After the hugely embarrassing two-week partial shutdown of the FAA, lawmakers are turning their attention to negotiations on a long-term reauthorization bill—something the agency has not had since 2007. However, that does not mean posturing on the Hill is being replaced with “Come, let us reason together.” Lawmakers return to town after the Sept. 5 Labor Day holiday with less than two weeks to agree to a long-term bill, pass the 22nd extension of the Airport and Airways Trust Fund authority or hit replay on the shutdown drama.
Inmarsat's decision to go with Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) for its Global Xpress deal marks a major step forward for the aerospace giant's goal to return in force to the commercial satellite business.The company will attempt to raise commercial satellite sales to 30% of the company’s space business within five years, up from 10% now.
Few details about the merger are being disclosed, but if approved, it will create a company with more than 40,000 employees and operations to 115 destinations in 23 countries. The combined entity will be named LATAM Airlines Group, although the two companies will operate as separate brands.
The next generation of unmanned aircraft could be today's systems, but linked in ways only now becoming possible, thereby enabling them to perform missions beyond their individual capabilities. Use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has grown during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but as the conflict draws down, services are seeking ways to make better use of their existing assets, recognizing that prospects for new systems are receding as budgets tighten.
Lockheed Martin's Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) is facing an existential threat on Capitol Hill. Senators are actively trying to end funding for the system and renegotiate the U.S. agreement to develop the missile with Italy and Germany. Rather than simply push back on the cuts, Lockheed Martin is making a run at the competition, arguing it will cost the government more in the long term to sustain Raytheon's Patriot missile system than to opt for Meads.
“Time For Change” (AW&ST July 12/25, p. 50) presents a truss-braced wing design as a potential option in the field of research for fuel-burn reduction.
Walter C. Pague passed away July 1 at the age of 95 in Middletown, Ohio. Returning from service as a Naval aviator in 1945, he was the first pilot at American Rolling Mill Company, now Armco, and founded its flight department, retiring in 1980. In 1946 he was one of the 13 founders of the Corporation Aircraft Owners Association, which evolved into today's National Business Aviation Association. Pague served on the association's board of directors from 1947 to 1964.
One afternoon in the late 1990s, I was at United Air Lines' central maintenance facility. During a break in one of the presentations on marketing MRO services to other carriers, my minder whispered in my ear, “Wanna' see something really cool?” — a question for which any journalist has but one response.
New noses for the Twin Beech: A Royal Canadian Air Force Beech 18 is a flying test bed for the 500-hp Canadian P&W turbine (top, left). Volpar tricycle gear conversion by Capital Aviation, Springfield, Ill., of the Beech C-45H, delivered to Midland Investment of San Antonio (bottom, left).
Here are some examples of actual incidents in which Boeing's Aircraft Health Management (AHM) service played a role in keeping 'em flying: A flight en route lost its weather radar, an MEL item that would have grounded the aircraft after arrival at its destination. The fault had been reported to the operator's central maintenance facility via ACARS, analyzed and the necessary part identified, ordered, and transported to the arrival airport. The aircraft landed, the part was installed, and the flight continued after a brief delay.
The FADEC-equipped -3AP is one of Williams most advanced versions of the FJ44 turbofan family, producing 3,050-lb. thrust for takeoff and weighing only 528 lb. Compared to earlier -3 engines, the -3AP incorporates many aerodynamic, weight reduction and durability improvements. The two-spool engine features a wide-chord fan, three axial-flow compressor stages, a single centrifugal high-pressure compressor powered by a single stage high-pressure turbine and a two-stage low pressure turbine that powers the axial compressor and fan.
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Hawker 200 in a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Hawker Beechcraft's chief sales engineer, Martin Tuck, provided the chart data. Please note: These data are preliminary and are subject to change as a result of flight tests leading up to aircraft certification, now slated for the first half of 2012.
Gama Aviation received Wyvern approval for all its operating bases in Europe, the Mideast and the Americas. The business aviation services company is based at Farnborough, England. In receiving the seal of safety excellence, The Wyvern Standard, Gama agrees to meet strict standards audited annually and monitored continually.
The ability to maneuver is severely restricted around many business jet airports in mountainous terrain, such as Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, Colo. (ASE) and Truckee-Tahoe, Calif., Airport (TRK). Often such airports are served by rather infamous instrument approach procedures with missed approach points (MAP) that terminate at significant heights and/or a long way from the runway.
The Hawker 200's Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit looks a lot like that of the Premier IA, with its three 10-in. by 8-in. AFD-3010E LCD screens, stand-alone annunciator light panel and dual multifunction CDUs in the center console. The most obvious difference is the Meggitt EPD-40002 integrated electronic standby instrument system that replaces the cluster of three standby instruments aboard the Premier IA.
Air Traffic Organization (ATO), Washington, has appointed David Grizzle chief operating officer.` Avantair Inc., Clearwater, Fla., has hired Robert DeGrie as vice president of maintenance responsible for the Maintenance and Materials departments including the Camarillo, Calif.; Clearwater/St. Petersburg; and Dallas locations. Christopher Gleason has joined the company as area sales manager for Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah.
Air Ledger is a new “cloud”-based package from Aero Management Solutions of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., designed to improve communication and relations between aircraft owners and managers. Version 1.0, launched in early June, enables owners to review financial data transparently without requiring a dedicated application but via simple Internet access allowing online review as well as submittal of invoices. The company says that with this scalable solution, owners can configure reports to their liking and that use of the system reduces risk of loss of records.
So what was Barack Obama doing 24 hr. before his now infamous June 29 press conference in which he repeatedly bashed “the tax break for corporate jets?”
2011 Operations Planning Guide Aircraft operating costs are presented in a format that separates the data into seven separate areas: Mission Costs, Variable Costs, Fixed Annual Costs, Periodic Costs, Personnel Costs, Training Costs and Facilities Costs.
Some aircraft accident and incident investigations require years of meticulous laboratory analysis, human factors studies, meteorological research, flight deck simulations and inflight experimentation before a probable cause can be determined. Alternatively, some incidents provide investigators with few mysteries, but rather a collection of facts that leave them simply amazed that such things can happen in modern sophisticated aircraft operations.
Aviation Research Group/US is the industry leader in providing specialized aviation services to companies that manufacture, finance, operate, maintain, and market commercial and business aircraft, as well providing products and services to consumers worldwide.
From the simplest knives of the caveman days to the most advanced computers of today, tools have helped make our lives easier and enabled us to do amazing things. Aircraft maintenance technicians have a special relationship with tools. From wrenches to laptops, we just cannot work on aircraft without them. However, a lost or misplaced tool can cause missed flights, damage or even destruction of an aircraft. Keeping tools where they belong through good tool control is the cornerstone of good maintenance practices.
Leave the boundaries of the United States and you lose the locally available feed from FAA radar (known as ASDI, for Aircraft Situation Display to Industry) because, as everyone knows, radar stops at the horizon's edge. Once you head out over the water, you can continue to rely on air traffic management to provide position information via the traditional transoceanic longitudinal reporting points. But if you want more frequent near-real-time position and tracking info, you'll need to sign up for satellite tracking services.
Push up the throttles in the Hawker 200 on takeoff and you might think you're strapped in a Learjet 25, considering this aircraft's rapid runway acceleration, excellent climb performance and near Mach 0.80 cruise speeds in the mid-forties. That's to be expected. The Hawker 200 has the best thrust-to-weight ratio of any business aircraft in current production, even edging out the athletic Cessna Citation CJ4.
