Two upcoming Radar Seminars conducted by Archie Trammel of AJT, Inc. will be held on August 29 at the Holiday Inn at DFW Airport and September 19 in Van Nuys, Calif. Each one-day session covers aspects of airborne weather radar operations and interpretation. At the completion of the course, all students receive a 137-page course guide, along with a Jeppesen-size copy of AJT's Airborne Weather Radar Pilot's Operating Guide. The registration fee includes continental breakfast, lunch and refreshments. For further details and to register, call (903) 778-2177.
Prototypes of three programs supporting the Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) are under development by the Air Transport Association, Flight Safety Foundation/Battelle Corp. and the Operational Airport Safety Information System of the Netherlands. The FAA created GAIN in 1996 to enable the collecting and sharing of international safety data. GAIN conferences have been held in the United States and England (May, page 20).
On September 30, Bombardier plans to open a regional airline parts distribution center at Charles de Gaulle Airport for its CRJ customers. The new facility also will provide 24-hour AOG service and offer parts repair, overhaul, lease and exchange programs.
Business is good. So good, in fact, that management has been flogging your midsize corporate jet at unprecedented utilization rates. You and the maintenance chief have anxiously been watching the hours mount up and the TBOs on the plane's engines count down. Overhauls will be due soon.
A study of loss-of-power accidents among four categories of aircraft from 1990 to 1994 conducted by safety expert Robert E. Breiling revealed that single-engine turboprop aircraft (including crop dusters) experienced fewer crashes than reciprocating-engine singles and twins, chalking up a safety record nearly as good as their multiengine turboprop siblings. Breiling used NTSB and FAA databases to reach his findings.
In the May issue of B/CA I referred to the Delta pilots who were taking me to ABQ via ATL as ``drivers'' (instead of calling them motormen or throttle jocks). A Mr. J. Wiley, whose address was given as [email protected], took me to task, using 560 words to criticize my one-liner (Letters, July, page 6). Obviously, Mr. Wiley lives under-water and is not a constant reader of Greenhouse--or else he ain't hep to the patois of pilot talk.
Several other LEO and MEO satellite systems--notably Globalstar, ICO, Odyssey and Teledesic--are currently under development and slated for launch in the next several years. All of these programs are well-financed by major telecom industry giants. Even if they don't all provide aeronautical services, they are likely to become familiar features of the global telecom landscape.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will give New Jersey's Linden Airport $3 million if it does something to keep general aviation aircraft away from Newark Airport airspace also used by airlines. The Port Authority maintains that general aviation flights are causing expensive airline delays at Newark. At press time, the operators of Linden Airport had not responded to the offer.
Israviation Ltd. displayed its ST-50 prototype for the first time at the Paris Air Show. The ST-50 is an all-composite, pressurized, five-place, single-engine pusher turboprop priced at $1.25 million. The Israeli company said it has four firm orders. Design efforts began in 1993, and the prototype has logged 75 hours since its first flight on December 7, 1994. Certification is expected by mid 1998. The ST-50 will come with a four-tube EFIS and weather radar. A flat-rated 600-shp P&WC PT6A-135B will power the aircraft.
Airbus Industrie officially launched a corporate jet version of the A319, a twin-engine airliner certificated for 124 passengers in April 1996. Designated the A319CJ (for corporate jet), it will carry up to 50 passengers and, with a lower payload, have a 6,300-nm range. Certification is scheduled for spring 1999. CFMI or IAE fanjets power the A319.
Boeing has received 17 orders for its BBJ so far this year, with professional golfer Greg (the Shark) Norman as one of them. Norman has agreed to act as a spokesman for the BBJ, but Boeing said he will pay full price--$30.5 million in 1995 dollars for the 6,200-nm jet. (The current price is $37 million.) To date, total orders for the BBJ stand at 20, including two from General Electric, a partner in the BBJ program and supplier of the new 737's CFM-56 engines. The BBJ is a hybrid 737 combining parts of the new -700 and -800 models.
Raytheon Aircraft has joined the fractional ownership game with its ``Travel Air'' program, offering shares in King Airs, Beechjet 400As and Hawker 800XPs. Flying begins in August, and the initial fleet includes three of each type of aircraft. The jet aircraft will be offered in one-eighth share increments, while the King Airs will be sold in fifths. Aircraft will be sold for five-year terms with guaranteed buyback provisions after two years.
A revision to FAR Parts 121, 125 and 135 now permits the use of the autopilot for takeoff and initial climb. Previously, the rule prohibited this use of the AP below 500 feet agl. The new rule requires operators to obtain specific FAA approval of the AP system and the procedure. Part 91 operators were not subject to the limitation.
Raytheon Aircraft is so pleased with the results of its first attempt at automatically laying up a composite fuselage of the new Premier I business jet that the first airframe--originally slated to be a non-flying prototype--will continue through production and join the flight-test program. The company is in the midst of producing a second fuselage, but has met with some delays as it works to qualify a second composite material vendor. The first wingset also is in production, and first flight of the Premier I is on schedule for this fall.
Austin, Texas--The former Awesome Aviation at Executive Airpark has been purchased by Cutter Aviation. The operation is an AvFuel dealer and provides hangar storage, tie down, rental cars, computerized flight planning, dawn-to-dusk operation and guest showering facilities. The addition of Austin brings the Cutter FBO chain to four locations. (512) 251-2433.
Jet Aviation can now provide maintenance on Citation Xs, Hawker 1000s and similar-size business aircraft at Zurich International Airport. The increased capability results from the firm acquiring a hangar formerly belonging to REGA, an air ambulance operation. The company's total hangar space at Zurich is now 13,779 square feet.
Professional Aircraft Accessories (Titusville, Fla.)--Terry Jones was appointed president of this newly formed, FAA-approved repair station that specializes in the support of Beech turboprops and Boeing, Gulfstream and McDonnell Douglas aircraft.
The fuselage of the first Dash 8-400Q (for quiet) is being prepared for mating with its wing. First flight of the newest member of the Dash-8 family of twin-turboprop regional aircraft is scheduled for November. De Havilland says the Q interior will have an active noise-canceling system that will make the cabin ``almost as quiet as that of a jet'' (May, page 126).
BFGoodrich Aircraft Evacuation Systems division has chosen Bangalore, India as its first service center in southern Asia. The company will maintain life rafts, life vests, escape slides, slide rafts, survival kits, helicopter floats, seat belts and oxygen equipment. Work will not be limited to BFG products.
Montreal--A new FBO building and crew/passenger lounge are slated to be part of a major facility expansion at Innotech's maintenance and refurbishing complex at Dorval International Airport. The 70,000-square-foot operation, scheduled to open in November, will stand adjacent to the existing Execaire hangar. The existing crew lounge and passenger terminal will be converted into a customer service center for visiting maintenance and refurb clients. (514) 636-7070.
Uncommanded shutdowns of a CFE738 on two Falcon 2000s--in November 1996 and in May 1997--are unrelated, said CFE officials. The first event involved a synchronous blade-tip rub in the axial compressor stages during cruise. The FADEC shut down the engine as a precautionary measure. The second incident occurred during takeoff when two adjacent second-stage, HP turbine blades separated from the turbine wheel.
Beginning this year, B/CA is offering a new perspective on business aircraft utilization by the most successful companies in the United States. In the past, we have reported the business aviation activities of companies listed in the Fortune 500 and the Fortune 1,000. However, these rankings were based on sheer size-for example, assets and sales volume.
Paul Garrison, a former B/CA managing editor, died at age 79 on April 12 in Tucson due to complications related to cancer. Garrison worked for B/CA from July 1972 through September 1973, then moved to Santa Fe, N.M. to pursue a freelance writing career. Garrison wrote feature articles and news for other aviation magazines, and authored several books.
FAA's recent approval of extended maintenance intervals for the S-76 trims the ratio of maintenance hours per flight hour from 2:1 to 1.6:1, according to Sikorsky. Main inspection intervals have increased to 100, 300 and 1,000 hours, compared to 50, 150 and 750 hours previously. Many special inspections also are now phased with normally scheduled inspections, and the formerly required annual inspection has been dropped.
