Aircell announced that its Gogo Biz Inflight Internet service is now available in much of Alaska at no additional cost to subscribers. Coverage now includes Alaska’s more populous regions and some enroute segments, as well as arrival and departure corridors for some airports. Coverage maps are available at www.aircell.com/products-services/gogo-biz. Gogo Biz monthly service plans starts at $395/month.
I chose my career field on a sunny summer day outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near Gatlinburg, Tenn. I was seven. We had been tooling along on a family vacation when up ahead we spotted an old, bubble front Bell 47. Beside it was a sign that read, "Helicopter Rides, $5." "Dad! Only $5! A helicopter ride! Can we? That would be sooo cool! Please."
Sikorsky Aircraft closed in February on an equity investment that gives the helicopter maker a minority stake in Eclipse Aerospace. The companies announced the agreement during the NBAA annual meeting and convention in October 2010, but neither party will disclose the deal’s value or the structure of Sikorsky’s holding. Sikorsky and Eclipse also entered into a “service level agreement” under which Sikorsky would provide global supply chain support and certain production restart services.
The Finnish Aviation Academy has received FTD 2 FNPT II MCC dual qualification for its Embraer Phenom 100 devices manufactured by Frasca International Inc. The two devices to be installed feature TruVision Global 220-deg. visual systems. A Frasca-built avionics trainer for the Phenom 100s Prodigy Flight Deck is also in use there.
Dassault has delivered more than 100 Falcon 7X trijets to operators and the fleet has logged more than 60,000 flight hours since beginning service in mid-2007, according to the firm’s records. Based on accumulated fleet experience, operators say the aircraft provides an impressive step up in range, speed and cabin comfort compared to Falcon 900 series aircraft, the models most respondents in our survey said they previously operated.
The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 became law on Aug. 1, 2010, amending the Pilot Records Improvement Act by mandating that the FAA establish a database for pilot records to be used for conducting background checks before pilots are hired. In 1991, the FAA established a policy of expunging records of certain legal enforcement actions after five years, last expunging records on Nov. 1, 2010. The new pilot database must retain legal enforcement records until the FAA is notified that the individual is dead.
Air traffic controllers from airports around the Los Angeles Basin will step up use of an advanced tower simulator at the FAA’s regional office in Hawthorne, Calif., in the coming months as the agency closes on the final stages of a nationwide simulator deployment program. The final four MaxSim training systems, developed by simulation specialists Adacel, will be installed at sites around the United States to expedite new controller training. The FAA has 14 systems at its Oklahoma City training academy and 22 others at or near major U.S.
The FCC waived its spectrum allocation rules Jan. 26 to conditionally authorize Reston, Va.-based LightSquared to operate 40,000 high-power, ground-based 4G cell phone transmitters in a segment of the L-band previously allocated to Mobile Satellite Service (MSS), i.e. low-power satellite-to-earth service, immediately adjacent to the 1559-1610 MHz band used by GPS and other satellite navigation services.
Jan. 16 — At approximately 2000 CST, a Cessna 172A (N7262T) was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain 1 mi. east of Smiley Johnson Municipal/Bass Field (E34), Clarendon, Texas. The pilot, the sole occupant, was seriously injured. The cross-country flight originated at Abilene Regional Airport (ABI), Abilene, Texas, at approximately 1820, and was en route to E34. It was VFR at the time of the accident. When the pilot did not return as scheduled, family members became concerned. The FAA issued an ALNOT (Alert Notice) on Jan. 16 at 2345.
A King Air C90A (N57WR) crashed into terrain while attempting a missed approach from Mount Airy/Surry County, N.C., Airport (MWK). The pilot-in-command and a pilot-rated passenger who was “helping” the PIC were killed, as were their four passengers. The accident occurred on Feb. 1, 2008, at about 1128 EST.
Dubai-based Empire Aviation Group and RMSI a Dubai-based medevac, emergency medical services and clinical services specialist, have partnered to launch a new intensive-care air ambulance service. Empire will manage and operate a Hawker 800XP business jet configured as an air ambulance for RMSI.
Airbus engineers have patented a taxiing system using electrically driven wheels for its A320 family, which includes the Airbus Corporate Jet, to reduce fuel consumption during ground operations at airports and allow autonomous push-backs. EADS says the system uses electric “actuators” powered by the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit to drive the landing gear wheels. Fuel consumption is expected to be five times less using the APU compared to using engine power — saving as much as 200 kg of fuel per flight compared with current airport processes.
Canada’s National Research Council Institute for Aerospace Research is looking for licensees for a fly by wire control system it developed that automatically switches between two control response rates. In instrument or low-visibility conditions where visual cues are poor to nonexistent, pilots tend to make slower and more deliberate control inputs. In visual conditions, pilots tend to make more rapid control inputs.
The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), a Bangalore, India-based joint venture of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, has received a CAE-built cockpit simulator for HAL Dhruv helicopter training. The system is for the civil/conventional variant of the Dhruv, but additional cockpits for the Army/Air Force variant and the Eurocopter Dauphin are expected to be added over the next year. The simulator is slated to go operational in May following Level D certification by India’s civil aviation agency.
Duncan Aviation recently earned additional STCs for the installation of Aircell’s cabin telecommunication router, which provides Wi-Fi access in the cabin for the Gogo Biz Inflight Internet service. The new STCs apply to Hawker Beechcraft 800XP, 850XP and 900XP aircraft, as well as Dassault Falcon 2000 and Falcon 2000EX EASy airplanes.
When the young man got off the airplane, his mother hugged him lovingly, his brother gave him a familial shove, and then both stepped away alarmed, and a bit nauseous. The kid stank. More than that, he reeked in a special, terrible way, the noxious animal odor oozing from his pores seeming to have stewed within for weeks. And it had.
Garmin’s new Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP) system has been STCed on a Beech King Air 200. The system is designed to help pilots maintain stable flight and ward off situations that could cause stalls and spins, steep spirals or other loss-of-control conditions. The ESP acts independently of the autopilot and operates in the background when a pilot is hand-flying the aircraft. It gently nudges the controls toward stable flight whenever pitch, roll or high-speed deviations exceed recommended limits.
Eurocopter officially inaugurated its new North Sea Service Center in Aberdeen, Scotland, providing a training, technical support and logistics facility in close proximity to helicopter operators that support the region’s oil and gas industry — as well as the emerging wind farm sector. Eurocopter rotary-wing aircraft constitute the largest helicopter fleet in the United Kingdom. The center has a new EC225 helicopter full-flight simulator.
A new VIP version of the Dornier 328 has been launched by Germany’s 328 Support Services, the type certificate holder for the twinjet regional airliner. The so-called 328DBJ, which made its debut at December’s Middle East Business Aviation show, replaces the Envoy version of the 328 and will be the standard for all future VIP conversions, says 328 Support Services.
Airbus delivered 15 corporate jets in 2010, worth more than $1.5 billion at list prices, setting a new record for this sector of its business. The company delivered 13 A318 Elites, ACJs and A320 Prestige aircraft, plus two VIP widebody A330/A340s. Airbus also won eight ACJ orders in 2010, bringing total orders to date for Airbus VIP models to more than 170 aircraft. The new orders are for seven aircraft from the A318 Elite/Airbus ACJ/A320 Prestige family, plus one widebody A330/A340.
Macquarie Infrastructure Co.’s Atlantic Aviation subsidiary has sold its fixed-base operations at Fresno Yosemite International Airport and Cleveland Cuyahoga County Airport. The Fresno facility was sold to a subsidiary of Ross Aviation. The Cleveland FBO was sold to a subsidiary of The Cleveland Jet Center.
General Electric’s H80 engine will power the LET L410 regional turboprop aircraft under a five-year agreement signed with Czech manufacturer Aircraft Industries. GE will deliver 20+ engines per year to support new and retrofit installations on the L410-UVP-E20 twin-engine commuter aircraft. Certification on the L410 will be significant, marking GE’s entry into the air transport market with the H80 engine, developed as a competitor to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6. Aircraft Industries plans to complete H80-powered L410 aircraft certification by mid-2012.
The flight was to be a simple aerial photography mission over a large expansion construction project at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). The Bell 206B maneuvered over the work area at about 400 ft. AGL. However, soon after slowing to a hover, the helicopter did a rapid 180-deg. right turn around the mast, stopped momentarily, then continued its clockwise spin. According to one witness, the helicopter continued in a descending turn until striking the ground violently, killing both the pilot and photographer.
Notably, the pilots involved in our 30-accident study were executing maneuvers quite common in everyday operations when LTE brought them down. The following accident summaries are presented to help pilots better understand this phenomenon and the common scenarios in which it can occur. Hover Out of Ground Effect (HOGE) Dec. 30, 2008, Panama City, Fla. Aircraft: Schweizer 309C Injuries: None
Paragon Aviation Group announced that four new FBO members have joined its network. Effective Jan. 1, Maguire Aviation (VNY) joined Paragon and on. Feb. 1, Aero Air (HIO), Galvin Flying Service (BFI) and First Aviation Services (TEB) joined the network.
