Rolls-Royce Allison is claiming ``significant progress'' in upgrading the performance of its Model 250-C20R-2SP engine, used by Bell 206 and MD500-series light helicopters. The company says that its ``Super R'' engine offers improved hot-and-high performance, reduced fuel consumption and improved durability stemming from decreased turbine inlet temperatures.
The FAA has granted supplemental type approval for ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance -- broadcast), a new traffic monitoring system. ADS-B does not interrogate other aircraft like TCAS does, but instead plots their exact GPS location via radio downlink. Only aircraft equipped with ADS-B appear on the screen, however. The Cargo Airline Association (CAA) and GPS maker II Morrow are the driving forces behind the ADS-B movement and see it as part of a larger ``airspace management'' system.
Bell Helicopter Textron may buy a stake in Polish helicopter builder PZL-Swidnik, but only if the Polish Army orders its AH-1 Super Cobra attack helicopter. Bell declined to specify the extent of its potential investment, though the two companies did sign a ``cooperation protocol'' in Warsaw on April 9. ``We are exploring the possibility of working with Swidnik, and there would be some linkage of investment to future production,'' says Carl Harris, a Bell spokesman.
Mandated avionics upgrades, a convoluted FAA approval process, and access to European airports highlighted concerns among international business aviation operators attending the NBAA's 1999 International Operations Conference on March 22-25 in Orlando. With more than 600 representatives from 30 countries in attendance, the conference dealt with ATC modernization and the equipment, certification and training issues it has engendered.
The U.S. Senate has voted to extend the FAA's 1999 budget by an additional two months, which guarantees funding for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) until May 31. Critics see the extension as proof of congressional ambivalence over aviation matters. ``You just can't start and stop airport projects,'' says Henry Ogrodzinski, chairman of the National Association of State Aviation Officials.
Jersey European Airways (JEA) apparently could not make up its mind, so it took a little of everything in the Bombardier regional aircraft line. In a $250 million deal, the U.K.-based regional ordered three 37-seat Dash 8-Q200s, four 50-seat Q300s, four 78-seat Q400s and four 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets.
An ACARS (aircraft communications addressing and reporting system) aboard a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-700 successfully passed messages during a simulated Year 2000 rollover in recent on-ground and inflight tests at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Europe's aerospace suppliers have asked the European Union's transport council to allocate public funds for Galileo, a proposed global navigation satellite system. According to Brussels-based European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA), Galileo could cost as much as $3.23 billion by 2008, but some of the expense could be offset by vendor licenses and other fees. By AECMA's estimate, non-aerospace business associated with bringing Galileo online could be worth as much as $10.78 billion per year.
Magellan parent Orbital Sciences has acquired GPS-maker Lowrance Electronics in a stock deal worth $24.1 million, marking further consolidation in the satellite services industry. Tulsa, Okla.-based Lowrance will be merged with Magellan, and its line of sonar, GPS and other products will be marketed under the Magellan name.
Aviation manufacturing remains the single largest industry in Wichita, despite strong growth in the banking, health care and service industries and a boom/bust aerospace employment cycle. One in six Wichita residents works for Boeing, Cessna, Raytheon, Bombardier or a host of smaller aviation suppliers, whose factories account for 75 percent of the local manufacturing base and employ roughly 45,100 people.
Inmarsat plans to offer satellite communications to corporate aircraft and other general aviation users beginning this month. The ``mini-M aero service'' features a single channel, which can be used for voice, fax or data communications. The company also is planning to develop mobile, ISDN-compatible high-speed data transfer for the aviation market, pending commitment from one of the consortium's ground earth stations. At least two avionics manufacturers are said to be working on equipment to form the basis of the mini-M system.
RTS Services, a Fort-Worth-based provider of turbine-engine management programs for corporate operators, has developed a quick-turn fuel-nozzle service for Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6A engines. According to RTS Services, fuel nozzles can be replaced in 24 hours or less. Also within the same time allowance, the company says it can provide fuel-nozzle cleaning, inspection and flow-check services. Nozzles are ``delivered to customers complete with gaskets and ``O'' ring, everything needed to complete the job,'' RTS says.
Sino Swearingen has begun testing the automatic flight control system (AFCS) for its SJ30-2 twinjet. Chief test pilot Bud Francis said the initial flight test of the yaw damper and rudder bias subsystem over most yaw modes in the allowable flight envelope are complete. The next phase includes evaluation of the pitch and roll inner loop and servo sizing, to allow full operation of the autopilot system for the initial flight of the first certification test aircraft later this year.
Minor disruptions related to the Year 2000 computer problem are inevitable due to planning delays, according to IATA Director General Pierre Jeanniot. Major disruptions are not expected, though Geneva-based IATA plans to extend its Y2K program into first quarter 2000 to ease the transition by member nations and companies. ``In cooperation with all the institutions involved with civil aviation, we are aiming to minimize inconvenience to the air traveler and to use the maximum capacity available on January 1 [2000] and beyond,'' Jeanniot says.
The Gulfstream V performance charts depicted on page 58 of the April 1999 issue are accurate. However, a data point was omitted from the Time and Fuel Vs. Distance chart, thereby making it incomplete. Extraneous data has been removed from the Range/Payload Profile chart.
Gulfstream had contracts for 50 G-IV and 56 G-V aircraft at the end of 1998, representing a total backlog of $3.3 billion. Including the 11 undelivered aircraft for its ``Middle East Shares'' fractional ownership program, the Savannah-based jet maker had firm orders for 117 aircraft, and options for 18 more. The first ``green'' aircraft for the Middle East program was delivered in late 1998.
The FAA's New York air route traffic control center has declared its new host computer operational, the latest of 22 such systems earmarked for center control facilities across the nation. These computers manage many aspects of air traffic control, and replace first-generation equipment in use since the early 1980s. ``Host is the heart of the National Airspace System,'' says FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. To date, seven sites have begun using the new computers, with the remaining 16 deployments to occur before the end of the year.
AlliedSignal's new KFC225 digital, three-axis autopilot now will be offered as original equipment on 1999 Piper Malibu Mirages, and Raytheon Bonanzas and Barons, and the company expects to soon receive its first certification for a retrofit application. The KFC 225 is a panel-mount replacement for the KFC 150 and 200 autopilot systems, and integrates a computer, yaw damper and altitude reselect/alerter in one box. To improve reliability, the flight control system uses strain gauges instead of the more common microswitches to control the autotrim function.
Not to be outdone, Bombardier's Global Express business jet recently completed a 36-day, 20-city tour designed to demonstrate the aircraft's reliability in extreme temperatures and ETOPs (extended range twin-engine operations) capability on long overwater flights. The aircraft, s/n 9004, logged 110 flight hours on the tour, which began on January 29 in Miami, and ended March 5 in Abidjan, Africa.
Edited by Paul RichfieldDavid Esler in Orlando, Fla.
Europe's business aviation fleet continues slow but steady growth, currently numbering about 2,000 aircraft. While this positions it behind only the North American fleet in size, proportionally it represents more jets (56 as opposed to 54 percent), including the only Boeing 777 in private livery. Fleet expansion continues in an operating environment biased in favor of the airlines and, accordingly, business operators must pay a healthy price to fly in Europe.
Rockwell Collins has exercised its option to acquire 100 percent ownership of Flight Dynamics, the Portland, Ore.-based maker of aircraft head-up guidance systems (HGS). Flight Dynamics was formerly operated as a 50/50 joint venture by Rockwell Collins and Kaiser Aerospace Electronics of Foster City, Calif. Rockwell Collins President Clay Jones says the acquisition is ``integral to our strategy of increasing our aviation electronics content across multiple platforms,'' and is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
The integrated avionics suites found in modern business aircraft come in a variety of sizes -- mostly industry-standard boxes. Deciding which to choose depends on the aircraft and the complexity of the avionics installed. The large-format display tubes found in the integrated cockpit systems of high-end aircraft are replacing many electromechanical instruments. Standard-size cutouts for Collins Pro Line 4 display tubes are 7.0 by 6.0 inches or 7.25 by 7.25 inches.
Single-grade and multigrade aviation oils provide the same measure of protection in the typical operating temperature range, but multigrades offer significant viscosity improvements at the extreme ends of the scale, according to a study by Phillips Petroleum. Oklahoma-based Phillips, which is number two, behind Shell, in aviation oil sales, says the study was motivated by operator fears that the higher price of multigrade oil was not justified by its performance.
