Apparent fuel starvation caused New Piper's second Malibu Meridian prototype to land on interstate I-95 near the manufacturer's Vero Beach factory on January 7. The aircraft was conducting unusable fuel tests with a test pilot and test engineer when an auxiliary fuel tank malfunctioned, forcing it to land. New Piper sales and marketing head Larry Bardon says the incident will have no effect on Meridian certification and deliveries, which are planned for this summer.
No greater impetus was given to the rise of business aircraft ownership than the perversities of rail and airline travel during World War II when business travel was a nightmarish experience. For that matter, all travel was a disaster. Troop movements within the USA took up all available railway passenger cars. I don't know who got all the good stuff, such as Pullman cars, but it was not the USMC squadron to which I was attached. A trip from the East Coast to West Coast in cars that previously transported cattle was our lot.
New York City is pursuing its plans to privatize La Guardia and Kennedy airports. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey currently manages the facilities under the terms of a lease set to expire in 2015. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has repeatedly complained about Port Authority operation of the facilities, saying ``we're losing passengers, we're losing business and we're losing prestige because of the Port Authority's management.'' The authority also operates Teterboro and Newark Airports in New Jersey.
The departure of Trans States Airlines from US Airways' West Coast markets has led the Crystal City, Va.-based major airline to seek another code-share partner in the West.
After more than 18 months of negotiations and months of federal mediation, the FAA and its Professional Airways System Specialists (PASS) have agreed to a tentative five-year collective bargaining agreement. The FAA says the union agreed to maintain current staffing levels in exchange for higher pay, though the exact terms of the agreement will remain confidential until after the union's 7,000 members have voted on whether to ratify the contract.
AirNet Systems (Columbus, Ohio) --William R. Sumser has been promoted to chief financial officer. He had been acting CFO of the delivery service since early 1999. Craig Leach is upped to vice president of the company's information systems.
Developer Black Eagle Aviation is planning an ambitious expansion of aircraft storage at Willow Run Airport (YIP) in Ypsilanti, Mich., that could provide more hangar space for business aircraft operators. According to Jeffery D. Meek, a managing member of the newly created partnership, the plan is to build an additional 90,000 square feet of hangar space, including T-hangars for small aircraft and box hangars for larger, corporate aircraft.
Air Security International has named the 10 most dangerous destinations for foreign travelers based on events in 1999. The list includes: Algeria; Central Africa; Colombia; Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan; Johannesburg and Capetown, South Africa; Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Maputo, Mozambique; Mexico City, Mexico; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; and Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.
The NTSB recommended that the FAA and other federal agencies review how certain medications affect flying performance and communicate that information to pilots. Citing the examples of two pilots incapacitated by permissible drugs -- one resulting in a fatality, the other not -- the agency said criteria should be established for the safe use of ``medically required substances not on the DOT's list of approved medications'' while flying.
Sales of civilian helicopters are expected to remain flat or decrease slightly over the next decade, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Transportation Research Board. Turbine helicopter deliveries may match the 1998 levels again in 2005, although the market for pistons probably will remain flat, the group says. Although new helicopter deliveries will be stagnant, the civil helicopter fleet is expected to increase somewhat, due to older helicopters remaining in service.
United Technologies has acquired Space Age Aviation, a supplier of turbine engine components. Space Age will become part of UTC's Pratt&Whitney Canada Service Centre operation.
The Eastern Regional Helicopter Council (EHRC) has hired lobby firm Featherstonhaugh, Conway, Wiley and Clyne to support the continued operation of New York City's West 30th Street Heliport. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has made helicopter noise a ``quality of life'' issue, and in October 1999 released a ``Helicopter Master Plan Study'' calling for the continued prohibition of sightseeing flights, creation of a helicopter oversight committee and the closing of the West 30th Street Heliport in 2001.
Edited by Paul RichfieldBy Mike Vines, in Birmingham, England
Skyhopper, the first U.K-based rotary-wing operator to offer fractional ownership and leasing, has teamed with an unnamed European helicopter company in a bid to expand service. The goal is to offer deeper penetration into France and Italy, with Nice and Milan the primary markets. Skyhopper already has teamed with two other budding fractional programs: Sikorsky Shares in New York and Heliflight in Texas and California.
The Helicopter Association International (HAI) presented its annual ``Salute to Excellence'' awards at Heli-Expo 2000 in Las Vegas. Winners included: AMT Paul James McKenzie, repair specialist Morris V. Lynch, EMS pilot Mark L. Hohstadt, CFI Edward Lonell ``Lon'' Wimberley, and pilot Daniel Elwain Tyler. Other honorees included AgRotors pilots John ``Jay'' Allison, Gary B. Dahlen, Victor E. Gray, Daniel J. Riley, Bonnie Wilkens, the Turkish Armed Forces and RedStar Helicopter Association for humanitarian service; Liberty Helicopters and its president, Alvin S.
NASA has created a new Web site for its Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). The new site provides downloadable reporting forms, current and past issues of ASRS publications, ASRS immunity policies, and other aviation safety reports and links. In conjunction with the FAA, the ASRS collects and analyzes air safety information from aviation operations personnel. Information is submitted voluntarily and the identity of participants remains confidential. The address for the new site is http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov.
Selected content of past and present issues of Business&Commercial Aviation is now available on a new Internet portal called AviationNow.com. The site (www.AviationNow.com) launched January 17, includes a free, continuously updated news feed, content from the entire portfolio of Aviation Week newsletters, magazines and directories, an e-business hub, and a host of other content and services. Access is free, with additional services available to registered users and subscribers.
Rolls-Royce says the pace of helicopter deliveries should increase for the next five years, and then decrease slightly. According to the company's annual forecast of helicopter deliveries, more than 9,000 turbine-powered helicopters will be delivered through the end of 2009, with 60 percent civil (5,403) and the remainder (3,633) military. Deliveries are expected to peak at around 579 units in 2001, and then decline to around 530 airframes per year thereafter.
Micco Air scored two firsts in January: They became the first Native American-owned company to receive an FAA type certificate on the first new aircraft certified in 2000. The Fort Pierce, Fla.-based manufacturer will produce the SP-20, a single-engine, two-place, 200-hp retractable gear airplane with deliveries scheduled to begin this summer. Micco also plans to produce a 260-hp aerobatic version to be known as the SP-26. Both aircraft are based on a 1940s Meyer Aircraft design. The SP-20 will be priced between $147,000 and $192,000.
Within days of the Meridian mishap, the fourth production Cirrus SR-20 landed in a cornfield near Chicago after an apparent engine malfunction. Palwaukee-based Windy City Flyers Club, which bills itself as the ``home of the world's only rentable Cirrus SR-20'' operates the aircraft. Both the pilot and passenger were uninjured and the aircraft sustained only minor damage. Cirrus officials say engine manufacturer Teledyne Continental will examine the engine to help determine the cause of the crash.
A key to achieving greater productivity from your aviation asset is ``quality'' utilization. As John Sheehan of Wilming-ton, N.C.-based Professional Aviation, Inc. points out, there may be no such thing as over-utilization, but there can be mis-utilization of the corporate aircraft. While in-house business aircraft may average 500 hours of flying time a year, they're certainly capable of being operated 700 to 1,000 hours annually, as fractional operators have shown. Sheehan asks, does your company consider ``alternate'' uses for its aircraft?
Proposed new entrant carrier Ozark Air Lines has signed an interline agreement with AMR Corp. affecting Ozark flights serving American Airlines' Dallas-Fort Worth hub. American Eagle will provide passenger check-in, baggage handling and other services for Ozark at DFW, though the flights will operate under the Ozark brand and livery. Ozark is nearing FAA certification, and plans to offer service from Columbia, Mo., to Chicago Midway and DFW with two delivered Fairchild 328JETs. The company holds options on three additional 328JETs.
The world barely finished breathing its collective sigh of relief at the uneventful passing into the new millennium [Halt. Save that stamp. I know it doesn't start for another year, but sometimes you have to go with the flow.] before the critics started in: The Y2K bug was flop, a phony, a ruse cooked up by computer consultants who looked to feed -- and profit from -- panic that everything from garage doors to ATC computers would go haywire with the rollover to the year 2000. In hindsight, the big event looks to many like the big rip-off.
