Volume 2, Number 13 -- July 7, 2004

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The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded Business News Coverage At AVweb's Business NewsWire.

EXPORT FAA OPERATING REGS TO EUROPE?
For years, the U.S. aviation industry has seen a steady trickle of FAA rule changes move through the regulatory process, designed to bring the agency into "closer harmony" with foreign aviation agencies. The foreign agencies mainly include the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) operated by European Union (EU) member states, plus the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). To a great extent, these changes have been seemingly minor and designed to ensure a seamless transition of, say, an airframe certification in the U.S. to an EU member state, allowing newly manufactured aircraft to be registered in that second country. Of course, exceptions exist and, on occasion, "harmonization" efforts have gone beyond mere certification rules into maintenance and environmental protection. Perhaps the most notable was the mid-1990s switch from longstanding FAA abbreviations to ICAO-standard coding for aviation weather observations and forecasts. This is what gave U.S. pilots the abbreviation "BR" for mist and spawned thousands of decoding cards -- English-to-French dictionaries, one wag called them.

Despite ICAO-standard aviation weather coding, most of the FAA's attempts to harmonize its regulations with the EU's have involved airframe, powerplant and component certification instead of operating rules. In fact, each of the EU member states have their own set of rules, which frequently send U.S.-based pilots into frenzied fits of frustration as they attempt to decipher all of the regulatory nuances involved in getting from Point A to Point B through Country C's airspace. And, it’s safe to say that EU-member state operating regulations can be much more stringent than the FAA's. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) would like to change that and recently encouraged the European Union to create a unified safety oversight and regulatory system for GA aircraft registered in Europe. More...

PARTS 135/125 RULE REVISIONS MOVING FORWARD
It's been the late 1970s since the FAA made substantial revisions to operating regulations governing on-demand flights under FAR Part 135. Since then, the on-demand industry has exploded, with more capable aircraft, more operators and a wide range of operations never really contemplated under the 25-year-old revisions. Recognizing this, the FAA and industry started getting together in 2003 under the auspices of an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to lay the groundwork for a new regulation recognizing these changes and bringing the FAA's regulations into line with the ways in which the industry works today. Also a part of the ARC are potential revisions to FAR Part 125, which addresses larger airplanes not operated in common carriage. More...

SEE ME, FEEL ME
The computer industry has always wondered about where the next "killer app" -- or application -- would come from to help stimulate demand for new hardware. Basic word processing was one of the first, followed quickly by Lotus 1-2-3's number-crunching ability, database managers, the Internet, e-mail and the World Wide Web. Other industries, including aviation, are also looking for the next killer app, some product or service that opens up new markets or greatly enhances utility, efficiency or both. Recent examples include color GPS moving-map avionics, fractional-ownership operations and the emerging light-light business jet epitomized by Eclipse Aviation's Eclipse 500 and the Cessna Mustang. One recent development -- synthetic vision -- has the potential to make wholesale improvements in general and business aviation. Most recently, NASA and Gulfstream Aerospace have teamed up to conduct research into synthetic vision designed to improve a pilot’s situational awareness, resulting in reduced incidents of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and runway incursions. More...

BELL GOES OVERSEAS FOR 427I DEVELOPMENT
Bell Helicopter announced last month it had reached separate agreements with Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) and Japan-based Mitsui Bussan Aerospace Company Ltd. to develop, certify, produce and market the 427i light twin IFR helicopter. Preliminary specifications for the new eight-seat, twin-turbine helicopter include a maximum gross weight of 7000 pounds, a useful load of 2700 pounds, maximum cruise speed of 142 knots and range of 365 nm. Bell said in a press release that it and its partners had "over 42" orders signed for the new copter and expected 20 more by the end of 2004. More...

PUT MORE STUFF IN YOUR STANDARD KING AIR
As with many Beech or Raytheon products, there is a thriving aftermarket taking advantage of things customers would like to have in their aircraft but which weren't included when it left the factory floor. When it comes improving or customizing Beech's venerable, 40-year-old King Air fleet, Raisbeck Engineering has been one of the most prolific purveyors of modifications. Now, Raytheon will offer Raisbeck's popular nacelle wing lockers as standard equipment on factory-fresh King Air 350s, starting with serial number FL-402. The lockers, long an option on new King Airs, join Raisbeck's Dual Aft Body Strakes, which went standard on the 350 production line with serial number FL-312. More...

LEE IACOCCA GETS A FREE RIDE?
Here's a blast from the past: Lee Iacocca, who gave us the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler K cars, who was the leader of a company that owned Gulfstream Aerospace for a while and who engineered the federal government's bailout of the third-largest U.S. auto manufacturer, has joined SmartJets' advisory board as chairman. Florida-based SmartJets is a subsidiary of Aero Toy Store, offering block charter hours aboard its 300-plus aircraft fleet that it calls "time ownership." As chairman of the advisory board, Iacocca will assist in directing management, serve as a spokesperson in SmartJets' ad campaigns and appear at company-sponsored events. More...

CHINA GETS INTO THE BIZJET ACT
If Eclipse, Adam Aircraft and Safire don't hurry up, their efforts to field a light-light jet ahead of the competition could come to fruition too late. According to a news report in the China-based "People's Daily Online," a five-seat business aircraft jointly developed by the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and Nanjing Light-type Aircraft Stock Co. Ltd. recently took to the skies on its maiden flight. According to the online version of the Chinese newspaper, the prototype's first flight lasted some twenty minutes and reached an altitude of 600 meters (about 2000 feet) before an uneventful landing. More...

TSA WATCH: THE "GOVERNOR ERNIE" SAGA CONTINUES
As AVweb's business aviation coverage told you last week, July 8 will see Congress hold a scheduled hearing on "National Capitol Region Air Space Control: A Review of the Issues Surrounding the June 9, 2004 Flight of 'N24SP.'" More...

WATCH YOUR INBOX...
...the next issue of AVweb's BizAVflash will be e-mailed to you on July 21. More...

Business AVflash is a twice-monthly summary of the latest business aviation
news, articles, products, features and events featured on AVweb, the
Internet's Aviation Magazine and News Service. http://www.avweb.com

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Today's issue written by Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside:
http://www.avweb.com/contact/authors.html#jburnside
AVweb's editorial team: http://avweb.com/contact/authors.html.

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Let's all be careful out there, okay?