Anyone using the most basic handheld GPS understands the incredible capability of the Global Positioning System. Accuracy with the raw signal is at least 100 meters, and typically it is much better. The benefits are not known only to aviators. Indeed, aviation is a minority user of GPS, with an estimated 150,000 airborne GPS receivers compared to some three million units now in use worldwide.
``From Nobody to Somebody'' is the title of a chapter in Yeager, the interesting autobiography of Chuck Yeager. Autobiography, by definition, is a misnomer in Yeager's case because in my Funk and Wagnall's, ``autobiography'' is defined as ``the story of one's own life written by oneself.'' An author named Leo Janus performed the ghostwriting for General Yeager, who is not Ernest Hemingway.
Reader inquiry prompted us to do further research into the idea of tankering small quantities of mogas at the fuel farm to ward off temptation to use avgas in ground vehicles (August, page 33). To recap, Valley Oil of Salem, Ore. had offered two suggestions: installing a small mogas tank on your premises or using one of the small mogas tanks that mount in the back of a pickup truck. We now have more advice to tender.
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VisionAire has signed a letter of agreement with SimCom Training Centers to provide initial customer training in the Vantage single-engine business jet. Orlando-based SimCom will provide an FAA Level 6, flight training device with a wide view, wraparound visual system. VisionAire will include initial training for one pilot and one mechanic in the aircraft's $1.75-million purchase price.
Spinneybeck has introduced its Alaska Collection of full-grain leathers with a pearlized finish for aircraft interior refurbishments (as well as completions). Alaska upholstery, which is available in 21 ``ice-age'' shades, is fabricated by applying finely crushed mother-of-pearl to the leather's surface. The material also goes through a ``retannage'' proc-ess for increased suppleness and a smooth grain. Price: $10.50 to $12.95 per square foot, depending upon quantity ordered. Spinneybeck, 105 Wooster St., New York, N.Y. 10012. (212) 343-4111; fax: (212) 343-4177.
Securaplane has developed its XL245 sealed lead-acid emergency battery system for Falcon aircraft--including the F-900, F-900EX, F-2000 and F-50EX--as a direct replacement for the SAFT NiCd-based pack. Also, the company supplies a built-in charger and battery-testing equipment for checking the battery while it is installed aboard the aircraft. List price: $2,795. Securaplane, 3830 E. 44th St., Tucson, Ariz. 85713. (520) 745-6655; fax: (520) 748-0850.
U.S. Customs Service clearances are now available at New York's Binghamton Regional Airport. The new Customs office is open from 1030 to 1530 Monday through Friday, with Customs officials on call at any time. Phone (607) 763-4294. With two hours notice, Customs clearances also can be set up at the airport's FBO, Miller Aviation. Phone (800) 288-4228.
EMERGING AIRCRAFT TARGET DATES The following are target dates for emerging aircraft. These dates, supplied by the airframe manufacturers, are subject to change--and frequently do--as a result of design revisions, funding, testing delays or extensions, and/or the resolution of unforeseen problems. Each month, this table will endeavor to show the most-current schedule. Manufacturer Model Milestone Target Date AASI Jetcruzer 500 Certification 3rd Quarter 1998
The Time-Alert, Model ATC-100 timer from SoftComm fits inside any style headset and allows pilots to time holding patterns, balancing fuel in tanks and more. This flying aid is a programmed micro-computer that will operate immediately at the press of the switch. To install in the headset, the user needs to drill a one-quarter-inch hole on the headset dome, then mount the control switch through the hole and place the other tiny parts inside the dome. The Time-Alert is powered by a standard battery. Price: $49.95.
New from II Morrow are the Apollo GX50 TSOed panel-mount GPS navigator with moving map display (shown, $3,995) and the Apollo GX60 GPS/Comm ($4,995). Each model has a high-resolution electroluminescent graphic display with 12,800 pixels, making it readable from any cockpit position in all lighting conditions. Airports, runways, VORs, NDBs and special-use airspace can be displayed on the moving map. Five ``smart keys'' are positioned just below the display to allow the user to declutter maps and to program flight plans.
Short-term leasing of Cessna 500s--as short as one month--is the latest service from Sierra Industries of Uvalde, Texas. Called Flightime, the program takes care of all costs except for the pilots, aircraft storage and fuel.
An ``enhanced-performance'' Jetstream 32 package has been developed by British Aerospace Asset Management-Turboprops (AMT) that improves hot-and-high performance and load-carrying capability. The first delivery went to Corporate Express, a Nashville-based new-start (see B/CA, September, page C4).
Two large hangars at Sussex County Airport in Georgetown, Del. will soon be bustling with renewed activity after being vacant since 1990, when the Helmsley family shut down their former aircraft modification and completion center, Georgetown Aircraft.
Program Director Earl Robinson said it at the Paris Air Show in June; Fairchild Dornier confirmed it in late September. The 328JET will cruise at 400 knots--25 knots better than advertised. Most other specifications and performance parameters remain the same. Maximum takeoff weight remains at 33,047 pounds, with a 20,282-pound operating empty weight and a 7,518-pound maximum payload.
British air charter broker Air London has opened a U.S. office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Greg J. McClasky, formerly senior director at Renaissance Cruises, was named president of the new venture--Air Partner Inc. Air London, based at London's Gatwick Airport, already has subsidiary offices in Paris and Cologne, Germany under the Air Partner name.
The sales tally for the Boeing Business Jet stood at 25 aircraft at press time, including two for Geneva-based PrivatAir, which has two more BBJs on option. Meanwhile, Airbus Industrie said it has booked seven commitments since launching a business jet version of the A319. Both companies say there is a market for about 24 aircraft per year.
The order book for the Premier I hit the 100 mark at the NBAA convention in September, and Raytheon also reported brisk interest in the Hawker Horizon, based on reaction to a new, full-scale cabin mockup on display at the show. The Premier I program was announced at NBAA in 1995, and the Hawker Horizon program debuted at the 1996 convention. Both programs have been refined over the last 12 months.
A retrofit kit upgrading Allison 250-C20R engines is scheduled to be available in early 1998. Allison says the Super C20R mod increases hot-day power by up to 20 percent and reduces fuel consumption by up to 10 percent. Allison also is working on a Model 250-C21 with a 500-hp gearbox and a -C22 with FADEC.
Head-up display manufacturers are designing enhanced vision systems allowing aircraft to land safely in Category III weather on a Category I runway in conditions down to 700 feet RVR. For example, Gulfstream Aerospace plans to obtain EVS certification with a GEC-Marconi/Honeywell HUD/EVS and an all-weather window infrared sensor from Kollsman on a G-V. Meanwhile, Flight Visions, together with a sensor manufacturer, is preparing to offer EVS capabilities for its HUD products.
AAI Corp.'s weather systems unit, the prime federal contractor for the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), was purchased by All Weather, Inc., a company established by the ASOS management team, and investment bankers Ridge Capital and North Star Capital. Of the more than 900 ASOS installations, 411 have been commissioned by the FAA or the NWS at U.S. airports, says the company. The company will remain headquartered in Hunt Valley, Md.
The Wide Area Augmentation System is designed to enhance GPS performance by calculating and transmitting a correction to GPS position error. WAAS will use an array of up to 48 ground reference stations, which, like local differential systems, monitor GPS signals and compare their known location to their GPS-derived position. The reference stations feed their position data to wide area master stations that determine the integrity of the information and correct for position error.
