Search Results for: general aviation inc

Years in the making, the latest security initiative from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been unveiled. The Large Aircraft Security Program will regulate private operators of business jets weighing 12,500 pounds or more. Jets of this size constitute a large percentage of the private bizjet fleet. The regulations require compliance from operators of Part […]

Last year when Bend, Oregon, company Columbia Aircraft exhausted its last gasp efforts at getting enough cash to stay in business and declared bankruptcy, there was immediate speculation that Cessna would buy the company’s assets at auction. As it turned out, Cessna had been looking at that possibility for some time already. And by the […]

On September 23, Congress voted to extend the current FAA funding scheme through the first quarter of next year. The current stopgap FAA funding plan would have expired on Tuesday. Still awaiting President Bush’s signature, the bill is seen as a necessary delaying action in the face of much more dire difficulties — divining and […]

Are you getting the most performance from your airplane? The fact is a considerable amount of unused performance gets overlooked by the average owner/operator. Both performance and range can be improved through common operational techniques, performing regular maintenance procedures and careful planning. Most of this “hidden performance” can be gained back from wasted fuel and increases in the airplanes useful range. In turn, you can reduce the annual operating costs. And with average aviation fuel prices nudging $6 a gallon in the U.S., who wouldnt want to enhance their airplanes efficiency? Thankfully, its not as complicated as it may seem. You just need to make the machinery work the way it was designed to work. One method is to ensure the airplane is as mechanically sound as it can be. Then, well look at improving its basic aerodynamics, followed by some smarter flight planning. Finally, well look at ways to save fuel while airborne.

As we practice our license to learn, some hazards demand our frequent attention: Traffic, weather and terrain are the top three. They present varying levels of predictability, and a huge amount of brain power and economic investment has been poured into keeping pilots out of the teeth of these hazards. But what about the less predictable living hazards that share the airport-and sky-with us? Plenty of critters live on and around airports, and as for sharing the sky with birds, well, they got there first. Sometime in the 1980s, a Japan Airlines-bound ab initio student at Napa Airport, Calif., (APC) had a rough time understanding the tower controllers by-the-book NOTAM. She warned, “Aircraft in the vicinity, be aware of large waterborne fowl in and around the airport environment.” After several futile rounds of the hapless student pilot requesting that she say again, she finally bellowed, “Birds! We have birds on the runway!” Birds in the aviating environment are far from the cute critters alighting on Cinderellas hand. A brown pelican, for instance, can pack a punch, weighing up to six pounds (and lets hope you never encounter the 33-pound Dalmatian pelican). Turkey vultures weigh up to 10 pounds; however, the mass generated by a closure rate greater than your en route cruising speed can be incredibly destructive. Size doesnt always matter: The tiny starling is a feathered bullet, with a body 27 percent more dense than the herring gull.

Early on in my flying career, taking off automatically meant, absolutely free, one mandatory dead-stick landing. Thats because I was flying hang gliders and developed an easy appreciation for fitting into small spaces. Later, after someone thought to put a small engine and propeller on one and dub the results an ultralight, my well-honed, dead-stick landing skills proved handy too frequently. Thankfully, the engines used on ultralights in those early days have improved greatly but-like a catchy tune you just cant shake after hearing it on the radio-I still think in terms of whether a nearby field is large enough for landing. Coincidentally and for the same reasons, short-field takeoff skills with an ultralight received equal attention. After all, once you “land out” in an ultralight and resolve whatever caused the engine to fail, you still need to get back to the car. Best of all, the better our short-field skills, the more options we had for operating, powerplant status aside. Once I moved up to flying larger, heavier, faster airplanes, those same instincts came with me, as did the comfort of knowing I had the ability to safely operate from fields that might make a knowledgeable passenger utter an audible, “Whoa….”

Since last June, more than 80,000 visits have been recorded on the crew briefing site for Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Consistently one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country, Teterboro is also located within some of the most complex and congested airspace. To help pilots negotiate arrivals and departures involving Teterboro, the […]

The Department of Transportation yesterday issued a report sharply critical of the FAA’s certification procedures for the Eclipse 500 very light jet. The FAA had already publicly announced that its own team of inspectors found no substantive fault with the certification process. A hearing yesterday before the House Aviation Subcommittee included testimony to the effect […]

Eclipse Aviation is now subdivided into two corporate segments: a manufacturing division and a customer service division. The move came last week as part of new CEO Roel Pieper’s move toward “operational excellence.” The new president of the Eclipse Manufacturing Division is Peg Billson; and former vice president of sales and marketing Mike McConnell becomes […]

Since its certification back in 1994, the hallmark of the remarkably successful Pilatus PC-12 turboprop single has been its tremendous flexibility and utility — with a cabin full of passengers and cargo, it can go from a cozy dirt strip to the city lights a thousand miles distant, flying far above the terrain and much […]