's settings can be changed to match the user's actual aircraft configuration.
The Aircraft Maintenance Department at the John. D. Odegard School for Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D., was presented with the Diamond Certificate of Excellence Award by the FAA. Twenty-two maintenance technicians also received individual awards for their participation in initial and recurrent maintenance training. In addition, 13 technicians have earned AMT awards for five consecutive years and are eligible to receive the Gold Seal Award.
Honeywell is forecasting civil turbine helicopter sales will grow at a 2-percent compounded rate worldwide between 2004 and 2011. The manufacturer's sixth Turbine-Powered Civil Helicopter Purchase Outlook released March 14 projects deliveries of approximately 2,350 new civil-use helicopters during the 2004 to 2008 period, driven in part by increased demand for light single and intermediate twin-engine models offering newer technology. This would represent a 6.8-percent sales increase over the 1999 to 2003 period.
Atlantic Aviation has begun construction on a $5.5 million upgrade at its Chicago Midway operation. The project includes construction of a 20,000-square-foot hangar, a 10,000-square-foot combined office and shop building, and a 7,000-square-foot ground support building. There will also be a 3,500-square-foot addition to an existing workshop building. Sue Sommers, vice president of marketing for Atlantic Aviation, says the project will be completed by the end of June.
A BIT OF MIDDLE SCHOOL humor. A burglar who has been casing a home for weeks waits until the owner leaves for work, goes to a side window, jimmies it open and enters. He's walking stealthily through the living room, eyeing the artwork and antiques, when a voice shatters the quiet, announcing, ``Jesus is watching!'' The thief nearly jumps out of his skin. His heart begins to race and he turns his head this way and that, looking for the speaker. He sees nothing.
Bombardier Aerospace, Singapore, has named Ricky Chun-ming Leung director of business development with Bombardier's Flexjet Asia-Pacific charter network based in Hong Kong. Leung joined Bombardier Flexjet Asia-Pacific as manager of operations in February 2002 when the network was launched.
The AOPA had its own take on the Boeing ATM program. When Boeing let it be known that it is reducing emphasis on the program and assigning it to the Phantom Works organization, AOPA President Phil Boyer said to association members, ``For AOPA members, Boeing's decision removes the specter of an industry-driven push for privatized air traffic control, at least for now. Boeing has assured us that they have no interest in privatizing air traffic control -- only pushing the system forward.''
Nearly half of the 22,000 FAA employees participating in a recent survey said they will likely leave the FAA within the next five years. Of those planning to leave, 68 percent say they plan to retire, 12 percent say they will look for another job in government and 17 percent will look for a job outside the government. The FAA's Employee Attitude Survey is conducted every two or three years.
IT IS PERFECTLY NATURAL for pilots to invest an instructor with their trust. After all, it's the instructor who demonstrates the right way to fly and helps bring the pilot to a higher level of understanding and competency. However, that trust should never be given automatically or without limitation because instructors do err, sometimes disastrously. A businessman pilot took some instrument instruction in a single-engine airplane through an FBO at Marshfield, Wis., Municipal Airport (MFI).
The TSA completed a draft of its general aviation airport security recommendations and has solicited limited industry input. The guidelines are based upon the recommendations drafted by the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), which approved in November 2003 ``a tiered but flexible security plan'' that codifies industry best practices. The TSA wants to move expeditiously to complete and release the guidelines.
The Mexican government has ordered five Schweizer Model 333s, according to Schweizer Aircraft Corp. The helicopters, all slated for delivery this year, will be delivered to the Mexican Procuradura General de la RepPound blica (PGR), Agencia Federal de Investigacin (AFI). The new 333s will perform airborne law enforcement and surveillance missions including border patrol, drug enforcement and interdiction. All five helicopters will be equipped with the 333's recently certified uprated takeoff horsepower. Takeoff horsepower was increased from 252 to 280 shp.
Embraer is planning to increase its military airframe work from 10 percent to 40 percent as an offset to downturns in the airline and corporate aviation sectors. The Brazilian manufacturer is busy building 76 (plus 23 on options) EMB 314M ALX Super Tucano ground-attack single-engine turboprop aircraft. The first was delivered to the Brazilian Air Force in November 2003 and will be the ``teeth'' of the SIVAM (Sistema de Vigilncia da Amazonia) program by midyear.
Gulfstream announced on March 9 that its top-of-the-line jet had received both a Type Certificate from the new European Aviation Safety Agency and a recommendation letter from the Joint Aviation Authorities. Together, those actions enable the G550 to be certified and registered within 37 European and neighboring countries. In 2003, Gulfstream Aerospace established a company-owned and -operated maintenance center at London-Luton Airport to service Gulfstreams in the region.
Late in 2003, a successful Southern California entrepreneur was flying his single-pilot light jet on a foggy, low-visibility, nighttime ILS approach into an airport located near the coast. Such coastal weather conditions, in spite of boasts to the contrary by the chamber of commerce, aren't all that uncommon early in SoCal winters, particularly during late evening hours when the air temperature and dew point are likely to converge. ATIS was reporting the weather as partially obscured with 3/4-mile visibility.
Jet Aviation has approval to support the Williams-Rolls FJ44 engine worldwide. Jet Aviation centers in Dallas, Dusseldorf, Singapore and Zurich will become service facilities to support FJ44 engines powering Cessna CitationJets. Jet Aviation's Bedford, Mass., Dusseldorf and Zurich facilities will support FJ44s powering the Beech Premier I.
A U.S. Marine Corps Citation Encore (UC-35D) crashed on approach to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station near San Diego on the night of March 10. All four people aboard died. The aircraft was on a training flight from Grand Junction, Colo., when it crashed about 8:45 local about 1.5 miles from the Marine base and burst into flames. The Marines have six UC-35 aircraft, a mix of C (Ultra) and D (Encore) models that are used for VIP transport and other missions. The first UC-35C was delivered to the service in 1999; the first UC-35D became operational in 2001.
