TAKEOFF AND LANDING performance charts were nightmarishly complex in the early days of business jets. To find a landing distance, for example, you had to enter the typical chart from several edges simultaneously and read your answers against microscopically small grids (often printed on cheap paper, so lines smudged). Every parameter had an axis -- landing weight, temperature, elevation, brake temperature, runway braking action, anti-ice on/off, runway gradient, etc.
*Vianne J. Floyd is a full-time flight attendant manager for an S&P 500 firm. *Tammy Kilduff is supervisor, Inflight Services and is a full-time employee at one of the largest firms in the food industry. *Tammy Beth Natalia is a contracting flight attendant with 11 years in both airline and business aviation operations and experience in most heavy jets. (corporateflightattendant.com). *Judith Reif is an active corporate contract flight attendant and founder of JR Flight Services in Cordova, Tenn. ([email protected]).
The aviation professionals who participated in UBS Investment Research's latest bimonthly survey of the business jet market "continue to cite a very strong market, with current business conditions just off their high." The December 2007 edition of the financial firm's Business Jet Monthly report added, "It appears credit market woes are still not hitting bizjets, as 73 percent of respondents noted no adverse impact from broader credit market difficulties. The majority view continues to be that the market can hold current high levels over the next 12 months."
The National Air Transportation Association is forming an Environmental Committee to review and develop positions on a number of issues, including aircraft emissions, spill prevention and containment, changes in the Clean Water Act, and deicing fluids. Traver Gruen-Kennedy, DayJet vice president of strategic operations, is chairing the new panel.
As one of the TAG Aviation employees who is losing her job within a few months after the transition to Sentient, I want to thank you for your excellent Viewpoint in the December issue. You beautifully expressed what so many of us feel. I have proudly worked at TAG for eight and a half years. It has been tragic to see firsthand what the FAA has caused over the past nine months. What I worry about most is how the stress has affected all of us in ways we don't even realize yet. Thank you for speaking up.
By the early 1960s, the Twin Commander aircraft line had reached the limits of available piston-engine power, so Rockwell Standard, the aircraft manufacturer, elected to upgrade to turbine power. The 1965 Rockwell Model 680T Turbo Commander was first in a new family of turboprops based on the Twin Commander design. Powered by two 575-shp Garrett AiResearch TPE331 engines, it offered a 50-percent horsepower boost compared to a Lycoming-powered Twin Commander, plus more range, considerably greater reliability and almost triple the time between overhauls.
Cessna Aircraft Chairman, President and CEO Jack Pelton will continue serving as chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Gathering of Eagles Committee for two more years. Held during the EAA's annual AirVenture fly-in convention, the gathering attracts a broad cross-section of general aviation industry enthusiasts to raise funds to support the association's missions. Cessna also will continue to serve as the hosting sponsor of the EAA Gathering of Eagles event through 2009.
A Qantas Boeing 747-400 was reported to have lost all four generator control units (GCUs) about a half hour out from Bangkok, Thailand. The airplane was landing by using standby power and instruments. There were 334 passengers and no injuries were reported. Reports indicate that there was standing water in the galley above the GCUs and that the drip tray that would have prevented water intrusion was cracked.
Central Flying Service has been designated a service center for Clifford Development's retrofit of Cessna Citation IIs and S/IIs with Williams International FJ44-3A engines.
I was just about to send a message and ask why there have been no Operators Surveys in the magazine for some time when the January issue arrived with a survey of the Challenger 300 (page 52). And a great report it was. I am a captain on a Citation CJ2 and CJ3 and would love to see an Operators Survey on these two airplanes, especially the CJ3 as we just got it. Any chance of seeing this soon?
Regarding "We're Here to Hurt," my mind came to the same conclusion watching the torture of Bob Hoover. This is just history proving there is a repetitive pattern to the behavior.
Thanks for your December Viewpoint, which concerns my brother. After reading your logically written article I finally understand what was done to AMI. Unfortunately, I think your conclusions are correct. Never has our family's patriotism been in question but at the moment I'm not very proud to be an American. If this can happen to someone like my brother, think of the others who are ruined unjustly. I don't think this story is quite over. Someone must get a payoff along the line. "Follow the money" as they say.
I couldn't help but notice a wild error in the otherwise excellent "Wonder of Winglets" article in the December issue (page 82). It refers to sales of 55 Learjet 29s, but the fact is, only four were built, and all were for export -- two each to the governments of Mexico and India, where their phenomenal climb and high-altitude performance was well-suited to special missions.
The first manifestation of the FAA's much-trumpeted Next Generation Air Transportation System is likely to see daylight in the Gulf of Mexico, and all "NextGen" aviation users plying airspace over the Gulf will have the rotary-wing community to thank for it.
The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University plans to open a new facility as we go to press that will provide 14,000 square feet of additional research space. The facility will house environmental testing equipment including an anechoic chamber, a reverberation chamber, two fluid susceptibility chambers, a temperature/humidity/altitude chamber, a rate of heat release chamber, an aircraft insulation tester and two shaker tables.
The French defense ministry has selected the Eurocopter 120 light helicopter for its new lead-in rotary-wing training program, one of several training initiatives to be outsourced to private operators. The ministry said the EC120 operator also had been selected, but could not yet be divulged. The selected operator will determine the number of rotorcraft to be procured. France has already contracted with EADS to use Grob aircraft to provide lead-in training for air transport pilots.
SatWest LLC, the Albuquerque-based provider of satellite business solutions, has been granted an STC for the L-1 satcom kit for Learjet 31, 31A, 35, 35A, 36 and 36A airplanes. The system was developed in conjunction with DC Aerospace, LLC.
The FAA has issued a stern warning to Santa Monica, Calif., city officials that a proposed ordinance to ban larger business jets at Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) would violate federal laws and result in enforcement proceedings against the city. In early December 2007, the City Council agreed to a "first reading" of a proposed ordinance that would ban Category C and D aircraft - those with approach speeds faster than 121 knots - from using the airport. Santa Monica estimates that about 50 percent of the business jets that operate at SMO are Category C or D aircraft.
