Calling it ``a first step in increased industrial cooperation between Fairchild Dornier and Chinese industry on a variety of projects,'' Fairchild Dornier has tapped China's Harbin Aircraft to produce wing fairings for the Fairchild Dornier 328JET. The aircraft will continue to be assembled at the German manufacturer's Oberpfaffenhofen facility. A spokesman for Harbin said at last year's Airshow China that the company hoped eventually to manufacture the aircraft in China.
Plugging all the security holes in the aviation infrastructure without overly hampering the convenience of air travel will be one the biggest challenges in the industry's history. Complicating this is the fact that aviation, more than any other medium, has tended to reflect, even epitomize, the openness of American society.
Corporate Rotable and Supply (CRS) has introduced a replacement generator for Model 35, 36 and 55 Learjets. The new DC generator, manufactured by Thales with CRS holding the STC, is a drop-in replacement for the current Allied/Bendix generator and requires no additional aircraft modification. Features of the generator include a 3,000-hour TBO, 400 true amps at ground level operation and a two-year factory warranty. The brushless DC generator uses an output diode bridge design with diode chips imbedded into power heat sinks.
The Chicago Department of Aviation, which operates O'Hare International -- one of the linchpins of the national hub-and-spoke system and, arguably, one of the six most important airports in the United States -- as well as Midway and Meigs Field airports, responded to the September 11 attacks by imposing airline-level security screening on FBOs and corporate flight departments based on its fields.
Sweden's Skyways Aviation has helped U.K.-based Eastern Airways service the Norwich-Aberdeen route vacated by the collapse of Gill Airways. Skyways arranged for Eastern to temporarily obtain a Fokker 50 while searching for an aircraft more suited to the demands of the route. Skyways located and arranged a six-month renewable lease of an Embraer ERJ 135 from City Airlines of Sweden. Eastern will operate the jet four times daily on the route and one time on Sundays.
FlightSafety's next-generation visual system will equip all new simulators delivered by its Tulsa-based simulation division beginning in early 2002. The new VITAL systems designed and manufactured by the company's visual simulation systems division in St. Louis will feature greater daytime visibility and contrast along with more advanced nighttime illuminations. Each visual channel can display up to 30,000 polygons and up to four megapixels -- roughly twice as sharp and twice as fast as its current ChromaView Plus visual systems.
Increased security requirements are expected to have little impact on the activities of A&P technicians. However, FAR Part 147 maintenance schools will be effected.
During the months of November and December, most of us find ourselves facing additional stress because of the holiday demands and the extra flying, reports and projects that seem to mark the end of the calendar year. Besides contending with your regular schedule, the extra shopping, parties and family obligations might make your usual good health practices fall by the wayside.
Sikorsky is teaming with Computing Devices Canada to maximize the ``made in Canada'' content of its Maritime Helicopter Project (MHP) candidate. Computing Devices Canada is a General Dynamics subsidiary and would draw on significant GD capabilities to provide the integrated mission system for Sikorsky's H-92 helicopter contender in the MHP Basic Vehicle competition. GD would integrate the Computing Devices system into the helicopter airframe. Sikorsky has said there could be more work for the Canadian company beyond the MHP project.
With the horrifying images of September 11 seared into the nation's collective memory, business aviation is pondering the ultimate impact from the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., will have on operational freedoms.
SJ30-2 full-scale static tests are underway at Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. (SSAC). The tests began August 15 at the company's structural test facility at San Antonio International Airport, across the field from SSAC headquarters. Data from the static test airframe TF-2 are expected to be complete in mid-summer 2002. Certification is scheduled for late 2002 with the first customer deliveries in 2003. Fatigue testing will be conducted on airframe TF-3 and will take approximately two years. Fatigue testing typically does not pace certification.
Jet Aviation has increased the size of its worldwide charter and management fleet with the addition of 17 aircraft. The most recent additions include three Bombardier Challengers and four Global Express aircraft; a Cessna Citation 550; a Dassault Falcon 20, 50, 900B and 900EX; a Fairchild Dornier 328JET; a Gulfstream 200 (Galaxy), two G-IVs and a G-V. With the new additions, Jet Aviation operates the largest worldwide fleets of Global Expresses and G-Vs with five and seven of the types, respectively.
Boeing Co. faces a high-class problem with its Boeing Capital Corp. business unit according to Business Week in its September 16 issue. Boeing Capital is growing, it's successful and it's profitable. But it has the potential of being in direct competition with aircraft leasing companies who are already Boeing customers. Boeing has sidestepped the problem so far by partnering with other leasing companies.
Rolls-Royce is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Viper engine, perhaps the oldest gas turbine engine in production. Rolls-Royce reports around 5,500 Vipers sold since the type was introduced in 1953, amassing more than 13 million flight hours. Viper-powered aircraft include early Hawker 125 business jets, the BAC Strikemaster and Jet Provost T.4 and T.5, and the Soko Galeb. The Italian MB339 jet trainer is the only airplane still in production powered by the Viper.
The pilot and three passengers were killed and 24 passengers were injured in the crash of a Binter Mediterranio CASA CN-235-200 while on approach to Malaga International Airport in Spain. According to preliminary reports, the flight crew reported engine trouble and was attempting to land when the aircraft struck a highway embankment under the approach path to the airport. The crash is the fourth for a CN-235 this year -- three Turkish-registered planes crashed over a fourth-month period earlier in the year.
Boeing said it had received orders for a total of some 80 BBJs and expects to have 40-45 of the aircraft in service this year. The Seattle manufacturer said it anticipates winglets -- now standard equipment -- will be retrofitted on all BBJs later this year.
Vigilance is still in order by aircraft operators, Certificate of Registration holders and maintenance facilities on the lookout for unapproved wire rope (cable) manufactured by the Strandflex Co. of Syracuse, N.Y. They could be installed in flight and engine control systems in civilian aircraft or in stock at repair facilities. There was a time lag between awareness of a quality problem with the cables in 1999 and the issuance of an ``unapproved parts notification'' by the FAA on May 18, 2000.
Initial indicators point to serious problems with the engine of a Eurocopter AS350 B2 AStar helicopter that crashed August 10 during a sightseeing flight near the Grand Canyon. Six of the people on board were killed and the female survivor remains hospitalized with serious injuries. She told rescue workers at the scene the helicopter ``got quiet and fell from the sky.'' Asked if the engine was running, she responded, ``No, not at the end. It got quiet. It got quiet and fell from the sky.'' The woman's husband was one of those killed.
The events of September 11 have, in essence, activated elements of the FAA's National Air Traffic Reduced Complement Operations Plan (RCOP). Much of the vital operational information is disseminated using the NOTAM process associated with FAR Part 91.139, particularly restrictions, prohibitions and authorizations for certain types of operations. As of September 21, general aviation aircraft were flying both IFR and VFR, but those operations were subject to Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR's). SFAR No.
Goodrich plans to divest its engineered in-dustrial products division in early 2002 -- the final step in its transformation to an aerospace company. David L. Burner, chairman and CEO of the Charlotte, N.C., manufacturer, says the spinoff will ``enhance shareholder value'' and enable investors to ``evaluate the investment merits of our aerospace and industrial businesses.''
