BE200 Multi-Purpose Amphibious Aircraft

Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 01:37

Monday, 21 September 2009 15:49

FAA Launches New Accident Prevention Office

Sat, 19 Sep '09

New Organization Will Consolidate FAA Safety Resources

As part of a strategy to reduce emerging aviation risks using national safety data, the FAA's Office of Aviation Safety Thursday launched a new Accident Investigation and Prevention Service that integrates the work of the Offices of Accident Investigation and Safety Analytical Services.

“This program give us better tools to spot potential safety problems and head off aviation accidents before they happen,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The Hazard of Heavy Rain - An Important Operational Article

Aug 17, 2009

By Patrick R. Veillette, Ph.D.

You awake in the hotel room, turn on The Weather Channel and see red- and orange-colored warning areas promising thunderstorms on your return flight. A last check of the WSI weather screen when leaving the FBO shows the line of CBs growing in size and intensity, directly on your route home. Throughout the flight you keep adjusting the weather radar to pick your way around the cells.

Finally, you're in the terminal area and see a fairly significant CB growing right over your field, and the sage, familiar internal voice questions whether you should try to make it in before that intimidating cloud begins spewing lightning, torrents and perhaps a microburst or two. So far the tower isn't reporting any wind shear or rain, but you suspect that dark behemoth could let loose at any moment and you're alert for any telltale signs of trouble. You're also thinking about the possible loss of visual reference and runway contamination if the thunderstorm suddenly materializes.

For the past hour, meanwhile, the cumulus cloud has been hauling significant amounts of low-altitude moisture to its upper elevations, and now the thundercloud is so saturated up high it can no longer hold another drop. At that point, moisture droplets in the high altitudes begin descending, colliding with droplets below, forming ever bigger drops, and descending at faster speeds. Up until this point, there have been no signs of wind shear at the surface.

You decide to ............. READ MORE: Aviationweek.com

Last Updated on Monday, 07 September 2009 18:39

Sunday, 30 August 2009 20:58

Optimized descent brings fuel use down to earth

Aviation: Sea-Tac testing new landing method better for environment

Lui Kit Wong The News Tribune

Alaska Airlines pilot Mike Adams explains landing procedure called “Greener Skies Over Seattle” in a flight simulator at the Alaska Air Flight Training Center in SeaTac. The new landing procedure can save about a 55-gallon barrel of jet fuel per landing.

JOHN GILLIE; The News Tribune

Published: 08/30/09 12:05 am | Updated: 08/30/09 12:34 pm

Long after dark one night last week when few planes were in the air, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 descended toward Seattle-Tacoma International Airport its engines at idle power. Aboard were Alaska pilots and technicians and officials from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

The occasion was the latest test of an experimental landing procedure at the airport that promises to save millions of gallons of fuel, lessen residents’ exposure to jet noise, cut pollution and save airlines’ precious dollars.

The new procedure, dubbed Optimized Profile Descent by the airline industry and its regulators, is a measure that uses high technology satellite-guided navigation, the power of computerized aircraft flight management computers with the oversight of the FAA to change the decades-old procedures for bringing aircraft from cruising altitude to a landing on the runway.

Enhancing Flight Department Relevance

Jul 21, 2009

By Jim Cannon with William Garvey

Sales have slowed. Warehouses have filled. Profits are down. Analysts are tsk-tsking, reporters are snooping and stockholders are angry. It's crunch time, that anxious period when every asset, every department undergoes excruciating cost/benefit scrutiny. The worry increases with each business unit's distance from the company's core activity - that is, producing, selling or supporting its main products or services.

At some point, someone at a high level will note to colleagues, "We're spending a lot of money on our flight department. There are alternatives. Is it worth it?" One of two answers will follow. To help ensure it is "Yes," requires leadership, attentiveness, responsiveness, inventiveness and good execution.

The first step in assuring a correct response is understanding what you do. Many do not, as Bob Hobbi, president of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based ServiceElements International, Inc., discovers regularly when coaching flight departments.