All General aviation articles – Page 558
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FAA forms committee on fractional rules
The US Federal Aviation Administration has established a long-awaited Fractional Aviation Rule-Making Advisory Committee. Its job will be to draw up recommendations on the future regulatory status of fractional ownership programmes. The results will be submitted to the FAA in early January next year. The committee, which will meet ...
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SilkAir captain claims he 'quit over crash pilot'
SilkAir denials that one of its former senior captains had warned it about the behaviour of the pilot of a Boeing 737-300 which crashed days later have been contradicted by the captain. The warning was said to have been given days before the accident on 19 December, 1997. Former ...
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Burning issues
A new report challenges aviation's complacency about the long-term effect it may have on the atmosphere Julian Moxon/PARIS Look at the sky on a clear day and you are likely to see contrails produced by high-flying aircraft, their criss-cross patterns melting slowly to form light, wispy cirrus-type clouds before they ...
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AlliedSignal launches new safety avionics
AlliedSignal has unveiled a line of safety avionics for business and general aviation aircraft. The Integrated Hazard Avoidance Systems (IHAS) combine position, weather, traffic and terrain information on a multi-function display. "We are bringing air transport safety technologies to business and general aviation-perhaps the market segment that needs it the ...
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Noble targets taxi market with Farnborough F1
Richard Noble, the man behind the successful ThrustSSC supersonic jet powered world land speed record attempt in 1997, has launched a project to build a five-seater single turboprop, the Farnborough F1. He hopes to market the aircraft to companies interested in creating networks of air taxis, allowing business travellers to ...
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New Piper ponders jet move
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC New Piper Aircraft, buoyed by increasing piston and turboprop sales, continues to explore a venture into the jet-powered aircraft market. The move will be contingent on a future public stock offering. Vero Beach, Florida-based New Piper estimates the cost of developing a jet-powered light aircraft ...
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MD Helicopters will cut link with Boeing
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON MD Helicopters plans to sever its manufacturing ties with Boeing when the contract to build parts for the five-strong civil helicopter line is fulfilled in early 2001. "As part of the deal to buy Boeing civil helicopters, we signed a binding manufacturing agreement," says MD Helicopters chief executive ...
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FAA programme outlines general aviation safety goals
General aviation in the USA has been given a target for safety improvement under the Federal Aviation Administration's Safer Skies programme, which until now has concentrated on commercial air transport safety. A 20% reduction in the fatal GA accident rate by 2007 has been deemed a feasible "safety metric", ...
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German ATC buy
The German Civil Aviation Authority has purchased four additional Lockheed Martin Short Term Conflict Alert systems that alert air traffic controllers to potential aircraft conflicts at congested airports. The systems, worth $8 million, will be installed in Munich, Langen and Bremen. Contract options provide for three more systems. A second ...
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WAAS appeal
The US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has called on the US Federal Aviation Administration to "move forward aggressively" to implement its Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) satellite navigation system. "It is time for the FAA to eliminate the paralysis of analysis," says AOPA. WAAS is due to go ...
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Mooney aims to deliver more powerful Ovation
Mooney Aircraft plans to offer a more powerful variant of the four-seat Ovation. The manufacturer is working with McCauley Propeller on a new propeller design for the aircraft with "fewer blades". Mooney president Chris Dopp says: "The new McCauley model is an adaptation of a four-blade design used on ...
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Groen Hawk 4 gyro makes maiden flight
Groen Brothers Aviation (GBA) flew the first production Hawk 4 gyroplane for the first time on 29 September at the company's Buckeye, Arizona, operations base, following a 13-year development programme. Three Hawk prototypes have been flown. Certification and first deliveries are to start in the second quarter of 2001, ...
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Premier third
The third Raytheon Premier I prototype flew for the first time on 17 September from the Beech Field, Wichita, site. The entry level business aircraft, to be used for avionics certification, will be joined by the fourth test machine "later this year". The third prototype will have its debut at ...
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Slovakia to open range to USAF
The Slovak Republic is to open a training range and airfield to the US Air Force, becoming the first former Warsaw Pact country to allow their routine use by Western air forces. The ranges could be in USAF use by April. A Slovak-US agreement, two years in development, gives ...
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A league of its own
Raytheon Aircraft believes the Premier I sets a new standard for comfort and performance in entry-level business jets Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DCBusiness aviation is famously conservative, and buyers of Beech-branded products notoriously so. Not surprisingly, Raytheon's 1995 announcement that it was developing a composite-fuselage business aircraft was greeted with cries of ...
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Sloane delivery
Sloane Helicopters has taken delivery of the first UK-registered emergency medical services-equipped Agusta A109E Power. The Automobile Association-sponsored twin will be delivered by the end of the year to the Thames Valley Air ambulance service. Source: Flight International
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European dealer
Lancair has signed Hanseatische Luftwerft, based in Bremen, Germany, as the European dealership for its Columbia 300. Certification of the all-composite light aircraft in Germany is planned for late next year. Source: Flight International
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JAA may back down on flightcrew rules
Transatlantic harmonisation of flightcrew licensing (FCL) rules could take a step forward when Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities council meets on 19-20 October. The committee is expected to modify the requirement for professional pilot training establishments to have their main place of business in Europe - a rule which has infuriated ...
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Italian amphibian
Italy's Department of Civil Protection has ordered three more Bombardier Canadair 415 amphibious firefighting aircraft, for delivery early next year, taking its fleet to 13. The order takes the 415's orderbook to 55 aircraft, 42 of which have been delivered. Source: Flight International
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Bristow order launches AB139
Kate Sarsfield/LONDON Bell/Agusta Aerospace has clinched the first order for its $6 million AB139 from UK operator Bristow Helicopters, three months after the 12/15-seat aircraft was unveiled. The sale of two of the medium-twin-turbine helicopters to Redhill, Surrey-based Bristow, for offshore oil support operations, is the first of what ...