Australia's Kendell Airlines has selected GE Engine Services to maintain and service the GE CF34-3B engines that will power its ordered fleet of 50-seat Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ). The service will be conducted at GE's plant in Arkansas City, Ark. Kendell parent Ansett Australia ordered 12 CRJs in October 1998, and holds options on 12 more. The aircraft supplement Kendell's Saab 340 fleet, while enabling Ansett to phase out its four BAe 146-300s.
The standard avionics package for new Raytheon Baron 58, Bonanza A36 and B36TC aircraft will feature Garmin's GNS 430 navigation and communications system. Raytheon will continue to offer the AlliedSignal KLN 90B IFR-certified GPS as an option, and both packages will include AlliedSignal radios and KFC 225 autopilots. Faced with a sizable backlog for the GNS 430, Garmin says it has increased the production rate of the units, which retail for $9,250.
Ground handling damage is one of the fastest growing areas of loss and is contributing to higher insurance rates, according to USAIG. Towing accidents are among the most expensive, and appear to be rising as the fleet of large business aircraft grows. ``These are the worst claims we're seeing,'' USAIG's Dave Mulhall told a Morristown, N.J., meeting of corporate operators -- the first in a series of awareness sessions the insurer is planning nationwide. Jackknifed tugs are one common problem.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) says reducing the separation of aircraft arriving and departing from busy hub airports is at best a ``stopgap measure,'' that could increase the risk of aircraft accidents. Speaking at a recent forum on ATC modernization in Washington, D.C., ALPA President Duane Woerth pledged to support government/industry efforts to modernize the U.S. air traffic control system, and has urged Congress to ``shake free'' the necessary funding in the FAA reauthorization bill, now the subject of debate.
Following more than two years of deliberations on fractional regulation and additional delays inviting participants, the FAA's Fractional Ownership Aviation Rulemaking Committee (FOARC) has finally begun to meet. Meetings continue through mid-December and recommendations are expected on FAA Administrator Jane Garvey's desk by the end of the year. (See page 32 for further details.)
Delta Air Lines has acquired the remaining 78 percent of Comair Holdings that it did not already own for $1.8 billion, or $23.50 per common share. The move is indicative of Delta's growing reliance on its affiliates' regional jets, which feed mainline jets at Delta hubs while allowing the reallocation of Delta aircraft to larger markets.
FlightSafety International has acquired four Czech Republic-built Zlin Z-242L aerobatic aircraft to bolster its flight training programs at Dothan, Ala., and Vero Beach, Fla. At Dothan, two of the aircraft will be used for unusual attitude recoveries, spin training, inverted and vertical flight, and familiarization with high g-forces as part of the U.S. Army's Fixed Wing Instructor Pilots Course. The FSI Academy in Vero Beach will use its two Zlins to familiarize new pilots with upset conditions and spin recoveries.
Moya Lear -- winner of the Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award -- donated the $10,000 she received with the honor to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The money will be used to fund scholarships for women majoring in aeronautical science.
Fastblock 100 is a new firewall sealant designed to enhance while reducing the cost of firewall installation and maintenance. Designed for its strength in the changing environments found in corporate aircraft, Fastblock 100 protects against heat and fire damage -- even in high vibration conditions. The manufacturer claims that the product's versatility allows Fastblock 100 to be used in conjunction with fiberglass or ceramic fabric to repair larger areas, or alone for smaller surfaces. Price: $38.15/six once cartridge; other quantities available
Edited by Paul RichfieldMike Vines, in Birmingham, England
Farnborough Aircraft of the United Kingdom has launched the F.1, an all-composite, single-engine turboprop. Designed to compete with the Piper Malibu Meridian, Socata TBM 700 and Pilatus PC-12, the five/six-seat aircraft will be pressurized, and powered by a Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6-60A (850 shp) engine.
An FAA proposal requiring damage-tolerance-based inspections of aging regional airliners in scheduled service has met with disapproval from the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), a trade group representing FAR Part 135 operators and FBOs. As an alternative, NATA has asked the FAA to identify which aircraft have existing inspection programs that match the spirit of the proposed rule, and allow those programs to suffice.
Edited by Paul RichfieldMike Vines, in Birmingham, England
Chauffair, a charter operator based at Farnborough Airport in the United Kingdom, has placed an order for seven Cessna Citation Excels to support its new fractional leasing business. First deliveries are scheduled for first quarter 2001, with all seven of the midsize business jets expected by the end of that year. According to Trevor Esling, Cessna's head of European sales, the $63 million deal is Cessna's largest single business aircraft order in Europe to date.
Century Aerospace says recent low-speed wind tunnel testing of its CA-100 Century Jet will not result in changes to the aircraft's performance specs or basic design, though the placement of engine nacelles and pylons may have to be ``fine-tuned.'' According to Century engineer Ian Gilchrist, ``the pre-test analysis and CFD [computational fluid dynamics] work paid off, and the airplane appears to have excellent flying characteristics, including a docile wing stall.'' Century used the University of Washington's Kirsten Wind Tunnel in Seattle for the tests, and additional
The Innotech-Execaire Aviation Group of Montreal has placed a firm order for five Cessna Citation business jets worth more than $40 million. Delivery of the aircraft -- two Citation Excels, one Sovereign, one Ultra Encore and one CJ2 -- is planned to begin in 2002 and run through 2005. Owned by IMP Group International, the Innotech-Execaire Aviation Group is an aircraft sales, charter and management firm with nine FBOs and an extensive maintenance, repair and overhaul business.
Gulfstream is expecting to finish airborne testing of its Enhanced Vision System (EVS) by the end of the year, leading to FAA certification in first quarter 2000. Developed in conjunction with the Baltimore-based Maryland Advanced Developmental Laboratories, EVS uses the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) technology that helps military and law enforcement pilots ``see'' at night and in bad weather.
BFGoodrich became the second firm to announce a low-cost Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) box when it introduced its Landmark TAWS8000 at the NBAA Convention in October. The TAWS8000's terrain avoidance capability complements the firm's Skywatch and TCAS791 traffic alerting systems and its Stormscope hazardous weather detection systems, thus providing protection from the three major causes of fatal accidents.
Gulfstream 4SP, turn right heading 160. Intercept the Runway 19 Right localizer. Slow to 180 knots. You're five in trail of a Boeing 757. Report it in sight. You're Number Two. You're cleared for the visual to Runway 19 Right.'' We searched for our traffic. We didn't spot it.
Innotech-Execaire has installed Flight Dynamics' Head-up Guidance System (HGS) on a Bombardier Challenger 604. The aircraft will be used for FAA certification of the system, which is expected this month.
Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, N.Y., recently handed out its noise abatement awards to based operators that practiced quiet flying at HPN during 1998.
Alaska's Fairbanks International Airport has been a hotbed of cold weather research of late, as evidenced by visits from a variety of aircraft test programs. Bombardier's Global Express and Cessna's Citation Excel came up for cold weather trials, and General Electric's Boeing 747 test bed arrived equipped with the new CF34-8C powerplant that will power the new 70-seat Canadair Regional Jet. Lockheed Martin's new C-130J, Boeing's new 757-300 and IPTN's CN235-200 are other recent visitors.
NASA says its ability to undertake aeronautics research is severely compromised, due to a steady decline in its aviation budget over the past 10 years. According to former NASA official Roy Harris, current funding levels are not sufficient to meet the FAA's goal of an 80-percent reduction in the aircraft accident rate by 2010, and accidents ``could become a more frequent occurrence in the future.'' A decade ago, NASA's aeronautics budget was around $1 billion, or 10 to 12 percent of the agency's total budget.
Cessna has published a revision to the Citation X flight manual that reduces the runway required for landing by an average of 400 feet, and says ``confidence is high'' that similar revisions will affect takeoff data as well. Operator feedback instigated the change, Cessna says, indicating that the published runway performance numbers did not reflect the actual capabilities of the aircraft.
ATR has created an ``asset management division'' to oversee sales of its used ATR-42/72 turboprop regional airliners. Interviewed at a recent Regional Airline Association (RAA) conference in Washington, D.C., ATR President Jean-Daniel Leroy said the market for new turboprops remains strong, despite the apparent frenzy over regional jets. ATR has 30 to 40 used aircraft available, and will deliver 37 new aircraft this year, all -500 variants of the ATR-42/72. Worldwide, 580 of the twin turboprops are flying, including 180 in the United States.
