Aviation International News reports that Bell delivered 57 helicopters in the fourth quarter of 2020, down from 76 deliveries in the same period a year prior. Bell reported “revenue of $871 million,” which “was down from $961 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, while profit declined by $8 million to $110 million.” Backlog “was $5.3 billion, compared with $6.9 billion a year ago.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Tag: FAA
HAI, FAA Call for Voluntary Helicopter Safety Retrofits
Aviation International News reports that in separate appeals, Helicopter Association International President James Viola and FAA Administrator Steve Dickson “called on helicopter operators to retrofit their legacy aircraft with crash-resistant fuel systems, seats, and structures.” Viola called on operators to voluntarily upgrade helicopters because “retrofitting aircraft to include these features will increase the likelihood of accident survival for your most precious resources – your employees and customers – and will make a clear statement of your commitment to safety.” Dickson “echoed the call for these retrofits on a voluntary basis.” He said, “We’re taking a scientific approach that is data-driven and urging, not mandating, the adoption of safety proposals. … We know that blunt-force trauma injuries are linked to more than 90 percent of helicopter fatalities.” According to Dickson, the 15-year trend for fatal helicopters accidents has not improved overall, and more needs to be done, particularly with the adoption of safety management systems.
Full Story (Aviation International News)
FAA Administrator to Test Fly Boeing 737 MAX This Week
Airways reported that on Friday, the FAA “confirmed that the Boeing 737 MAX will undergo flight tests next week, including one piloted by FAA Administrator and former Delta Air Lines (DL) Pilot Steve Dickson.” In a statement, the FAA said that Dickson and FAA Deputy Administrator Dan Elwell “will be in Seattle” this week “to take the recommended training that the JOEB (Joint Operations Evaluation Board) evaluated. Following the simulator training, Administrator Dickson is tentatively scheduled to pilot a Boeing 737 MAX on September 30, 2020, fulfilling his promise to fly the aircraft before the FAA approves its return to service.”
Full Story (Airways)
Getting Past Barriers to Embrace Profound Changes in Civil Aviation
Speaker: John-Paul Clarke, professor, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and director, Air Transportation Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology
by David Hodes, Aerospace America contributing writer
Research shows there are barriers to overcome as the movement toward an autonomous system that can operate with less human intervention gets closer every day, John-Paul Clarke said June 15 at the 2016 AIAA Demand for Unmanned Symposium in Washington, D.C.
During a session titled “The Autonomy ‘Dream,’” Clarke, professor at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and director of the Air Transportation Laboratory at Georgia Institute of Technology, spoke of research findings from a National Research Council committee of 17 technologists and representatives from academia.
“We discussed what autonomy is and what it is not,” he said. “We also talked about the fact that we are moving in a continuum, moving toward increasingly autonomous systems.”
One example he cited is the potential application of an autonomous baggage car vehicle at an airport.
“The biggest causes of flight delays is that those drivers drive into the airplanes,” Clarke said. “An autonomous vehicle would not do that.”
He said the committee agreed there are three barriers to the implementation of more autonomous systems: regulation and certification, legal and social issues, and technology.
“The certification regime relies on the judgment of people and how the process is followed,” Clarke said, adding that people also must learn to trust adaptive systems.
“We as humans say look into someone’s eyes and say ‘I trust this person or that person,’” he said. “But whose eyes do you look into on an autonomous vehicle to say I trust that?”
The social barrier centers more on the public’s negative perception of drones, he said.
“If a drone flies by your window to make a delivery next door, how do you know that it is not monitoring what you are doing?” Clarke asked. “Those concerns have to be addressed.”
Regarding technology, it’s common practice for hobbyists and lower-level drone operators to send an update to fix a bug in an unmanned aerial system, but that nontraditional process of engineering does not work for the UAS industry, he said.
“Those methodologies don’t come from the same pedigree as we have in aviation,” Clarke said.
Civil aviation is on the threshold of profound changes, Clarke said, and stakeholders need to get more involved.
“We think that the FAA is in the best position today to lead the resolution of legal and social issues and help us develop the technology by issuing new guidance materials,” he said.
| All 2016 AIAA AVIATION Forum Videos |