Week in Brief 7 October 2011

Robinson is working with the FAA to adress concerns about mast rocking on its R44 helicopters. In August this year, the NTSB issued several safety recommendations related to the problem, following several accidents and incidents dating back to 2006. Pilots involved in incidents reported yaw and pitch oscillations so severe that they elected to make emergency landings, several hard enough to cause substantial damage. The problem appears to be exacerbated by a forward CoG within the envelope and is more readily entered during descending and banking turns of 30 degrees.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is calling for comments on a new confidential reporting scheme for the aviation, marine and rail industries. Confidential reporting or REPCON is an essential part of the ATSB's transport investigation process. It allows anyone aware of a safety issue to report it to the ATSB without fear of recrimination. Confidentiality protections are an important part of the scheme. The ATSB uses the information from REPCON to complement other information sources and to raise awareness of safety issues in the industry.

Airservices, the Government-owned corporation responsible for providing air traffic control, navigation, and airport rescue and fire fighting services throughout Australia, is to refurbish and upgrade the control tower at Gold Coast Airport. The work, part of a program to modernise and upgrade 28 operational air traffic control towers and systems across the country, will begin in the first week of October. The refurbishment will cost $2.3 million dollars with the improvements providing a better and safer working environment for controllers at the fifth busiest international airport in the country.

A US company has won a US$1.3 million prize from NASA for developing a highly efficient aircraft powered by electricity. The plane, developed by Pipistrel, doubled the fuel efficiency requirement for the competition, flying more than 320 km in less than two hours while using just over a half a gallon of fuel per occupant. The Pipistrel Taurus G4 is a four-seat, twin-fuselage aircraft powered by a 145 kw brushless electric motor driving a two-blade propeller mounted on a spar between the fuselages.

French Helicopter manufacturer Heli Air Design expects its new Helineo kit helicopter to make its first flight this month. The Helineo is unique in that it is the world’s first three-bladed light turbine helicopter. Feature of the Helineo include a Solar Turbines T62 T-32 engine with FADEC controls, a two-seat cabin, large luggage space, crash-resistant 200l fuel tank and all-carbon fuselage. The small two-seater debuted publically at the Paris Air Show in June and drew a lot of interest from onlookers.