Business & Commercial Aviation

Questions for Charles E. Priester Chairman Priester Aviation

Satcom Direct, the airborne connectivity services provider headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, plans to acquire TrueNorth, a 10-year-old avionics manufacturer based in Ottawa. Jim Jensen, the founder and CEO of Satcom Direct, says the transaction should close before year-end. Just two months earlier, the company bought AircraftLogs, which makes flight scheduling and tax reporting software. (See “Special Report: 2016 IFEC: the Internet of Aviation Things” on page 26 of this issue.)

In the three years since Wheels Up began business, the private aviation membership company has taken delivery of 70 aircraft while membership has grown to 3,700. In the next three to five years, Wheels Up co-founder and CEO Kenny Dichter expects membership to grow to 9,000 or 10,000 and its fleet to reach 200 to 250. In late 2017 or early 2018, Wheels Up plans to expand in Europe with the King Air. “Europe is an unbelievable market,” Dichter said. The company operates a fleet of new King Air 350i turboprops and used Citation XLS+ aircraft.

Despite slow sales in the current down market and a years-long delay of the Falcon 5X due to development setbacks with the Silvercrest engine, Dassault Aviation is considering what next it will offer to help reenergize its lineup of business jets. “History has taught us that times of crisis are not just a storm that must be weathered. They represent an opportunity to change and improve,” CEO Eric Trappier said during the NBAA Convention.

Rated at 3,230 lb. thrust for takeoff, the Williams International FJ44-4A-32 turbofans produce about 9% more thrust than the original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5R engines fitted to the Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP. At first glance, that seems like a nominal increase at best. But the FJ44-4 has a fat ISA+17C flat rating that makes a considerable difference in hot-and-high airport, climb and cruise performance.

News of promotions, appointments and honors involving professionals within the business aviation community.

The annual gala dinner, or soiree, and auction sponsored by NBAA at its convention to benefit the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) raised $450,000 to help fund that organization’s decades-long mission to transport cancer patients to treatment centers, mainly aboard business jets, free of charge. CAN Executive Director Gina Russo said, “We very much appreciate the industry’s involvement in CAN’s work, as illustrated by the hundreds of companies flying CAN missions for cancer patients year-round, as well as through participation in this event.

In a move of confidence in the Asian business aviation market, Singapore-based Zetta Jet is adding four Bombardier Challenger 650 large jets, valued at $129.4 million, to its fleet of aircraft. The Challengers will join Zetta’s fleet of Bombardier Global aircraft. Bombardier Business Aircraft and Zetta Jet, a private jet operator in Asia, celebrated the addition at an event at the Orlando Executive Airport Oct.

JetBlue Airways has taken a minority stake in fast-growing, California-based jet-charter company JetSuite. Robin Hayes, CEO of the New York-based low cost carrier, said JetSuite was “changing the game in short-haul travel in the West Coast.” Launched in 2009, JetSuite operates up to four daily flights between the California cities of Burbank, Carlsbad, Concord and San Jose, as well as Las Vegas. For this JetSuiteX service, the carrier sells tickets on its Embraer 135 jets via its website as a public-charter operation.

Since its introduction nearly a half-century ago, the Boeing 737 has proven to be the most popular civilian jet ever, with more than 9,000 delivered to date. And the manufacturer is moving to increase its production rate to more than 50 per month, easily the highest in its history. New models and variants — notably including the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and P-8 Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft — are in production and with thousands on back order, the 737 will be a significant presence for a long time to come.

Between November 2015 and October 2016, Teterboro Airport was the most requested departure and destination airport for brokers and travelers shopping for charter flights with the Air Charter Guide Worldwide Trip Builder.

Bombardier’s new Global 7000 made its maiden flight Nov. 4 in Toronto. First delivery is expected in the second half of 2018. The OEM provided this promotional video touting the first flight milestone. Courtesy: Bombardier Business Aircraft

Fred George, Business & Commercial Aviation’s Aircraft Evaluation Editor, shows us the features and performance of the Gulfstream G500 as he takes us up on its 66th test flight.

There are close to 5,000 airports in the U.S. with paved runways, but only about 500 have full- or part-time control towers.

While Honeywell Aerospace's forward view is firmly fixed on the super-midsize business jet market, the Phoenix-based OEM continues to produce its stable of smaller turbine engines.

Rick Stoulil, chief pilot for Hormel Foods Corp., says: "The way the HTF7000 is set up, it works great. It is equipped with autothrottles and is very responsive [on spool-up] with very little lag. And it's really fuel efficient.

Mark Jones's deep expertise on Hawker series aircraft has proven to be invaluable to his employers, fellow maintainers, pilots and the jet’s manufacturer.

The director of maintenance of a large U.S. charter/management company with experience with HTF7000 turbofans half jokes that, while the engine runs well, you do not want to borescope it.

Many of the checklists designed for business aircraft are lengthy, especially when addressing critical phases of flight, and they can increase a pilot's workload, thereby detracting from the primary task of managing the aircraft's trajectory. The challenge becomes compounded whenever the list is temporarily halted for whatever reason.

The turbofan for the USAF Fairchild-Republic T-46 advanced trainer was rated at 1,330 lb. thrust and was assigned the designation F109. But the program was canceled after the first 28 F109s were delivered.

How to master automation, communications, navigation, systems and the rest when you are a crew of one.

Especially as a single pilot, organizing items you will need for the flight while still in the chocks or the planning room just makes good sense.

Going behind the scenes to see how much work is involved in creating an avionics product and bringing it to market gives one an appreciation and respect for the work of the designers, engineers and technicians who make this happen.

Universal Avionics' InSight Integrated Flight Deck system allowed the writer to instantly form a mental image of our proximity to terrain and obstacles.

Despite the seemingly glacial-pace of air traffic management evolution, the FAA has begun upgrading its services and capabilities, including controller-pilot data link communications to help make the flow of traffic safer and more efficient.