When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, it shut down communication and transportation in much of southern Louisiana. The owners of Rouses Markets had no way of knowing what was happening at their 17 supermarkets or with their employees and their communities. There was no cellphone service and flooding caused many road closures. “We…
Recently I was consulted about a PT6 undergoing a Hot Section Inspection (HSI). It began benignly enough; the hot section itself was in decent shape. But things took a left turn when a broken diffuser tube was found. This meant the rest of the engine (the “cold” section, if you will) had to be removed…
ADS-B Preflight Requirement The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will issue a NOTAM that will largely exempt general aviation operators from an ADS-B preflight requirement after the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline. The NOTAM exempts ADS-B Out transmitters that use WAAS GPS receivers as a position source from the preflight requirement and states specifically: “It is not…
The delay caused by the need to build new ferry tanks – to replace the ones that had been crushed when subjected to the 6 psi differential pressure when tested with the original venting system – put the delivery of the Super King Air 200 to its buyer in Malaysia behind schedule. Sabah, the Malaysian…
In the summer of 1927 two airframe manufacturers bet the future on an ill-fated race across the Pacific Ocean – a race that left one company in a tailspin and the other flying high. By 1927 the commercial aviation industry in the United States was still in its infancy. By contrast, cars and jazz music…
Blackhawk Aerospace announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the XP67A Engine+ Upgrade for both the 14,000 and 12,500 lb. gross weight versions of the King Air 300. This upgrade removes the standard 1050 shaft horsepower (SHP) PT6A-60A engines and Hartzell 4-blade metal propellers and replaces them…
ForeFlight 11.6 includes enrichments including 3D Review which puts you in the cockpit with a pilot’s-eye view; Map Annotations lets you take notes on the fly; Checklist Speak turns ForeFlight into a helpful co-pilot, and more. 3D Review The newest addition to ForeFlight’s suite of 3D capabilities lets you follow the path of a planned or recorded…
Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S) has named Hampton Aviation as a IS&S authorized dealer and installer. The IS&S Autothrottle (A/T), ThrustSense, is a full regime autothrottle from takeoff to landing phases of flight including go around. In addition, the system incorporates engine and speed exceedance protection. Think FADEC functionality with low speed and highspeed protection…
I quickly silenced the alarm that began chirping at precisely 4 a.m. Even as a morning person, forcing myself from a cozy bed while my wife and kids continued to snooze contently required extra motivation at that hour. The reward was looming just outside the door and would unfold over the next 90 minutes. Dressed…
In early January, the eighth and final SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenburg AFB in California on a mission for Iridium Communications. Seven of those eight rockets carried 10 Iridium NEXT satellites with the final carrying just five, 66 in all. Each satellite placed itself into a low-earth orbit replacing Iridium’s original satellite-phone…