Cessna will swap engines on the Stationair
The new Lycoming TIO-580 engine, intended for the Cessna T206 Turbo Stationair, cracked a cylinder during extended testing at the Lycoming plant in January. Cessna, already worried about the 580's schedule, and Lycoming decided that both the IO-580 and TIO-580 are not yet ready for Cessna's restarted Stationair production line.
Instead, Cessna will use the proven Lycoming IO- and TIO-540 engines on the normally aspirated and turbocharged Stationair models. Performance and specifications for the two aircraft are not expected to change, Cessna officials said. However, first deliveries will be delayed until late this year.
Lycoming chose the turbocharged -580 engine for testing, since it faces the most extreme internal pressures when operating. When the cylinder failed, Lycoming decided to err on the side of caution and suggested to Cessna that the normally aspirated -580 also be dropped, for now, in favor of the -540. The -580 may be reconsidered "when it's ready," a Lycoming official said.
Only one 150-hour endurance test is required for certification. Lycoming does three, and in this case decided to extend the total endurance test to 500 hours. It was during the third test that the cylinder cracked. During the endurance test, the engine is exposed to extremely rough cycles, the equivalent of misuse by an operator.
With the IO-540 in the 206, the maximum rpm will increase to 2,700 from 2,500 at full power. The TIO-540 in the T206 will provide full power at 2,500 rpm, as had been planned with the TIO-580.
Cirrus Design Corporation has flown its first production prototype of the SR20. The prototype is the first to be built from production tooling and will be used to conduct FAA certification flight testing. The aircraft will be certified under FAR Part 23 through Amendment 47, which codifies increased safety requirements. Cirrus President Alan Klapmeier said that the SR20 will receive an FAA type certificate this year.
Notice of annual meeting of members
The annual meeting of the members of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and AOPA Legislative Action will take place at 12 noon on Saturday, May 9, 1998, at Wings Field in Ambler, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of receiving reports and transacting such other business as may properly come before the meeting, including the election of trustees. The meeting will consider an amendment to the Association's bylaws that would eliminate the offices of vice president as officers of the Association. - John S. Yodice, secretary
ASTM approves spec for 82UL
The American Society for Testing and Materials has approved a specification for an 82-octane unleaded (82UL) aviation fuel. The creation of this specification should pave the way for an eventual unleaded replacement fuel for aircraft powered by low-compression engines that were originally certificated to run on 80/87 octane avgas.
As an unleaded fuel, 82UL will be more of a "mainstream" product for oil companies to refine and distribute, unlike 100LL, which is a unique blend used only in aviation. Costs of producing 82UL should be far less than any leaded fuel, which should keep pump prices lower than 100LL or 80 octane.
Cessna, a major proponent of 82UL, was to have designed its new line of 172s and 182s to run on the fuel. Lack of progress in the certification, however, forced the company to resort to burning 100LL. Cessna will again pursue the use of 82UL in its new singles. AOPA has been actively involved in the creation of this specification for eight years.
FBO operators failing to meet new guidelines for underground fuel storage tanks by the December 22 deadline set by the Environmental Protection Agency may not be able to sell fuel, according to a letter sent to distributors by Phillips 66 Company. Several states have adopted rules that prohibit suppliers such as Phillips from delivering fuel to FBOs with underground tanks that are not in compliance. As of this December 22, all underground storage tanks must have leak detection and protection against spills, overfilling, and corrosion.
The Breitling Orbiter II took off from Switzerland in late January in an effort to become the first manned balloon to travel around the world nonstop. However, luck was not with its crew. Initially, the problem was nearly calm winds at all altitudes that gave them a ground speed of 10 mph during much of the trip over Italy. The crew of Bertrand Piccard, Wim Verstraeten, and Andy Elson received official denial of permission to transit China's airspace. Then, when it was too late and no longer useful, China reversed its decision for the public relations value. The crew still hopes to claim endurance and distance records.
Honda R&D Company, Ltd., of Japan has shown its two research jet engines to American engineers for their feedback as development continues. Honda displayed the engines at a meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers last year. Flight testing on the Honda HFX-01 was completed in 1996. The next step in development is Honda's 2,200-pounds-static-thrust HFX-20 prototype, which claims better fuel economy with fewer parts and components. It also features on-wing hot-section inspection. Don't get the idea that it is just engines that interest Honda; the company's improved laminar-flow business-jet wing was flying on a test aircraft in California until last November.
The FAA has decided to cut back on random alcohol tests for aviation workers in safety- and security-related jobs, according to an Associated Press report. This year approximately 10 percent will be checked, down from 25 percent last year.
Dakota Aero Manufacturers has chosen to locate its new manufacturing plant at the Devils Lake (North Dakota) Municipal Airport, at the former site of Great Lakes Aviation. There, the company will convert Twin Commanders to Orenda V-8 power (see " Pilot Briefing," February Pilot).
Deliveries of Piper aircraft have begun to the Lufthansa German Airlines training center in Goodyear, Arizona, known as Airline Training Center Arizona (ATCA). The airline ordered 15 Archer III aircraft and seven Seneca V multiengine aircraft. Two Archers and two Senecas are seen here at The New Piper Aircraft factory in Vero Beach, Florida. ATCA has conducted training for a half-dozen other airlines in Japan and Europe as well as Lufthansa.
GPS may lose role as 'sole means' of navigation
FAA officials have confirmed they are "leaning away" from using the Global Positioning System-based Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) as a sole means of navigation for precision approaches and landings. A final decision is expected this month.
Instead, GPS/WAAS would become a primary means of navigation, but it would be backed up by another system. There are four alternatives under consideration as backups. The alternatives are loran, a skeleton VOR/DME system, inertial navigation systems, and something called a controlled-reception power antenna. A source at Garmin said the latter alternative is a jam-resistant antenna that is powered so that it rotates, seeking the strongest desired signal and reducing the strength of the jamming signal. The military is developing such antennas.
The January 23 edition of Aviation Daily said that the FAA is concerned about the danger of interference with GPS signals. An FAA spokesman insisted that no alternative backup navigation means has been chosen, but a Madison, Wisconsin, company is betting on loran. Locus, Incorporated, announced the launch of a new version of its loran receiver used by the Coast Guard; the company will offer it as a module to avionics manufacturers to be incorporated into a combined GPS/loran receiver. Locus notes that several European nations recently decided to implement a loran capability called Eurofix to distribute differential GPS corrections as a complement to GPS.
The Locus announcement in December came on the heels of a report by the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. That report identified sole-means national dependence on GPS as a deep concern, and recommended use of backup means to eliminate future national vulnerabilities caused by excessive reliance on satellite technology, according to Locus.
There has been recent concern over the growing cost of the WAAS system. The total life cycle cost of WAAS through the year 2016 is $3 billion, the FAA spokesman said. WAAS installation cost estimates, provided in broad ranges, have grown as FAA managers have learned more about WAAS requirements.
The range provided in 1993 was $590 million to $860 million. That grew to between $950 million and $1 billion late last year. (For comparison, AOPA officials estimate it would cost $1.7 billion to install the present-day VOR/ILS systems, with a 20-year life-cycle cost of $5.7 billion for those systems.)
The FAA spokesman said that the FAA, initial contractor Wilcox, and current contractor Hughes failed to predict the cost of certifying software to a higher standard, a requirement stemming from the fact that the data goes directly into the cockpit.
Cessna Aircraft Company delivered only 360 piston-engine aircraft in 1997, well below the original goal of 1,000, but total deliveries of all aircraft models - single-engine or otherwise - were 618. Included in the totals are 78 Caravans and 180 Citation business jets, in addition to the single-engine aircraft.
Signature Flight Support has contributed $25,000 to the General Aviation Team 2000 awareness campaign.
This seems to be the year for pilots who want to go around the world by the slowest, most difficult means possible. Joining the balloon pilots who want to break the around-the-world barrier are British pilots Brian Milton and Keith Reynolds, who want to do it in an open-cockpit "microlight" aircraft. Their GT Global Flyer aircraft cruises at 60 knots and is controlled by weight shift, using a control bar much like that found on a hang glider. The current record is 175 days. Departure is planned for the end of March or early April. Watch their adventures on the Web (www.gtglobalflyer.org).
Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan became a private pilot last year and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch finally took notice in a January article. "I like to have this ability so I can use it, and I wish I'd done it sooner," the 63-year-old governor said. He lives in Rolla and makes frequent 4.5-hour trips to Kansas City by car. Now the trip takes only an hour when he flies himself.
The New Piper Aircraft set a new sales record for recent years when in 1997 it delivered 217 aircraft; it plans to build 294 in 1998. This year, the Vero Beach, Florida, company plans to build 55 Malibu Mirages, compared to 54 last year. All of the 1998 Mirage production is sold to Piper's distribution network, and 35 to 40 percent of them are sold to retail customers. A total of 76 Saratogas are scheduled to come down the line this year, up from 64 last year. That number includes both the II HP and the II TC turbocharged variant. Seneca V production will also increase in 1998 - from 39 to 55. Garnering the largest increase, however, was the popular Archer III. Sales of that model will increase from 45 to 75, including 15 airplanes for Lufthansa. - Thomas B. Haines
There can never be too many airport restaurants. The Jet Room has reopened at Dane County-Truax Field (MSN) in Madison, Wisconsin. It is located in the same building as Wisconsin Aviation-Madison, on the general aviation side of the airport.
Aviat Aircraft of Afton, Wyoming, is seeing an increase in demand for the Husky, a tailwheel utility aircraft that is finding increasing appeal as a recreational airplane. In 1998, Aviat expects to build 60 Huskies. The company built between 50 and 60 last year. Aviat President Stu Horn credits the end of production of The New Piper Super Cub for much of the increase.
LAX expansion plans evaluated
Directors of Los Angeles World Airports, which manages Los Angeles International Airport - as well as airports at Van Nuys, Ontario, and Palmdale, California - announced that two of four controversial plans for expansion of LAX were being dropped.
Perhaps the most onerous to general aviation was the plan to "take over" Hawthorne Municipal and make it a commuter base, removing the smaller aircraft from LAX proper. The authority said that it has discarded the plan.
Another proposal that has been shot down was one to build a runway for commuter aircraft south and west of the current complex, in part because of the presence of the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly. Two other plans remain to build additional runways at LAX, which are expected to help the facility handle another 40 million passengers per year and double the cargo capacity by 2015. - Marc E. Cook
Volunteer Mercy Pilots of Ohio is looking for a few good pilots to volunteer their time and aircraft for the purpose of transporting patients to and from places of care. For information, contact Allan Jerram at 419/531-5865.
Bombardier Aerospace of Montreal has sold three Challenger 604 business jets to the Royal Danish Air Force for fisheries protection, antipollution surveillance, medical missions, and search-and-rescue operations.
Here's a trivia question for you: How many truckloads of dirt must be moved to build an average general aviation runway? The answer is 33,000, if you are talking about the new Sandusky County Regional Airport near Fremont, Ohio. And construction is not done yet. The airport, with its 5,500-foot-long runway, will open this fall. It is the first new publicly owned airport built in Ohio since 1971. Want to run the new FBO there? Call the airport authority at 419/332-2882.
Squawk Sheet
The FAA has published an airworthiness directive ( 98-01-01) that prohibits IFR flight in new Cessna 172R and 182S airplanes until the alternate static source has been inspected for static air reference blockage and to assure that the alternate air valve body does not separate from the valve flange. Cessna discovered that the alternate air reference orifice was covered over by its identification placard, rendering the alternate static source useless. In addition, Cessna service bulletin SB97-34-02 calls for replacement of the alternate-air valve assembly "if the valve body separates from the valve flange." Compliance is covered under Cessna's warranty.
A priority letter airworthiness directive ( 98-01-08) was sent out to operators of Continental O-470, (TS)IO-520, and IO-550 series engines equipped with Performance Engineering exhaust roller rocker arms under a supplemental type certificate. Three arms have broken in service and were found to have oil galleries that were drilled off center during the manufacturing process. In addition tests proved that the exhaust roller rocker arms did not meet hardness specifications.
Links to the full text of both ADs can be found on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/pilot/links.shtml).
Australian Aero Discovery is offering U.S. AOPA members and their families a 20-percent discount on 14-day, 12-night tours of Australia in a Cessna 340. Tours begin April 2 and continue through the end of November. Tours cost $4,810 (U.S.) per person not including the discount. For more information call 61-3-9374-3145; e-mail ( [email protected]) or visit the Web site ( www.aad.com.au).
Air Race Central, of Honolulu, has published a schedule of 1998's upcoming air races. For a copy call 808/373-1889 or send an e-mail ( [email protected]).
AOPA members in the news
Astronaut Shannon W. Lucid, AOPA 283741, of Houston, received the 1997 National Air and Space Museum Trophy for her record-breaking flight aboard the Russian space station Mir. Lucid set the duration record for the longest single mission in space for an American, as well as for a woman.
Senator John Glenn (D-OH), AOPA 640064, was recently chosen as a payload specialist and is scheduled to fly aboard the space shuttle Discovery this fall. Glenn will be 77 on his return to space for the first time since 1962, when he was the first American to orbit the Earth.
Greg Brown, AOPA 640529, of Fountain Hills, Arizona, was named the first Master CFI by the National Association of Flight Instructors. The award recognizes "continuous professional development and involvement in the aviation community." He has just completed The Savvy Flight Instructor, a book published by ASA for $19.95. For information, call 800/ASA2FLY. Brown has been a flight instructor since 1979 and holds an airline transport pilot certificate with a Boeing 737 type rating.
Bill Signs, AOPA 939074, of Dallas and Thomas H. Smith of Fort Worth, Texas, will retrace the route of the 1928 flight of Carl Ben Eielson and George Hubert Wilkins from Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen in arctic Norway. The flight in Signs' Cessna 210L Centurion will take place in April on the seventieth anniversary of the Eielson/Wilkins flight. The memorial flight was conceived by Smith who, like Eielson, has roots in North Dakota.
Harry Morales, AOPA 758340, founder and president of Angel Flight Pennsylvania, received the Community Advocate of the Year Award from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Elmer L. Luehring, AOPA 177957, of Cleveland, has been awarded a U.S. patent for a fuel-tank backfilling system that uses filtered exhaust gases as a means of pressurizing the fuel tanks. Because exhaust gases are relatively inert, Luehring believes that this system will reduce the possibility of fuel tank explosions in aircraft.
Vern Moyer, AOPA 256077, and the staff of Moyer Aviation in Mount Pocono and Easton, Pennsylvania, were awarded the Aviation Council of Pennsylvania 1997 Airport Service Award.
Lloyd D. Bonar, AOPA 000508, died last October at the age of 90. Bonar, a physician, had been a continuous member of AOPA since 1939. During World War II he served as a flight surgeon with a pilot rating in the Army Air Corps. He accumulated 650 hours flying a C-47 during those years. He owned 12 airplanes during his years of flying and was a member of the OX-5 Aviation Pioneers.
Alabama Lt. Gov. Don E. Siegelman, AOPA 1360641, has received his private pilot certificate. Siegelman is a resident of Montgomery.
David Treinis, AOPA 701869, has completed a videotape called Discover Soaring! A Transition to Gliders. It is available for $24.95 by calling 800/838-0507, or Sporty's Pilot Shop at 800/SPORTYS.
Lisa P. Turner, AOPA 1275824, of Lantana, Florida, has completed her SkyStar Pulsar XP after 20 months and 1,700 hours of work to build the kitplane. She was recently featured in The Palm Beach Post. The 46-year-old Turner says that she completed her first flight smoothly and did a backward somersault (after leaving the aircraft, of course).
If they're lucky enough to solo on their sixteenth birthday, most student pilots make one solo flight in one aircraft. Joel Ellington, of Harwood, North Dakota, on the other hand, soloed five different aircraft on his sixteenth birthday. Ellington flew a Cessna 172, a Hiller 12-C, a Schweizer 300C, a Piper J-3 Cub, and a Super Cub. Joel and his father Les, AOPA 558595, spent three years rebuilding the helicopters that Joel soloed.
New Zealand man convicted in bogus parts case
A New Zealand man has been convicted of selling counterfeit tail rotor blades for a Robinson R22 helicopter, according to Kurt Robinson of Robinson Helicopter Company.
James Edward Gedson was convicted on two counts of manslaughter after obtaining damaged tail rotor blades from a wrecked R22, having them repaired by a California company, and then selling another R22 with those blades installed. Christopher Midgley, then 27, and Ross McMurtrie, then 25, the purchasers, were killed on October 25, 1995, when the helicopter crashed near Opotiki, New Zealand. The New Zealand Transport Investigation Commission concluded that an in-flight separation of the tail rotor blades led to the accident.
AMR&D Inc. of Woodstock, Illinois, has received a supplemental type certificate to upgrade the Lycoming O-320-E2A installed in Piper PA-28-140, -150, and -151 airplanes to 160 horsepower. By changing only the pistons and piston pins, the Lycoming's horsepower is increased by 10 while maintaining the original 2,700-rpm redline and 2,000-hour TBO. For information, call AMR&D at 815/338-7347.
Valley Oil Company of Salem, Oregon, has acquired Remco Fuel, located in Seymour, Texas. The acquisition of Remco means an additional 31 aviation fuel terminals in the south-central region of the United States. Valley Oil now has 300 branded FBOs in its network of dealers.
The Center for Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota has been renamed in honor of the man who founded UND's aerospace program and expanded it from a two-plane operation to an 80-aircraft fleet. The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education approved renaming UND's aerospace sciences college the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, and also approved naming the first building in the aerospace complex as John D. Odegard Hall.
Fairchild Dornier's new 328JET made its first flight on January 20 from Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. It reached Flight Level 250 and 220 knots on its two-hour test of handling and systems checks. The 328JET, a turbojet version of the company's turboprop regional airliner, is expected to cruise at 400 knots. Fairchild Dornier Senior Vice President Earl Robinson expects the aircraft to enter service sometime in the first quarter of 1999. So far, 32 orders and options have been confirmed.
Microsoft's Flight Simulator '98 may be just a game to some, but the FlightSafety Academy at Vero Beach, Florida, is using it to train beginning flight students. The school has an entire computer laboratory dedicated to computers equipped with yokes and rudders that are running Flight Simulator. Under an agreement, FlightSafety provides feedback to Microsoft to improve the realism of the computer program. Many international students are sent to Vero Beach with no previous flight experience. The simulator is useful in introducing basic aircraft control concepts.
SimuFlite Training International will award seven training scholarships in 1998, worth more than $60,000. Six of the available scholarships are for Cessna Citation pilot training, and the seventh is for Citation maintenance. For information, contact SimuFlite at 972/456-8000; or visit the Web site ( www.simuflite.com).
Duncan Aviation, located in Lincoln, Nebraska, has signed a letter of intent to acquire Kal-Aero, a company also in the business aviation maintenance and completion market. Kal-Aero is located in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kal-Aero will keep its name and become a division of Duncan.
A new aerobatic training center, Gyroscopic Obsessions, has opened at Brookhaven Airport in Shirley, New York. In addition to training in an Extra 200 aircraft, the new firm is a distributor for Aviat Huskys and Pitts Special aircraft in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions.
Avtech Executive Flight Center at Cobb County-McCollum Field in Marietta, Georgia, is adding 40,000 square feet of hangar space and 6,600 square feet for offices. Completion of the facility is expected this summer.
