Plane crashed near Larkspur during lesson on emergency procedures

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University will operate a new federally funded facility to test aircraft engines and develop alternative fuels in work that also aims to reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil.
The National Test Facility for Fuels and Propulsion is funded with a $1.35 million grant from the U.S. Air Force and will be housed in the Niswonger Aviation Technology Building at the Purdue Airport.

“The aerospace industry now has an unprecedented interest in developing green aircraft using biofuels,” said David L. Stanley, an associate professor of aeronautical engineering technology at Purdue and principal investigator of the facility. “Testing will be conducted while fuels are being researched for development. This means input will be provided during the development phase, not after the fuel has been developed, which helps to ensure the best results possible.”

The facility, expected to open in late 2010 or early 2011, will test aerospace hardware in engines and aircraft and provide data related to fuel-sustainability and emissions goals and for economic assessments.

“This is a multidisciplinary research approach that begins with growing crops, developing fuels from those crops in the laboratory and then testing those fuels in engines,” said Denver Lopp, a professor of aviation technology and one of two co-principal investigators.

The other co-principal investigator is J. Mark Thom, a professor of aviation technology.

Work will focus on jet engines but will include some testing related to piston engines.

“The project involves faculty members in the colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Science and Technology to develop a well-rounded and capable research team for fuels research, with particular focus on aviation and aerospace,” Lopp said. “Purdue is strong in each of these areas, and having an airport also enhances these strengths.”

The researchers will work with the Air Force, industry and government agencies to develop the fuels.

“Roughly 17 billion gallons of turbine fuel are burned annually in the United States, and clearly a portion of this could be saved by blending alternative fuels,” Stanley said. “The U.S. Air Force intends to be able to operate its fleet on blends of these fuels.”

The work will tackle four major bottlenecks to aerospace progress: access to hardware testing; development of control logic and systems permitting flex-fuel operation and realization of improved efficiencies; sustainability of biofuels related to crop productivity, as well as bio and synthetic fuels’ ability to meet both near- and long-term aerospace requirements; and regulatory compliance.

“The overall goal is to update and maintain a multifaceted national testing facility with dedicated administration to support development and testing of alternative energy sources for aerospace equipment,” Lopp said. “This facility will address all energy sources and will not be an advocate of any particular fuel.”

Writer: Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

Sources: David Stanley, 765-494-6266, stanledl@purdue.edu

Denver Lopp, 765-494-6387, denver@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: ( 765 ) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

June 18–The FAA and the European Commission concluded negotiations today on an agreement that will allow the U.S. and Europe to work together on research aimed at providing seamless air traffic services for aircraft flying between the two continents.

“Harmonization is the key to the future of air travel over the North Atlantic,” said FAA Chief Operating Officer Hank Krakowski, who signed a Memorandum of Consultations with Daniel Calleja, European Commission Director for Air Transport in Madrid. “This agreement allows us to work together to give the airlines a seamless transition between our airspaces.”

The goal of the agreement is to provide aircraft flying over the North Atlantic with consistent service in terms of avionics, communication protocols and procedures, and operational methods under NextGen and its European counterpart, the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR).

The agreement calls for 22 specific areas of cooperation. These areas include research on Data Comm, which will improve safety and efficiency by replacing voice communications with data communications, and System Wide Information Management (SWIM), an information platform that will allow FAA systems to speak to one another. Research will also be conducted on systems used by other parts of the aviation community, including the European Commission, the airlines, the military and the Department of Homeland Security. Collaborative research will also be done on emerging technologies such as 4-D Trajectory-Based Operations, which introduce the fourth dimension of time to the existing dimensions of latitude, longitude and altitude in an aircraft’s flight profile, meaning pilots and air traffic controllers will know when an aircraft will be at specific points along its flight path.

Today’s agreement, which was finalized in Madrid because Spain holds the current presidency of the European Union, replaces a Memorandum of Understanding reached between the FAA and the European Commission in 2007. That agreement allowed both sides to collaborate on basic strategies in the move toward NextGen and SESAR. This agreement calls for specific, joint research and development on NextGen/SESAR projects.

For Immediate Release
November 23, 2009
Contact: Les Dorr, Jr. or Alison Duquette
Phone: (202) 267-3883

WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing a rule requiring scheduled airlines to either retrofit their existing fleet with ice-detection equipment or make sure the ice protection system activates at the proper time.

For aircraft with an ice-detection system, the FAA proposes that the system alert the crew each time they should activate the ice protection system. The system would either turn on automatically or pilots would manually activate it.

For aircraft without ice-detection equipment, the crew would activate the protection system based on cues listed in their airplane’s flight manual during climb and descent, and at the first sign of icing when at cruising altitude.

“This is the latest action in our aggressive 15-year effort to address the safety of flight in icing conditions,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “We want to make sure all classes of aircraft in scheduled service remain safe when they encounter icing.”

The FAA estimates the rule would cost operators about $5.5 million to implement. Operators would have two years after the final rule is effective to make these changes.

The proposed rule would apply only to in-service aircraft with a takeoff weight less than 60,000 pounds, because most larger airplanes already have equipment that meets the requirements. In addition, studies show that smaller planes are more susceptible to problems caused by undetected icing or late activation of the ice protection system. The rule technically affects 1,866 airplanes, but all turbojet airliners and many turboprops covered under the rule already have equipment that satisfies the requirements, and the FAA believes others will be retired before the projected compliance date in 2012.

In August 2009, the FAA changed its certification standards for new transport category airplane designs to require either the automatic activation of ice protection systems or a method to tell pilots when they should be activated.

Since 1994, the FAA has issued more than 100 airworthiness directives to address icing safety issues on more than 50 specific aircraft types. These orders cover safety issues ranging from crew operating procedures in the icing environment to direct design changes. We also have changed airplane flight manuals and other operating documents to address icing safety, and issued bulletins and alerts to operators emphasizing icing safety issues.

The latest proposed rule on activation of ice protection systems is at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-28036.htm