Aviation International News September 2023

SEPTEMBER 2023 | Vol. 52 No. 9 | AINonline.com

OEMS: THE FIRST LEAR JETS, THEN AND NOW SAFETY: WHO'S RUNNING OFF THE RUNWAY AVIONICS: IS IT TIME FOR NIGHT VISION GOGGLES?

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In this issue

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Legacy Tails: Lear Jet 23— The Birth of a Legend

The not-so-new vision of air taxis

4 6 8 10 12 14 32 36 40

AIN Product Support Survey: Avionics NTSB: Night close call blamed on Learjet flight crew Airshare doubles down on Challenger order Argus: ‘Different dynamics at play’ with dip in Q1 operations Cessna SkyCourier wins Brazilian type certification Geared Up: Portable deicer fills gap at small airports Bringing Lear Jet 003 back to flight Safety: Circling approach, is it your best option?

News from EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Runway excursions: Does the hype about causes and types match with reality?

DEPARTMENTS 21 Expert Opinion | 46 Avionics | 48 Rotorcraft 50 On the Ground | 52 MRO | 54 Accidents 56 Compliance | 58 People in Aviation On the cover: NASA's Super Guppy against the backdrop of the fireworks celebration at EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Photo: Rob Olewinski.

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NTSB: Night close call blamed on Learjet flight crew B Y G O R D O N G IL BE R T

Despite acknowledging ATC instructions The closest proximity between the airto line up and wait (LUAW), the flight planes occurred when the E190 was about crew of a Learjet 60 took off without clear- 30 feet agl during the landing flare, near ance at Boston Logan International Airport the point where the runways intersected.

(KBOS) and thus caused a near-collision As they entered the flare after crossing with a JetBlue Embraer E190, according to the threshold, the JetBlue pilots saw the NTSB final report published August 3. the Learjet cross 04R on Runway 09 but The incident occurred at 6:55 p.m. on could not estimate how far away the airFebruary 27. BOS tower told the crew of plane was. the Learjet, operating as a Part 91 posiThe Learjet captain said they had tioning flight by charter operator Hop- heard a clearance that “seems to be line A-Jet, to LUAW on Runway 09 while the up and wait.” He added that “he probaJetBlue E190 was cleared to land on Run- bly responded to the clearance, but in his way 04R. mind, they were cleared for takeoff.” After The Learjet crew read back ATC’s departing, ATC gave a phone number to instructions to LUAW, but then began the call upon landing. In that call, BOS tower takeoff roll. After being alerted by the air- told them that they had taken off without port’s surface-detection equipment, model authorization and caused an airplane that X, the controller issued a go-around to the had been cleared to land on Runway 04 to JetBlue crew, and they initiated the maneu- execute a go-around, passing about 400 ver while over Runway 04R before reaching feet above them. Both pilots filed NASA the intersection with Runway 09.

ASRS reports after the phone call. z

News Briefs WHEELS UP GETS LIFELINE Aircraft membership and charter company Wheels Up on August 9 canceled its second-quarter financial results release and investor call scheduled for that day and instead announced an unspecified, shortterm cash infusion from Delta Air Lines, which owns 20 percent of Wheels Up. It also said it is pursuing “strategic options,” including the offloading of its aircraft management business, which Wheels Up termed a “non-core” asset, to business aircraft fractional, charter, management, and maintenance provider Airshare. The deal for Wheels Up’s aircraft management business is expected to close in the third quarter.

SUPPLY-CHAIN WOES WEIGH ON GULFSTREAM Gulfstream Aerospace delivered 45 aircraft (35 large-cabin and 10 super-midsize G280s) in the first half, down from 47 (38 large-cabin and nine G280s) a year ago and will miss its 2023 delivery forecast of 145 by five or six units, Phebe Novakovic, chairman and CEO of parent company General Dynamics, said.

The company expects to deliver 27 aircraft in the third quarter, meaning approximately 68 will be in the last quarter. Meanwhile, order intake for Gulfstreams remains robust, with a book-to-bill of more than 1.3:1 in the second quarter. Gulfstream’s backlog stood at $19.497 billion at the end of the quarter, about $700 million higher than a year ago.

DASSAULT SEES 1H SLOWDOWN

This screenshot shows a portion of the freeze-frame image captured from a video taken by a jump seat pilot on a JetBlue Embraer E190 landing on Boston Logan International Airport’s Runway 4R on February 27. The ghostly image of the Hop-A-Jet Learjet is difficult to see as it takes off on the crossing runway (Runway 9) after its crew was instructed by ATC to line up and wait.

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Dassault Aviation is maintaining its fullyear guidance and still expects to deliver 35 Falcon business jets and 15 Rafale fighters this year despite a weak first half due to supply-chain issues. The French OEM delivered nine Falcons in the first six months, down from 14 in the same period last year. Further, it registered net orders for just 12 Falcons, less than a third of the 41 it sold in first-half 2022.

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Airshare doubles down on Challenger orders B Y K E R R Y LY N C H

Airshare is building on its fleet of Bombardier Challenger 350s with an order for up to 20 of the successor model, the Challenger 3500.

Lenexa, Kansas-based fractional ownership “The response we have received to the provider Airshare is ordering up to 20 Bom- Challenger entering our fractional probardier Challenger 3500s, potentially dou- gram has been tremendous, from both bling its fleet of super-midsize Challengers. new and existing customers,” said AirAirshare in May 2021 placed an order for share president and CEO John Owen. up to 20 Challenger “The strength of our 350s, the predecessor partnership made it to the 3500, moving easy for us to accelinto larger aircraft erate our plans to a f te r b u i l d i n g i t s order more of these fractional program aircraft to meet cusaround Embraer Phetomer demand.” nom 300s.

In its by-the-day That original Chalfractional-share lenger order included program, Airshare three aircraft and 17 offers 1/16th shares options, but Bomin the Challenger, bardier noted that which includes 20 Airshare is placing days and unlimited the follow-on order flight time during as it exercises all those days up to the options from the initial deal. The lat- a maximum of a 14-hour crew duty day. est contract includes firm orders for four The Airshare program also provides a Challenger 3500s and options for 16 more. 25 percent discount on the hourly rate At list prices, the latest deal could be worth when shareowners begin and end flight $544 million, if all options are exercised. days at the same location. z

 The response we

have received to the Challenger entering our fractional program has been tremendous, from both new and existing customers... 

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News Briefs BOMBARDIER DELIVERIES TICK UP

Bombardier delivered 29 aircraft in the second quarter, one more than a year earlier, but the mix shifted to more Challengers (15 versus 12) and fewer Globals (14 versus 16). Even so, quarterly revenues climbed 8 percent, to $1.7 billion, while earnings rose 37 percent, to $275 million. In the first six months, Bombardier delivered 51 business jets, up from 49 a year ago, with Globals accounting for 28 of them. Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel said the company is on track to meet guidance of 138 deliveries this year. Bookto-bill has remained at about 1:1 for the year, while backlog edged up to $14.9 billion.

TEXTRON POSTS STRONG 2Q DESPITE CHALLENGES

In the second quarter, Textron Aviation reported a $78 million revenue improvement compared with a year earlier, to $1.4 billion, thanks to strong demand and beneficial pricing conditions, even while aircraft deliveries proved “light” due to supply-chain issues.

Because of this, the company won’t meet its guidance for 200 deliveries this year.

Textron Aviation’s production constraints led to a decrease in Citation deliveries from 48 in second-quarter 2022 to 44 this year, while the company saw a modest increase in turboprop deliveries from 35 to 37. Backlog grew by $315 million in the quarter.

EMBRAER AIRCRAFT DELIVERIES SOAR 47 PERCENT

Embraer deliveries jumped by 47 percent in the second quarter to 62, including 38 executive jets and 24 airliners. This compares with a total of 47 delivered in the second quarter of 2022, including 30 executive jets and 17 airliners. Phenom deliveries were up by six units, to 25, and Praetors rose by two, to 13. With the spike in deliveries, backlog ebbed slightly to $17.3 billion at the end of June. During the quarter, Embraer scored a NetJets order for up to 250 Praetor 500 jets.

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News Briefs

MARK WAGNER

LOU PEPPER STEPS DOWN AS ATLANTIC AVIATION CEO

Fractional-share flight operations increased in the first half of 2023, but all categories of aircraft saw fewer flights, Argus reported.

Argus: ‘Different dynamics at play’ with dip in Q1 ops B Y K E R R Y LY N C H

Business aircraft activity experienced a notable shift in the first half of the year with consistent declines in the Part 135 market, a jump in fractional operations, and a mostly flat Part 91 sector, Argus reported in its Mid-Year Business Aviation Review. Globally, business aviation flight activity ebbed by 2.6 percent during the first six months versus the first half of 2022.

“We are six months into 2023 and different dynamics are at play in the broader business aviation market, compared to the prior years,” the aviation safety and data specialist said. “We are no longer seeing the consistent growth on top of growth that was so prevalent in the postCovid days.”

The combined dynamics between the three operational sectors collectively resulted in a 3.7 percent year-over-year decline in first-half operations in North America. Argus cautioned that this drop is against a backdrop of record highs logged in 2022 and said activity remains strong, averaging at some 288,000 flights per month during the first half of the year,

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compared with 260,000 during the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.

By segment, fractional flights in North America were up 6.9 percent year-overyear in the first half, while Part 135 operations dropped by 10 percent and Part 91 by 1.9 percent. Flights in the region were down in all aircraft categories led by midsize aircraft (-5.5 percent) and followed by light aircraft (-4.3 percent), turboprops (-3.2 percent), and then large-cabin jets (-1.1 percent).

Europe has seen a consistent decline— down 11.9 percent year-over-year in the first half—but Argus sees signs of stabilization. Going forward, Argus expects a leveling of between 5 percent and 10 percent year-over-year, a steadying from the postCovid highs.

Overall, Argus is projecting that activity will dip by 0.6 percent year-over-year in the back half of 2023. This will still be a 13.4 percent increase over the same period in 2019. Argus anticipates traffic to reflect normal activity with peaks in August and in October, slowing in the last two months of the year. z

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Lou Pepper, who led FBO chain Atlantic Aviation as its CEO for more than 30 years, has stepped back from this role. On August 14, Jeff Foland took over as CEO of the company, leaving Pepper to “fully focus on his role as a member of Atlantic Aviation’s board of directors.” Foland has nearly three decades of experience in the aviation, travel, and transportation industries. Under Pepper’s leadership, Atlantic Aviation grew from 16 FBOs into one of the biggest chains with more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Caribbean.

EPIC RAISING E1000 GX PRODUCTION Epic Aircraft plans to deliver 20 E1000 GX turboprop singles this year and 24 of the $4.45 million all-composite aircraft next year, company marketing director Amy Trenz told AIN. The company is closing in on FAA certification for flight into known icing conditions, with all aircraft delivered in 2024 expected to have this approval, she added. Trenz said that “like everyone else,” the company has had to deal with supply chain issues, but that Epic has been successful in recruiting workforce and optimizing production. Epic delivered 10 aircraft in 2021 and 16 last year.

GULFSTREAM G550 FLEET ACHIEVES MILESTONE Gulfstream’s G550 fleet recently achieved its one millionth flight. The long-range twinjet entered service in 2003 and served as the top of the Savannah, Georgia airframer’s line until certification of the G650 in 2012. While production of the G550 ceased in 2021, more than 600 remain in service. The G550 marked the debut of Gulfstream’s enhanced vision system—now known as enhanced flight vision system—which helped the company receive the 2003 Collier Trophy from the National Aeronautic Association.

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News Briefs AIRBUS HELICOPTERS H175 CERTIFIED IN CHINA

The Cessna SkyCourier can now be sold in Brazil following type approval from ANAC.

Cessna SkyCourier wins Brazilian type certification B Y G R E G OR Y P OL E K

LABACE 2023 The Cessna SkyCourier utility turboprop twin won type certification from Brazil’s ANAC, parent company Textron Aviation announced at LABACE 2023.

The approval allows for its delivery and operation in the expansive Brazilian market for regional, utility, and special-mission aircraft.

Calling the SkyCourier an ideal fit for Brazil’s diverse geography, remote locales, and growing demand for air transportation, Textron promotes the aircraft as “an unparalleled combination” of performance, capacity, and capability, positioning it as a catalyst for enhanced regional connectivity, efficient cargo transportation, and reliable regional passenger operations.

Featuring short takeoff and landing capability, the aircraft can operate from small runways, allowing it to reach remote communities and locations with limited infrastructure. Separately, the aircraft’s recently certified gravel kit option further expands the

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SkyCourier’s capability to operate from unimproved runways.

Along with a freighter version, Textron offers the high-wing turboprop in a 19-passenger variant that includes separate crew and passenger entries for smooth boarding, as well as large cabin windows for natural light and views. Both configurations offer single-point pressure refueling.

Designing the SkyCourier to feature simple systems and easy access points for ease of maintenance, the aircraft’s development team also devised ways to convert the aircraft from a 19-seat passenger configuration to a cargo configuration using quick-release seats and removable bulkheads.

Powered by two wing-mounted Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65SC turboprop engines, the SkyCourier flies to a maximum cruise speed of more than 200 ktas and a 900-nm maximum range. It features a large cargo door and Garmin G1000 NXi avionics, and the freighter variant can hold up to three LD3 shipping containers with 6,000 pounds of payload capability. z

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The Airbus H175 super-medium-twin helicopter in late July received certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), clearing the way for delivery of four of the aircraft in the country later this year. The H175 received its nod from EASA in 2014 and the current in-service fleet of 53 in 13 countries has amassed 185,000 flight hours on missions including offshore energy, search and rescue, public services, and private and business aviation. Last year, CAAC certified the AC352, a version of the H175 produced in China, but deliveries of new H175s into China suggest that the AC352 production line has not yet fully matured.

SEN. MARKEY WANTS HIGHER TAXES ON ‘FAT CAT’ JETS Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) is taking aim at “fat cat” corporate aircraft with a bill to increase fuel taxes for private jets ninefold from the current 21.9 cents per gallon to $1.95. Entitling the bill the Fueling Alternative Transportation with a Carbon Aviation Tax—or FATCAT—Act, Markey estimated that the tax increase would be the equivalent of charging about $200 per tonne of a private jet’s CO2 emissions. Resulting tax revenue would help fund a newly created Clean Communities Trust Fund. The path forward for such a bill is unclear, particularly in the House.

PT6 HITS 500M FLIGHT HOURS Pratt & Whitney Canada is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its ubiquitous line of PT6 turboprop engines, of which more than 61,000 have been delivered and installed on 42,000 aircraft, with a combined fleet time of 500 million hours. The company also is marking the one billionth flight hour of all its engines since 1928. The latest iteration, the E series, has a 5,000-hour TBO interval and requires 40 percent less maintenance.

Geared Up

Portable deicer fills gap at small airports B Y J A ME S C A R E L E S S

When it comes to flying safely, deicing is as With its ability to be moved to any airimportant to small aircraft at remote airports port that a Dash 8 flies into, the Jetstream as 737s at big ones. However, the economics deicing unit can be deployed at remote associated with conventional deicing sys- airports and gravel airstrips—anywhere tems can make them too expensive for many that has a hangar and a small airports to install. tractor capable of towTo fill this gap, Wing Armor of Saint- ing the unit onto the tarColomban, Quebec, has developed the Jet- mac. “What you would stream towable deicing system. It is small expect from a big enough “to be loaded into the baggage door deicing truck, of a de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft, so it may you can get be flown to remote airports that have lim- from this ited road access,” said Walter Randa, Wing small unit,” Armor’s founder and CEO. Yet the Jetstream said Randa. has enough fluid capacity and delivery power “ W i t h i t s to fully deice personal and business aircraft, low-pressure he told AIN, and even clear off frost and light spray, it can be snow off a 737. used safely on The Jetstream deicer unit can hold up small aircraft to 150 gallons of deicing fluid. Its onboard and helicop 400,000-BTU heater and element can keep ter rotors.” Wing that fluid “at a pre-heat temperature of 40-deg Armor provides onsite Celsius [90 deg F] so the fluid can be rapidly training programs to bring brought to 80 deg Celsius,” said Randa. The ground crew up to speed on Jetstream sprays three to four gallons of deic- how to operate the system safely. ing fluid per minute via a 38-inch spray gun Manufacturing of the Jetstream with a variety of settings. This is connected deicer is done at Wing Armor’s new plant to a reeled 100-foot-long reinforced hose in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. This is just west mounted on the Jetstream towable unit. of the Ontario/Quebec border, and close to The deicing spray system is powered by the 401 highway that links the plant to Mona gas-fueled Honda generator, while the treal and Toronto—including a number of 400,000-BTU heater consumes diesel fuel. airports capable of handling Dash 8 aircraft.

“Since it sprays only three to four GPM, it “We’re looking to promote the Jetstream is ecologically safe, and yet provides a to all the people out there who are looking powerful spray to melt most types of con- for a very affordable option to deice smalltamination found on fixed-wing and rotor- or medium-sized aircraft and helicopters,” craft aircraft,” Randa said. The Jetstream Randa said. also has an onboard digital meter that In addition to its Jetstream towable deicprecisely measures the amount of deicing ing unit, Wing Armor also sells in-hangar fluid consumed. anti-icing treatment systems. This towable

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Wing Armor’s Jetstream portable deicer is small enough to be flown to remote airports in a Dash 8 but capable of deicing smallto medium-sized aircraft and removing frost and light snow from a 737.

cart uses an Eagle air compressor to spray up to 60 gallons of anti-icing fluid at a time, via two spray guns on 75-foot hose reels, allowing both wings to be anti-iced simultaneously. It has two Turbo XL digital meters that will accurately measure the amount of anti- icing fluid sprayed from each gun, while four 10-inch tubeless tires make it easy to maneuver the cart by hand, even with a full tank of fluid.

The fact that the Wing Armor tank comes with a wide two-inch filler neck makes it quick to refill, while a built-in brass ball valve ensures operator safety whenever the tank’s cap has to be removed for refilling. z

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Bringing Lear 003 back to flight B Y CUR T E P S T E I N

After years stored on a ramp at Bartow Executive Airport, Lear 23-003 was rescued by the Classic Learjet Foundation.

It can certainly be argued that the Learjet is the progenitor of today’s multi-billiondollar business aviation industry. When the first of the sleek, speedy Lear 23s was delivered in 1964, it immediately gained acceptance from celebrities and captains of industry alike and established a market for private jet aviation, elevating the name Lear Jet into the public lexicon as an icon of new travel freedom and privilege.

Lear 23-003—the first of the type to be delivered—has now found its way back to its Wichita birthplace, where an ambitious program to return it to flight status has begun. At the same time, it is in the process of being acquired by the Classic Learjet Foundation (CLF), a non-profit organization founded by former and current industry employees with the goal of restoring 003 to its 1964 condition.

Richard Kovich, the group’s historian, had been following the aircraft’s journey, given its archetypical status. “About 2018, I was notified that it was no longer registered,” he told AIN. “So that kind of got my curiosity

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up to find out where the airplane was and conclusion the airplane was worth it.” what was going to happen to it.”

A brief examination of the records Kovich’s search ended in February 2022 showed it had last flown more than two when he received a phone call from the decades ago. “The last maintenance event father of the aircraft’s owner asking if he was in 1998. There was another logbook knew someone who wanted to buy the air- entry in 1999 and the time didn’t change— plane. In July 2022, what would eventually it had just under 5,900 hours on it at that become the CLF’s leadership traveled to time—so we believe they flew it until the Florida to examine the condition of the air- landing gear and engines cycled out, and craft, which had been stored outdoors for then they parked it,” said Bill Kinkaid, the more than a decade at Tampa-area Bartow organization’s president.

Executive Airport.

A few months later, it would suffer rudAND THE PRICE IS... der damage from last year’s category 5 After lengthy negotiations, the two sides Hurricane Ian. But during its idle years, agreed on a purchase price of $90,000, it had been tightly buttoned up and had down from the owner’s initial asking price not acquired any animal stowaways. Later, of $250,000. “We were dealing with the once the tires were pumped up and it was actual owner. We leveled with him, and rolled into a hangar, Lear 23-003 was pow- we said there is no way anybody is going ered up and the cockpit lights came on. to pay a quarter of a million bucks for this “The airplane is complete, instrument airplane,” Kinkaid told AIN, adding the panel, clock, everything is there,” said Kov- owners knew of the airplane’s significance ich. “We didn’t try to motor the engines, and that someone would eventually come because they had been sitting outside looking for it. “They had time equity in for 10 to 12 years. But we came to the the airplane—they saved it and somewhat

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

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stored it somewhere around 25 years—so they deserved to be compensated for their effort.”

In the end, the owner concurred with the group that the airplane should be preserved. “I think we were pretty good at convincing them that we’re probably about their best bet in the world really,” continued Kinkaid. “We’re all passionate, we’re all enthusiasts, we have the connections, and we have the technical expertise to raise the money and get the airplane in On Oct. 13, 1964, Learjet 23-003 became the first Learjet delivered to a customer. the air again, so we came to a pretty good agreement there that I don’t think he CROSS-COUNTRY Depending on how smoothly the process goes, would have found with another buyer.”

The wing was removed, and the fuselage was estimates for completion range between three Indeed, given the aircraft’s pedigree loaded onto a special cradle. Both arrived and five years. and intrinsic historical value, some might in Kansas via a flatbed truck in late FebruIn terms of other parts that may be think that it could have found a home ary. Bombardier, which acquired Learjet in required, the foundation has tracked down at the Smithsonian’s National Air and 1990, donated space to house the aircraft in several Lear 23 carcasses in two wellSpace Museum in Washington, D.C. But Building 14 at its complex, the same building known aircraft salvage yards. “I’ve been that institution already has the only older where Learjet deliveries formerly took place. through a lot of the old fuselages sitting Learjet on display: 002, which was used in While the exterior and cabin of 003 were around, and I know there are a lot of usethe flight test program and was acquired observed, thus far the foundation has not yet able parts that we will probably get,” said directly from the manufacturer (001 was had the opportunity to thoroughly examine Weber. “Both owners of those companies lost in a non-fatal flight test accident back the airframe structure. “We are under a sales already gave me a verbal commitment that in 1964). agreement with the current owner of the air- whatever we want, we can have.”

Once the price for 003 was settled, the plane, and when we get him paid off is when The aircraft’s interior had been replaced foundation gave the owner a down pay- we can actually start the restoration process,” at least once during its life, and the group’s ment, which resulted in the release of the explained foundation v-p Joel Weber. intention is to return it to factory-stock stanGE CJ610-1 engines and the engine mainteThe foundation still needs to raise approx- dard. “We want to go back to original,” said nance records. These were sent directly to imately $50,000, according to Chris Marshall, Kinkaid. “One of the other things we have International Turbine Industries in Mich- the group’s secretary and head of fundrais- is access to a lot of the archival information igan for refurbishment. International Tur- ing. While it has applied for grants that could both from a technical standpoint but also bine will convert them to CJ610-4 standard help bridge that gap, it is still seeking finan- from a marketing and sales standpoint, so as an in-kind donation. cial donations. we have access to a wonderful treasure trove One of the treasures of the acquisition is Much of the restoration work will be of data that will help us restore the airplane.”

23-003’s complete set of logbooks, dating performed by industry volunteers, and the As well, he added that local service proback to its delivery, making them somewhat foundation expects there to be many from viders have stepped up. “We’ve had some of a time capsule. “Lyman Yandell was the the city’s current and retired aviation work- very early commitments to in-kind donachief inspector for Learjet in the very early force—some of whom even worked on the tions of services to be provided for us,” he days, and his name is in the logbook,” said Lear 23 assembly line in the early days—but said. “It’s not like we really even had to ask.

Kinkaid. “He’s the one that declared it to be how long the project could take to complete As soon as they knew this was going to hapairworthy back in 1964.” remains to be determined. pen, they said, ‘We want to do the interior.’

The airframe itself was disassembled for “If we were dealing with a 23 that was in ser- That is one of the ways in which we think transport to Wichita, the self-proclaimed vice and came in, we’d be talking about six to the restoration can succeed and move “Air Capital of the World,” where it was eight months, but this isn’t that airplane,” said quickly, because so many people are interbuilt nearly six decades ago and where the Kinkaid. “We know the wing could be a basket ested in participating.” foundation—which was officially founded case, and until we get it x-rayed and get into The group is pursuing similar offers for last September—is based. it and cleaned up, we honestly don’t know.” the aircraft’s windows and exterior paint.

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While the cockpit is complete, the CLF its long life, the aircraft had changed regisacknowledges some changes will have to tration, and the number it wore on delivery be made. “I think that the desire of the had since passed along to a Cessna Sovereign foundation is that we leave it as original as owned by a Louisiana-based corporation. possible, but looking at a safety factor and “Through months of pestering them and some operational limitations that we may begging them, I got them to agree to release be faced with would force us to do some that N-number to us, and it was at a conveupdates,” said Weber. nient time because this year they are going to repaint the airplane anyway,” Weber told SEEKING EXEMPTIONS AIN. In return, the foundation had to wheel Likewise, a decision will have to be made and deal to secure a personalized replaceas to whether to bring the aircraft into ment registration number that satisfied the compliance with current noise regulations. company owner. Just in case that effort failed, “We have a compliance path, which would the foundation also obtained the tail number mean a hush kit, and we also have an FAA 003 wore during its flight test program. exemption path through living flight history Since there are no other operating Lear programs,” explained Kinkaid. “We can’t 23s left, the group expects to bring 003 actually start any of the exemption paper- to airshows such as EAA AirVenture and work until the airplane is in the founda- Sun ‘N Fun, Marshall said, “[so] people tion’s name.” can see what the first purpose-designed, One hurdle already cleared is securing purpose-built business jet looked like, 003’s original N-number, N200Y. During sounded like, and to see it flying.”

SMART

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Through the airplane, the foundation wants to not only tell the story of Bill Lear and the people who developed the aircraft that became synonymous with private luxury travel in the ’60s and ’70s, but the roles that entrepreneurship and technical development played as well. “The marketing and celebrity endorsements, these are relevant in today’s economy,” said Marshall. “We want to bring elements of that story and use them in schools to educate kids to inspire them to pursue careers in technology and careers in aviation from grade school on up to college.”

The foundation also pictures 003 as a symbol of Wichita’s proud aviation history. “This airplane we believe set the pace for all of the business jets that have been delivered out of Wichita,” said Weber. “We don’t want to make it just about the Learjet legacy, we want to make sure we publicize that and make sure that the whole town owns this, and the whole business jet world owns this.” z

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a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

17

Legacy Tails

Lear Jet 23—The birth of a legend

BY DAVID DONALD

Some of the first Model 23s from the line pose at Wichita. At the far end of the row is the second prototype.

There are only a handful of airplane types aids. Among his credits was the world’s whose names have made it into the lexicon first automatic landing system. He also of the public at large: Blackbird, Concorde, dabbled in aircraft design, creating the B-52, and 747 Jumbo Jet, to name a few. Learstar, an executive conversion of the To that list must be added the name Lear World War 2-era Lockheed Lodestar that Jet (or Learjet as it later became), which was modified in the 1950s by PacAero in rapidly became a synonym for the private Santa Monica, California. jets that transported the rich and famous This early experience in business aviation between their glamorous engagements and fired Lear to create a purpose-built private/ vacation retreats. corporate jet to capitalize on what he saw While the marque may no longer be in as a burgeoning demand for such an aircraft, production, and its status as a must-have despite the relatively slow early sales of the accessory for celebrities and industry lumi- first generation of business jets. However, naries long usurped by names such as Gulf- the desire to build aircraft was at odds with stream and Falcon, its legacy will live on the board of his company, Lear Incorporated, for decades. which was eventually sold to Siegler in 1962.

It had an unlikely beginning. The In the meantime, Lear had moved to renowned engineer and inventor William Switzerland in 1960 and founded the Swiss “Bill” Powell Lear Sr. had been flying since American Aviation Company (SAAC). Its the early 1930s and had turned his fertile aim was to create a private jet based on brain to developing electronic navigation the P-16 fighter. Designed by Flug- und

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Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA), the P-16 was a straight-winged fighter bomber intended for the Swiss air force powered by a single Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet. Five were built, of which two crashed, and the program was officially canceled in 1959 when the Swiss bought the Hawker Hunter. Although, FFA continued development for a year or so longer.

Lear saw considerable promise in the design as a basis for his jet, and SAAC employed a number of FFA engineers after the P-16 was finally mothballed. Despite some assertions to the contrary and despite some obvious similarities between the P-16 and Lear Jet such as the straight wing and wingtip tanks, there was very little crossover between the two designs in reality.

Design of what was initially known as the SAAC-23 Execujet was mostly undertaken at Althenrhein in Switzerland, with P-16

chief designer Hanz-Luzius Studer—who A second prototype completed the triThe large, oval windows—one to port later designed the HFB 320 Hansa Jet with als and is now on display in the Udvar- and two to starboard—hinted at opulence. its trademark forward-swept wings—head- Hazy Center of the National Air & Space That opulence did not extend to the cabin, ing the team of British, German, and Swiss Museum. Despite the setback of the crash, however, which at just over four feet in engineers. Lear planned to build at least the which was attributed to pilot error, the both width and height made for relatively first three aircraft at Altenrhein, but instead FAA awarded the aircraft its type certifica- cramped accommodation. “You can’t stand moved the operation back to the U.S. for tion on July 31, 1964, and the first produc- up in a Cadillac!” was Lear’s alleged retort construction and final design, citing the tion aircraft was delivered on October 13. to such criticism. slow speed of progress in Switzerland. A Typically seating six passengers, factory and design office was established in ROCKETSHIP although able to accommodate eight at a Wichita, Kansas, the company was renamed From his days of turning a lumbering squeeze, the Lear Jet 23 had an mtow of Lear Jet Corporation, and the new aircraft World War II transport into a sleek execu- 12,500 pounds—the FAA limit for small became the Lear Jet (later Learjet) Model 23. tive transport, Lear understood the impor- aircraft. It was pushed along by a pair of In February 1962 construction of the tance of “ramp appeal,” and the Model 23 General Electric’s CJ610-4 turbojets, which prototype began, and on Oct. 7, 1963, Hank emerged as a sleek, futuristic design that each generated 2,850 pounds of thrust.

Beaird and Bob Hagen took it aloft for its oozed speed and glamour. Its rakish nose This engine, which also powered the Hansa first flight. Flight trials proceeded rela- line and divided windscreen screamed Jet and the Jet Commander business jets, tively smoothly until June 4, 1964, when “fighter,” an image further underlined by was a civilian derivative of the J85, two of the aircraft was lost in a crash. The pilot the stubby wings, tip tanks, and T-tail, all which were installed in the Northrop F-5 had inadvertently deployed the spoilers of which were redolent of what was then supersonic fighter. while demonstrating an engine failure after the Air Force’s hottest ship—the Mach 2 Offering a high power-to-weight ratio, the the takeoff event.

F-104 Starfighter.

CJ610 combined with the Model 23’s sleek

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a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

19

Legacy Tails

design and short wings to confer scintillating performance on the private jet, at least when compared with aircraft of the day. Limiting Mach was 0.82, equating to a top speed of 561 mph at 24,000 feet. The Lear Jet 23 could reach 45,000 feet, offering a creditable rate of climb of 6,900 fpm. High-speed cruise was 518 mph at 40,000 feet, while at a more economical speed, the type could cover 1,590 nm at 485 mph while flying at 40,000 feet. And the Lear Jet 23 was aerobatic.

PRODUCTION AND CAREER

With such performance and looks, the Model 23 was an instant success among Although it shares some elements with the Lear Jet, the FFA P-16’s straight wings and tip tanks rich individuals and corporate owners alike. were the only major design features that Bill Lear adopted for his business jet.

Perhaps the highest-profile customer was Frank Sinatra, whose aircraft was famously Mustang fuselage to create the P-51R unlim- on November 9. The Learjet 24 looked used by Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu ited racer “Miss Ashley II.” The Griffon-pow- externally similar to the Model 23, and to fly from Palm Springs to marry in Las ered monster first flew in 1997 but was lost the first 81 24As were essentially similar barring some modifications. The folVegas on May 1, 1967. in a fatal crash at the Reno air races in 1999.

The Model 23 was priced at around By the late 1990s, the type’s numbers lowing 24B introduced uprated CJ610-6 $650,000 fully equipped, considerably less were dwindling, with fewer than 40 oper- engines. The final models, the 24E and than its rivals, helping its impressive sales ational by the end of the century. On the F, had cambered wings and other aerorecord. However, the type was marred by a last day of 2015, Stage 3 noise compliance dynamic improvements, as well as 2,950spate of accidents in the first three years of regulations came into effect, grounding any pound thrust CJ610-8A engines. In 1977 operation. This, in part, was attributable to Model 23s that had not been re-engined or the FAA-certified service ceiling was raised the airplane being rather too hot to handle fitted with hush kits. Today it is unlikely to 51,000 feet, the 24E/F becoming the first for a number of pilots that were unaccus- that any are still flying, although at least business aircraft to achieve what remains tomed to its levels of performance. eight are on display in museums. today as the benchmark in the sector.

Lear Jet built just over 100 Model 23s In all, 259 Model 24s were built, but a at Wichita before the improved Model 24 MODEL 23’S LEGACY more important derivative took to the air was introduced. The final Model 23 left the Even with the initial success of the Model 23, on Aug. 12, 1966, in the form of the Model factory in 1964 after less than two years Lear Jet was already working on improve- 25. Some four feet, two inches longer than of production. ments. At first, the company sought to the 23/24, the Learjet 25 could seat eight in Model 23s continued to make the improve the basic Model 23 to take advan- comfort. Production amounted to 369 and news and gossip columns, though, and tage of the 13,500-pound mtow permitted it was this type—perhaps more than any remained a firm favorite among their own- by FAR Part 25 regulations. The result was other—that cemented the Learjet’s place in ers. Long-time Learjet advocate Clay Lacy the Learjet 24, the first business jet to be the market. used a Model 23 to film most of the aerial certified under Part 25. As well as the mtow A change to Garrett TFE731 power hersequences for the 1986 “Top Gun” movie increase, the Model 24 had various improve- alded the arrival of the slightly stretched and subsequently flew the type in aerial ments, such as increased cabin pressuriza- Model 35, and its Model 36 long-range derivdisplays for many years. NASA employed tion and engine fire extinguishers. ative, in 1973. Together they became the the type for chase-plane and trials duties at Lear Jet flew the first Model 24 on Jan. most popular of the Learjets, with 738 built Edwards AFB, California.

24, 1966, and in May one was flown around before production ended in 1994, including As a footnote, the wings of a Model 23— the world in an elapsed time of 50 hours more than 50 C-21As for the U.S. Air Force. continues on page 60  minus tip tanks—were mated to a hybrid 20 minutes. Certification was received

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Expert Opinion

Training contract ethics and accountability I’ve never been a fan of pilot training contracts—a legal document that binds a pilot to a flight department for a set period after earning a type rating or the pilot owes the employer for some portion of the training investment. I’ve always thought of these agreements as a red flag, and I know I am not alone. To many, it suggests a lowpaying job or a toxic work culture.

But given the high cost of type ratings and the difficulty to obtain them today, I’ve been thinking about the pros and cons of contracts for initial pilot training and also about the moral obligation that a highcost investment in training requires of both parties.

In business aviation, it’s not uncommon for a skilled pilot to join a flight department and have his/her initial type rating paid for by their employer. It’s also common for an existing pilot to receive a type rating when their company purchases a new aircraft.

However, a type-rating will increase the pilot’s competitiveness and earning potential. Once hiring managers find out, they’ll be calling. So, employers need to offer commensurate compensation, a level of life balance, and a healthy work culture.

The assumption is that the pilot will be a long-term employee, amortizing the training cost over time. But the current pilot shortage has challenged that. And many operators have seen their investment walk out the door for myriad reasons.

So, I am starting to hear more about the resurgence of training contracts to protect the employer. If some sort of agreement is indeed needed, what stipulations should go into a pilot’s offer letter? Is it okay to obligate them to stay for two years, or just one?

It’s a case of give and take. An agreement should be written fairly to protect both sides. An employer should guarantee fair

B Y S HE R Y L B A R D E N P R E SID E N T A N D C E O AV I AT IO N P E RS O N N E L I N T E R N AT IO N A L

However, making a decision to leave after a significant investment raises moral and ethical questions. If an employer keeps their word and offers a fair schedule and wage increase, it seems fair that the pilot should repay that employer at some level— preferably through service.

A person I know of who left his employer for that “job of a lifetime” negotiated a sign-on bonus with his new employer so he could repay his former employer—not because he had to, but because he felt a moral obligation to do so. z

compensation and provide expectations for a positive workplace culture. A training agreement that says, “If you leave, you have to pay back part of the training,” is a The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily endorsed by negative way to enforce retention.

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a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

21

AIN Product Support Survey - Avionics AIN readers rate avionics, cabin management, and airborne connectivity manufacturers B Y G R E G OR Y P OL E K

Garmin took top billing in this year’s AIN Product Support Survey for avionics makers, capturing the highest rating for flight deck avionics makers. Winning the category by a comfortable margin last year, Garmin posted an average overall score of 8.7 this year that was well ahead of the second-place finisher, Collins Aerospace, but still two-tenths of a point behind last year.

Gulfstream and Textron Aviation, meanwhile, which tied for top honors in the business jet category of AIN’s Product

Support Survey for airframers, similarly tied in the cabin management system support category in this edition of of the survey, each with an overall rating of 8.1.

And, Satcom Direct’s 8.6 rating in airborne connectivity support placed it ahead of that pack.

While feedback from OEMs for last month’s airframer survey showed that virtually every company continued to feel the results of supply chain disruptions for a variety of parts, avionics

Garmin

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respondents generally appeared more circumspect in their responses.

Lufthansa Technik reported difficulties securing semiconductors, in particular, while others worked hard to address labor shortages; Honeywell, for example, added 1,000 employees over the past year to its repair and overhaul organization while dedicating some 150 managers to work on securing workers and a steadier flow of raw materials among suppliers.

Category & Overall Average Ratings for Avionics Systems

Overall Average 2023

Rating Cost per Overall Change from Hour Average 2022 to Programs 2022 2023

Parts AOG Cost of Parts Availability Response

Warranty Fulfillment

Technical Manuals

Technical Reps

Overall Avionics Reliability

Flight Deck Avionics Garmin

8.7

8.9

(0.2)

8.9

8.8

7.8

8.6

8.8

8.9

8.7

9.2

Collins Aerospace

8.1

8.2

(0.1)

8.1

7.8

6.6

8.0

8.6

8.1

8.3

8.7

Honeywell

7.7

7.6

0.1

7.7

7.5

6.4

7.5

8.4

8.2

7.5

8.4

Cabin Management Systems Gulfstream Cabin Management Textron Aviation Cabin Management

8.1

8.0

0.1

7.5

7.6

6.6

8.7

9.2

8.2

9.1

8.0

8.1

7.9

0.2

8.0

7.4

7.2

8.7

8.7

8.3

8.9

7.9

Collins Aerospace

8.0

7.5

0.5

8.1

7.7

6.6

8.1

8.9

8.2

8.2

8.2

Honeywell

6.9

7.0

(0.1)

6.9

6.2

6.0

6.4

7.3

7.4

7.3

7.8

Satcom Direct

8.6

8.4

0.2

7.6

8.4

7.4

9.0

9.1

8.7

9.5

8.7

Gogo Business Aviation

8.3

8.2

0.1

7.4

8.4

7.4

8.8

8.9

8.1

8.9

8.3

Honeywell

7.9

7.9

(0.0)

7.4

7.9

7.1

8.2

7.6

7.9

8.4

8.3

Airborne Connectivity

SURVEY RULES AND METHODOLOGY AIN’s annual Product Support Survey aims to quantify and rate through statistical analysis the product support functions of business aviation manufacturers over the past year. The survey, whose respondents include operators of business jets, pressurized turboprops, and turbine-powered helicopters, endeavors to encourage continuous improvement in airframe, engine, and avionics product support throughout the industry.

SURVEY TOOL For the third year, AIN conducted the survey via a questionnaire developed in partnership with Rolland Vincent Associates, a Texas-based consultancy focused on aviation market research, strategy, and forecasting. Designed to provide improved ease of use and to encourage more participants to complete the entire questionnaire, the survey tool included Spanish and Portuguese versions along with clearer language and imagery around the categories and evaluation scale. Finally, it asked respondents to evaluate one full aircraft at

a time, including airframe, engines, and avionics.

METHODOLOGY AIN emailed qualified readers a link to the password-protected survey website active from late April to mid-June. It asked respondents to rate individual aircraft and provide the tail number, aircraft age, and primary region of service. The survey also asked respondents to rate, on a scale from 1 to 10, the quality of service they received during the previous 12 months in the following avionics categories: Cost Per Hour Program; Parts Availability; Cost of Parts; AOG Response; Warranty Fulfillment; Technical Manuals; Technical Reps; and Overall Avionics Reliability.

THE RESULTS In total, 593 unique respondents, representing 1,821 aircraft, from 57 countries completed the survey. While slightly above last year’s total, AIN did not receive enough responses to verifiably report on Collins Aerospace in airborne connectivity and Lufthansa Technik in cabin management systems. Rolland Vincent Associates

reviewed the data to ensure accurate and valid responses. It also compiled the final survey results in close coordination with AIN.

RESULTS ANALYSIS AIN’s analysis of the survey showed that scores slightly improved this year despite several challenges faced by product support organizations: » Flight hours remained elevated between the May 2022 to May 2023 survey period and flying exceeded pre-pandemic levels in all business aviation segments. More flying leads to more unscheduled maintenance and demand on support teams. » Supply chain disruptions created longer lead times for parts acquisition and have shown little sign of easing.

COMING NEXT AIN has published its 2023 Product Support Survey results for avionics, cabin electronics, and airborne connectivity in this issue; next month will feature engine manufacturers, the final report in this series for 2023.

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GARMIN Taking the top score in every measurement of the flight deck avionics category resulted in Garmin’s six-tenths of a point lead over the next highest scorer, Collins Aerospace.

Gamin’s highlights included overall reliability (9.2) and cost per hour programs and technical manuals (8.9 apiece). Even its weakest score, namely in parts cost (7.8), placed it at the top of all the OEMs for flight deck avionics.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Garmin’s customer support organization over the past year launched a four-year, $200 million expansion of its U.S. headquarters, including a relocation to new offices within the Garmin campus in Olathe, Kansas.

The project also included new manufacturing capacity, warehousing, and distribution, as well as a new Aviation Business Center housing meeting spaces and training facilities.

Other initiatives included the launch of the Garmin Aviation Dealer Academy, which provides new avionics training opportunities for installation technicians and avionics managers.

Garmin also reorganized its dealer support teams to provide regional-based technical support, improving response times and enhancing relationships with installation technicians.

Improvements to Garmin’s IT offerings included expansion of its online forum for aviation dealers to share installation tips and benefit from the collective experience of the global Garmin dealer network. The improvements also included the expansion of live chat capability to include the flyGarmin.com website.

Finally, the company increased the depth and breadth of FAQ content available in the Garmin Aviation Support Center website to allow for more intuitive and comprehensive self-serve support for customers.

COLLINS AEROSPACE While not drawing enough responses for inclusion in the airborne connectivity grouping, Collins Aerospace finished in a strong position in cabin management systems with a score of 8.0, five-tenths of a point better than its showing

last year and just a tenth of a point behind the leaders there.

However, its 8.1 score in flight deck avionics left it sixtenths of a point behind the frontrunner in that group and was down one-tenth of a point from the 2022 results. Collins’s 8.1 rating in cost-per-hour for cabin management systems led that grouping. Its 6.6 score in cost of parts placed it in the middle of that measure among the flight deck avionics grouping while it also ranked second in the cabin management group parts cost category, also with a 6.6 score.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Consistent with its stated commitment to invest in people, processes, infrastructure, and technologies, Collins Aerospace over the past year has added warranty personnel to process claims faster and service center capacity to ensure

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 Collins Aerospace continued

readiness for the demands associated with fleet growth and regulatory mandates. Meanwhile, it continues to develop digital tools to allow for faster resolution to customer requests and more ready capacity to resolve problems.

Examples include flight deck upgrades to meet modernization requirements, enhanced situational awareness, and connectivity needs for the flight deck and cabin. Available cabin

management system upgrades allow for the installation of 4K monitors, improved maps, support for what it calls third-party peripherals, and mobile device control of cabin features.

“We are collaborating and innovating with our customers to bring big ideas and new products to life, as well as drive continuous improvement and support to our existing products,” said Collins.

HONEYWELL Honeywell this year finds itself at the bottom of the rankings in flight deck avionics, airborne connectivity, and cabin management systems. The company saw its scores change little from its 2022 showing, as it equaled its 7.9 ranking in airborne connectivity while improving from 7.6 to 7.7 in flight deck avionics and falling from 7.0 to 6.9 in cabin management systems. It fared reasonably well in the warranty fulfillment and technical manuals categories of the flight deck grouping with an 8.4 and 8.2 rating, respectively, while producing its weakest showing in AOG response in the cabin management systems group with a score of 6.4.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Addressing what Honeywell Aerospace vice president of customer and product support Todd Owens called “the elephant in the room,” the company has made mitigating supply chain disruptions its “number-one priority.” In an interview with AIN, Owens conceded that Honeywell’s horizontally structured supply chain and labor shortages produced challenges that forced the company to take “drastic” measures, including the addition of more than 1,000 employees to its repair and overhaul network since the middle of last year and the placement of some 150 executives who work full time with suppliers.

“That team is actively engaged with their suppliers, helping, whether it be with raw materials or helping them hire [with] job fairs and things like that, just to get the product flowing into our supply base,” said Owens. “Then there’s a separate team of about 300 individuals that is with a newly formed organization called Supplier Rate Readiness. And this team is working on dual-sourcing our product. In many cases, we’re pulling…repair capability back into the Honeywell network.

The good news is more units are going out than coming in, which means we’re burning down our backlog.”

Owens added that Honeywell has seen a 23 percent increase in output this year compared with the same period in 2022, an indicator, he said, of the effectiveness of its supplier development and rate readiness teams.

While much of Honeywell’s support effort centers on engines and APUs, it has invested heavily in the avionics realm as well, establishing a technical pilots team that collaborates closely with flight departments and the FAA on instrument approaches using required navigational performance (RNP) capabilities.

“We’ve gotten instrument approaches for better weather minimums at two airports and we’re working on another four airports right now,” explained Honeywell Aerospace vice president of technical support Malcolm Fleming. “And then we’re also working on visual approaches for challenging visual maneuvers in and out of airports, or I should say primarily into the airports. We’ve already completed [two of them] and we’ve got another six airports that we’re working on right now.”

a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 202 3 \ Aviation International News

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UNIVERSAL AVIONICS Universal Avionics, which drew an overall rating of 8.0 in the 2022 survey, did not draw enough responses to be included in this year’s survey.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Universal Avionics bolstered its international presence with a new office opened in Blagnac, France in May that provided a larger workspace compared with its previous Toulouse office and extended its capabilities in Europe to meet the growing demand in the region. Along those lines, the company appointed Fabrice Arfi as general manager of Universal Avionics International.

In addition, in the U.S. the company increased its repair portfolio, being named an approved repair center for the Dassault FalconEye enhanced flight vision system.

The improvements come as Universal in recent years consolidated services and support into one organization and launched a new department, Support Services, that consolidated the administration of database services, repairs, exchanges, rentals, loaners, used parts sales, and extended warranties. Robert Clare, director of customer services, said, “By consolidating, we were able to streamline processes through all these services.”

GULFSTREAM Sharing the top spot for cabin management system support with Textron Aviation, Gulfstream posted an 8.1 total score in the grouping, representing an improvement of a tenth of a point over its score from last year. Highlights included top scores in warranty fulfillment (9.2) and technical reps (9.1).

However, cost of parts (6.6) and cost of per hour programs (7.5) weighed on Gulfstream’s overall score. Meanwhile, its score of 8.7 in AOG response placed it in a tie for the lead position with Textron Aviation in that category.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Gulfstream’s avionics support team has sharpened its focus on preparations for the G700’s entry into service while the company’s new product development unit evaluates technology features and functions of cabin management

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Aviation International News \ September 202 3 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

systems (CMS) to meet evolving customer demands.

The company says it has enhanced its CMS options to include larger, higher-resolution onboard monitors and more

 Gulfstream continued

options for integrated use of personal devices. Other expanded features include more use of Bluetooth, wireless charging, and seamless audio and video streaming. Gulfstream also continues work on integrating expanded LED lighting options,

including customized color, intensity, and automation choices.

“We’re excited to further expand our existing catalog and have the opportunity to incorporate some of the new features into the existing fleet,” the company said.

TEXTRON AVIATION Registering a two-tenths of a point improvement from its total score in 2022, Textron Aviation finds itself with a share of the top position in cabin management grouping with Gulfstream. Highlights included an 8.0 score in cost per hour programs and the leading position in cost of parts, albeit with a 7.2 rating. Textron also placed first in technical manuals (8.3) and tied for first in AOG response (8.7). Apart from placing second in the grouping’s technical reps category with an 8.9 rating, Textron Aviation finished with largely middling scores across most of the remaining categories.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Along with efforts to bring to market new features in newly Separately, cabin comfort retrofits can include moving delivered aircraft, Textron Aviation continues to invest in map displays, USB port installations, and cabin lighting new technologies to mitigate aircraft obsolescence such as upgrades to LEDs. Textron Aviation also offers what it calls controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) sys- “forward-thinking upgrades” such as the Garmin G5000 for tems and autothrottles for fielded aircraft. the Citation 560 Excel/XLS and Beechjets, Collins Pro Line In the passenger cabin, offerings include multiple high- Fusion for the Cessna Citation 1+/2+/3, Garmin G600 for speed internet connectivity systems, including air-to- the Citation Jet, and Primus Epic FANS/CPDLC upgrades ground systems and Iridium satcom installations. for the Citation Sovereign and Hawker 4000.

LUFTHANSA TECHNIK Lufthansa Technik, which posted an overall average of 7.0 in the cabin management system category last year, did not garner enough responses to be ranked this year.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

What Lufthansa Technik calls a “major field of action” around its support efforts involves managing supply

chain disruptions—largely semiconductors—caused by the Covid pandemic and ongoing military conflicts around the world.

In response, the company has expanded its production capabilities through vertical integration within its value chain and gaining control over the manufacturing of electronic subparts for its Nice cabin management

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 Lufthansa Technik continued

system and other business aviation products. According to Hinnerk Noelker, Lufthansa Technik director of OEM engineering and operations, the move has not only improved product quality but delivery schedules, thereby increasing overall efficiency and making it a reliable support partner.

Over the past several months the company has placed special emphasis in guiding and consulting business jet owners and operators in how to address obsolete cabin management and inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) systems, added Noelker. “To ensure we meet these needs, we have established a robust network of MRO channel partners,” he explained. “Currently, we offer tailored upgrades specifically designed for the Bombardier Challenger 300 model. One of our notable options is the HD Upgrade+, which enhances the SD systems on the Challenger 300 by upgrading them to high definition and introducing new features such as Bluetooth, moving map improvements, sound options and display upgrades.” The company also offers a retrofit kit for the Challenger 300, replacing the obsolete audio technology with the NiceHD system.

Now developing a new software platform for the Nice system, Lufthansa Technik expects its effort to not only enhance the “digital experience” but streamline operations. Offering more personalized products and features, the software platform will establish a seamless connection between the aircraft and the cloud. With a ground portal, a ground cellular connection, and

various on-demand features, it will also allow for continuous updates.

SATCOM DIRECT Finishing first among the companies that registered enough responses for inclusion in the airborne connectivity grouping, Satcom Direct improved on its 8.4 score from 2022 by two-tenths of a point. It’s overall rating of 8.6 this year resulted from particularly high scores in warranty fulfillment (9.1), AOG response (9.0), and technical reps (9.5). Comparatively high scores were received for cost of parts (7.4) and cost per hour programs (7.6), also having an effect on Satcom Direct’s total score.

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THE IMPROVEMENTS: For Satcom Direct, effective support starts with training, a principle reflected in its expanded curriculum for operators meant to improve the functionality of products related to connectivity, cybersecurity, and the inflight experience for passengers. Over the past year, the company has also made training more accessible through third parties such as FlightSafety International and Da Vinci Inflight Training Institute.

 Satcom Direct continued

This year also saw Satcom Direct’s launch of an update to what it calls the industry’s only certified aviation IT training program, called aeroIT. Once complete, technicians gain a three-year certification for the configuration and troubleshooting of information processing networks and communication systems. The four-day program concentrates on four areas of discipline: satellite networks, IP network theory, troubleshooting aircraft networks, and network management.

Meanwhile, as Satcom Direct adds more hardware and software products, its customer support team continues to expand to support its “follow the sun” philosophy of providing round-the-clock support of products such as the Plane Simple Ku-band satcom antenna.

“Throughout the installation and the entry into service process, Satcom Direct constantly updates the customer to support the flight department’s familiarity with the

systems,” said the company. “We provide candid and transparent information and find that this iterative process supports a greater understanding of the full potential of the customized connectivity solution.”

GOGO BUSINESS AVIATION Finishing second among the companies drawing enough responses for inclusion in the airborne connectivity group, Gogo Business Aviation saw its overall score improve from 8.2 in 2022 to 8.3 this year. It recorded its highest individual scores (8.9) in the warranty fulfillment and technical representatives’ categories while placing even with Honeywell in cost per hour programs (7.4) and overall reliability (8.3). Its score in the technical reps category placed it second out of the companies in the connectivity category and a half point ahead of Honeywell.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

Gogo continues to invest and expand its team of data scientists and engineers who extract data produced by the company’s Avance interconnectivity platform. Called the market intelligence team, the group provides insights and actions to better understand meeting customer expectations and areas in need of improvement.

The Gogo Avance systems produce about a million messages per day, providing information and details such as LRU health (voltage, fan speed, temperature); systems usage (number of devices, data usage, etc.); and connection status to Gogo’s air-to-ground (ATG) network. “We believe this team is one of a kind in business aviation and we will continue to invest in it as we expand our product portfolio and grow our customer base,” said Dave Glenn, senior vice president of customer operations. “[Our market reach extends] from North America but also around the world with our Gogo Galileo (global satellite broadband) service, powered by Avance and operating on a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network.”

Using much of the information provided by the market intelligence team to design what the company calls proactive outreach

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 Gogo Business Aviation continued

for its customers, Gogo recently launched a new customer success initiative using an algorithm to help the support team better understand when a customer might need assistance.

Finally, Gogo has completed 5G network construction in the continental U.S. and started expansion into Canada with a “handful” of sites already completed to provide additional coverage to business aviation operators in North America.

The system will meet all requirements for its 5G service, providing 25 Mbps on average and reaching peak speeds in the range of 75 to 80 Mbps range for video conferencing, live TV, and gaming with lower latency and higher throughput. Having readied its 5G network in the U.S., Gogo expects to launch the service in 2024. It added that it expects to complete its Canada installation early next year.

SMARTSKY New-entrant airborne connectivity supplier SmartSky did not draw enough responses for inclusion in the rankings.

THE IMPROVEMENTS:

A relatively new entrant into the inflight connectivity space, SmartSky deployed its U.S. nationwide air-to-ground network in July 2022. Since then, it has gathered data from flight testing of the software-defined network to adjust network performance and optimize the customer experience.

During this year’s second quarter, SmartSky rolled out its seventh revision to its aircraft base radio software that further improved operational stability and reliability, as well as an update to the back-end services on the ground network.

It based the enhancements on data gathered during ongoing company flight testing, customer flights, and monitoring of the network.

Other developments included the deployment of Honeywell Forge software to manage, track and control customers’ inflight connectivity services, cost, and performance for the cabin and flight deck. With its deployment, SmartSky became the first and only air-to-ground provider to deploy Forge capabilities.

Meanwhile, SmartSky reported significant developments in Service Management Platform (SMP) capability for real-time visibility to customer performance, allowing the network team to proactively monitor and address site and sector issues across the network and to notify the product support engineering team if a customer experiences service performance degradation The product support engineer can then notify the customer, enabling an optional flight route change should a temporary loss of connectivity occur. The

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SMP also allows the product support engineering team to monitor a specific tail live, in-flight, and prepare for proactive customer contact after the flight.

Finally, SmartSky introduced its SmartCart ground testing kits to installation partners. Calling it the first mobile ground testing device for an air-to-ground connectivity system, SmartSky provides one kit to partners upon their first hardware install. SmartCart functions as a portable site on the SmartSky ATG network, with its own unique site ID. SmartSky onboard hardware systems attach to the SmartCart site across a localized RF link using SmartSky communications protocols, connect to the SmartSky core network, and pass data to and from the aircraft, just as they do in the air. The data flows through SmartSky’s network backhaul and points of presence through a secured VPN connection on a ground cellular network. The VPN keeps all data private, even during testing.

SmartCart can validate activation and all system functionality, generally in less than an hour.

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Safety

Circling approach: Is it your best option?

B Y S T UA R T “K IP P ” L AU

The pilots flying a Learjet 35A (similar to this one) to Teterboro on a gusty day didn’t properly brief nor fly the circle-to-land approach and crashed turning toward Runway 1, according to the NTSB.

Circling approaches are the most dan- times safer than a circling approach; addPrior to the publication of the NTSB gerous of all approaches, especially when ing vertical guidance to an approach will safety alert, the FAA cautioned pilots of flown at night or in marginal weather con- increase the safety margin by another the dangers of flying a circling approach ditions. As an extension of an instrument eight times. in its Instrument Procedures Handbook approach, a circling approach is the “visual For reasons unknown, other than con- and in the Aeronautical Information Mansegment of an approach,” often flown venience or “operational flexibility,” some ual (AIM). at low altitude, low airspeed, and with operators and pilots of business aircraft The Instrument Procedures Handbook no lateral or vertical guidance to a run- continue to accept the risk of flying a cir- states, “Circling approaches are one of way. Accepting a clearance to fly a circling cling approach, while other operators take the most challenging flight maneuvers in approach is risky business and there is no a much more conservative route and either the NAS, especially for pilots of Category room for error. prohibit them or place restrictions on cir- C and Category D turbine-powered transSince 2008, according to the National cling approaches. port category airplanes. These maneuvers Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), In March, following a series of business are conducted at low altitude, day and there have been 10 major accidents jet accidents, the NTSB issued a safety night, and often with precipitation present involving Part 91 and Part 135 aircraft fly- alert (NTSB Safety Alert Number 84) affecting visibility, depth perception, and ing a circling approach. On average, that that cautioned pilots of the complexities the ability to adequately assess the descent is one fatal accident every 18 months, and risks associated with flying a circling profile to the landing runway.” where an aircraft either loses control or approach. The NTSB advises pilots to The AIM 5-4-20(f ) further cautions, impacts terrain while attempting a cir- “know the risks before conducting a cir- “Circling may require maneuvers at low cling approach. cling approach to be sure that it is the best altitude, at low airspeed, and in marginal According to a Flight Safety Foundation and safest option and to brief the approach, weather conditions. Pilots must use sound study, a straight-in instrument approach plan its execution, and acknowledge your judgment, have an in-depth knowledge is a much better alternative and is 25 own limitations.” of their capabilities, and fully understand

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the aircraft performance to determine the Unfortunately, the pilots never briefed approach, most notably during the cirexact circling maneuver since weather, the approach and due to a series of pro- cling segment of the approach. Their lack unique airport design, and the aircraft cedural deviations and errors had dif- of situational awareness could have been position, altitude, and airspeed must all ficulty becoming established on the prevented by briefing the approach and be considered.” approach. Twice during the approach, following ATC instructions to become In its safety alert, the NTSB highlights ATC reminded the pilots of the final established on the approach and safely three recent fatal accidents involving busi- approach fix (FAF) altitude—the aircraft maneuvering to land.” ness jets flying circling approaches. In each subsequently crossed the FAF “hundreds case, the flight crews of the accident air- of feet” high. craft followed a disastrous script that was Rather than beginning the circling eerily similar to the cautions published ear- maneuver at the FAF, as instructed by lier by the FAA. ATC, the aircraft continued toward Runway 6 at an altitude higher than required.

CIRCLING MISHAPS Approximately one mile from the end of In May 2017, the pilots of a Learjet 35A, on Runway 6, the crew began the circling a Part 135 repositioning flight, stalled and maneuver toward Runway 1. At this point, crashed while attempting a circle-to-land they were too high and too close to RunIn another crash, in July 2021, the pilot approach at New Jersey’s Teterboro Air- way 6 to align with the landing runway. of a Bombardier Challenger 605 lost conport (KTEB). The weather at the time was The flight crew continued to maneuver trol during a circling maneuver near the daytime VMC with strong northwesterly towards the runway, but the airspeed Truckee-Tahoe Airport (KTRK) in Truckee, winds at 19 knots gusting to 29 knots. decreased during the turn, and the aircraft California. Both pilots and four passengers The flight crew had been cleared for the stalled and crashed one mile short of Run- were killed in the crash.

ILS Runway 6 approach, circle to Runway 1 way 1. Both pilots were fatally injured in As the aircraft neared KTRK, ATC at KTEB. ATC issued this approach clear- the crash. advised the crew to expect the RNAV ance 50 nm from the airport; this approach The NTSB found that, “The flight (GPS) Runway 20 at KTRK due to ATC clearance is a common practice at KTEB to crew had multiple opportunities to rec- flow control “constraints.” The flight accommodate traffic flow. ognize and discontinue the unstabilized crew originally planned the RNAV (GPS) 11 approach but accepted the approach to Runway 20 and then requested to circle to Runway 11 (a longer runway) for landing performance considerations.

At the time of the accident, the weather was reported as 4 miles visibility (with smoke), a broken cloud layer at 2,300 feet agl, and wind from the west at 11 knots gusting to 16 knots. The visibility was reported to further decrease to as low as 3 miles as the aircraft approached the airport.

Approximately 10 nm north of Runway 20, the flight crew “checked in” with the tower. The tower controller offered either a left downwind for Runway 29 or Runway 11. The flight crew reported Runway 11 in sight and began a right turn to enter the left downwind for Runway 11. Next, the aircraft continued to circle past the extended centerline of Runway 11 and entered a When strong winds blow from the northwest, pilots landing at Teterboro are often instructed to fly nose-down attitude in a steep left turn, and the ILS Runway 6 approach, then circle to Runway 1, which can be a challenging maneuver. crashed short of the airport.

 ...the aircraft...

continued to circle past the extended centerline of Runway 1... 

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Safety

According to the NTSB, “the flight crew are problematic for several reasons: appropriate power setting, landing checkCircling approaches can be riskier than lists, and a heading that ensures only small had many options available to them that would have increased the likelihood of exe- other types of approaches because they changes are necessary to maintain runway cuting a stabilized approach and successful often require maneuvering at low altitude alignment. Guidance and tips that, in most landing, such as: requesting the approach and low airspeed during the final segment cases, the approach should be stabilized by they originally planned for, briefing the of the approach, increasing the opportu- 1,000 ft in instrument conditions or 500 ft in approach they accepted, or performing a nity for loss of control or collision with visual conditions. If the approach becomes terrain. These risks are heightened when unstabilized at any time after that, go around.” missed approach procedure.”

Five months after the Challenger accident conducting circling approaches in marPILOT AND ORGANIZATIONAL in KTRK, a Learjet 35A struck the powerlines ginal or reduced visibility conditions and TAKEAWAYS and crashed near Gillespie Field (KSEE) in increased focus is required.

El Cajon, California while performing a While circling approaches might be The NTSB safety alert on circling approaches circling approach at night in deteriorating necessary to accommodate traffic flow at is aptly titled “Know the Risks!” Pilots must weather conditions. The weather at the time airports, or are advantageous due to wind fully understand the risks involved when flyof the accident was 3 miles of visibility and a conditions, pilots sometimes do not eval- ing a circling approach and use sound judgbroken cloud layer at 2,000 feet agl. uate the risks of these approaches fully ment before accepting a clearance to fly a This flight was operated as a Part 91 repo- before accepting them, which can result in circling approach. Is it your best option?

Consider your personal experience, sitioning flight that originated at the John unstabilized approaches. proficiency, and other limWayne/Orange County Airitations when planning to port (KSNA) in Santa Ana, fly a circling approach. Is California. After a short flight, the weather close to minithe flight crew initiated the mums? Is it nighttime? Are GPS Runway 17 approach and you familiar with the airport were cleared to land on Runand terrain surrounding the way 17. Shortly afterward, the pilot requested to land on Runway 27. The Often, circling approaches do not allow airport? Again, there are other options controller instructed the pilot to overfly the for stabilized approach criteria to be met. such as requesting a straight-in approach airport and enter left traffic for Runway 27R Approaches should be stabilized by 1,000 to a different runway or diverting to a and cleared the aircraft to land. feet height above touchdown (HAT) in more suitable airport.

From an organizational perspective, ADS-B data indicated that the aircraft instrument conditions, and by 500 feet “know the risks!” Circling approaches overflew the airport at 407 feet agl and HAT in visual conditions. then began a climbing turn to align with When circling approaches are conducted present both safety and liability risks. The Runway 27R. The aircraft struck power in IMC, transitioning from instruments to safety risk is well-defined; a straight-in lines and impacted the ground about a mile ground references can cause the “illusion approach is 25 times less risky. The liability from the end of the runway. Both pilots of high speed” if the instruments are not risk is less defined.

An operator may argue, “A circling and two flight nurses were fatally injured. properly monitored.Operators are encourThe NTSB noted that: “Instead of aged to establish, publish, and adhere to approach is a legal procedure that has been attempting a landing from an unstable stabilized approach criteria; these criteria certified by the FAA (or other authority).” approach in poor visibility, the flight crew may restrict or prohibit an operator from Another point of view will argue that a circling approach will allow access to second could have initiated a missed approach circling approaches. procedure and attempted a landing to a NTSB Safety Alert Number 77–March and third-tier airports, which provides a different runway or diverted to another 2019, titled “Stabilized Approaches Lead to marketing advantage.

All are interesting points, but at the end of airport due to the weather.”

Safe Landings,” recommends operators to: “Follow SOPs and industry best practices for the day, ask yourself and your legal counsel NTSB IDENTIFIES THE PROBLEM stabilized approach criteria, including a nor- this question: Does the “operational flexibilCircling approaches, according to the NTSB mal glidepath, specified airspeed and descent ity” of flying a circling approach outweigh z (and as demonstrated in these accidents), rate, landing configuration (flaps, gear, etc.), the liability if there were an accident?

 A circling approach is a legal

procedure that has been certified by the FAA (or other authority). 

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Jessica Cox plans round the world flight B Y M A R K HUBE R

EAA AirVenture 2023 Jessica Cox is the first pilot certified to fly only with her feet. Now she wants to become the first armless person to fly around the world.

A motivational speaker, author, disability advocate, and philanthropist, Cox earned her light-sport pilot certificate in 2008, flying a 1946 ERCO Ercoupe. Built to go low and slow, the two-seat aircraft has ailerons interconnected with the rudder, which means disabled pilots can fly it with their feet off the floor using only the control yoke.

Cox vividly remembered her first solo flight while speaking with AIN in the Homebuilt Hangar at this year’s EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. “I felt like I was on top of the world. I was never more focused in my life. My heart was pounding and I was excited and nervous at the same time,” she said. Today, Cox counsels others with physical disabilities who want to enjoy life in the cockpit.

Flying is far from her only accomplishment. When she was 14, Cox earned her first black belt from the International Taekwon-Do Federation. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Arizona, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. At the university, Cox joined an ATA Martial Arts club (formerly known as the American Taekwondo Association) and became the first armless person to earn a black belt in the ATA. In 2012, she married her Taekwondo instructor, Patrick Chamberlain, who also is a pilot and today serves as her business manager.

Cox spoke with AIN in front of the cockpit of a wrecked Van’s Aircraft RV-10 kit plane that she and her team of volunteers are using to test a variety of customized seats, flight control systems, and doors that could make aviation more accessible

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Two dextrous feet are all Jessica Cox needs to fly her 1946 ERCO Ercoupe. to people with disabilities. These compoAdvocating for disabled children is nents will be fitted to a new-build RV-10, a passion for Cox. To that end, in 2017, a low-wing, four-seat aircraft that a local she founded the Rightfooted Foundation EAA chapter in New Jersey is building for International (RFI), a nonprofit organiCox with help from engineering students. zation. One of RFI’s first projects was a It is the airplane Cox hopes to fly around YouTube video series called “Life With the world in 2028, culminating with over- Feet.” The first episode, which highlights flights of the International Olympic and how Jessica and her friend Tisha navigate Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. life without arms, garnered more than Cox calls it her “impossible airplane.” It 750,000 views. features a pair of blue Crocs attached to Cox thinks universal design and artifithe rudder pedals, which control the pitch, cial intelligence hold enormous promise roll, and yaw axes. Floor-mounted levers for assisting the disabled to lead fuller between the pedals control throttle and lives, but she believes more work needs to the flaps. Plans call for modern glass panel be done to equalize opportunities both in avionics with optional voice controls for the U.S. and abroad so that “everyone feels settings like radio frequencies and cabin included”—a message she delivers on her environmental controls. international speaking tour.

The right-seat pilot position will be People with disabilities, Cox said, “want fitted with conventional flight controls, to work, want to be able to provide for allowing Cox’s husband Patrick and other themselves and their families, [and] want pilots to fly the aircraft as well. Besides the to have a feeling of independence and around-the-world trip in 2028, Cox plans empowerment. Getting up every day and to use the aircraft to motivate disabled doing something gives you a purpose.” children to reject the notion of physiJessica Cox has let nothing stand in the cal limitations. way of finding hers. z

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News from EAA AirVenture Oshkosh B Y A I N S TA F F

EAA AirVenture 2023 The Experimental Aircraft Association’s 2023 edition of AirVenture set numerous records, from the 667,000 in attendance to the 13,000 campsites (accounting for 40,000 visitors) and the 5,500 volunteers.

More than 10,000 aircraft arrived for the event that spanned from July 20 to 30 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Impressively, the event drew from 93 countries (tying a record) and had key participants such as the U.S. Air Force Training Command and NASA, which brought its Super Guppy that was designed to haul large space equipment. Typically, this year’s AirVenture also generated lots of news. Here’s a sample of the headlines.

HONEYWELL PC-12 WITH ANTHEM AVIONICS FLIES TO OSHKOSH

Primus Apex avionics on the other side.

While the Apex pilot interface is a cursor-control device and multifunction controller, Anthem’s displays are all touch display units (TDUs), or touchscreens, enabling many more ways of activating all of its features.

“It’s completely different architecturewise,” Manning said. Areas on the TDUs—for example, the flight mode annunciators—can even replace all the functions of a typical hardware guidance panel, and aircraft manufacturers will be able to choose whether the panel is needed or if the space can be put to other uses.

The main interface for Anthem is the pilot interface display unit, which can be on its own or can be included in a section of one or more of the TDUs.

WISK FLIES EVTOL AUTONOMOUSLY, UNMANNED AT AIRVENTURE

Wisk Aero autonomously flew its fifthgeneration “Cora” eVTOL technology demonstrator at EAA AirVenture. The aircraft made several passes in front of the airshow crowd line and transitioned from hover to wing-borne flight four times.

The unmanned flight also included multiple maneuvers, among them hover and 360-degree pedal turns.

As flight testing of the new Anthem avionics This was the first public demonstration suite in Honeywell’s Pilatus PC-12 contin- of the Wisk fifth-generation aircraft, and ues, the turboprop single took a short break the flight was monitored by Wisk controlin Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where EAA AirVen- lers in a mobile ground station at the show ture attendees were able to check out the site in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. revamped instrument panel up close.

Honeywell test pilot Ed Manning made the first flight earlier this year of the PC-12 fully equipped with the Anthem suite. Flight testing, which began in the PC-12 more than a year ago, was with a partial Anthem system mounted on one side of the instrument panel, supported by original Honeywell

“This demonstration showcases the state of readiness for autonomous technology and electric propulsion,” said Wisk CEO Brian Yutko. “We look forward to launching the first passenger service on an all-electric, autonomous air taxi within this decade.”

PIPER AIRCRAFT SEES RECORD DEMAND

Piper Aircraft expects to deliver 270 aircraft this year, up from 236 in 2022. During AirVenture, company v-p of sales, marketing, and customer support Ron Gunnarson characterized the market as “the best many of us have ever seen,” with dealer inventories of new M-class airplanes, as well as Seminoles and Archers, at “near zero” and available used inventories of M-class aircraft at less than 3 percent. He called market conditions, coupled with continuing supply-chain challenges, “both a curse and a blessing” that was forcing the company to “keep it real” and not over-expand during the current boom.

Gunnarson said Piper’s bottom line continues to be strengthened by large fleet orders for training aircraft, including one announced earlier this year from Blue Line Aviation in North Carolina for up to 115 aircraft. He also noted strong demand for the company’s Archer DX turbo-diesel engine training aircraft from foreign markets.

According to Gunnarson, Piper is meeting the challenge of increased demand with a $30 million modernization of plant and equipment that includes robotic welders and 3D printers. z

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The first production prototype of the Joby eVTOL, which will likely be one of the first eVTOL air taxis in the U.S.

The not-so-new vision of air taxis B Y C OL L E E N MO N D OR

Last May, the FAA released an airspace the virtue of aviation in both its civil and to date. Under a headline of “4,250-mile blueprint as guidance to potential changes military capacities, including a list of com- ‘Air-Taxi’ Trip Made Without Incident,” the to airspace and procedures in the accom- mon uses for the airplane with 34 separate magazine detailed a business flight that modation of future air taxis. A short accom- categories such as sports, landscape gar- left Paris on August 25 and then proceeded panying video noted that air taxis would dening, commercial financial transactions, to stop in fourteen cities across Europe operate initially in the existing helicopter and fisheries. Under the category “Ser- before its return on September 15. and heli-path structure, require onboard vice—Special Dispatch,” he noted passenReports of air taxi service in various pilots actively flying the aircraft, and follow ger-carrying, sightseeing, regular air taxi parts of the U.S. continued in the ensuing all applicable aviation regulations. service, commercial routes between cities, decades, with Portland reporting in 1926 If this all sounds familiar, it is; it is sim- and hotel service. (The hotel uses of avia- that Rankin Air Service carried 65 people ilar to how air taxis, regulated by Part 135 tion were apparently to transport guests to to various locations in one day, charging of the Federal Aviation Regulations and “golf links etc.”) each 25 cents per mile. including fixed-wing aircraft, have operElsewhere, an Ohio family en route to ated for decades.

MEDIA ATTENTION Miami, Florida in 1930 reported an air taxi In the discussion of the blueprint, which Air taxis could be found in the major media trip throughout the Caribbean, and in 1938 is available online, the agency failed to around the same time. The New York air taxi service arrived in Chicago with a note the current existence of air taxi oper- Times reported in June 1919 that North shuttle service from the lake shore to the ations or their long-storied history in com- Shore Aerial Transportation Service had airport, and a floatplane air taxi expected mercial aviation. completed a nine-minute flight in Mas- to open soon as well.

In federal records, the term “air taxi” sachusetts from Swampscott to Boston.

After observing the slow proliferation of dates to 1921 in an interesting mention in The company planned continued flights these non-airline commercial activities for the Congressional Record. In August of that throughout the summer. some time, in 1951 the federal government year, California Rep. Charles Curry introA short article in the November 1921 weighed in with specific regulations. As duced a bill to establish a federal Depart- issue of Popular Mechanics heralded what posted in the Federal Register in February ment of Aeronautics. His remarks extolled was believed to be the longest air taxi flight of that year, the Civil Aeronautics Board

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Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

(CAB) defined air taxis as air carriers that On July 18, The New York Times ran an How to accomplish this level of transwere not required to obtain a certificate article discussing the FAA’s anticipation of port cheaply, safely, and within existing of public convenience and necessity (due a competitive air taxi market by 2028. The aviation infrastructure remains a key questo non-scheduled service), and exclusively reporter described eVTOL aircraft as those tion mark in the fanciful air taxi vision. Yet used aircraft of less than 12,500 pounds finally able to transport people from the that vision keeps capturing attention. maximum takeoff weight. The exemption “middle of cities” to airports or vacation Popular Mechanics predicted in 2005 that from the air carrier certificate requirement destinations but noted they would likely within 20 years, there would be a fleet of could be revoked by the CAB at any time. face resistance from locals who might 13,500 economical four-passenger microjets Other than within the territory of Alaska, consider the smaller aircraft as hazardous in small airports across the country offer(which was governed by a separate set of or annoying. ing air-taxi service at the price of an econregulations), there were several specific The potential market for short-flight omy-class airline ticket. That didn’t happen. rules enacted to govern how air taxis could operators was estimated as much as “tens At the end of the day, no matter how many fly between two points, stressing that such of billions of dollars.” The newspaper was articles are written touting air taxi operators operations could not constitute a “uniform presenting air taxis as brand-new technol- as mysterious futuristic entities, nothing has pattern of normal consistency.” Air taxis ogy and brand-new activity. changed where it matters, which is safety were charters, but ambiguity remained in For all that, it sounds remarkably like regulation with the FAA. some differences between them and air how charter helicopters already operate, Whether or not it matters that air taxis carriers. Even after Part 135 was developed (right down to potential noise complaints). have been flying for over 100 years isn’t up in 1964, gray areas persisted.

Yet again, the air taxi business was being to the FAA. However, the term has fallen In 1972, the National Transportation introduced to the public. victim to a collision of futuristic dreams Safety Board (NTSB) published a special and modern marketing. study into air taxi safety and in the proENDLESS APPEAL In 1972 the NTSB noted that the act of cess delved into the extensive history of air How do we repeatedly suffer from col- hiring an air taxi was so similar to the hirtaxi operations and regulations. While not lective amnesia concerning a significant ing of a taxicab that it had obtained the a definitive history of air taxis in the U.S. portion of the aviation industry? The prob- name through its “identification as ‘air taxi’ (the study’s authors did not address air taxi lem might lie in the endless appeal of the service.” The image in our heads of cheap, proliferation in the 1920s and ‘30s), it is a term “air taxi.” No matter how the avia- compact flying yellow taxi cabs is too allursignificant document for the period. tion industry and regulators have defined ing to apply to an ordinary old Cessna 206 It references the National Air Taxi Con- short charter flights, the general public or Airbus Helicopters Astar. Air taxis will ference, which was formed in 1950 by air continues to chase the dream of fully auto- be the stuff of the Jetsons. Maybe, finally, taxi operators focused on passenger traf- mated aviation transport that will appear this time it will really happen. And it will be fic. The study also reports on the massive on demand right outside their homes and affordable; we are sure of that too—othergrowth of the air taxi and commuter sector whisk them off to work or play. wise, it wouldn’t be called a taxi. z of the industry and notes the CAB’s establishment of the commuter air carrier category in 1969, which applied to those air taxis conducting five weekly round trips between two points and publishing flight schedules, or having a USPS contract to fly the mail.

The air taxi/small commuter split as it exists today came out of the development of that separate category in 1969.

So, from a historical and regulatory standpoint, the long development of the operations known as “air taxis” is easily documented. And yet, we cannot resist using the term for the latest iteration of nonscheduled, short-distance flight availability.

The Archer Midnight eVTOL aircraft fits squarely in the air taxi category. a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

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Runway excursions: Does the hype about causes and types match with reality?

B Y G O R D O N G IL BE R T

The NTSB found an improperly installed wheel caused this HondaJet to depart the runway after landing at Atlanta’s Cobb County Airport.

There is an old axiom among pilots that (FAA defines a runway excursion as a “veer says the three most useless things in avia- off or overrun from the runway surface.”) tion are fuel on the ground, air above, and Our study mirrored the results of previrunway behind. ous studies—runway excursions account In the context of “runway behind,” sim- for about a third of all reported accidents/ ilar themes thread through many runway incidents. Charter operations accounted execursions: an unstabilized approach, an for nearly 20 percent of business jet excurattempt to salvage it instead of making a sions worldwide. go-around, a short final too hot and high, a The jets in our study comprised 11 touchdown too long and too fast, improper models, four of them approved for sinuse of braking and other slowing systems, gle-pilot operations. They are the Hondaand a delayed or improper decision leading Jet, Embraer Phenom 100, Raytheon to being unable to stop the aircraft before Premier, Cessna Citation 550 and Citarunning out of control, options, and ulti- tion 560XL, Gulfstream large-cabin series, mately, runway.

Dassault Falcon 900, Bombardier ChalThese themes were found in an AIN lenger 300 and 600 series, and Learjet 45 review of 164 excursions (33 percent) out and 55. of a total of 494 reported accidents and In addition, AIN performed a separate incidents of a selected group of aircraft NTSB search for incursions that captured make and models starting from the year 67 occurrences from 2008 through 2022 when these airframes entered service. for which the investigation was completed.

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Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

Besides unstabilized approaches leading to hot and long landings, other predominant implicating and frequently overlapping causal factors include loss of directional control on ground (LOC-G), system malfunctions, maintenance errors, contaminated runways, unfamiliarity with aircraft systems or procedures, failure to use checklists, and a lack of cockpit resource management (CRM). See the table on the facing page for a complete list.

SOMETIMES FATAL

Excursions typically do not result in fatalities, but there are exceptions. Five fatal landing excursions and three fatal takeoff excursions took the lives of 32 crew and passengers. Two of the accidents occurred under Part 135 and two of the three fatal excursions outside of the U.S. were charters.

The worst fatal excursion in terms Disturbing issues regarding the flight EXCURSION CAUSES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND FACTORS of loss of life (seven perished) was on crew and the operator were also discovMay 31, 2014, when a Part 91 Gulfstream ered during the NTSB’s investigation of (As listed in final reports) G-IV crew attempted to takeoff with a Part 135 Falcon 50 landing excursion on Aborting takeoff failure its gust locks engaged. There were so Sep. 27, 2018, in which two people died.

Airport personnel many issues surrounding this accident The other Part 135 fatal excursion was the ATC personnel that the NTSB published a special inves- Sept. 19, 2008, overrun crash of a Learjet 60 Contaminated runway (ice, water, snow) tigation report and issued more than a attempting to takeoff “with known mainteCrosswind dozen recommendations. nance issues,” including low tire pressure, Excessive speed on touchdown The other G-IV takeoff fatal excursion was according to the NTSB’s final report. This Failed go-around attempt on Oct. 30, 1996, and the sequence of events accident killed four of the six aboard.

Failure to conduct proper preflight started when the aircraft began its takeoff Three more landing G-IV excursions Failure to go-around when able roll in a 24-knot crosswind. About 1,340 feet claimed 11 lives (plus two on the ground).

Failure to release parking brake after the start of the takeoff roll, the air- On July 7, 2013, a U.S.-registered G-IV on plane veered left and departed the runway. a positioning flight crashed and burned Failure to use checklist Tire marks indicated no braking action was after overrunning the runway at an airFuel exhaustion/starvation applied. One of the pilots said, “Reverse,” port in France. All three aboard were killed.

Hard landing (including bouncing) then the other pilot said, “No, no, no, go, go, The crew failed to arm the ground spoilHydroplaning go, go, go.” As the airplane traversed a shal- ers, which delayed the deployment of the Ignoring aural warnings/alerts low ditch that paralleled the runway, it began reversers despite their selection, accordIllegal aspects (not certified/airworthy) shedding parts and became airborne after it ing to the final report. Investigators also Improper braking (wheel/speed brakes, spoilers) encountered a berm at the departure end of attributed the accident to the failure of Improper configuration the runway. The aircraft caught fire and all this flight crew in particular, and the operImproper flare four souls on board perished. ating company’s flight crews in general, Improper use of reverse thrust The nose wheel steering select control to “systematically perform the checklists” Lack of crew resource management switch was found in the “Handwheel Only” using a challenge and response method.

Long landing/too high position, and not in the “Normal” position.

After touching down at the 3,900-foot Loss of directional control on ground (LOC-G) The pilot and copilot comprised a mixed point of a 6,500-ft runway in the Congo, a Maintenance error crew in accordance with an interchange U.S.-registered G-IV carrying government Operating with known system deficiencies agreement between two companies that officials on a charter flight overran the end Procedural non-compliance operated G-IVs. The companies’ operation and broke apart. The Feb. 12, 2012, acciStall just before touchdown manuals and the interchange agreement dent killed four of the 12 onboard and two System failure/malfunction did not address mixed crews, procedural on the ground. The operator’s certificate Tailwind differences, or aircraft differences training. was revoked.

Unfamiliarization (systems and/or procedures) Probable cause of this accident was the Although contaminated runways (water, Unstabilized final approach failure of the pilot-in-command (PIC) snow, ice) were implicated in more than 40 Using shorter runway (intentionally) to maintain directional control of the excursions (about 17 percent of the total), Windshear/gust over runway airplane in a gusty crosswind, his fail- only one of the eight fatal excursions Wrong runway alignment/selection ure to abort the takeoff, and “failure of occurred on a contaminated runway. On the copilot to adequately monitor and/ Aug. 31, 2010, a Citation 550 was completor take sufficient remedial action to help ing a charter flight in heavy rain to Papua TWO PILOTS VS ONE avoid the occurrence.” Factors relating New Guinea. With a tailwind, the twinjet Among those aircraft models in our sample, to the accident included the gusty cross- touched down long on a wet runway that there was no apparent correlation of excurwind, the flight crew’s inadequate pre- was too short. The pilot attempted to sions in terms of the number of pilots in flight, the nose wheel steering switch in abort the landing and go around, but the the flight crew for those aircraft models the “Handwheel Only” position, and the aircraft was not able to gain flying speed approved for single-pilot operations, with lack of standardization of the two com- and descended into terrain beyond the end the exception of the Premier. Seven of 14 panies’ operations manuals and inter- of the runway. Of the five people on board, Premier excursions were being operated by change agreement. the copilot was the only survivor. one pilot. a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

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Available data produced one of the 12 About halfway down the runway, the monitoring (PM) issuing re peated HondaJet excursions to be crewed by a pilot said he considered a go-around, but go-around commands. The PM stated that single pilot. However, from the informa- the left brake “grabbed” and the airplane’s about two miles from the runway threshtion available, the number of flight crew nose suddenly yawed to the left. This old, the airplane’s descent rate increased, could not be determined in roughly half of began a sequence of left and right skids. which activated the ground proximity the HondaJet excursions. Of the 27 known The pilot said he used the rudder pedals to warning “Terrain, Pull Up.” The PM comnumber of flight crew in Phenom 100 keep the airplane on the runway and was manded a “go-around,” which was not excursions, 10 were flown by one pilot. able to straighten the nose out right before acknowledged by the PF. When the twinAccording to NTSB data of final reports it went off the runway into the grass and jet was on a one-mile final, the PM called of U.S.-registered excursions separate slid down several embankments before for a “go-around” a second time, followed from our sample, only one of the eight stopping and catching fire. by a third time as they crossed the runway fatal excursions involved a one-pilot crew.

The NTSB’s final report of the runway threshold about 30 to 40 knots too fast.

On Sep. 29, 2013, a Part 91 Citation 525 excursion of a Part 91 Cessna 560XL on The Dec. 10, 2015 landing excursion after went out of control while landing, collided July 21, 2021, is a case of an accident involv- a hard landing of a Premier I is another with a hangar, and caught fire resulting ing two pilots not on the same page. The example where the PIC did not respond to in the loss of the pilot and his three pas- captain was the pilot flying (PF) and said the second pilot’s commands. But in this sengers. The NTSB said the pilot delayed while on final approach, the airplane was case, the second pilot literally took the inithe application of both wheel brakes and “eating up a lot of runway” before it settled tiative. The first pilot, who was the owner of speed brakes but could not determine why. on the pavement. He applied full brakes the light jet and had recently received a type The Board also was not able to conclude if and activated the reversers, but it was not rating in the airplane, was acting as PIC in several unrestrained pets, including a large enough to stop the airplane, and it collided the left seat. A second pilot, also type-rated dog, might have interfered with the pilot. with an Engineered Material Arresting Sys- and experienced in the airplane model, was Two pilots were predominant when tem, resulting in substantial damage. accompanying the first pilot as a mentor. it came to the larger Cessna 500 series The pilot admitted that he became fixAs they neared the destination airport approved for single-pilot operations: just ated on landing and thought he could for an approach, the pilots received the five of the 39 excursions involving the salvage the approach despite the pilot most recent weather information, which Citation 550 series were being crewed by one pilot and all 13 Citation 560XL series EXCURSIONS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS excursions were under the command of (By greatest percentage) two pilots. In all, of 96 total excursions TOTAL by the four lightest single-pilot models, 23 ENTERED ONE-PILOT TOTAL PERCENT AIRCRAFT MODEL ACCIDENTS/ SERVICE EXCURSIONS EXCURSIONS OF TOTAL (or just under a quarter) included one-piINCIDENTS lot crews.

EXCURSION EXAMPLES

The one known single-crew Honda excursion in our sample involved hydroplaning off the runway and resulted in the aircraft being destroyed in the post-accident fire, but the commercial pilot and his five passengers escaped injury. After touching down at a Vref of 120 knots with full flaps, the pilot immediately applied full brake pressure. According to the NTSB preliminary report, the pilot said “…the brakes immediately began to pulsate in anti-skid mode and because of that, very little braking effort was being done to slow the plane despite full pedal pressure.”

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Embraer Phenom 100

2008

10

34

31

91%

Raytheon Premier I/IA

2001

7

28

14

50%

Honda HondaJet

2012

1

27

12

46%

Bombardier Learjet 55

1981

--

25

9

36%

Cessna Citation 550

1978

5

115

39

34%

Bombardier Learjet 45

1998

--

28

9

33%

Dassault Falcon 900

1986

--

35

10

29%

Gulfstream large-cabin series

1967

--

65

14

25%

Cessna Citation 560XL

1989

--

54

13

24%

Bombardier Challenger 600

1996

--

69

11

16%

Bombardier Challenger 300

2003

--

14

2

14%

23

494

165

33%

Total/Average%

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

included a crosswind at 16 knots with gusts 2019, the FAA issued an emergency revoto 29 knots. Shortly thereafter, another cation of all his certificates because he pilot on the frequency reported wind gusts allegedly had falsified logbook entries and of 50 knots upon landing. The first pilot records for pilot proficiency checks, comexpressed concern about landing in such petency checks, and training events on 15 windy conditions, but the second pilot separate occasions while employed as a encouraged him to continue. check pilot for a Part 135 operator.

The first pilot told the NTSB that, about Yet, even during this period of having 45 feet above the runway, the airplane expe- no valid pilot certificate, he was able to rienced a strong wind gust and the second enroll in Falcon 900 initial training at pilot “grabbed” the flight controls “with- FlightSafety International. He was not out calling out, ‘my plane.’” The left wing issued a type rating because he never finimpacted the ground, and the second pilot ished the ground or flight simulator traininitiated a go-around. The second pilot ing. The first officer was not authorized to said he had called for a go-around before serve as PIC because he had logged just 16 taking the controls, but that the first pilot hours of flight experience in the Falcon “seemed to be frozen.” The second pilot 900EX EASy and was also not typed. then reconfigured the airplane for landing.

The NTSB concluded: the maximum BRAKING THRUST demonstrated crosswind component of the Save the brakes but lose the airplane could airplane was 25 knots. Given the reported be the mantra for the Oct. 7, 2011, runway wind conditions at about the time of the excursion of a Citation II in Brazil. The accident, the crosswind component was nose gear collapsed as the aircraft came at least 16 to 29 knots and may have been to rest in shrubs, and the twinjet was later greater based on the pilot report of gusts. written off as “damage unrepairable.” The “Thus, the pilots should not have attempted five occupants escaped unhurt. According the landing, because the gusts had the to the accident report, the captain was in potential to exceed the airplane’s maxi- the habit of braking the aircraft using only mum demonstrated crosswind component.” reverse thrust to save the braking system.

A lot of things were handled wrong by Thus, he belatedly used the aircraft’s norboth pilots in the Feb. 13, 2021, attempted mal braking system allowing the aircraft to takeoff excursion of a Falcon 900EX EASy overshoot the runway. His “piloting judgthat resulted in substantial damage but no ment” was included in the report as a coninjuries to the five people on board. The tributing factor. flight crew—comprising two non-type Combining a tailwind and a wet runway rated pilots—attempted to rotate 2,975 didn’t end well for the Oct. 1, 2020, air taxi pounds over the mtow and with a center flight of a Raytheon/Beechjet 400A. The of gravity close to the most forward limit, airplane touched down at a groundspeed an incorrect stabilizer trim setting, a rota- exceeding 120 knots, about 10 knots faster tion speed 23 knots slower than the speed than Vref. During the landing roll, the required at maximum weight, and with a pilot believed there was a problem with runway that was 575 feet shorter than the the brakes, as he received “zero feedback” takeoff distance would have required. despite his attempts to slow down.

It took the investigation of this accident During the landing, the copilot deployed to expose the fact that the PIC not only the speed brakes for some six seconds never had a Falcon 900 type rating, but before retracting them, about the time he two years earlier had been stripped of all commented to the pilot that they should his certificates and ratings, so he wasn’t abort the landing. The pilot declined to even qualified to fly any aircraft. On Feb. 3, abort and directed the copilot to deactivate

EXCURSION FACTOIDS WORLDWIDE OF SAMPLE AIRCRAFT MODELS (Starting at model service entry) Destroyed

53

EMAS encounters

5

Private with passengers

95

Positioning/Ferry

20

Training

3

Charter

30

State/Government

1

Operation unknown

31

Excursions outside U.S.

72

Excursions within U.S.

93

U.S-registered

95

Non-U.S.-registered

70

Takeoffs

20

Landings

145

Resulting in fatalities

8

Investigated

127

Not investigated

37

Single-pilot crew

23

Two-pilot crew

141

the airplane’s anti-skid system with about one-third of the runway remaining. With no observed change in the airplane’s braking, the pilot attempted to slow the airplane by steering it from side to side, but it ultimately departed the end of the runway and was substantially damaged.

The NTSB determined the cause of the accident was the flight crew’s improper decision to land with a tailwind on a wet runway.

Contributing was the copilot’s early retraction of the speed brakes and the pilot’s decision to turn off the anti-skid system.

On March 9, 2005, a Challenger 300 came to grief on an attempted takeoff because of a seemingly harmless modification—an STC’d microphone jack receptacle installed near the base fairing of both pilots’ control columns. When the PIC attempted to rotate the airplane, the control column would not move aft of the neutral position. The takeoff roll couldn’t be stopped before the aircraft went off the runway, taking out the nose gear.

a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

43

The receptacle was oriented vertically on the pilot’s side, but 90 degrees to the control column vertical axis on the co-pilot side. It was determined that the rearward movement of the control column could be jammed from the horizontal placement of the assembly on the copilot’s column.

The NTSB called the STC an “inadequate design,” and an AD was issued requiring modifications to this assembly to prevent possible control movement interference.

The classic “failure to communicate” was one of the factors behind the nonfatal excursion of a Part 91 G-IV on Aug. 21, 2021, according to the NTSB final report.

High tailwinds were a factor in this Hawker overrun at Aspen, Colorado.

After towing the aircraft, FBO personnel could not reinstall the nose gear’s pip pin EIGHT FATAL EXCURSION ACCIDENTS securely. Ground personnel left the safety DATE AIRPLANE SEGMENT OPERATION REG. LOCATION FATALITIES clip hanging from its lanyard on the gear and a ground supervisor told the first arriving 12/30/96 Gulfstream G-IV Takeoff Private U.S. U.S. 4 crewmember (a non-type-rated observer 9/19/08 Bombardier Learjet 60 Takeoff Charter U.S. U.S. 4 pilot), “per tow team, check your nose pin.”

Papua New Papua New During the takeoff, the nose gear devel8/31/10 Cessna Citation 550 Landing Charter 4 Guinea Guinea oped a “violent shimmy.” As the pilot 2/12/12 Gulfstream G-IV Landing Charter U.S. Congo 4 aborted the takeoff, the gear broke away, the airplane veered off the runway, and 7/13/12 Gulfstream G-IV Landing Positioning U.S. France 3 the right wing and right main landing gear 9/29/13 Cessna Citation 525 Landing Private U.S. U.S. 4* sustained substantial damage. All 14 occu5/31/14 Gulfstream G-IV Takeoff Private U.S. U.S. 7 pants escaped uninjured.

The NTSB said the accident was caused 9/27/18 Dassault Falcon 50 Landing Charter U.S. U.S. 2 by the PIC’s and SIC’s failure during preTOTAL 32 flight to ensure that the nose landing gear’s pip pin was properly installed. Contribut- *Single pilot; All excursions from dry runways except for the Citation 550 accident. ing to the accident was the ground crew supervisor’s “failure to inform the PIC or SIC of the anomaly concerning the NONFATAL EXCURSIONS Considering the statistics, it is clear that pip pin.” All three pilots denied that any Currently under investigation are several they disprove some assumptions in the ground personnel told them about issues recent nonfatal landing excursions, including business aviation community. For example, with the gear. The NTSB did not address two single-pilot Phenom 100 mishaps (Feb. 17, excursions aren’t necessarily predominant this discrepancy.

2023, and March 5, 2023) and three HondaJet in single-pilot operations. The data showed Business aviation turboprops also have accidents, one a Part 135 operation with two that single-pilot excursions accounted for their share of runway excursions. Accord- pilots (March 9, 2022) and two private oper- only about a third of all excursions by the ing to NTSB data, from 2008 through 2022, ations, one with a single pilot (May 18, 2023) four aircraft models in this survey that can U.S.-registered single- and twin-engine and in Canada with two pilots (March 7, 2022). be approved for one-pilot crews. turboprops were involved in 75 nonfatal Depending on the circumstances and While the statistics indicate that light jets excursions, including a rare Part 91K (frac- extent of damage, investigations may be as a group may have a slightly higher pertional) event, and three Part 91 fatal excur- undertaken for these latest excursions: a centage of excursions compared with heavy sions. There were no fatal excursions of Citation 750 (May 28, 2023), a Citation 550 jets, no specific make or model has the Part 135 turboprops during those years.

(June 5, 2023), and a Falcon 10 (June 7, 2023). majority of excursions. z

44

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

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Avionics

Preparing for night vision goggles B Y M A R IO P IE ROBO N

Use of night vision goggles is growing as more operators see their benefits.

Operators are increasingly adopting the use of night vision goggles (NVG) for both emergency and non-emergency flights as they strive for continuous safety improvement. But preparing the aircraft and the operation for their use requires careful planning, experts advised.

As with any aircraft program, operators must factor in the cost, safety benefits, and any risk involved when planning for NVG modifications, said Jeff Stubbs, senior v-p of operations for

systems technology at Retech. “It is important to understand the cost of the night vision imaging system [NVIS], which comprises the cost of the goggles themselves;

 Within the U.S., the FAA has

shipping the goggles out every six months for calibration; pilot training and recurrent training; cockpit modification; ease of installation; and maintenance,” he said.

“There is also the need to ensure to purchase FAA/EASA-accepted goggles. This will reduce potential headaches down the road.”

Indeed, a main factor for consideration is the NVIS safety regulations, agreed Kip McDermott, v-p of aviation services, and Chad St. Francis, v-p of business development and marketing at Aviation

established regulatory requirements that provide guidance for implementation of a safe and effective NVIS operation/program... 

46

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

Specialties Unlimited. “Within the U.S., the FAA has established regulatory requirements that provide guidance for implementation of a safe and effective NVIS operation/program,” they said. “If an operation is considering NVIS implementation within their operations, the first step should be discussions with the local civil aviation authority to receive the appropriate guidance regarding equipment and training requirements to operate. Once the organization understands the specific NVIS requirements, it should seek certified NVIS modifiers and training companies to partner with on implementation.”

Operators also need support with NVGs, lighting modifications, and training for a complete NVIS program, according to McDermott and St. Francis.

“There are many companies who can help with one element. Some companies—such as ours—are able to provide a comprehensive suite of support and do all three due to a ‘one-stop shop’ approach to this need,” they maintained. “The operators could source all of their NVIS requirements with one organization with the experience to assist them in starting their program safely and correctly without having to make the mistakes that may affect safety, timeliness, and/or costs.”

An important requirement is also to assess one’s capability to maintain the system and spares, according to Stubbs. “[An] NVIS program is a significant jump for an organization, so there must be a 100 percent buy-in from management, pilots, and maintenance,” he said.

NVG MODIFICATION PROCESS

According to Stubbs, to modify today’s aircraft, operators must gather a wealth of information that takes the aircraft, crews, maintenance, and logistics all into account.

“When we survey an aircraft we evaluate the aircraft first, then we sit down with

the pilots and the maintenance crews and discuss their concerns, and then evaluate their logistics situation,” he said.

Cockpit modifications should take everything into consideration, Stubbs added. “For instance, if one has to modify

travel to the customer’s location and the modification typically requires a week of downtime for installation and return to service, which we complete entirely for the customer inclusive of all data and paperwork. After installation, we work with local civil aviation for final approvals and return to service, which can take three to eight weeks dependent on the authority office.”

NON-EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

Pilots appreciate the improved view in lowlight conditions when they fly with NVG. a fleet of 20 aircraft all based at one facility with a huge room of spares, then one has options available that are different compared with a fleet of 20 aircraft all based remotely with only a mechanic and pilot and limited spares,” he said. “Different facilities have different hurdles, and they must be considered when producing a modification kit that will be successful.”

The timeframe for a full NVIS modification on a fleet will depend on the individual modifier’s process, McDermott and St. Francis explained.

“Our process is built around the customer’s need to minimize downtime on their aircraft or fleet. Once we receive a purchase order it takes about eight weeks to attain the design approvals and complete kit production,” they said. “We then

Whether NVG modifications are useful also to non-emergency operators doing passenger transport has been a debate since the invention of NVG, observed Stubbs. “I definitely understand the argument ‘we are flying from one helipad to another at a safe altitude,’ but as an engineer, I can never have enough information and I would assume that pilots have the same mindset,” he said. “One time, I had news of a crew that requested and was denied NVIS from their accounting office. I simply suggested taking up the decision-maker one night without goggles and then in mid-flight having him put the goggles on to see the difference. The following week they received the approval for the NVIS program.”

According to McDermott and St. Francis, NVG modifications are useful also for non-emergency helicopter passenger transport. “Both rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft are required to operate within the appropriate NVIS regulations based on regulatory guidance from local civil aviation authorities.

“We have seen an uptick in business from rotary-wing and fixed-wing operators that AINonline logo need certified NVIS lighting modification, NVGs, and training,” they concluded. z AIN logo: C 0 M 100 Y 63 B 12 Hex: D31245 RGB: R 211 G 18 B 69 Alerts: 65% black font: Myriad Pro semi extended 90% height

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a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

47

Rotorcraft

Burning questions at apex of firefighting

BY MARK HUBER

Sikorsky’s Firehawk is a succesful fire-suppression aircraft but much more expensive than surplus military Black Hawks.

By early August, the worst Canadian wildfires on record had torched more than 32 million acres, created the most unhealthy air quality ever measured in several North American cities, and spewed more than 25 percent of the globe’s annual carbon dioxide (CO2) output into the atmosphere. Of the more than 1,000 fires burning, nearly 700 were labeled “OC” or out-of-control, charring an area the size of Greece, from Quebec to well north of the Arctic Circle.

Meanwhile, U.S. policymakers are grappling with the new reality of fire seasons that are longer, more volatile, and increasingly destructive. And more frequently, the solution involves more air attacks on fires, especially when they are in the nascent stages and before they can spread. But policy roadblocks with regard to restricted category aircraft and how the government employs them—either directly or through

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contractors—potentially stand in the way. Ae rial Equipme nt Strategy Re port.

By early August, the U.S. has been relaThe Commission’s interim report— tively lucky, logging 31,382 wildfires that have with more findings due out at the end of burned 1,257,389 acres, well below the 10-year September—attempted to evaluate strucaverage of 35,011 wildfires and 3,897,571 tural and policy barriers to effective aerial acres burned at this point in the fire season, firefighting, but noted a lack of coheraccording to the National Interagency Fire ent data on the topic. A 2017 draft interCenter (NIFC). But NIFC has warned that agency strategy for wildland fire aviation dry thunderstorms and hot, dry, and windy resources has yet to be finalized by the conditions have created elevated fire risks.

National Interagency Aviation Committee of the National Wildfire Coordinating FIGHTING WILDFIRES FROM Group due in part to a lack of aviation performance data.

THE AIR NOW TAKEN SERIOUSLY Both the executive branch of government The Government Accountability Office and Congress are taking the growing wild- (GAO) has also been vexed in researchfire threat seriously. In January, the Depart- ing the topic, for largely the same reaments of Agriculture, the Interior, and sons. “A common challenge was the lack Homeland Security—through the Federal of information on aircraft performance Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)— and effectiveness, primarily because fedreleased the U.S. Forest Service Wildfire eral agencies did not collect such data,” Mitigation and Management Commission’s the Forest Service Wildfire Mitigation and

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

Management Commission’s report noted, referencing GAO’s conclusions.

It recommended developing national performance measures designed to assist in determining the optimal number of aircraft; cost comparisons between aviation assets owned by the U.S. Department of Defense, government, and the private sector; making national strategy and program needs primary over cost and procurement considerations; increased funding for aviation training and staffing; and exploration of new technology to reduce staffing demands.

Privately-owned firefighting helicopters are typically contracted for by federal and state governments via either “exclusive-use” or “call-when-needed” contracts. Exclusive-use contracts provide that the aircraft is available exclusively for a set period of time— generally months—and is the more expensive option versus a call-when-needed arrangement, which is the more popular choice.

While acknowledging “adoption of military surplus aircraft by either agencies or private contractors carries risks and costs that are often overlooked,” the Commission added, “military surplus parts and equipment, including aircraft parts, may be beneficial” for fighting wildfires.

MILITARY HELICOPTERS RESTRICTED IN CIVILIAN SERVICE

That benefit already is being recognized, with an increasing number of surplus military rotorcraft, particularly Boeing CH-47s and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks, finding their way onto the civilian market and being operated under FAA restricted category type certification.

An estimated 500 Black Hawks already have been disposed of onto the civil market, with the majority of those being flown in the U.S. Former military aircraft are typically operated in the restricted category out of an abundance of caution for public safety, said Brian Beattie, general manager of helicopter operator Croman Corp. and chairman of the aerial firefighting and natural resources working group of

Helicopter Association International (HAI).

NEW LEGISLATION IS COMING “When these aircraft got to the end of Congress has addressed the restricted the production line, they didn’t get an FAA category issue via the proposed FAA credential, “ Beattie noted. A restricted reauthorization legislation and aerial certificate spells out what the aircraft can firefighting via Interior Department and cannot do. appropriation bills in both the House and Chief among the restrictions: they can- Senate. The House already has passed not operate over populated areas, near H.R. 3935, “The Securing Growth and busy airports, over congested airways, Robust Leadership in American Aviation or carry passengers. There was a blan- Act,” which, among other things, directs ket exemption for emergency operations the FAA administrator within 18 months including firefighting and disaster relief, to produce an interim final rule that and exceptions to these rules can be made requires ground firefighters being transby filing FAA’s J551 certificate of waiver. ported in restricted category aircraft to For years that process worked fairly be categorized as “essential crewmemwell. Operators could apply for J551s that bers” (thus circumventing the restricted covered their entire fleets for up to 24 category passenger transport ban); months that were good in all 48 contigu- places firefighting aircraft maintenance, ous U.S. states. This made it comparatively inspections, and pilot training under easy for operators to move helicopters Part 135 at the administrator’s discretion; around in call-when-needed contracts as and exempts firefighting aircraft from these aircraft typically not only handled noise standards. firefighting but other utility missions.

However, the legislation also provides That changed last year when the FAA that the FAA administrator “shall not altered its J551 policy. Operators now need enable any aircraft of a type that has been to apply for a waiver for each flight 45 days manufactured in accordance with the in advance and include a risk assessment requirements of, and accepted for use by, for each airport where a stop was planned. any branch of the United States military “The policy was rewritten because the and has been later modified to be used for FAA felt like there were some operators wildfire suppression operations.” taking advantage of the situation,” surAnd that raises the larger question as mised Zac Noble, HAI director of flight to why modern aircraft remain subject to operations and maintenance. Rather than what would seem like draconian restricoverflying a populated area, some oper- tions once they leave the military. ators used their J551s to do utility work “The FAA recognizes that they’re dealwithin an area. So the FAA clamped down ing with a rule and a policy that was on everyone and now “it is very difficult developed decades and decades ago for anyone to get authorization to overfly when surplus military aircraft weren’t densely populated areas,” said Noble. meant to come back from deployments It didn’t take long for the law of unin- in Europe or Asia,” Noble said. “That’s tended consequences to take hold. When where those rules came from. But since Hurricane Ian hit south Florida in 2022, an 1978, the Black Hawk has accumulated operator of a civil Black Hawk was denied more than ten million safe flight hours. a J551 trying to deliver meals ready to eat The re have only bee n two civilian and drinking water to survivors, he said. crashes to date, but yet we’re still held HAI and industry have reached out to the down by...legacy rules.”

FAA in an attempt to get the policy modMeanwhile, Canada burns, Washington ified. But for now, going into the apex of debates, and the nation waits out another wildfire season, it remains in place. fire season—with fingers crossed. z a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

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On the Ground FBO AND AIRPORT NEWS BY CURT EPSTEIN

features a refreshment bar, pilot lounge and quiet room, showers, conference rooms, and a flight-planning area.

Wyoming FBO To Change Hands

Hangar Foam Discharges Still an Industry Problem Signature Flight Support suffered an accidental fire foam discharge in one of its hangars at its Palm Beach International Airport FBO in Florida on July 7. Local fire officials arriving on the scene quickly determined there was no actual fire.

In a statement, Signature said, “The material was largely contained to our location. We…worked diligently to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.” A company spokesperson told AIN that three aircraft in the 30,000-sq-ft hangar were affected, but there was no significant impact on its base operations.

According to a study commissioned by the National Air Transportation Association from the University of Maryland’s Department of Fire Protection Engineering, since 2004 there have been at least 137 inadvertent hangar foam discharges—an average of one every six weeks.

NATA estimates clean-up and aircraft damage costs of those events at between $64 million and $235 million.

Million Air Adds Utah Location The Million Air FBO chain has expanded with the addition of the former Above View Jet Center at Utah’s St. George Regional Airport (KSGU). Freeman Holdings Group, the largest licensee within the Million Air network, purchased the location, which is now being remodeled and rebranded.

The facility is Freeman’s 22nd location and the 37th FBO under the Million Air marque. Above View—which managed the FBO for more than a half-century—will still maintain a presence at KSGU with its flight school and MRO facility.

One of two service providers on the field, the Avfuelsupplied facility has more than 20 acres of ramp space and 14,000 sq ft of heated hangar capable of sheltering aircraft up to the size of a Cessna Citation X. Located just north of the airport’s commercial terminal, the two-story FBO

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Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

Bighorn Airways, one of Wyoming’s largest aviation services providers, is being acquired by Montana-based Bridger Aerospace, which specializes in aerial firefighting.

Bighorn, which was established in 1947 and owns 12 special-mission aircraft, operates the lone full-service FBO and MRO at Sheridan County Airport (KSHR) at the base of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains.

KSHR features an 8,300-foot main runway, and the Bighorn FBO features hangar space that can shelter aircraft up to the size of a Gulfstream G550. The transaction is expected to close by the end of September, pending regulatory approval.

Avflight Adds Eighth Michigan FBO FBO operator Avflight has expanded its network with the acquisition of the FlightLevel Aviation FBO, the sole service provider at West Michigan Regional Airport (KBIV). For Avfuel sister-company Avflight, this marks its 25th location overall and the eighth in its home state of Michigan.

FlightLevel owned the FBO—formerly known as Tulip City Air Service in reference to its location in Holland, Michigan—for less than two years, having acquired it in August 2021. Located in the airport’s 7,000-sq-ft glasssheathed terminal, the FBO features 20-foot-high vaulted ceilings, a large passenger lounge, conference rooms, and a pilot lounge. It has more than 50,000 sq ft of hangar space. Plans call for the facility to undergo rebranding and it will also be a member of the Avfuel dealer network.

Full Service Winnipeg FBO Is Home to the Jets Winnipeg might not be the first guess for the genesis of commercial aviation in Canada, but in 1920 the Manitoba city hosted the first passenger flight from what would eventually become Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (CYWG). Today, the field is home to Fast Air, one of three FBOs and one of the country’s largest aviation services providers.

The company—which began at CYWG in 1995 as a charter and management provider—purchased the existing Esso Avitat FBO in 2015 to provide better vertical integration with its fleet operations. It now is the dominant FBO on the field, claiming more than 60 percent of the general aviation business there, according to Dan Rutherford, manager of business development for Fast Air. Fast Air also operates a Transport Canadaapproved aircraft maintenance organization.

The location’s 10,000-sq-ft terminal offers an airy lobby with a 20-foot-high ceiling. Filled with natural light from the all-glass runway side wall, it is furnished with live-edge wood tables and custom-made leather-clad sofas.

Open 24/7, it features a 15-seat conference room, an aircrew lounge (named thusly to ensure visiting medevac crew members will also utilize it) with an adjoining snooze room, showers, a refreshment bar stocked with freshly baked cookies delivered from a local bistro, business center, onsite car rental, and van shuttle that will take passengers and crew anywhere they need to go.

In addition to the adjoining 25,000-sqft hangar, the facility offers an additional 100,000 sq ft of heated aircraft storage space capable of sheltering up to a Bombardier Global 7500. A new 30,000-sq-ft hangar is under construction with a scheduled completion by the end of the year. The FBO also has nearly six acres of ramp, with Canadian

Fast Air's Winnipeg FBO focuses on turning customers into trusted clients. customs service available 24/7 planeside with prior notification.

While the FBO’s quartet of 5,282-gallon (20,000-liter) jet-A tankers, like all on the field, draw from the airport’s fuel farm, Fast Air has CYWG’s only supply of avgas with a 20,000-gallon tank and a 1,300-gallon 100LL truck. A member of the World Fuel Services-sponsored Air Elite FBO network, the facility’s line staff is trained to IATA standards as well as World’s in-house training program.

The company is known for its quick turn prowess. “We have a number of national aviation companies that choose to stop here for fuel because they know how quick our teams are,” Rutherford told AIN. “We can have a business jet turned around in under 20 minutes.”

Winnipeg boasts a large industrial sector that draws business traffic year-round. But the end of May through August is peak season, said Rutherford. “We certainly see a big bump in the summertime when a lot of Americans fly into our FBO and then head north to high-end fishing lodges.” That extends through the fall when visitors arrive for wildlife viewing excursions including polar bears and beluga whales.

Fast Air also tends to the jets of the Jets, Winnipeg’s hometown NHL team. The facility handles not only all of the Jets’ flights but those of all visiting Canadian teams and many of the American teams as well. As a

result, during the season, there are Boeing or Airbus aircraft on the ramp on many days.

From large sports charters to the smallest single-engine piston, the company trains its staff to treat all arriving aircraft with the same courtesy and professionalism, and Rutherford draws a distinction between customers and a client.

“A customer is a transaction, and they will go wherever the fuel is the cheapest; but with a client, there is trust, there is dedication, there’s commitment, and they want to come back year after year because they feel like they are coming back to somewhere special,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the size of the aircraft or the amount of fuel they are buying, we want them to be clients.”

Sustainability is a major focus for Fast Air, which was the first Canadian operator to be designated as a sustainable aviation services provider by NATA. Since 2019 it has worked to steadily reduce its carbon emissions and is in the process of replacing all of its ground service equipment with electrically powered units.

The company recently began construction at Vancouver-area Abbotsford International Airport (CYXX) on what will eventually become its second location. Slated for completion by the end of the year, it will initially serve as a Western charter base for the company’s fleet, but plans call for maintenance and transient aircraft fueling to be added as well.

C.E.

a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

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MRO

BY AIN STAFF

The 250 Flying Colours employees will join Flexjet, including president and CEO John Gillespie, who will oversee completions strategy within the company’s global network.

Leonardo Breaks Ground on $65M Florida MX Base

Blackhawk Launching TBM Engine Upgrade Program Blackhawk Aerospace has purchased a TBM 700 testbed aircraft (not shown above) in preparation for flight testing of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D engine for a future upgrade program. At EAA AirVenture, Blackhawk CEO Jim Allmon told AIN that the company hopes to have the modified aircraft on display next year at AirVenture.

He said the engine upgrade revealed at the 2023 show should boost a modified TBM 700’s cruising speed up to around 295 knots—nearly a 10-knot improvement.

Details regarding plans for the upgrade are still being formulated, but it is likely that the modifications specialist will work with American Aviation on a revised engine inlet and with Blackhawk sister company Avex, a long-time TBM dealer and service center. Allmon estimated the market for a potential TBM 700 upgrade at approximately 380 aircraft

Flexjet Boosts MRO Capabilities with Flying Colours Purchase Flexjet has continued to expand its maintenance capabilities with the purchase of Canadian MRO provider Flying Colours.

The move follows Flexjet’s acquisition earlier this year of affiliated company Constant Aviation. Flexjet’s maintenance network now includes 12 primary facilities and 30 AOG teams.

Based in Peterborough, Ontario, and with a facility at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Missouri, Flying Colours offers a full range of MRO services as well as newly enhanced aircraft completions and refurbishment capabilities. At Peterborough, the company recently opened a 61,000-sq-ft completions hangar, allowing it to handle multiple projects simultaneously, while its new 40,000-sq-ft paint hangar can accommodate aircraft up to the size of airliners.

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Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

Leonardo broke ground in July on a $65 million, 113,000sq-ft helicopter maintenance facility at Whiting Aviation Park in Milton, Florida. The complex will provide major component repair and overhaul and transmission testing and repair, along with tooling and a full-sized paint booth. The property will also incorporate a warehouse for spare parts as well as four large hangar bays and a dynamic test bench.

Primarily intended to support the U.S. Navy’s growing fleet of TH-73A “Thrasher” training helicopters, the maintenance facility, which is expected to open at the end of 2024, will also provide services for commercial customers operating throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulfstream Adds MRO Options in China Gulfstream Aerospace added three authorized warranty facilities in China to replace its support operations at Beijing Capital Airport, the company said. Deer Jet in Beijing, Business Aviation Asia in Shenzhen, and ExecuJet Haite Aviation Services China in Tianjin now serve as authorized warranty repair and maintenance service providers for Gulfstream.

The facilities join Gulfstream’s previously authorized warranty locations in the region, including Metrojet in Hong Kong and Shanghai Hawker Pacific in Shanghai.

Regional factory-authorized service centers include Jet Aviation locations in Hong Kong and Singapore.

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Accidents

BY DAVID JACK KENNY

The material on this page is based on reports by the official agencies of the countries having the reponsibility for aircraft accident and incident investigations. It is not intended to judge or evaluate the ability of any person, living or dead, and is presented here for informational purposes.

Preliminary Reports Citation Approach Accident Claims Six Cessna 550, July 8, 2023, Murrieta, California All occupants of the 1979-model Cessna Citation 550 were killed when the airplane crashed at about 4:15 a.m. during a second attempted instrument approach to French Valley Airport.

A marine layer had enveloped the airport in dense fog, but after executing a missed approach, the pilot requested clearance for a second attempt rather than diverting to an alternate airport. The airplane struck the ground about 500 feet short of the runway, creating a 200-foot-long debris field, and was almost entirely consumed by fire.

The flight had departed Las Vegas’s Harry Reid International Airport about one hour earlier. French Valley airport has a single runway and is served by a single GPS approach procedure. Depending on aircraft equipment, the minimum descent altitude for straight-in approaches ranges from 250 to 521 feet agl.

Three Walk Away After Emergency Autorotation Hughes 369D, July 9, 2023, Waldorf, Maryland All three occupants escaped with only minor injuries after a sudden malfunction ended their powerline inspection flight.

The Hughes 369D sustained substantial damage, including a rotor strike that severed the tail boom, in a forced landing next to a pond in a residential neighborhood.

After two hours of uneventful flight, the observer in the rear seat heard what he described as “an abnormal noise.” The pilot

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and the other observer agreed the noise was “suspicious” but did not initially conclude it was “abnormal.” However, after the pilot noticed “a vibration in the collective,” they chose to abort the remainder of the inspection and return to their base at Maryland Airport in Indian Head (2W5).

Company GPS track data showed the flight heading southwest at a steady altitude of 900 feet and 100 knots groundspeed for about eight minutes before suddenly entering a steep, descending left turn. The track ended at the accident site.

Crew members reported a “loud bang or pop noise and a hard left yaw,” prompting the pilot to enter an emergency autorotation. Home security footage showed the tail rotor striking the surface of the pond as the pilot flared for landing, causing the main rotor to hit the tail boom. The helicopter’s skids flattened the fence surrounding the pond and the ship came to rest upright with engine running. The pilot shut it down and the crew evacuated without assistance.

Six Perish in Mount Everest Sightseeing Crash Airbus Helicopters AS350 B3E, July 11, 2023, Mount Everest, Nepal An air tour to Mount Everest crashed just north of Kathmandu during its return flight, killing the Nepali pilot and all five passengers, who were reported to be Mexican citizens. Air traffic control lost contact with the flight as the AS350 B3E descended through 12,000 feet. Weather at the time of departure was described as good, but the accident occurred during Nepal’s monsoon season, and press reports quoted one official at the Kathmandu airport as saying that the pilot had changed course to avoid low weather.

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

Thirteen Casualties at Polish Airfield Cessna 208B, July 17, 2023, Chrcynno, Poland Five people including the Cessna Caravan’s pilot were killed and eight others injured, two of them critically, when the jump plane crashed into a hangar during what was reported to have been stormy weather. All the victims except the pilot had gone into the hangar to take shelter from the storms.

Unconfirmed accounts indicate that the pilot flying was a flight instructor who lost control during a touch-and-go; two other pilots undergoing training were also on board, but survived.

It was not initially clear whether the surviving pilots were among the injured. Multiple sources cited this as Poland’s worst skydiving-related accident since 2014, when the crash of a Piper Navajo near Topolow killed eleven.

Final Reports Meridian Lost in Apparently Botched Missed Approach Piper PA-46-500TP, Dec. 10, 2021, Steamboat Springs, Colorado Archived ADS-B track data indicated that the solo pilot began the left turn of the missed approach procedure just after passing the last stepdown waypoint but did not initiate the charted climb. Shortly afterwards, the Piper Meridian single-engine turboprop crashed into a mountainside at an elevation of 8,172 feet, killing the pilot.

The accident occurred in night conditions at 18:09 local time. Weather reported at the airport, at elevation 6,882 feet msl, included a 1,200-foot overcast layer with only 1 mile

visibility, suggesting the pilot was also in RCAF Training Crash Traced unoccupied Cessna Conquest taxiing into a actual instrument conditions throughout to Defective Seat Pins hangar, resulting in “substantial damage to the attempted approach. The reported visithe fuselage” concentrated in the nose area.

AgustaWestland CH149 Cormorant, bility was below approach minimums for all The aircraft was operated under a Part 135 March 10, 2022, Gander, Newaircraft categories. charter certificate; the pilot was preparing to foundland, Canada The flight departed from Cody, Wyoming, depart on a Part 91 positioning flight. He told about 17:05 on an IFR flight plan to Steam- Locking pins that were shorter than investigators that he’d performed his preflight boat Springs. There is no record of the pilot required by specification allowed the pilot’s inspection about two hours earlier and did having obtained a specific weather briefing, seat to slip some 12 cm (4.7 inches) from its not do another walk-around before boarding. but a general route briefing ForeFlight pro- highest to lowest position during a hover After starting the engines, he found that vided when he filed his flight plan included exercise, causing an unrecoverable loss of the airplane would not move forward. He a Metar report of 7 miles visibility below control. All six crew members were injured, “thought he set the brakes,” set both engines a broken ceiling at 4,500 feet agl. The en two seriously, and the CH149 Cormorant to idle, and climbed out of the cockpit. route portion of the flight was uneventful, destroyed when the helicopter spun into The nose gear was chocked; when he and at 17:57 the pilot was cleared for the the ground at the intersection of Runways pulled the chocks, the Conquest immediRNAV (GPS)-E approach to Runway 32.

21 and 31 at Gander International Airport. ately began rolling forward. He narrowly The procedure requires a series of stepThe accident occurred at the end of a avoided being struck by the left propeller downs, with minimum altitudes of 9,700 feet training flight from the Royal Canadian and “jumped ahead of the airplane,” ran at the final approach fix and 8,740 feet at the Air Force (RCAF) 9 Wing Air Force Base around the left side of the fuselage, and WAKOR waypoint 2.2 nm from the runway focused on overland search and rescue unsuccessfully attempted to re-enter the threshold. Descent to the minimum descent operations. During a right pedal turn while cockpit. He then watched it taxi across the altitude of 8,140 feet (1,258 feet agl) is autho- hovering over the runway intersection, the ramp into a hangar. rized after passing WAKOR, and the Runway pilot’s seat slipped, causing the collective The 73-year-old commercial pilot had 32 threshold is the missed approach point. to dip momentarily.

21,500 hours of career experience, including The missed approach procedure begins with The pilot, thinking the helicopter had 150 hours in the preceding 90 days. He was a climbing left turn to 11,300 feet en route to banked right, “overcorrected to the left” not only rated in single- and multi-engine a hold at the initial approach fix. and applied full left pedal, causing “an airplanes and helicopters, but held instrucThe ADS-B track showed that the air- accelerated counterclockwise left yaw” that tor ratings for single- and multi-engine airplane crossed the final approach fix at about rotated the helicopter about 400 degrees planes and instrument instructor ratings in 9,100 feet and WAKOR at 8,200 feet. Just with an increasing right roll before “the both airplanes and helicopters. after passing WAKOR, still two miles out- right outboard wheel, the right horizonDuring a telephone interview, he told the side the missed approach point, it began a tal stabilizer, and the main rotor blades NTSB investigator that “I have no idea what 180-degree left turn while descending to impacted the runway near simultaneusly.”

I was thinking when I decided to leave the 7,850 feet, then started to climb. The last The pilot reported having done a “wiggle engines running. I lost sight of the big picADS-B return was recorded 3.5 miles north check” before the flight, rocking the seat back ture when I chose to get out of the airplane of the crash site at an altitude of 8,125 feet. and forth to make sure it was secure. The with them running. I was not in a rush and The 43-year-old private pilot held an investigation also found that the seat’s dual was not being pressured by time. I should instrument rating and had received the lever control assembly was “likely” out of have done an additional walk around.” z required endorsements to operate a pres- adjustment, increasing the likelihood of the surized high-performance airplane. His pins not locking securely. The RCAF report logbook showed 581 hours of total flight did not address how non-conforming locking YO U R S O U R C E F O R AV I AT I O N N E W S AINonline logo Your source www.ainonline.com experience that included 45.5 hours in pins came to be installed in the aircraft. for aviation news! actual instrument conditions and 45.3 hours of simulated instrument time. His Runaway Conquest E - N E W S L E T T E R F O R B U S I N E S S AV I AT I O N night-flying time was not totalled and could Collides with Hangar www.ainonline.com/alerts not be determined from the two pages of Cessna 441, Dec. 13, 2022, Liberal, Kansas his logbook excerpted in the investigation GetA Ethe latest RO DEFE N S E I N D U S Tbizav RY E-NEWSLETTER docket, but the last five entries were all The solo pilot’s decision to leave the cockwww.ainonline.com/subscribe news ! logged as night time. pit with the engines running ended with the AIN logo: C 0 M 100 Y 63 B 12 Hex: D31245 RGB: R 211 G 18 B 69 Alerts: 65% black font: Myriad Pro semi extended 90% height

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Compliance Countdown

BY GORDON GILBERT

JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Sept. 16, 2023

U.S.: Remote ID of Unmanned Aircraft Amended FAR Part 89 (Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft) required that after Dec. 16, 2022, no unmanned aircraft can be produced without FAA-approved remote identification capability. After Sept. 16, 2023, no unmanned aircraft can be operated in U.S. airspace unless it is designed and produced to meet the minimum performance requirements for standard remote identification or transmitting ADS-B Out under Part 91.

NEW

Nov. 8, 2023

Canada: ADS-B Transition Period

Implementation of the Canadian ADS-B mandate in Class A airspace went into effect August 10, but continued supply chain issues has prompted Nav Canada to provide a 90-day transition period until November 8.

Aviation occurrence reports will not be filed during this transition period in the event that an aircraft is not equipped or has not received an accommodation agreement to enter airspace where ADS-B is mandatory.

Post November 8, Nav Canada will continue to assess accommodation requests and strive to clear aircraft unable to transmit ADS-B similar to circumstances where aircraft without functioning transponders request entry into transponder mandatory airspace.

NEW

Dec. 31, 2023

Europe: Emissions Trading System

Some two years after the European Commission’s proposal to revise aviation’s Emission Trading System (ETS) directives, revisions have been adopted and must be incorporated into the legislation of EU members states by Dec. 31, 2023. Key changes noted by EBAA include the gradual phasing out of free ETS allowances starting in September 2024 to reach a full auctioning regime beginning in 2026. Beginning in 2025, covered operators will be required to report non-CO2 emissions, such as oxides of nitrogen (NOx), soot particles, oxidized sulfur species, and effects from water vapor (contrails).

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April 24, 2024; Oct. 24, 2024; April 25, 2025

U.S.: Airport SMS

Certain air carrier airports certified under FAR Part 139 will be required to submit an implementation plan for a safety management system (SMS) on the following deadlines: April 24, 2024 for airports designated as hubs; Oct. 24, 2024 for airports with 100,000 or more annual operations over the previous three years; and April 25, 2025 for airports classified as port of entry, landing rights, user fee, and international facilities. In each case, the SMS must be implemented no later than 12 months after receiving FAA approval of the certificate holder’s implementation plan. Most general aviation airports will be able to obtain a waiver from the SMS requirement.

Sept. 9, 2024

U.S.: Pilot Records Database

Final compliance date is Sept. 9, 2024 for reporting historical records concerning training, alcohol testing, qualification, proficiency, and disciplinary actions records that date before Jan. 1, 2015, to the new pilot records database (PRD).

Also beginning on Sept. 9, 2024, the Pilot Records Improvement Act (PRIA) ceases to be effective and will not be an available alternative to PRD. Also after this date each entity that holds an operating certificate under Parts 121, 125, or 135 or that holds management specifications for Part

Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

91K must report to the PRD all historical records kept in accordance with PRIA dating from Aug. 1, 2010, until June 10, 2022.

Since June 2023 operators under Parts 91, 91K, and 135 were required to complete submissions to the PRD of all historical records dating on or after Jan. 1, 2015.

Dec. 2, 2024

Europe: Part 145 SMS

Starting on Dec. 2, 2022, EASA Part 145 maintenance organizations were required to meet revised regulations. However, there is a two-year transition period, to Dec. 2, 2024, to allow them to correct any findings of noncompliance with the new Part 145 requirements. The main change is the required implementation of a SMS. Dec. 31, 2025

Europe/UK: Portable Halon Fire Extinguishers

In 2010, both EASA and the UK Environmental Agency set Dec. 31, 2025 as the replacement deadline for the use of Halon handheld portable fire extinguishers in aircraft cockpits and cabins, as well as in certain aircraft fire-protection systems. The deadline, applicable to the current fleet as well as newly manufactured aircraft, was set years ago as part of a long-time effort to reduce ozone levels. ICAO adopted halon replacement deadlines in 2011, and the Underwriters Laboratories withdrew its standard for halon-based handheld

fire extinguishers in October 2014. EASA’s deadline document describes standards for the use of other agents to replace Halons.

Although there is no FAA-required deadline, the agency since 2011 (AC 20-42D) explains how to gain certification for clean halocarbon agent portable extinguishers intended to replace Halon 1211 units.

Complete Business Aircraft Services

March 31, 2026

Australia: Radio Altimeters and 5G

Starting March 31, 2026, Australianregistered aircraft operators will need to be equipped with radar altimeters that meet minimum performance levels to deter interference by mobile phone 5G service. Before this date, the country’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is working with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to ensure that efforts run smoothly to prevent interference with radio altimeters.

CASA is coordinating with ACMA so that the rollout of wireless broadband services, including 5G in the 3.7- 4.0 GHz band, can be done in a way that ensures the safety of aircraft in Australia. Ongoing mitigations after March 31, 2026 will include a 200 MHz buffer between wireless broadband and radio altimeter frequencies as well as limits on power and unwanted emissions.

Aircraft Acquisition & Consignment Airframe Maintenance Avionics Installation Emergency Assistance (AOG) Engine & APU Engineering & Certification Services FBO Services Government & Special Programs Paint & Interior Parts, Avionics, Instruments & Accessories

May 29, 2026

Canada: CVR and Data Link

Multi-engine turbine-powered aircraft configured for six or more passenger seats have been granted a temporary exemption from new cockpit voice and data link recorder requirements that are effective on May 29, 2023. The exemption is due to Covid-related delays in parts production, supply chains, and transportation, as well as labor shortages at manufacturers and installers. This exemption is in effect until the earliest of May 29, 2026, or a date when the exemption is canceled by Canada’s DOT.

Experience. Unlike any other. www.DuncanAviation.aero

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For the most current compliance status, see: ainonline.com/compliance a i n o n l i n e .c o m \ September 2023 \ Aviation International News

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People in Aviation

BY AIN STAFF

Brent Wouters joined Jet Linx as CEO and Jamie Walker moved over to chairman, focusing on the company’s overall strategic vision, mergers and acquisitions opportunities, and industry and client relations. Wouters, who took his new role on July 31, has 32 years of professional experience including as president and CEO of Iron Valley Supply and of Cirrus Aircraft.

Johann Bordais, president and CEO of Embraer Services & Support, is taking the helm of Eve Air Mobility as CEO, effective September 1. Bordais joined Embraer in 2000 and is JOHANN BORDAIS credited with turning its services business into a global, rapidly growing, and most profitable unit—last year services accounted for $1.27 billion, or 28 percent of total company revenue.

Women in Aviation International appointed Stephanie Kenyon as interim CEO following the departure of former CEO Allison McKay. Kenyon has more than two decades of leadership experience in the aviation STEPHANIE KENYON industry having previously served as v-p of the AOPA Foundation. She has served as WAI’s chief growth officer since 2021, where she led the strategic direction and financial growth of the organization.

Flydocs hired Savas Toplama to assume the role of CCO following the transition of John Bowell to senior v-p of engineering services.

Toplama has more than 17 years of experience in aviation and professional services having previously held various positions with Lufthansa Aviation Group and most recently as a manager with Deloitte Consulting. Additionally, the company hired Naveen Mangle as chief digital and technology officer. Mangle has more than two decades of experience in information technology and most recently served as chief technology officer with Fusion Microfinance.

Scott Fuller will retire as airport director of Gulf Shores International Airport (KJKA) on November 1. He will then transition to executive emeritus with the airport authority until

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Aviation International News \ September 2023 \ a i n o n l i n e .c o m

the completion of an ongoing expansion project.

Fuller has spent more than 40 years in airport management roles.

Air bp appointed Federica Berra senior v-p. Berra joined bp in June 2020 as senior v-p of integrated gas and power in its gas and low-carbon energy business and previously, she was v-p of acquisitions for Latin AmerFEDERICA BERRA ica with ExxonMobil.

Comair Flight Services (CFS) promoted Kerry Searle from client services director to managing director where she will guide the daily operations of the company. CFS co-founder and former CEO Justin Reeves has also been elevated to the role of group CEO. Airshare hired Rob Black and Harvey Murphy as vice presidents of sales. Black was a founding employee at Jet It and most recently served as director of sales. Murphy, who will head the company’s Northeast market, has more than a decade of experience in private aircraft sales at VistaJet, Victor, Blade, and, most recently, FXAir. Ontic appointed Kairat Asenei as v-p of revenue management. Asenei joins Ontic with experience in revenue management execution and business strategy design following a seven-year tenure with global management consulting K AIRAT ASENEI firm McKinsey & Company where he most recently held the position of associate partner.

Blueberry Aviation appointed Sofiane Cherchali as v-p of contracts. Cherchali, a qualified solicitor in England and a qualified lawyer in France and Spain, has previously held positions with Stephenson Harwood law firm, Proparco, Bpifrance, and for French independent solar energy developer and producer TSE. The Air Charter Safety Foundation hired Alexander Evans as assistant director of safety and Andrew Ha as programs administrator. Evans, previously worked at Flightline Aircraft Services, where he oversaw ground operations and ground security for NFL team charters. Ha holds a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating and interned at Allegiant Airlines.

Elite Jets promoted former director of operations Matt Simpson to chief pilot, succeeding Paul Scott, who will continue as a pilot for the company. Simpson, who captains the Phenom and Legacy, has logged nearly 20,000 flight hours. Rodney Beeler, who served as assistant director of operations, will MAT T SIMPSON assume the role previously held by Simpson. Beeler is a military veteran with an ATP of more than 8,000 flight hours.

ACI Jet MRO promoted Jonathan Carlyle to repair station manager and appointed Michael Johnson and Joe Borchers as project managers. Carlyle has prior experience at Textron and Bombardier facilities in various maintenance roles. Johnson has nearly two decades of experience at a Textron Aviation service center as an aircraft technician and team lead. Borchers joined ACI Jet in 2018 as an A&P mechanic. z

Chauncey Frank Webb, a long-time corporate pilot and former naval aviator, died July 21 at the age of 76. Webb had a career spanning more than five decades flying helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for the U.S. Navy, corporate flight departments, and private aircraft owners.

Born Oct. 22, 1946, in Bay City, Texas, Webb became interested in aviation in his youth and would get scolded because he became distracted and stared out his school windows to watch airplanes take off from a nearby airport. He hung out at the airport and asked to wash airplanes for rides. His interest further heightened after his older brother, Randol Webb, Jr., enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and flew A-1 Skyraiders in the early years of the Vietnam War. After graduating from Bay City High School in 1965 and Sam Houston State in 1969, Webb attended Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, to pursue his passion for flying.

He earned his wings and reported in October 1971 to the all-volunteer Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 7 (HC-7), known as Sea Devils, at NAS Imperial Beach, California. The unit was dedicated to combat search and rescue and included missions over land and in the waters of North Vietnam. In that unit, he flew Sikorsky HH-3 helicopters from naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin and became helicopter aircraft commander.

He later trained pilot candidates, joined an anti-submarine

AWARDS AND HONORS The Florida Department of Transportation named Chris Rozansky—executive director of Naples Airport Authority (NAA)—as its 2023 Aviation Professional of the Year. The award recognizes Rozansky for his “involvement in Florida aviation during the previous year and his continuing commitment and significant achievements in the industry.” He has served as the NAA executive director for seven years.

Mike Atwood—founder and CEO of Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU)—was honored by the Airborne Public Safety Association for his “longstanding and continuing dedication to airborne law enforcement safety.” Atwood founded ASU in 1995 with the goal of bringing night vision goggles (NVGs) to the civilian emergency medical services market. In 1999, the FAA authorized NVGs for EMS personnel use. Since then, ASU has supplied more than 5,000 NVGs to EMS operations worldwide.

warfare unit flying the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King as an aircraft commander, and served on the USS America.

In 1979, he retired from active duty and turned to civil aviation, with jobs that ranged from aircraft sales and charter work in Northern California to training in the Sikorsky S-76. He flew an S-76 in Costa del Sol, Spain for a wealthy sheik but returned to Northern California to fly a Bell 222 for Warner Communications (Atari Division).

Webb ultimately joined American Express, where he would spend his next 20 years flying its S-76 and later the Gulfstream IV and V. He also had an affinity for general aviation, flying aircraft from Piper Cubs to the gamut of Cessna single-engine models, in addition to floatplanes, warbirds, Stearmans, and Wacos. “If a brick had wings, Chauncey could fly it," a buddy said of Webb.

Leaving American Express in 2003, he joined an aircraft management company and flew a Falcon 900 for the principal of a real estate investment company for the remainder of his years.

Webb is survived by his wife of 44 years, Jane, who is a former AIN employee, as well as his daughter, Genny Drash, son-inlaw, Wayne Drash, and grandchildren, Emma and Billy Drash.

Those wishing to honor Webb can donate to the EAA Aviation Foundation, specifying the Young Eagles. A celebration of life is planned for 11 a.m. October 3, at the Cayton's Bistro at the Ritz in Marana, Arizona. Contact CFWMemorial@gmail.com to RSVP.

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 continued from page 20

Another Model 25 derivative was the Learjet 28/29 Longhorn of 1977, with an all-new wing design. Although only nine were built, it was the first production jet to feature winglets. These were carried forward to the Model 55 and improved Model 60, which had larger cabins. The Learjet 31, introduced in 1990, married the Longhorn wing with the fuselage of the 35/36 and was the ultimate expression of the original design sequence initiated by the Model 23.

Under Bombardier’s stewardship, a new family of Learjets was developed. While unmistakably continuing the design tradition, they were all-new aircraft. The first was the 45, which led to the shorter 40, and then the modernized 70/75. A final development, the composite Learjet 85, was canceled 18 months after its first flight.

During this period the company underwent a number of changes in name and ownership. In November 1964 it became publicly owned, but Lear was forced to sell his 60 percent share in April 1967 to Gates Rubber. He remained on the board until April 2, 1969, at which point the company adopted the name Gates Learjet.

As for Lear himself, he remained interested in business aircraft, developing the LearStar 600 design in the mid-1970s. The concept was acquired by Canadair (later Bombardier), but by the time the company’s wide-body business jet was launched as the CL-600 Challenger, little remained of Lear’s original design.

Another buyout in 1987 by Integrated Acquisition resulted in a change to Learjet Corporation before the company was acquired by Bombardier Aerospace in 1990.

On Feb. 11, 2021, Bombardier announced the end of Learjet production after nearly six decades, and on March 22, 2022, the final aircraft was delivered. The Learjet name had been carried by more than 3,000 aircraft and continues to be a major player in the used aircraft market. z

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Cancer Patients

Fly Free Can You Spare a Seat?

Corporate Angel Network (CAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide cancer patients with free transportation to treatment centers throughout the United States.

CAN works with corporate flight departments to match scheduled business trips with patient requests. Thanks to the generous support of over 500 partners, CAN has coordinated more than 67,000 flights.

Contact CAN to learn more about becoming a partner or to make a personal or corporate donation to support the mission.

corpangelnetwork.org

It’s wonderful that organizations like the Corporate Angel Network are able to help connect those most in need of flights to those who are flying.

-Henry Maier, President and CEO, FedEx Ground

Westchester County Airport | White Plains, NY | (914) 328-1313