professional pilot november 2016

NOVEMBER 2016

Back: (L–R) Capt Alain Mussely, Capt Peter Groves, Flight Attendant Julie Neal, Flight Attendant Eleni Angeli, Flight Attendant Kevin Rost, Capt Thierry Levasseur and Chief of Mx Trevor Knox.

Front: (L–R) VP and Gen Mgr Customer Experience

Jean-Christophe Gallagher, Ops Manager & Chief Pilot Murray Balzer, Mx Mgr Martin Pomerleau and

Flight Attendant Mgr Heidi Romano. In background is Challenger 650 at YUL (Montreal QC, Canada).

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4 PROFESSIONAL PILOT / November 2016

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46

FeaturesNovember 2016 Vol 50 No 11

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10 POSITION & HOLD

A systems approach to enable true trusted autonomy by Dennis Bushnell Solving problems with knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

18 FINDING NEW PRO PILOTS

Have we reached a bizav pilot shortage? by Shannon Forrest Part 91 av managers report new pilots are hard to ind and dificult to retain.

24 COCKPIT EVOLUTION

Advanced aircraft communications by Glenn Connor Voice babble changes to text with CPDLC, ADS-B and beyond.

46 FLIGHT DEPT PROFILE

Bombardier by Grant McLaren Globals, Challengers and Learjet ly worldwide to care for customers, provide bizjet demos and transport key company executives.

52 INTERNATIONAL OPS

Caribbean islands welcome general aviation by Grant McLaren Reasonable costs, ease of movement and good security are the rules when lying GA aircraft to many destinations in this close-by sea.

58 NORTHWELL HEMS

SkyHealth serves 21 hospitals in NYC metro area by Ken Solosky Airbus H135 solves time problem of slow ambulances in heavy trafic.

64 WX BRIEF

Central Asian weather by Karsten Shein Flying conditions in this continental interior are ever changing and severe.

72 RADAR SCHOOL

Reading radar shadows by Archie Trammell Making right decisions in thunderstorm areas often depends on knowing what radar shadows are telling you.

78 HEADSET PREFERENCES

Reception, comfort, price and support are desired traits for pilots. by Pro Pilot staff 86 AIRCRAFT STOPPING SYSTEMS

Toughest workout and high temps go to the brakes by Nihad Daidzic Brakes, thrust reversers, beta props, spoilers and lift dumps all help in deceleration of jet and turboprop aircraft.

96 SPECIAL MISSIONS

458th Airlift Squadron by Douglas Nelms Wearing their USAF stars, Learjet 35s as C21s serve from Scott AFB.

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Departments

16 VIEWPOINT

Wicks Group Senior Advisor Barry Valentine talks

about aeronautical judgment and decision-making.

32 SID & STAR

The pilots divert to an alternate in order to avoid

a dangerous thunderstorm at their destination.

34 TERMINAL CHECKLIST

Quiz on procedures when making the approach to MDT (Harrisburg Intl, PA). Answers on p 36.

38 ALEX REMEMBERS

Louise Timken, a great lady of aviation, lew a French MS760 and a Learjet 23.

40 SQUAWK IDENT

Pro Pilot readers comment how they see the future for their segments of aviation.

94 RAMP & HANGAR

Jobs, products and other reader opportunities.

November 2016 Vol 50 No 11

Cover

Front: (L–R) VP and Gen Mgr Customer Experience Jean-Christophe Gallagher, Ops Manager & Chief Pilot Murray Balzer, Mx Mgr Martin Pomerleau and Flight Attendant Mgr Heidi Romano. In background is Challenger 650 at YUL (Montreal QC, Canada). Back: (L–R) Capt Alain Mussely, Capt Peter Groves, Flight Attendant Julie Neal, Flight Attendant Eleni Angeli, Flight Attendant Kevin Rost, Capt Thierry Levasseur and Chief of Mx Trevor Knox. Photo by Bombardier.

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The fundamental aspects and precepts of trusted au-tonomy are safety, security, reliability and resilience for both “on design” and “off design,” where on

design refers to the functionalities and states required to execute the design mission, and off design refers to con-ditions and operations at other than those included in the parameters and conditions for design operability.

For design missions involving the usual architectures and technologies and having a considerable historical ex-perience base, most of the issues required to be satisied are “knowns.” However, as new/unique/experimental technologies are employed and/or for new mission con-ditions and functionalities there arises—especially for off design—the specter of both “known unknowns” and “un-known unknowns.”

Autonomy, writ large, increasingly applied to an ever broader spectrum of conditions and functionalities, sub-sumes the conditions of both new technologies and new operability conditions, thereby requiring trusted auton-omy in the potential presence of known unknowns and unknown unknowns. An obvious overarching example of a known unknown requirement to be considered for all autonomous systems going forward is the preservation of electron or electronic operability—the bedrock require-ment for autonomy. There is an increasing number of is-sues with electronics.

Issues with electronics and their associated damage

• Degradation/failure of materials due to temperature, mechanical, aging or radiation, etc.

• Jamming.• Cyber, malware.• Electromagnetic pulse (EMP), natural/space weather

and emitting equipment writ large, including fast lasers/F-sec lasers.

The associated damage/maloperation can manifest in multitudinous ways from the device to the systems lev-els. Therefore, failsafe electronics designs and operation-al modes will probably be required for trusted autonomy going forward. Other issues with autonomous systems derive from their speciic application and associated par-ticulars.

Thus trusted full autonomy (systems fully operated by machines) requires the identiication of and solutions spaces for “untoward events” (also referred to as “edge cases”), conditions/occurrences beyond the operational automation functionalities and design, along with asso-ciated system functionalities capable of accommodating such in a safe manner.

Suggested herein is a combinational approach involv-ing ab initio system design and an on-board resilience system based upon big data/deep learning, which both

POSITION & HOLD

A systems approach to enable true trusted autonomy

Solving problems with knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

By Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA LaRC

Northrop Grumman’s X47B fighter drone is capable of flying, performing its mis-sion and landing on aircraft carriers either autonomous-ly or with a ground pilot.

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evaluates threats and determines, makes operational and executes system responses utilizing the full panoply of system capabilities in order to ensure safe operations and trust in machine-operated systems.

Untoward events can be deined as operational and sys-tem inputs, changes and/or occurrences beyond the func-tional/operational “on design” events/capabilities, and can include knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. An obvious way forward is to minimize the number of unknown unknowns and maximize the num-ber of knowns so that most “off design” conditions can be dealt with via the ab initio design—if that is determined to be eficacious—and the rest can be dealt with by an on-board resilience system. The obvious key to doing such is data, information, knowledge of everything (literally ev-erything) connected with the system and its surroundings, including potential and actual variations thereof. Also in-cluded in this is the knowledgeability of combinational interactions up to the systems of systems level.

Identiication and treatment of untoward events be-gins with as complete as possible a systems operational speciication. This includes initial, boundary and envi-ronmental conditions as a function of space and time. This establishes the system’s operational functionalities and environment, and the parameterization that both constitutes the design space and provides the speciica-tion of the design’s normal conditions, which can then be investigated for “off normal”/off design. It is essential to document all “assumptions” made throughout so that these can be scrutinized for correctness, and obviated as a potential “untoward” if that is conceivable.

Untoward events for autonomous aviation

Using autonomous aviation as an example throughout the rest of this section, potential sources of untoward events include combinations of weather issues, trafic, the health of the vehicle’s systems along with its degra-dation and limits, and the many safety issues associated with human factors—if such vehicle is not fully auton-omous. In aviation, some 80% of the safety issues have been traceable to human factors. Presumably an auton-omous system should—and could—be safer via obvia-tion of human factors, errors, latency, etc. However, au-tonomous operations are typically held to much stricter standards than manned operations. Many thousands are

killed on the roads by human operated automobiles and over a hundred thousand in the hospitals by human ac-tions. Society would not allow such safety performance in an autonomous system. We have long had the capa-bility to do wheels up to down autonomous light, but such a system has not yet been implemented on aircraft transporting human passengers due to the lack of trusted autonomy, an apparent need to have humans to handle “untoward events.”

Overall essential capability to design and operate trust-ed autonomy aviation systems is the recently developed and still undergoing maturation combination of big data, deep learning, neural nets and sizable/capable comput-ing machines. The original poster child for this capability was the IBM Watson device, which is now being applied across a broad range of issues including medicine. Imple-mentation has been very successful, in many instances constituting a narrow AI niche with at or beyond human capabilities. Such a capability knows far more than in-dividual humans, obviates the many sources of human error, has much reduced human latency, and has many other favorable attributes, including that it “cannot cash checks” so in the long run it should be less expensive.

Given suficient information, this big data/deep learning approach could:

• Determine to the extent possible the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns via—among other emerging approaches—the Steve Thaler “Creativity Machine.”

• Conduct a risk assessment, estimate which of these risks are worrisome enough to be included in the ab in-itio system design as additional to the usual “on design” functionalization. This includes self repair. Usual risk as-sessment approaches include probabilities and potential system impacts writ large.

Other issues identiied but not directly included in the

Curiosity Rover in autonomous driving mode on Mars. Autonomous ma-chines play a major role in space exploration, as they save the time it takes for instructions to be transmitted to systems already on a mission.

IBM’s Watson is a cognitive computer system that learns by understand-ing the subject’s natural language, analyzing its data and extracting key information, rather than being programmed.

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vehicle design are carried over to be dealt with by an on-board resilience system.

This on-board resilience system consists of an on-board big data/deep learning system which continually updates the “data” across the board and determines extant and emerging potential threats/problems, determines solu-tion/coping spaces, decides which is most eficacious and executes the solution spaces to preserve lives and proper-ty. An important aspect of this approach is that an overall aviation corporate memory is built up via such interactive communications, learning. Thus, the envisaged resilience system is broadly capable and knowledgeable, not limit-ed to a particular aircraft or type of aircraft.

Continuing to play while hurt

Such an on-board resilience system would be given au-thority to utilize the entire vehicle system capabilities to develop and execute solution spaces for untoward prob-lems—not included in the ab initio system design. The intent is that the resilience system enables the aircraft to “play while hurt.” This capability is related to current NASA research efforts termed “Learn To Fly”.

This overall approach uses big data/deep learning to both improve the initial design and improve reliability/resilience (over and above the automation of the “on de-sign” vehicle functionalities) via a continually updated on board “life boat” resilience system. It should provide trusted autonomy to a level such that humans would no longer be required for operation, which as already stated, would obviate the large panoply of human factors errors, thereby further ensuring and improving safety.

The major key to such an approach to trusted autono-my, which will only improve as artiicial intelligence (AI) further develops, is deining which/what is subsumed in the initial design and continually updated both off-board and on-board “big data” sets.

Some obvious cogent databases include:• Weather: Predictions and combinational historical

extremes associated therewith, writ large.• Integrated vehicle health management, including on-

board sensors for vehicle health assessment/management of all systems, including structural.

• Aircraft trafic/ATM data. This includes projections to inform potential collision possibilities and wake vortex hazard issues, which enables constant planning of avoid-ance maneuvers.

• Complete documentation of all aviation accidents and near misses of any kind since the beginning of avi-ation, both civilian and military, worldwide, along with appropriate or actualized solution/obviation approaches. Those who do not study history are consigned to repeat it.

• Reliability data analyses for all vehicle components and systems.

• Complete performance speciications of system de-sign parameters, individual components and as systems of systems.

• Details concerning potential terrorist attacks of any type.

• Potential cyber and EMP issues, threats and potential impacts, and known workarounds.

• Redundant navigation approaches, positioning.• Complete “digital twin” data bases as available.• Communications functionality.• Bird Prevalence, size.• Aircraft security sitrep, writ large.These databases consider, address and subsume the

usual sources of aircraft “accidents,” including pilot er-ror (responsible for some 50% of all aircraft crashes), me-chanical error (22%, includes some components of hu-man error), weather (12%), sabotage/terrorism (9%), and other human errors including ATC and human-caused fuel starvation (7%).

D-Wave Systems quantum computers have control features that allow users to tune the quantum computational process and solve problems faster with more diverse solutions. On Sep 27, 2016 the company announced its most advanced quantum computing system, featuring a 2000-qubit processor that doubles the capacity of its predecessor.

Dennis Bushnell is chief scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center, where he is responsible for technical oversight and advanced program formulation. His major technical expertise includes low physics and control, drag reduction and advanced coniguration aeronautics. Bushnell is a fellow of AIAA, ASME and

the Royal Aeronautical Society and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

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VIEWPOINT This editorial is the opinion of the contributor

performance, weather conditions, other trafic, etc. In the case of USAir Flight 1549, all of those factors and more had to be considered—and considered quickly.

When the “Miracle on the Hudson” event originally oc-curred, and again after seeing the recreation in the movie, it brought back an old and very personal memory of the loss of squadron mates during what should have been a routine light in a USAF Fairchild C123 in the late 1960s in Vietnam. The C123 burns high-octane avgas in a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada R2800 radial engines. During a routine stop on that day’s light, the airplane was refueled. Unfortunately, and unknown to the crew, it was refueled with jet fuel, not avgas. There was enough residual avgas in the tanks to allow for engine start, taxi and takeoff. But shortly after takeoff, both engines quit. The pilots chose to attempt a return to the airport. During the turn, a wingtip contacted terrain and the airplane crashed and caught ire with loss of the crew. The C123 is a rugged-built airplane and an off-airport landing, depending on circumstanc-es, can be survivable. I do not know what was straight ahead on that light. As the pilots were well experienced, I assume they made what they considered the best choice. Since that event nearly 5 decades ago, I have always been extremely religious about checking my fuel before every light.

Flash forward to just a month ago, when a Mooney with 3 persons on board departed an airport in my home state of Maine and had an engine failure on takeoff. As I under-stand it, the airplane was at an altitude of approximately 800 ft and the pilot elected to return to the airport. A suc-cessful landing back on the runway was made. So, again, it depends. It behooves all of us to consider in advance how we would react in the event of loss of power during various stages of takeoff and climb so as to be able to exercise the good judgment and decision-making needed for the best outcome.

Barry ValentineSenior AdvisorThe Wicks Group

I recently saw the movie Sully, as I am sure many Pro Pilot readers al-

ready have. Although the ilmmakers took some liberties with the facts re-garding the NTSB investigation and Captain Sullenberger’s relationship

with the Board, I thought the ilm was well done over-all. In particular, it introduced the audience—especially non-aviators—to that process with which all pilots are fa-miliar: Aeronautical judgment and decision-making.

There is an old adage in aviation that says, “A superior pi-lot is one who uses superior judgment so as not to have to use superior skill.” Although Captain Sullenberger certain-ly had to draw upon both judgment and skill in the case of USAir Flight 1549, the focus of the NTSB, as presented in the ilm, was on his judgment, his skill being obvious.

One of the most critical events in light where both good judgment and timely action are necessary is loss of power after takeoff, and one of the key decisions a pilot has to make is whether to land straight ahead (give or take a few degrees) or to attempt to return to the airport in an effort to land on a runway or surrounding lat, unobstruct-ed surface.

Obviously, if power loss occurs immediately after take-off or in the early stages of climb-out, there is not much choice. I recall during the early stages of my light training hearing repeated many times the phrase “engine failure after takeoff, land straight ahead.” But what if the aircraft has gained several hundred feet of altitude at the time of power loss? Would return to the airport be a reasonable course of action? The answer, of course, is “it depends.” It depends on several variables such as altitude, aircraft

Aeronautical judgment and decision-making

Capt Chesley Sullenberger undoubtedly made the right decision when he ditched the US Airways Flight 1549 Airbus A320 in the glassy waters of the Hudson River after the jet struck a flock of geese and both engines lost power. However, good judgment wasn’t enough this time as it took Capt Sullenberger’s exceptional airmanship and extensive glider flying experience to perform such a life-saving maneuver.

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Robert Whitson, manager of a Part 91 light department based at MHR (Sacramento

CA), was recently faced with replac-ing a Learjet 45 pilot that left to pur-sue another job opportunity. Early in the search he encountered a dilem-ma: it’s becoming increasingly dif-icult to ind suitable candidates as vacancies outnumber job seekers in the present economic climate. After placing an ad on multiple websites geared speciically towards corpo-rate pilots, Capt Whitson received only 25 resumes over the course of 3 weeks. Most interesting was the fact that nearly all came from retired airline pilots who seemed motivated by the allure of continuing to ly be-yond the mandatory age prescribed by the Part 121 rules.

Anchored by long careers at the air-lines, all the applications appeared remarkably similar right down to the buzzwords that employers typ-ically look for: experienced, great pilot and reliable. Yet few contained any signiicant corporate experience and only 3 indicated a Lear 45 type rating (speciied on the job posting as preferred but not required). All the applicants resided out of state,

which would necessitate relocation for the person that was hired (con-sidered “non-commutable” in air-line parlance for pilots used to living apart from their work domicile).

Logged hours is the key

Given the fact that the experience requirements were not onerous or unrealistic (4000 total hours with a preferred but not mandatory 2000 hrs turbine and 1500 hrs jet) and the starting salary was consistent with the range denoted in the 2016 Pro Pilot magazine Salary Study, why so few applicants for a job that averaged 150 light hours a year and required few overnights? Whitson attributes the lack of interest in corporate posi-tions to the current hiring cycle at the airlines, where he proclaims, “They are sucking up people right, left and center while the corporate world feels the pain.” He was not opposed to hiring an airline retiree but had to consider that the department needed a career-minded candidate who was interested in living in the Sacramen-to area and could commit to a long stay in the position. And he was ne-gotiable on experience contending, “You can always train someone to ly an airplane. Sure there’s a certain ex-perience level to meet insurance re-quirements, but in the end I’m more concerned about character. Have you

ever been violated? Failed a number of checkrides? What do other people think of you? I’m looking for some-one with whom we can get along, someone who wants to do the job.”

In the end the position was illed serendipitously. During a casual conversation, one of Whitson’s col-leagues mentioned a local pilot who wasn’t looking for a job but might consider an opportunity. After some cajoling, the pilot accepted an offer that came with a full PIC type rating at the expense of the employer.

Hiring practices then and now

Long time veterans of corporate aviation can probably recall vastly different experiences and practices when it came to hiring over the last 3 decades. Historically, corporate de-partments were tight nit entities and pilots needed an “in” just to get a re-sume in front of the chief pilot. Often the openings went unadvertised be-cause they were immediately illed with former squadron buddies, col-lege roommates, friends, and associ-ates from other lying jobs. In some instances a pilot was hired on per-severance and grit. For instance, the young instructor from across the air-port that occasionally sat right seat lying charter in a Cessna C310 or Piper Navajo but yearned for a full time turbine slot. So he kept show-ing up at the doorstep of his desired future employer—seemingly daily—and always was there with a resume in hand, freshly updated to relect

FINDING NEW PRO PILOTS

Have we reached a bizav pilot shortage?

Part 91 av mgrs report new pilots are hard to find and difficult to retain because airlines are eager to fill cockpits as 121 ops increase and graybeards retire.

By Shannon ForrestPresident, Turbine MentorATP/CFII. Challenger 604/605, Gulfstream IV, MU2B

Student pilots at Pan Am International Flight Academy in Miami FL. New pilots entering the career are likely to experience accelerated growth under present economic conditions.

http://www.avfuel.com/cards


his most recent 10 hours of time. To some managers it was a nuisance, but at times it was wildly successful-ly (perhaps hiring the “offender” was a strategy to make the annoyance disappear, although the outcome was an individual who really wanted the position and felt he had attained his dream job).

Answering ads

When ads did appear, those doing the hiring sometimes tailored them towards a speciic candidate, having no intent of interviewing others for the job—a practice that under current law would garner Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) scrutiny. Interviews of the past might consist of a formal meeting, or a short conversation and a handshake while having a beverage at the local airport bar and grill. While private owners and smaller operators may continue to hire pilots using the “classic” meth-odology, medium-sized and bigger light departments have transitioned into a formalized approach driven by the company’s human resource (HR) department.

Internet job sites are also common venues to post openings. To light department managers, this can be a blessing and a curse. It’s positive in that it reaches beyond the local area to attract a wider audience, but neg-ative because the electronic screen-ing process can exclude otherwise qualiied candidates from being granted an interview due to an error in entering information or an unin-tended omission. Job seekers should also be aware that employers seek-ing pilots advertise on websites that solicit all occupations, not just those related to aviation. The reason is that companies known for speciic pro-fessions (accounting, engineering or manufacturing) and have hundreds of openings at any given time, typ-ically have contracts with agencies to recruit these occupations. These agreements dictate how a search for labor is to be conducted. Because the pilot career ield is an extremely small percentage of a diverse work-force, it gets shoehorned into a hir-ing paradigm designed for other en-deavors; a methodology meant to be inclusive which instead could unin-tentionally exclude applicants.

Hiring the right corporate pilot

Hiring a pilot at a large light de-partment can be complex and time consuming. According to an as-sistant chief pilot at a Fortune 100 company, his hiring process starts by writing a job description and for-warding it to HR. Personnel within the HR department ensure that the submission is worded appropriately to comply with a myriad of regula-tions, and then it is forwarded to the legal department for a inal signoff. Once that happens, a recruiter is assigned and the job is posted until a target is reached (either a termina-tion date or exceeding a threshold number of applicants). Résumés that fail to indicate the qualiications de-noted as required are immediately removed, whereas candidates with preferred qualiications are rank or-dered according to how many they have. Eventually the queue is whit-tled down to a manageable number for interviews. In terms of numbers, in 2014 an opening generated 450 résumés; approximately 25% met the type rating and experience re-quirement and 50 of those were con-sidered suitable for employment.

Rick Koubsky, owner of the website Bizjetjobs.com, offered his insight on corporate hiring dynamics with real world data speciic to corporate aviation. “About 5 years ago, a Gulf-stream V job would have gotten 50 qualiied applicants in 2 or 3 days. And by qualiied I mean full captain, PIC time, international experience, etc. These days there are still appli-cants but not to that degree. Cer-tainly not with the experience levels we were seeing,” he says. Koubsky can provide subject matter expert statistics because Bizjetjobs, which bills itself as the “corporate pilot job specialists,” maintains a directory and keeps tabs on over 2000 light departments throughout the US. He points out that, although there are fewer applicants as a whole, the top tier jobs at the upper echelon of the Fortune ranking scale continue to receive signiicant interest, and as a result can remain selective in whom they hire. In some cases these companies seek out and hand pick resumes posted online in lieu of con-ducting an open search. On the oth-er end of the spectrum, on-demand charter companies with variable schedules and lower salaries are see-

Midsize jets

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Citation Mustang/M2 80,000 67,000 92,000

Embraer Phenom 100 90,000 73,000 114,000

Embraer Phenom 300 96,000 80,000 121,000

Premier I 90,000 71,000 115,0000

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ing an exodus as hiring heats up and pilots lock to other jobs.

Looking at opportunities

From the perspective of the pilot, there’s an abundance of opportunity, especially at the entry level. In the past, novice pilots would spend years accruing experience before consider-ing a vertical move. Now more than ever pilots are especially aware of pay increases and better working condi-tions at competitors (however slight they may be), enticing them to apply. The market is especially lucrative for contract pilots. Those with popular type ratings can command premi-um daily rates and ask for additional perks like funding recurrent training costs. Experienced corporate pilots who want to transition to a different light department (a lateral move ca-reer wise) have options as well.

Scott is a corporate pilot who spent 16 years at the same company but is currently entertaining job offers with other organizations. Because of his situation, he asked to remain anony-mous. Scott suggests that the current trend ensures that the relationship between employee and employer is “mutually beneicial.” In other words, the days of accepting the irst offer that comes along or working under the guise of, “there’s 1000 pi-lots behind you who want your job,” are over—at least temporarily. Some

pilots are even switching genres and leaving corporate aviation for the major airlines, citing record hiring, guaranteed career progression based on the seniority system, and a union contract as the reason why.

Does a pilot shortage exist?

Certain topics evoke strong emo-tions from pilots across all facets of the industry, and the notion of a shortage is one of them. By Web-ster’s deinition a shortage is a state in which there’s not enough of some-thing that is needed. Whether or not a scarcity of pilots exists on a nation-al (or even global) level has always led to contentious debate.

In the airline world the unions contend that it’s basic economics: pay more and more pilots will come. Of course, the underlying premise is that there’s a surplus of qualiied pilots sitting on the sidelines waiting to jump in if the money is right. Data provided by the FAA shows that at the end of 2015 there were 149,957 ATP airplane pilots considered active (deined as holding a certiicate in combination with a valid medical). That’s a signiicant number and it’s unlikely they all want airline careers.

More often than not, perception drives behavior. Unfortunately for humans, perception incorporates a host of psychological biases that may not be correct. Belief in a short-

age is inherently personal, especially for those who have spent time in the profession.

Remedies for the shortage

Pilots who sought work under the pay for training schemata of the 1990s and those furloughed after 9/11 have entirely different beliefs than region-al jet pilots who were hired with 400 hours and upgraded to captain rap-idly. Viewpoints on the issue can be myopic because a person only draws from a bank of experiences relative to one’s time in the industry. A scientist might say the data is not statistically signiicant because the timeframe is so short (we’ve only been lying for a little over a hundred years). Who knows what the situation will look like 100 years from now when we have a bicentennial of data to draw from and the sky is full of UAVs. Will advances in automation reduce or eliminate the need for pilots down the road? At one time there was a shortage of stage coach drivers right before the railroad and automobiles rendered them jobless.

In theory, a perceived shortage could be remedied by rescinding the ATP requirement and upping the mandatory retirement age at the air-lines. Granted, the mandate would be political suicide and have a po-tentially deleterious impact on safe-ty. But in a strictly numbers game, it offers an interim ix. The underlying issue seems to be a shortage of ex-perience relative to the task; some-thing that needs to be addressed at the light training level (does it make sense to spend 1500 hours doing pat-tern work with the goal of a job that moves people from point A to B).

History will ultimately dictate whether an unprecedented shortage existed or whether it was simply a market anomaly or black swan. In the short term, employers who want to attract or retain pilots need to fo-cus on 2 things every pilot seems to agree on: pay in combination with quality of life.

Shannon Forrest is a current line pilot, CRM facilitator and aviation safety con-sultant. He has over 10,000 hours and holds a degree in be-havioral psychology.

Captain

Bombardier CRJ100/200 90,000 64,000 116,000

Bombardier CRJ700 92,000 67,000 119,000

Bombardier CRJ900 95,000 75,000 122,000

Embraer ERJ135 84,000 59,000 97,000

Embraer ERJ140/145 88,000 69,000 114,000

Embraer 170/175 92,000 67,000 119,000

Embraer 190/195 95,000 75,000 122,000

First Officer

Bombardier CRJ100/200 44,000 32,000 58,000

Bombardier CRJ700 45,000 35,000 63,000

Bombardier CRJ900 49,000 38,000 68,000

Embraer ERJ135 43,000 32,000 58,000

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Embraer 170/175 47,000 38,000 68,000

Embraer 190/195 49,000 39,000 69,000

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I recently heard an air trafic con-troller lament the fact that he didn’t talk with his kids much. “We

just text,” he said. Thinking this was a family affair, I was surprised to ind that he was actually talking about the change in air trafic communications. This controller was beginning to miss the daily babble of the pilots with the controllers. And so the movement has begun with advanced means of com-munications to more to operate more eficiently in congested airspace. It requires more than just “checking in” in order to deconlict a conversa-tion between pilots and controllers, eliminating being “stepped on” and providing the ability for ATC to as-sess your aircraft equipage and take advantage of the way various arriv-als are equipped. Just checking in is old school.

The issue of advanced aircraft communications is also driven by mandates and programs mainly in the US and EU to modernize air traf-ic management. The “management” part is the key, and is solely based on accommodating trafic growth that we each compete in for the North

Atlantic tracks, arrival times and ulti-mately a parking space on the ramp. And the reasons are simple: There is a global demand for a schedule that puts you at your destination at the time you said you would be there.

As a light department lightcrew member, remember that for those

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In Gulfstream G500 and G600, the lower touchscreen is used for choosing display options. It also allows pilots to access to flightdeck functions.

Gulfstream’s Symmetry flightdeck is an advanced design based on pilot inputs and needs, and the touchscreen technology provides an easier mean for CPDLC and datacom functions.

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who frequent the international routes, the term “mandate” seems to be getting louder. But from a prac-tical viewpoint, what does mandate mean to you? Are you supposed to buy something? Should you upgrade to something? Or will the manufac-turers keep you up to date? The com-plications seem to grow with each government program, conference and convention. There is now FANS 1/A, FANS B, Link 2000+, ADS-B, ICAO’s Block Upgrades... And the list just keeps growing.

Merging of communications for the lightdeck

The reality is that the various means of communications are merg-ing for the lightdeck. We have mul-tiple receivers that enable us to see non-radar trafic, communicate data about our aircraft, our intentions and route of light. Controller pilot data link communications (CPDLC) is another form of talking for the crew. What is interesting to note is that our society has also been changing the use of the phone from just voice to predominately texting. And for many of the younger generation, texting seems as natural as the use of the radio to many pilots of today. And so for aircraft operations we are also moving more from verbal to alpha-numerics communications.

For the near future, the challenge

is about to become a inancial one, beginning with the recognition that aviation is on the brink of another change. Communications will be-come more digital text with instruc-tions that can be loaded into the air-craft for immediate action, and the issue of consolidation of ADS-B, CP-DLC, FANS, etc, may create a single pilot interface.

The digital dilemma

Given the slow growth of all forms of digital data communications start-ing with ACARS and FANS, eventu-ally will require a complete system change. NextGen, and what CPDLC and ADS-B all actively provide, is precisely that: data. But some of the government-designed communica-tions programs have seemingly been living in different and unconnected worlds for general aviation, bizjets and airlines.

The history behind each system, especially the big iron airline opera-tions, has always been limited to an-cient aeronautical standards or the growth of more boxes. Not until the emergence of technology for both Part 23 and Part 25 from Garmin, Honeywell, Rockwell and Universal was there a consolidation in either boxes or thinking for the cockpit. But for the modern lightdeck, ad-ditional and redundant communi-cation systems mean paying extra

for those data services and install-ing more boxes to receive it. So the issue becomes more about consol-idation, what the near term choices are, and how all this will affect the pilot’s ability to operate in the com-ing airspace.

Today’s CPDLC offerings

All of the major aircraft manufac-turers have taken up the challenge to manage the communications dilemma in the aircraft. And all of the trusted avionics suppliers have developed systems that meet the mandates and, although pricey, are affordable.

Garmin has introduced its GTC 570 touchscreen controller unit as an emerging idea in how a pilot interacts with Garmin’s integrated lightdecks (eg G5000). The GTC 570 enables some lexibility in the way to interact with the aircraft. But the new system also supports the standard data block format of log-ging on, reception of the canned message, acknowledgment, etc. Convention can be maintained at the machine level, but done differ-ently at the human level.

Through its GTC 570 unit, Garmin has developed the appearance and look of messaging that seems similar to a smartphone experience, which is much more intuitive than the con-ventional ICAO standard used with

Through its GTC 570 unit, Garmin has developed the appearance and look of messaging that seems similar to a smartphone experience, which is much more intuitive than the con ventional ICAO standard used with an FMS.

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At American Aero FTW, giving generously to the Navy Seal Foundation, the Marine Corps Toys-for-Tots Program and our local community reminds us that being a great FBO is a lot more than popcorn, cookies or a quick turn. Philanthropy teaches us about doing the right thing- always. Isn’t it t ime your FBO served you with a sense of purpose?

Hello. My name is American Aero FTW.

At American Aero FTW, giving generously to the Navy Seal Foundation, the Marine Corps Toys-for-Tots Program and our local community reminds us that being a great FBO is a lot more than popcorn, cookies or a quick turn. Philanthropy teaches us about doing the right thing- always. Isn’t it t ime your FBO served you with a sense of purpose?


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an FMS. The linking of messages, showing a “draft” message and “op-tions” gives context to what a pilot is doing, communicating rather than using the machine format of “send,” “receive” and “acknowledge” ro-bot style. If you look closely at the new Garmin CPDLC, you see all of the NAV and COM frequencies and CPDLC selection possibilities in one glance.

Universal Avionics has developed a new integrated lightdeck with an advanced system called InSight, which combines the control of light displays, FMS, radios, weather, traf-ic and terrain into a centralized control device called Electronic Control Display Unit (ECDU). The latest Universal Avionics capabilities are also handy for a simple means in which to log on and use digital text to communicate with ease.

Universal Avionics Pres Ted Naim-er, a well-known pilot and developer of cockpit technologies, points out his experience with CPDLC during recent light trails. “CPDLC address-es the problem of the particular ac-cents of air trafic controllers that might be dificult to understand in normal voice communication when the reception quality is already com-promised,” Naimer declares.

ADS-C is another capability that Universal Avionics offers, provid-ing the means for automated posi-tion reporting. Naimer goes further regarding what the digital age holds for you as a pilot as well as for your passengers. For example, ar-rival “slots” will be given based on your ability to communicate and to

be better controlled by ATC. In Europe, for example, if you have Link 2000 you’ll be a step ahead and will have the ability to arrive on time. Naimer also points out that voice is quicker and more practical in the terminal area, but not for the en-route phase, where digital commu-nication and alphanumeric messag-es will make interactions between the pilot and the controllers easier and more accurate.

Airport departure and arrival in-formation via CPDLC will give ATC a better opportunity to manage the trafic more eficiently. Naimer puts CPDLC at the top of the list of “must-haves” for a modern lightdeck.

Honeywell has had a long legacy in the FANS and CPDLC arena, ad-dressing radios, controls and mes-saging. Advanced developments shown often by Honeywell for the lightdeck avionics installed in Gulf-stream, Dassault and Embraer air-craft are the high end of the bizjet world. But Honeywell is not sitting on yesterday’s accomplishments, so the company is developing new and more advanced equipment. The new Gulfstream Symmetry lightdeck has begun the transition for large cabin aircraft in the digital age of lightdeck conversations, enabling a lightcrew to text and receive clearances and requests without the crackle of the old HF radio.

Rockwell Collins has been pursu-ing touch-controlled screens with its Pro Line Fusion lightdeck. And the company’s new design enables di-rect touch of a CPDLC message for display and response.

Rockwell Collins has earned some large program contracts with Boeing for the 737 Max, as well as with sev-eral other commercial air transport aircraft manufacturers. CPDLC and FANS 1/A are keys for the airlines in-dustry. But the recent charge into the Part 23 market with the King Air Pro Line Fusion packages makes it pos-sible to bring a modern operation to a timeless platform—including ad-vanced communication systems.

Cyber security is an issue worth the mention. Standards for today’s aircraft architecture are pretty closed circuit. But the trend in opening up Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to enable the interaction of iPads and other devic-es that may be used for messaging with ATC or to insert lightplans does crack the door open to the security concerns of many. In aviation, the standards and the practical com-plexities of the aircraft have kept humans in the executive roll—so far. But to ward off the worry, industry leaders and FAA oficials have estab-lished working groups and standards to limit intrusions. In the near future, aircraft cyber security needs to be addressed.

Universal Avionics UniLink UL800/801 Commu-nications Management Unit (CMU) and Satel-lite-Based Augmentation System – Flight Man-agement System (SBAS-FMS) enables CPDLC ops.

Ted Naimer, president of Universal Avionics, has conducted tests around the world to vali-date the company’s new CPDLC systems.

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American Aero FTW was the f irst FBO in the country to achieve IS -BAH Certif ication. As proud as we are of that milestone, being a truly safe FBO is a lot more than a plaque on a wall . To me, it ’s about conducting yourself professionally and acting with purpose each day. It ’s why I work here. It ’s who I am.


American Aero FTW was the f irst FBO in the country to achieve IS -BAH Certif ication. As proud as we are of that milestone, being a truly safe FBO is a lot more than a plaque on a wall . To me, it ’s about conducting yourself professionally and acting with purpose each day. It ’s why I work here. It ’s who I am.


P U R P O S E

D A N I E L G O N Z A L E Z



8 8 8 . 9 7 3 . 5 8 6 7



The future of data links

FAA’s recently published AC 20-140C starts with deining data link as a generic term that “encompass-es different types of data link sys-tems and networks.” So the FAA is thinking ahead. The question here is: When will we get a single means to communicate on the lightdeck?

If you consider the basic aircraft operation with voice, you, the pi-lot, may start with the ATIS then go to Clearance Delivery, followed by Ground, Tower, Departure, etc. These subdivisions and sequences cover the movement of the aircraft by phase of light to manage the number of voices at any given mo-ment. But even a radio call is com-plicated by a barrage of increasing competition for space to “talk” or transmit essential information.

The day has already arrived in sev-eral big cities where waiting to talk for a clearance adds delays. And even though it’s only a few minutes, these delays cost thousands of dollars and are not tolerable. However, this is not an issue in the digital data world of communications, so the emphasis can be put on the data and decision-mak-ing for spacing, timing, slot times, or whatever the request may be.

Now is the time for the OEM to think a bit outside the box. Recog-nizing the box is, for the near term, an existing and somewhat antique standard of avionics on the verge

Innovations in Rockwell Collins ProLine Fusion flightdeck avionics are designed with more touchscreen flexibility, providing the means for future growth with CPDLC operations.

of a major change. So iguratively speaking, sitting on top of the box with a suggested action coming from voice to text or from an artiicial in-telligence can be accomplished only with clever avionics.

Challenges facing avionics manufacturers

The avionics designer is also faced with moving against an old interna-tional standard, trying to create new forms of communication, perhaps with a new format. The new format for CPDLC may include additional “attached” data from the aircraft—much like ADS-B regarding details such as aircraft equipage and in-tent on the arrival. Consider a bizjet equipped with EFVS HUD arriving in the New York area with the weath-er less than Cat I. The approach con-troller may have a built-in plan to shufle trafic to the nearest Cat II ILS, or ask if you want to hold. An EFVS-equipped jet would most likely be headed for the RNAV or ILS Cat I approach knowing that EFVS will get them on the ground. But try this with just a radio, detailed conversa-tion with ATC on a busy New York day in weather. It just isn’t happen-ing. Whereas data from your aircraft with clear intent is most likely a click away to acceptance by the control-ler. It’s a win–win for all. Expanding what information is coming from the aircraft such as its avionics capabil-

ity, weather minimums and whether it is EFVS-equipped can help ATC sort out arrivals and approaches and keep up the tempo.

The challenge is where in the near future can the consolidation go so as to get the lightcrew back to lying rather than typing again. The limita-tion actually is being tied to the FMS as the central player in digital com-munications.

Now take for example any smart-phone texting. The device can be conigured for voice-to-text func-tionality, which is really helpful when you are driving. All of the ma-chine level handshakes of data for-mats, logging in, transactions, etc, happened without human participa-tion. Hence the large worldwide text communications we have today at a personal level. The future of aircraft and air trafic communications will be in an advanced form of what we now call CPDLC. The direction is evident. This new technology is soon to shake some of the older conven-tions, and we may ind the future as bright as it used to be.

Glenn Connor is president of Dis-cover Technology Intl. He is a pilot and a researcher specializing in the development of enhanced vision

systems and advanced avionics.

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Can you hear that? I can. At American Aero FTW, we’ve learned service begins with the ability to l isten for what isn’t being said, and to predict a need before being asked. And, while all of us share a common passion for serving others, we also practice a lost ar t . Patience. So come get to know us, we’re l istening.


Can you hear that? I can. At American Aero FTW, we’ve learned service begins with the ability to l isten for what isn’t being said, and to predict a need before being asked. And, while all of us share a common passion for serving others, we also practice a lost ar t . Patience. So come get to know us, we’re l istening.


PA T I E N C E

J A C K I E G A T E S


8 8 8 . 9 7 3 . 5 8 6 7




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We invite readers to submit story lines that would work for a 6-panel Sid and Star cartoon. Send your thoughts by e-mail to Pro Pilot Publisher Murray Smith at [email protected]. If we use your idea we’ll credit you by name and pay you $100.

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Terminal Checklist 11/16Answers on page 36

Refer to the 22-1 RNAV (GPS) Rwy 13 for KMDT/MDT (Harris-burg, PA) when necessary to answer the following questions:

1. If a NOTAM for KMDT states that “WAAS LPV AND LNAV/ VNAV MNM UNREL,” the approach may not be lown to LPV minimums. a True b False

2. The temperature is −18° C. Select the true statement(s) about the cold temperature operations that apply to this approach. a The approach is not authorized. b Cold temperature altitude corrections are required. c Cold temperature corrections must be applied to ATC assigned altitudes. d Cold temperature altitude corrections for each approach segment must be reported to ATC. e The approach may not be low to LNAV/VNAV minimums with an uncompensated baro-VNAV system.

3. Select all that apply. TAA altitudes_____ a replace the MSA altitude. b provide at least 1000 ft of obstacle clearance. c provide at least 2000 ft of obstacle clearance. d should only be used during emergency operations.

4. The magnetic bearing to ITGUW, TIHYI, or ARRUY may be used to determine which area of the TAA the aircraft will enter and the appropriate minimum altitudes to use. a True b False

5. Select all that apply. A light at 5000 ft MSL that is cleared for the approach while proceeding direct to ARRUY on a bearing of 120° should______ a descend to 4000 ft MSL within 30 nm. b descend to 3500 ft MSL within 30 nm. c perform a direct entry to the course reversal. d turn to intercept a course of 128°at ARRUY. e descend to 3500 ft MSL while performing the course reversal.

6. A light at 4000 ft MSL that is cleared direct to TIHYI that is not cleared for the approach may descend to 3500 ft MSL within 30 nm of TIHYI. a True b False

7. Which segments of the approach procedure have a minimum altitude of 3500 ft MSL? a Proceeding to ITGUW from the northeast within 30 nm. b Proceeding to ARRUY from the northwest within 30 nm. c On a course of 038° from TIHYI to ARRUY. d On a course of 218° from ITGUW to ARRUY. e On a course of 128° from ARRUY to AXAYI. f Performing the course reversal.

8. To ly the approach to the LPV DA of 558 ft MSL,_____ a RAIM must be available. b the ALSF-II must be operational. c the aircraft must have WAAS-certiied GPS equipment. d the aircraft may use baro-VNAV equipment to track the glidepath.

9. Select the true statement(s) regarding the landing minimums. a All minimum visibilities increase if the ALS is inoperative.

b The straight-in landing LNAV MDA is the same as the circle-to-land MDA. c The LNAV minimum visibility and MDA are lower than the LNAV/VNAV minimums. d The minimum visibility is the same for both LPV and LNAV procedures with an operating ALS for category A aircraft.

An aircraft is lying to LNAV minimums with GPS equipment that is not WAAS-certiied. If the GPS equipment displays a RAIM failure prior to the FAF, the approach should be continued to landing because the GPS equipment continues to operate for up to 5 minutes. a True b False

10.

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Answers to TC 11/16 questions

1. b According to the AIM 1-1-20, the term UNRELIABLE in WAAS-related NOTAMs is an advisory to pilots indicating that the expected level of WAAS service (LNAV/VNAV, LPV) may not be available. However, WAAS UNRELIABLE NOTAMs are predictive in nature and published for light- planning purposes. Upon commencing an approach at locations NOTAMed “WAAS UNRELIABLE,” if the WAAS-certiied GPS equipment indicates LNAV/VNAV or LPV service is available, then vertical guidance may be used to complete the approach with the displayed level of service. Should an outage occur during the approach, reversion to LNAV minima may be required.

2. b, e Procedural note 2 in the Brieing Strip indicates that lying the approach to LNAV/VNAV minimums is not authorized for uncompensated Baro-VNAV systems when the temperature is −15° C. Procedural note 4 indicates that cold altitude corrections are required at or below −17° C. The FAA NOTAM, Cold Temperature Restricted Airports indicates that pilots without temperature compensating equipment must calculate and make a manual cold temperature altitude corrections using the AIM 7-2-3, ICAO Cold Temperature Error Table. Jeppesen provides a Cold Temperature Correction Table on a separate chart for the airport. On initial contact with the ATC facility issuing the approach clearance, pilots must report cold temperature corrected altitudes that apply to an intermediate segment and/or a published missed approach inal altitude. Pilots should not apply cold temperature corrections to ATC assigned altitudes.

3. a, b According to the AIM 5-4-5(d), altitudes published within the TAA replace the MSA altitude and provide at least 1000 ft of obstacle clearance and more in mountainous areas. However, unlike MSA altitudes, which are only used in emergency situations, TAA altitudes are operationally useable altitudes.

4. b According the AIM 5-4-5(d), “the pilot can determine which area of the TAA the aircraft will enter by determining the magnetic bearing of the aircraft TO the ix labeled IF/IAF. The bearing should then be compared to the published lateral boundary bearings that deine the TAA areas. Do not use the magnetic bearing to the right-base or left-base IAFs to determine position.” In this case, ARRUY is the IF/IAF.

5. a, d According to the TAA icon in the upper left of the plan view, a light proceeding to ARRUY on a bearing between 038° to 218° may descend to a minimum altitude of 4000 ft MSL within 30 nm and 3500 ft MSL within 10 nm. Balllag note 1 “NoPT” indicates that a course reversal is not

10. b

authorized upon reaching ARRUY—the aircraft should turn to intercept the inal approach course of 128°.

6. b According to the AIM 5-4-5, pilots entering the TAA and cleared by ATC are expected to proceed directly to the IAF associated with that TAA area at the altitude depicted, unless otherwise cleared by ATC. However, a clearance direct to an IAF without a clearance for the procedure does not authorize a pilot to descend to a lower TAA altitude.

7. a, c, d, f According to the plan and proile views, 2 segments of the approach prior to reaching AXAJI FAF don’t have a minimum altitude of 3500 ft MSL: The Northwest TAA icon shows 4000 ft MSL within 30 nm to 10 nm from ARRUY and the proile view indicates a minimum altitude of 2500 from ARRUY to AXAJI.

8. c The aircraft must have GPS equipment certiied for WAAS capability in order to ly to LPV minimums. Baro-VNAV equipment may not be used. The use of WAAS-certiied equipment does not require RAIM. The landing minimums section shows that the DA of 558 ft MSL still applies if the approach light system (in this case an ALSF-II) is inoperative. However, the minimum visibility does increase. 9. b, c, d The landing minimums section shows an increase in visibility with an inoperative ALS for approaches to LPV and LNAV minimums. However, the LNAV/VNAV visibility is 5 sm regardless of the status of the ALS. The LNAV MDA of 1180 ft MSL applies whether landing straight-in or when circling to land. The LNAV minimums are lower than the LNAV/VNAV minimums. This is because performing the approach to the LNAV MDA brings the aircraft closer to the runway before reaching the missed approach point and different obstacle assessment areas apply to each approach type. A minimum visibility of RVR 24 applies to all aircraft lying approaches to LPV minimums and to category A aircraft using LNAV minimums.

According to the AIM 1-1-19, if RAIM is not available prior to beginning the approach, another type of navigation and approach system should be used. When lying an approach procedure with non-WAAS GPS equipment, the receiver performs a RAIM prediction at least 2 nm prior to the FAF to ensure RAIM availability before it enters approach mode. If the receiver indicates a RAIM failure prior to or after the FAF, the aircraft must not descend to the DA or MDA but should proceed to the missed approach point, perform the missed approach procedure, and contact ATC as soon as possible. However, typically if a RAIM failure occurs after the FAF, the GPS equipment continues to operate without a failure indication for up to 5 minutes so the approach can be completed.

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The Timken Roller Bearing Company was founded in 1899 in Canton OH by Henry Timken Senior. At latest count, the company had 16,000 employees

worldwide.The next generation of Timkens, Henry and his wife Lou-

ise, alternated as pilots on their Morane-Saulnier MS760 Paris small jet during the late 1950s and early 1960s. This was an ideal set-up because this 4-place aircraft was re-

ally best suited for 2 persons only. With only a tiny bag-gage compartment, the rear seats provided the space for luggage. Beech Aircraft had a license agreement to build the aircraft in the US but never produced any copies, al-though Beech sold a few of these MS760s. Frank Sinatra was one of the buyers.

MS760 Paris was a beautiful small aircraft but it had in-adequate range to make it non-stop from Ohio to Southern Arizona, where the Timken’s alternate home was located. Largely because of this, in 1965 the Timkens upgraded to a Learjet 23 (serial number 23-015), which proved to be just the right aircraft for them. Frank Sinatra also upgraded to a Learjet 23 a short time later.

The Timkens made 2 European trips in their new Learjet. Few business jets in those days, including the Learjet 23, could make a trans-Atlantic crossing non-stop, so refueling stops were necessary at Gander, Newfoundland, Green-land and Iceland before reaching the European continent. Having already made this trip several times with Hank Beaird, our chief test pilot, I was asked to brief the Timkens before their 1st trip. After this, I occasionally saw Louise when she came to Wichita for service on her Learjet.

To the best of my recollection, in the brieing, I indicat-ed that the controller in Gander would try to hold them down at lower altitudes for a gradual climb to FL410. The Canadians apparently could not believe that the Lear 23

ALEX REMEMBERS a personal memoir

Louise Timken, a great lady of aviation, flew a French MS760 and a Learjet 23

By Alex KvassayFormer Beech and Learjet Sales Executive

Beech had a license agreement to build and market the French MS760 Paris in the US. Although a few were sold, none were built by Beech.

Henry and Louise Timken began flying jet aircraft in the late 1950s. Both had Learjet type ratings.

Here is Louise Timken with her Morane-Saulnier MS760 Paris on a visit to YNG (Youngstown-Warren, OH). The man with Louise is believed to be an employee of Youngstown Aviation.

PROFESSIONAL PILOT / November 2016 39

can shoot to 41,000 ft directly—even at full gross weight. I remember saying to them, “If the weather is clear, ar-gue with the controller while climbing like hell right up to FL410. You cannot afford to waste fuel by lingering at lower altitudes on such a light.”

Upon delivery of their new Learjet, Bill Webster, our treasurer, remarked that some $600,000 was still due for payment for the plane. Henry took out his checkbook and wrote out a personal check for the balance. This was his personal airplane, not an aircraft for the Timken Com-pany. At that time, in the 1960s, the company owned a Mitchell B25 and a Rockwell Jet Commander, which later was traded for a Sabreliner, followed by a Cessna Citation II. Several corporate pilots lew at one time for the Tim-kens, including Jack Yarger, David Settle and Ed (Moose) Skowron.

After Henry’s death in 1968, Louise became the cap-tain on the Lear. She had begun lying in 1943, and over

Alex Kvassay spent 30 years in international business aviation sales, working for both Beech and Learjet, concluding with Management Jets World-wide, of which he was CEO, based in Paris. His book, “Alex in Wonderland”, outlines his life and career. Now 89, his 300 scrapbooks assembled after each of

his milestone trips abroad, serve as basis for this series.

Basis of the Timken fortune were roller bearings, like this one, produced by the

Timken Roller Bearing Company in Canton OH.

her lying career logged 2300 jet hours. She was the 1st woman to qualify for a Learjet type rating. Flying the Lear, the FAA required a copilot. Louise was used to lying the MS760 as a single pilot. She did not like the idea of ly-ing with another pilot in the cockpit. One of those pilots remembered that by seeing her wave off the hand of the copilot after takeoff. She made it clear that she did not want any assistance in lying the aircraft. She told me that after landing her Learjet in London, she was refused to rent a car. In England, people aged 80 are judged as being too old to drive a rental car.

Gradually, Louise’s eyesight deteriorated. When I last saw her in Tucson AZ in 1996, she told me that she could no longer read my book Alex in Wonderland but had her caretaker read it aloud for her. By then she also had do-nated her Learjet 23, with a low number of light hours logged, to the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, where it is still on display at this time. Louise died in 1998.

I want to thank Jack Timken, Louise’s nephew and pres-ident of the Timken Foundation, for his help in providing some information and some of the photos for this article.

I feel honored having known Louise.

Louise Timken and Moya Lear, wife of Bill Lear,

were close friends.

Louise Timken attending the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame induction of her friend Jim Greenwood in 1996.

Late in her life, Louise donated the Timken’s

early model Learjet 23 to the Pima Air Museum in Tucson

AZ, where it still is in exhibition.

Like the Timkens, Frank Sinatra pur-chased and operated an MS760. He also bought a Learjet 23 in 1966.


As new technology evolves, em-ployees will necessarily be-

come more lexible and will live further out, at greater distances from their work place. Flight will become more commonplace and personal aircraft will have more use, just as the automobile gained increased acceptance in the past. Perhaps there will be home-based VTOL aircraft in our driveways.

Ronald Butts ATP. Hawker 800AChief PilotGryphon AirNorth Las Vegas NV

Corporate aviation is married to the economy. When there was

an economic downturn 7 years ago light departments that had been considered bedrocks of business disappeared. It took some years

to reestablish both economic and political stability and bring back order to the bizjet market. Now it’s refreshing to see new models being certiied or in the works, creating the anticipation that new aircraft orders from a myriad of businesses will be forthcoming. Other changes include FBO merg-ers, a pilot shortage that may pre-cipitate new entry-level aircraft, and technological changes in ATC spawned by FAA that are radical-ly changing lightdecks. So all in all I’m optimistic that there is a bright future forthcoming in our avi-ation world.

Morris Silverman ATP. Falcon 2000EASy & Gulfstream G550 International Captain Visa AviationHayward CA

Seems to me that with the evident advancements in cockpit tech-

nology coupled with pilot short-ages, there will be more and more single pilot operations in the small-er corporate light depts as well as in fractional and charter operations.

Harvey Meharry ATP. Hawker 400XPFlt Dept Mgr & Chief PilotSouthern MultifoodsRusk TX

My aviation segment is the off-shore helicopter industry. It’s

presently going through a tough dry season. I’ve heard some offshore pilot veterans tell me they haven’t seen it this bad since the 1980s. Obviously, the future of the offshore industry depends on the price of oil. If it stays at its present stagnant level I predict a slow decline with the weaker operators going out of business. If crude goes above $60 a barrel we’ll have some modest growth. If oil goes up to $80 a bar-rel, the offshore industry will begin to recover and be healthy again. But being realistic I predict a decline for next year. Hopefully that will be followed by modest growth after 2 years. And 5 years from now, with the price of oil rebounding, I think the offshore industry will have fully recovered.

Michael O’Brien ATP/Helo/CFII. Leonardo AW139 & Sikorsky S92CaptainPHICantonment FL

How do you see the future for your segment of aviation?

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Squawk Ident

Our light dept is a small Part 91 single owner operation without

cost restrictions. The convenience and privacy we provide for our prin-cipal is quite solid. He likes to ly in his own jet and won’t give that up unless he were to experience a seri-ous inancial downturn. The aircraft owner, because he lies for pleasure, doesn’t try to justify the costs as is the case in companies using their planes as business tools. And as the airlines get more congested, I feel the value of private lying rises.

Paul Schmitt Comm-Multi-Inst. Citation CE650PilotCDWAMissouri City TX

Vertical lift is going to grow big-ger and bigger. New technology

is forthcoming with more eficient designs. Intelligent high-memory autopilots will allow helicopters to be safer and more reliable so that people will start to utilize them

more and more. Especially once they learn about the time saving by going door to door instead of airport to airport and all the while this air travel being super-safe and reliable. Operators and passengers alike will ind that helicopters will save them valuable time to allow them to be more productive.

Michael Zangara ATP/Helo/CFII. Sikorsky S76Chief PilotAssociated Aircraft GroupHighland NY

We see the corporate aircraft industry becoming more ma-

ture. The world has witnessed a slow down in worldwide executive jet sales. I see the corporate aircraft market stagnating as the demand for bizjets seems to be getting saturated.

Jack Silva ATP/A&P. King Air B200OwnerSAS Pilot ServicesSalmon ID

I am a publicly-funded law enforce-ment pilot. My aviation ield is

constantly affected by the ebb and low of the economy. Because of this, we have seen, and will prob-ably continue to see, a reduction in leet sizes with an emphasis placed more on advanced technologies. While never completely replacing manned operations, I believe that the use of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in public safety will in-crease, especially over the next de-cade. As the use of UAVs becomes more accepted and their applicabil-ity to airborne policing is realized, the reduced cost and increased safety will have even greater appeal to the taxpayers who are funding these operations.

Brent BundyComm-Multi-Inst/Helo. Airbus AS350B3 & Cessna 182/172Oficer/Rescue Pilot Phoenix Police DepartmentPhoenix AZ

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Let’s label how I see the future of my segment of aviation as uncer-

tain. Our light ops program is at the small end of business aviation. I ind that the pressurized piston twin Beech Duke we ly is an ideal it for our average missions which con-sist of 1 or 2 pax and about 1 hour light times on 1 day business trips. Our Duke does a great job here in the Rockies where high altitude conditions require pressurization

and 2 engines. In fact I don’t see any new aircraft that matches the Duke. I feel that single-engine TPs lack the safety of a twin and use of a King Air to replace our Duke would be an unacceptable step up in size and expense.

Jim Carpenter ATP/CFII. Beech 60 Duke Chief PilotHigh Country ConstructionLander WY

Great question. I ponder that my-self. At my age I’m now closer

to the end of my lying career than I am to the middle. I enjoy lying, like my position and love the people I serve with. My hope is that when I leave my job I’ll be replaced by a top-notch pilot where staff members continue to be happy to come to work because they like and respect each other. I plan to make my retire-ment in Southern California where I hope to keep lying for pleasure and have a Porsche to drive.

David Cassalia ATP. Gulfstream G650/G550Executive Dir of AviationAllerganMorristown NJ

Maintenance costs for aircraft keep escalating. At an earlier

time the prices for taking care of your aircraft were much more rea-sonable than today. Now costs for conforming to SBs, ADs, annuals, hot sections and overhauls have risen to a very high level. Across the board prices for both parts and labor for servicing aircraft, power-plants and avionics have escalated. You have to really want to ly your own airplane to somehow rational-ize the high price of care.

Patrick Cannon ATP/CFI. Beechjet 400 & Mitsubishi MU2PresidentMission Air ServicesLewisville TX

Flying in the cargo world I see continued acceptance of more

automation of lightcrew tasks. In my opinion, single pilot lying of various types of aircraft, doubtlessly led initially in the air cargo indus-try, will become more prevalent. It will start out as more single-pilot cockpits become more common-place in air cargo and then I be-lieve the acceptance will come in passenger aircraft with an eventual change into completely automated air transport.

William All ATP. McDonnell Douglas MD11/ MD10PilotFedExPort Townsend WA

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Squawk Ident

There will always be a need for the corporate aviation sector.

Business lying cuts down travel time in a comfortable and secure way that boosts company proits and means larger paychecks for employees. Company pilots nor-mally report directly to the boss or senior management and that says a lot about how the company views pilots as a whole. The boss and his family place their lives and the lives of top execs in the hands of their pilots without a second thought – something they often don’t do even with their own doctors! And we oblige! What a privilege!

Chris Donnelly ATP. Citation BravoCaptainBotswana AshSowa Town, Botswana

I ly in the North Florida area where I take aerial photos for sale and eco

purposes all at low altitudes. Drones are now operating in the same area. I am constantly at risk due to these drone operators who ly their UAVs unrestricted around our airport, our homes, our beach and wildlife. The FAA has given these folks essential-ly unrestricted access to the air. In addition to the dangers these drones pose, they are taking away our busi-ness opportunities.

Peter Burgher Comm-Multi-Inst. Aventura II OwnerWater FlyingPort St Joe FL

On the near-term side of things there will probably not be

signiicant changes, but in a few years when tiltrotor VTOL aircraft become more prevalent, biz avi-ation might be in for a shake up. We need the ability to use shorter runways and ly point to point. For national and international carriers, I think that here too we need a leap forward in eficiency in the design of new aircraft.

Roland Tucker Comm-Multi-Inst/Helo/CFII. King Air 250 & Bell 430Founder, CEO & PrincipalOrion Enterprise GroupKansas City MO

Existence and continuance of both corporate and charter op-

erations are directly related to the heath of the national economy and the success of many mainstay companies. Company CFOs often only look at the initial acquisition and operating costs. They fail to balance that with the savings of executive time and contracts made possible by face-to-face meetings. A real threat to corporate light ops would be the assessment of user

fees. We should all support NBAA in its ight to actively prevent the airlines from making ATC privately funded and assessing user fees on company light ops. But I’m opti-mistic that our current system will stay in place.

Robert Brown ATP/CFII. Citation CE500/550/560 & Falcon 2000Captain Contract PilotColumbus OH

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Squawk Ident

As I think about the future of my segment of business aviation,

which is turboprops, I see the in-creasing use of composites in air-craft construction, mainly carbon iber. Market related, in Brazil, tur-boprop aircraft – such as the King Air I’m lying -- are now replacing use of jets due to the money saved by the TPs in fuel costs. And an-other factor is the reliability of the PWC PT6 as the mainstay turbo-prop engine.

Lucas CorreaComm-Multi-Inst. King Air 200GTPilotTecarGoiania, Goias, Brazil

My current segment of aviation, regional airline lying, will see

big changes in the coming future. It’s my feeling that regionals need to alter their operations in order to be sustainable in the long term. To me it’s evident that just as the ma-jor airlines have consolidated, the same will hold true for the region-als. They’ll need to combine with others in order to be successful. Also, to combat the growing pilot shortage the regionals – where a lot of pilots start regardless of where they end up – will need to pay bet-ter salaries in order to attract more new pilots.

Patrick Ferguson ATP/CFII. Bombardier CRJ200First OficerEndeavor Air Grand Forks ND

Seaplane transportation is a niche business and very valuable

for the areas it serves. I expect to see improvements over time with: better aircraft performance, in-creased navigation capability and improved safety. Continued com-munity support also will evolve and change, I believe, as currently it requires a constant effort on our part to retain public acceptance of our water-based aviation service.

D Tennesen ATP/CFII. de Havilland DHC2 Beaver/DHC3 OtterCaptainKenmore AirSeattle WA

2016 Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation

as required by US Postal ServiceProfessional Pilot magazine No 01916238

General info: Filing date September 22, 2016. Professional Pilot is a monthly magazine, 12 issues per year, $50 per year when sold. Mailing address: 5290 Shawnee Road, Suite 201, Alexandria VA 22312. Publisher: Murray Q Smith. Owner: Queensmith Communications Corp at same address. Murray Q Smith is sole stockholder. There are no bondholders, mortgagees or other security holders.

Actual Average copies copies per nearestCirculation issue ile date

22,732 23,480

17,081 17,725 0 0 4,087 4,386

0 0 21,168 22,111

865 706 0 0 65 64

350 260

1,280 1,030

22,448 23,141

284 339

22,732 23,480

95% 95%

Total copies (net press run)

Paid and/or requested circulation (1) Outside-county mail sub scriptions stated on form 3541(2) In-county subscriptions(3) Other non-USPS distribution(4) Other classes mailed USPSTotal paid and/or requested circulation

Free distribution by mail (samples, complimentary and other free)(1) Outside-county as stated on form 3541(2) In-county as stated on form 3541(3) Other classes mailed USPS(4) Free distribution outside the mail (carriers or other means)

Total free distribution

Total distribution

Copies not distributed

Total

Percent paid and/or requested circulation

Certiied correct and complete September 22, 2016 by Anthony Herrera, General Manager

2017 PRASE Survey Ballot

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As more commercial air carriers consolidate and offer less lex-

ibility and destination selections, I see corporate aviation expanding. GA aircraft can go to a greater num-ber of destinations with more ease than airliners. Safety and eficiency will promote this bizav growth.

Allen Lambert ATP/Helo. King Air 200Chief PilotAllen Lambert Pilot ServiceRoanoke VA

With higher costs for light train-ing, escalating prices for air-

craft acquisitions, mounting main-tenance costs and punitive fees on air pollution from the green interests of the world, future use of business jets will face dificult times. Also, if the FAA’s proposed airway fees goes ahead that will squeeze the life out of GA and business lying.

George Williams ATP. Learjet 60Chief PilotHeights AviationTucson AZ

Squawk Ident

Population expansion assures abundant growth for the airline

industry. Each year there are more people lying the airlines. And the airlines need pilots so there are booming pilot opportunities – that is until sometime in the future when technology starts replacing positions in the cockpit with automation.

Tom Richmond ATP/CFII. Airbus 320/321First OficerJetBlueBurlington KY

The airlines appear to be slipping further under the thumb of the

federal government. An example is the recently revised FAR Part 117– Crew Rest. Now our overnight rest periods are shorter and it is almost impossible to determine the legal status of a rest period for a pilot without referring to charts.

Gregory Ramallo ATP/CFII. Boeing 737Captain & Check AirmanSouthwest AirlinesPhoenix AZ

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are sure to change the air-

borne law enforcement segment of aviation that I have been a part of for many years. Many law enforce-ment agencies have already begun to add UAVs to their departments for surveillance with the UAVs carrying both daytime cameras and infrared FLIR. The challenge for airborne law enforcement is to properly integrate this new technology with current manned aircraft. I have seen agen-cy programs that currently have not yet smoothly integrated UAVs with their current aviation units. But they will. It will take time for integration but progress will be made with re-connaissance and surveillance en-hanced through the use of UAVs for police work.

Ken SoloskyATP/Helo/CFI. Bell OH58, Airbus AS355F & Cessna 421Chief PilotNYPD Retired New York City Police DeptMineola NY

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Bombardier operates an internal leet of business jets for demon-stration lights and executive

transport. The company has carefully ine-tuned these operations over the years. Today if a potential customer needs a demo of a Global 6000 in the Middle East, a Challenger 650 over in India or a Learjet 75 down in Austra-lia, a team of US and Canadian-based pilots, schedulers and aircraft mainte-nance engineers make it happen.

A global company needs global reach. However, there are often chal-lenges to address in orchestrating all the various moving parts of an oper-

ation. Bombardier’s goal is not just having a particular aircraft on the far side of the world at a particular time, but the company also wants to do it safely, eficiently and with every on-board system—right down to latest generation onboard Wi-Fi—in perfect working order.

Bombardier currently operates a leet of 2 Global 6000s, a Global 5000 and a Challenger 350 out of BDL (Bradley Intl, Windsor Locks CT), a Challenger 650 based at YUL (Montreal, Canada) and a Learjet 75 out of ICT (Wichita KS). With crewing ratios running about 5 pilots per air-

craft, including 24 full-time demo pi-lots and assorted contract pilots, the team supports demo lights, internal executive transport and “entry into service” lights worldwide. Over the past year, Bombardier’s demo leet has lown over 2500 lights to more than 100 countries, logging more than 5000 light hours.

Aircraft demos, exec transport, customer lift

“There are 3 main categories to our lying: aircraft demos, executive transport and interim lift for custom-

FLIGHT DEPT PROFILE

Bombardier aircraft fly worldwide to aid operators, provide bizjet demos or transport key executives

Care for customers to keep them flying is paramount along with showing capabilities of the latest Globals, Challengers and Learjets.

By Grant McLarenEditor-at-Large

(L–R) George Hobbs, Mike Obue, Global 6000 Chief of Mx Chandra Dusseault, Sal Vicari, Denise Petrone and Andrew Cultrera are Bombar-dier’s team in Hartford CT.

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ers,” says Dir of Operations Yann Lemasson, who began lying with the military at age 19, joined Bombar-dier in 1999 and became chief pilot and director of light ops in 2008 and 2014 respectively. “We schedule demos for both principals and pilots to take them through full-phase light missions. We attend events such as NBAA, ABACE, EBACE and LABACE, and we participate in the company’s entry into service program to support new customers post delivery.”

After a customer receives a new Bombardier product, there’s provi-sion to send a demo pilot to help inte-grate the aircraft into the light depart-ment. “During demo and entry into service missions, our pilots are able to clearly communicate our product, company and aircraft systems,” ex-plains Lemasson. “They also have the autonomy and lexibility to deal with any operational situations that may occur around the world. Although all demo lights are pilot self-dispatched operations, we always work closely with our scheduling department.”

Corporate aviation has been a key ingredient in Bombardier’s success over the years. In the early days, Chairman Emeritus Laurent Beaudoin used a Piper Twin Comanche to sup-port the snow mobile business. Their 1st corporate jet was a North Ameri-can Sabreliner 60.

Flight ops

Bombardier hires demo pilots with minimum light experience of 3500 hours, including 1000 hours multi turbine experience, and likes to hire from diverse backgrounds (military, regional airlines, corporate aviation). “We prefer someone with interna-tional lying experience as well as experience on the aircraft type, but if 1 of those 2 skills is missing, we can always top it up with training and op-erational experience,” explains Chief Pilot – Canadian Operations, Murray Balzer.

Balzer has loved aviation since he was a child watching McDonnell Douglas DC8s take off and land at YVR (Vancouver, Canada). At age 13 he joined the Air Cadets, learned to ly gliders and became a glider in-structor. After completing a diploma in aviation at the University of the Fraser Valley/Coastal Paciic Aviation in Abbottsford BC, he entered the world of commuter lying, operating

Britten-Norman Islanders and Piper Navajos, before working his way up to a Dash 8 Training Captain with Air-BC in YVR. In 2000, he joined Bom-bardier as a Challenger 604 instruc-tor pilot. “Having a passion for lying makes all the difference because to make it through the tough times in your career as a pilot you really must have the passion,” says Balzer. “It’s also very important that we, as an industry, ind ways to inspire more young people to become pilots. Busi-ness aviation is a good career choice and it is often overlooked by those starting their aviation careers.”

Pilot lifestyles

Matt Bastian was hired in 2013 out of the regional airline world with 4500 hours TT and is now a 6000-hour TT demo captain rated in Challenger 350 and Global 6000. He enjoys the non-scheduled nature of the job, interaction with potential customers and lying the latest gen-eration aircraft and avionics. “Our work is a nice mix between piloting and sales support. We’ll ly up to 16 continuous days, showing aircraft that we’re all very passionate about.”

Bastian found this new position by wandering into a Bombardier Chal-lenger 850 demonstrator at EBACE 2010 and striking up a conversation with one of the demo pilots. “For me, this is a dream job. We ly all over the world with the latest technology, no maintenance is ever deferred and

in 3 years I’ve never experienced an AOG. But there’s a lot that goes into ensuring all aspects of the mission come out smoothly and with maxi-mum success.”

“Crew rest is always a top of mind focus in this light operation,” com-ments Lemasson. “Our crews are out for as long as 16 days but they’re compensated in time off, and we have rigorous crew rest mandates in our light ops manual which are strictly observed. For longer legs we’ll oc-casionally augment the lightcrew with 3 pilots. And all our Globals are equipped with dedicated crew rest areas.”

Long haul ops

Demo pilots are scheduled up to 16 continuous days under US Part 91 ops. But under Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs), the rules, crews based at YUL have different duty limitations. “Under CARs we have a mandate of 36 hours off within ev-ery 7 days, or 3 consecutive days off within every 17 days, still observing the duty day and rest requirements under the CARs” explains Balzer. “So, we plan on 14 days on lying duty followed by 14 hard days free from lying duty with 7 hard days off with-in that period and we’re often on the road for the full 14 days at a stretch.”

An example of a recent Challenger 650 mission is a 30-day trip starting from YUL to SNN (Shannon, Ireland), with demos in the EU and Middle

US-based Demonstration Pilots Bruce Duggan and Kerry Swanson manning a Global 6000.


East, then on to the Singapore Air-show and back to YUL via Japan and ANC (Anchorage AK). On a recent 3-month deployment, the Challenger 650 supported corporate missions in the US for 2 weeks before heading out for demos in the Middle East and China, to ABACE for static display and back to YUL with enroute demos in the Middle East, Africa and the EU.

Under certain circumstances, US and Canadian lightcrews can cover for each other under certain circum-stances. “Our Canadian-based pilots are all FAA-qualiied and can operate aircraft in our US-based leet,” says Lemasson. “Our US crews, however, must have Canadian licenses and be qualiied under our Canadian Private Operator’s Training Program in order to act as crew on the Challenger 650 in Canada.”

On the aircraft maintenance front, based on a bilateral agreement be-tween Canada and the US, FAA cer-tiied A&Ps at US bases can work on Canadian-registered aircraft while they’re in the US. Likewise, Canadi-an-licensed aircraft maintenance en-gineers (AMEs) can work on US-regis-tered aircraft when they’re operating in Canada. Our Canadian AMEs hold both Canadian and American licens-es, adding the extra versatility to sup-port our worldwide operations.

Scheduling talent

Bombardier’s BDL base is respon-sible for scheduling the entire North

American demo leet. In addition to 7 BDL-based schedulers/dispatchers, there’s a scheduler based at ICT to help coordinate Learjet 75 ops.

The team uses Rockwell Collins scheduling software to manage air-craft and pilot scheduling for all demo, exec transport and airshow support lights. “We face interesting challenges in our work as we have a large number of internal and exter-nal customers all over the world, and we run an unscheduled operation,” says Scheduler/Dispatcher Nick Bor-sari from the BDL base. “We have many people to satisfy, great distanc-es to cover and very little slack in the schedule. It’s not uncommon for our demo aircraft to be overseas for months at a time and we work close-ly with our maintenance personnel to support all missions at high levels of operational execution.”

Bombardier schedulers use external resources to maximize leet eficien-cy and operational safety. “We utilize international support providers (ISPs) for overlight and landing permits as well as various contract fuel provid-ers and security resources,” explains Borsari. “For more challenging desti-nations, we may set up aircraft securi-ty and/ or secure local transport. And we avoid certain missions if risks are seen as unacceptable.”

Demo scheduling runs the gamut from Learjet 75 ops from ICT to SE Asia via Alaska, the Russian North-east, Japan and Singapore, to Chal-lenger and Global departures to des-tinations at the 4 corners of the globe. While top priority is always safety of operations, Bombardier schedulers also try to operate as cost effectively and eficiently as possible.

“Our Globals and Challengers

move around the world continuous-ly but we try to manage schedules to make best use of each international leg,” says Borsari. “We’ll strategical-ly plan fuel uplifts and tankering op-tions. Our pilots carry multientry vi-sas for all frequently visited countries, and we work with various 3rd party providers to help expedite missions and obtain permits.”

Bombardier employs 3 highly ex-perienced full-time light attendants and draws from a pool of about 10 highly experienced light attendants to support international Global and Challenger missions. These inlight professionals help ensure safety as well as a seamless passenger expe-rience even at remote regions of the world including the Maldives, Mar-shall Islands and secondary airport locations in China and Russia.

Maintenance matters

Each of Bombardier’s demo bas-es—YUL, HFD and ICT—has dedi-cated maintenance infrastructure and talent to support local demo aircraft, along with the latest in onboard tech-nology. Avionics and cabin technolo-gy includes head-up displays (HUD), enhanced vision systems (EVS), syn-thetic vision systems (SVS) and on-board Wi-Fi, and this all must be in a constant state of readiness for short notice light dispatch anywhere in the world. Steve Litterer is responsible for all US maintenance operations, while YUL-based Maintenance Manager Martin Pomerleau oversees mainte-nance operations in Canada.

Demo availability is a huge priority and our aircraft must always be ready to dispatch,” says Global 6000 Chief of Maintenance Chandra Dusseault.

One of Bombardier’s Global 6000 demo aircraft. With its 6000 nm range at Mach 0.85 with 8 passengers and baggage, the Global 6000 is a top intercontinental performer.

Bombardier Maintenance Manager Martin Pomerleau (L) and Chief Pilot Murray Balzer from the Montreal division.

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“We work closely with scheduling to ensure aircraft are ready to go, with all maintenance items up to date and onboard technology at 100% func-tionality. As a high utilization corpo-rate operator we generally hit mainte-nance intervals faster and more often than most other corporate operators.”

With 12 to 14 hour range capabili-ty, Bombardier’s Global 6000 aircraft moves around the world continually, being supported internationally by Bombardier’s service center network and members of the Bombardier Flight Operations maintenance team. “We have the chance to travel to some of the most interesting places in the world with the most advanced onboard technology,” declares Dus-seault, who supported the Global 6000 on demo tours to Shanghai and Beijing this year. “Traveling to sup-port airshows and scheduled main-tenance events around the world is always rewarding, as is experiencing different cultures and having the op-portunity to work closely with our lightcrews.

Bombardier hires demo leet AMEs/A&Ps with a minimum of 5 years of corporate experience and an aviation degree or experience on type. The company seeks a solid safety mental-ity, good communications skills and ability to be proactive along with comprehensive understanding of all applicable US, Canadian and inter-national rules and regulations.

Onboard diagnostic capabilities keep getting better. Demo lightcrews are able to interrogate the onboard diagnostic systems away from base, access maintenance fault codes and work with maintenance teams in the US and/or in Canada to narrow down issues. Set to debut in the next year or so, Bombardier SmartFix will take

troubleshooting and onboard diag-nostic capabilities to a new level, al-lowing crews to dig deeper into CAS messages and achieve even quicker resolutions to rare AOG issues.

Technology, SOPs and SMS

The demo Global and Challenger 650 aircraft are all equipped with HUDs, EVS and SVS along with cab-in Wi-Fi. “HUD/EVS is something we use to the max and the HUD is deployed in all phases of light,” says Balzer. “We take advantage of EVS at night at cruise altitude to see thun-derheads, as well as when landing at smaller airports at night without control towers. The EVS allows us to see anything that shouldn’t be there. It also provides a huge beneit with a lot of future potential.”

Onboard Wi-Fi and having crew smartphones and tablets increase eficiency to day of operation activ-ities. “While obtaining international permits can be more challenging for certain countries, tablets and smart-phones with wireless Internet con-nectivity have made our overseas ops much easier,” comments Balzer. “Wherever we happen to be, we can do weight and balance, runway anal-ysis, schedule planning, permit revi-sion requests and update catering or-ders via these web-enabled devices.”

The YUL base operates under CARs 604, which requires private oper-ators to have a safety management system (SMS). Balzer says that a good SMS, along with the use of a Flight Risk Analysis Tool (FRAT), provides a very effective safety blanket around the operation. “When a trip request comes in, the operations manager will review the speciic trip require-ments and then approves it. The ap-

proved trip is then released to the trip captain, who coordinates with schedulers on routing, tech stops, crew accommodations, etc. Our ob-jective is always to mitigate the risks. If the FRAT scores too high, then we’ll make proactive changes to the dynamics of a planned light through a risk analysis and mitigation.”

Future directions

Bombardier’s demo and exec trans-port leet is an invaluable resource in terms of new aircraft sales and assort-ed customer support. Looking to the future, Lemasson predicts that addi-tional pilots will be brought in as re-quired, and new aircraft—including the Global 7000 and 8000—will join the leet. This all translates into new opportunities, and unique profession-al lifestyles for pilots, AMEs/A&Ps, schedulers and light attendants.

“Our goal is to present the very best aircraft with the latest conigu-rations and technology,” says Lemas-son. “We switch out aircraft as our product line and onboard technolo-gy evolves, usually every 24 months. We’ll continue to look for personnel from varied backgrounds to enrich our group, bring in high levels of experience and maintain the initia-tive we have in terms of managing the various operating challenges that can pop up here and there around the world.”

Challenger 650 is based out of YUL (Montreal QC, Canada). A very popular demo aircraft, the 650 is often away from base on global missions for weeks at a time.

Learjet 75 based at ICT (Wichita KS) is fully crewed. It accomplishes global demo missions, sometimes as far afield as SE Asia and Australia.

Editor-at-Large Grant McLaren has written for Pro Pilot for over 20 years and specializes in corporate light department coverage.

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The Caribbean region is made up of over 7000 islands, as well as dependencies and overseas

territories of other nations. A mag-net for business aviation from all over the world, the Caribbean and Bahamas form a bizav-friendly oper-ating environment with few onerous regulatory requirements and many examples of exceptional ground handling infrastructure and services. Still, there are issues to consider in terms of orchestrating smooth and successful trips to the islands during busy peak winter season.

Peak season runs mid November through late April, with super peak moments occurring around Christ-mas/New Years, Spring Break and during major local celebrations and yachting events. Some of the more popular and busy destinations during high season include STT (St Thomas VI), SXM (St Maarten, Neth-erlands and French Antilles), GCM (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands), NAS (Nassau, Bahamas) and MBJ

(Montego Bay, Jamaica). During peak periods and holiday weekends, hotels often sell out at popular des-tinations and overnight parking may not be available.

“Other than Cuba and Central American countries bordering the western part of this region, there are no overlight permit requirements, no landing permits are needed for private operations and there are no airport slot or PPR mandates to com-ply with,” says Universal Weather Supervisor Foxtrot Team John Perry. “Most major island locations have FBOs. You’ll usually ind very capa-ble bizav support services even at the smaller destinations. While fuel shortages do have the potential to occur from time to time, we’ve not seen signiicant fuel uplift challenges in a long time.”

But watch out, as there are always potential challenges and issues to consider even in paradise. “Parking can be a juggling act during peak season and super peak periods as it runs out at popular destinations such as SXM, AXA (Anguilla) and STT, and crew accommodations may run

$400 to $1200 per night for a room, assuming anything is available,” says Avfuel Account Mgr David Kang. “You may end up dropping passen-gers at destination and repositioning to another island—or even lying all the way to the US. In some cases, if you do secure parking at popu-lar destinations during high season, lightcrew members may end up tak-ing a boat, helicopter or interisland light to a nearby island in order to ind available accommodations.”

IAM Jet Centre Managing Dir Paul Worrell has been involved in aviation support services out of BGI (Bridge-town, Barbados) for almost 30 years and has gone on to debut FBOs at MBJ, EIS (Tortola, BVI) and GND (St George’s, Grenada). Over the years he’s seen signiicant growth in bizav movements to the region, as well as improvements to both the operating and regulatory environments. The Caribbean and Bahamas remain low threat environments in terms of secu-rity. Handling options there have im-proved considerably and fuel short-age issues have also eased markedly over the past couple of years.

By Grant McLaren Editor-at-Large

Reasonable costs, ease of movement, good security are the general rules when flying GA aircraft to many destinations of this close-by sea.

Caribbean and Bahamas region is a popular winter season desti-nation for GA ops but has many operating challenges to consider.

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Cuba access

Cuba has been opening up to N-registered operations, which has generated much operator interest. However, the country still highly regulates civil air activity with rigid rules and regulations, and we don’t expect this to change anytime soon.

International support providers (ISPs) say that N-registered business aircraft operations to Cuba can be set up in as little as a couple of business days, as long as passengers qualify under US license exemptions. Oth-erwise, plan on 1 or 2 months to secure the necessary speciic licens-es from the Ofice of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

Credit considerations for fuel, han-dling, support services and accom-modations in Cuba are an important part of the trip planning mix. While some US-based ISPs are licensed to provide credit for GA services, US bank credit cards are not generally accepted locally and ATMs are not up and running, so it is advisable to always carry cash as a backup.

Local limitations

Particularly when operating to smaller island locations, it’s import-ant to be aware of airport hours, curfews and overtime possibilities. “Many smaller airports in the Baha-mas and the Caribbean have limited hours of operation, and some are sun-rise-to-sunset only,” observes World Fuel/Colt Intl Account Exec Martha Cepeda. “In certain cases, airport overtime is possible with additional charges and advance notiication. It’s important, also, to be aware of ‘island time’ and the fact that things may not

happen as fast as you wish or as you may be used to in the US or Europe.”

Additional trip planning consid-erations kick in when operating to smaller airport destinations in this region. NEV (Vance Amory Intl, St Kitts & Nevis), for example, is open 0600 to 2100 local with overtime available on 24 hours notice. Some operators choose to land larger Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft at this 3996-ft runway, while oth-ers drop principals at islands with longer runways and then charter smaller aircraft for the inal leg. For example, AXA (Clayton Lloyd Int, Anguilla) has extended its runway to 5456 ft, which improved GA access. However, this added capability has resulted in local parking challenges and shortages. EIS has only a 4642-ft runway but it takes you right into a jewel of a Caribbean destination and close to a lot of yachting activity.

When operating to smaller islands, fuel availability should be conirmed in advance, ground support equip-ment availability must be veriied and creative catering considerations may become necessary.

Permits

Other than operations to Cuba or Central American locations border-ing the Caribbean, it’s generally only charter operators who need to have landing permits in this region. Perry points out that charter permits are required for the Cayman Islands (14 days lead time), Turks and Caicos (7 days lead time) and Bahamas (4 days lead time). Worrell adds that opera-tors also must have charter permits for Trinidad and Guyana.

Cuba overlight permits are re-quired for all operations but are often obtainable within a couple of hours, and landing permits for Cuba can usually be expedited and approved within 24 to 48 hours. Kang adds, “Keep in mind that passengers must have visas for Cuba. Crew members staying overnight also need visas. Cuban visas may be obtained upon arrival but this can take 3 to 4 hours and there’s no guarantee that the visa will be issued. We recommend that all crew members and passen-gers to Cuba secure required visas prior to arrival.”

Customs and immigration

Most major airports in the Carib-bean and Bahamas have full service FBOs where customs/immigration is cleared. “It’s a very quick process to clear CIQ at island FBOs,” says Inter-national Trip Planning Services (ITPS) COO Phil Linebaugh. “At locations where there’s no FBOs, you’ll clear in the main terminal, but this is usu-ally an easy and quick procedure.”

Full US clearance is available at Puerto Rico, either at SJU (San Juan PR) or BQN (Aguadilla PR). While SJU provides US clearance services 24 hours, schedule at BQN is Mon-

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day through Friday from 0700 to 2300 local and Sat from 0800 to 1200, but not on Sunday. “SJU can be a more challenging clearance as there’s commuting involved for pas-sengers/crew across the ield,” notes ITPS Sr Ops Specialist Curt Kurshild-gen. “We recommend BQN for tech stops and for expedited US customs/immigration clearance.”

US preclearance is also an option at AUA (Aruba, Netherlands Antilles) as well as at STT and STX in the USVI. However, if you preclear at these lo-cations, there are clearance hours and reservation requirements to be aware of and you may be required to reclear upon landing in the US.”

Security

The Caribbean and Bahamas are generally a very safe and low risk GA operating environment, so it’s rare that ISPs recommend aircraft guard services. Certain destinations do, however, present higher security risks. “We usually recommend addi-tional security and aircraft guards for stops at PAP (Port au Prince, Haiti) and GEO (Georgetown, Guyana),” says Worrell. In this regard, Cepeda points out that it’s not usually pos-sible to bring armed guards airside, but private aircraft guard services can be arranged at most locations.

Fuel uplifts and tech stops

There are many good tech stop opportunities within this region, de-pending upon your particular rout-ing. BGI, ANU (V C Bird Intl, Anti-gua & Barbuda), MBJ, CUR (Curaçao Intl) and SXM are all regularly used for 24-hour quick turn fuel stops. While customs/immigration are al-ways notiied of international tech

stops, passengers may remain on board and in this manner they’re not subject to physical clearance or pa-perwork procedures.

When fuel runs out at SMX, as it does on occasion, this usually has a ripple effect on neighboring islands. In most cases smaller and more re-mote airports are the most directly impacted. During peak season, you should tanker in suficient fuel for the return trip, or at least to make it to another uplift location where you should consider fueling on arrival.

Regulatory considerations

When operating to/from one of the 15 CARICOM countries, opera-tors must submit CARICOM APIS in advance. It’s best to ile CARICOM APIS 6 to 24 hours prior to light. For lights between the US and CAR-ICOM nations, you’ll need to trans-mit both eAPIS and CARICOM APIS. When operating to French islands—including Martinique and Domini-ca—be aware that the same rules that apply in France are applicable. On charter operations, for example, age 60 rules are applicable to PICs, and SICs may not be older than 65.

Traveling with pets and guns

ISPs report that it’s not usually an issue making international tech stops in the Caribbean with pets and/or guns onboard, so long as this has been notiied to local authorities in advance. Pet importation can be a big issue at certain islands, partic-ularly those formerly under British rule. Quarantine experiences of up to 30 to 60 days may apply to ani-mals in some cases. When traveling with a pet, it’s important to prenotify authorities at each destination and

to provide full pet health and vac-cination records. “Barbados, long known as one of the islands with the most stringent pet rules, has eased some of their stiff requirements over the past year,” says Worrell. “Due to recent regulatory changes, our very strict pet importation rules have eased somewhat. We no longer have mandatory quarantine requirements for pets from Canada or the US. And we’re now seeing more and more people bringing pets to the islands.”

Importing hand guns and other weapons into this region is general-ly prohibited. In some cases it may be permissible to leave weapons onboard during destination stops, although this needs to be veriied in advance.

Future directions

When planning operations to the Caribbean and Bahamas during peak season, best practice is to conirm aircraft parking and crew accommo-dations well in advance. Some island airports, including AXA, SXM and PLS (Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands), tend to be more congested and challenging than others. “Park-ing and lightcrew accommodations can be particularly dificult to secure for short notice operations to PLS,” cautions Kang. “At PLS and other popular island destinations, parking may not be conirmed until a few days out and hotel reservation rates will probably not be refundable.

Worrell encourages operators ly-ing their private aircraft to the Ca-ribbean and Bahamas to do due diligence in terms of advance trip planning. “Particularly for irst time operators, it’s important to educate yourself on this region from an avi-ation perspective, to ask the right questions and choose the right peo-ple to support you,” he says. “Over-all, you’ll ind the Caribbean and Ba-hamas offer a safe, predictable and comfortable business aircraft operat-ing environment with few planning obstacles and challenges getting in the way of a successful mission.”

Jet Aviation NAS (Nassau, Bahamas) hosts constant GA movements during the Nov–Apr season. If you’re headed to an outer island with limited support infrastructure, this is the best place to stop for catering, aircraft services and fuel uplifts. Inset shows Jet Aviation NAS Dir of FBO Services Alphonso Bowe.

Editor-at-Large Grant McLaren has written for Pro Pilot for over 20 years and specializes in corporate light department coverage.

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As the Northwell Health Sys-tem (formerly North Shore LIJ Health System) grew over

the last 25 years into a system of 21 hospitals in the New York City metro-politan area, one problem continued to grow and needed a solution. The infamous congestion of the New York City metropolitan area was impacting on the company’s ability to transport patients within their network of hos-pitals. A 20-mile drive that should have taken 30 minutes would actual-ly take several hours in heavy trafic. It was obvious that a better solution was needed. This is how the 1st hos-pital-based helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) in the New York area was born.

Under the leadership and vision of President and CEO of Northwell Health, Michael Dowling, the pro-gram called SkyHealth was launched as a partnership between Northwell Health and Yale-New Haven Health

in CT. Patients of both health systems who need life saving care for major trauma and medical events such as heart attacks, strokes and life threat-ening brain injuries can receive emer-gency medical care by helicopter and will be quickly lown to the most appropriate hospital. Every second counts when a critically ill patient must be transferred to another med-ical facility. Utilizing an Airbus H135 helicopter, SkyHealth greatly reduces the time a patient spends outside of the acute care environment. On aver-age, it takes 10 minutes from the time a call is received until lift-off.

Northwell Health, in partnership with Yale Health System, began their helicopter medical services program in Nov of 2014. Sr VP and Chief Ad-min Oficer Eugene Tangney sums up the SkyHealth philosophy. “Any time we can reduce that out-of-hos-pital time for the patient, or we can make a difference in reducing the time that it would normally take in moving a patient from one hospital to another, we are indeed saving lives,” he declares.

SkyHealth’s operating region

SkyHealth is based centrally at ISP (Long Island Macarthur Airport, Ronkonkoma NY) and can respond anywhere in the NYC metropolitan area or southern Connecticut with-in 30 minutes. It is available for any sending hospital—the facility that needs to transport a patient to anoth-er facility—in the Northeast region to make transfers into any hospital of choice within New York or Con-necticut. Transportation to addition-al states is also available.

Northwell Health and Yale New Haven Health conducted an exten-sive search to ind the right air-medi-cal services vendor that they thought was the best it for their own philoso-phy and mission. After meeting with numerous operators and visiting var-ious operations around the country, the Northwell Health System select-ed the Med-Trans program.

Program Director Robert Kikel ex-plains the decision. He states, “After all of our analysis, Med-Trans was most closely aligned with our philos-

NORTHWELL HEMS

SkyHealth serves 21 hospitals in NYC metro area

By Kenneth SoloskyAPT/Helo/CFINYPD Chief Pilot (retired)

In front of Airbus H135 on the Manhasset Hospital rooftop heliport are (L–R) Chief Flight Nurse Taryn Capasso, Flight Paramedic Jeff Spencer, Flight Nurse Luis Velez, Pilot Mauro Centa, Flight Paramedic Jim Brangan, Ctr for Emergency Med Svc VP Alan Schwalberg, North Shore University Hospital Deputy Exec Director Jon Sendach and SkyHealth Program Dir Robert Kikel.

Airbus H135 saves lives and solves time problem of slow ambulance use in heavy traffic that endangered patients.

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ophy and mission. They shared many of the same values as us and the deci-sion actually was quite easy.”

Choosing the right helicopter

The aircraft selected for the pro-gram is the Airbus H135, which has proven to be an excellent choice. When asked about maintenance, Kikel, who holds current A&P/IA li-cense and also worked for the NYPD Aviation Unit as DOM/line pilot, says, “Our maintenance issues have been very minor and the reliability of the aircraft has been remarkable.”

From the pilot’s perspective, Lead Pilot Vincent Aprea likes the handling of the H135. “Naturally, every pilot wants more speed and power. But this helicopter has handled all our missions very well with no bad hab-its,” says Aprea, who especially ap-preciates the safety of the fenestron

tailrotor. “We load and unload thru the rear clam shell doors so the safety of the fenestron is obvious,” he adds.

The H135 is equipped with a com-plete avionics suite including Garmin GMS 200, Garmin 430, Garmin 530, with WAAS, TCAS and HTAWS. For communications they utilize dual Techsonic RC 6000/NV with 1 radio in the aft medical treatment area and dual NAT AA95-863 audio/comm selector panels. Furthermore, the aircraft is NVG compliant and has a 3-axis autopilot.

In the aft cabin, SkyHealth’s Airbus H135 is equipped with the same so-phisticated critical care technology available in the most innovative of operating rooms, emergency rooms and intensive care units, including ventilators, cardiac deibrillator, transcutaneous and venous pace-makers, and oxygen saturation and temperature monitoring.

Hiring the best pilots and mechanics

Pilots work a rotating schedule of 7 days on and 7 days off, and they also rotate between days and nights. In order to qualify as a Med-Trans lightcrew, pilots must have 2000 total helicopter light hours, 1000 total helicopter PIC hours, 1000 turbine hours, 200 helicopter night light hours (aided and/or unaided), 50 hours actual weather or simulat-ed weather light hours, current FAA commercial rotorcraft certiication, current FAA Class II medical, heli-copter instrument rating and cur-rent in helicopters. Pilots currently assigned to Northwell Health’s Sky-Health program have a background mix of US military, law enforcement and civilian experience.

Aprea has been with the SkyHealth program since, and he loves the mis-sion. He retired from the NYPD Avi-ation Unit and made the transition to Med-Trans within a few days. After an initial 2-week orientation training, Aprea joined the line. Even though he came with a lot of light experience, Aprea admits the training was tough.

Med-Trans conducts quarterly checkrides and mandates annual re-current training in an H135 simulator. Although missions currently lown are VFR-only, all pilots are required to maintain IFR proiciency. Proudly explaining the company’s support of this policy, Aprea says, “When we re-turn from a mission, the company en-courages us to ly IFR approaches and make sure we are not just current but more importantly, proicient.” Based in a coastal area, Aprea believes IFR

Northwell Health Airbus H135 on final approach to Manhasset Hospital. The aircraft’s remarkable reliability is most appreciated by the program and its rear loading clamshell doors allow easy loading/unloading patients.

From left to right with Airbus H135 are Flight Paramedic Laura Lanak, Flight Nurse Amen Alhadi and Pilot Christian Pringle returning form an EMS mission.

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proiciency is a must. He adds, “The Long Island/Connecticut weather can change in minutes and we real-ly need to be prepared to meet any challenge. Should we encounter an inadvertent IMC situation, we are completely proicient and equipped to meet the emergency safely.”

All missions must have a formal and comprehensive risk assessment com-pleted before the aircraft departs. The risk assessment must be submitted to the Med-Trans Operations Center, where it is reviewed by expert per-sonnel. Aprea appreciates the extra set of eyes reviewing his assessment. “We ly single pilot so I really like that someone takes a look on what I have prepared. They are really helping out. They might ask me if I considered something that I might have missed. It is a nice quality control check and is appreciated,” he remarks.

Flightcrew members wear hel-mets, complete light suits and con-duct night missions with night-vision goggles (NVGs). In recognition of the coastal environment in which they operate, all lightcrew mem-bers have attended Survival Systems dunker training.

Mechanics qualiications for Med-Trans are as follows: Valid A&P li-cense, minimum 3 years direct he-licopter maintenance experience, at least 6 months aircraft maintenance work during the past 24 months, Bell 407 or Airbus H135 maintenance experience preferred, inspection au-thorization and additional FAA/FCC ratings are a plus, IFR helicopter avi-onics and autopilot experience pre-ferred, extensive knowledge of FARs, and experience in performing de-tailed helicopter inspections, main rotor/tailrotor balancing and major repairs required.

The medical team

SkyHealth’s medical light team—a crew of paramedics and nurses—has the highest level of training in emergency, prehospital and critical care disciplines. Dual-credentialed in New York and Connecticut, they have experience in multiple spe-cialties from advanced cardiac life support to caring for newborns with critical medical needs.

The team attends intensive contin-ual training programs at Northwell Health’s Center for Learning and Innovation, Emergency Medical In-stitute and Bioskills laboratory. This comprehensive training includes sim-ulations and clinical rotations in trau-ma for adults and pediatric patients. Additionally, the entire light team initially and continually undergoes rigorous light safety training, NVG training, crew resource management training and scene light training.

Flight team clinicians have numer-ous hours logged with inlight experi-ence and a solid medical footing after years in the emergency, prehospital and critical care settings. With pride in the medical team, Chief Flight Nurse Taryn Capasso says, “Coming from a large health system, we real-ly drew the best of the best for this program. Our nurses and paramedics are simply the most experienced and skilled clinicians available.”

Hospital helipad infrastructure

One challenge to the new program was designing and building the in-frastructure needed to allow for the helicopter to land at their hospi-tals. SkyHealth manages helipads at several hospitals designated and credentialed as trauma centers, in-

cluding North Shore University Hos-pital, Staten Island University Hos-pital, Southside Hospital and Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in NY, and Yale-New Haven Hospital and Bridgeport Hospital in CT.

Northwell Health also continues to build helipads at their other hospitals. The company’s goal that all systems hospitals can take advantage of the beneits of quality, rapid air medical transport provided with the Airbus H135. Kikel has visited every hospital in their network and they are actively evaluating the construction of either rooftop or ground level pads.

The future

As a new program, the focus is on getting the program up and run-ning the right way. Internally, that means educating the employees on the beneits of air medical transport and what they can and cannot do. The Northwell Health/Yale New Ha-ven System intends to strengthen the existing program and always will an-alyze and look at changing and/or emerging markets. “From day 1, our administration has been completely and fully supportive of this program, and I feel the best is yet to come,” Kikel concludes.

(L–R) Flight Paramedic Shawn Bowe, Flight Nurse Luis Velez, Flight Paramedic Amen Alhadi and Pilot Mauro Centa during the staff briefing prior to conducting their daily medical transport missions.

Pilot Jim Brangan, Flight Paramedic Larry Scott, Flight Nurse Margaret Healy, Flight Nurse Donna Doherty, Pilot Christian Pringle, and Flight Nurse Gary Davis discuss issues and concerns of the program.

Ken Solosky retired from the New York City Police Dept Aviation Unit as a Lieutenant/Chief Pilot after 21 years of service and also served as the Chief

Pilot for the Newark (NJ) Police Aviation Unit for 3 years.

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Loaded to MTOW, the crew of the Shorts 360 were giv-ing some serious thought to

whether they could climb out of TAS (Tashkent Intl, Uzbekistan) with the temperature hovering around 40° C (104° C). Although runway 08L was long enough at over 4000 m (13,123 ft), the density altitude would make their ascent very sluggish, and they needed to gain enough altitude be-fore they could turn south over the mountains. Finally, they decided to postpone their departure to later in the evening when the temperature would drop. As the sun went down and temperatures plummeted by 20° C, the turboprops greedily bit into the denser air. Such conditions are quite common to pilots who ly throughout Central Asia, and are but one of the many extreme conditions that challenge aviation every day in the region.

Central Asia is a region that re-mains mysterious to most people. The mention of it elicits puzzled looks from many who just can’t picture the area in their minds. This

area conjures up images of rugged nomads and colorful culture of the indigenous populations of the for-mer Soviet republics that comprise the region. Central Asia is common-

WX BRIEF

Central Asian weatherFlying conditions in this continental interior can be ever changing and severe.

By Karsten SheinComm-Inst, Climate Scientist

Climate

Tropical wet Humid subtropical

Arid Subarctic

Semiarid Tundra

Mediterranean Highland

Tropical wet & dry Humid subcontinental

Central Asia, comprised of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, is a continental interior region with hot summers and cold winters. Conditions are arid year round, but blizzards are not unheard of.

Climate map of Central Asia. Much of the region is either arid temperate desert or highland cli-mate. These are charac-terized by hot summers, cold winters and very limited precipitation.

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ly the area west of the Caspian Sea stretching to the northeastern border of China and bordered to the north by Russia. In this region are Kazakh-stan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz-stan and Turkmenistan.

Climate

The climate of the region is driven primarily by its location. Central Asia is exactly as its name implies: more or less in the center of Asia. And as such, it’s pretty far from any major source of moisture. To the south it is bordered by rugged mountains, which do their best to extract any humidity from the air that may low inland from the area’s nearest large water source, the Indian Ocean. As a result, the climate of the region can be characterized as primarily arid. But even that is an oversimpliica-tion of a place that has a number of distinct climate zones.

As expected, due to the low an-nual precipitation, a large portion of the region qualiies as a mid-lat-itude desert. Mid-latitude deserts are similar to subtropical deserts in that they receive very little precip-itation throughout the year. In fact, parts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, between the Caspian and Aral Seas, receive less than 50 mm (~2 inches) of precipitation over the entire year. Where they differ from their low-er-latitude cousins like the Sahara is their lack of warmth. These are temperate deserts in which average temperatures may only be around 15° C (59° F), mostly because while daytime temperatures may soar into

the 40° C range (above 100° F), they may drop to near freezing at night. Excessive temperature ranges like this mean you could very well be deicing your aircraft in the morning but dealing with high density alti-tudes by afternoon. And unlike the subtropical deserts, they also expe-rience seasonality, becoming bitter cold in the winter, with temperatures that may not exceed freezing for many weeks.

Surrounding this region of mid-lat-itude desert is a zone known as the steppe. This is a semi-arid region of grassland, not unlike the Great Plains of the US, and is deined by having either an average annual tempera-ture below 18° C (64° F) and a mean temperature of 0° C (32° F) or less during the coldest month. It is also characterized by total annual pre-cipitation of less than about 500 mm (20 in). In Central Asia, the steppe receives most of its precipitation in the winter months. This is also a time of high winds and frequent overcast, as the strengthening of the polar high over Siberia sends cold air and storm tracks across the region.

Fringing the steppe is a humid con-tinental zone that marks the region bordering Russia on the north and China to the east. The humid conti-nental region is under the inluence of atmospheric circulation that more routinely drives humid air and pre-cipitation into the area. The result is that precipitation here is more abundant than in the other parts of Central Asia, normally exceeding 500 mm. Like the steppe, this cli-mate has a winter maximum of pre-

cipitation, falling primarily as snow, and summers tend to be relatively dry. Winter-to-summer tempera-ture differences are even more pro-nounced than the steppe, but in any season, the humidity makes diurnal temperature ranges much smaller. Humidity in the summer here also means that conditions feel more sul-try, and especially in the southern parts of this climate zone such as in eastern Uzbekistan, central Kyrgyz-stan and most of Tajikistan, density altitudes can become even higher on hot days.

Lastly, the southern boundary of Central Asia is ringed with moun-tains in which each valley can have its own, unique microclimate. These valleys often contain small commu-nities with unpaved landing strips that may need to be accessed from time to time. Unfortunately, as with just about any mountainous envi-ronment, weather conditions can change by the minute, and the re-gion is known for terrain obscuration by frequent low cloud decks. High and gusty winds generating strong eddies and turbulence are also fre-quently encountered. Signiicant caution should be exercised at all times when operating in and out of these valley airstrips.

Summer vs winter

Central Asia is a study in climate contrasts between summer and win-ter, each season presenting its own unique challenges to pilots. Because of the limited humidity of the land-locked region, the area isn’t home to

Visibility in Almaty, Kazakhstan is greatly reduced by thick smog. Strong temperature inversions and lack of atmospheric mixing due to nearby mountains can prevent pollutants from entraining into the atmosphere.

Passengers board an Antonov An28 at UTOD (Khorogh Airport, Tajiki-stan) at 2000 m (6700 ft) MSL. While there are only a few major airports serving Central Asia, numerous small airports dot the region but often are in rugged terrain and may have little—if any—weather information.


as many thunderstorms and squall lines as are other more humid plac-es. However, such phenomena do occur from time to time.

In the summer, the weather tends to be dry, with any given month re-ceiving less than 1 inch of rain on average. However, other weather threats can impact aviation in the re-gion. For example, katabatic winds out of the southern mountain ranges can create low-level windshear and even occasional dust storms that can reduce visibility. Visibility is also oc-casionally reduced when winds die down and pollution from nearby cit-ies becomes trapped in the surface layer, creating smog. While not as dense as some of the smogs to the east in China, they can nevertheless make it dificult to see and avoid oth-er aircraft.

Another issue is that the extreme heat of summer afternoons in the re-gion can increase density altitudes by several thousand feet. This can be an especially important consider-ation in that the entire region sits on a plateau and so many of the airports are already at elevations of 1000 ft MSL or higher, especially in the more mountainous south, and climb performance may be signiicantly re-duced when it is needed most to get over rugged terrain.

Summertime circulation also brings monsoonal low up and over the mountains from the south. While the moisture has been largely wrung from the air as it passes over the mountains, the low may create substantial mountain wave activity.

These waves can produce strong to extreme turbulence many hundreds of kilometers to the north.

Winter across Central Asia brings enhanced low from the high pressure that sits over central Siberia. With its clockwise outlow, this circulation pattern drives cold and humid air in from the north and northeast. The southward expansion of the pressure system also helps to frequently pro-duce a trough in the jet stream that rests above the region. These troughs may contain jet streaks, where winds aloft may easily exceed 150 kts. The presence of a jet streak also means the formation of low pressure out ahead of the trough and high pressure behind. Depending on the difference in pressure between the 2, winds at the surface and lower levels of the troposphere can gust to over 30 kts, creating windshear and kicking up sand and dust from the surface.

Weather information

As with many remote parts of the world, weather data is relatively dificult to obtain in Central Asia. This is largely because of the sparse population over much of the region. None of the nations that make up Central Asia have their own nation-al weather agencies, with the duties of weather monitoring assumed by other branches of the government. However, commercial airports in the region do maintain AWOS systems that report current observations, and terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAFs) are available as well. These forecasts

are produced by local meteorolo-gists who usually work at the airports covered by the TAF.

Many Internet sites provide access to local metars and TAFs, but require that you know the ICAO code for the airport you are referencing. In Cen-tral Asia, these codes all begin with the letter “U” (Uniform), which were originally assigned to the airports of the USSR, and there are approxi-mately 60 airports in the region with ICAO designators. There are 22 ICAO designated airports in Kazakhstan, for which the second letter is “A” (Alpha), 18 in Kyrgyzstan (“C” Charlie), 14 in Uzbekistan (“T” Tango), and 5 each in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan (both “T” Tango). A list of these airports, their ICAO indicators, and availability of meteorological information is avail-able at http://www.icao.int/safety/meteorology/Documents/FASID%20Table%20MET%201A%20-%20Complete.pdf. Of the approximate-ly 60 airports, only 29 are listed as providing regular or partial weather reports or forecasts.

Bear in mind that there are many more small airports and landing strips scattered throughout the region, which serve a myriad of local communities. Weather infor-mation at these airports may be lim-ited to a wind sock, or a lag on a pole. A few may have someone on the ground who can radio informa-tion to an approaching pilot, but for the most part, a pilot must deal with the weather that is present when they near the airport, and have a plan in place if the conditions are more dificult than they are willing to handle.

Despite the relative paucity of surface data, other meteorological services in the region such as Ro-shydromet in Russia and the Indian Meteorological Department produce area forecasts and weather maps. These maps can provide pilots with an overview of the broader weath-er picture, including any dominant weather patterns, fronts, or areas of cloud and precipitation. These weather maps are available from aviation weather services, both gov-ernmental and private. Similarly, the Wide Area Forecast Center in Lon-don produces signiicant weather maps that cover the central Asian region. These are available from national weather agencies such as aviationweather.gov.

METAR and TAF for ASB (Ashgabat Intl, Turkmenistan) provided by aviationweather.gov. TAFs are produced by local meteorologists at most of the major airports of the region, but accessing inter-national metars and TAFs often requires a pilot to know the ICAO identifier (in this case UTAA).

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Satellite images are another readi-ly available source of meteorological information for Central Asia. Every hour, geostationary satellites posi-tioned over the region send digital images of the cloud cover. In both infrared and visible wavelengths, this information can quickly show a pilot where major weather patterns may be a problem, where the jet stream might be located, or where clear skies prevail. These satellite im-ages are easily found on a variety of Internet sites. Other sensors aboard these satellites observe other vari-ables such as surface temperature and precipitation. These images are not as widely disseminated via the Internet, but they can be found on some of the websites of the agencies that maintain the satellite feeds.

Weather balloons

While historically there have been around 33 stations throughout Central Asia producing daily atmo-spheric soundings, that number has dropped to under 10 in recent years, with those primarily taken in Kazakh-stan. Current soundings are available from private weather providers and from Internet sources such as the University of Wyoming Dept of At-mospheric Science (http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html).

Similarly, weather radar is virtual-

ly nonexistent in the region. Thus, avoiding thunderstorms is large-ly going to be a matter of see and avoid or using onboard weather ra-dar or lightning detectors. The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) also maintains a global array of sensors that are capable of detecting and triangulating lightning strikes more than 10,000 km away, and can provide valuable guidance to pilots before they depart. Real time strike maps are available from http://wwlln.net/new/map/.

Models and forecasts

Numerical weather models such as the Global Forecast System (GFS) and European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECM-WF) generate forecast conditions across Central Asia, updated every 3 to 6 hours and extending to as far ahead as 2 weeks. These models are capable of forecasting most variables of interest to pilots, and can even be used to derive products such as fore-cast turbulence and icing potential. Output from these models is avail-able in graphical format as maps and station-speciic meteograms, as well as used in the creation of TAFs and brieing guidance.

One good source for a wide variety of meteorological observations, fore-casts and graphics is the NOAA Cli-

mate Prediction Center’s (CPC) Cen-tral Asia website (http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/interna-tional/casia/casia.shtml). In addition to weather forecasts and observa-tions, the CPC also provides a great deal of climate forecasting to help you and your company plan regional operations in the upcoming months.

Although weather information from the Central Asia region is avail-able, it remains largely scattered among a variety of sources, and ad-ditional, valuable information may be available only to professional meteorologists. It is for these reasons that pilots operating in or out of Cen-tral Asia should consider obtaining comprehensive brieings from one of the many commercial weather providers and brieing services avail-able to them. These companies spe-cialize in collecting and interpreting the diverse weather information that otherwise may require a great deal of time and knowledge on the part of pilots.

Being a continental interior region, Central Asia is a home of extremes. With a moisture-limited environ-ment, winters tend to be frigid and windy, while summers can be bru-tally hot. Most of the region is con-sidered arid, with the few millime-ters of precipitation falling mostly in the winter. These conditions can produce a number of challenges for pilots, including potential icing, tur-bulence and high density altitudes.

Limited local meteorological in-formation combined with regional weather graphics and forecasts can provide adequate guidance for pilots navigating the region. But as always, it is important for pilots to be vigi-lant about the weather, especially in a region where conditions can and do change quickly. In such a re-gion where weather information is a limiting factor, pireps become even more critical to inform your fellow pilots of current conditions.

Forecast of the likelihood of strong or greater turbulence at 300 mb (around FL330) across Central Asia. Such forecasts, derived from the output of the Global Forecast System model, can provide valuable guidance to aircraft transiting the region.

Karsten Shein is a climatologist with NOAA in Ashe ville NC. He formerly served as an assistant professor at Shippens burg Uni versity. Shein holds a commercial

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It happened back in 1977. South-ern 242 was a DC9 light from Huntsville AL to Atlanta GA.

The captain was concerned about enroute weather, so he deplaned at Huntsville to call company dispatch for a rebrieing. He was ill served by the dispatcher. He was told about severe storms on the direct route, but it was not suggested that he de-part Huntsville on a northeasterly heading for 100 miles or so to north of Chattanooga, then hook back around the storms down into Atlan-ta. As a result, he lew direct and the light encountered a supercell storm.

As that weather was approached, this was the conversation between the captain (19,000 hrs) and his FO (3800 hrs). The FO was the pilot lying:

FO: “Which way do we go? Cross here or go out? I don’t know how we get through there, Bill.”

Capt: “I know… You’re just gonna have to go out…”

FO: “Yeah. Right across that band.”Capt: “All clear left, approximately

right now. I think we can cut across there now.”

FO: “All right. Here we go.”But that was deinitely not the way

to go, as revealed by the weather de-piction on the left side in example 1. Heavy turbulence was encountered instantly with hail so large it shattered outer layers of their windshields and caused lameouts of both engines. It remains a question whether the lameouts derived from hail damage or from failed hotstart attempts.

Then there was a change in the cockpit. The captain wisely picked out an open ield for an attempted landing. But the FO insisted on trying to land on a stretch of highway. Again a bad decision, as a paved highway may be inviting for a forced landing in a small aircraft, but not for a land-ing in an airline jet. At touchdown speeds of a heavy jet, the stopping distance is too great. In that distance there is bound to be some people, au-tomobile trafic, utility poles, houses and businesses. In this instance, all of the aforementioned were present.

The result was a disaster in property destroyed and people lost—both in the aircraft and on the ground.

Debrieing about the accident, aftermath and intelligent use of radar shadows

When he was told about the ac-cident, Skip Stevens, Bendix’s chief radar engineer, knew immediately what happened. The captain misread his radar. He had never been told about the fundamental way of using radar to avoid thunderstorm hazards. It’s so very simple: just lower TILT so that half the radar display is illed with ground returns and then never, ever ly towards nothing on the dis-play. Always have a clear path to the terrain being displayed on your radar and ly to it.

The wisdom of Stevens is revealed in history. Prior to this accident, ra-dar manufacturers were mum on avoiding radar shadows. Since 1977 you will sometimes ind it in a man-ufacturer’s radar pilot’s operating guide, usually tucked back behind all the bragging they do on how they’ve electronically overcome ra-dar shadowing. Yet hundreds of ac-cidents have disclosed that shadows are Mother Nature’s major gift to thunderstorm safety.

Learn to identify radar shadows and carefully study what they reveal about a storm. A pilot who does that, and does it well, will never have a thunderstorm-related problem. Why? Consider what causes a radar shad-ow. A thunderstorm is composed of gazillions of raindrops and sometimes wet hail. Radar energy is irst cousin to the beam of light from a lashlight. When it speeds across those gazil-lions of raindrops, the back surface of each drop relects light (radar’s energy) back towards the radar. Giv-en enough rain drops relecting back and all the radar energy is used up with none continuing out the back side, the result is a radar shadow.

RADAR SCHOOL

Reading radar shadowsMaking right decisions in thunderstorm areas often depends on knowing what radar shadows are telling us.

By Archie TrammellPresident, Radar Training SystemsComm-Multi-Inst/CFII/A&P

Thunderstorms pack a wallop. Stay clear if you can. The more you know about them, the better. Properly interpreted, information shown on your radar concerning thunderstorms can make the difference from facing an unpleasant situation to deviations assuring a safe and pleasant trip.

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Let’s look at 10 examples:

Example 1. On the left is a plot of the actual weather Southern 252 en-countered. It was a Level 6 supercell storm with the most intense part be-ing the magenta area in the left illus-tration. On the right is what it would have looked like on the captain’s radar with TILT up as advocated in most all radar manufacturer’s POHs. It would have appeared like a thin line of weather and clear beyond. But had he run with the TILT down, ev-erything right of the thin band of red would have been a black shadow as illustrated in the photos that follow.

Example 2. At 1:30 is a classic radar shadow identifying a thunderstorm. It’s cast by an extremely strong storm extending above the light level. How do you know it extends above your light level? Because it runs all the

way out to beyond 100 nm, which is far beyond the calibratable range of the radar. It becomes wider in the dis-tance because of the angular sweep of a radar beam. The large areas of red at 11:30 are from a city. Note they are not casting a shadow. The echo at 11:30, 25 nm is a short storm. Note its shadow stops at about 45 nm. But it appears to begin again at about 65 nm. Why? Because beyond about 45 nm the radar energy is so dissipated it returns only a very weak echo (12-inch antenna.) Beyond about 75 nm the shadow returns again because no radar energy at all reaches out that far through the nearer storm. The same is true for the storm over at about 2 o’clock. Its shadow doesn’t begin un-til the radar energy becomes weak-ened in the distance.

Example 3. Beginning on the far left and about 30 nm is an echo with

a spot of red in it that tops out below the light. How can you tell its top is below the light? Its shadow ends at about 60 nm. On the other hand, the echo at about the 11 o’clock position extends on up above the light since its shadow runs out to well beyond the calibratable range of the radar. At about 11:45 is a low level shower as evidenced by the lack of a shadow behind it. Next to it is a weak but rel-atively tall storm. Note the indistinct shadow. Over at 12:30 is an intense but short shower that apparently ends at about 80 nm—”apparent-ly” because the antenna is 12 inch-es across meaning the energy level remaining in the radar pulse begins to fade out after about 45 nm so it’s quite weak out at 80 nm. Finally, a serious storm over at about 1:30 and 40 nm and another at 70 nm at the far right of the sweep. This is a

Example 1

Example 2

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photo deserving much examination because it’s so rich in information revealed in the shadows displayed.

Example 4. Often a radar shadow is the irst clue you get that a wick-ed thunderstorm is ahead. On the left photo, that tiny, weak echo at 45 nm might easily be overlooked in all the clutter on an EFIS display these days. But the shadow beginning at 80 nm reveals its presence. However, about 30 miles closer (right photo) the storm’s weak little echo becomes de-tected. In this instance, the antenna is 28 inches with a calibratable range of about 95 nm. Here’s another interest-ing revelation in these photos. Since at -2º TILT (upper right) the bottom

of the beam is slanted down, as the weak echo at 45 nm is approached it should slip below the beam and disappear. But as the photo discloses, it didn’t. Therefore—and obviously—it’s a growing storm and is certain to cause mayhem if you don’t deviate pronto upwind to the left by 10 nm or so.

Example 5. Often what appears at irst to be a shadow, isn’t a shadow. The black line running off to the left has the appearance of a shadow, but it’s actually soft echoes from cloud formations aloft. How do you know? The light is obviously in high level cruise; note the TAS upper left. And TILT is set at -1º, upper right. From

long experience, at your current al-titude you know that with a -1º TILT selection terrain should be painted from 80 nm outward. Therefore, the echo to the left at 30 nm and out must be from higher level clouds. The inal clue is that what appears to be a shadow, can’t be. Consider that the sweep angle of the anten-na extends straight out, as along the white line EJAO5 to DAGAN. But the apparent shadow angles across the sweep. It’s not a shadow but a gap between areas of heavy clouds.

Example 6. Another tricky one. To the far left is mountainous terrain, obviously. At just beyond 80 nm at 11:30 are a couple of what appear to

Example 4

Example 5 Example 6

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be little shadows. But there’s no ev-idence of storms in the foreground. That bears careful surveillance as the light progresses. There could be

weather in the foreground just below the beam. Echoes over at 1:30 and 35 nm are weather but short and weak at the moment, judging by the length of the shadows. Note that the tiny echo at 1 o’clock and 30 nm, weak as it is, casts a short shadow in the ground to just beyond 80 nm. It’s obviously warning us of some serious weather.

Example 7. In oceanic operations, the normal over-land rule to steer for terrain and avoid the black must be reversed. Unlike a round water drop sphere from which radar ener-gy relects, radar energy skips away from your radar when it encounters a lat sheet of water. In short, a water surface does not relect radar ener-gy well. So in light over an ocean, you ly in the black and avoid the echoes. In this photo, there is a storm at about 1 o’clock and 110 nm. Over at about 2 o’clock is what appears to be a ship on an ocean crossing.

Example 8. When lying over rough seas with large wave action, relections will be returned from the front side of waves and displayed on radar as “sea clutter,” as shown here. There is no problem in seeing where weather to be avoided is. Storms within the sea clutter will cast a shadow. Incidentally, often it’s pos-sible to locate a ship in those rough seas, as here. Just hope that no one aboard is subject to “mal de mer.”

Example 9. Differentiating be-tween a radar shadow and water in an ocean or large lake is sometimes dificult. Clues? Shadows always point directly away from the nose of your aircraft and often extend to the far edge of the display, as on the left

of this photo. Shadows also have a feathered-out edge. Take a look. But bodies of water typically produce a sharp edge along the shore, as seen on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee in this photo. Lakes will often end prior to the far edge of the display, as here, and they tend to be odd shaped compared to a radar shadow. Bodies of water are also an aid to maintain-ing situational awareness.

Example 10. Here’s a very interest-ing radar shadow. Begin on the far, far left, there is a spot of red not cast-ing a shadow. That’s a town or a little shower. Next left, a double shadow that identiies it as a “Mae West” shaped storm—extremely danger-ous. A shadow comes off the left side of it, then a gap and another shadow comes off the right side. Both run out to the far edge of the display, making it clear they are both very tall storm towers. A couplet like this identiies the formation as a supercell com-plex. You should avoid this danger-ous area by many miles to the right. Why right? Note the wind direction, lower left. To the far right is an area of water, a lake or an ocean. There-fore, over that water the avoidance rule must be reversed—ly in the black, avoid that echo.

Example 7

Example 9

Example 8

Example 10

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Bendix Chief Radar Engineer Skip Stevens. If not a genius at radar design, he was very close to it. He didn’t create ra-dar shadows, but he disclosed what caused them and how to reveal them. His wisdom has since saved untold lives.

Archie Trammell is President of Radar Training Systems. He holds CFII, A&P, and A&P Ground Instructor licenses.

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BOSE

Most comfortable headset with clearest reception for me is the

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We have 2 Bose A20s in our Cita-tion CJ2 and they’re outstand-

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Consensus of opinion of the 32 pi-lots in our light dept is that the

Bose A20 is the overall best headset on the market. After years of being ex-posed to noisy cockpits, plenty of jet noise, APUs and other distractions, I ind the Bose A20’s noise canceling to be the best as compared to any other headset. Clarity achieved by this headset is fantastic. When lying overseas and trying to decipher what controllers with strong accents are saying, it’s a real necessity to have a headset that’s faithful to the original transmission. Additionally, the A20 is very comfortable to wear with pressure on the head being minimal.

Curtis Born ATP. Global Express & Falcon 900CaptainTashi CorpWalnut Creek CA

In my opinion the Bose A20 is the winner in comparison to all head-

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The best headset for me is the Bose A20. It’s lightweight and comfort-

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Roger Russell ATP/CFII. King Air 350i/C90AChief PilotLafollette AeroSpeedwell TN

2016 HEADSET PREFERENCE SURVEY

Automatic Noise Reduction (ANR), Bluetooth and cell phone use are wanted capabilities

Pro Pilot staff report

Bose A20

Pilots need comfort for long flights but also expect super quiet cockpit, crystal clear communications, good price and followup.

Bose A20 is an extremely popular high-end headset providing electronic noise reduction fed by 2 AA alkaline batteries providing at least 45 hours of use, super clear audio reception with active equalization, faithful sound reproduction for both transmissions and reception, Bluetooth audio and communi-cations interface. Weight w/o cord of 12 oz.

David Clark is offering 2 new ANR headsets – ONE-X and PRO-X. The ONE-XP uses 6-pin connector to plug into aircraft panel power-ing ANR whereas PRO-X uses 2 AA alkaline batteries. Both use battery-powered control modules with 2 AAs. Bluetooth standard. ONE-X weight without cord 12.3 oz. PRO-X weight without cord 7.5 oz.


O ur preferred headset is Bose A20. Use of the Bose A20 gives

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Ryan Johnson ATP. Challenger 601 & King Air 350CaptainDC AirDenair CA

Having used Bose headsets for about 15 yrs I wouldn’t switch.

And I’ve concluded that Bose sets the standard for being the best avia-tion headset in the aviation industry. During these years of use with about 5000 hrs of logged lying time, my only Bose issue was a transmission problem with my copilot’s mic. The ix was easy. I called Bose and had a brand new unit shipped to me in 48 hrs with no charge to us.

Chris Anderson ATP/CFI. Pilatus PC12NGAv Dept Mgr & Chief PilotSky Lodge AirIndianapolis IN

Love my Bose A20. This is the 3rd Bose headset I’ve used and they

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Daniel Upstrom ATP. King Air 300CaptainFlexsteel IndustriesDubuque IA

The Bose A20 is my preferred headset. It has excellent noise

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Fred Hartzell ATP. Gulfstream VCaptainPerpetual AirCharles Town WV

Selected headset for me is the Bose A20. It’s a very comfortable unit

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Kirk Hart ATP. King Air 350iCaptainWatersedge AviationKalamazoo MI

Bose A20 is my preferred head-set. We have 2 of them installed

in our aircraft and they’ve served us well for the past 4 years. I rate them best in noise canceling as well as tops in clarity for transmissions and reception for ATC calls and cockpit communications. Comfort level for me in wearing the Bose A20 has been better than with other head-sets on long lights. And I ind the A20’s Bluetooth function tied to a cell phone gives the advantage of al-lowing phone calls with ease even when the cockpit environment is very noisy. Without a question the Bose A20 is my headset selection for cockpit communication.

William Barrett ATP. Aero Commander AC690AChief PilotOrr Air Abbotsford BC, Canada

Very pleased with my Bose A20. It’s a comfortable headset to wear

since the headband doesn’t squeeze, its earcups are softer than most others and the sound quality is superb.

Dean Springer ATP. Pilatus PC12NGLead CaptainStockmeier UrethanesPhilippi WV

Wearing my Bose A20 has been a pleasure. This very comfort-

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Jon Hodson ATP/CFII. Citation CJ3Chief PilotChief IndustriesGrand Island NE

My favorite is the Bose A20. Con-struction is solid and yet the

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Amy Roberts ATP/CFI. King Air 350Av Dept MgrMercer AviationArlington TX

Although I was very satisied with my Bose X, upgrading to the A20

has given me additional beneits that I really appreciate. The newer model gives me Bluetooth, has an auxiliary plug for use with my A20 and has more comfortable earcups.Noise cancelation is better and transmissions are even clearer. Com-fort of the A20 is so exceptional that I basically forget I’m wearing it even during very long trips.

Jeff Lindstrom ATP. Hawker 4000CaptainExecutive Jet ManagementBroomield CO

For our operation Bose A20 is by far the best headset model. Hav-

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West JonesATP. Falcon 900, Hawker 1000 & King Air 350iChief PilotWest AviationMoore SC


CLARITY ALOFT

I recently upgraded to Clarity Aloft. Wow! These earbud headsets are

great. It took me a couple of lights to get used to having something in my ear but now I’m sold. I ind the Clarity Aloft earbud system does a better job of noise canceling than my previous high dollar headsets, provides me with clear reception. And they’re so light that I forget I’m wearing them.

Scott ForseATP/CFII. Citation Ultra/Encore+PilotCin-Air LPLoveland OH

After giving the Clarity Aloft Clas-sic earbud system a try I now

prefer it. Because is lightweight, doesn’t clamp your head and ear-buds are comfortable. This headset has passive noise reduction. It is not an ANR system. Noise cancelation is very good but the wearer is still able to hear surrounding conversations by listening closely. Clarity of recep-tion is ine.

Brian CathellATP/CFI. Hawker 900XP & Challenger 605CaptainJet AviationEverett MA

For me the Clarity Aloft Pro is the most comfortable headset I’ve

ever had. There’s no need to remove the earbuds before putting on an ox-ygen mask, a big bonus for the type of lying we do. Although only a pas-sive noise reduction system I ind the noise canceling quite good and the clarity of reception excellent.

Micah BrinerATP. Learjet 45XRChief PilotSamson ResourcesTulsa OK

We use the Clarity Aloft ear-bud system and ind it does a

good job for us. These headsets are extremely light in weight, no head

band. Passive noise cancelation so no batteries required. Noise reduction is very satisfactory providing us with a quiet cockpit and clear reception.

Jan CooperATP. Citation ExcelChief PilotLario Oil & Gas CoGreenwood Village CO

DAVID CLARK

David Clark ONE-X is the headset that I use. It provides clear re-

ception and is both lightweight and comfortable. Our company supplies headsets to its lightcrew members based on pilot preference. There are some pilots who use the Bose A20. However most of us prefer the David Clark ONE-X.

David Lane ATP/CFI. Challenger 605Senior CaptainState Farm Mutual InsuranceBloomington IL

Can’t beat David Clark. My DC favorite headsets are the ONE-X

and the PRO-X. Both are excellent models providing crystal clear re-ception, rugged construction and ease of comfort in use. David Clark headsets are designed to aid pilots by bringing them quiet cockpits with classy designs that aren’t clunky.

Jeff JacoberATP. Gulfstream G550Chief AirmanRenairBensalem PA

My favorite headset is the David Clark H10-36. This DC model

has been serving pilots for quite a long time now. Its popularity is well deserved because it has a rugged construction to stand up to wear and tear on the job. At the same time the noise cancelation capability is good enough to provide a quiet cockpit for helicopter pilots like myself who

need a really well designed headset to blank out the sound of the rotors spinning on top of the pilot.

James Holbert ATP/Helo. Airbus H135PilotPHI Air MedicalLondon KY

After carefully considering various headsets on the market, last win-

ter we purchased multiple copies of the David Clark ONE-X for our pi-lots. I can report that all our pilots are very happy and satisied with the DC ONE-X. Our pilots tell us that the ONE-X is comfortable to wear while being well built to take the hard use of our frequent light schedules.

Wulf WinterATP. Global ExpressCEOWinter Aviation ServicesBlonay, Switzerland

David Clark DC PRO-XA is my favorite headset. It’s a great unit

that performs very well. It cuts down on external noise to bring you a qui-et cockpit so you can concentrate on important communications to ATC, tower or ground control. And those communications are crystal clear with my DC PRO-XA.

Richard Fielder ATP/CFII. Gulfstream G650/ G550/G450CaptainDow ChemicalAuburn MI

As a helicopter pilot I need a strongly built headset that can

give me a quiet cockpit while still providing me with crystal clear re-ception and transmissions. Addition-ally I want to have comfort when wearing the headset for long periods of time on my missions. Yes, I’ve tried the Bose A20 and it’s good but overall the David Clark H10-56XL is my favorite due to its strong but lightweight construction and its crys-tal clear transmissions. When you’re lying offshore helicopter oil and gas operations, durability, comfort, clar-ity of transmissions and super noise reduction in the cockpit are the im-portant considerations.

Alessandro Medeiros ATP/Helo. Leonardo AW139TRI/SFIAbu Dhabi AviationSão Paulo SP, Brazil

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The PRO-X by David Clark is not only my favorite headset but it’s

also the favorite of other pilots in our light dept. We now have 6 of them being used in the cockpits of our air-craft. We’ve found the DC PRO-X to be lighter and more comfortable than other mainstay headsets tried. And the price is quite fair. PRO-X does everything a headset should do in providing excellent noise cancel-ation and clear transmissions.

Wally DeVasier, MD ATP. Citation XLS/CJ3/Bravo & Daher TBM850Dir AviationDeVasi Air Fairield IA

You can’t beat the David Clark ONE-X. I like mine very much

and think it’s the best headset David Clark has ever made. Noise cancel-ation is superb, transmissions are crystal clear. As with all David Clark headsets it’s built strong, and it’s far more comfortable than the older DC models.

Dieter Engl ATP. Global ExpressCaptainExecuJetKloten, Switzerland

Without a doubt David Clark! I have a 20-year old H10-13.4

and it’s still going strong. Through-out our light dept we use the DC PRO-X and all our pilots love them. They’re comfortable, lightweight and the sound quality is excellent. The Bluetooth feature and ability to can-cel the mute function are very much appreciated.

Brett Udy ATP/CFII. Citation X/SovereignAviation Safety MgrSchweitzer Engineering LaboratoriesPullman WA

Love my DC H10-13.4 headset. I purchased it when I was in college

and I’ve been using it steadily for the past 18 yrs. I like the large earcups and beefy construction. And no oth-er headset gives me a quieter cock-pit or better broadcast and reception capability.

Paul WoodwardATP/CFII. Embraer 145CaptainExpressJetSpring TX

During my initial light training I acquired a David Clark H10-

13.4. That training began years ago when I was a ledgling stu-dent. Today, years later, I still have and use my H10-13.4 regularly on my lights. That DC headset has been used and abused and keeps on going.

Peter Van WarmerdamATP. Dash 8 Q400CaptainPorter AirlinesWoodstock ON, Canada

David Clark came up with real winners with the ONE-X and

PRO-X. They are terriic headsets that give the pilot everything possi-ble – complete ambient noise can-celation, faithful communications with crystal clear reception, light-weight yet rugged construction. These DC headsets are great tools to work with.

Frederic Le Breton ATP. Boeing 767/737 & Challenger 605 CaptainElit AviaVannes, France

LIGHTSPEED

We ly a pair of Learjets, a 60 and 35, and for both we use

Lightspeed Tango headsets. Not only do we have excellent noise cancelation and crystal clear re-ception but also the feather weight of the Lightspeed Tango is great. Earpieces designed by Lightspeed are very comfortable and seem to seal around my sunglasses better than others.

James Averett ATP. Learjet 60/35CaptainRJ MachineFredericksburg TX

I prefer the Lightspeed Zulu. Al-though I have had plenty of hours

of experience with other headsets, the Lightspeed Zulu has been best for me. Ambient noise is eliminated, communications are crisp and the Zulu is a delight to wear since it is lighter and more comfortable than other headsets I’ve tried.

Jonathan Carden ATP. Falcon 900B & 50EXMgr of Flight OpsForesight EnergyCarlinville IL

Been a Lightspeed devotee for a long time. My current favorite is

the Lightspeed Zulu 2. I’m pleased with the Lightspeed trade-up policy that makes it easy for you to acquire their new models. Since Lightspeed is constantly improving their product line and coming out with new and better headsets, their trade-up sys-tem allows current customers to ac-quire these newly improved models at discount prices.

David Mullens ATP. Piaggio 180 AvantiCaptainPlaneSmart AviationDallas TX

Lightspeed Sierra is my favorite headset. And that’s because I ly a

King Air 90, Baron and Cessna 182. And all 3 are noisy airplanes. This headset suppresses the engine noises from these aircraft. At the same time my communications are concert-hall clear. Also, this headset is extreme-ly comfortable even when worn for long periods of time. In acquisition I found the Lightspeed Sierra to be reasonably priced and very durable.

Matthew Daniel Comm-Multi-Inst. King Air 90, Beech Baron & Cessna 182District Forestry PilotLouisiana Dept of Agriculture & ForestryHaughton LA

Good value and great perfor-mance make the Lightspeed

Zulu my favorite headset. This head-set provides excellent noise cancel-ation and clear transmissions.

J BuehlerATP. Citation IIDir OpsSolutions Air Carmel IN

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Noise reduction comes irst in my evaluation, clear transmissions

and reception come next, comfort is essential. After acquisition you want to know that you’re dealing with a headset maker who doesn’t forget the customer. Lightspeed delivers on all these aspects so that’s why I’m a Lightspeed headset customer.

Bruce Huester ATP. Boeing 727, Citation CJ1 & Twin ComancheCaptainSouthwinds ManagementWest Jefferson NC

TELEX

Never had a problem with the Tel-ex 850 ANR. It’s far and away

my favorite headset. Clear sound and lightweight. Aboard our BBJ3 my Telex 850 gets its ANR power by plugging right into the aircraft head-set jacks so it never needs a battery. I’ve used my Telex 850 for over 8 yrs and my trouble-free experience has been fantastic.

Donald Hein ATP. Boeing BBJ3CaptainDallah AlbarakaGreenwood IN

My Telex Airman 750 is very comfortable. It’s very light and

has a minimal of head clamping pressure that makes it excellent for long lights. It reduces ambient noise and gives me clear communications. I’ve enjoyed use of this headset for quite some time and can praise its capabilities.

Jonathan OlaszPvt-Inst. Daher TBM850CEOITvelocitiWest Barnstable MA

First choice in headsets for me goes to the new Telex Ascend. Crystal

clear sound with lightweight com-fort is the perfect combination for me. I’m happy with the Telex Ascend and use it on a constant basis in the Falcon 20F5-BR that I operate.

Joseph Genna ATP. Falcon 20F5-BRDir of OpsPRC Financial CoToms River NJ

Have enjoyed my Telex 850 ANR for a long time. No issues of any

sort. Faithful sound reproduction for communications with ambient cock-pit noises screened out. I praise the Telex 850’s lightweight and compact design. I like the partial cover ear-cups that I ind more comfortable on long lights than full earcups.

Matthew Caron ATP. Phenom 300CaptainNetJetsAtkinson NH

I still have my Telex Airman 750 from 20 yrs ago and it continues to

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A McDonnell Douglas DC10-30 registration N136AA op-erating as Flight AA70 was

departing DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX) for FRA (Frankfurt Intl, Germa-ny) on May 21, 1988. It all looked to be just another routine light when the takeoff warning horn sud-denly sounded as the airplane was attaining V

1 at 166 kts. The PIC had

decided to reject takeoff (RTO). As was found later, a malfunctioning takeoff warning horn had sounded but the high-lift devices were in-deed in the proper position. During RTO, 8 out of 10 brakes completely failed (faded) as the airplane slowed down to 130 kts from the initial 178 kts groundspeed. The DC10 exited the runway exceeding 95 knots and stopping about 1100 ft beyond the runway threshold. The airplane was damaged beyond repair with miracu-lously only 2 crew members serious-ly injured (FO and FE) and just few minor injuries reported, including the captain.

This was the 1st recorded case where the high-speed RTO overrun was attributed directly to exceed-ing the maximum braking energy (MBE) capacity. The regulations have changed since that incident and now

all new FAR/CS 25 certiied airplanes must demonstrate MBE capability at fully worn-out brakes (practical-ly during light testing not less than 90% wear). But the MBE limit only applies to “cool” brakes. Even simply taxiing an airplane for about 3 miles with 3 intermediate stops reduces the braking capacity by about 10%. Heat can be quickly added to brakes, but it takes an agonizingly long time to remove it.

Stopping an airplane during land-ings, or occasionally performing high-speed RTO, relies fully on decelera-tion devices. Airplane (friction) disc brakes are by far the most important stopping device. However, engine re-verse thrust should not be discounted and especially not when landing on slippery and contaminated runways. Ground spoilers (lift dump) increase aerodynamic drag, but much more importantly they “spoil” lift by de-creasing the coeficient of lift (C

L),

thus putting more effective weight (weight minus lift) on the tires. Con-trary to popular belief, aerodynamic drag is of little use during landing roll decelerations especially when con-sidering that it occurs in ground ef-fect where the induced (vortex) drag is almost non-existent.

Hard job for brakes

While airplane brakes are only used sporadically, they are a safe-ty critical component. A heavy air-plane landing or performing RTO at high density altitude and possibly with some tailwind will cause the aircraft to be moving almost faster than a Formula 1 racecar on straight segments. And while F1 can decel-erate at a fantastic 4 to 5 Gs, an air-plane can experience no more than 0.6 or 0.7 Gs deceleration on dry and clean asphalt/concrete runways during emergency stopping efforts.

The purpose of friction brakes is to absorb/convert almost the entire airplane translational kinetic energy, rotary kinetic energy (tires, wheels, rotor/stator brakes, axles), and the potential energy (height) with down-hill runways. Gravity assists braking on upslope runways. For example, an airplane weighing 410,000 lbs (186,364 kg) and rejecting takeoff at 165 kts (85 m/s) groundspeed will need to dissipate about 502 million foot-pounds, 119 kWh, or about 680 MJ (85 MJ/brake) of energy in a mat-ter of about 15 seconds while using about 2100 ft braking distance. This is equivalent to the energy needed to

AIRCRAFT STOPPING SYSTEMS

Brakes, thrust reversers, beta props, spoilers and lift dumps all help in deceleration of jets and turbopropsToughest workout and most dangerous high temps go to the brakes.

By Nihad Daidzic, PhD, ScDATP/CFII, MEI, CFIG, AGI/IGIPres, AAR Aerospace ConsultingProfessor, Minnesota State Univ

Bombardier Challenger landing with puffs of smoke coming from rapidly accelerated tires. Upon touchdown, a pilot will almost simultaneously deploy lift dump spoilers to increase weight on wheels, select thrust reversers, and apply friction braking for consistent and safe deceleration.

Photo

by J

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provide 2 average households with electrical supply for one month. The average power dissipated into heat in these short 15 seconds is 45 MW, or about 61,654 hp.

Energy cannot be created or de-stroyed (apart from nuclear reac-tions). It can only be transformed into some other form of energy. The fastest and the most practical way in transforming airplane kinetic en-ergy is by frictional heating. Not eficient, but the only practical way so far. Unlike car brakes, airplane brakes are multidisc of segmented rotor designs (see Figure 1) in which multiple rotors, with notches keyed to each rotating wheel, are “sand-wiched” between immovable stators with friction lining. Stators, pressure and end plates are held stationary by landing gear torque tube spines. The rotating brake rotors and immobile stators rub against each other due to being clamped together by hydrau-lic pistons in a pressure plate. Huge amounts of heat are generated and absorbed by these types of brakes. The alternating rotors and stators made of friction lining in these brakes are thus called “heat stack” or “heat pack.”

The temperature of the friction lin-ing increases while braking torque is generated opposing the wheel rota-tion. This torque is then transmitted to the surface through tires. Solid surface responds in kind (action-re-action) with the opposing longitudi-nal braking force, which causes the airplane to slow down. The rotation of tires/wheels is gradually reduced. Any rapid deceleration causes tire lock and the slip becomes 100% thereby reducing braking eficiency. The heat absorption capacity de-pends on the allowable temperature rise, mass, and the speciic heat ca-pacity of the brake friction material. Once generated, it is impossible to contain heat (thermal energy) and prevent subsequent heat transfer.

Turbine powered aircraft must have the capacity to absorb the total en-ergy of motion with brakes that per-form at the fully worn out limit of V

1 ≤ V

MBE. Generation of heat through

sliding friction represents irreversible thermodynamic process. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics prevents us from regenerating such energy once it is converted into heat and released into the environment. The genera-tion of heat by friction is part of the

scientiic discipline called tribology. We abhor friction almost everywhere else, yet in brakes friction is desired.

In the past, brakes traditionally used in aerospace/aeronautics/avi-ation were built from gray cast iron and and stainless steel (SS). They were heavy and prone to oxidation and corrosion. Today most large tur-bine airplanes use carbon-carbon brakes. However, beryllium was used for friction lining on the Space Shut-tle orbiter as well as in the Lockheed C5A Galaxy military transport due to its low density and high speciic heat capacity. Copper brakes were once used on German-French-Dutch Tran-sall C160 military transports. Alumi-num was considered more than once for braking systems, but no successful design exists. Some of the important

friction material properties are sum-marized in Table 1. Typically, only the main gears (MG) have installed brakes. Nose gear (NG) is used almost exclusively for steering, although the Boeing 727 had NG brakes as well. A layout of MGs and NGs on a typi-cal large T-category airplane (Boeing 767) is illustrated in Figure 2.

Cooling brakes

Friction lining temperatures ex-ceeding 1000° C for steel brakes and 1400° C for carbon brakes are not uncommon during maximum effort braking. And these brake systems develop those high temperatures in a matter of a few tenths of seconds.

Cooling brakes is completely another story. Heat is transferred

Figure 1. Typical multidisc segmented rotor brake components from a turbine-powered airplane.

Table 1. Thermophysical properties of some important heat-sink materials used in disc brakes.

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Property SS C-1% Cast iron Carbon Beryllium Copper

Density (kg/m3) 7801 7250 1690 1850 8954

Specific heat capacity (J/kg K) 473 460 720 1825 383

Thermal conductivity (W/m2K) 45 57 130 200 386

Thermal expansion (mm/mK) 17 11 4 12 17

Temperature limit (°C) 1150 1100 2200 930 800


through conduction, convection and radiation. Radiation cooling utilizing electromagnetic waves only becomes signiicant at very high temperatures due to T4 de-pendence (Stefan-Boltzmann Law). Conduction represents diffusion of heat through the material and is responsible for “heat soaking” with the maximum tire temperatures at-tained lagging many minutes after actual braking.

Forced convection is the best way to cool brakes. This can be done by leaving landing gear extended after takeoff (provided obstacle clearance is not an issue), by using brake fans while taxiing (but not during take-off or landing), or by using portable brake fans to cool brakes at the gate/ramp. Free or natural convection is deinitely the least eficient way to cool brakes. A landing gear retracted after takeoff with hot brakes poses a potential ire hazard as leaking/drip-ping hydraulic luid on hot surfaces could start ires.

An issue that affects short-haul operations and possibly some busi-ness jet operators is the maximum quick turnaround weight (MQTW). Certiied fuse-plug-no-melt energy deines MQTW. If landing is made at a weight exceeding MQTW, there will be a mandatory waiting period before the next takeoff as the brakes will not possess required RTO brak-

ing capacity. Wheel fuse plugs are installed to melt and release tire pressure (delate) if the braking en-ergy/heat input exceeds speciied maximum to prevent tire explosion. Few business jets certiied under FAR/CS 25 and exceeding 75,000 lbs MSTOW require airplane tires to be inlated mostly with nitrogen with no more than 5% of oxygen by vol-ume (FAR 25.733 [e]). Brake master cylinders are supplied by central hy-draulic pressure which is today most frequently 3000 psi (204 bar), but 5000 and even 8000 psi are in ser-vice or envisioned in future designs.

Brakes currently in operation can lose up to about 30% of their heat-

sink mass before being considered fully worn out. Carbon brakes over-all perform better than steel brakes in terms of weight and performance, but they are also signiicantly more expensive. The wear rate of carbon brakes depends on the number of ap-plications. On the other hand, steel brakes perform very well at slow taxi speeds but they wear out rapidly when applied at high-speed stops. Overall, carbon brakes show better energy absorption capability. Long-range airplanes use carbon brakes to reduce inert weight. Photos of some modern commercial carbon brakes are shown in Figure 3.

Some notable manufacturers of T-category airplane brakes are the French Safran Landing systems (formerly Messier-Bugatti-Dowty), USA-based Honeywell ALS (Aircraft Landing Systems) which acquired Bendix, USA-based UTC Aerospace systems (formerly Goodrich), and UK’s-based Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems, which incorporates Aircraft Braking Systems Corporation (ABSC) and Dunlop Aerospace Braking Systems (DABS).

But no matter how powerful brakes are, it is inally at the end the tire-sur-face friction coeficient that deter-mines the magnitude of the maxi-mum possible friction braking force. The antiskid systems are employed to prevent locking of tires/wheels due to excessive braking torques. This is done by computer-controlled an tiskid valves rapidly modulating the hydraulic pressure to maintain as close as possible the most eficient speed-dependent tire slip for existing surface condition. By locking tires not only is the friction coeficient

Figure 2. Layout of twin tandem main gears (MG) and steerable nose gear (NG).

Figure 3. Modern multidisc carbon brakes for civilian jet aircraft.

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reduced, but also the entire tire cor-nering force and directional control may be lost as well.

Thrust reversing

An important decelerating fea-ture in airplanes is thrust reversing. Whether jet engines or propellers in turboprops, propulsive thrust can be redirected to assist deceleration. Propellers are the most effective low-speed propulsion devices. For example, turbopropellers such as Hartzell’s HC-B3TN-3 used on Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engine and the HC-B3TN-5 on the Garrett-Ai-Research TPE331 (now Honeywell) can be controlled in the entire blade pitch range, from fully feathered (about 90°) to reverse negative pitch (say, -15°).

The 2 distinct operational ranges are “alpha” range (constant-speed range) and “beta” range (ground range) for very ine taxiing pitch control around zero-thrust setting and all the way toward the negative pitch for thrust reversing (see Figure 4). For the P&WC PT6A and other TP engines, the constant speed range can be controlled by a separate prop lever, and for other popular engines such as the GE CT7 or PW100 series, propeller control is incorporated in condition levers. Positive hydraulic pressure must be applied to reduce propeller blade pitch against springs and counterweights.

Beta valve exists to ensure that propeller pitch will not undergo uncommanded change toward very low pitch (inlight safety critical). However, after touchdown when

torque levers are pulled below light idle and toward the ground idle, the propeller pitch is being controlled directly by torque levers and a beta valve, while the condition levers remain in normal light range. Pull-ing torque levers back some more changes the propeller pitch further through zero degrees (zero-thrust setting) and into the reverse range. Simultaneously increasing engine power/torque generates propulsive thrust in the opposite direction. The maximum engine power in reverse mode is typically 60% to 70% of the maximum available power. The engine and propeller rotation is, of course, never reversed.

Depending on bypass ratio, jet engines typically have mechanical blockage reversers such as clam-shells and buckets, or aerodynamic blockage systems such as cascade vanes, blocker doors and delectors. Some unducted high-bypass turbo-fan engines may combine clamshell reversing for hot core-air exiting gas-generator section with cascade vanes with blocker doors for revers-ing cold bypass fan air (eg GE CF6). Reversing is much easier achieved in fully-ducted turbofans where cold fan and hot core air are mixed and redirected by using single clamshells at the rear of the engine. Turbo-fan thrust reversing subsystems are mostly powered by hydraulic and, occasionally, by pneumatic non-pro-

pulsive power. Maximum reverse thrust is about 75% of the maximum forward thrust while gases are being delected at an angle of about 45°. Typically, the idle reverse must be selected at about 60 kts groundspeed to prevent reingestion of hot exhaust and severe engine low instabilities.

Thrust reversing is especially im-portant when landing on contami-nated and slippery runways, where it may become the primary stopping tool. Certiied landing distances on dry runway (DLDR) cannot take thrust-reversing credit, but an air-plane may be speciically certiied for wet runways distances (WLDR) with the use of thrust reversing. Op-erationally, thrust reversers reduce brake wear. However, it must be re-membered that it takes quite some time after touchdown to get full re-verse thrust. Therefore, pilots should not hesitate to deploy thrust revers-ers as soon as possible after touch-down—and this is especially import-ant if runways are suspected to be slippery or are contaminated.

Spoilers and lift dump

Flight and ground spoilers are typically lat panels installed on the wing’s upper surface that rotate and extend into the airstream to re-duce C

L and increase coeficient of

drag CD. Strictly speaking, speed/air

brakes are devices that only increase

Figure 4. Hydraulic pressure drives blades toward small (and negative) pitch angles, while springs and counterweights drive blades toward the feathered position (minimal drag). Not to scale.

Ground fine

Section pitch angle

Beta range

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Reverserange

AOA

Low pitchstop(LPS)~+20°~

Feather pitch~ +90°~

Max reverse pitch~ -15°~

Most large turboprops incorporate fully reversing propellers. Beta valves control fine and negative pitch for taxiing and thrust reversing.

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CD (parasitic drag devices) and

do not affect the airplane’s CL. For

example, the new HA-420 Honda-Jet and the venerable BAe 146-100/200/300 or Avro RJ70/85/100 Jumbolino have speed brakes in the tail cone enabling steep approaches and fast deceleration.

Flight spoilers are used in light asymmetrically for roll control, sym-metrically (as speed brakes) for speed and descent control, and differential-ly for both. Ground spoilers are lo-cated inward at wing roots, where the lift production is largest and where their effect will be most dra-matic. Ground spoilers are not used in light. Apart from possible differ-ent effects on the pitch and longitu-dinal trim with spoilers or pure speed brakes, the end result is the same: they both modulate aerodynamic eficiency (E=C

L/C

D=L/D) required

for accurate lightpath control. Flight and ground spoilers are part of the lift-dump system used during landing

roll to put as much weight as possible on the wheels and tires. Tire friction force is proportional to the tire-sur-face coeficient of friction (which is also tire-slip and speed dependent) and the effective weight-on-wheels (WOW). When in standstill, MGs typically support 90 to 94% while the NG supports only 6 to 10% of the entire aircraft weight. During dy-namic braking on the runway (Figure 5), the balance of forces and torques continuously change.

Ground and light spoilers are de-ployed upon touchdown to increase WOW (see Figure 6). That can be done manually or spoilers can be armed to deploy automatically upon touchdown. Even after touchdown, a substantial amount of lift is still pro-duced, which reduces WOWs. The friction braking is directly depen-dent on WOWs and it is here that the maximum allowable brake torque is minimal. Thus recommendations to use thrust reversers in this phase is

Figure 5. Dynamic balance of forces and torques during friction braking and revers-ing with down elevator push. Not to scale.

Figure 6. Fokker 70 with clamshell thrust reversers deployed on Rolls-Royce Tay 620 engines and all flight and ground spoilers up.

not because thrust reversing is inher-ently more eficient at high speeds, but because friction braking is least eficient immediately after touch-down. Also, the longer thrust revers-ing is applied, the more deceleration work will be generated. Flight spoil-ers may have other important inlight functions, such as, gust or load alle-viation (eg Airbus A320) and direct lift control (DLC) that was used on Lockheed L1011 TriStar and was considered for Airbus A380 as well. DLC directly modulates wing lift by controlling dedicated spoilers and accordingly the vertical descent pro-ile can be more accurately followed (eg ILS/MLS approach).

Conclusions

Although airplane brakes are the most important and the most powerful aircraft-based decelerating and stop-ping device, it is essential that thrust reversing and spoiler deployment is utilized promptly in assisting frictional braking. On slippery runways, thrust reversing is essential and even every pound of aerodynamic drag counts too. No light is ever completed until the airplane is safely stopped and parked.

Nihad Daidzic is president of AAR Aerospace Consult-ing, L.L.C., located in Saint Peter, MN and has worked for many years on the US and European

space programs. He is also tenured University Professor of Aviation and of Mechanical Engineering.

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Every corporate light department understands the concepts of cut-backs and downsizing. And the

US Air Force’s executive light depart-ment is no different.

A decade ago, the 375th Air Mobili-ty Wing (AMW), one of the USAF’s pri-mary executive transport units, had 50 C21As—the militarized Learjet 35A—and was the world’s largest operator of Learjets (Professional Pilot, August 2006, p 46). Initial order for the air-craft, with deliveries in 1984–85, was for 90 aircraft. Today the entire US Air Force and Air National Guard com-bined have 19.

The largest operator of the C21A to-day is the 458th Airlift Squadron (AS), a squadron within the 375 AMW based at Scott AFB near Rantoul IL. In 2006 it had 14 of the 50 C21As and 56 pilots. Today it has 8 aircraft and 33 pilots. An-other 4 aircraft are with the 457th AS at Joint Base Andrews in Washington DC under the command of Lt Col Greg Adams, 5 other C21As are at Ramstein AFB in Germany, and 2 are part of the Colorado Air National Guard. The rest were relegated into spare parts, sold to other federal or state government agen-cies, or simply scrapped.

Both the 458th and 457th fall under the command of the 375th Operations Group (OG), also based at Scott AFB.

The 375th OG is commanded by Col Perry Long, a 24-year Air Force veter-an with over 3000 light hours, and qualiied in the C21, C5 Galaxy, C29 Hawker and CL601 Challenger. The 375th OG is 1 of 4 groups under the command of the 375th AMW, com-manded by Col Laura Lenderman, who also serves as installation commander at Scott AFB.

Aircraft mission

Missions for the aircraft have changed over the past decade as the number of aircraft and pilots diminished. Accord-ing to Lt Col Kimberley Welter, former commander of the 458th AS, when the Air Force took delivery of its irst C21A back in 1984, the primary mission was aimed at “seasoning” pilots, giv-ing pilots the experience they would need to become aircraft commanders, with personnel transport as an offshoot of the training hours, lying whoever

needed to be transported. Lt Col Wel-ter is a 19-year veteran of the USAF with close to 4500 light hours. A grad-uate of Embry-Riddle AFROTC, she is qualiied in the C5, the C32 (Boeing 757) and the C21.

Lt Col Welter inished her tour as the 458th commander in July and was reassigned to the Washington DC National Capital Region. She was re-placed by Lt Col Michael Schwan, a 17-year USAF veteran with over 2700 light hours, who is qualiied in the C21 and C17, and served as chief of safety for the 375th AMW prior to tak-ing over the 458th.

The unit’s primary mission today is transporting distinguished visitors (DVs, VIPs). Lt Col Welter notes that the unit can guarantee at least 2 trans-port missions per day, with the possi-bility of additional lights if the aircraft and lightcrews are available. “The Air Force is now doing more with less,” she tells us. “We’ve had a lot of cuts.

SPECIAL MISSIONS

458th flies VIPs in C21AsProudly wearing their USAF stars, these aging Learjet 35s continue serving out of Scott AFB at Rantoul IL.

By Douglas NelmsComm-Multi-Inst/Helo.UH1, AH1, OH58, CH47Contributing Writer

(L–R) Lt Col Jason Ceccoli, Col Perry Long, Lt Col Kimberly Welter and Capt Jeffrey Leicy.

US Air Force C21 assigned to 458th Airlift Squadron at Scott AFB, Illinois.

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The guys now are working very hard. When I came into the C21s the irst time, we had twice the number of pi-lots and a lot of people to run the ofic-es, a lot more (personnel) down time. These guys are constantly working. It’s even hard for them to take leave some times because they are so busy.”

The unit lies about 8 to 10 mis-sions per week, with the pilots logging around 350 to 400 hours per year. A pilot typically pulls a 3-year tour of duty with the 458th before being reassigned. Lt Col Welter adds, “With the drawdown of all the DV airlift over the years, we are lying higher and higher customers.”

The 458th supports the Air Force major command units, such as the Air Mobility Command, Air Combat Com-mand, Special Operations Command, Air Education and Training Command, Space Command, and Material Com-mand. These are primarily headed by 4-star generals, who tend to be the pri-ority customer for the unit. However, some of the major commands are head-ed by 3-star generals who also have pri-ority due to their position. “It’s more the job, not the rank, that dictates whether someone is provided C21 transport,” says Capt Jeffrey Leicy, one of the unit’s pilots with 800 light hours and 1 of 2 executive oficers within the 458th. “We do still ly other 2 and 3-star gen-erals, but only if our main customers are not requesting transport. And if we cannot support a certain general, he or she can go to other service branches and see if their DV assets are available.”

Lt Col Welter notes that other squad-rons handle DV missions, but not nec-essarily with C21s. “There is a unit at MacDill AFB that lies DV missions with Gulfstreams, 1 at Hickam AFB (Hawaii) lying both Gulfstreams and a C40 (Boeing 737 BBJ), and another at Ramstein AFB that lies C21s, C40s and Gulfstreams. Andrews AFB gets the bulk of it with the 89th Airlift Wing.”

She adds that the unit also does what they call a jet swap. “We have 2 tails in the Middle East, and we support CENTCOM (US Central Command) out there. We deploy members to go sup-port those aircraft. So between the 2 Airlift Squadrons, there are 5 squadron members deployed at any time to sup-port those 2 C21s,” she says.

Upgrading the C21s to glass panel

With the youngest C21 coming into the Air Force in 1985, the aircraft are becoming a bit long in the tooth. In a January 2015 statement to the Sen-ate Armed Services Committee on the impact of sequestration on the USAF, Chief of Staff Gen Mark Welsh III stat-ed that the Air Force currently has “12 leets of aircraft that qualify for antique (car) license plates in the state of Vir-ginia.” He was deinitely talking about the C21. Virginia, home to the Penta-gon, requires a car to be only 25 years old to get an antique license plate.

So the Air Force is doing something about the age of its corporate VIP leet of C21s—sort of. There have been dis-cussions regarding getting rid of the C21s over the past several years. How-ever, the primary activity to date has been upgrades to improve the current leet. Key among these upgrades are updates to the cockpit.

The C21s currently still have the analog “steam gauge” avionics, so a request for proposal (RFP) has been issued for upgrading all the aircraft to digital cockpits. “The money is in place and the Air Force eventually will pick the contractor, with a contract ex-pected to be awarded this Fall,” Lt Col Welter says. She also notes that once the contract is awarded, it will take 4 or 5 years to upgrade all the aircraft.

Col Long adds that upgrading to dig-ital cockpits is supposed to extend the leet out to 2030. Because of this, the Air Force has decided to stop cutting

the C21s and keep the number they currently operate.

Pilot training

Along with providing DV transport, the 458th is tasked with transition training for the C21. Designated as the formal training unit for C21 pilots, it is a 6-week course that transitions recent USAF light school graduates from any of the 4 initial training bases—Vance AFB in Enid OK, Columbus AFB in MS, Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls TX and Laughlin AFB in Del Rio RX—as well as pilots who have come from other commands lying other aircraft. “About half of the new pilots come straight in from the initial pilot training sources, and the other half are seasoned pilots,” Col Long explains.

The unit’s pilot training program is headed by Maj Brian Jones, with Capt Cole Callahan serving as standards and evaluation oficer.

The irst 3 weeks of training are spent with CAE in Dallas, going through ground school and simulator training. The last 3 weeks are spent at Scott AFB, to include 4 training lights and a check ride. They can then be sent to any of the units still lying the C21. CAE is also used for ongoing simulator training as needed.

“The 458th is a preferred assign-ment,” Lt Col Welter declares. “A lot of distinguished graduates (from pri-mary light training) end up in the 458th.” Typical tour of duty for a pilot is 3 years.

Lockheed C130 Hercules at far left and C21A, taxiing out for a mission, are dwarfed by Lockheed C5 Galaxy at Scott AFB in Rantoul IL.

Col Laura Lenderman wears 2 hats as In-stallation Commander of Scott AFB and as Commander of the 375th Air Mobility Wing.


Medevac

Another major difference between the 458th of 2006 and 2016, along with reduced air transport and the new training assignments, is the reduction in aeromedical transport, which was a major function of the unit in 2006—not so much today.

“We have gotten away from the aero-medical mission to some extent, but we still have the capability and do still support the mission although we don’t do it as often as the Air Force has oth-er units throughout the United States with the appropriate medical person-nel to ly on the aircraft and keep pa-tients alive,” Col Long declares.

However, the unit still has the capa-bility to move people to the big military hospitals, for example when transport-ing soldiers who have been critically wounded in combat in Iraq or Afghani-stan. Soldiers are taken to a major med-ical facility for treatment, then when they’re ready to go home, the C21 re-distribution system often enters the air transportation picture.”

Operations

Unlike in the US Army, the 2nd in command of the 458th is not the exec-utive oficer, but the operations oficer. This is currently Lt Col Jason Ceccoli, who is supported by 2 assistant oper-ations oficers and is responsible for basically running the operations of the unit. While the unit has 2 executive of-icers, they are more administrative in nature, respond to the operations ofi-cer, and they are not considered to be part of the leadership of the squadron.

Scheduling for missions is done through a basically automated system. When a general needs transportation, his ofice sends a request to the Ofice of the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force/Special Air (CVAM), located at the Pentagon. Once the request is

vetted and approved by CVAM, it is assigned either to the 458th or 457th. The assignment is made through an integrated planning scheduling system called consolidated air mobility plan-ning system (CAMPS).

When the appropriate airlift squad-ron’s scheduler sees the approved re-quest, the unit uses the global decision support system 2 (GDSS2) to assign an aircraft and crew to that mission. GDSS2 is also used to track the mission while it is being executed.

The majority of the 458th’s missions are domestic, although there is the oc-casional international request, which requires special international clear-ances. “We get diplomatic clearances from the Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC), the 618th Air Operations Cen-ter,” Lt Col Ceccoli says. “They are the big unit here at Scott that runs all the AMC worldwide missions—the C17s, the C5s, KC10s, all that stuff.” TACC will request the clearances and ensure that the 458th meets the time require-ments. Once TACC gets the approvals, those will be sent over to the unit for scheduling. That is done through the GDSS2 command and control soft-ware. Everything is in that system, so everybody can go into the system and be up to speed.

Maintenance

Maintenance for the unit is handled by M1 Support Services out of Denton TX. They have total responsibility for all maintenance activities, although they actually only perform basic organiza-tional line maintenance.

“We don’t do any heavy repairs on our aircraft,” declares Terry Fitzgerald, site supervisor for M1. Major mainte-nance is done by subcontractors, in-cluding Dallas Airmotive in Grapevine

TX, which works on the Honeywell TFE731-2-2B engines that power the unit’s C21As. The heavy depot work is done by Spectra Jet in Springield OH, a major Learjet maintenance facility.

M1 does do most of the avionics repair work. Otherwise, it’s done by Duncan Aviation at their Lincoln NE facility. Duncan also has an avionics repair facility near St Louis, across the river from Scott AFB.

Kevin Fosburg is director of mainte-nance for the unit, with oversight han-dled by MSgt Greg Malott, the unit’s contracting oficer representative. M1 received a 7-year contract for mainte-nance in April 2014, and have 13 peo-ple at Scott AFB to support the 458th.

The primary ofice responsible for the entire C21 maintenance program is based at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, with MSgt Malott acting as the “go between” for M1 and the Tinker AFB program ofice. The Tinker ofice also provides maintenance scheduling for the 458th and serves as the inance accounting ofice.

Fitzgerald notes that the entire M1 crew is highly experienced, with some techs being with the Learjet 35A pro-gram since 1985. “Total maintenance personnel experience averages around 15 years,” he points out.

Changes to the analog “steam gauge” cockpit are expected to begin next year following the announcement of a new digital glass cockpit system this coming February.

Douglas Nelms is a retired Army CW4 Master Aviator with 22 years as an active US Army and reserv-ist rotary-wing pilot, and over 40 years as an aviation journalist.

In 1968 he was assigned to the VIP rotary-wing light detachment, prede-cessor to the 12th Av Bn, following his tour in Vietnam. He is now a freelance writer living in Haymarket VA.

M1 night shift leader Brian Crokett inspects C21A’s Honeywell TFE731-2-2B turbofan.

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