Flight Display Systems, Alpharetta, Ga., has hired David Oblinger as general manager. He will oversee the daily manufacturing processes and system of the company. Hillary Davis has been appointed production coordinator, responsible for production scheduling including work order development, and Chris Cayia has been named operations manager, responsible for production work-flow, technical and customer support, and purchasing.
RNP 0.3: GPS — either TSO C-129 IFR GPS or TSO C-145/-146 WAAS-enabled GPS IRS — Laser IRS or solid-state AHRS FMS with approved barometric VNAV capability Digital Air Data System Appropriate EFIS displays, including moving map Appropriate, current and validated navigation database RNP ≤0.3 No single point of failure can cause the loss of RNP capability required for approach. Dual GPS Single IRS Dual FMS with approved VNAV capability
To Chet Fuller, GE Aviation’s chief marketing officer, the recent decline in fuel prices is temporary because pressures from global warming and energy demands from growing economies will eventually push them up again. “That’s why we are working hard on open-rotor technologies for narrowbody applications that will be based on the eCore [GE’s next-gen gas generator for business jets, regional jets and single-aisle 130-to 150-passenger jetliners now powered by the GE/Snecma CFM56 and IAE V2500 turbofans],” Fuller said in an interview late last year.
There are so many helicopters in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, that The Guardian newspaper in Manchester, England, has termed it “the real-life South American episode of the ‘Jetsons,’” the 1960s animated send-up of future life.
— At 1204 UTC, a Piper PA-46T (N403HP) crashed in a wooded area during a visual approach into the Voslau Aerodrome (LOAV), Baden, Austria. The pilot and passenger were killed and the airplane was destroyed. VMC prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot had cancelled his IFR clearance prior to entering the pattern at LOAV. The airplane was on an IFR flight plan from Shoreham-by-Sea Airport, Sussex, England, to LOAV.
The NBAA cancelled the February 2009 Hong Kong ABACE event and scaled back its first Light Business Airplane Conference (LBA2009) to a two-day event “to address unprecedented changes in the economy,” the association announced. Originally planned as a three-day conference, LBA2009 will now take place March 13-14 in San Diego. The NBAA reduced LBA2009 attendance fees by 50 percent and exhibitor space fees by 20 percent.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Hawker Beechcraft employees, Chairman and CEO Jim Shuster wrote that the general aviation market has slowed and new orders have fallen off “considerably.” “As we enter 2009, we see the economy continuing to erode and find ourselves facing a highly uncertain and unpredictable business climate,” he continued. “As a result, we are forced to substantially decrease our 2009 production levels and take the painful step of reducing our workforce accordingly.” Shuster took pains to reassure that the company is “extremely healthy” with a solid future.
The FAA is building a permanent Air Traffic Control System Command Center on a large campus of FAA facilities near Warrenton, Va., that already houses the Potomac TRACON. Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell said at the December groundbreaking ceremony that, “It only makes sense, considering we already have everything we need here: a strong infrastructure, security and technical support.” The new 63,000-square-foot facility will replace the existing command center near Dulles International Airport when its lease expires in 2011.
That’s Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game to you and me, but to Jaime Kourmoulis, director of human resources at AirMed, it’s a doorway to virtual world of incredible vistas, warriors, witches, monsters, weapons and spells. If you’re one of the thousands of people around the world who play Warhammer, one of the newer online multiplayer games out there of the dozens available, you may run into a sorceress “toon” name Khloe (yep, that’s with a K) of the guild Midnight Sun who’s been moving up there into the higher levels. That would be Jaime.
In spite of Eclipse Aviation’s difficulties, most operators remain enthusiastic about the Eclipse 500’s qualities. Almost all the operators we contacted took delivery of their aircraft before the May 2008 price increase to $2.15 million went into effect. Virtually all of them bought their aircraft for $837,500 to $1.6 million, plus inflation adjustments and options. Not unexpectedly, most of them said that acquisition price topped their list of favorite features.
Designed for use on commercial or business aircraft cabin and cockpit surfaces, Sherwin-Williams’ JetFlex Interior Aircraft Finish applies easily to plastic, metal and composite surfaces. The fast-drying finish is available in two technologies — a solvent-based polyurethane enamel and a water-reducible polyurethane dispersion coating. The product meets the performance criteria set forth in Boeing Material Specification BMS 10-83D Type II and Type III, including the requirements for flammability, yellowing resistance and smoke stain resistance.
After succumbing under the load of more than $1 billion in liabilities, forcing it to seek protection from creditors in accordance with Chapter 11 of Title 11 — Bankruptcy — of the U.S. Code on Nov. 25, 2008, Eclipse Aviation seems likely to sell substantially all of its assets to EclipseJet Aviation International in the next few weeks.
The FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) believes that pilots who are knowledgeable about physiological phenomena encountered in the aviation environment are better prepared to deal with potential fatal inflight events such as loss of cabin pressure, hypoxia, trapped gas problems and decompression sickness. FAR Part 61.31 (g)(2)(i) requires high-altitude physiology training for the PIC of a pressurized airplane that has a service ceiling or maximum operating altitude above 25,000 feet.
Iridium Satellite subscribers grew 37 percent to 309,000 for third quarter 2008, adding subscribers at a 47-percent rate of increase in the first nine months year on year. CEO Matt Desch said Iridium continues to be “the fastest-growing voice and data mobile satellite services company.” OpenPort, initially developed for the maritime market to provide greater bandwidth and higher data transfer speeds, will be adapted for aviation.
It was no coincidence that the keynote address at the G-20 meeting of representatives of the world’s largest economies in Washington, D.C., last November was delivered by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Sierra Industries, the Uvalde, Texas-based Cessna Citation re-engining specialist, delivered its first Super II in late November 2008. The modified Citation II — which features 2,820-pound-thrust Williams International FJ44-3A engines — flew nonstop from San Antonio to Northern California.
A Predator B unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will be based at a special operations center at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., about 13 miles from Grand Forks International Airport, where the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) maintains an air branch with manned rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. The latest Predator, CBP’s fourth, is to patrol the U.S.-Canadian border. The aircraft, which has a 64-foot wingspan, was to begin operations late this month, but as of mid-December, there had been no agreement with the FAA on restrictions to be imposed when the UAV is flying.
For the second time in three years, the DOT Inspector General has determined that FAA officials at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) have misclassified or underreported errors. The report was requested by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which protects government whistle-blowers.
Less than 5 percent of the “loss of pressurization” reports indicated any symptoms of hypoxia. However, given that an encounter with hypoxia can quickly turn fatal, any discussion of loss of pressurization would be incomplete without mentioning the early warning signs and symptoms of this quick and deadly killer.
The fourth quarter edition of Market Leader newsletter called the present market for previously owned aircraft “unprecedented,” adding that current conditions may be among the worst in recent memory. “Never before have we seen such a surplus of inventory coupled with a scarcity of buyers due to a global economic malaise,” declared Vref editor Fletcher Aldredge.
At the behest of the NBAA, AOPA and many individual operators, the TSA is extending the time period for public comment on the agency’s Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) proposal until Feb. 27.
Michael O’Keeffe, senior vice president of aircraft sales for Banyan Air Service — the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based aircraft sales and support organization — declared recently: “From all the feedback I have gotten, I believe we are in for a very rough ride, at least over the next 12 months, unless some [economic] stimulus package or investment tax credit is enacted to encourage people to spend money.”
An airline client of MedAire’s MedLink Global Response Center was five hours into a 10-hour flight high over Kazakhstan when a 20-year-old passenger who was eight months pregnant suddenly went into premature labor. Volunteer medical personnel onboard helped deliver a healthy baby girl who apparently wasted no time making her entrance. A member of the flight crew contacted Medlink doctors for post-delivery advisories on monitoring mother and baby for any indicators for a precautionary landing.
