Kestrel KL-1A makes first flight
Kestrel Aircraft Company of Norman, Oklahoma, flew its first aircraft offering, the KL-1A, on November 19 at the University of Oklahoma-Westheimer Airport.
The four-passenger, 160-horsepower, Lycoming O-320- powered aircraft flew for 17 minutes, with test pilot Hal Goddard at the controls.
CATIA (computer-aided three-dimensional interactive application) technology was used to design and build the tooling and, ultimately, the airplane. Made almost entirely out of composites, the KL-1A looks like a strutless Cessna 172. Kestrel's president and CEO, Donald K. Stroud, previously worked for Cessna.
Kestrel is also planning to build higher-powered variations, to be dubbed the KL-1B and -1C, that will be powered by 190- and 230- hp engines, respectively.
Claimed cruise speed for the KL-1A is 124 knots, and stall speed is listed as 47 knots. Fuel capacity is 70 gallons, allowing it to travel 946 nautical miles with no reserves, the company says. Kestrel hopes to receive certification of the $89,500 KL-1A in the spring and begin deliveries concurrently with the certification.
Second Cirrus SR20 prototype flies
Cirrus Design Corporation recently flew its second SR20 prototype at the Duluth International Airport.
Cirrus claims the four-place, fixed-gear SR20, powered by a six-cylinder, 200-horsepower Continental IO-360-ES, will achieve a 160-knot cruise speed while stalling in the "low 50-knot range" (see "Waypoints," October 1995 Pilot).
Prototype number two has a larger vertical tail (mostly for aesthetic reasons), a new cowl inlet design, and a panel that will accept the Arnav 8 2 6 inch LCD multi-function display (MFD). The MFD will display (in some cases simultaneously) a GPS-driven moving map, engine information, datalinked weather information, traffic information, and operational checklists.
Cirrus test pilot and AOPA Pilot columnist Bob Overmyer piloted the second prototype and will be responsible for all certification flight testing. Prototype number one has accumulated more than 260 flight hours and has made appearances at major aviation events. Cirrus is shooting for an early-1997 certification date for the $130,000 aircraft.
G-V takes off
By Thomas A. Horne
True to the promise of a first flight in November, Gulfstream Aerospace's new global jet made its maiden voyage on November 28. In front of a crowd of employees, customers, and prospects, the G-V took off from Savannah International Airport at 1:20 p.m. for a flight lasting one hour and 18 minutes.
Gulfstream Chief Test Pilot John O'Meara flew in the left seat; Gary Freeman served as first officer. According to O'Meara, the new airplane "handled great" and "performed flawlessly." The G-V's BMW/Rolls Royce BR-710 engines, which until then had never been operated outside of a test chamber, operated "flawlessly," O'Meara said.
Certification and first deliveries of the G-V, which has a claimed range of 6,500 nautical miles at Mach 0.80, is scheduled for sometime in the fourth quarter of 1996.
Play blimp!
A fly ball, get it?
If you were in Atlanta during last year's World Series, you probably noticed a 43-foot-diameter baseball-shaped blimp buzzing about before the game. It was developed by 21st Century Airships of Newmarket, Ontario.
A pilot and one passenger are seated inside the blimpball, looking down through windows on all sides. Helium is contained above the pilot in a separate envelope which takes up seven-tenths of the volume of the airship. Pressurized air is fed by the engines to the pilot/passenger area.
The $400,000 airship is powered by two 50-horsepower Rotax 503 engines and travels at 26 knots. It requires a ground crew of two.
Now, 21st Century is building a bigger and faster baseball blimp. It will be 50 feet in diameter, cost $750,000, and carry a pilot and three passengers. It is illuminated from inside, presenting a glowing ball in the sky during night flights. The base of the blimpball will have wrap-around windows, and be used for aerial advertising and as a camera platform for baseball events anywhere in North America. It should be ready for this year's baseball season.
A 1931 Curtiss-Wright A-14-D Sportsman flown by Jimmy Doolittle and once used to transport New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, is on a one-year loan to the Virginia Aviation Museum at Richmond International Airport, Virginia. It was formerly a company aircraft for Curtiss-Wright. The steel and fabric aircraft, one of five remaining A-14-Ds, is owned by Allen Watkins of Greensboro, North Carolina. For information call 804/236-3622.
Congress cuts duck air force
Searching for ways to cut the federal budget, if not balance it, Congress has approved a provision calling for the Department of the Interior to sell its fleet of 104 general aviation aircraft. Many of them are used by pilot/biologists to survey North America's rebounding duck and goose populations (see "Migratory Pilots," February 1994 Pilot).
The department has until October 1 to justify the use of its aircraft. Those that could be obtained more cheaply under lease must by sold by September 30, 1998. Chuck Kleeschulte, spokesman for Senator Frank H. Murkowski (R-AK), said Murkowski offered the provision after determining that most of Interior's aircraft are used for personnel transport.
Murkowski aides said that aircraft used in migratory bird surveys could be sold. However, a Fish and Wildlife Service pilot/biologist said that a quick survey of charter aircraft companies turned up none interested in maintaining a fleet for lease to the government.
Fish and Wildlife Service aviation manager William I. Butler told Pilot that he is willing to contract for aircraft if it is cheaper and provides well-equipped aircraft in the remote locations where they are needed. An aide to Murkowski said that the aircraft require no special equipment and are just "...Twin Otters with a pair of binoculars." However, there are no Twin Otters in use for migratory bird counting. The Cessna 185 and 206 aircraft currently used by the Fish and Wildlife Service have GPS, auxiliary fuel tanks, FM radios, special connectors to link navigation radios to laptop computers, intercoms with tape recorders, and camera ports.
"Most operators require a minimum daily charge. We might do one day of flying during 10 days of field work," Butler noted. Of Interior's $52 million budget for aviation, 85 percent already goes to the private sector, with $6 million to $8 million going directly to the support of the 104-aircraft fleet.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minneapolis will build a control tower at Anoka County-Blaine Airport and give it to the FAA late next summer. The FAA plans to award a contract for operation of the tower.
Jeppesen executive killed in Baron crash
Milford Derrick, director of electronic training systems at Jeppesen-Sanderson, was killed when the 1995 Beech Baron 58 he was piloting crashed into Lake Erie after departing Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport on November 19 for a personal trip. Two of four passengers on board survived the crash, which followed what witnesses said was an apparent failure of the right engine.
Derrick was the founder of MDM Systems Inc., maker of desktop flight simulation hardware. Jeppesen bought MDM last July. Jeppesen employees Dale Sherman and John White survived the crash.
The new Baron, which replaced Derrick's 1984 model, took off from Runway 24, turned right to a heading of 350 degrees, then crashed two to three miles offshore, according to preliminary National Transportation Safety Board accident data.
Raytheon Aircraft officials are hoping overseas sales will help the Beech King Air 350 to more closely match the sales success of its siblings, the C90 and 200. The 350 recently became the first "Western jetprop" certified in Russia, Raytheon officials said. Raytheon also received an order from the United Arab Emirates Amiri Flight for two of the nine-seat King Airs. Additionally, recent approval for the operation of corporate aircraft in Egypt led Orascom Touristic Establishments to purchase a King Air B200SE.
Product liability champion to retire
Senator Nancy L. Kassebaum (R-KS), 63, has decided not to seek re- election to a fourth term. She will continue to serve until a successor is sworn in a year from now.
History may remember Kassebaum as a moderate voice for the Senate who once broke with her party's leader, then-President Ronald Reagan, to override Reagan's veto of sanctions on South Africa. But the aviation industry will recall her as leader in the Senate of the successful effort to limit aircraft product liability (see "Working the Hill," September 1994 Pilot). Interested in the legislation from her first election in 1978, she introduced the General Aviation Revitalization Act in 1986 and got it passed, a move that established the momentum for passage of a similar bill introduced months earlier in the House by then-Representative Dan Glickman (D-KS).
In the final weeks before passage, three senators led by Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-OH) placed a hold on the General Aviation Revitalization Act, preventing the Senate from considering it; Kassebaum got the holds removed, calling in Glickman to assist in negotiations with Metzenbaum. In doing so, she was victorious over the Association of Trial Lawyers of America — which has heavily backed Metzenbaum and President Bill Clinton. She also had to battle then-chief Democratic Party strategist Ron Brown, who attempted to place her legislation under study, a dead end for most bills.
Kassebaum is the daughter of Alfred M. (Alf) Landon, governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937 and a presidential nominee in 1936. She is chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee and struck a blow for congressional reform by cutting the committee's budget by 25 percent and eliminating two subcommittees.
The FAA has proposed an airworthiness directive (AD) that would affect more than 46,000 Lycoming engines in this country alone. The proposed AD, applicable to Lycoming 235-, 290-, and most 320- and 360-series engines, would require initial and repetitive inspections of the crankshaft's inner diameter for corrosion and/or cracks, and replacement of those cranks that are beyond tolerable limits. The proposed AD would allow operation of engines that have corrosion pitting but no cracks, as long as repetitive inspections are performed every five years until overhaul or engine disassembly. Lycoming Mandatory Service Bulletin 505A diagrams most of the inspection and repair guidelines. However, the proposed AD will require additional inspections using a fluorescent penetrant. A Piper Warrior that made a forced landing in the United Kingdom following an inflight propeller separation prompted that country's Civil Aviation Authority to issue the equivalent of an emergency AD on crankshaft corrosion and cracks. To comment on this NPRM, send comments in triplicate to the FAA's New England Region, Office of the Assistant Chief Counsel, Attention: Rules Docket No. 94-ANE-44, 12 New England Executive Park, Burlington, Massachusetts 01803. Comments must be received by January 29. A copy of the NPRM is available on AOPA Online on CompuServe in the Active Rulemaking Library (94ANE44.TXT).
A new airworthiness directive, applicable to McCauley three-blade propellers installed on many popular light twins, will require initial and repetitive visual and dye-penetrant inspections of the hubs for cracks. A one-time eddy-current inspection is also required to inspect for cracks in the threaded areas of the hubs. The hubs are then to be filled with a red-dyed oil as a terminating action to the repetitive inspections. Propeller models C35, C72, C74, C75, C80, C86, C87, C92, and C93 installed on Beech C55, D55, E55, and 58- model Barons; Cessna 310 models K through R; 320 D, E, and F; 335; 340; 401; 402; 411; 414; 421; Colemill Executive 600 converted 310s; RAM 340 conversions; and other aircraft are affected. Compliance after the December 18, 1995, effective date will depend on the propeller time in service and age. For more details, a copy of the AD is available on AOPA Online on CompuServe from the Active Rulemaking library (filename 94ANE47.TXT).
Canadair's Challenger 604 widebody corporate jet recently received FAA type certification. Flight test data revealed that the 604 exceeded its range projection by 60 miles. The 604's range, including NBAA IFR reserves, is now 4,060 nautical miles. On board is the Collins Pro Line 4 avionics system, complete with six CRTs (including two primary flight displays), engine indication and crew alerting system (EICAS), and an integrated avionics processing unit.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University/Daytona's student flight team has won the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's regional competition in Merritt Island, Florida, for the tenth consecutive year. The victory qualifies the team to enter the national competition which will take place on the university's Daytona Beach, Florida, campus in May.
Sport Helicopters of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, has become a dealer for the CH-7 Angel helicopter kit. The aircraft was designed by Augusto Cicare of Argentina and is licensed to Elisport Company of Italy for manufacture. The kit costs $31,000. It is estimated that the completed aircraft will cost about $40,000. The company has established an automated information line at 717/629-8888.
Aircraft Spruce Avionics is now located at the Chino Airport, 7000 Merrill Avenue, Hangar 8, Chino, California. Aircraft Spruce Avionics hosted this open house to show off the new facilities. Homebuilts and antique aircraft were featured at the event.
Squawk Sheet
Beechcraft Mandatory Service Bulletin number 2527 dealing with Bonanza control gust locks may become an airworthiness directive (AD) sooner than expected. The MSB requires additional warning placards and modification of existing control locks, and it announces the availability of two improved control locks that prevent throttle movement. The rulemaking is intended to prevent takeoff with the control lock installed. According to American Beechcraft in Leesburg, Virginia, the replacement control locks cost between $80 and $100.
A new airworthiness directive requires owners and operators of Beech Model 65 (L-23F) Queen Airs to install a placard warning against operating the aircraft with the cabin door removed. A recent accident in which a Queen Air loaded with skydivers crashed shortly after takeoff following an engine failure prompted the AD. According to the Federal Register, the AD is intended "to prevent the possibility of a reduction in stability, controllability, or airplane climb performance ...particularly in single-engine operations at high gross weights."
Aerostar Aircraft Corporation PA-60-600 series airplanes are the subject of an airworthiness directive requiring repetitive inspections of the fuselage horizontal stabilizer attach fitting. One incident in which several cracks were found on the forward horizontal stabilizer attach spar fitting of an Aerostar 601P prompted the AD. Compliance is required within the next 25 hours time in service (TIS) or two calendar months of the November 30, 1995, effective date. Subsequent inspections will be required every 100 hours TIS or every 12 calendar months, whichever occurs first.
An airworthiness directive aimed at Beech Model 60 and A60 Dukes specifies a minimum airspeed for operation of the aircraft in icing conditions. Prompting the action were several incidents and accidents in which high angles of attack (as a result of low indicated airspeed) caused ice to accumulate behind the area protected by the boots.
AOPA members in the news
Gary Guthrie, AOPA 853470, of Palmetto, Florida, and co-pilot Gary Bogart won the eleventh annual Great Southern Air Race in Guthrie's Piper Cherokee 235. Guthrie's average speed was 141.57 knots during the 1,193-nm race from Panama City, Florida, to Freeport, Bahamas.
Anthony Bilotta, AOPA 1040502, a physician from Countryside, Illinois, was recently called to duty aboard an airliner at 31,000 feet. Bilotta assisted a passenger who suffered a heart attack. A medical emergency was declared and the flight landed in Buffalo, New York, where the patient was treated and later released.
Jason Garver, AOPA 1164979, may live in Detour, Maryland, but he is taking the direct route to a corporate piloting career. The 17- year-old high school senior got his private glider certificate at age 16, earned his airplane rating at 17, and is now a Project Pilot mentor to a 16-year-old student pilot.
Jerry Hannifin, AOPA 92664, of Cocoa Beach, Florida, was awarded the Flight Safety Foundation's Cecil A. Brownlow Publication Award for his "lifetime commitment and contribution to excellence in aviation reporting." Hannifin is a correspondent for Time magazine.
Doug Partl, AOPA 513149, of Chicago won a double award when both the airworthiness section and the operations section of the DuPage, Illinois, Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) picked him as their FAA Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year. The aerobatic instructor directs aircraft maintenance for Marmon Aviation in Chicago.
Kris Greblo, AOPA 1173342, of Tujunga, California, was recently featured in the women's section of the Los Angeles Daily News for her accomplishments in hang gliding and paragliding. Greblo recently spent two months in Ghana, patrolling in ultralights for poachers, and hopes to return there soon. Greblo also has appeared as a hang glider or paraglider pilot in a number of commercials and movies.
Nicholas D. Skeer, AOPA 507038, has published The Hungry Flyer, a directory of 111 restaurants at or very near 78 California airports. "Near" means that the restaurants are within walking distance (or an inexpensive cab ride) of the airport. Menus, hours of operation, what to order, and what to avoid are included. Skeer said that he published the book to combine his two favorite activities, flying and eating. The book costs $29.50 plus $4 shipping. To order, write Prompt Publications, 4653 Powderborn Court, San Jose, California 95136.
Bob Greenblatt, AOPA 646520, of Lambertville, New Jersey, has been elected as codirector of the Soaring Society of America's eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southern New York region.
Ken Medley, AOPA 389736, of Arlington, Virginia, was named to the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame by the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society for his lifetime devotion to aviation safety. A flight instructor for more than 50 years, Medley taught Army Aviation Cadets in World War II and gave thousands of flight tests while an examiner in Virginia and Illinois. Medley was AOPA's first regional representative. He instructs in AOPA Air Safety Foundation Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics.
Walther Heiss, Ph.D., AOPA 118261, a pediatric surgeon from Triel, Germany, is assisting the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) in Kenya as a volunteer flying doctor.
John Ballantyne, AOPA 728165, of Frederick, Maryland, has been selected to receive the 1995 John Moody Award, the United States Ultralight Association's (USUA) most prestigious award, which recognizes significant contributions and advancements for ultralight aviation. Ballantyne is president of the USUA and was the AOPA Air Safety Foundation's director of ultralight safety in the early 1980s.
Michael Pearce, AOPA 640497, of Chicago, was recently awarded the William Oxley Thompson Award, which recognizes significant achievements of Ohio State University alumni who are younger than 35. Pearce is a captain for American Airlines.
Dan Matzke, AOPA 486654, won the Western Division of the Barron Hilton Soaring Cup on September 15, 1995, with a flight of 504.36 miles.
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