Business & Commercial Aviation

FlightSafety International filed a lawsuit Oct. 25 related to the 2014 crash of a King Air B200 into a FlightSafety training facility shortly after takeoff from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. The crash killed four, including the pilot, and injured six others. The lawsuit, filed in Sedgwick County District Court in Wichita, names more than a dozen defendants alleged to have contributed to the crash through negligence, breach of warranty or other factors.

Although Boeing does not market used BBJs, it has decided it is in the best interests of operators, potential buyers and the company to help facilitate the process and, further, to help establish fixed maintenance costs for those considering a pre-owned BBJ.

Selected Accidents and incidents in October 2016. The following is NTSB information.

Russian investigators concluded that alcohol use by a shift supervisor and a snowplow driver at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport played role in the October 2014 nighttime collision that destroyed a departing Unijet Airlines Dassault Falcon 50EX and killed all four on board. The snowplow driver was crossing Runway 6, but stopped as the jet began its takeoff roll. The Falcon hit the plow with its right wing and right main gear at a speed of 133 kt., rolled inverted, crashed and burned.

Winglet specialist Aviation Partners and joint venture partner FlexSys are working with an undisclosed customer to retrofit an aircraft with the first commercial morphing wing. The potentially game-changing aerodynamic innovation has wide-ranging implications for performance-boosting retrofit of existing business jets or clean-sheet designs. The wing-morphing “flexfoil” demonstrator illustrates how the airfoil shape can change in flight to boost performance over a wide range of angles of attack, indicated airspeeds and Mach numbers.

The space-based Global Positioning System could be said to be the keystone of the FAA's NextGen ATM modernization but just how reliable is GPS? To find out, we asked John Hansman, Ph.D., an aeronautics professor and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The preceding elements are “greater than” the subsequent. But theory is often overwhelmed by reality.

The NTSB has recommended that the FAA require all FAR Part 135 operators install flight data recorders (FDR) capable of supporting flight data monitoring programs (FDMP) in their aircraft, and that, once installed, the operators establish structured FDMPs that identify “deviations from established norms and procedures and other potential safety issues.” The Safety Board also wants the FAA to require all Part 135 operators to establish safety management systems (SMS).

Heli-One will upgrade a fleet of Sikorsky S-61A-4 Nuri helicopters for an Asian operator with Universal's EFI-890H Advanced Flight Displays and Multi-Missions Management System. Heli-One will design and install the initial aircraft with an Asian maintenance, repair and overhaul business performing the upgrades on the remainder of the fleet. The upgrade includes four EFI-890H Advanced Flight Displays and one UNS-1L2 MMMS, Universal’s flight management system for mission support.

Cessna Aircraft has increased performance targets for its new super-midsize $23.9 million Citation Longitude, the planemaker's latest business jet under development. The announcement was made at the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation in Orlando. Cessna, a division of Textron Aviation, is increasing its initial targets for range from 3,400 nm to 3,500 nm and full-fuel payload by 100 lb., to 1,600 lb. FAA type certification and entry into service is expected in 2017.

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AviationManuals is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Since its founding in 1996, it has produced more than 4,000 manuals. It recently expanded its product line to include Minimum Equipment Lists and Electronic Flight Bag application packages. The company also is expanding its workforce and seeks to employ an operations manual specialist, aviation specialist, editor/document specialist and a business development/sales coordinator.

Hawthorne Global Aviation Services's ExcelAire facility in Long Island, New York, has been approved by the Cayman Islands as an authorized maintenance provider for private jets registered in the islands. ExcelAire provides jet maintenance services around the clock. The facility offers jet charters, aircraft management, maintenance and fixed base operator services.

Blackhawk Modifications has launched another engine upgrade program, this time targeting the King Air 350. The switch involves replacing that aircraft’s 1,050 shp PT6A-60A engines with a pair of -67As, each rated at 1,200 shp. The Waco, Texas company expects to receive approval for the upgrade in the second quarter of 2017. The change-out will benefit those operators — including military units — needing improved hot-and-high performance.

Jet Support Services has announced its Tip-to-Tail Program is now available for the Dassault Falcon 8X, Embraer Lineage 1000 and Airbus Corporate Jets, including the ACJ318, ACJ319 and ACJ320. The program includes coverage for the airframe, engines and APU.

BCA shares news of the latest products and services for the business aviation industry.

FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Florida, celebrated its 50th anniversary in October. Its 21,000 graduates have flown for 62 airlines and over 100 corporate flight departments around the world. It employs 160 people and owns nearly 90 aircraft. Its campus also includes classrooms, flight training devices, an Air Traffic Control communications laboratory and on-site accommodations for 300 students.

Honeywell has received the FAA's STC for enhanced features for the Gulfstream PlaneDeck cockpits on GIV and V aircraft. The latest suite of upgrades will increase crew awareness with the addition of Synthetic Vision Systems and other features. The upgrades include charts and maps, video capability and XM ground-based weather. PlaneDeck provides a 3-D color image of runways, terrain and obstacles.

Jeppesen has launched Operator, a cloud-based business aviation platform that integrates flight planning, runway performance and weight and balance calculations, crew scheduling, accounting, pricing, regulatory compliance and trip checklists, among other things. BoldIQ, the fleet optimization and management program that evolved from the failed DayJet operation is intrinsic to the new Jepp service.

World Fuel Services has added three fixed base operators to its network of FBOs. Flightways Columbus at the Columbus Airport (KCSG) in Columbus, Georgia, Emery Air at the Chicago Rockford International Airport (KRFD) in Rockford, Illinois, and Guardian Air Center at Ontario International Airport (KONT) in Canada, have joined the network, it said. World Fuel Services, based in Miami, provides training, credit card processing, marketing support, global fuel logistics and distributes fuel and related products and services.

The Citation 560XL family is one of the best examples of Cessna Aircraft's time-proven incremental engineering and development philosophy that has produced so many derivative models on time, on weight and on budget. Created in the mid-1990s as a rush response to the clean-sheet, leading edge Learjet 45, Citation 560XL combines a shortened Citation 650 fuselage, a scaled up and modified Citation V wing and newly introduced PW545 turbofan engines.

The business jet market continues to be stubbornly soft, Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly said on an Oct. 20 conference call about the company's third-quarter earnings. Still, the market is “more or less in line with what we expected this year,” Donnelly said. “Most of the growth is driven by new products coming into the market.” That is why the company is concentrating on bringing to market the Citation Latitude, Citation Longitude, Cessna Denali and eventually, the Citation Hemisphere.

The potential failure of critical information technology systems is the No. 1 risk to the aviation industry, according to a new ranking by Willis Towers Watson. The next most pressing risks include competition law scrutiny associated with merger and acquisition activity and dependence on third-party suppliers, followed by the inability to keep up with the pace of change and technological advancement, over-dependence on national infrastructure and changes in seasonal demand.

Chengdu Aircraft, the fighter division of China's Avic Aviation, is planning to develop a business jet. The new aircraft, which was detailed at Airshow China in November, would have a range of 5,000 sm and a length and wingspan of 80 ft. The project was set when Chengdu was formed in 2008, but little progress seems to have been made, especially since all Western makers of business aircraft declined Avic’s invitation for cooperation. Obviously, none saw any reason to train a competitor.

Being free and in control of my destiny is what put me on the road to the NBAA convention this time and helps put people in private aircraft.