The U.S. airline industry posted an aggregate profit of $5 billion last year and became more focused on the issue of the environment, the Air Transport Association reported in its annual economic report. U.S. passenger and cargo carriers posted $5 billion in net income on $173 billion in revenues, which translates into a profit margin of 2.9 percent — in line with historical norms, the ATA reported. Passenger revenue alone accounted for $107 billion of the total, the report says.
THE BELLANCA DECATHLON that pilot Steve Fossett was flying the day he disappeared a year ago was seen flying very low over mountainous terrain, the National Transportation Safety Board reported last week. See article on Page 112.
FAA complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in its redesign of New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia airspace, a congressional report has concluded.
EMBRAER ERJ 170 and 190 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-27785; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-267-AD; Amendment 39-15649; AD 2008-17-11] – Requires operators to conduct a functional check of the Flight Guidance Control System (FGCS) channels engagement, in accordance with EMBRAER Service Bulletin 170-22-0003 Rev. 01 or Service Bulletin 190-22-0002 Rev. 01 (both dated Nov. 5, 2007). If any malfunction of the FGCS is discovered, replace the actuator input-output processor before further flight. Also, upgrade the Primus EPIC field-loadable software.
BOMBARDIER Wednesday completed the first flight of its prototype CRJ1000 NextGen jet from its facilities at Mirabel, Quebec. Jacques Thibaudeau and Chuck Ellis were the pilots and Eugene Lardizabal the flight test engineer for the 3 hour, 25 minute first flight. The aircraft reached an altitude of 30,000 feet and a maximum speed of 260 knots. The pilots cycled the landing gear, operated the flaps and slats and tested the new fly-by-wire rudder.
MOONEY AIRPLANE COMPANY named Airnet of Celje, Slovenia as an authorized sales representative for Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Airnet, which will represent Mooney as Mooney EEU, has branch offices in Croatia, Serbia and Albania and offers brokerage, financing, shared ownership, charter and flight training services in addition to sales.
Gulfstream will unveil the G250 at NBAA, a clean-sheet super-midsize to large-cabin business aircraft, powered by Honeywell HTF7500-series turbofans and fitted with a downsized variant of the G550 wing. It will be capable of carrying eight passengers 3,600 n.m. at .80 Mach, according to prospective customers. The reported wing design also suggests it will able to fly 3,000+ n.m. at .85 Mach.
SAAB Model 2000 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0115; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-240-AD] – This proposal, which amends an earlier proposed rule (AD 2007-0204), would require inspection and rework of the center bracket on the aft engine mounting assembly in order to make sure that it is less susceptible to external damage that could cause it to crack. The work would need to be conducted in accordance with procedures outlined in Saab Service Bulletin 2000-71-023, Rev.
Record-setting aviator Steve Fossett was seen flying his small aircraft at very low altitudes on Sept. 3, 2007, the day he disappeared, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday. No trace of Fossett or the Bellanca 8KCAB-180 (Super Decathlon), N240R he was piloting have been found, despite intensive searches by law enforcement and military personnel and numerous volunteers. He was declared legally dead Feb. 15, 2008.
KRISTINE HARTZELL was named chief pilot of ProJet Aviation, an aircraft management and charter operator based in Winchester, Va. Hartzell was most recently with Compass Airlines. She also was a pilot with Independence Air and Atlantic Coast Airlines and was a former marketing coordinator for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORP. flew its X2 Technology Demonstrator for the first time last week, completing a 30-minute flight from the Schweizer Aircraft facility in Horseheads, N.Y. Sikorsky Chief Test Pilot Kevin Bredenbeck flew the prototype, assessing basic maneuverability, including hover, forward flight, and hover turn. Sikorsky called the flight a milestone culminating more than four years of design, development and testing of the technologies involved in the counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter.
THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD is offering a two-day training session on emergency communications following a major aircraft accident. The training, scheduled Oct. 28-29 at the NTSB Training Center in Ashburn, Va., is designed to provide guidance to aviation public affairs professionals from airports, airlines and corporate flight departments on effectively managing emergency communications.
BAE SYSTEMS Model 146 and Avro 146-RJ airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0909; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-363-AD] - This proposed rule, which would supersede an existing directive (AD 2005-23-12), would require operators to revise the “Airworthiness Limitations” section of the “Instructions for Continued Airworthiness” to incorporate new, more restrictive life limits for certain items, as well as new, more stringent inspections to detect fatigue cracking in certain structures.
Thousands of Machinists union employees at Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) who have been on strike since Aug. 3 ratified a new three-year contract Thursday and will return to work on Tuesday following the Labor Day holiday.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE secured European Aviation Safety Agency approval for aircraft equipped with the Gulfstream Enhanced Vision System to proceed from Decision Height to a 100-foot altitude when using EVS for low-visibility approach. Gulfstream is the first OEM to receive EASA operational credit for continuing approaches to 100 feet, the manufacturer said. Gulfstream also obtained EASA validation to install the upgraded EVS II on the G550, G450, G500 and G350.
Fuel suppliers and experts will gather with airline representatives Sept. 8-9 at the Commerce Department to discuss potential results of the pending certification of alternative fuels for commercial aircraft use. Certification of a coal or natural gas-to-liquid synthetic, using the Fischer-Tropsch process, is possible as early as December if it is approved by members of the American Society for Testing and Materials, a standards-setting agency comprising the major engine manufacturers and fuel authorities.
PAUL H. FELDMAN, a former FAA executive with extensive international experience, joined the General Aviation Manufacturers Association as vice president, government affairs. Before joining GAMA, Feldman had most recently been with APCO Worldwide, the communications and consulting firm, where he worked with clients including GAMA, both in the U.S. and Europe, on government relations, policy and strategy. Feldman began his career on Capitol Hill, working for Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.) in several capacities, including chief of staff and legislative director.
CHRISTIAN KENNEDY is the new international sales manager, Canada, for Dassault Falcon, with responsibility for sales and marketing of the full line of large-cabin Falcon business jets in the Canadian market. Kennedy has nearly 20 years of aviation industry experience. Most recently he held sales and marketing positions with charter operators XOJET and Guardian Jet. He began his career as a pilot with Sony Aviation in 1989 at the Teterboro, N.J. Airport, where he was rated on Falcon 10, 50 and 900 business jets.
HONEYWELL NZ-2000 navigation computers and IC-800 or IC-800E integrated avionics computers [Docket No. FAA-2008-0899; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-022-AD] - This proposed AD would require uploading new software, which would terminate the mandate of an existing directive (AD 2007-07-12) that required revising the “Limitations” section of the Airplane Flight Manual to provide procedures for retaining optimum position determination and intended navigation using Honeywell flight management system (FMS) computers.
PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD. PC-6 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0626 Directorate Identifier 2008-CE-035-AD; Amendment 39-15637; AD 2008-16-19] - Requires replacing self-locking stop nuts in the tail landing gear, parachute cable, water tank, cable tensioner, fuel filter, hydraulic pump and engine mount assemblies per the instructions of Pilatus PC-6 Service Bulletin No. 53-002 Rev. 2 (dated Sept. 24, 2007). This AD was prompted by the discovery of loose self-locking stop nuts in the tail landing gear fastener assemblies of some aircraft.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION has proposed changing the criteria for closing runways during inclement winter weather as part of a draft modification to Advisory Circular 150/5200-30, Airport Winter Safety and Operations. The agency wants to establish new operational criteria that specify the weather events that trigger airport operators to close runways. Also, FAA wants airports to notify airport users of runway closures through timely issuance of NOTAMs.
The top management of MRO company StandardAero were ousted in a shakeup and management consolidation that apparently signals a change in parent company Dubai Aerospace Enterprise’s (DAE) aggressive aftermarket acquisition strategy (BA, Aug. 25/89).
EUROCONTROL plans to “revisit possible operational improvements” due to recent advances in wake vortex research and technology. Eurocontrol is examining whether improvements can be made in four areas: wake turbulence separation minima, time-base separation, crosswind procedures and closely spaced parallel runway operations. The agency is holding a wake vortex workshop Sept. 16 at its Brussels headquarters because its work in this area needs “exposure to a wide aviation audience...to get first-hand quality feedback.”
THE MCCAIN AND OBAMA campaigns focused briefly on aviation last week after an FAA center that handles flight plans lost power, disrupting hundreds of flights and inconveniencing thousands of travelers. See article on Page 102.
