Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is installing ADS-B equipment on more than 100 aircraft in a move that signals the expansion of the FAA's Safe Flight 21 program beyond Alaska. The FAA will build ground stations near Embry-Riddle's Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., campuses in early 2004 that will transmit weather and traffic information to properly equipped Embry-Riddle aircraft. UPS Aviation Technologies, a partner in the Safe Flight 21 program, is supplying MX20 multifunction displays and DL90 universal access transceivers for the Embry-Riddle aircraft.
Garmin plans to offer upgrades on its 400 and 500 series avionics units. For $500, the company will upgrade the 400/500 series with terrain advisories that display potential hazards in yellow and red. Additionally, current Garmin 500 series owners can opt for a $6,495 Class-B TAWS upgrade that meets the FAA mandate requiring TAWS-B for turbine-powered aircraft with six or more passenger seats. Both upgrades will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.
Wi-Fi is airborne. Lufthansa Technik won the race for STC approval of a wireless LAN aboard an aircraft in a joint effort with Connexion by Boeing. In mid-May, after their successful joint tryout of the system, the Connexion, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, British Airways Engineering and Lufthansa Systems won approval from the German and British federal aviation authorities to install it in Boeing 747-400s meeting special structural criteria.
Just one week after the groundbreaking for its Little Rock paint hangar, Dassault Falcon announced another facility expansion, this time in Teterboro, N.J. A new 32,200-square-foot building complex will be constructed directly across from Dassault Falcon's headquarters to accommodate the flight operations department and the Falcon demonstration fleet.
Sheets of rain soaked Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek International Airport on the evening of Oct. 31, 2000, harbingers of rapidly approaching Typhoon Xangsane. On board Singapore Air Flight 006, awaiting takeoff clearance, 159 passengers and 20 crewmembers were looking forward to leaving that soggy city for the overnight transpacific trip to sunny Los Angeles. ``Singapore Six, you're cleared for takeoff Runway Five Left,'' the tower controller instructed. ``Cleared for takeoff Runway Five Left,'' echoed the first officer aboard the heavily loaded Boeing 747-400.
Lockheed Martin installed a common automated radar terminal system (ARTS) at the FAA's new Potomac Consolidated TRACON facility. The system is being used for approach and departure air traffic control for the major airports in the Washington, D.C., area. The Potomac center opened in December 2002 and will handle more than two million flights annually.
Jetsource, Carlsbad, Calif., has recently announced several staff additions. Jim Grindrod has been named chief pilot, Megan Cunningham has been named charter manager, and Thomas Campbell has been named maintenance sales representative.
The National Air Transportation Association has named a new chairman and members of its board of directors. Greg Arnold, president and chief operating officer of TAC Air, will serve as chairman. New board members include Jake Cartwright, president and CEO of TAG Aviation USA; Sally Leible, president of Airport Terminal Services; and William T. Greenwell, chief financial officer and partner with Frederick Aviation in Frederick, Md.
Alan Bristow, founder of Bristow Helicopters, will be the guest of honor at a reception on Sept. 13, celebrating the carrier's 50th anniversary. The festivities will be held at the Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England. Bristow established his company at Henstridge Airfield in Somerset in 1953 before relocating to Redhill, Surrey, where the company is still based today.
Keystone Helicopter, West Chester, Pa., has announced two new vice presidents. Rick Hinkle has been promoted to the new position of vice president of program development. Hinkle, who joined Keystone Helicopter in 1984, has been responsible for the firm's marketing and advertising campaigns for the past 14 years. Prior to this promotion, he was vice president and general manager of the company's Flight Services Division for the past three years. Succeeding Hinkle in that position is Larry Adams, the new vice president and general manager of the Flight Services Division.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) broke ground May 12 for construction of a new control tower and TRACON at Terminal 3. When completed, the 335-foot tower and its 39,000-square-foot TRACON facility will replace the 181-foot tower west of Terminal 3, built in the 1970s. Construction is expected to be finished by mid-2005 and cost about $54 million paid out of federal funds.
Aircraft Technical Publishers and the National Air Transportation Association selected Ed Boyd of Garrett Aviation Services in Springfield, Ill., as the 2003 NATA/ATP General Aviation Service Technician of the Year. The award recognizes licensed A&P mechanics who have been in practice for at least 20 years. Boyd first maintained airplanes as a U.S. Army aviation maintenance technician in Vietnam in 1966. He joined Capital Aviation in Springfield in 1971 as an A&P specializing in reciprocating engine overhaul.
Dassault Falcon Jet has begun construction of a new 46,000-square-foot paint hangar in Little Rock, Ark. The facility, scheduled to be completed in February 2004, will be large enough to accommodate the 82-foot wingspan of the new Falcon 7X. The Little Rock completion and maintenance facility has become Dassault's largest, with more than one-half million square feet under its roof.
Shelley A. Longmuir has been selected to succeed Jack Olcott as NBAA president. Selection of Longmuir to head the association followed a lengthy search that included a professional recruitment firm working with the NBAA's search committee and its board of directors. Longmuir is expected to be on board at NBAA headquarters in Washington, D.C., by the end of this month. A magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, she holds a juris doctorate degree from New York University's School of Law.
There are just 15 rows of seats on the Business Express, so passenger loading and unloading is quick. Each business-class seat is 19.5 inches wide and each row can be spaced as far apart as 52 inches, depending upon the amount of space allotted to interior closets. Seats may be equipped with laptop power outlets, 500-plus mbaud Internet access and a variety of inflight audio-visual options. Overhead, business travelers will find redesigned passenger service units and larger overhead storage bins with integral lighted handrails.
Flightcraft, Portland, Ore., has hired Vernon ``Butch'' Miller as its new chief pilot. Miller was most recently a senior captain with Avbase Aviation in Cleveland.
Birmingham, England-based regional Maersk Air has been renamed Duo Airways after a buyout by its management and employees from Maersk A/S Denmark. Duo has been operating since May 3 and will continue to operate its existing fleet of CRJ 200s and 700s as a British Airways franchise partner to 14 European destinations from Birmingham.
Avbase Aviation, a Cleveland-based aircraft management and consulting services firm, has opened a new operations base in Dallas, occupying offices and a hangar at Mercury Air Center - Addison (ADS). Avbase markets aircraft charter and membership services under the brand UltraJet. At the Mercury facility, Avbase will utilize the hangar for operations and maintenance activity.
Safeair Inc., producer of passenger safety briefing cards for corporate and general aviation, has announced a new product line aimed at operators of smaller business jets and turboprop aircraft. The card sets are available in quantities of eight or more. Safeair, a longtime vendor to Gulfstream, Bombardier and Dassault Falcon, says it has developed a high-quality standard card that not only exceeds FAR Part 91 requirements but also surpasses what is available from the airframe manufacturers.
Experimental Aircraft Association President Tom Poberezny led a scheduled meeting of the General Aviation Coalition (GAC) with TSA chief James Loy and his top assistant Tom Blank. Poberezny is the current chairman of the GAC, which includes the alphabet groups large and small, representing everyone from sport parachutists through Gulfstream V and BBJ operators. Members present at the June 4 meeting reiterated continuing concerns regarding restrictions to general aviation, particularly in the D.C.
Sept. 11, 2001 -- Terrorists hijack four U.S. airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers and one into the Pentagon. The final airliner crashes in Pennsylvania. Government leaders shut down all civil aircraft operations. Sept. 14, 2001 -- Limited IFR general aviation is cleared for flight. Sept. 19, 2001 -- Limited VFR flight is permitted, but must follow ``enhanced'' Class B rules.
So what happens when you're in an out-of-the-way European port and the airplane breaks down? According to old Europe hand Bruce Huffman, who currently runs Bombardier Aerospace's flight demo department at ICT, your first call should be to an FAR Part 145 or JAR 145 approved repair station, ``because they legally can work on your North American-registered airplane.'' Huffman advises operators to carry a shop directory in their flight bags, just in case. ``Make sure any parts you purchase over there are tagged with an FAA Form 8130, or you can't use them,'' he said.
The all-electric Lancair Columbia 350 has received FAA certification. Both the Lancair Model 300 and 350 use a 310-hp Continental IO-550 engine and claim a maximum cruise speed of 190 KTAS. The new Model 350 features a more-robust electrical system and no vacuum system. The 350 has dual batteries and alternators, is better able to incorporate state-of-the-art avionics and has provisions for future options such as deice and air conditioning. Meanwhile, the Columbia 300 recently won Canadian certification.
AIR MIDWEST FLIGHT 5481 -- a Beech 1900D operating as US Airways Express -- crashed shortly after takeoff from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) on Jan. 8, 2003, at about 0848 EST. The two pilots and all 19 passengers were killed. Only moments before, all had seemed normal as the airplane taxied into position on Runway 18R and began its takeoff run. Radar data and controller witnesses indicate the airplane lifted off at approximately 0847:00 between the intersections of Runway 18R and taxiways E6 and E7.
