A broad-based industry advisory group, formed to develop recommendations for regulating long-range operations and extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS), has met for the last time and hopes to present its final recommendations to the FAA soon. In 2000, the FAA asked the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) to draft a proposal that would codify a series of informal policies governing ETOPS and other long-range operations under FAR Parts 25, 33, 121 and 135.
Sept. 29 -- A Eurocopter AS350-B3 operated by the U.S. Forest Service crashed during a premature liftoff while engaged in a pre-departure hydraulic actuator check at the Bishop, Calif. (BIH) airport. The collective had been placed in the down and locked position and the rotor powered up to 100-percent flight idle. After depressing the hydraulic test switch, the pilot moved the cyclic fore and aft to confirm there was remaining pressure for a few control movements. The collective rose uncommanded and the helicopter moved forward in a nose-down attitude.
The FAA presented its 2002 Excellence in Aviation award to the laboratories and universities that support the agency's Aviation Weather Research Program.
CAE SimuFlite, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, has appointed Mark Malkosky to the position of senior manager, technical training. He will oversee all aspects of maintenance training.
For some of us it's hard to recall when the Internet didn't exist. For others, it's still a new and wonderful gold mine of information and entertainment. Whether you consider yourself a seasoned Net user or a newbie, it can still be exasperating to find exactly what you're looking for in a hurry, much less to remember to add newfound links to your ``favorites'' list. Web sites come and go with surprising speed, or morph into new forms.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, says the FAA is ``dysfunctional'' and ``we need to get that in order.'' FAA management reforms could take a step forward if Congress approves the recently proposed Aviation Industry Stabilization and Reform Act, whose chief sponsor is Mica. The bill, which passed Mica's subcommittee in October, concentrates on helping airlines to recover financially, and calls for reorganizing and integrating the FAA's advisory councils.
The U.S. State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel in the following countries: Afghanistan Algeria Angola Bosnia and Herzegovina Burundi Central African Republic Colombia Congo-Kinshasa Cote d'Ivoire Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel and the West Bank Gaza Lebanon Liberia Libya Macedonia Nigeria Pakistan Somalia Sudan
Bombardier's 86-seat CRJ900 has received FAA type certification. The CRJ900 is the largest model in Bombardier's regional jet line. Type recommendation from Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities is expected soon, the company said. Transport Canada awarded Aircraft Type Approval on Sept. 9. The CRJ900 will make its public debut with Mesa Air Group, flying under America West Express colors, in early 2003. Mesa has placed firm orders for 20 CRJ900s. It already operates 32 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200s and two 70-seat CRJ700s.
CSI Aviation Services, Albuquerque, has leased two additional MD82 aircraft from AirFinance to support a CSI contract with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Boeing Corp. will relocate is corporate flight operations at the Gary/Chicago Airport (GYY) as of March 1, 2003. The current plan is to lease a new 68,000-square-foot hangar, constructed by the airport, for its BBJ and two Challengers. The lease is for up to 28.5 years and would cost the company $6 per square foot.
``Love what you do; it will show in the work you do and the opportunities that you are offered.'' -- Katie Lawson, FlightSafety International ``Be sure you make the extra effort to sit with the guys at lunch and learn from them. Listen and learn from their experiences.'' -- Robin Lamar, Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance ``Get a college degree first, and be aware that you can succeed in aviation maintenance the same way women succeed in most other careers -- by doing the job better and faster than men.''
Effective Oct. 28, the FAA issued new rules requiring pilots to present a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, upon request from government agencies. The rules were proposed earlier this year by the AOPA, in response to growing security concerns, and are intended to implement ``a readily available, low-cost way for pilots to carry photo identification,'' the FAA said. While the agency expects that a driver's license will be the most commonly used photo ID, other forms of valid identification could be a state ID card, a U.S.
Technology Partnership Canada (TPC) awarded Thales $9.9 million (Canadian) to help the company develop an enhanced visibility system (EVS), fly-by-wire (FBW) controls and required navigation performance system for business and regional aircraft. Allan Rock, Canada's industry minister, and Jean-Pierre Mortreux, president and CEO of Thales Avionics North America, announced the government award at a press conference at the company's Montreal headquarters on Nov. 15.
Graphical flight following has been available to business aviation since 1997 in the form of Aircraft Situa-tion Display to Industry (ASDI) services, and it is becoming a key tool for the corporate uplift industry. The FAA developed ASDI in the mid-1980s to provide air traffic managers with an overview of all IFR traffic in the nation's airspace. The nexus of ASDI is the agency's Central Flow Control facility in Herndon, Va. The ASDI database is maintained at the DOT's Volpe Communications Center, in Cambridge, Mass.
The Racor Division of Parker Hannifin has developed the Racor Filter Funnel (RFF) family for operators that perform over-the-wing refueling. The heavy duty, fast flow, filter-in-a-funnel separates free water and contaminants from Avgas or Jet A. Designed to remove contaminants that are 0.005 inch or larger, the Teflon-coated stainless-steel filters are available in 6.0-by-3.5-inch small (2.7 gal./min.), 9.0-by-5.5-inch medium (3.9 gal./min.) or 10.0-by-8.5-inch large (5 gal./min.) sizes. Price: small, $14.95; medium, $19.95; large, $29.95
Hawthorne, Calif., is the home of two signal entities: the Beach Boys and Jack Northrop Field/Hawthorne Municipal Air-port. It is also where Pat Carey grew up and lives to this day, a fact that has absolutely no bearing on the ``Little Deuce Coupe's'' legacy, but a whole lot on the airport's.
The editors of B/CA created the Vision Awards as a means for publicly recognizing and applauding special effort and achievement by individuals and groups in furthering business aviation.
FBOs at the targeted airports are bracing themselves for a tough time, for as Alan George of Metro Business Aviation (with FBOs at Heathrow and Stansted) said, ``If the firemen go on strike then the airports will be automatically closed because of lack of fire cover.'' All other major U.K. airports will remain open with their FBOs operating, but an influx of diverted airline and corporate traffic could cause airport overload. The union urged the BAA to reconvene pay negotiations with a new offer in order to avoid the strike actions.
Goodyear Aviation Tires, Akron, Ohio, has hired Willem Luuk Nijdam as general manager for its posts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He will be based in Tilburg, the Netherlands.
AIR Inc. reports airlines created 652 new pilot jobs in October. Of 198 reporting carriers, 80 hired pilots and 151 are recruiting. Majors hired 27 pilots, and three majors are expected to hire in the next several months. Seven of 31 national airlines hired 311 pilots, with jet operators hiring 127, fractionals 57, and non-jet operators bringing 106 on board. By October's end, there were 7,204 pilots on furlough out of an active total of 94,571, up slightly from September's 7,080 furlough total.
Flightcraft, Portland, Ore., has hired Marc Belanger, formerly of Duncan Aviation, as its new avionics manager. Belanger's hiring follows the recent opening of Flightcraft's new aircraft maintenance facility in Portland.
Rockwell Collins Aviation Services (CAS) won U.K. CAA certification to perform maintenance on inflight entertainment (IFE) systems on Joint Aviation Authority-registered aircraft. The JAR-145 Limited A1 authorization allows CAS facilities at London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports to service IFE systems and complete the certificate of release to service. CAS is seeking similar approval for its bases at Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports in Paris.
The FAA expects to approve special approach procedures at San Francisco (SFO) for aircraft equipped to Required Navigation Performance (RNP) standards, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit in Washington. The FAA calls RNP ``an important step in moving the United States from an exclusively ground-based navigation system to one located within the aircraft itself,'' to which the agency's chief executive added, ``RNP is a major leap forward in safety and efficiency.''
