The FAA has released the latest update of its Operational Evolution Plan (OEP), a blueprint for developing the National Airspace System (NAS). While it confirmed earlier signals by delaying some initiatives, the agency emphasized the importance of not letting the aviation industry's financial weakness derail capacity enhancement.
In ``Stage 2 Aircraft Drive Noise Policy,'' (November 2002, page 54), references to ``ICAO Annex 13'' are incorrect. The correct section of the ICAO codicil addressing aircraft noise standards is Annex 16, Volume I. Author David Esler regrets committing the journalistic equivalent of ``fat-finger error'' (i.e., entering the wrong waypoint into an FMS, then downloading the error into redundant units), and thanks IBAC director and ICAO liaison Peter Ingleton for pointing it out.
Ibis Aerospace appointed Rheinland Air Service (RAS) a distributor for its Ae270 turboprop. RAS, located in Munchengladbach, Germany, will service Ae270 operators throughout Europe. The Ae270 is a large-cabin, pressurized aircraft designed to carry up to 10 people (two crew plus eight passengers). The Ae270 can also be configured for bulk cargo and as a six- to seven-passenger executive transport.
Polish airline LOT confirmed its decision to acquire 10 Embraer 170s plus 11 options that can be converted into the yet-to-fly 190 and 195 models. Final contract negotiations are expected to take place in the coming weeks, according to the Brazilian manufacturer. If concluded successfully deliveries are expected to commence in early 2004.
Step up to a TCAS, or a traffic alert and collision avoidance system, and you'll realize you've missed spotting a lot of nearby aircraft, based upon reports we've heard from dozens of business aircraft pilots. But stepping up to a top-of-the-line TCAS II also can put a $200,000-plus hole in your wallet. Even entry-level traffic alerting systems, such as Honeywell's KTA870 and Goodrich's SkyWatch HP, cost about $17,500 to $25,000, not including installation.
Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., Teterboro, N.J., has named John Rahilly vice president of national sales and marketing. Todd McGahey has been appointed vice president and general manager of Falcon's Wilmington, Del., facility. Dean Anderson has been appointed to the newly created position of service center network director. Anderson will manage the independent service center network, including all authorized service and line service centers in the Western Hemisphere, while overseeing worldwide maintenance training standards for Dassault.
Corporate Angel Network (CAN) announced that Ford Motor Co. will receive the Corporate Angel Award for the first quarter of this year. ``For 20 years, Ford has been providing a great service to many cancer patients and bone marrow donors by opening its executive flights to those needing specialized treatment,'' said Bonnie LeVar, executive director of CAN. Ford will receive $5,000 worth of Chevron/Texaco fuel along with the full-page advertisement appearing in this issue of B/CA (page 31). B/CA, in turn, contributes the cost of the advertisement to CAN.
CHC Helicopters International is flying U.N. weapons inspectors around Iraq under a contract announced on Dec. 16, 2002. CHC will deploy a total of four Bell 212 helicopters to fly missions from the Baghdad headquarters of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. CHC estimates the value of the contract at $14 million per year. The contract length is one year plus another optional year, but includes a standard termination option in the event the U.N. mission ends before the contract expires.
The FAA should revise its deployment plan and its cost estimates for a new short-term weather forecasting system for use in airport terminal areas, according to a report submitted by the DOT's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in January. The Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS), produced by Raytheon, shows great promise as a way to reduce weather-related delays and increase safety, and has been well-received by controllers, the OIG said.
EADS and Rockwell Collins sealed a ``Competitive Partnership'' pact with an MOU signed on Jan. 7. You might ask what a Competitive Partnership is. EADS explains it this way: ``Our global sourcing strategy aims to encourage long-term cooperation between EADS business units and their best-in-class suppliers and create a new type of relationship,'' which involves an exceptional level of cooperation and even joint approaches to certain end customers.
Qantas Airways placed a firm order for three new Bombardier Q300 series turboprop airliners and has also purchased a previously leased 36-seat Dash 8 Q200 aircraft from Bombardier Aerospace. Deliveries of the 50-seat Q300 are scheduled for the second quarter of this year. Qantas will place the aircraft with its QantasLink regional network, which includes the Dash 8 operations of Eastern Australia Airlines and Sunstate Airlines.
The FAA OEP 5.0 outlines its plans for required navigation performance (RNP) and the introduction of area navigation (RNAV) routes, including the publication of RNP-2 and RNP-0.3 this year, and the release of 30 RNAV routes by the end of this year and 30 by the end of 2004, in addition to 40 RNAV routes that were added in 2002. The agency said it will develop a proposal to resume the precision runway monitoring (PRM) program.
LoPresti Speed Merchants, Vero Beach, Fla., has named Curtis LoPresti president and CEO. LoPresti's employment record includes positions with Cessna, Boeing, Bell, Mooney and LoPresti Piper.
West Star Aviation of Grand Junction, Colo., has signed an agreement with Garrett Aviation Services to purchase and stock Garrett's RVSM package for installation on 500-series straight-wing Cessna Citations. The program covers the 500, 501, 550, 551 and 560 Citation models with the exception of the first 275 Citation 500 serial numbers and the S550.
How has the post-9/11 aviation security environment affected off-airport rotary-wing operations? ``A year or so back we were looked at as a potential security risk,'' said Glenn Rizner, vice president of operations for the Helicopter Association International (HAI). ``Our operators were low on the ATC radar screen and the operations themselves frequently ad hoc.'' Not surprisingly, the spontaneous nature of most helicopter activity stood out like a red flag to the Transportation Security Administration.
THE NTSB BELIEVES transport crews should limit flight control system troubleshooting to checklist items followed by an immediate landing if the checklist items fail to resolve the problem, and it has asked the FAA to require air carriers to share this advice with their pilots. The recommendation arises from the investigation into the Jan. 31, 2000, crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 into the Pacific Ocean, several miles off the Los Angeles shoreline.
Midcoast Aviation, St. Louis Downtown Airport, Ill., has appointed Jim Zarvos director, Midcoast Custom Products. Zarvos, who has been with Midcoast since 1993, will oversee the company's PMA efforts.
AirScan, Inc. has taken an option to buy 30 Adam Aircraft A-500s for use in its government contract surveillance and security fleet operations. AirScan has a fleet of Cessna C-337 Skymasters equipped with various sensor packages. Headquartered in Rockledge, Fla., the company has contracts with the U.S. State Department, Army, and Air Force; the governments of Angola and Colombia; and other customers.
James B. Taylor III, 80, one of the best known and most inventive business jet marketers ever, passed away on Jan. 17. He had been under treatment for liver cancer. A former U.S. Naval aviator and son of a much decorated Navy test pilot, Taylor began selling Navions after World War II out of Teterboro. One of his early customers was radio giant Arthur Godfrey.
U.S. jet and turboprop accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities were all down in 2002 versus 2001 according to figures compiled by Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. In 2002, the total accident count decreased by eight to 60. There were 19 fatal accidents, down by five, with 47 resulting in fatalities, a decrease of 33 fatalities from 2001. See breakouts to the right.
The Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (ATA), Washington, D.C., has appointed James C. May as president and CEO to succeed the retiring Carol B. Hallett.
The Transportation Security Administration is using Sabre, the airline reservation system company, to schedule passenger and baggage screeners at U.S. commercial airports. ``This is about getting the right number of people at the right places,'' Tom Klein, president of Sabre's Airline Solutions unit, said in an interview with AviationNow.com. Sabre will use staff forecasting models to more efficiently plan work schedules for the TSA's 56,000 screeners, shifting the schedules of hundreds of employees ``based on real-time events,'' including bad weather, Klein said.
The NBAA states that it ``joins with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and many others in the aviation community who agree that air traffic control is, uniquely, a governmental function in that it must be operated for all users as a monopoly.
The Burbank Airport authority and local city leaders will travel to Washington, D.C., this month to persuade the FAA to keep alive proposals for aircraft operating restrictions and a new terminal at the airport. An airport authority official said the delegation would stress that even though local opposition remains an enormous obstacle in the long-running debate over the terminal, plans to build it have not been abandoned.
