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| Today's Exclusive Feature | back to top |  |
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Nextant's New Math -- A New Model For GA?
The idea of creating a business jet that outperforms the competition is standard fare, but actually pulling that off while selling the jet for less is a head turner; enter Nextant Aerospace. Since October 2011, Nextant has been delivering the world's only FAA-certified remanufactured business jet, the 400XT. The company is currently working to improve output to 40 aircraft per year as it seeks to fill demand for more than 80 orders (and counting) already on the books. To say that Nextant's approach represents a paradigm shift in aircraft production may be hyperbolic; but saying that the company's product is superior may be statistically demonstrable. It may also be good reason to suspect that others may follow. Right now, this is a success story. And looking forward, how Nextant did it may be just as important as why.
Click here to read the full article.
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| From the Pages of Aviation Safety Magazine | back to top | |
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When Glass Goes DarkAmong the first things pilots learn is what to do if something goes wrong. Instrument pilots get to learn what to do when instruments or the systems powering them fail and how to get back on the ground with what's left. Back in the days when each instrument was a separate, physical thing instead of a software construct presenting symbols or alphanumeric data, their presentation was relatively well known and predictable. These days, however, those same instruments often have been replaced with what is essentially a computer screen. What happens when it fails?
Click here to read the full article. One of the great selling points of glass cockpit displays is the mean time between failures (MTBF)—or average number of operating hours an individual unit should be expected to work before a total outage—is astronomical. Garmin, for instance, advertises a MTBF of 10,000 hours for the G1000 system. The published MTBF figure is, however, related to the solid-state "gyro" system. There are other situations—electrical outages, broken wires, disconnected grounds, monitor screen glitches, circuit breaker failures—that can also result in loss of primary flight display (PFD) data. Almost all piston-airplane glass cockpit systems have no backup to the air data computer (ADC) or the attitude/heading reference system (AHRS) driving the flight instrumentation. In many cases, if the PFD fails, its information will automatically appear on the multifunction display (MFD)—the so-called reversionary mode. Reversionary mode, too, is a form of partial-panel flying, if you're very accustomed to using the large MFD moving map for position and situational awareness, weather tracking and engine monitoring. Flying by reference to primary flight data on the MFD probably warrants a little practice as part of your recurring training regimen. A big unknown is what might happen to MTBF as glass cockpit hardware ages, especially in the training fleet that is usually not hangared, but tied down outside (which includes a surprising percentage of all glass-cockpit airplanes). Even among professionally and owner-flown airplanes stored in environmentally controlled hangars, years of use are bound to have an effect on the hardware. For reference, try flying with an early Garmin GNS430 that has been in frequent use for a decade—you'll probably find turning the knobs doesn't always have the desired effect the first time. My point is that the older the glass cockpit equipment, the more likely (less unlikely?) glass cockpit failure will likely be. For a summary of the different failure modes a PFD may present, see the sidebar at the bottom of page 19.
Habit PatternsSo let's concede there is a chance the glass screens may malfunction or go completely dark, and the longer the plane flies the more likely this may be. In "steam-gauge" airplanes (hey, most pilots are still flying that way), loss of a single instrument is fairly easily countered by flying with backup instrumentation right in front of the pilot. Further, the information is being presented exactly as the pilot is used to seeing and using it—with the exception of whatever had been lost. For example, if the attitude indicator failed, the pilot would fall back to using supporting flight instruments for pitch and bank information: the altimeter, vertical speed and airspeed indicators, and the heading indicator and turn coordinator. The pilot knew exactly where to look for the information (where he/she always looked), and it was displayed in exactly the same way it had been on every other instrument flight the pilot made in that airplane—and probably other airplanes as well—all the way back to primary instrument training. The laws of primacy (what you learn first you learn best) and practice (what you practice the most makes the most sense) have reinforced what you need to know for partial panel flight. But what if all your experience the last few years has been with a wide PFD augmented by airspeed and altitude tapes? What if all your instrument experience is in glass-cockpit airplanes? If presented with a "red X" scenario (some or all of the flight instrumentation is inoperative, but other portions remain active), what will the laws of primacy and practice do to your chances of survival? You have to incorporate remotely mounted instruments displaying information in unfamiliar ways (especially airspeed and altitude). Will you be successful? About 10 years ago, Middle Tennessee State University's flight department looked into this. The MTSU had recently been the first university flight department in the U.S. to operate a fleet of Diamond DA40 aircraft equipped with Garmin G1000 panels. Not content to simply transition instructors and students to the new airplanes, MTSU's department (then under Dr. Paul Craig) undertook a scientific study about training pilots in technologically advanced airplanes, a combined VFR/IFR syllabus to take a new pilot from zero hours to an IFR rating in a single program, with a single checkride, and incorporation of scenario-based training (SBT) from Lesson One. A synopsis of the results can be found here as a PDF. At the time the report went public, I asked Dr. Craig about MTSU's experience with pilots in partial-panel flight. He told me MTSU specifically looked into this question. A control group of students that was trained in traditional-instrument Cessnas was pitted against students who flew the Diamonds from the beginning. Dr. Craig reported both groups did equally well in successful partial-panel flight. So at least in this case, research shows a glass cockpit-trained pilot can incorporate steam gauge instruments to survive a PFD failure. However, an important point is that both groups of pilots had received significant, recent training in partial-panel flight prior to the test. This suggests—just as is the case with round-gauge pilots when the attitude indicator or another instrument fails—it takes training, and recent practice, to remain partial-panel proficient.
Red-X Action PlanOne or more red-x indications may occur without warning if a system-driving failure occurs. If you're flying along and are faced with a red x:
Completely Dark: Now What?If the cockpit goes completely dark, signifying total electrical system failure, then:
It's easy to assume that glass cockpit systems are infallible. Most are very new (new avionics equipment rarely fails and when it does, installation error often is at fault), and the systems that drive them are extremely reliable. But a partial-panel situation is still always possible in glass-cockpit airplanes. And the likelihood of system outages or failures probably will increase as glass-cockpit airplanes amass on/off flight cycles and calendar age. The new age of PFDs and digital equipment has dramatically reduced the chances of failure. But it's still our job as pilot-in-command to have a practiced plan for when an unlikely failure occurs. // --> |
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| You Refurbish It, We Show It Off | back to top | |
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Refurb of the Month: Bennett Bibel's Mooney M20J
If you can't afford a new airplane -- and let's face it, most of us can't -- a refurbed late-model aircraft can do 90 percent of the mission at a fraction of the cost, especially one like the popular Mooney M20J 201. That's the strategy Bennett Bibel followed in his pull-out-all-the-stops rebuild of a 1983 J-model, which we've picked as our refurbed aircraft of the month.
"I decided to make her as close to a 'new' Mooney as I could," Bibel told us. LASAR (Lake Aero Styling and Repair) in Northern California stripped the airplane down to its bones and replaced all the major wear airframe parts. "The engine had been rebuilt about 300 hours previously, and was gram matched, flow matched--a very custom engine," Bibel says. The airplane was stripped and painted at ArtCraft at Santa Maria, CA, including airbrushed striping.
Bibel went first rate for the interior, too, with Aircraft Designs in Groveland, CA. designing and building a new interior to match the leather work in Bibel's Mercedes SL500. "The side panels are carbon fiber and aircraft honeycomb, leather covered, as are the window frames, and everything from glareshield to carpets is new. I added a co-pilot articulating seat to match the pilot's seat – the Mooney factory built one for me, as there were none available in the supply chain," he told us.
Also installed were a LoPresti BoomBeam HID landing light and LED wingtip landing lights and strobes, a Power Flow Exhaust, a one-piece glass belly panel and other speed mods.
Last, the big ticket panel. Executive Aircraft Maintenance in Scottsdale, AZ, built a custom panel with a Garmin GTN 750 with remote transponder and remote audio panel, a Garmin GNS430W, a Garmin aera796 in an AirGizmo panel mount coupled to the GTN 750, a KAP 150 autopilot driven through an Icarus SAM GPSS steering unit, a Mid-Continent Life Saver electric AI with battery backup, an electric backup vacuum pump, a JPI830 engine monitor, a panel mounted CO2 detector, an Emerging Life Technologies 406 ELT with self-contained GPS and a Dynon D1 EFIS as a backup to a backup.
"Having lost two vacuum pumps while IMC, I am ever more cautious, almost to the point of ridiculousness, but when things go south, any tool at hand can save your life." We can't argue the point. If you'd like to enter your airplane in AVweb's "Refurb of the Month," send us some photos and a short description of what you've done.
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| AVweb Audio — Are You Listening? | back to top | |
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Podcast: AOPA Looks to Flying ClubsFile Size 12.2 MB / Running Time 13:19
Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS
Flying clubs do a great job of fostering GA, but AOPA believes that benefit can be compounded. It's launching a major effort to help out existing clubs and create new ones. AOPA's Adam Smith spoke with AVweb's Mary Grady.
This podcast is brought to you by Bose
Corporation.
Podcast: Studying GA SecurityFile Size 8.3 MB / Running Time 9:03
Daniel Benny, a professor of aviation security for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, recently published a book focusing on general aviation security issues. He talks with AVweb's Mary Grady about his research on the effectiveness of AOPA's Airport Watch program and explains why terrorism may be the least of the security issues that should concern the GA community.
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| Names Behind the News | back to top | |
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Meet the AVwebFlash Team
AVwebFlash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the world's premier independent aviation news resource.
The AVwebFlash team is:
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