Making timely and correct decisions is an important part of many jobs, but few professions require this skill at the level of a pilot flying a large, transport category airplane.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
AGUSTAWESTLAND HAS CERTIFIED ITS Limited Ice Protection System (LIPS) on its AW189 super-medium, twin-engine helicopter. But the clearances, announced by the company Sept. 29, will not allow helicopter operator Bristow from beginning search and rescue duties in the U.K. with the aircraft until a full ice protection system (FIPS) is introduced, which AgustaWestland hopes to certify next year.
Aerion is looking for a home and an engine, but is satisfied it has found the right partner in Airbus. That was the message Brian Barents, the company’s co-chairman, delivered to those gathered by a Wichita Aero Club luncheon recently. He told the Sept. 21 audience that his Reno, Nevada-based company has hired a firm to help it select a site for assembling the 1.5 Mach AS2 supersonic business jet.
McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas was the destination most in demand for those shopping for charter travel with the Air Charter Guide Worldwide Trip Builder in September 2015, according to an analysis of Air Charter Guide data.
Originally designed specifically for mission aviation organizations, the Kodiak 100 has earned a strong following among government, business and private aviation departments.
In October 2015, the average Jet-A price at U.S. FBOs is $5.08/gal., according to a survey conducted in this month by Aviation Research Group/U.S. Inc. Compare Jet-A and avgas fuel prices by region based on both the ARGUS survey and an analysis of the lowest fuel prices reported by FBOs on acukwik.com.
Wire strikes by helicopters happen often, and too frequently result in fatalities. The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team found that approximately 16% of all rotary-wing accidents involve wire or obstacle strikes. Meanwhile, an FAA study of wire-strike accidents between 1994 and 2004 found 41 of 124 of those involving civil helicopters were fatal.
Business aviation flight activity in the United States tends to rise as fall takes hold during the month of October, according to ARGUS International Inc. At the NBAA Regional Forum in St. Louis, Travis Kuhn, associate product manager for ARGUS's TRAQpak, identified several reasons why flight activity recorded by the FAA spikes in October.
Aerial markers are used to highlight structures and wires when it is impractical to make them conspicuous by some other means and rely on the pilot’s ability to spot them during flight. According to FAA Advisory Circular 70/7460-1K “Obstruction Marking and Lighting,” markers should be recognizable in clear air from a distance of at least 4,000 ft. and in all directions from which aircraft are likely to approach.
Aerion Corporation, Reno, Nevada, appointed Sean McGeough as regional vice president for the Northeast U.S. Airbus Helicopters, Marignane, France, announced that Guillaume Steuer is head of External Communications reporting to vice president of Corporate Communications Yves Barille. Banyan Air Service, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, named Andy Joran as sales manager for HondaJet Southeast responsible for an eight-state territory.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Apex Aviation, an FAA-approved repair station in Las Vegas, is the new owner of Kings Avionics, based at Henderson Executive Airport near Las Vegas. Kings Avionics is a factory-authorized warranty and repair facility, with dealerships that include Avidyne, Mid Continent, Aspen Avionics and Sandia Aerospace. Several others are in the works, the company said.
During this year’s HAI Heli-Expo in Orlando, Florida, I got the chance to fly in a Bell 206 JetRanger equipped with Safe Flight Instrument Corp.’s Powerline Detection System (PDS), which senses the electromagnetic fields surrounding power lines.
Believing aircraft instruments when they are at odds with our bodily sensations is difficult. After all, the brain is taking in thousands of inputs a second from the body’s sensors, but information from the aircraft instruments only enters the computations when we attend to them.
Given sufficient forward speed, a power transmission cable will easily slice through a helicopter’s windshield. So, should a pilot fail to spot a wire ahead, Magellan Aerospace’s Wire-Strike Protection System (WSPS) can be the final line of defense for the impact that follows. A typical installation consists of a roof-mounted cutter and one or more cutters mounted on the helicopter’s fuselage. A deflector running vertically along the middle of the windshield guides the cables into the high-tensile-steel cutting blades.
Still thinking like a professional FAR Part 25 aircraft pilot, I ask what I need to learn first about operating a multiengine FAR Part 23 airplane? The answer came to mind almost immediately: What to do when one of the powerplants takes a vacation right around liftoff.
Mention the name Russ Meyer, Jr. and you’ll think of the Cessna chairman and CEO most responsible for the success of the Citation family of fanjets. Yet, it was he, along with his predecessor Dwayne Wallace who originated the concept for clean-sheet, single-engine Caravan, the company’s quietly successful and enduring utility turboprop.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Cirrus Aircraft says its Vision SF50 personal jet should earn type certification by year-end and deliveries 4-7 seat aircraft will begin shortly thereafter. Although several single-engine turbofan models have been proposed and some prototypes flown over the years, the SF50 will become the first to actually reach production. In late August, the FAA issued a Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) for the aircraft.
Designers attempt to give exceptional capabilities in all areas, including price, but the laws of physics, thermodynamics and aerodynamics do not allow one aircraft to do all missions with equal efficiency. Trade offs are a reality of aircraft design.
In the entry-level super-midsize category, is the Legacy 450 better value than the Citation Latitude? Digging deeper into design details, performance numbers and everyday capabilities can provide some answers.
Well proven over the last 12 years in service aboard business aircraft, the HTF7500E is a twin-spool, medium-bypass-ratio turbofan. Up front, there’s a single-stage, wide-chord, damperless fan, driven by an uncooled and shrouded three-stage low-pressure turbine. Aft of the fan, air is routed to the compressor through an inertial separator that causes most FOD to pass out the bypass duct rather than be ingested by the engine. The compressor consists of four axial compressor stages, with two variable geometry stator stages, and a single centrifugal compressor.
Four, 15.1-in. landscape configuration displays, arranged in a T configuration, dominate the instrument panel and center console. Each display may be divided into multiple windows to support multitasking. Synthetic vision is standard for the PFDs.
