ANPC has announced a transportable version of its Transponder Landing System (TLS) that received FAA Type Approval in December 2001. It is contained in a single trailer that can be airlifted in a C-130. ANPC's Firefly transportable TLS provides precision approach guidance (lateral and vertical path) to any civil or military aircraft equipped with a standard ILS receiver. The system interrogates the aircraft's transponder and broadcasts signals that drive the ILS indicators to show deviation from a computed flight path.
On March 24, 2000, a 31-year-old commercial pilot blew his type rating ride. He was flying a Bankair Learjet 35A on the type-rating check with an FAA-designated examiner in the right seat. The type-rating candidate was a 1,700-hour commercial pilot with a flight instructor certificate and multiengine and instrument ratings. The pilot had been employed by the check-hauling company three months earlier. He had accumulated over 300 hours in the right seat of Learjets.
While many operators were devastated by operational restrictions in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the Helicopter Association International's annual Heli-Expo demonstrated that the world helicopter market is hopeful for an improvement this year and that technological innovations and new aircraft deliveries continue at a steady pace. Among the highlights of this year's mid-February gathering in Orlando:
In what resembled a scene from a movie, a student pilot landed a Cape Air Cessna 402 recently when the airplane's pilot became incapacitated. The twin-piston was en route from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis, Mass. -- normally a 15 minute flight -- when the pilot began flying ``erratically'' according to a preliminary FAA report.
Russian aviation officials said a tariff increase for European Union (E.U.) aircraft flying in its airspace could occur if a compromise is not reached over the new E.U. noise pollution standards. Moscow claims that the E.U. Stage 3 requirements, scheduled to take effect in April, will restrict up to 80 percent of its planes from European airspace. In addition, the Russians said they were being economically hampered because the vast majority of the civilian fleet is Soviet-built and money for upgrades is unavailable.
In September 1999, Tom Horne, a senior experimental test pilot for Gulfstream Aerospace, found himself drowning in a sea of yellow envelopes. He had just been permanently assigned the task of updating the flight department's worldwide Jeppesen charts. Every 14 days, he had to remove and replace as many as 2,000 approach, arrival, departure, airport, taxiway and en route charts, or about five percent of the 40,000 published procedures.
The FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive that makes mandatory the Lycoming service bulletin calling for the replacement of crankshafts in certain Textron Lycoming TIO-540 and LTIO-540 engines. The AD contains the serial numbers of the affected engines, which are installed on Cessna T206, Piper Navajo, Mojave, Saratoga, Aerostar, Malibu Mirage and El Gavilan aircraft. The affected engines have crankshafts manufactured between March 1 and December 1, 1999.
Project Capstone will use Chelton synthetic vision EFIS for its Phase II demonstrations. Capstone Phase I validated the concept of providing radar-like services by data link and terrain awareness information on primary flight displays. Phase II will add forward-looking, real time 3-D terrain on a PFD and incorporate additional ground-based infrastructure. Chelton will validate its display technology in flight trials in Juneau during March. Once the technology is validated, Chelton hopes to achieve full certification within four months.
Do you feel like you're rolling the dice when you rely on an FBO to order catering at an unfamiliar location? Say you place an order, and depending on how far in advance you request it, the food arrives 12, 24 or 36 hours later. When you accept the food, you don't know who prepared it, if the facility in which it was prepared is clean, how old the food really is, and if it was refrigerated properly.
Weyerhaeuser marked a first when it sold its five-year-old Falcon 2000 with all its records entirely on CD-ROM. In December, the forest products company delivered the aircraft to Dassault's Little Rock, Ark., service center for a pre-purchase inspection. The company had scheduled two weeks for the process, but the inspection was completed and the sale consummated in just three days. Weyerhaeuser used AirLog Imaging of Lexington, Ky., to transfer the records to CD-ROM with a word-search program that allowed detailed research of the entire life of the aircraft.
-- A corporate transatlantic flight that was three hours from its destination experienced an airborne medical emergency when three passengers became ill with diarrhea, chills, sweat and high fever after eating catering.
Bombardier officially launched its new Global 5000 business jet in mid-February, despite a relatively small number of purchase commitments for the new airplane, the company said.
The NTSB has issued a formal Safety Recommendation as fallout of the American Airlines Flight 587 accident investigation. The Safety Board learned that sequential full opposite rudder deflections (sometimes referred to as ``rudder reversals'') can result in structural loads in excess of design requirements, even at relatively low airspeeds below the design maneuvering speed, and even with rudder limiters activated.
SFAR-95 will allow operators based at College Park, Potomac Airpark and Hyde Field Airport to resume operations. So far, only operators based at those airports on September 11, 2001, will be permitted to use them. They must be subjected to FBI clearance, individually briefed on special procedures, and issued personal identification numbers for use when filing flight plans. The FAA will also reopen the existing VFR corridor in the Baltimore/Washington Class B airspace. The AOPA, in a statement, said it will continue to press for the airports to open to normal use.
Mike Vines, in Bermingham, EnglandEdited by David Rimmer
The implementation of Europe-wide 1,000-feet RVSM above FL 290 has gone better than expected, according to Joe Sul-tana, EUR RVSM program manager, but flight planning problems have to be im-proved. The new flight levels were introduced on January 24 (B/CA, February, page 34). Officials say the switchover went so well that self-imposed Eurocontrol capacity restrictions were lifted 48 hours after RVSM implementation. The organization had planned up to 15 days of reduced capacity if needed for safety concerns.
Mike Vines, in Birmingham, EnglandEdited by David Rimmer
A ``Royal Flight'' BAe 146-CC Mk 2 is for sale by the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense (MOD). The aircraft has flown most British ``Royals,'' prime ministers and VVIPs over the last 11 years. The four-engine jet was one of three operated by the Royal Air Force's Royal Squadron. The aircraft is to be sold by tender. According to MOD sources, the plan to reduce the 146 fleet to two aircraft dates back to 1997.
Mesa Air Group, Inc. has added Midland College (Texas) to its Mesa Pilot Development Program. Students using Midland's ``Pro-Focus'' ab initio syllabus graduate with an Associate Degree and a Commercial ticket. The program takes 19 months. They then feed directly into the Mesa Pilot Preparation program for turbine training and a guaranteed job interview with Mesa Air Group. Historically, Mesa Pilot Development Program graduates have had a 97-percent placement rate. Midland College, which uses a fleet of new Mooneys in its program, is located on the Midland airport.
Now owned by Boeing, the former Preston Group has been renamed Preston Aviation Solutions, operating as part of Boeing's Air Traffic Management business unit. Preston develops air traffic and airport decision support, simulation and scheduling software products and hopes to become known as a provider of gate-to-gate management solutions for the air transport industry. Preston is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and has offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and London.
A corporate aircraft galley safety issue that deserves serious consideration is the use of dry ice. Actually frozen carbon dioxide, the gas we exhale as we breathe, dry ice is much denser and colder than frozen water, or ``wet'' ice. Dry ice is -109.3F, or -78.5C. Traditional ice is 32F, or 0C. Dry ice does not melt, it sublimates. This is the process of going directly from a solid to a gas, bypassing the liquid form, hence its name.
Implementing an increased reliance on regional jets while keeping labor peace with mainline pilots has proven to be a labor relations and economic challenge for many major airlines. American and Continental Airlines, each facing its own challenges in the post-September 11, 2001, landscape, have chosen different ways to cope.
CAE announced a total of $18 million (Canadian) in new simulator business from Bombardier and WestJet. They will build and install a Level `D' 737-700 simulator for WestJet and will upgrade some of Bombardier's CRJ700 training systems (a full flight simulator, a flight training device and two systems trainers) to be fully convertible to CRJ900 training.
Three more FlightSafety International simulators received Level ``D'' approval in January: a CRJ simulator at the Cincinnati Learning Center, a Citation Bravo at San Antonio, and at DFW, a Level ``C'' Galaxy simulator was upgraded a to a Level ``D'' Gulfstream 200.
Mike Vines, in London, EnglandEdited by David Rimmer
As promised at the NBAA convention in December 2001, Bombardier has relaunched its Flexjet Europe fractional ownership operation as a block charter hybrid known as the Jet Membership Program. Unlike Flexjet Europe, which offered fractional leases, Jet Membership clients can purchase a minimum of 50 occupied hours in Bombardier business jets flown by independent operators. Available aircraft include the Learjet 31A, 45 and 60 as well as Challenger 604s. The Challenger SE and Global Express are available at additional cost.
