Jan. 20, 2005. Mark that date. It's significant because it's the deadline for compliance with the coming Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums for flight operations in the U.S. National Airspace System from FL 290 to FL 410. A large number of general aviation aircraft operators are complaining about the short, 14-month fuse on this mandate, especially in light of the substantial expense of upgrading older turbine aircraft to RVSM standards. But the FAA's been warning about the new standard for a decade, and by world measure, it's been dragging its feet.
Diamond Aircraft previewed the first certified application of Garmin's fully integrated G1000 glass cockpit in its DA40 Diamond Star on Sept. 27 at Garmin's Olathe, Kan., headquarters. The system includes dual, sunlight-readable, 10-inch primary/multifunction display panels; a centrally mounted audio controller; and remote-mounted avionics rack. The G1000 has also been selected for Diamond's twin-engine DA42 Twin Star and the Cessna Citation Mustang. Pricing for the G1000 DA40 package has not been determined.
Rolls-Royce re-appointed Vector Aerospace subsidiary ACRO Aerospace of Richmond, British Columbia, as a Model 250 Authorized Maintenance Center (AMC). The six-year contract was signed at Helitech 2003. The license agreements covering all 27 current Model 250 AMCs expire Dec. 31, and Rolls-Royce will be restructuring its AMC network, incorporating Rolls-Royce-owned service centers. According to Rolls-Royce, the new network will consist of 23 independent Model 250 repair and overhaul facilities, three company owned service centers and one partially-owned facility.
Honeywell received an FAA STC of its KFC 225 flight control system and KCS 55A compass system for the PA-31-350 Piper Chieftain aircraft. The KFC provides an upgrade from the Bendix/King KFC 200, which is no longer in production. The KFC package includes a new compass sensor, horizontal situation indicator and flight director. Currently, there are 880 Chieftains on the U.S. Registry.
Rockwell Collins and Connexion by Boeing introduced their broadband connection offering for corporate aircraft at the NBAA Convention in October. Dubbed Collins eXchange, the package integrates with Collins' Airshow 21 cabin electronics system to allow passengers to access the Internet, firewall protected corporate intranets, e-mail, news, weather and destination information, and direct broadcast satellite television programming at speeds comparable to a cable modem.
One thing Beech did get right in the Starship was the structure. The graphite/epoxy and honeycomb layups used to build the Starship may have been controversial, but it's possible that the composite media and the fashion in which it was used may have resulted in one of the strongest general aviation aircraft ever produced. Some observers of the program believe FAA certification authorities forced Beech to over-design the aircraft.
To help memorialize Veterans Day (Nov. 11) and recognize those members of the U.S. armed services who demonstrated extraordinary heroism under fire, Jet Aviation is giving flight crews who visit its U.S. bases complimentary copies of ``Medal of Honor.'' The handsome coffee-table book profiles 118 recipients of the nation's highest medal and includes sections written by former President George Bush, U.S. Sen. John McCain, and NBC newsman Tom Brokaw.
Tom Weil is the 2003 recipient of the Joseph P. Crotti Award for General Aviation Advocacy in California. AOPA President Phil Boyer presented the award to him in September. Weil is the airport manager at California City Municipal Airport (L71) and a member of the board of directors for the Association of California Airports. The Crotti Award cites Weil for ``extraordinary advocacy and leadership in the preservation of general aviation funds during the 2002-2003 California budget crisis.''
B/E Aerospace, Inc. announced that it has expanded its Ice Shield deicer product line for general aviation aircraft, introducing pneumatic deicers for: Beech 1900D; Cessna Citation 501, 525 and 551 and Cessna 210, T210, P210, T-303 Crusader and 441 Conquest; Jetstream 32; Pilatus PC-12; Piper Aerostar 600, 601 and 602, PA-46 310, 350 Malibu/Mirage and PA-42 Cheyenne. B/E also has Ice Shield systems for various Embraer, Gulfstream, Fairchild and Mitsubishi aircraft, as well as for other Beech, Cessna and Piper models.
Thunder Aviation, the aircraft servicing company and FBO based at Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS), is teaming with Honeywell in offering RVSM upgrades for Falcon 20s equipped with either APS 105 or SPZ 500 autopilots. The company, which anticipates FAA award of a group STC for the update in December, says the retrofit will require about two weeks of downtime and cost $165,000. Thunder plans to offer RVSM upgrades for Falcon 10 aircraft beginning in March 2004.
Air Security International introduced ASI Travel Security Manager, a system that enables security departments to track travelers and set alerts, advisories and notification trees that will distribute critical information automatically to employees around the globe. At the same time, ASI announced an alliance with Nationwide Intelligence to use the latter's city and airport information covering 50 of the most popular business travel destinations in the United States for the ASI Travel Security Manager service.
Mxi Technologies announced that Dassault Aviation has selected its Maintenix maintenance management software for tracking the utilization and reliability of its customer fleet. ``Faster access to a complete data set of the performance of our aircraft fleet will help us as a manufacturer to provide the best level of customer support,'' said Jacques Pellas, Dassault Aviation Information Systems, senior vice president.
Banyan Air Service plans to build a new 25,000-square-foot terminal to be completed by winter 2004 at Florida's Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE). The two-story FBO will house a 2,800-square-foot customer lobby with a 35-foot-long customer service desk, a television lounge, pilot lounge, snooze room and separate full-size bunk room, shower facilities, a weather and flight planning room, two conference rooms, a business center, wireless Internet, public phone terminals, a large vending area, a baggage holding area, six restrooms and 22 offices.
Flight Safety Technologies (FST) Inc. completed a three-week data collection experiment with its Socrates wake vortex sensor, part of a NASA-sponsored wake acoustics test at Denver International Airport (DEN). Socrates transmits low-power laser beams into a given space. A reflector sends the beams back to a receiver, and the system measures changes in the speed of the light waves of the beams. These changes indicate that the laser has interacted with sound waves emanating from nearby or far-off air disturbances.
Athens International Airport will have its first general aviation terminal ready in time for the 2004 Summer Olympics, officials say. The terminal, which will have its own access to a new freeway, will house an executive passenger lounge and have immigration and customs services. Handling agents will share offices in the building. The airport authority says that it will be able to cope with extra business jet movements, but for the Olympics, visitors must book parking and slots well in advance.
Standard Aero International, Tilburg, the Netherlands, has appointed Kees Hage vice president and general manager of the company's facility there, which provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services for turbine engines.
The Maxa Beam searchlight delivers six million candlepower illumination in a 3.2-pound handheld unit. Using a highly efficient 75-watt Xenon short arc lamp with a life of over 500 hours, this searchlight reaches targets 1.5 miles away. Using the unit's programmable electronic thumb control, operators can vary the size of the beam from a wide 40-degree flood to a narrow 1-degree beam, vary the intensity of the light, and activate the strobe function, all with one hand.
For Dan Stocks, president of Allen Investment, Aviation and Marine in Newburgh, Ind., the tanking of Starship prices was a watershed. He'd been lusting after a Starship for more than five years, and in August he picked up serial number NC29, a Model 2000A, for $600,000. For owner/pilot Stocks, who'd been flying himself around in a Swearingen Merlin IIIA, the Starship was not only a bargain, it was a step-up airplane. ``It's a lot of airplane for the money,'' he said. Price prohibited Stocks from moving up to an entry-level jet.
Kids love to pretend they're flying airplanes just like the one their mom or dad flies, and now they can have their own headset like grown-up pilots. Constructed from rugged, nontoxic plastic, the headset is an authorized replica of Flightcom's Denali aviation headset and is designed for children ages three and up. The mic boom is reinforced for easy positioning and each set is fitted with real foam ear seals. B/CA readers will receive a $5.00 discount per order when purchasing the headset online and entering the discount code (``aviationnow'').
Duncan Aviation recently installed and certified a Universal TAWS system in an IAI 1125. The system will display on a UNS-1C plus system. Duncan holds several IAI 1125 STCs, including RVSM, TCAS II, EGPWS, APU and G100 cabin interior.
Kenneth E. Gazzola has assumed the position of publishing director of B/CA, A/C Flyer and B/CA Show News in addition to his responsibilities as executive vice president/publisher of McGraw-Hill's Aviation Week Group. The position of publisher has been eliminated from these publications. Former Publisher Gil Wolin is in discussions to become a consultant to the group for new business. In addition, Regional Sales Manager Kenneth Ross has been appointed sales director for B/CA, A/C Flyer and B/CA Show News.
United Airlines has committed to an 11-year United Express partnership with Air Wisconsin. United filed a motion in bankruptcy court reserving the right to change or reject the tentative agreement the two companies had reached earlier this year. The final deal lets Air Wisconsin fly up to 60 50-seat Bombardier CRJs -- 17 more than it flies in its Express operations. Air Wisconsin will also be allowed to fly 17 BAe 146s through 2005 and at least 10 after that.
Jet Aviation Geneva is now an authorized Bombardier Global Express service facility, able to perform line and base maintenance on GEX airframes and engines and to perform warranty repairs and modifications. Jet Aviation Geneva also is authorized to perform work on Boeing, Gulfstream and Raytheon aircraft as well as on the Lockheed JetStar.
Primedia's AC-U-KWIK has published its 2003-2004 World Edition, with more than 1,100 pages of updated and expanded airport/FBO information. In addition, the guide now contains a dedicated worldwide charter section. The charter listings are sorted geographically and provide the operator's name, phone, fax, e-mail and Web site information. To make this edition easier to use, the publication has tabbed pages separating its various divisions. The World Edition includes an accompanying Windows-based CD-ROM at no additional charge. Price: $74.95 Primedia 9800 Metcalf Ave.
These graphs are designed to provide preliminary estimates of the Raisbeck Learjet 35/36ZR system compared with the original version, based upon early flight-test results provided by Nate Lachendro on Raisbeck's engineering team and Learjet flight-planning guides. The stock airplane is represented by the blue lines and labels on the charts, and red lines and labels are used for the ZR. Note: Sufficient data were not available to prepare B/CA's Time and Fuel vs. Distance graph.
