The Mexican Navy purchased a RotorWay Exec 162F helicopter for basic rotorcraft pilot training. RotorWay says the kit helicopter retails for $62,350 and takes 300-400 hours to build. Purchase price and operating costs may have been a factor in the purchase, with RotorWay claiming operating costs of $19 per hour exclusive of fuel, eight-gallon-per-hour fuel consumption, and the ability to use avgas, 92-octane automobile gas or a blend of the two. Around 475 162F kits have been delivered, of which 65 to 70 percent are believed to be flying.
Bombardier has sold two Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ) to J-Air, a Japan Air Lines subsidiary based in Hiroshima. J-Air now operates five 19-seat turboprops in southwest Japan, and plans to fly the 50-seat jets on new routes.
DFW-based SimuFlite International is offering seven Cessna Citation training scholarships this year through three organizations. Women in Aviation International is awarding one Citation type rating and an initial Citation maintenance training course at its annual convention in Memphis this month. The University Aviation Association has four type ratings available through its member institutions and Detroit-based Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum is awarding a Citation type rating.
Business aviation is much in the news in Silicon Valley, most recently in the well-publicized, unanimous decision by the Apple board of directors to give chairman Steve Jobs a Gulfstream V in recognition of the turnaround he engineered over the last two and one-half years.
A LET-410 turboprop operated by Aviones Taxi Aereo crashed on takeoff from Tobios Bolanos Airport in Costa Rica on January 15, killing four and injuring 27, including former CIA director Admiral Stansfield Turner. The NTSB is assisting Costa Rica's Civil Aviation Board in its investigation.
B/CA presented some questions to Alertness Solutions president and chief scientist Mark Rosekind about sleep depravation and cockpit alertness. Here are his comments:
With a square jaw, all the right answers and hundreds of hours in the cockpits of U.S. Navy S-3 jets, Sam got a major airline job with minimal fuss. Eventually, his classmates discovered the truth and ratted him out, however. An electronic systems operator, Sam had claimed his ride-along time as pilot experience, hiding the deception behind legitimate FAA certificates and ratings earned in his spare time.
Niagara Falls International Airport (IAG) is the fourth airport to take advantage of the FAA's airport privatization program, which allows general aviation facilities to be leased or sold outright. Operators of the upstate New York facility hope that privatizing IAG will help increase traffic. Spain's CINTRAS will operate the airport and hopes to attract a scheduled carrier and more charter activity to help increase annual enplanements from the current 50,000 to 250,000.
Tower and ground frequencies at New York's Westchester County Airport (HPN) are being changed to reduce interference with Baltimore approach and Suffolk County ground. After the change, HPN's tower frequency will be 118.75 while HPN ground can be reached at 121.825. The change is expected to occur this spring. Operators experiencing difficulty with the change are advised to call tower manager Doug Alter at (914) 948-6520.
NTSB members and investigators believe fatigue could be the most significant factor in human error, and, of course, human error is a causal factor in 80 to 100 percent of accidents depending on how you keep score. Interestingly, fatigue is a killer regardless of the transportation mode -- air, rail, highway or marine. In 1999, the NTSB issued Safety Report SR-99-01 in which it urged the FAA and other transportation oversight agencies to step up research and education on operator fatigue.
Columbus, Ohio-based AirNet Express became the latest operator to sign a hiring agreement with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). Under the terms of the deal, AirNet and the university will screen job candidates entering their junior year, during which students will receive instruction on AirNet procedures as well as a ``customized curriculum'' to prepare them for employment with the carrier. Minimum hiring standard is 1,100 flight hours. AirNet operates courier flights using twin-engine piston aircraft and Learjets.
TTI Inc. of Fort Worth, has taken delivery of the first customer Galaxy business jet. The aircraft, serial number 006, will be the second Galaxy in service, preceded by number 005, the company's demonstrator aircraft. Galaxy now has seven Galaxies and six SPX aircraft under completion at its Fort Worth plant. From left are Galaxy Aerospace President and CEO Brian Barents; TTI Inc. CEO Paul Andrews; Judy Andrews; and Roger Sperry, Galaxy's executive vice president, sales.
Citing fewer new-engine deliveries planned for the next two to three years, Pratt&Whitney said it will eliminate as many as 1,700 more jobs, mainly at the company's Connecticut factories. Hourly workers account for most of the cuts, while about 200 salaried jobs also are being phased out. The engine giant began cutting 3,500 jobs in a reorganization that began in 1999. Pratt says the cuts would have been deeper if employees hadn't taken advantage of an early retirement program offered to the hourly workers last year.
We're victims of our own success -- speeding up the pace of business, I mean. It started with the Wrights. Trains, ships and cars weren't fast enough -- we had to have airplanes.
Charter operator The Air Group has opened new offices in Chicago and San Francisco. The Windy City contact number is (888) 861-8676 and in the Bay Area it's (888) 606-8890.
Transport Canada awarded Level D certification to FlightSafety International's Raytheon Beech 1900D simulator at its Toronto training center. The company says five new centers are scheduled to open this year, including business aircraft centers in Atlanta, Little Rock and Dallas . . . Executive Jet Management added a San Diego-based Cessna Citation X to its charter fleet along with two Citation Excels for use by NetJets and in charter service.
Results of a recent poll by Manager magazine placed DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) as the ninth ``most-esteemed'' German company. DASA also received a 1999 German Business Innovation Award for its role in developing laser welding for the aerospace industry.
First Aviation Services subsidiary Aerospace Products International (API) has been named a master distributor for the BFGoodrich Aerospace Ice Protection System. API also has been named a distributor for Scott Aviation, which manufactures oxygen systems, aircraft safety equipment and tailwheel as-semblies.
Under the terms of a new one-year deal, Maytag Aircraft, a subsidiary of Mercury Air Group, will provide base operating support services at Westover Air Reserve Base in Springfield, Mo. Services will include fueling, traffic and airfield management and meteorological services.
In the aftermath of a fatal Saab 340 crash in January, Swiss regional Crossair has commissioned an audit of its flight operations, maintenance and quality assurance. Dr. Klaus Nittinger and Michael Loges of Rolls-Royce Deutschland GmbH and retired IATA technology official Karel Ledeboer will conduct the audit. Dr. Nittinger is also a former head of Lufthansa Technik. Results of the audit are expected to be available to the airline and the general public at the end of April.
Pan Am International Flight Academy (PAIFA) is continuing its expansion with the acquisition of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Flight Review. Founded by veteran instructor Tom Clements, Flight Review provides on-site pilot training in Raytheon aircraft. Clements is a former Beech factory instructor and training manager with over 11,000 hours in King Airs. Flight Review has merged with Pan's Am's SimCom International operation in Scottsdale, with Clements joining the school as an instructor.
Edited by Paul RichfieldBy Jim Proulx, in Washington, D.C.
Several new contenders have joined the battle to become the lead Internet site for aviation parts trading, an industry that could be worth as much as $150 billion by 2005. These new entrants include aviationX. com, skyfish.com, TradeAir.com and established parts distributor AAR, which unveiled its aerospan.com partnership with SITA, a European airline telecommunications consortium.
Cessna Aircraft is producing a limited number of Millennium Edition Skyhawk SPs, Skylanes, Stationairs and Turbo Stationairs. The aircraft will be equipped with redesigned leather interiors, special exterior striping, Goodyear Flight Custom II tires and the Honeywell Bendix/King KLN 94 IFR GPS system. Priced $6,000 to $7,000 above the usual standard-equipped prices, availability is limited to 65 Skyhawks, 60 Skylanes, 10 Stationairs and 20 Turbo Stationairs.
