CommercialProduct Focus: Aircraft Wiring Trapped in an aluminum tube at 33,000 feet with wires leading to the high-load circuit breakers cracked, arced, shorted or fused–an unpleasant scenario. Capt. Paul McCarthy, executive air safety chairman for the…
CommercialAvionics System Design: Learning from the Florida Recount Last year, the world was treated to an amazing demonstration of unintended design consequences, packaged as the 2000 U.S. presidential election. I know, I know, you’ve heard enough about the election and…
Business & GACabin Management at the Press of a Button Ask a question about cabin management systems and the reply is often another question: What do you mean by cabin management? The term has become part of the aviation world’s lexicon since…
ATM ModernizationAnother Big Step Forward for ADB-B It was an overcast October night at the Louisville (Ky.) Standford Field when five Boeing 727 freighters lined up for departure on the airport’s runway 35R. Four were owned by United Parcel…
CommercialAvionics System Design: Customer Service: It's Cool Certainly, nobody requests bad service. But it is not surprising these days to get it. Between voice mail connected to deep space, the helpful suggestion to go back and "read the manual,"…
ATM ModernizationProduct Focus: Air Traffic Control Switches Most people think of a switch as something small and simple–something that can be manipulated by a finger. Not so in an air traffic control (ATC) center. The ground-based megaswitches for ATC…
Business & GAATN and the Reluctance to Accept the Inevitable The Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) will shoulder no small amount of responsibility. Quite simply, it is being developed to interconnect all operational components of civil aviation, both air and ground, through a…
ATM ModernizationEditor's Note: How Far Will ATC Privatization Go? It appears the United Kingdom will carry through with the partial privatization of its National Air Traffic Services (NATS) organization. Will the United States do the same with the Federal Aviation Administration’s…