NBAA Convention News 11-03-16

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11-3-16 • ORLANDO

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DAVID McINTOSH

James Carville makes sure Mary Matalin gets the point during their presentation at yesterday’s opening session. While it might be hard to match this year’s election-driven excitement, NBAA will meet again next year in Las Vegas October 10 to 12.

NEW ORDER LIFTS CESSNA AT NBAA 2016 Textron Aviation landed an order from long-time Cessna Aircraft customer Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) for three Citation X+ jets on Wednesday at NBAA 2016. The order builds on a nearly 20-year relationship between the two companies. SEL has owned an all-Citation fleet since 1999 and acquired its first Citation X, the predecessor of the X+, in 2002. SEL designs and builds systems that protect power grids in 148 countries. n

Carville, Matalin rock on

by James Wynbrandt With the U.S. Presidential election less than a week away, husbandand-wife power pundits James Carville and Mary Matalin gave NBAA attendees their expert, but

divergent, opinions on the outcome at the ­second-day opening session.

“I think Trump is going to win,” said longtime Republican Party

Continued on page 61 u

PIAGGIO CLINCHES FIVE-SHIP DEAL Piaggio America secured its first Avanti EVO sale in the U.S. market with a contract from West Coast Aviation Services for five of the turboprop twins. The contract, which also includes options for up to four more, calls for the first aircraft to be delivered immediately, with the remaining deliveries to begin late next year. Piaggio will thus hand over the aircraft it has on display this week at NBAA 2016 to West Coast Aviation after the show ends. n

Charter

Washington

People

Environment

Industry

Single-pilot Success Story

Tax Law Costs Billions

Industry Veterans Take a Bow

ICAO Enacting Carbon Plan

‘Air Capital’ Shifts Focus

Eric Walden’s Little Hawk charter operation flies one Daher TBM 850, flown by a single pilot. His success is built on a commitment to safety and a comprehensive business plan.

Page 20

The so-called fuel fraud law—designed to prevent truckers from ducking highway taxes— is allegedly costing aviation billions in lost tax reveue. A GAO report suggests it’s a questionable solution to a non-problem.

Page 26

Rolls-Royce is honoring a pair of longserving employees who are each marking milestones. Peter Ballard is about to retire and Michelle Burrell Sherman is marking 25 years of service.

Page 30

In a business aviation good-news story, ICAO’s long-awaited international strategy to combat global warming recognizes that business aircraft are “small emitters” and exempt from the rules.

Page 42

Wichita has long been known as the center of the general aviation universe, but times have been hard. The industry is adjusting as some old stand-bys have faded, while others have consolidated.

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MyGoFlight debuts $10K HUD for light jets, t-props

Convention News

TM

FOUNDED IN 1972 JAMES HOLAHAN (1921-2015), FOUNDING EDITOR WILSON S. LEACH, MANAGING DIRECTOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF – Charles Alcock EDITOR - DOMESTIC SHOW EDITIONS – Matt Thurber PRESS ROOM MANAGING EDITOR – Chad Trautvetter THE EDITORIAL TEAM Jeff Burger Bill Carey Samantha Cartaino Jennifer English Curt Epstein Gordon Gilbert

by James Wynbrandt

An affordable head-up display for lighter jets and turboprops has been an elusive target. MyGoFlight, famous for its aviation-geared iPad/tablet accessories, has introduced what it calls “the first in a series” of HUDs.

The system incorporates advanced terrain avoidance software developed for military and commercial operators by Sentinel Applied Technologies. Based on the position and direction of the aircraft, the system will display surrounding terrain and obstacles, flight trajectory and flight plan data without requiring any pilot input.

A Smart HUD software option will add a terrain avoidance algorithm to

Amstat report reveals signs of a market stuck in neutral

by Kerry Lynch The pre-owned business jet market is showing signs of malaise in 2016, with the number of transactions slowing overall, prices dipping and inventories increasing, according to recent data from industry analyst Amstat. The turboprop market, meanwhile, appears only marginally better, with relatively flat transactions, the analyst added.

Amstat (Booth 3939) released its latest look at the trends in its Business Aircraft Resale Market Update Report, one of a number of market analysis services the company provides. Along with the release of the report, the company has begun demonstrating a new StatPak module and Aircraft Valuation Tool.

According to Amstat, the percentage of business jets that have turned over declined from 7.4 percent of the fleet in the first three quarters of 2015 to 7.1 percent in the same period this year. Heavyjet transactions were up from 5.5 percent in the first three quarters of 2016 to 5.9 percent this year. Medium-jet transactions, however, dropped from 8.2 percent in the first nine months of 2015 to 7.1 percent this year. Similar to turboprop transactions, retail activity for small jets was relatively flat during the period.

Inventories for all business jet segments climbed in the first nine months, with more of the available aircraft

R. Randall Padfield Mark Phelps Gregory Polek Peter Shaw-Smith Ian Sheppard James Wynbrandt

GROUP PRODUCTION MANAGER – Tom Hurley PRODUCTION EDITOR – Martha Jercinovich MARIANO ROSALES

MyGoFlight, a provider of iPad/tablet gear for pilots, is demonstrating a $10,000 head-up display system for business turboprops and jets this week at NBAA 2016 (Booth 1774). The company expects to release its SkyDisplay HUD-LCD180, which it calls the “first in a series of affordable HUD units,” next year. A single HUD display is standard, but a second one can be added as an option.

“Two years ago we built and demonstrated that a small form factor HUD could be developed and operate in aircraft using new, small projection technologies,” said MyGoFlight CEO Charles Schneider. The HUD-LCD180 includes a projection unit, clear glass display combiner and a display processor unit that connects to aircraft flight sensors and generates the HUD graphics.

John Goglia Mark Huber Amy Laboda David A. Lombardo Kerry Lynch Nigel Moll

representing newer jets. According to the Amstat report, 10.8 percent of the heavy jet fleet is available for sale, compared with 10.4 percent at the beginning of the year. Over the past 24 months, the available inventory of newer heavy jets has climbed from 8 percent to 10 percent.

Available inventory for medium jets also is up by 0.4 percent since the beginning of the year, with more newer models available. At 11.8 percent, the light jet inventory also is up from the beginning of this year, but the same as this time last year.

Average asking price, meanwhile, is also down by 6.6 percent for heavy jets, to $13.9 million, and 7.8 percent for medium jets, to $3.4 million. Light jet prices, however, have climbed 6.7 percent, to an average of $1.7 million.

In addition to reporting its latest market update, Amstat is demonstrating its new StatPak online service at NBAA 2016 that provides a graphic and analytical view of current and historical trends in the global business jet, turboprop and turbine helicopter markets.

The StatPak module is integrated into Amstat’s Premier service, and includes historical aircraft availability data, such as numbers for sale and average asking prices by month since 1990. The module also includes side-by-side trend comparisons between multiple aircraft markets

4 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

support low-level approaches in obstacleriddled or mountainous terrain. The algorithm uses aircraft stored energy, climb performance and surrounding terrain to determine safe escape routes.

MyGoFlight is now working with avionics and aircraft OEMs, as well as app developers, to ensure compatibility and fit with their software, electronics and airplanes. o

THE PRODUCTION TEAM Mona L. Brown John A. Manfredo PHOTOGRAPHERS David McIntosh; Mariano Rosales

Grzegorz Rzekos

ONLINE EDITOR – Chad Trautvetter LEAD WEB DEVELOPER – Mike Giaimo WEB DEVELOPER – Evan Williams VIDEO PRODUCER – Ian Whelan GROUP PUBLISHER – David M. Leach PUBLISHER – Anthony T. Romano ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER – Nancy O’Brien ADVERTISING SALES – NORTH AMERICA Melissa Murphy – Midwest +1 830 608 9888 Nancy O’Brien – West +1 530 241 3534 Anthony T. Romano – East/International +1 203 798 2400 Joe Rosone – East/International/Middle East +1 301 834 5251 Victoria Tod – Great Lakes/UK +1 203 798 2400 ADVERTISING SALES – INTERNATIONAL – Daniel Solnica – Paris MARKETING MANAGER – Zach O’Brien AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER – Jeff Hartford MANAGER OF ONSITE LOGISTICS – Philip Scarano III GROUP BRAND MANAGER – Jennifer Leach English ADVERTISING/SALES SECRETARY STAFF – Cindy Nesline

and table analysis to break down markets by criteria such as aircraft make and model, geographic region and aircraft age.

Amstat also has teamed with Van Buren Advisors and General Aviation Services on an aircraft valuation tool.

“Even in good years there is a relatively small number of retail business aircraft transactions compared to other capital asset markets. This fact, combined with the lack of transparency in these transactions, make it a challenge to gather meaningful quantities of aircraft sold prices,” said Amstat general manager Andrew Young. “After two years of collaborative effort using quantitative analytics, market expertise and decades of historical market data, the Amstat aircraft valuation tool is a response to these challenges.” o

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & HUMAN RESOURCES – Michele Hubert ACCOUNTING MANAGER – Marylou Moravec SALES ASSISTANT – Nadine Timpanaro ACCOUNTING/ADMINISTRATION STAFF – Mary Avella; Bobbie Bing

CASEBANK SHOWCASING TROUBLESHOOTING SOFTWARE

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CaseBank Technologies (Booth 1616) is demonstrating its Spotlight advanced troubleshooting software this week at NBAA 2016. Spotlight is used by Gulfstream on its new G500 and G600 in combination with Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PurePower PW814GA and PW815GA engines. It allows diagnostic information to flow between separate databases to rapidly and accurately identify root problems. The Spotlight troubleshooting system is also deployed as part of Bombardier’s electronic fault isolation manual on its new C-Series airliner.

—J.L.E.

U.S. EDITORIAL OFFICE: 214 Franklin Ave., Midland Park, NJ 07432 Tel: +1 201 444 5075 WASHINGTON, D.C. EDITORIAL OFFICE: Bill Carey (air transport and defense) bcarey@ainonline.com Tel: +1 202 560 5672; Mobile: +1 202 531 7566 Kerry Lynch (business aviation) klynch@ainonline.com Tel: +1 703 969 9155 EUROPEAN EDITORIAL OFFICE: Ian Sheppard Hangar 9, Redhill Aerodrome, Surrey RH1 5JY, UK Tel: +1 44 1 737 200948; Mobile: +1 44 775 945 5770 isheppard@ainonline.com U.S. ADVERTISING OFFICE: 81 Kenosia Ave., Danbury, CT 06810 Tel: +1 203 798 2400; Fax: +1 203 798 2104 EUROPEAN ADVERTISING OFFICE: Daniel Solnica 78, rue de Richelieu, 75002 Paris, France Tel: +33 1 42 46 95 71 dsolnica@solnica.net

THE CONVENTION NEWS COMPANY, INC. – AIN PUBLICATIONS NBAA Convention News is a publication of The Convention News Co., Inc., 214 Franklin Ave., Midland Park, NJ 07432; Tel.: +1 201 444 5075. Copyright © 2016. All rights ­reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part w ­ ithout permission of The Convention News Co., Inc. is strictly prohibited. The Convention News Co., Inc. also publishes Aviation International News, AINalerts, AIN Defense Perspective, AIN Air Transport Perspective, Business Jet Traveler, ABACE Convention News, EBACE Convention News, HAI Convention News, LABACE Convention News, MEBA Convention News, Dubai Airshow News, Farnborough Airshow News, Paris Airshow News, and Singapore Airshow News.

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FAA panel is pressing forward with issues of drones in airspace

by Bill Carey projects there will be upward of 1.3 million certified drone pilots by 2020.

“It’s more than our traditional aviation profile,” Lawrence said of the drone phenomenon. “The community is much larger and more diverse. What’s really unique is the sheer volume of operations and [their] personal nature.”

UAVs as Small Business Tools

Insight into the composition of the remote-pilot population might be drawn from the 5,521 commercial exemptions the FAA granted before Part 107 took effect. More than 90 percent of the entities receiving those exemptions—made possible under the Section 333 provision of FAA reauthorization legislation—were small businesses, according to an analysis by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). Among the applicants, 3,635 were entities with less than 10 employees; 1,046 were individuals.

Jonathan Rupprecht, an aviation attorney, author and FAA-certified flight instructor based in West Palm Beach, Fla., observed that the first wave of drone pilots includes many “61ers,” a reference to people who already hold a pilot certificate under FAA Part 61 flight-training regulations. Under Part 107, they can obtain a remote-pilot certificate by completing an online training course to achieve a small-UAS rating; non-pilots must pay $150 and pass the Unmanned Aircraft General (UAG) test at one of 696 FAA-certified testing centers.

“More than 50 percent are 61ers right now,” said Rupprecht, who compared the number of UAG tests new entrants passed with the number of licensed pilots who applied for remote-pilot certificates through the FAA’s Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) web portal. “Maybe one reason for that is a lot of the people that are dying to get into the [drone] sector or have been in the sector are pilots.” They may have

BILL CAREY

Robert Young, the CEO of PrecisionHawk, a company that provides aerial data and analytics to the insurance, construction, energy and farming industries, made an interesting observation during the first meeting of the Drone Advisory Committee (DAC). The DAC is a blueribbon panel the FAA formed to advise it on safely introducing small unmanned aircraft systems—better known as drones— into the national airspace system; it held its inaugural gathering in Washington, D.C., in September.

“We’re really talking about the world of flying robots,” Young remarked. With the FAA expecting that millions of drones will enter the airspace in the coming years, “how do we integrate the national airspace into the flying robots?” he asked. “Have you thought about it from that perspective?”

Young’s suggestion that drones may flip the airspace system itself on its head was lighthearted, but the point was not lost on his colleagues. In a presentation to the committee, Earl Lawrence, director of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office, said the number of new registrations filed for recreational and commercial small drones was unprecedented in the agency’s experience. Nine months after its on-line drone registry went live in December 2015, 550,748 hobbyists had registered to fly one or more drones apiece (the FAA estimates three)— more than double the nation’s 260,165 registered manned aircraft.

In the three weeks since the FAA’s new Part 107 regulation for the commercial use of drones had taken effect on August 29, 13,710 people had applied for remote-pilot certificates under the rule, and 5,080 had passed the required aeronautical knowledge test. At the rate they were being granted, the FAA expected the number of certificates will exceed its forecast of 16,000 this year, and it estimated that the commercial drone fleet will range from 33,000 to 617,000 units. The agency

DJI introduced its first crop-spraying agricultural drone, an octocopter, last November.

started operating drones for compensation under a Section 333 exemption, then come forward to earn their remote-pilot wings under Part 107, he surmised.

Rupprecht said he has advised utilities and other large companies on establishing small-drone operations, but not corporate flight departments.

“The larger companies are interested in setting up enterprise operations at a really high level, like 100-plus pilots across the United States,” he related. “I don’t know how many of them have actually reached out to their internal flight departments.

Originally, how these drone operations seem to start is there is a tech guy or a tech department that is looking on the horizon for new technology at a lower cost.

They tend to be much more creative, so they don’t really focus on the regulations.

There are issues with, where do you put the [drone] department, is it going into the aviation department? Is it going to stay in the tech department? The infighting tends to be one big problem for integration with the bigger companies. They just don’t know what to do internally.”

DJI

Who’s In Charge?

The FAA’s new high-level Drone Advisory Committee held its first meeting on September 16 in Washington, D.C.

6 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

That comports with what Brad Hayden, president and CEO of Albuquerque-based Robotic Skies, has observed of the emerging commercial industry. Hayden, who is also the president of Kings Avionics, a private pilot and a first-person-view drone pilot, has organized a worldwide network of 130 service centers capable of repairing and maintaining commercial drones.

He is moderating a panel, “The Nuts and Bolts of Operating a Corporate UAS Operation,” here at NBAA 2016.

The commercial drone operations Hayden has observed are typically located with the IT department or some other branch of a large company. They may interact with the flight department and adopt its operating

procedures, but by and large they remain separate organizations.

“It’s all over the map right now where they’re putting these operations,” Hayden said. “For the longest time, pilots who were flying a Falcon [jet] or something for an enterprise—they were afraid of risking their certificate on flying some kind of drone operation and somehow breaking a reg.”

From the opposite perspective, another department within an enterprise—for example, the division of an agricultural company responsible for sourcing a cropspraying or aerial-imaging drone—may not know to involve the flight department in its planning. “If you look at what drones are being used for in particular right now, it’s all about collecting data,” Hayden said. “Well that’s being done out in the field. If you look at an ag company, the corporate flight department usually isn’t even involved with one of their divisions when it selects a crop sprayer or something like that. They may not have any kind of oversight into how that ag flyer is chosen.”

Ultimately, managers will bring flight departments into the process out of concern for liability, or outsource their drone requirements to qualified operators, Hayden believes. The commercial market will inevitably evolve and become more structured, but for now it remains an open frontier.

“It’s almost like every man now suddenly has access to an aircraft, which is actually what this whole phenomenon is all about right? Suddenly you can empower people in the field to use aviation to be more efficient,” said Hayden. o Bill Carey is an AIN senior editor based in Washington, D.C., and the author of Enter the Drones: The FAA and UAVs in America, released by Schiffer Publishing in July.

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Cuba remains restricted, but flying there is easier Business aviation operators are finding travel to Cuba has become significantly smoother as restrictions have eased over the past year. But at the same time, industry executives caution that operators must still plan well ahead and follow the protocols closely.

“The Cuban government is addressing some of the business aviation issues; however, it is not accustomed to having general aviation, and it is trying to streamline the process for itself and operators,” said Kathy Self, director of compliance for Universal Weather and Aviation (Booth 2611). “Planning ahead for this process is key.”

“Cuba has come a long way over the last year in handling business aviation,” agreed Suran Wijayawardana, COO of Alerion Aviation, which launched earlier this year from the merger of JFI Jets and ACP Jets.

Alerion’s predecessor companies were among the first business aviation operators to fly to Cuba after the U.S. government issued exemptions easing initial licensing requirements.

Their first flights began in late August 2015. Within the first year, Alerion and its predecessor companies had flown approximately 70 operations into and out of the island nation.

“What we encountered during August and September of last year was…a lot of misinterpretation as to what the [travel] exemptions allow us to do,” Wijayawardana said.

Confusion surrounded what permits were required and how the handling would be accommodated, he added.

Once they received clarification, the process was pretty straightforward from the U.S. standpoint. “But the approval process and the permit process on the Cuba side in the first couple of months was hair-raising,” he said. The company, working through well-established flight planners, would apply for a landing permit well over a week in advance. “We’d get landing rights maybe two hours before we were to take off from the mainland in the U.S. That was something that made us all nervous,” Wijayawardana said.

One of the occasions involved a trip booked by a major news station around the time Pope

Francis was set to visit Cuba.

“We had the president of the news station on board along with a very recognizable reporter, and we finally got landing rights an hour-and-a-half before takeoff.” The company wasn’t willing to risk taking off without permits. “It took right up to the last minute.”

Other hurdles the company faced included currency and handling. Cuba did not accept credit cards or U.S. currency.

“The gates had just opened and they weren’t equipped to do credit-card processing. In the beginning, Cuba wasn’t very forward in that light,” he said.

“We had to provide the flight crew with plenty of cash, which is not a standard practice for us.”

Reserving hotels could be problematic since that process was not modernized, he said. “The confirmation part of it was a little unknown.” On the ground, operators had to work with Cuban representatives. “These were newer companies, so there was a little bit of confusion,” Wijayawardana said.

These issues have improved, he said, noting the permit process is a lot smoother now. “The process for handling our applications and paperwork has increased probably 200 percent to 300 percent in terms of efficiency.” And now more representatives are basing in Cuba with more international ties.

“You have worldwide handlers being stationed there that now can process you like you are flying to any [other] worldwide destination,” he said. “We don’t have to have cash on the airplane anymore because they can do contract fueling there. That’s a big help. The major thing that’s changed is Cuba’s ability to handle aircraft.”

John Reese, director of safety, security and standards of ExcelAire (Booth 4226), also has noted improvements. ExcelAire has flown its first handful of trips to Cuba. “The real hurdles were with the planning phase, getting the approval and getting familiar with the requirements by the [U.S.] Treasury Department,” Reese said. “It was a lot to digest.” He noted that up to that point, “just getting overflight permits was problematic” even if the operator wasn’t landing in Cuba.

1950s-vintage Chevys are among the signature attractions of Cuba as a tourist destination. But flying there on business aircraft is still restricted, though getting better.

Planning ahead was crucial, especially for the permits.

ExcelAire prepared by attending as many seminars as possible, which he said helped ensure seamless operations.

Reese pointed to other significant changes, including the lengthening of time aircraft can park at airports in Cuba and the ability of the crew to remain in the country.

Initially, he said, “We were able to bring a client in, but we had to move the crew and equipment out. We had to reposition only to certain gateway airports.”

With the changes, however, “we are able to leave equipment and crew while the client is there.

That works out much better. We don’t have to move an asset that is quite costly.”

Planning Ahead Still Required

One concern that still remains is an unexpected aircraft-onground (AOG) maintenance issue. There have been questions about initial services there, such as the ability to bring in parts and the access to licensed technicians who could work on an airplane. “There were a lot of discussions with maintenance folks about what we would do if something went wrong. Before going in, we make a point from a maintenance perspective to do a rundown on an aircraft and make sure everything is where it needs to be,” Reese said. While operators do this anyway, “We give that one extra check because you know if something were to go mechanically wrong in Havana it would be extremely problematic to get it fixed.” The company initially would reposition

8 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

out of Miami, making it a short hop to Cuba. Also, for the first flight, it kept a standby aircraft in case something did go wrong and the company needed to pick up the client.

“The lack of AOG maintenance available in Cuba was the biggest concern. Even if you had the parts, you didn’t know whether there were licensed technicians available to install the parts. You had to make sure before departure that everything on airplane was as optimal as it could be,” agreed Wijayawardana. “Right now it is still our largest concern flying in and out of there.”

However, like everything else, both Reese and Wijayawardana believe that, too, will get better with commercial service beginning from the U.S. to Cuba.

Commercial service will improve access to other services such as maintenance availability, they both said. Also, a recent edict from the White House was anticipated to further increase maintenance availability.

While the logistics are improving, limitations to the 12 reasons for travel to Cuba are still in place. Self said this has been one of Universal’s largest concerns in providing planning for operators.

“We want to support the trips; however, we have had to stop arrangements because the passengers were not authorized travelers under the regulations and there was not enough time to get a specific license for the passenger,” she said. “We remind our customers that Cuba is still a sanctioned country and some activities, such as tourism, are prohibited.”

Travelers also must understand that “if they fly into Cuba

DAVID GRANT

by Kerry Lynch

on a commercial flight and leave on a business aviation flight, this does not bode well with the CAA of Cuba. If the passengers go in on commercial, they need to leave on commercial airlines and vice versa,” Self added.

The process for crews to obtain visas has become “fairly easy,” she said, but warned “there have been more demands for business visas in Cuba, and this has presented a challenge for the passengers.” She added that this required planning.

Also, as for landing permits, clients must use recognized business sponsors. “The Cuban CAA checks to ensure the business sponsor is legitimate,” she said.

The executives believe that commercial service will eventually lead to the relaxing on the limitations on reasons for travel.

They also predict an uptick in travel to Cuba. “Given the length of time Americans weren’t able to fly to Cuba and given the draw to the island and the culture, it’s something that will be very popular moving forward,” Wijayawardana said.

“We’re pretty excited now that the commercial side has started operating [there],” Reese added.

“We’re seeing quotation activity picking up.”

“In our opinion, it will increase the demand,” Self agreed. “However, until the travel restrictions are eliminated, the commercial carriers will face the same scrutiny for ensuring that their customers are authorized travelers as we do.” o

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New FBO has a Silicon Valley motif

by Curt Epstein Connecticut-based aviation services provider APP Jet Center (Booth 4655) will be opening its new FBO facility at California’s Hayward Executive Airport (HWD) next month. The $5

million project includes a new 20,000-sq-ft hangar capable of sheltering the latest long-range business jets, which will bring the facility’s aircraft storage space to 86,000 sq ft. It will be attached

to an existing 12,000-sq-ft hangar, which will provide 32,000 sq ft of contiguous hangar space. In addition, a new 3,000-sq-ft terminal designed by San Francisco’s Niche Interiors, will aesthetically

Branching out from its Connecticut base, APP Jet Center is opening a new FBO on the other side of the continent at California’s Hayward Executive Airport.

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reflect the style of Silicon Valley.

It will offer a pilot lounge, snooze rooms, shower facilities, concierge service, Wi-Fi, private meeting rooms, dishwasher and linen service, and rampside vehicle access.

“This is a bold achievement for APP,” said Chris Hambleton, vice president of APP Properties, which also operates FBOs in Manassas, Va., Fort Pierce, Fla., and Denver, Colo. “We are increasing our aircraft storage and client services while developing the most distinguished facility at Hayward Executive Airport. We have planned on this for many years and are very excited for our clients to share our enjoyment of this upscale, modern property.”

Tom Panico, the location’s general manager, added: “It’s an honor to offer this top-notch facility to our loyal clients and to our growing list of new clients, as well.”

The San Francisco-area airport has seen more than its share of development of late. Last month, Meridian opened its FBO at HWD, giving the New Jersey-based company its first presence on the West Coast. o

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10 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

Within the first few days of starting its investigation into the October 13 fatal crash of a Cessna Citation 500, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) reiterated its long-time recommendation to expand the requirement for cockpit and flight data recorders to business jets.

“Unfortunately, the absence of a CVR or FDR will make this investigation particularly challenging,” the TSB said.

In Canada, as well as in the U.S., only multi-engine, turbinepowered commercial aircraft flown by two pilots and carrying six or more passengers are required to carry a CVR. In 1991 the TSB made its first recommendation calling for upgrading recorder requirements.

But Transport Canada never followed through in its responses to produce an Advisory Circular or conduct focus-group consultations on recorders. The agency now plans to prepare an “issue paper” and revisit the risk assessment on recorders. n

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Creative people wanted at Embraer Melbourne

by Mark Huber Embraer’s engineering and technical center in Melbourne, Florida, has rapidly staffed up and next year is set to employ 200 between its interior and material engineering divisions, up from the current 160. “Our intention is to become the interior center of excellence,” said mechanical engineering manager Jeff Chaney. “We’ve acquired a lot of younger people right out of college. We don’t need rocket science here; we need creative people. It’s worked out very well.”

Embraer finds a lot of talent in Florida, often recruiting from nearby Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Florida Institute of Technology, and the University of Central Florida. “We get everybody through some training courses right away and get them trained up the Embraer way, get them trained in the FAA requirements to do the job right, and then

partner them with some more seasoned people to mentor them and create the next generation of great engineers. We’ve been very successful with that,” Chaney said.

The center is tasked with integrating product change requests from customers and providing production, manufacturing, and interior engineering support.

Embraer’s aircraft assembly plant for the Phenom 100 and 300 and the Legacy 450/500 is located just across the street. “The customer is king, and he gets whatever he wants,” explained Chaney. “But we work with the industrial design team to work with the customer to make sure they get what they want in a style that is functional in the aircraft.”

A team of 20 works on nothing but integrating supplemental type certificate (STC) modifications into the fleet, with most of that work devoted to the Phenom light-jet line, where

Wi-Fi and satphone installations have become more commonplace as prices have come down. Occasionally the team also works on projects involving larger aircraft, such as the recently changed Fadec requirements on the Legacy 650s. “It’s not a ton [of work], but it’s enough to keep 20 people going pretty good. It’s a good revenue stream. And most importantly, it keeps our customers aligned with Embraer. We can update the manuals better than anyone else,” Chaney said.

Visits to Brazil

Specific engineering disciplines on the staff fall within the realms of electrical, avionics, materials, stress, and structures. The team does not cover major structures or mechanical systems such as landing gear and occasionally will find itself working with Embraer Brazil on issues such as human factors. About half the Florida engineers have been to headquarters in Brazil for training and to forge relationships with their Brazilian counterparts, Chaney said.

Employees at the technical center not only benefit from working

Jeff Chaney, mechanical engineering manager at Embraer’s tech center in Melbourne, Fla., likes old-style focus groups to “stay aligned with the customer wishes.”

in a new open, airy building with lots of windows and natural light, they have the latest design and prototyping tools. These include Catia v5 3D design software; the Canon Mreal virtual reality system; 3D printers and thermoformers; full-size cabin mock-ups; avionics jigs and racks; a materials burn chamber; and an extreme temperature and vibration test chamber for torturing all manner of components.

“We want people to be happy here. I came from a company that stuck us in an old hangar. It wasn’t really a great environment to foster creativity.” said Chaney.

The tools ensure that the customer receives a reliable aircraft.

“It’s all about reliability, giving the customer a good product that will hold up for the life of their aircraft,” he said, pointing to the

“torture chamber” as an example of his philosophy. “There are no surprises. We test four-tofive times the life of a part with G forces and temperatures at the extremes of those parts’ parameters. We require our suppliers to do it. If they can’t do it, they do it here. We shake and bake and see what it does.”

Likewise, the futuristic virtual reality room ensures that interior designs beget no unintended consequences. Images are generated with data from the Catia drawings. “We use it for serviceability as we design the interior; things like making sure you can reach behind a sidewall panel, making sure you are not running ductwork through fasteners, that you have enough room to work in the galley and can get to the drawers okay,” Chaney said. o

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PC-24 takes a day off, flies in for NBAA visit Pilatus PC-24 flight test aircraft P02 flew into Orlando Executive Airport on Tuesday night for its one-day public showing at the NBAA 2016 static display on Wednesday. More details are also emerging about the $8.9 million light twinjet’s certification path.

The PC-24 will initially be certified to land on pavement, with approval for unimproved field operations coming shortly thereafter, PC-24 vice president André Zimmerman told AIN. He said Pilatus already had amassed considerable data on how the aircraft behaves on contaminated runways thanks to recent extensive testing on the flooded-runway course at Cranfield, UK. Pilatus will begin work on unimproved landings in the spring.

The flight-test PC-24s have already been fitted with a mudguard on the nose wheel to guard against FOD and additional structures and they will be added to the main gear to protect the flaps. Once those structures are developed, they will be added to the aircraft and placed into flight test.

“We saw how the water is moving around the aircraft in Cranfield at different speeds and flap configurations,” said Zimmerman.

“That gave us a pretty good first feel.” Based on that data, Pilatus does not have any concerns about how the PC-24 will perform “off road,” he said.

To date, the flight-test program has been nominal. Flight test engineer Guy Lynch joined Pilatus seven years ago and has 200 hours in the PC-24, primarily engaged in avionics flight testing. Lynch reports the Honeywell Apex avionics integration is going well. The avionics are key to the PC-24’s ease of single-pilot operation.

Test pilot Theddy Spichtig joined Pilatus in 1999 and currently has 300 hours in the PC-24. He believes that PC-12 turboprop single pilots will not have difficulty transitioning to the PC-24’s avionics or flying workload. “We actually made things simpler and added more automation. There shouldn’t be more workload,” he said.

Spichtig also reported that the PC-24 is “easy to fly,” with approach speeds between 95 and

Pilatus PC-24 v-p André Zimmerman (right) met with test pilot Theddy Spichtig (center) and test engineer Guy Lynch after their flight to Orlando from Huntsville, Ala.

100 knots. “The flaps provide a good margin to maneuver on the glidepath and you have very nice stable speed control. Handlingwise it is really not a challenge.

WORLD FUEL LAUNCHES OWN AVIATION FUEL BRAND Long a global aviation fuel distributor, World Fuel Services (WFS, Booth 4600) has launched its own fuel brand, it announced on Wednesday at NBAA 2016. According to the Miami-based company, it will begin branding efforts over the next year, with signage and identifying equipment at participating dealers.

In addition to fuel, WFS also provides support to its FBO customers, including the Air Elite Network, which it sponsors. It also offers FBO technology solutions, contract fuel, the FlyBuys loyalty rewards program and the Avcard aviation charge card. The company operates at more than 8,000 locations in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

—C.E.

“There is obviously workload for a single pilot, but that doesn’t change if it is a PC-12 or a PC-24, but you have better automation in this aircraft. It’s just a great

step up. It’s a very docile, nice flying airplane. It’s not adding workload from that perspective and has plenty of maneuvering margin at high altitudes.” o

CJ3’s Fusion upgrade is nearing certification

by Kerry Lynch Rockwell Collins, working with Duncan Aviation, is on pace for certification in the upcoming months for its retrofit of a Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion cockpit in the Cessna Citation CJ3. The initial aircraft undergoing the upgrade is on static display this week at NBAA 2016.

The upgrade swaps out the legacy Pro Line 21 avionics with a suite that includes three larger 14.1-inch landscape touchscreen flight displays and capabilities to provide compliance with ADS-B and WAAS LPV. The system also includes synthetic vision system and touch-interactive maps and eliminates the need for flight management system control display units originally installed in the pedestal.

The aircraft made its first flight in late July at Duncan

Aviation’s headquarters in Lincoln, Neb. With the launch of the flight-test program, “the finish line is in sight,” said Craig Olson, v-p and general manager of business and regional systems at Rockwell Collins.

Rockwell Collins already has 15 customers for the upgrade, Olson said, adding that early response is stronger than originally anticipated. Rockwell Collins announced the flight deck upgrade a year ago, and Olson said the company decided to develop the retrofit at the request of members from the Citation Jets Pilots owners and pilots group.

Similar to the approach of the Fusion upgrade already certified on King Airs, the CJ3 upgrade will replace displays and controls while retaining the existing autopilot and radios. o

www.ainonline.com • November 3, 2016 • NBAA Convention News 13

MARK HUBER

by Mark Huber

NEWS CLIPS z Universal Increases Latin American Footprint Global flight support provider Universal Weather & Aviation (Booth 2611) has expanded its Latin American ground-handling network with the opening of Universal Aviation Dominican Republic, it announced this week at NBAA 2016. Based at the executive aviation terminal at La Romana International Airport (MDLR), the location is Universal’s 18th in the region and 65th worldwide.

“The Dominican Republic has a fast-growing economy and is an increasingly popular destination for general aviation, both business and tourism, with a strong base of regional traffic in the Caribbean,” said Adolfo Aragon, Universal’s senior vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We have an outstanding local team at MDLR, with many years of experience in the country, allowing us to facilitate difficult, last-minute requests seamlessly.”

z PPG Displaying New Passenger Window PPG (Booth 1219) is displaying an airliner passenger cabin window prototype, as well as color and textured clear samples from PPG proprietary aerospace plastic, this week at NBAA 2016. The prototype, which was manufactured from Opticor transparency material, is the lightest-weight plastic available for aerospace transparencies, according to PPG global director Mark Hood.

Since the commercial aircraft passenger cabin window prototype is lightweight, PPG claims it nont only saves weight and enhances fuel efficiency.

The prototype was created with crazing and scratch resistance, as well as fire resistance, so it maintains clarity in all situations. Opticor transparency material is available in a variety of thicknesses and shapes, meaning that the new window prototype can be made to fit various aircraft.

z Skyservice Announces FANS Approval Canadian business aviation FBO and MRO Skyservice (Booth 3682) has received reciprocal approval from the FAA for its Transport Canada STC’d FANS installation on Gulfstream G200s. The upgrade makes the aircraft both FANS and ADS-B OUT compliant. Skyservice is an authorized Gulfstream service center.

“This particular STC is focused on the first 50 or so serial-numbered G200s that require the FANS update.

This is the only option for G200 owners and operators who want FANS right now,” explained Norman Matheis, regional sales manager for Canada at Universal Avionics.

“It is available as a phased upgrade, which can be done in three parts and possibly arranged during other scheduled maintenance. That way the aircraft downtime is limited,” he said.

Scheduling for both FANS and ADS-B out upgrades has been picking up just in the last few months, according to Matheis, who expressed concern that Universal Avionics, through its dealers such as Skyservice, can reach all the aircraft in need of these upgrades before mandates take effect.

z Tool Mat Makes Mechanics’ Lives Easier Anyone who has ever watched helplessly as a tool slid off an aircraft wing should appreciate a product making its debut this week at NBAA 2016. The Grypmat, a flexible tool caddy made from a rubberized, non-marring, anti-static material, provides mechanics with a non-slip surface to store tools, helping alleviate worry and possible sources of damaged equipment. Manufactured by Ohio-based Grypshon Industries (Booth 1564), the product comes in three sizes, the largest of which is two- by one-foot, and conforms to the curved surfaces found on aircraft wings and bodies, while safely cradling tools and parts.

NARA chairman (Ogara Jets CEO) Johnny Foster got the “fundrazor” treatment Tuesday, raising $75,000 for NARA scholarships.

NARA’s brokers advise now is a good time to buy

by Ian Sheppard The largest display area in the NBAA 2016 static park at Orlando Executive Airport is that of the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA)–bigger even than the impressive displays of the OEMs. In fact, it’s the largest ever single display at any NBAA Convention. NARA has 34 aircraft in its display “and all are for sale,” board member Sabrina Prewitt, who is also senior v-p at Jack Prewitt & Associates, told AIN. “This includes four G550s, a G650, a 7X, a Global 6000 and a GIV-SP.” According to Prewitt, “NARA members make up 5 percent of the broker/dealers in the world, but transacted more than 50 percent of the $9.2 billion market last year. We’re very proud of that.

The U.S. market is going well and most of the market is here.” She added that NARA has raised the standards and standing of aircraft brokers. NARA now has 42 broker/dealer members, with other members making the total 101.

At NARA’s static display, AIN walked around to gauge the market sentiment and was somewhat surprised to find that many brokers had started recently to enjoy a resurgence in pre-owned aircraft sales.

First stop in the static was Nick Schneider of Boca-Raton, Fla.based Global Wings, who said the market “seems to have opened up in the last 30 days. That was

14 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

the consensus of a number of NARA members at our meeting on Monday.” He added that the previous four to six months were quiet, but that the NARA consensus was that there had been “a lot more discussion and expressions of interest, then in the last 30 days people have started acting on their interest.” He suggested that this could indicate that the bottom of the market had been reached, although he admitted, “The interest for us has been mainly U.S.-based.”

Eight-year Itch

Next stop was Jack Prewitt of Jack Prewitt & Associates, who also said there was “a kind of consensus” that market conditions had improved. “It will go back up but I can’t tell you when it’s going to start. It’s been going down for eight years and I think it’ll take eight years to come right back up to where it was. Airplanes are extremely undervalued.” He said some owners had spent millions of dollars on their aircraft, but in the current market would have to accept they wouldn’t recoup that expenditure if they sold.

Richard Emery, COO of Dallas, Texas-based Mente Group, said the company is heading for its “best year ever,” but he put that success down to being on retainers with around 17 clients to provide advice and analysis and tell them the best times to buy and sell aircraft.

He had advised a client recently that a two-year-old aircraft represented best value, but noted that the average aircraft depreciation rate had increased from 2 to 4 percent per year to more like 6.5 to 8.5 percent, and in some cases was as high as 10 percent. “This is much more like other asset classes,” he said. With the OEMs “having to keep the lights on,” they have been discounting new aircraft, and this also has a knock-on effect, accelerating as you go down in value.

So older aircraft depreciate a lot.

But he suggested, “I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to buy an aircraft.”

Not many buyers want to accept this yet, he suggested.

“Typically we are looking at more than 200 days to sell a pre-owned business aircraft–on most models. However, if they are competitively priced they can sell within 90 days.” Choice in the number of large-cabin, long-range aircraft, which Mente specializes in, is diminishing, and as a result resale values on aircraft younger than five years are stabilizing. He also said pre-owned inventories are flat—perhaps another sign that the market is saturating.

“With our client base we are seeing limited activity on brandnew aircraft transactions, which we attribute to a generational shift,” he said. “Also, CEOs and business founders have the mindset of a ‘capacity-sharing generation’ akin to Uber, Lyft and Airbnb millennials.

“They are more diverse and less brand loyal. They will be prouder that they struck a good price on their aircraft, rather than boast they picked up the latest business jet.” he said. o

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Chicago’s skyline is well within view of Gary, Ind., 35 minutes away. And with a newly extended runway to 8,900 feet, its airport is vying for more business aviation traffic.

by Curt Epstein While there is no shortage of business aviation access to the Chicago area—with airports such as Aurora Municipal, DuPage, Chicago Executive, Midway and O’Hare International—Gary/ Chicago International Airport (GYY) is making great strides to improve its attractiveness to corporate aircraft customers.

Located 35 minutes from downtown Chicago, in Gary, Ind., the airport (Booth 4335) last year

completed a $174 million runway expansion that was more than 15 years in the making and required relocating a major railway line.

“Probably the most significant thing has been the extra 1,800 foot expansion to the runway,” assistant airport manager Hank Mook told AIN. “We went from 7,000 feet to almost 8,900 feet, which now gives us the capability to go international, to go longer distances and have larger aircraft arrivals. This benefits not only the airport, but also the FBOs,” he added. Since

Japan’s Nagoya region is a good bet for bizav For those looking to avoid the general congestion of the Tokyo area, representatives from Japan’s Aichi Prefecture (Booth 4463) are at NBAA 2016 this week to discuss its convenient location within the country, and its suitability for Japan-bound business aviation travelers. The area has two airports: Nagoya, one of the few in Japan to be considered business aviationspecific, and the larger Chubu Centrair International Airport, which was built nearby to handle the majority of the area’s commercial traffic.

Combined, last year the two handled nearly 250 private aircraft flights, including 80 at Nagoya, according to Isao Tsutsui, Aichi Prefectural Government’s director of the department of regional development and tourism’s civil administration division. That represents

a 31-percent increase over the previous year, tied in part to the ramping up of development of the Mitsubishi regional jetliner (MRJ), which is taking place at Nagoya Airport.

For business aircraft operators, Nagoya is located between the country’s two largest cities, Tokyo and Osaka, and due to its central location it is easily connected to the capital and to hubs such as Osaka and Kyoto by highspeed train. Indeed, Nagoya will be the first city linked to Tokyo by an under-construction next-­ generation maglev train, which will be nearly twice as fast as the current “bullet trains.”

Development of the Mitsubishi MRJ at the airport has also served to increase business traffic.

Nagoya Airport, which is open daily from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., offers a dedicated customs, immigration and

quarantine facility, staffed on demand for international business arrivals. Ground handling is supplied there by FBOs Nakanihon Air Service and Aero Asahi.

Its business aviation terminal is centrally located, less than 300 feet from the ramp, and aircraft can taxi directly to parking spaces under their own power. The airport is also suited as a fueling stop for long-range business jets from the U.S. East Coast heading for mainland China. With a 9,000-foot runway, it can easily accommodate any business jet.

Next year, authorities will add another ramp area of approximately 20,000 sq ft, which will more than double the number of business aircraft parking spaces to 13.

Chubu Centrair International, which offers 24-hour operations, has one FBO managed by the airport authority, as well as a dedicated business aviation hangar that can accommodate aircraft up to an ACJ/BBJ. As a Cessna Citation-authorized service

16 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

is growing. It is also in the process of converting its aprons from asphalt to concrete to accommodate weights of larger aircraft. A resurfacing of the main runway is also on tap for next year.

GYY is currently home to 117 based aircraft, approximately 60 of them turbine-powered, a number Mook said has increased since the runway lengthening. To accommodate that increase both service providers, B.Coleman Aviation and Gary Jet Center have expanded.

B.Coleman (Booth 2239) recently enlarged its leasehold by an additional 12 acres, giving it 14 now in total. Opened in 2014, the facility has a 6,000-sqft terminal with another 8,000

DAVID McINTOSH

Chicago-bound traffic finding a home in Gary

the expansion, the airport, which is situated in Class D airspace separate from the congestion of O’Hare and Midway, has noted a 15-percent increase in traffic.

That traffic should get another boost next year with the opening of a new $1.2 million stand-alone U.S. customs facility. “There are no solely general aviation customs facilities in the Chicagoland area,” noted Mook, adding that in the past Customs agents would come from Midway to process arrivals. Currently, international flights to the airport must clear at other airports.

The airport has fuel flowage of approximately 2.5 million gallons a year and, due to the runway improvement, that number

sq ft of office space, as well as an 18,000-sq-ft hangar capable of sheltering aircraft up to a G550. Citing a shortage of hangar space in the Chicago area, the company plans to break ground next spring on a new $5 million, 40,000-sq-ft hangar that can accommodate the latest ultralong-range business jets, according to B.Coleman president John Girzadas. He plans to offer the part of the remaining space for build-to-suit corporate hangars.

Girzadas noted that during last week’s World Series games in Chicago, the airport handled a large volume of overflow traffic from Midway Airport, due to its location just 35 minutes from downtown. “Once we get those customers, they tend to stay with us because they don’t really realize that we’re there,” he told AIN. Another popular selling point is the ease of access to light rail directly into the city. A station is located just off the airport property.

Gary Jet Center (Booth 2207) last year added a 40,000-sqft LEED-certified hangar and was recently approved to build a new terminal attached to it, construction of which should begin in the spring.

All those improvements will serve to increase GYY’s prominence in the region. “Kudos to our partners B.Coleman and Gary Jet Center and our other tenants who are investing the money in the growth of the airport,” said Mook. o

Here at NBAA from the civil aviation administration division of Japan’s Aichi Prefectural government’s department of regional development and tourism are (l-r) assistant directors Mikihiro Higuchi and Eri Hirayama and director Isao Tsutsui.

facility, it offers maintenance support from FAA/JCAB certified technicians.

Tsutsui told AIN that the prefectural government early next year will begin construction at Chubu on a multi-million conference center along the lines of Pal-Expo in Geneva, which has been home to the EBACE conference for more than a decade.

He believes this first airport colocated facility in the country

could serve a similar purpose, hosting aviation shows in Japan.

Nagoya has been designated as a “special zone to create Asia’s number-one aerospace industrial cluster” by the Japanese government, with several heavy industry manufacturers engaged in the construction of aircraft components and subassemblies, including Mitsubishi. The world headquarters for Toyota is also located nearby. —C.E.

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Pilots of manned GA aircraft will need to learn more about how unmanned drones are regulated, if they expect to remain safe.

DRONE SAFETY PROGRAM OFFERED BY USAIG Aircraft insurance provider USAIG (Booth 4306) is offering a new safety program for policyholders that insure small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), the company announced. The initial offering under its new Performance Vector Unmanned program is an online small-UAS ground school course provided

by Argus Unmanned, a new division of aviation data services company Argus International of Cincinnati (Booth 3435).

The course covers information the FAA will require for the unmanned aircraft general examination. Under Part 107, which took effect on August 29, the operator of a small drone weighing less than 55 pounds must have a remote pilot certificate with a small-UAS rating. Certificate holders must pass an initial aeronautical knowledge test or have an existing nonstudent Part 61 pilot certificate.

USAIG’s program builds on Performance Vector, a safety program started in 2011 for policyholders that insure turbinepowered manned aircraft. “This new initiative addresses a vital need by including one remote pilot’s ground school with any UAS policy,” said Paul Ratté, USAIG director of aviation safety programs. “Another plus is that discounted rates are available —B.C. for additional trainees.”

OPINION

GA flying in the age of drones

by John Goglia With new drone regulations that took effect at the end of August, and that are predicted to increase the number of drones being used by commercial and government entities, there are several provisions that manned aircraft pilots—especially general aviation pilots—need to be aware of so they can ensure their own safety and, of course, the safety of their passengers and the persons and property below them. With these new regulations—more than a decade in the making—it’s clear that the age of drones is upon us. To underscore the significance of these new regulations, the White House recently held a one-day event to “celebrate the potential of this technology.” Called the Workshop on Drones and the Future of Aviation, the event highlighted the potential of drones in so many disparate fields—from infrastructure inspection to disaster relief to precision agriculture and so much more. And we can expect Amazon to continue to push for package delivery in the airspace where GA often flies.

So for those among us who have been hoping this technology would just go away, it’s time to accept that the economic promise of this new aviation technology—some experts predict an $82 billion industry in the U.S. and the creation of more than 100,000 new jobs over the next 10 years—is going to make drones a huge player in the aviation space, especially the airspace where one day in the not too distant future drones and manned aircraft will be flying sideby-side. But for now, GA pilots need to be aware of what the new regulations

allow so that they can take the appropriate actions to stay safe.

While much has been written about the importance of drone pilots learning about the manned aircraft world, gaining the aeronautical knowledge necessary to safely share the skies, not nearly as much has been written about what manned aircraft pilots—especially GA pilots—need to know about the new drone rules that will affect the airspace where they fly.

This doesn’t mean the FAA has put the burden of seeing and avoiding drones on GA pilots; many small drones would be difficult if not impossible for GA pilots to even see. Drone pilots are responsible under the new rules for “yielding the right of way to all aircraft, airborne vehicles and reentry vehicles.” In addition, there is a prohibition on operating “so close to another aircraft as to cause a collision hazard.” The regulation specifies what yielding the right of way means: the drone “must give way to the

Insurance provider USAIG is proactively offering safety training for small UAS operators.

18 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

aircraft or vehicle and may not pass over, under or ahead of it unless well clear.” In addition to the requirement to yield the right of way, drone pilots cannot interfere with “operations and traffic patterns at any airport, heliport or seaport.”

But even though drones have the responsibility to avoid manned aircraft, GA and other manned aircraft have the responsibility to comply with Federal Aviation Regulations that apply to them, especially minimum safe altitudes. Drones will be allowed to fly in areas that GA pilots need to be aware of so that they can maintain the necessary altitude and traffic pattern discipline that will keep them away from possible drone operations.

How High Is Too High?

For example, while many believe that drones can’t legally operate higher than 400 feet, that is not correct. The new rules allow certified drone operators to fly above 400 feet when the drone “is flown within 400 feet of a structure and does not fly higher than 400 feet above the structure’s immediate uppermost limit.” Knowing that drones can legally

operate at 400 feet above the height of structures, GA pilots need to consider the importance of complying with minimum safe altitudes above structures even in rural or sparsely populated areas.

Flying too low has been a cause of far too many GA accidents.

In addition to the new rules allowing drones to operate above 400 feet when close to structures, the new rules also allow small UAS pilots to fly near airports that are in uncontrolled airspace without any approval or notification to the airport or air traffic control.

As I mentioned earlier, drone pilots are required to yield the right of way to manned aircraft and to not interfere with airport operations and traffic patterns. But this means GA pilots flying at airports in uncontrolled airspace need to be aware that drones could be operating in the airport vicinity and, of course, be aware of the traffic pattern for the airport and maintain pattern discipline when flying in and out of those airports, which, of course, is critical to safety even without drones.

Although drone pilots will need air traffic control permission before flying in “Class B, Class C or Class D airspace or within the lateral boundaries of the surface area of Class E airspace,” it’s likely that in some controlled airspace, ATC approval will become fairly routine with appropriate mitigations, such as the issuance of notams. So, yes, here’s another reason why checking notams is important. I have investigated many a general aviation crash where the failure to check notams was a direct or contributing cause of an accident.

As the FAA’s new drone rules open up a new age of unmanned aircraft operations, GA pilots need to do their part to keep the system safe for all users. o

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Single-pilot Safety

Eric Walden, grandson of FlightSafety International founder Al Ueltschi, has found a niche as a TBM 850 charter operator.

Little Hawk Logistics:

A successful and safe single-pilot charter firm

by Matt Thurber Typical choices for a young pilot include taking the airline route or pursuing a career in business flying. Some pilots, like Eric Walden, try both before carving their own path in aviation. For Walden, the freedom and other benefits of launching his own single-pilot charter operation with a Daher TBM 850 proved irresistible, and he happily traded in his business jet career for life as a small business owner. Now Walden’s company Little Hawk Logistics flies charter customers all over the U.S. in his TBM 850. Walden is here at the NBAA show at the Daher exhibit (Booth 4882 and indoor static).

Walden’s family aviation history started with his father’s pioneering grandfather, Henry, who built and flew the first monoplane on Long Island, N.Y., shortly after the Wright brothers logged their famous first flights.

Walden’s grandfather Al Ueltschi introduced the young lad to the pleasures of flying, with frequent trips in small airplanes and inspiring tales of Pan Am piloting adventures before launching training company FlightSafety International. Ueltschi’s first airplane was a Waco OX-5 biplane, and he bought it by pledging his small business, a hamburger stand, as collateral for a loan from a local bank. The name of the hamburger stand was The Little Hawk, and it thus inspired the name of Walden’s charter company.

The seeds for Walden’s venture were planted after 11 years flying NetJets Citation XLs and XLSs. Out on medical leave for a pinched nerve and too much stress, he found that he enjoyed being home with his young son during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, which are

busy travel times for fractional operations like NetJets. “NetJets was an amazing job,” he said, “I flew everywhere in the western hemisphere.” But years of seven days on and seven off duty were wearing on him, and the job was no longer much fun.

At the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis., in 2013 Walden was on the flight line when a TBM 850 came “ripping across the field at 200 knots and made a tight turn over show center,” he recalled. “I got that in my head; maybe there’s a way to fly for myself.”

After the show, Walden began to run the numbers, using the Aircraft Cost Calculator (ACC, Booth 4736) to refine his assumptions. Walden’s uncle had been flying a Pilatus PC-12 for a dozen years and had plenty of data that he could use to assess the accuracy of the ACC numbers, which would give him confidence that the TBM figures were accurate too. “I compared them to the real-world PC-12 numbers, and they were within a couple of percentage points,” he said. “That gave me confidence in the TBM numbers. Plugging the numbers into ACC, it was immediately clear that I could, if I flew 25 hours a month, clear the payments, fixed costs and have some extra for incidentals.”

There was one other challenge, and that was whether to seek his own charter certificate, or work with a management company that would allow Walden to be the sole pilot for the TBM. He contacted Meridian Air Group in Charlottesville, Va., a charter operator that flies larger aircraft, but also had significant unfulfilled demand for a TBMsize airplane. “They were turning

away business for lack of metal and lack of pilots,” Walden said.

The agreement looked like it would benefit both companies.

Walden had little spare time to chase down FAA inspectors for approval of a new Part 135 operation, scheduling maintenance and keeping up with the accounting and billing, while Meridian already had that infrastructure in place. “All that stuff I have no desire to deal with,” he said. “It’s a good partnership. Meridian gets a small monthly management fee and a percentage of my gross.”

Walden flies trips for customers who might not need Meridian’s more expensive Pilatus PC-12 or Embraer Phenom 100.

Now all Walden needed was an airplane. He consulted with an experienced TBM ferry pilot who found an ideal TBM 850 in the U.S. Walden arranged the financing, resigned from NetJets, then closed on the airplane on April 14, 2014. He was ready to start flying, but there was a long delay caused by the local FAA FSDO to get the TBM onto Meridian’s charter certificate, and it wasn’t until 11 months later that he was finally

cleared to take off. Walden flew his first trip in early March and flew almost 300 hours that year.

Charlottesville, where Walden was born and lives, turned out to be an ideal market for singleengine turboprop charter in the speedy TBM 850, with plenty of potential customers working in the local medical and high-tech industries, plus new talent bubbling up from the University of Virginia business school and law school. “My target is to reach out and find people who had never considered charter before,” he said. And the TBM’s relatively low cost per mile makes it an attractive steed compared to the higher priced twin-engine turboprops or light jets that are typically available.

Once he is able to show customers the benefits of chartering the TBM, they are sold. “They are proof that what I’m going after exists,” he said. One couple flew in August to Nashville and enjoyed the 1.5-hour trip for a little more than the cost of firstclass airline tickets. Driving would have taken eight hours, and flying on the airlines would involve

Little Hawk’s business plan includes reaching out to potential clients who don’t even know that charter is an option, according to founder Eric Walden.

20 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

an unproductive stop at Dulles or Charlotte. “There are a lot of people who have flown charter and are put off by the cost, or never have flown because they never considered it possible,” he said.

“This year we’re actively marketing via Google, radio ads and CharterHub to reach our demographic, and it’s working. We’re getting a critical mass together, and word of mouth accounts for a third of our new clients.”

With steady business in hand, in April Walden upgraded the TBM with a new Garmin G600 panel, with dual touchscreen GTN 750 GPS/com/navigators, GTX 345 ADS-B out and in transponder and Flight Stream 210 wireless gateway.

After the installation, Walden’s FSDO suddenly decided that he needed to take another checkride because of the new avionics, instead of just proving that he had done the differences training. This caused a threeweek delay in getting back into the air and about $40,000 of lost revenue, but since then, business picked back up nicely.

“Eventually I’m going to add another aircraft,” he said.

Having flown so many years as part of a two-pilot crew, switching to relying solely on himself was “initially very difficult for me,” Walden said. “But all those years gave me confidence. I know the airports, the controllers, how to deal with FBOs, passengers, et cetera.” He also learned a long time ago how to prioritize tasks and also when to say no to ATC. “It’s a lifesaver when, after they say, ‘You can’t deviate,’ I say, ‘How about I do and you move everybody? I’m not flying into a thunderstorm. Deal with it.”

The new avionics help, too, he added. “The plane makes it pretty easy; it’s an amazing piece of hardware. Now with the avionics upgrade, my bubble of situational awareness is massive.”

Walden believes he made the right move to start his own business. “I need to make sure this is real and not a flash in the pan,” he said. “I’m being cautious. This is my investment. I borrowed the money, and I am all in on this thing. I have all the upside, but also all the exposure.

I’m confident it will work.

“It’s been a blast, and I have no regrets about leaving NetJets.

I run into friends all the time at FBOs, and they say, ‘We’re on our fifth leg, and it’s going to be a 14-hour day. I say, ‘I’m going to go home right now.’ It’s a huge difference; I’m at home with my boy.” o

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UNMANNED SAFETY INSTITUTE, FLORIDA POLICE WORKSHOP The Unmanned Safety Institute (USI) in September announced a partnership with the Fraternal Order of Police to provide the law enforcement community in Florida with safety and security training on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

The organizations will co-sponsor a workshop, “Responding to UAS Intrusions” that will cover a variety of topics related to unmanned aircraft, including the threats posed by UAS to critical infrastructure; types of UAS operators; response protocols; best practices; and federal and state legal enforcement authorities. The first workshop will be held at the Fraternal Order of Police Orlando Lodge on November 18.

“This partnership be­ tween FOP and USI allows us to offer innovative and real-world training to law enforcement officers throughout Florida who encounter this threat every day,” said Shawn Dunlap, FOP Orlando chapter president. “Drone use continues to proliferate, and we are ready to support our law enforcement community with training that is relevant and practical.”

Cincinnati-based Argus International (Booth 3435), which provides business management software and solutions to the aviation industry, acquired USI in April. Founded in 2014 and based in Orlando, USI provides safety training, certification and management of UAS. “With more than 3 million drones projected to be flying in the United States this year, the threat of an incident occurring increases exponentially,” said Aaron Greenwald, USI president. “We think it is absolutely vital that all law enforcement officers across the country have a deep understanding of this technology and how to appropriately respond to un­authorized activity in the event an incident occurs.”

For further information on the Responding to UAS Intrusions workshop, call (877) 525-SAFE or e-mail safety@argus.aero.

—B.C.

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22 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

Aircraft Performance Group (APG, Booth 3170) has released a major update to its iOS-based runway analysis app’s weightand-balance function, a real-time curtailment feature that accounts for changes in loading during flight to help operators ensure the aircraft remains within CG limitations from takeoff to touchdown.

The new dynamic curtailment feature in APG’s iPreFlight app meets the recommendations of AC 120-27E, the FAA’s advisory circular on weight-andbalance control. The benefit of considering curtailment effects is that accounting for in-flight changes in fuel load, passenger movement, consumption of fluids, etc., can allow the operator to extract more performance, as opposed to applying a fixed curtailment, worst-case-scenario loading situation. “That can be a problem if the load pushes the CG out of that fixed part of the weight-and-balance envelope,” said APG CEO Mike Caflisch. “The dynamic curtailment feature is based on the actual load, so you don’t overly curtail when you don’t need to, which could lead to lower payload or operational restrictions. This is something that is not fairly well understood,” he added. “We’ve been getting more calls from operators getting called on it by FAA POIs [principal operations inspectors], wondering how they comply.”

Airlines have been using dynamic curtailment for years, but in a zonal fashion, which works well because they are flying larger airplanes, and dynamic curtailment can be handled within each zone. The Embraer Lineage 1000, for example, is set up in a zonal scheme on iPreFlight, but other jets use the specific location of seats and equipment, which APG programs into each customer’s aircraft files.

“It’s an APG-engineering curtailment,” he explained. “It’s a pretty substantial documentation requirement, a substantiation report that we provide back to the operator that shows exactly the arm and moment of every item that has to be considered. It reflects how the CG changes when, say, the pilot moves aft to the lavatory or the flight attendant pushes a galley cart aft.”

As part of iPreFlight, the dynamic curtailment calculations are “tightly incorporated into our runway performance analysis,” Caflisch said. Dynamic curtailment is a premium feature, so there is an extra fee for iPreFlight subscribers.

Cold-weather App

APG has also developed another new iPreFlight feature, a separate cold-weather operations app for determining adjustments to altitudes during instrument approach procedures at cold temperature-restricted airports. The user will be able to enter an airport ID and the temperature and quickly see the necessary adjustments without having to run the numbers in the FMS or calculate the restrictions separately. The app will work offline, too.

Here at the NBAA show, APG is holding workshops on iPreFlight. The sessions begin with an explanation of takeoff performance regulations and standards and then how runway analysis can maximize payload, including the best way to switch to an APG-derived procedure after an engine fails during takeoff. The last of three sessions is scheduled for today at 1 p.m.

“We’ve spent years educating pilots and trying to explain regulations [on runway analysis],” said Caflisch. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a 91, 121, 135 or 125 operator, here is a tool that’s easy to use.” o

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Embraer Executive Jets’ Melbourne, Fla. facility completed assembling its first Legacy 450 recently. The twinjet is scheduled for delivery next month.

U.S.-built Legacy 450 makes milestone flight

by Matt Thurber The first U.S.-assembled Legacy 450 made its maiden flight October 4 from the

Embraer Executive Jets facility in Melbourne, Fla., some five months after it entered the

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production line at the plant. “We have successfully completed this important milestone, and we are on track to deliver this aircraft in December,” said Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Marco Tulio Pellegrini.

Including the Phenom 100 and 300, the Legacy 450 is the third business jet model to be assembled at the company’s recently expanded Melbourne facility. A second Legacy 450 is already on the Melbourne assembly line, which will be followed by two Legacy 500s starting early next year. Legacy 450s and 500s are also being assembled at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.

Embraer began its Melbourne aircraft assembly operations in early 2011 with the entry-level Phenom 100, followed by the Phenom 300 in August 2012. In a little more than five years, the company has delivered close to 200 Phenoms from its Melbourne facility to customers across the U.S. and in 12 other countries.

A day after the first Legacy 450 flew from Melbourne, Embraer announced that the Legacy 450 and 500 head-up display and enhanced vision system—together dubbed the the Embraer Enhanced Vision System (E2VS)—won approvals from the FAA, EASA and Brazil’s ANAC. The combined system raises situational awareness in all phases of flight and enhances safety during inclement weather and low visibility.

“The Legacy 450 and 500 are the first aircraft to set this new standard of operational performance in the midsize segment,” said Pellegrini. “Combined with these aircraft’s fly-by-wire technology, the Embraer Enhanced Vision System delivers innovation previously available only in much larger business aircraft.”

E2VS consists of a compact head-up display, incorporating a new head-up guidance system and multi-spectral EVS3000 enhanced vision system from Rockwell Collins. The EVS delivers high-fidelity detection, including groundbased LED lights, according to Rockwell Collins. Operators equipped with the HUD/ EVS system can fly specially approved approaches at airports around the world and use lower approach minimums, the avionics company added.

“The HUD’s compact size and discreet profile allowed it to seamlessly be incorporated into the Legacy cockpit and fully integrate with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite,” Embraer said. o

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GAO: fuel fraud rule costing aviation billions

by Kerry Lynch The recent finding by a U.S. government watchdog that that decade-old fuel fraud law is costing the aviation system billions comes as no surprise to business aviation advocates. But the question remains whether that knowledge can result in a longterm fix.

“The Government Accountability Office’s [GAO’s] findings validate our belief that the current system is fundamentally flawed, and not structurally aligned with the intent of either the highway or aviation trust funds,” said NBAA COO Steve Brown. “With the facts from this report now in hand, our hope is that Congress will correct this issue in a future transportation bill that properly routes all turbine fuel excise tax revenues to the aviation trust fund.”

The GAO in August released a report estimating that the aviation trust fund has lost between $1 billion and $2 billion “or more” in tax revenues as a result of the decade-old fuel fraud law.

The report found that less than half of noncommercial jet fuel tax receipts are getting deposited into the aviation trust fund, and aviation fuel vendors have overpaid by as much as $230 million in fuel taxes as a result of the fuel fraud law.

Enacted as part of the 2005 highway bill, the fuel fraud law was designed to discourage truck drivers from purchasing aviation jet fuel to avoid paying the 2.5-cent-per-gallon higher tax levy on highway diesel fuel. The law requires noncommercial jet fuel to be treated as highway diesel fuel—taxed at the same rate and deposited into the highway

trust fund until approved aviation vendors demonstrate that the fuel was used for aviation purposes and seek refunds.

Congress directed the GAO study after industry leaders raised concerns about the losses in aviation revenues, harm to small businesses and cumbersome requirements.

The GAO’s report traced the history of the fuel fraud measure, noting fears that truck drivers were using various means to avoid billions in highway diesel fuel taxes and pointing to activity where six individuals pled guilty to illegally blending jet fuel with diesel fuel.

But the GAO questioned the extent of the problem, noting that “reported instances of jet fuel diversion for non-aviation purposes are rare, and economic and technological disincentives may further discourage such activity.”

Jet-A Costs More

The IRS has cited some instances of jet fuel tax diversion, but had no documentation of instances that occurred before the enactment of the fuel fraud law.

Further, over the past decade, the average price of jet fuel was $2 per gallon more than the cost of highway diesel fuel, the GAO said, providing economic disincentive for such diversion. The watchdog agency also reported that new emission standards have evolved diesel engines to the point that the higher-sulfurcontent jet fuel could damage the emission-reducing technologies.

Aside from the underlying justification of the rule, GAO found that many vendors that

A rule that the U.S. Government Accountability Office says has cost the Aviation Trust Fund billions in misplaced revenue has been in place for a decade. Apparently, the tax law was meant to prevent truckers from avoiding a 2.5-cent tax on diesel fuel by using jet-A. This is despite the fact that, even if a trucker could get it, aviation jet fuel typically costs $2 more per gallon than diesel truck fuel.

are authorized to seek the tax refunds aren’t filing for them.

While the GAO does not have an exact accounting of the total number of approved fuel vendors (“ultimate” vendors), the agency’s analysis indicates that only about a quarter of those vendors filed a claim for a refund in Fiscal Year 2015. Filing for refunds is voluntary.

Industry stakeholders pointed to numerous reasons for the dearth of refund claims, including the challenging process for vendors to register for authorization. Also, for many vendors the refund of 2.5 cents per gallon is not enough to go through the hassle of seeking a refund.

Stakeholders also noted that documentation required to prove fuel was used for aviation purposes may be difficult to obtain. The net result is the funds are remaining in the highway trust fund.

GARMIN LAUNCHES $200 MILLION FACILITY EXPANSION Garmin International (Booth 1900) is expanding its Olathe, Kan., headquarters in two phases as part of its master plan. The first phase will take two years and includes building a new 720,000-sq-ft manufacturing and distribution center dedicated primarily to manufacturing aviation products. The second phase will also take two years and is scheduled for completion in late 2020. It involves renovating an existing Garmin warehouse and manufacturing space into a research-anddevelopment facility and office space.

The expansion project includes amenities such as a fitness center, cafeteria, athletic fields and a twomile outdoor walking trail “to promote fitness and interaction among employees,” according to the company. The 96-acre Garmin campus will expand

to 2.1 million sq ft of space that can house an additional 2,600 employees. Garmin employs 11,400 people worldwide, including 2,800 at the Olathe campus and another 600 elsewhere in the Kansas City, Mo. , area.

“This is a significant investment in our associates and our company’s future,” said Garmin CEO Cliff Pemble.

“Our vision is to be an enduring company that is a leader in all markets that it serves. To accomplish this, we need a world-class facility that can attract and retain the highest level of talent. We believe we are poised for growth in many areas of our business, so this next phase of development is essential to Garmin’s success, and it signals our commitment to our customers, associates, shareholders, and community.”

—M.T.

26 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), who spearheaded the congressional directive for the GAO study, reacted to its results by saying Congress must fix the problem it created by the fuel fraud measure. “This GAO report not only confirms that the fuel fraud provision is deeply flawed and misguided; it demonstrates that the impact on general aviation is far worse than we originally thought,” he said.

“This policy serves no practical purpose in the real world and has accomplished nothing short of robbing the aviation industry of billions of dollars over the past decade.”

“The report quantifies the dramatic impact of this revenue diversion that is undermining the viability of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund,” agreed Andrew Priester, chairman of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), which has long urged Congress to overturn the 2005 fuel fraud law. Priester added that the amounts lost to the trust fund are “simply staggering” and said, “Consider how many new runways, instrument approaches or additional air traffic control towers could have been built had this money been available for its intended purpose.”

NATA officials also noted that the report questions the rationale behind the tax law and whether it serves any purpose in the future. “The GAO report lays bare the fact there was never much utility to the provision,” said NATA executive

v-p William Deere. “In 2005, the policy change was justified by a belief the 2.5-cent-per-gallon difference between the highwaydiesel and jet-fuel tax rates somehow incented truckers to use jet fuel. This ignores the fact that in 2005 the average price of highway diesel was $1.30 less [per gallon] than jet fuel. Today, the disparity between those prices is even greater.”

Deere added that the FAA “presciently predicted” that the measure would create a burden and harm the trust fund. The FAA wrote the Internal Revenue Service in late 2005 that “the solution to [the highway diesel fuel tax] problem should not harm legitimate aviation users in a fragile industry or create significant administrative burden.” The FAA had asked the IRS to set aside the rule until the affected industries could hammer out a workable rule, but that request was unheeded.

The report provides industry advocates with the necessary background to seek the overturn of the fuel fraud law. However, they still face an uphill battle in convincing lawmakers to make a change, since the law is creating a windfall for the cash-strapped highway trust fund. o

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Embraer opens in-house seat factory

by Mark Huber Embraer opened its new 50,000sq-ft aircraft seating plant in Titusville, Fla., on September 19. Embraer Aero Seating Technologies (Booth 4455) will focus on the manufacture of

seating for the company’s line of Phenom executive jets and its first-class seats for its new E-190E2 commercial airliners.

The plant is expected to create 150 new jobs by 2020. Embraer

has spent more than $150 million on capital investment in Florida’s space coast since 2008 and already employs more than 1,000 throughout Florida, most at its Melbourne complex, where

28 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

it assembles Phenom 100s and 300s and Legacy 450s and 500s and maintains design, engineering and customer centers.

“Having spent nearly 50 years designing and developing aircraft for various markets, Embraer recognizes the distinct importance of the aircraft seat, the ultimate customer touch point.

It needs to perform accordingly.

That’s why we made the strategic decision to bring this expertise in-house,” said Embraer’s new CEO Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva. De Souza e Silva assumed the top job at Embraer in July after more than 32 years at the company, most recently as president of its commercial aviation division. He told AIN that the company is considering insourcing more of its business jet interior components. The company is investing in vertical integration, he said. “It’s a good tool to become more efficient and give our clients more quality at the right cost,” he said.

In 2011 Embraer initially acquired a minority stake in Irwindale, Calif.-based Aero Seating Technologies (AST) and bought the company outright last year. AST will continue to operate its facility in Irwindale and, at least for the time being, will continue to perform all dynamic seat testing and qualifications, an Embraer spokesman said.

De Souza e Silva said that initially, at least, the Titusville plant will produce seats strictly for Embraer and not for third-party customers. “In the future, I don’t know, but not now,” he said.

Jay Beever, vice president, interior design, Embraer Executive Jets, said one of the main advantages of bringing seating in house is the ability to achieve a superior level of craftsmanship, fit and finish. “Comfort can be felt through foam. But ergonomics is based on the airplane adapting to the human.” Beever and his team will work with the seating engineers. He also oversees industrial engineers and customer support designers who together take seat concepts from sketch, to engineering model, to rendering, to prototype using advanced techniques including 3-D printing. Using 3-D printing allows Embraer to fit check the prototype parts.

Beever’s industrial design team recently completed a modified Phenom 100 seat for the ACE (Aircraft Customization

by Embraer) program. ACE provides retrofit bespoke motorsport-themed interiors for used Phenoms. Embraer used industrial design to trim five pounds from each seat by converting to composite arms, exposing sections of seat structure and the seat back, and by fastening the face of the chair to the back like a purse, eliminating brackets.

Beever, who spent 15 years in automotive design, said his inspiration for the new Phenom seat was the Singer Porsche 911 conversion, a pricey makeover that lightens the classic German sports car by 450 pounds. o

Bohlke earns Part 145 status

by Curt Epstein St. Croix-based full-service FBO Bohlke International Airways has received FAA Part 145 certification for its repair station, the company announced. The familyowned company, which was established in 1959, also operates a charter fleet.

“The reason why we decided to go this avenue is just that there is a need, and as our fleet has grown, there is just more of a need to have this in the islands,” said company president Billy Bohlke. “I think it’s just baby steps first and then we can grow into ourselves over time. The next step will be avionics.”

Bohlke (Booth 4600) is now the first in the region to offer maintenance on the Astra series, Cessna 400 series and Citation II. Additional service offerings include the Astra SPX, Gulfstream G100, King Air 200 series and hot section maintenance on the ubiquitous Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A. “The PT-6 is

everywhere in the islands,” said Bohlke.

This marks the establishment of a qualified maintenance presence at the most southern and eastern part of the U.S., offering convenient access to aircraft transiting between the mainland U.S. and South America. “This Part 145 repair station can save airplane owners and pilots from flying another 900-plus miles to Florida,” noted Bohlke. “We are proud to open this maintenance facility after many years of working towards this goal.”

The facility’s experienced repair staff, which performs all the standby maintenance for the airlines frequenting the island, includes a recipient of the FAA’s prestigious Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award. It also provides AOG service, with outcalls to other islands.

The company looks to possibly leverage its new certification into a deal with fractional operators such as NetJets and

SAFE FLIGHT AUTOTHROTTLE IS STANDARD ON LEGACY 650E Safe Flight’s AutoPower Automatic Throttle System (ATS) will be standard equipment on Embraer’s new Legacy 650E large-cabin jet. The system is a full-regime automatic throttle that provides automatic thrust schedule settings as well as IAS/Mach speed control from takeoff through landing phases of flight.

The ATS is integrated with Honeywell’s Primus Elite avionics suite, decreasing pilot workload and improving situational awareness. The system will be covered by international certification through Embraer, which will install the equipment at its factory, as well as being available for retrofit. Initial production deliveries and entry into service is expected by the end of 2017.

“We are delighted by Embraer’s decision to make the AutoPower System standard on the Legacy 650E,” said Safe Flight executive vice president Matthew Greene. “Our AutoPower System will further enhance the performance and comfort of this already very capable aircraft.”

—C.A.

Having just achieved Part 145 credentials for its maintenance shop, St. Croix-based Bohlke International Airways is taking “baby steps” toward supporting its growing fleet.

Flexjet as their preferred maintenance provider in the region.

As a U.S. territory, another benefit to Bohlke’s St. Croix location is its ability to receive spare or replacement

parts overnight from the U.S., without delays caused by customs and taxation as encountered on some of the other foreign-owned islands, according to company CEO William Bohlke Jr. o

Extant Aerospace announces two new license agreements

by Jennifer Leach English After-market avionics supplier Extant Aerospace announced on Tuesday at NBAA 2016 that it has completed three new licensing agreements with GE Aviation (Booth 2270). The products— which include AC motors, flight data and cockpit voice recorders, inverters, temperature sensors and controls to power supplies—are installed on various platforms and aircraft, including Falcons, Hawkers, Gulfstreams, King Airs and Learjets. Per the terms of the agreement, Extant will be responsible for all continuing forward-fit

and aftermarket manufacturing, as well as repair and spares support.

Extant also announced that it has added a product transition center to its Melbourne, Fla., headquarters to help integrate newly licensed or acquired products from OEMs. The center is equipped to facilitate first-article build, test and inspection in accordance with all requirements, and the new transition center will also allow review of all technical data, specifications and potential obsolescence issues before the aircraft is worked on. o

Wyvern’s drone-audit unit expands with a pair of deals DAVID McINTOSH

by James Wynbrandt

LONG-SERVING ROLLS-ROYCE VETERANS TAKE A BOW Engine maker Rolls-Royce takes pride in the commitment of its many long-serving employees. Two of them are marking significant anniversaries at the 2016 NBAA show.

Peter Ballard (left), a sales executive handling aftermarket services for Gulfstream customers from the airframer’s Savannah, Ga., headquarters, is about to retire after 15 years on the clock. Business aviation commercial manager Michelle Burrell Sherman is described by colleagues as “the backbone” of the CorporateCare power-by-the-hour customer support program. She is marking 25 years with Rolls-Royce at its Reston, Va., facility and, according to sales and marketing vice president Steve Friedrich, “We’re expecting another 25 years from her.”

—C.A.

30 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

Aviation safety auditing company Wyvern (Booth 4632) announced a pair of contracts for its Exact drone operation audits this week. Pennsylvania-based Wyvern has partnered with Acend, a technology platform that provides pay-as-yougo insurance to drone operators. Under a separate agreement, Wyvern will conduct an Exact safety audit for drone operator Cinematic Aerospace of New York.

Wyvern will provide its Exact safety risk assessment to help Acend’s clients increase safety and reduce their insurance costs. Acend CEO Steve Rabbitt called the new partnership “a true win-win. Our customers will benefit from a discounted rate for Wyvern’s Exact safety quality and

risk management program, and Wyvern’s customers, in turn, will receive preferential insurance rates in exchange for their demonstrated commitment to safety.”

Meanwhile, Cinematic Aerospace president Christian Tucci said his company pursued the Exact audit at the suggestion of its client Walt Disney. “I have always put safety first in our aerial cinematography business,” said Tucci. “Measuring our organization against industry best practices in safety, quality and risk management will only make us better as an organization.”

Wyvern CEO Art Dawley called Cinematic Aerospace “exactly the type of customer we had in mind when we developed Exact.” o

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NBAA gives $100k in scholarships business aviation is all about.”

The awards are solicited and funded by NBAA members and their companies and include the Eddie Queen Business Aviation Management Scholarship, the Lawrence Ginocchio Aviation Scholarship, the William M. Fanning Maintenance Scholarship, the Alan H. Conklin and Bill de Decker Business Aviation Management Scholarship and the UAA Janice K. Barden Aviation Scholarship.

Recipients included: Destry Jacobs, Arizona State; Steven Anderson, Oklahoma State; David Looney, University of North Texas; Shane Martin, Arizona State; Francisco Felipe Pastrana, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Bradley Smith, Southern

Illinois University; Benjamin Cohen, Greenville Technical College; Joseph Schimnich, Northland Community and Technical College; Leonia Hunt, Florida Institute of Technology; Walker Goodman, California Baptist University; Alex Hunt, University of North Dakota; Anni Luong, EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University; Kyle Neisius, University of Dubuque; and Lyons Wells, Westminster College.

NBAA Charities offers scholarships that total $100,000 per year. Deadlines for next year’s applications are approaching at the end of this month.

If you know a deserving candidate, point them to NBAA’s Tyler Austin at (202) 783-9267 or scholarships@nbaa.org. o

MENTE GROUP BEEFS UP MANAGEMENT TEAM International aviation advisory firm Mente Group has reinforced its management team, bringing on board four seasoned business aviation executives. The Dallas-based company (static display) has named Richard Emery as COO; David Coppock as managing director for the Central and Western U.S.; Jim Lewis as v-p of sales and marketing for Northern California, the Pacific Northwest and Mountain regions; and Dan Dunn as managing director.

Emery, who joined Mente earlier this year, is steering business development, company strategy and international expansion. He has 25 years of experience managing aviation organizations and a background in domestic and international sales and operations. Emery previously worked at Gulfstream, Bombardier and Hawker Beechcraft. While at Hawker Beechcraft, he helped lead the international organization through the restructuring of the company.

Coppock joins Mente from SmartTray, where he was COO. A 25-year aviation industry veteran, he also has served as v-p of sales for Hawker Beechcraft, regional sales director for Gulfstream and as a sales demonstration pilot for Bombardier.

Lewis brings 40 years of aviation experience to his new role, including 20 years in operations and 20 years in sales. He previously served as regional sales director at Embraer and before that was sales director for Gulfstream.

Dunn, who leads the sales team in the eastern half of North America, previously was a v-p at Jetcraft and v-p at Key Air. —K.L.

Conklin & de Decker announces scholarship winner

by Jennifer Leach English Conklin & de Decker (Booth 4219) has revealed the winner of its ninth annual aviation management scholarship. Leonia Hunt, a sophomore at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), was awarded the $5,000 Al Conklin and Bill de Decker Business Aviation Management Scholarship, given annually to an undergraduate student enrolled at a University Aviation Association (UAA) member school.

Additionally, Conklin & de Decker gave an outline of its 2017 seminar schedule and announced the latest updates to its data software. The aviation research and consulting company will be offering several seminars next year, with topics

ranging from aircraft costs and taxes to acquisition planning.

The company has also outlined recent updates to many of its data services, including v16.2 of its flagship Aircraft Cost Evaluator (ACE). The latest ACE software allows access to ACE online, where users can compare up to six aircraft, with updated fuel costs, maintenance, parts and labor costs and all the data necessary for SEC reporting. Users can receive a comparison report in a PDF file.

Recent updates have also been made to Conklin’s MxManager software, which helps with aircraft tracking, inventory management and work order activity. o

34 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

JET PROFESSIONALS BRINGS OLYMPIANS TO NBAA 2016 Business aviation staffing specialist Jet Professionals is displaying at this year’s NBAA show in Olympic style. Jet Professionals is hosting U.S. table tennis Olympians and national champions Lily Zhang and Timothy Wang at its booth (677) during this week’s NBAA Convention.

The Olympians will demonstrate their skills, offer lessons and offer to play against visitors in “Challenge the U.S. Olympian” opportunities.

“We are pleased to host U.S. table tennis Olympians Lily Zhang and Timothy Wang at our booth during the NBAA show,” said George Kythreotis, saying their appearance provides an opportunity “to show our customers how important they are to us.”

—K.L.

API marks 45th year in bizav, honors founder Janice Barden Sheryl Barden, preshad the idea to start the ident and CEO of career day at NBAA’s San Francisco-based convention more than 20 Aviation Personnel years ago. She called Shell International (API), is Oil to sponsor lunches proud to be celebrating for the students and con45 years of her compavinced NBAA that havny’s history at NBAA ing them come into the 2016. Barden, daughexhibit hall and putting ter of company founder on a panel for them would Janice Barden, presented be good for the organizaa leadership-focused tion. She was a trailblazer, panel in the Innovation and she really loved Zone Tuesday on the this industry,” she said. convention floor.

“Today, NBAA funds “We [talked] about the Janice K. Barden how a bad hire can truly Scholarship, which has undermine an organiza- Sheryl Barden, CEO and president been enhanced this year tion. The cost is expo- of Aviation Personnel International, with dozens of additional nential, if you think the longest-running woman-owned donor contributions in my about it,” Barden told business aviation recruitment firm, mom’s memory, after her AIN. The panelists dis- presented a leadership focused passing July 31.” NBAA in the “Innovation Zone” at cussed the “what’s in it panel Charities annually awards NBAA 2016 on Tuesday. for me” culture and what a minimum of $1,000 to organizations can do to help them retain each of five undergraduates studying avithese employees. ation-related curricula at NBAA and “We recently put out a survey to man- University Aviation Association (UAA) agers in business aviation, and the results member institutions. were intriguing,” said Barden. “We found As for Sheryl Barden, she’s happy to that there are a few key things managers have her team surrounding her and procan do to enhance employee retention, viding support on numerous levels at this including giving them a voice in the hir- year’s NBAA show. An NBAA Associate ing process, developing employees pro- Member Advisory Council (AMAC) fessionally through internal and external member, she and her staff are on-hand certifications and courses, adjusting com- to answer questions during the show at pensation, obtaining appropriate staffing the NBAA Bistro (Booth 291). “It is great during organizational surges and helping to see what NBAA president and CEO them with life balance,” she continued.

Ed Bolen and his senior staff are doing— Barden also spoke to AIN about this they are really listening to NBAA memyear’s NBAA Career Day which is today. bers and taking what they hear to Capitol “It was my mom, Janice Barden, who Hill,” she said.

—A.L. DAVID McINTOSH

NBAA is about networking and enrichment, but it is also about the future. At this year’s convention in Orlando, NBAA Charities awarded five different categories of scholarships to 14 deserving young men and women to further their studies in aviation and aerospace management, logistics and administration. This year’s crop of scholarship recipients include students studying air traffic control, aviation maintenance, engineering, flight and management.

“It’s rewarding to see where these professionals have started and where they are today,” said NBAA director of professional development Jay Evans, who coordinates the scholarships. “Helping one another in this industry is what a career in

MARIANO ROSALES

by Amy Laboda

NEWS CLIPS

MATT THURBER

Robinson has delivered the first pair of R44 Cadet helicopters to a U.S. customer. The two rotorcraft are IFR equipped and have air conditioning.

Robinson delivers first U.S. Cadets

by Mark Huber Robinson Helicopter (indoor static) delivered its first two R44 Cadets to a U.S. customer earlier this month, Garland, Texasbased Sky Helicopters. The Part 141 flight school and Robinson dealer took delivery of two IFRequipped Cadets that included fully integrated glass cockpits with the Garmin G500H system, GTN 750 GPS/com navigator, GTX 345 transponder with ADS-B out/in, Bluetooth, the Genesys Aerosystems HeliSAS autopilot, Spidertracks real-time tracking and air conditioning.

Robinson announced the Cadet earlier this year and has previously delivered models to customers in Australia. The twoseat Cadet features increased performance margins, a 2,400hour TBO and a base price of $339,000 or $367,000 with floats.

The Garmin G500H avionics

Shell Aviation recently selected Kadex Aero Supply (Booth 1616) as an authorized AeroShell distributor. Kadex, which has been distributing aviation products for more than 22 years, will offer the entire AeroShell product line, including lubricants, greases and fluids.

“AeroShell is a staple in the piston engine world, having a loyal following, and we like to work with companies like Shell Aviation that have a strong history and passion in aviation,” said Kadex Aero Supply marketing manager Jordan Lavery.

“Shell is invested in innovation offering a wide range of AeroShell products that will not only lower cost of ownership to customers, but also increase the life of their aircraft.”

Shell Aviation provides fuel for almost two million aircraft each year, it said. AeroShell offers a range of fluids for hydraulic mechanisms, oils for engines and greases for airframe and gearing mechanisms. Meanwhile, Kadex offers repair and overhaul management, tool sales, maintenance and technical support, as well as consignment material services and AOG services.

z Global Jet Capital Names Vick CEO system is a new option on R44s, including the Cadet. Previously available only on the R66 Turbine, the G500H system is a combination primary flight display and multifunction display, which provides flight instrumentation and moving map navigation on dual screens. The G500H system screens are centered in a newly designed instrument panel that also includes traditional instruments. A Garmin GTN 650 or 750 touchscreen navigator is required with the G500H and sits just below the displays within easy reach of either pilot seat. The list price for the G500H system is $35,700, not including the required GTN navigator.

Meanwhile, the FAA recently approved Garmin’s $3,900 GTX 335 and 345 Mode S transponders for use in Robinson R22, R44 and R66 models to satisfy

ADS-B out regulations without requiring a standalone GPS; the $6,300 GTX 345 adds ADS-B in and Bluetooth capability. Garmin’s GMA 350H audio panel has been replaced with the new $2,750 Garmin GMA 350Hc. The latter adds Bluetooth wireless connectivity for mobile and compatible portable devices, allowing wireless distribution of music or telephone audio through the aircraft’s audio panel.

Robinson delivered R44 Raven II S/N 14000 on July 29, 2016, bringing the total Raven II fleet to 4,000 and the total R44 fleet to 6,440. Since its introduction in 2002, the fuel-injected Raven II has been Robinson’s best seller with an average annual production rate of 280.

Currently, Raven IIs operate in more than 60 countries. o

Fivefold boost in connection rates promised via new ViaSat terminal

by Charles Alcock Inflight connectivity provider ViaSat announced a new advanced compact terminal that it says will deliver connection speeds that are five times faster than most current satcom services, along with competitive pricing plans. The Ka-band Global Aero Terminal 5510, announced this week at NBAA 2016, includes ViaSat’s mobile airborne antenna, an integrated modem and an advanced power supply. It will be available from mid-2017, allowing business aircraft operators to have highspeed Internet access of up to 16

z Kadex Named as AeroShell Distributor

Mbps across the U.S., transAtlantic and European air routes.

According to the Californiabased company, the performance of the new terminal has been built on more than eight years experience of providing Ka-band and Ku-band connections, and the fourth-generation antenna can connect to the most powerful available satellites. The compact antenna only requires a single slot in an aircraft radome, compared with the usual two. The system has been designed to work with the current ViaSat-1 class satellites, as

well as with the pending ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 platforms.

ViaSat data plans offer up between 30 and 100 GB per month. The monthly cost of the Ultra30, Ultra40, Ultra60 and Ultra100 plans range in price from $6,995 to $24,995.

Early customers will begin receiving the first of the new shipsets in the second quarter of next year. Data plans, which will be available through ViaSat’s Ka-band resellers, will be available from the middle of next year, with introductory pricing on offer through 2018. o

Global Jet Capital (Booth 2253) has named industry veteran Shawn Vick, formerly executive director and chairman of the executive committee, to CEO of the two-year-old aircraft finance company. He has overseen the company’s growth and establishment as a globally-recognized player in the international business aircraft finance arena since its inception in 2014, and helped attract a team of 65 experienced professionals who have since underwritten several hundred million dollars in new transactions as a non-traditional financial solutions provider.

A partner at AE Industrial Partners and one of the company’s investors, Vick previously held senior leadership positions at Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier Aerospace, British Aerospace, Hawker Beechcraft and Landmark Aviation.

z FlyRight Expands N.C. Facility Flight simulator training provider FlyRight opened a new training facility at North Carolina’s Concord Regional Airport last month. Located across the street from the company’s original location, the new 42,000-sq-ft facility offers classrooms, client break areas and a high bay that can accommodate up to seven full-motion simulators.

According to the company (Booth 4626), the additional space will allow it to improve its current King Air training programs and expand its training to more aircraft platforms.

“We’ve listened to our customers, and we sense an increase in the demand and diversification of our services,” said Mike Hapgood, president of the FAA-certified Part 142 training center. “With that said, we plan to manage our growth while strategically adding equipment to our simulator fleet.”

Among the new additions is a level-D simulator for the Cessna Caravan. Manufactured by NLX/Rockwell Collins, the device is scheduled for FAA approval this month. FlyRight will offer initial, recurrent, custom training and simulator lease options for the Caravan.

z Trine Aero Expands Options Trine Aero (Booth 3763), a Colorado Springs-based provider of aviation and aerospace products and services, has added authorized Rockwell Collins and Universal Avionics dealership statuses to its capabilities. “Adding new dealerships means more support to our in-house capabilities, which is a positive change for customers,” said Sean Schafer, director of avionics for the company. “The agreement with Universal Avionics, in particular, allows us to utilize our on-site engineering team,” he continued.

Trine Aero’s services include major alteration and major repair design, avionics installation and repair, parts fabrication, analysis and FAA-DER engineering approvals.

www.ainonline.com • November 3, 2016 • NBAA Convention News 35

Zetta Jet, Jet Aviation sign support agreement

by Jennifer Leach English

With 800+ TBMs delivered to date, Daher now enhancing other services

by Mark Huber New Daher TBM single-engine turboprops are now available with the Elite flexible quickchange combi interior, the Elite Privacy modular lavatory option and soon a new quick-change air ambulance version. The latter is designed to take advantage of regulatory changes in Europe permitting single-engine charter operations. Daher’s TBM program continues to be strong, with more than 800 delivered to date; of those 145 are newer-generation TBM 900s and 930s.

Meanwhile, a new TBM 930 flight training device (FTD) is scheduled for installation at Simcom’s Lee Vista Training Center in Orlando, Fla. The

FTD is being built by Frasca International.

Daher also announced that it has opened a new aerostructures sales office in Savannah, Ga., to support that growing part of the company’s business. The office will also support sourcing and procurement, as well as engineering. The company’s aerostructures, systems and services sales increased 9.8 percent in 2015.

The company not only produces metal and composite aerostructures and systems for its TBM line of turboprops, but also for a diverse assortment of other aircraft and engines. This includes the Airbus A320, A330, A350 XWB, A380 and A400M; Airbus

NEXUS PLANS GENERAL AVIATION TRAINING ACADEMY IN CHINA Flight operations support group Nexus will open a general aviation training academy and flight school at Chengdu in southwestern China through a new partnership with local commercial property developer Sichuan Gang Tai General Aviation. Under a memorandum of understanding signed on October 20, the partners will also explore ways to pursue the growth of unmanned air systems in China. From Nexus’s Asia flight operations center in the Philippines, it will provide ad hoc support for business aviation operations at various Chinese airports.

The new training facility will be part of the Nexus Aviation Academy network and, initially from 2017, will focus mainly on topics such as flight dispatch and English language proficiency.

Eventually, the academy will provide flight training for the commercial pilot certificate, along with instrument and multi-engine ratings.

Nexus, which is based in Saudi Arabia, has offices in the Philippines, Rwanda, India, Monaco and the U.S. It also owns safety audit specialist Wyvern Consulting (Booth 4632).

—C.A.

Helicopters H125, H130, Super Puma, NH90 and Tiger; ATR 42 and 72; Boeing 777; Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900 and CRJ1000; CFM International LEAP 1B; Dassault Falcon 900, 2000, 5X, 7X and 8X; Embraer Legacy 400/500 and E170/190; and Gulfstream G500/600.

The aerostructures office is one of several strategic moves the company has made recently.

Earlier this year, Daher completed integration of floor-covering subsidiary Lisi Group. The Lisi acquisition is designed to help position Daher to become a player in aircraft cabin integration in support of major aircraft OEMs. o

L-R: Jet Aviation senior v-p MRO and FBO EMEA and Asia Stefan Benz, Zetta Jet managing director Geoffrey Cassidy, Jet Aviation president Robert Smith and Zetta Jet director of maintenance Joe Ponce sign the agreement at NBAA 2016.

Signature recasts UK chain under its TechnicAir brand

by Curt Epstein CSE Citation Centre, Signature Flight Support’s UK MRO division, will be rebranded as part of the BBA Aviation’s Signature TechnicAir network starting next year. Though Signature had owned the chain, which has facilities at Bournemouth and Luton, since 2000, its recent acquisition of Landmark Aviation added 11 locations to the TechnicAir network, which now totals 18 facilities. True to its name, CSE Citation Centre has been a Cessna-authorized Citation center for nearly three decades, specializing almost exclusively in Citations.

“We expect the brand change to further enhance the world-class service that our customers have known us for, and introduce the Signature TechnicAir brand to the

36 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

services from four MRO hubs in Basel, Switzerland, Dubai, Singapore and St. Louis, Mo., Jet Aviation currently manages 20 FBO facilities around the globe and has partnership agreements with several more.

“We appreciate and share Zetta Jet’s commitment to the highest industry standards and look forward to supporting their fleet throughout our network,” said Stefan Benz, Jet Aviation senior vice president and general manager for MROs and FBOs in EMEA and Asia.

Zetta Jet made news earlier in the show when it added four Challenger 650s, worth an estimated $129.4 million, to its allBombardier fleet. o

MARIANO ROSALES

The TBM series has a solid grasp on its target market. Daher is now branching out, for example, expanding its aerostructures unit with a sales office in Savannah, Ga.

Zetta Jet inked maintenance and service agreements with Jet Aviation (Booth 265) on Tuesday at NBAA 2016. Jet Aviation has been appointed to provide MRO and FBO services for the charter company’s growing fleet of 20 business aircraft based across the Pacific Rim and in Southern California. Geoffery Cassidy, managing director of Zetta Jet, believes Jet Aviation is a good fit because it understands the specific needs of his company and clients.

“Jet Aviation has an excellent reputation for customer orientation and service excellence, and their scope and scale of service offerings is second to none,” he said.

In addition to providing large-cabin maintenance

UK and EMEA,” said CSE Citation Centre managing director Phillip Lammiman. “Additionally, cost benefits from the low British pound make maintenance more attractive to complete in the UK.” Lammiman noted that customers will also receive benefits from the colocated Signature FBOs, such as free crew transfers, waived handling fees for larger products, discounted landing fees and complimentary aircraft detailing.

Signature’s maintenance arm (Booth 2619) has also partnered with avionics manufacturer FreeFlight Systems on ADS-B Free, a new option for simple and cost-effective ADS-B compliance aimed at light jets and turboprops. Initially available to nonRVSM aircraft without TCAS II, the

modification replaces existing transponders with a lightweight worldwide compliant dual ADS-B-approved transponder that is easy to install.

Among its features are DO-260Bcompliant 1090-MHz Mode S extended squitter transponders with an integrated control head that provides ADS-B integrity monitoring and alerts. It also has an ADS-B in receiver to provide FIS-B weather information and TIS-B traffic data, as well as a standalone WAAS/GPS for ADS-B out position reporting.

“Very few operators have pursued ADS-B solutions, and there is a massive wave of installations that will be needed to meet the mandate deadline,” said Bill Thompson, TechnicAir avionics sales and development. “We are very excited to answer the call by offering a solution our customers can afford to adopt today. In doing so, they support the NextGen movement and the importance of the precision, efficiency and safety for which it stands.” o

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Worldwide bizav accidents decline in first nine months

by Gordon Gilbert The total number of accidents involving turbine business airplanes worldwide fell more than 30 percent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year. According to data compiled by AIN for the first three quarters, business jets and turboprops experienced 38 nonfatal mishaps and 14 fatal crashes (46 deaths) this year versus 57 nonfatal accidents and 19 fatal ones (68 deaths) last year.

Nonfatal accidents involving U.S.registered business jets during this period dropped to six from 15 last year, with Part 91 occurrences falling to five from 12. Accidents in the on-demand Part 135 segment remained at one nonfatal accident for each of the comparable periods.

There was one fatal crash under Part 91 in each of the two periods. Meanwhile, two died in one accident of a non-U.S.registered business jet in the first nine months versus 11 fatalities in two crashes of non-U.S.-registered jets in the same period last year.

The four fatal accidents of U.S.registered business turboprops in the first nine months were half the number of those last year, with a consequent drop in fatalities to 15 from 25 in the same time last year. Non-U.S.registered turboprops showed slight improvement in fatal accidents—27 people died in eight crashes this year, while 28 died in the same number of crashes last year. o

Accidents/Incidents Worldwide First Nine Months (2016 vs. 2015) U.S.-registered Business Jet and Turboprop Accidents/Incidents Worldwide Business jets Nonfatal accidents

Total Part 91 Part 91K Part 135 Public/Gov’t Mfr. 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 6 15 5 12 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0

Fatal accidents

1

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Total accidents

7

16

6

13

0

1

1

1

0

1

0

0

Fatalities

2

4

2

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Incidents

17

31

11

28

4

1

2

1

0

0

0

1

Total Part 91 Part 91K Part 135 Public/Gov’t Mfr. 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015

Business turboprops Nonfatal accidents

21

23

17

19

0

0

4

4

0

0

0

0

Fatal accidents

4

8

2

7

0

0

1

1

1

0

0

0

Total accidents

25

31

19

26

0

0

5

5

1

0

0

0

Fatalities

15

25

9

16

0

0

4

9

2

0

0

0

Incidents

29

25

25

21

0

0

4

4

0

0

0

0

All data preliminary. Sources: FAA, NTSB, Aviation Safety Network, AIN research

Involving Non-U.S.-registered Business Jets/Turboprops Business jets Nonfatal accidents

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Total Private 2016 2015 2016 2015 1 8 1 4

Charter 2016 2015 0 2

Other* Unknown 2016 2015 2016 2015 0 1 0 1

Fatal accidents

1

2

1

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

Total accidents

2

10

2

5

0

2

0

2

0

1

Fatalities

2

11

2

4

0

0

0

7

0

0

Incidents

14

7

9

4

2

1

3

2

0

0

Business turboprops

Total

Private

2016 2015 2016

Charter

Other*

Unknown

2015

2016

2015

2016

Nonfatal accidents

10

11

4

5

4

2

2

2015 2016 3

0

2015 1

Fatal accidents

8

8

3

4

4

1

1

3

0

0

Total accidents

18

19

7

9

8

3

3

6

0

1

Fatalities

27

28

11

13

10

1

6

14

0

0

Incidents

7

8

3

5

1

2

3

0

0

1

*For example: air ambulance, aerial survey, ferry, training, testing, government (non-military) and head of state.

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3 10/19/16 8:14 AM 38BE-NBAA16-Dailies.indd NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

AIN tables show “incidents” as well as “accidents” to distinguish mishaps based on their degree of severity. Investigators often draw fine distinctions between the two events, but, typically, incidents result in minor or no damage and their investigations are sometimes delegated to local officials.

Accidents are events that range from minor damage to destruction and/or injuries. Also, some incidents ultimately get upgraded to accident status during the investigative process. n

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For more information, see the G5000-equipped Beechjet at NBAA Static Display 20, or contact Dave Brown, Integrated Flight Deck Retrofit Programs Sales Manager at Dave.Brown@Garmin.com or 913-440-1714.

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Hot-Stop L safety kits cool lithium-ion concern

by Bill Carey Baker Aviation (Booth 1724) has announced the availability of new fire-containment kits

for lithium-ion battery powered devices. The company is also supplying a military service with a new

drone battery containment kit.

An aircraft maintenance, management and charter company based in Addison, Texas, Baker Aviation is a master distributor of the Hot-Stop L firecontainment kits manufactured

by Industrial Energy Products (IEP) of Mount Joy, Pa. The kits safely contain fires, explosions and smoke emissions from

lithium-ion battery powered devices without the aid of a water supply. (Hot-Stop products do allow for the use of water when necessary; for additional containment, for example, for airlines and other operators complying with FAA safety guidance.)

Recently, Baker Aviation introduced the Evolution series of Hot-Stop L kits with an added

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40 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

With growing concern about lithium-ion battery fires, combined with wider use of them in portable devices, Baker Aviation offers Hot-Stop L containment kits.

zipper closure designed for the airline industry. The kits minimize the risk of unknown devices being brought on board aircraft, including portable battery packs and e-cigarettes as well as equipment such as defibrillators, and electronic flight bags that are carried inside the cockpit.

“The variety of lithium-ion battery powered devices carried on board airliners today are an unknown threat; therefore, we developed the Evolution bag with a new closure system that has an additional zipper that will contain fire and smoke emissions from a wide range of devices,” said Ray Goyco, Baker Aviation president and COO. “The additional zipper closure will effectively contain excess smoke that might come from items manufactured with more plastic and less metal, the way many consumer electronics are made today.”

The Hot Stop L kits include a pair of heavily insulated 14-inch safety gloves and come in multiple sizes to fit various devices, up to the size of a laptop computer. The bags are made up of multiple durable fabrics with a felt inner core that has a 3,200 deg F melting point, sandwiched between two outer layers that have a 2,080 deg F melting point, and are proven to absorb energy and fire while eliminating the escape of smoke, sparks and flames. The solution has been demonstrated twice in live-fire evaluations at the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., and independently tested by flight departments and airlines.

Baker Aviation and IEP will replace any Hot Stop L bag that has been used to contain a lithium-ion battery thermal runaway for free. The 20- by 20-inch Hot Stop L price is $1,850, which includes the gloves.

Baker Aviation is now providing a newly developed drone battery containment kit for an unidentified military service.

“This is another example of the tailored containment solutions that we provide to the lithium-ion battery powered device market to mitigate risks of runaway fire, smoke and explosion,” said Goyco. o

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ICAO prepares to enact historic carbon strategy

by Bill Carey The assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) approved a carbon offsetting strategy to cap international aviation emissions after 2020 in what was hailed as an historic and momentous action.

Sixty-five nations representing 85 percent of international air traffic have indicated they will participate in the voluntary pilot phase of the global market-based measure (GMBM) scheme the assembly adopted on October 6.

“This is an historic achievement, and it was only possible because of a remarkable willingness on the part of all ICAO member states to come together in the interests of finding a global solution to addressing climate change in this unique international sector,” said ambassador Jennifer Haverkamp, U.S. special representative for environment and water resources. The initial level of voluntary participation “doesn’t just demonstrate enormous support for the measure; it signifies a resolute commitment to address one of the

greatest global challenges of our time,” she added.

The ICAO assembly’s action in Montreal came two days after the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, voted to ratify the Paris climate agreement of December 2015—advancing the agreement beyond the minimum threshold of 55 countries representing 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions it needed to enter force. (The threshold was officially passed on October 5; the agreement enters force on November 4.)

International aviation and shipping were not covered by the Paris accord, but they are considered key to helping accomplish its goal of limiting the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.

Aviation First to the Table

Aviation is the first global industry sector to commit to a carbon-offsetting scheme; the International Maritime Organization is responsible for

With carbon output one of the world’s most contentious areas of debate, ICAO has approved its strategy for dealing with the issue.

the shipping industry. ICAO’s “Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation” is among a number of steps the aviation sector will undertake to achieve “carbon-neutral growth,” or capping carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, after 2020. They include technological improvements to engines and airframes, air traffic management operational efficiencies and the use of alternative fuels.

The GMBM scheme establishes a voluntary “pilot phase”

ICAO Aviation Emissions Scheme Exempts Most Bizav Ops The International Civil Aviation Organization carved out small emitters, which includes most business aircraft operators, and light aircraft as it agreed to a comprehensive global market-based measure (GMBM) to help curb the aviation industry’s carbon dioxide (CO²) footprint worldwide. (See article on this page.)

Importantly for the business aviation community, the Carbon Offset and Reduction System for International Aviation (CORSIA) resolution states that it “does not apply to low levels of international aviation activity with a view to avoiding administrative burden: aircraft operators emitting less than 10,000 metric tons of CO² emissions from international aviation per year; aircraft with less than 5,700 kg [about 12,500 pounds] of maximum takeoff mass (MTOM); or humanitarian, medical and firefighting operations.”

The exemptions remove all but a small number of business aircraft operators, but just 0.24 percent of the total aviation emissions from the CORSIA. Kurt Edwards, director general of the International Business Aviation Council, which worked to secure the exemptions, estimated that a Gulfstream G650 would have to fly 2,000 hours internationally annually between participating states to reach 10,000 metric tons. The number goes up to 2,500 hours for a G550.

NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen called the small emitters exemptions an important and fundamental part of the agreement. Individual countries must implement the programs, which NBAA notes must still take shape.

“The next three years will be important, as countries evaluate compliance with the international carbon-offsetting standard,” Bolen said. “We expect that the FAA, which will lead U.S. efforts, will evaluate the impact of

the agreement before finalizing plans that affect U.S. operators.”

Edwards welcomed the approach for a global standard.

“The worldwide business aviation community welcomes the decision by governments at ICAO to establish a single, global carbon-offsetting scheme for international aviation,” he said. “The framework agreed at ICAO will help us meet our collective industry commitments while also taking into account the needs of small operators. Importantly, the global framework means we will avoid a patchwork of multiple measures around the world.”

Ed Smith, senior v-p of international and environmental affairs at GAMA, added that the phased approach CORSIA takes should help ease in the economic impact on affected operators. He noted that for business aviation, MBMs are only one of the pillars that the community has adopted to lower its carbon footprint.

“With agreement reached earlier this year at ICAO on the first-ever CO² standard for aircraft combined with today’s agreement on CORSIA, the global aviation industry has taken vital steps toward fulfilling its commitment to address climate change while not jeopardizing continued economic growth,” added GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce.

GAMA noted that the business aviation community in 2009 outlined its goals to reduce the industry’s impact on climate change. “Achievement of these goals depends on progress on a basket of measures, including use of alternative fuels and improvements in aircraft technology, air traffic control infrastructure and operational efficiency and implementation of market-based measures as an interim gap-filler,” the association said. –K.L.

42 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

from 2021 through 2023, followed by a voluntary first phase from 2024 through 2026.

The second phase from 2027 through 2035 will be mandatory. Russia and India, which voiced objections during the assembly meeting, are not among the initial participants.

During a conference call with reporters following the ICAO assembly’s vote, Haverkamp and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said they could not provide an estimate of the airline industry’s cost of complying with the scheme, which at this point is a broad approach with implementation details still to be worked out. Haverkamp noted that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and U.S.-based Airlines for America both supported its adoption “with the expectation that they can manage the costs.” Carbon credits under the Paris agreement, which is called the UNFCCC, for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, “will be eligible provided they meet quality criteria set by ICAO,” Haverkamp said.

Environmental groups had mixed reactions to the longanticipated ICAO action. The International Coalition for Sustainable Aviation (ICSA), which represents six organizations, contends the GMBM scheme will cover only about three-quarters of expected aviation emissions growth between 2021 and 2035. (The U.S. government estimates that up to 80 percent of emissions growth will be covered over the 15-year life of the scheme, said Kevin Welsh, National Security Council director for environment and climate change.) Further, nations “sent a worrying signal” in Montreal by

deleting provisions that would align the scheme with the goal of the Paris accord, the coalition said.

“ICAO’s decision to promote carbon offsets for some international flights doesn’t address the core problem,” said Dan Rutherford, aviation program director with the International Council on Clean Transportation, an ICSA coalition member. “In the long run airlines need to decarbonize, not to pay others to do it for them.”

Another coalition member, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), issued a more positive response. “This agreement positions aviation to be an engine for achieving reductions in carbon pollution around the globe, while spurring innovations to reduce the sector’s own emissions,” the EDF stated.

“Coming the day after the Paris Agreement passed the threshold for entry into force, ICAO’s action sends a powerful signal worldwide that governments, airlines and the aviation industry, and civil society together are recognizing the urgency of climate action.”

IATA, in a statement, said the historical significance of the Montreal agreement “cannot be overestimated.” The GMBM scheme “has turned years of preparation into an effective solution for airlines to manage their carbon footprint.” But the association acknowledged the scheme, by itself, “will not lead to a sustainable future for aviation.

Along with this global marketbased measure, the industry will continue to drive its four-pillar strategy on climate change, comprising improvements in technology, operations and infrastructure” complemented by the GMBM scheme. o

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EU ramp inspection program shown as more bark than bite

by Curt Epstein As the EU Ramp Inspection Programme marks its 20th anniversary this year, there are pilots in business aviation who have yet to encounter the EASA-administered program, instituted by the European Civil Aviation Conference, and many go their entire careers without ever experiencing one. Intended as a means of ensuring the safe condition of aircraft operating in the member states, the standardized inspections—triggered by data analyzed through a central database by EASA identifying an aircraft as suspicious—can also be performed as random spot checks.

The program has two parts: SAFA ramp inspections derived from ICAO international standards for non-member country operators, and SACA inspections based on EU standards. In both cases, manufacturers’ standards are considered for evaluating the technical condition of the aircraft. What inspectors are looking for is hardly a secret, as SAFA ramp checklists are readily available on the Internet from organizations such as the Flight Service Bureau, an airline cooperative that shares non-competitive information. “It’s really safety-related in the sense of how they look at the airplane, and if they find something, they get you to fix it,” said Mark Zee, a flight operations specialist with the group. “If they really don’t like what they see, then something along the lines of a ban might take place.”

The 53-item checklist covers crew and aircraft documentation as well as the presence of and condition of various pieces of safety equipment. Typically one inspector will examine the interior of the aircraft and interview the crew, while another will inspect the exterior.

The program has a distinctively commercial aviation focus, with 7,000 commercial aircraft inspections conducted so far this year between the SACA and SAFA programs by the 47 participating states (including non-European nations such as Canada, Israel, Morocco, Singapore, Turkey and the UAE). Four hundred inspections of private and charter aircraft were conducted. “What [regulators] have said unofficially is that if you are a private operator, they are far less interested in what you are doing,” explained Zee. “What

they are really after is a situation where 200 people, or even 20 people on a Gulfstream, have been sold a ticket or are paying for a service and the aircraft that they are on is unsafe.”

Despite the low numbers of inspections performed on private aircraft, the topic nonetheless remains a concern, according to those in the flight-planning industry. “It comes up in all our conversations because [clients] just want to make sure they are compliant,” said Mark Miller, senior manager of technical planning for Universal Weather and Aviation (Booth 2611). “They are concerned about being compliant because you never know when you are going to be inspected; or where.”

You Probably Don’t Fit the Profile

But that level of anxiety might not be warranted, especially for N-registered private aircraft pilots and operators, as inspectors in most cases know specifically which aircraft they are looking for, through profiling.

At the beginning of June, EASA published new guidelines in ARO.ramp.100(b) specifying which categories of aircraft would receive extra scrutiny. “There are a lot of countries that provide registries for tax purposes, and they typically don’t have the inspectors for the country to go over the aircraft and all of the certifications for the aircraft to a degree acceptable by inspectors, so those aircraft might be targeted more than an aircraft registered in the U.S. or France or other European country,” said Miller.

“We’re not really talking about the states or countries that have comfortable maintenance programs,” added Zee. “We’re talking about Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and these guys sending in aircraft that are ‘dodgy,’ for want of a better word. That’s what they are looking at.” Of course, with the centralized database, aircraft that have been previously flagged will continue to raise flags among inspectors, Zee noted. “They are trying to say that if we get a report that your maintenance is shoddy, or you’ve been doing strange things, we’re going to have a look at you.”

For any operator who travels to Europe infrequently, the possibility of a random

Even though European authorities are authorized to perform spot checks on aircraft and crew documentation, the real-world reality is that business aviation operators, who tend to be conscientious about maintenance and record-keeping, have little to fear from Europe’s now-20-year-old inspection program.

spot check, while remote, does exist, and Zee recommends becoming familiar with the checklist and up to date on what questions are being asked. “First they will ask you for your pilot certificate, medical, logbook, insurance and registration,” he told AIN. “Let them have a look at it, let them have their couple of questions, answer them and give them a cup of tea, if you want, or something from the galley.” A typical inspection should last half an hour, barring any drastic findings.

The inspectors are not there to assess the ability of the crew and have strict guidance as to what they are entitled to ask about, yet Zee added, there will always be departures from standard procedure. One popular “gotcha” posed to pilots prescribed with corrective lenses on their medical certificate is to ask to see a spare set of glasses.

Given the comprehensive nature of the checklist, inspectors are bound to The EU Ramp Inspection Programme is primarily aimed at airlines, so business aviation operators are advised not to be over-concerned with ramp checks.

44 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

identify one or more findings, which range from Category 1 (minor) to Category 3 (major) depending on their level of influence on safety. The captain of the aircraft will be debriefed regarding the findings, and Category 2 and 3 violations will be forwarded to the appropriate aviation authority as well as the operator’s home base. In some cases, such as in the case of a broken passenger seat, an aircraft will be allowed to take off under operational restrictions.

But if there is a “corrective action before flight authorized” finding, a repair must be made before the aircraft is permitted to depart. In situations where the inspectors believe the captain does not intend to take action on the deficiencies, they will formally ground the aircraft.

While there is little a crew can do once they see the inspectors approaching the aircraft, Zee suggests they quickly review their flight plan, making sure it is in order, including fuel checks updated during the flight with correct calculations, along with weather updates.

Other than that, he said, crews should just remain calm. “I think the overriding message is that a lot of pilots are concerned about being ramp checked in Europe, and the bottom line is you don’t have much to worry about,” advised Zee. “Pilots wind themselves up and it’s a real stressor, because they are not sure what to expect. My advice would be answer the questions they give you, be polite and friendly and you are fine.” o

Global Jet Capital sees bump in finance action

by Curt Epstein As an indication of the growing resurgence in the business aviation market, aircraft finance solution provider Global Jet Capital reports it has seen a strong increase in inquiries regarding financing options for midsize to heavy business jets.

During the just ended third quarter, such inquiries were up by 59 percent over the second quarter, and 240 percent higher than the same period last year.

“There are some tremendous values out there in this marketplace today,” said company executive director and chairman of the executive committee, Shawn Vick. “I think, when you look at marketplace activity, there are buyers that are beginning to take action because they look at some of these price points and realize there’s such significant value proposition in mission capability.”

The Boca-Raton, Fla.-based, company predicts that as much as $17.5 billion will be required to cover 2017’s new business jet deliveries. It estimates that approximately one-quarter of that amount will be raised by high-net-worth individuals, with the remainder being split evenly

Shawn Vick, Global Jet Capital executive director and executive committee chair

between private and publicly listed lending institutions.

Global Jet Capital (Booth 2253 and Static S-34), backed

by GSO Capital Partners, The Carlyle Group and AE Industrial Partners, was founded in 2014 and made significant inroads in the aircraft finance community when it finalized its purchase of the bulk of GE Capital’s business aircraft portfolio at the beginning of this year. It has also grown significantly since then.

“We went from 12 folks, and by the end of the first quarter we had approximately 25 people, by the end of the second quarter, that was around 50 people.

MYDUNCAN CUSTOMER PORTAL TURNS 10, ADDS FEATURES Duncan Aviation’s web-based aircraft project management system— myDuncan—recently marked its 10th birthday. Launched on Sept. 12, 2006, the system streamlined the item-approval process as the MRO industry’s first online customer portal. Over the years, it has evolved with additional features designed to improve the customer experience and make communications more efficient.

Through myDuncan, customers of Duncan Aviation (Booth 3126, static S24) receive email alerts, job status reports and updates from their project managers with hour and cost estimates for all phases of a project. They are kept aware of items that need attention and approval and are able to view and comment on reports and photos.

Earlier this year, Duncan Aviation added an electronic logbook entry feature to the portal. While inspectors are filling out logbook entries, customers can view them in real-time, broken down by airframe or engine. They can have back-and-forth conversations through myDuncan to address any issues without having to wait until the aircraft is delivered. myDuncan is scheduled to release a quote review and approval feature by the end of the year that will allow customers to view sales quotes, with the option to compare quotes, see revisions and electronically approve an agreement. A flowchart/calendar feature is planned for the first quarter of 2017, providing customers with a workflow schedule and the ability to watch as the aircraft progresses through milestones.

The portal is available to all Duncan Aviation customers with aircraft on-site for airframe, avionics and engine projects. The company said that nearly all customers opt in, transforming their computers and mobile devices into “virtual offices” to manage their projects whether they stay with the aircraft or not. Many customers travel back to their home base, able to take care of other business while keeping abreast of their project via a computer, phone or other device.

—B.C.

Now as we have exited the third quarter, we’re at what we consider the ongoing status of the business from a personnel capability standpoint—around 63,” Vick told AIN. “That’s [starting up] a field sales organization, which includes Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Australia, Indonesia, Pan Asia and China. We’re also servicing the Middle East and Africa out of Europe.” In addition, the company has added a full-staff legal team to help conduct transactions in all of those locales. “Combined, our management team has over 200 years of service to the private aircraft industry. Between us, we have completed over 3,500 aircraft transactions,” Vick noted.

One of the products the company offers is straight purchase financing, whereby it advances a large portion of the aircraft purchase price (typically between 50 and 85 percent) to the buyer as a loan. Another option is a finance lease, in which the lender buys the aircraft and holds the title while the borrower makes scheduled lease payments, until the final balloon payment when the title transfers to the borrower. Lastly there’s an operating lease, where ownership of the aircraft remains with the lender at the end of the lease.

Presently, Global Jet revealed, approximately 67 percent of its transactions are operating leases, while the remaining third are loans and finance leases.

“We see many of the same competitors when we go out and transact,” explained Vick.

“What we don’t see, however, is the appetite that we have for the operating lease product among many of the other providers. We’re very focused on the assets; we want to build the portfolio and add to the net-earning asset count within it. So I think that uniquely positions Global Jet Capital for growth.”

That growth could come with some questions in a period marked by declining aircraft values. “Unquestionably, this last cycle, tied to what most people refer to as the great recession, has been deeper and longer than any prior to it,” Vick acknowledged.

He noted that virtually all of the OEMs have cut their production rates to curb oversupply.

“The answer over the last several years has been to not deliver more hardware, so you’re seeing production rate decreases, and you’re also seeing some of the older models being taken out of production. All of that will ultimately have a positive impact on supply. We’re probably 12 to 24 months away from that having the kind of impact we would expect.” o

NEWS CLIPS z USAIG Chief McKay To Retire; Brogan to Take Over Aircraft insurance firm USAIG (Booth 4306) recently announced that chairman and CEO David McKay plans to retire, effective April 3, 2017, after nearly 40 years with the company. Upon his departure, John Brogan, president and COO at parent company United States Aviation Underwriters, will become president and CEO at USAIG. McKay launched USAIG’s business aviation safety initiatives Performance Vector and Performance Vector Plus. The former offers a range of aviation safety services and training programs, while the latter is a reward program for business aviation operators who avoid losses and meet safety standards to help them remain on the leading edge of current safety trends.

Brogan currently serves on the Flight Safety Foundation’s business advisory committee and is a certified aviation insurance professional.

“USAIG benefits greatly from his leadership and vision for the future,” McKay said. “Under his direction USAIG will continue as a global leader in aviation insurance.”

z FAA Approves New Pall/Dart System for Bells The U.S. FAA has awarded supplemental type certificate (STC) approval for the PA110PUREair engine protection system for the Bell Helicopter 407 and 206L families, Pall Aerospace announced.

Jointly developed by Pall Aerospace and Dart Aerospace, the PA110 builds on earlier filtration systems, increasing protection and reliability, Pall Aerospace said. The new system incorporates Pall Aerospace’s PUREair vortex tube technology, which is designed to improve operations in all weather conditions, including snow, heavy rain and salt spray, with minimal power degradation. Pall Aerospace also noted the PA110 is self-cleaning and maintenance-free.

The FAA STC follows Canadian certification earlier this year.

EASA approval also is anticipated this year. The FAA approval does not cover operations in falling or blowing snow, but snow trials are scheduled for this winter to obtain that clearance, the company said.

z Advanced Aircrew Academy Adds Online Classes Advanced Aircrew Academy (Booth 5027) is announcing five new eLearning modules to its web-based training library here at NBAA’s annual convention. The company offers both classroom and online recurrent, upgrade and proficiency coursework. Among the new modules are Continuous Descent Final Approach (CDFA), Required Navigation Performance (RNP), Runway Analysis, Convergent Performance on Automation Airmanship and Flight Discipline.

The Charleston, S.C.-based flight education provider has also published an upgraded version of its Winter Operations/Surface Contamination eLearning module, which is designed to meet the IS-BAO Aircraft Surface Contamination training requirement.

Additional updates to the module include a summary of the changes to the 2016-2017 holdover timetables and the cold temperature-restricted airports.

z Development NPRM Affects Some 91K/135 Ops An FAA notice of proposed rulemaking would modify the requirements primarily applicable to Part 121 and 135 scheduled air carriers to enhance the professional development of pilots.

However, most of the proposed requirements would also apply to Part 91K fractional operators and those Part 135 on-demand air taxis that require two pilots and voluntarily choose and obtain approval to train and qualify pilots under Part 121.

The updated rules will require operators to: provide new-hire pilots with an opportunity to observe flight operations to become familiar with procedures before serving as a flight crewmember; revise pilot upgrade curricula; provide leadership and mentoring training for all PICs; and establish pilot professional development committees. It also includes a number of additional conforming changes related to flight training devices; and training and checking of SICs. The FAA believes that this proposed rule would mitigate incidents of “unprofessional pilot behavior” and thus “would reduce pilot errors that can lead to a catastrophic event.”

Compliance with the revised requirements would be required within 24 months of the effective date of the publication of the rules. Comments on the NPRM are due by January 5.

www.ainonline.com • November 3, 2016 • NBAA Convention News 45

Arnold Palmer 1929-2016: NBAA lauds a life well played

by Nigel Moll Arnold Palmer died on Sunday evening, September 25, at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside Hospital, about 40 miles from his home in Latrobe, Penn. The cause of death was reported as complications from heart problems.

He was 87.

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While the golf world grieved the loss of one of its greatest and perhaps most beloved players, pilots mourned the final flight of an accomplished aviator and passionate advocate of the airplane as business-building tool.

Arnie’s first airplane ride was as a kid in a Piper Cub at Latrobe Airport (renamed to honor him in 1999 on his 70th birthday). He took his first flying lessons there in Cessnas in 1955, soloing and earning his private certificate the following year.

Son of a golf pro at the Latrobe Country Club, Palmer was the PGA Tour’s leading money winner in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1963. In 1962 he bought his first airplane, an Aero Commander 500 piston twin for $27,000, before upgrading to a new 560F a couple of years later. When he moved up to a jet he stayed with Rockwell, buying a Jet Commander in 1966. In 1968 he was the

“Flying has been one of the great things in my life. It’s taken me to the far corners of the world. And I even got to play a little golf along the way.”

Arnold Palmer

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46 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

first player to pass $1 million in career prize money on the PGA tour. With two copilots and an observer, he flew a Learjet 36 around the globe in 1976, setting a world record speed of 57 hours, 25 minutes, 42 seconds in the process. But for ownership, he settled in to a long line of Citations, starting with the 500, then II, III (he took the first production aircraft), VII and eventually the X. Palmer recalled the first time he saw the Cessna flagship: “I was standing on the sixth fairway waiting to hit an approach shot in our annual gala that benefits the Latrobe County Hospital. I heard a jet and looked up to see just about the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen—the new Citation X gliding right over us as it approached Latrobe Airport.”

Both the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds made him an honorary member. Palmer was the first athlete to be awarded three of the top U.S. civilian honors—the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and the National Sports Award. Over the course of his 56-year piloting career, he logged approximately 20,000 hours.

The company that airplanes helped Palmer build was Arnold Palmer Enterprises. As president, he supervised the design and development of 300-plus new or remodeled golf courses worldwide; the company also sold golf clubs and clothing to his many fans, known as Arnie’s Army. Palmer was the first chairman of the Golf Channel on cable TV, as well as a spokesman for Pennzoil and the No Plane, No Gain business aviation advocacy campaign. o

Budgeting top challenge for small flight depts Staffing, training and scheduling, along with managing relationships with aircraft owners, are among the top concerns for small flight departments, according to a recent survey conducted by NBAA’s small flight department subcommittee. It conducted the survey to identify unique concerns of flight departments that operate three or fewer business aircraft.

The survey drew responses from nearly 200 small fleet operators of 376 aircraft.

“Our hope is that through the study, and focusing on the results of the study, that we’re going to bring real tools to small flight department operators to help them operate better and safer,” said Dave Keys, chair of NBAA’s domestic operations subcommittee and a chief pilot at a small flight department.

The top three responses to

the questions regarding challenges in day-to-day operations involved budgeting responses: staffing, training and scheduling; aircraft, maintenance and facilities; and financial budgeting overall.

One-third of the responses identified staffing, training and scheduling as one of the top three challenges in dayto-day operations. Meanwhile, 23 percent of the responses list aircraft, maintenance and facilities costs as the single biggest challenge they are facing this year.

Outside budgeting issues, managing relationships with the aircraft owner/parent company was another chief concern for the day-to-day operations, drawing 9 percent of the responses. And 14 percent listed regulations as the single biggest challenge they are facing this year.

DAVID McINTOSH

by Kerry Lynch

Flight departments with three aircraft or fewer face unique challenges.

Thirty percent believe staffing, training and scheduling issues would be more easily handled in a larger flight department.

“Small flight departments struggle with proper crewing of

their fleets, with a major issue being finding qualified contract pilots when necessary,” the report states. “Important contributors to this issue are limited financial resources, insufficient knowledge of

budgeting process and lack of effective communications with the principal or senior management.” The regulatory environment also poses an obstacle for flight departments, the report adds. o

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GA industry in Wichita continues its evolution

by Kerry Lynch When Bombardier executives started highlighting concerns about a soft market for its Learjet products, industry observers began wondering whether the company would sell Learjet and whether its neighbor, Textron, might be the buyer. That underscored the transition that already has occurred in Wichita since the downturn began in 2007, spelling the loss of thousands of jobs and bringing about the merger of two giants in the general aviation industry.

Wichita alone lost 13,000 jobs over the 2009-2010 time frame, and an industry-sponsored economic study released in 2015 found that business and general aviation direct, indirect and induced jobs were down by 100,000 since the last time the study was conducted a decade earlier.

“The aviation industry had not seen anything like the damage that happened in 2008,” said Richard Aboulafia, v-p of analysis at the Teal Group, adding that Wichita became “the center of the pain.” This was because the majority of the general aviation manufacturers there have been focused at the lower end of the market, which was hit harder than any other sector, Aboulafia said. “The bottom half fell by 57 percent in the space of two years—a complete disaster the likes of which we had never seen in the aviation industry.” In the aftermath, everyone improved, “except Wichita,” he added.

“We’ve gone through a really difficult time—truthfully, the most difficult eight-year period in my career in this industry, and my career is now 40-plus years,” said Dave Franson, president of Franson Consulting as well as president of the Wichita Aero Club. “But I don’t feel that there’s

just no way we’re coming out of it.

There’s just a new normal. But I have confidence in Wichita. I have confidence in the companies.”

Wichita has long prided itself as being the Air Capital of the World, home to Beech Aircraft, Cessna, Learjet and Spirit AeroSystems and a base for manufacturers such as Boeing.

Since the downturn, Beech and Cessna have merged into Textron Aviation and Boeing has moved manufacturing out of the city.

But, according to the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition (GWEDC), a strong base remains that gives Wichita continued bragging rights as an aviation-manufacturing epicenter. Nearly 30,000 workers currently remain involved in manufacturing aerospace products and parts in the greater Wichita area, and companies in the region delivered nearly a third of all global general aviation shipments. In all, Wichita calls itself home to more than 350 aerospace companies.

The GWEDC also notes that, even after the downturn, Wichita still ranked first in the 100 largest U.S. metro areas in manufacturing as a percentage of overall jobs and third in terms of engineering jobs. While Wichita’s unemployment rate (across all industries) spiked from 4.7 percent in October 2008 to a high point of 10.2 percent in July 2009, unemployment has stabilized at 5.5 percent as of July this year.

The March 2014 Textron Aviation merger played into a resiliency of the local area, Franson added. “They have been able to take advantage of synergies. They found opportunities to put together talent and resource pools that were here in town,” he said. Before the merger, “[Cessna

The strongest market for business jets has shifted from emerging nations, which fueled optimism during the economic downturn, back to North America.

Manufacturers in Wichita have had to adjust their focus, and that’s not always an easy turnaround.

Learjet, a longtime Wichita employer, faces challenging times, a microcosm of general aviation in the city.

and Beechcraft] weren’t working together because they were competitors. Now they can take advantage of what we have here, and it is coalescing nicely, even to the point where it is more efficient.”

Aboulafia also credited the company’s continued investment.

As an analyst, he said, “I’ve had reasons to be critical of Textron and Cessna, but I give enormous credit for the continued new product development funding pipeline. Unquestionably new product development is the lifeline of business.”

Also feeding the success will be a strengthening in the North American market. While emerging markets fueled growth at the top end of the business jet market, “the growth we’re seeing now is a return of the North American model,” he said. “In the past year we are starting to see signs of life at Cessna.”

Looking industry-wide, Pete Bunce, president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, added, “The fact that we have had some consolidation and the industry was able to keep moving forward is a testament to its resiliency.”

Diversification Is Key

Beyond the big manufacturers are a base of suppliers that had been dependent on the livelihood of the manufacturers. The lesson learned from the downturn, Aboulafia said, was diversification. “In Wichita you did have a dangerous level of reliance,” he said. But many of those companies adapted. “You still have a lot of companies with strong niche capabilities that started looking outside of Wichita and looking more globally.”

Franson agreed. “When things started to really deteriorate, there

48 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

were obviously some concerns, some consolidations and some real difficulties,” he said. “But we have some pretty capable and clever companies here.” Franson pointed to Cox Machine, a company that this year is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and has been at the forefront of additive manufacturing (aka 3-D printing). “Cox Machine has done a great deal in terms of staying ahead of the technological curve.

It was doing things that were considered ‘gee whiz’…before other companies.”

He also pointed to McGinty Machine, which made sure it was available and could do what was necessary when it was necessary.

“That sets them apart.” Just outside Wichita, GlobalParts.aero has expanded into manufacturing, he added.

GWEDC noted an “explosion in growth in [the] supplier base. We’ve had Tier 2 and 3 suppliers expanding—some almost annually to be able to handle the influx of general and commercial aviation work.”

Aside from the growth in suppliers, large manufacturers have been able to absorb some of the jobs lost, he said. Others have attempted to retain talent by shifting workers. Bombardier, which has been undergoing a series of layoffs as it tries to turn around its cash flow issues, also has been transitioning some of the workers from Learjet programs to other programs. These workers have been moved to other areas of Bombardier, where space could accommodate them.

Bombardier spokesman Mark Masluch said the transfers are part of an effort to “manage production costs” and remain disciplined. Similarly, Bombardier has leveraged its capacity in Wichita

to expand other areas of its work, including last year’s expansion of global support in Wichita.

“They are not sitting on their hands,” Franson said. “They have the facilities, they have the capacity, they have expertise and they have a lot of good folks who know what they are doing.”

Franson also pointed out the support they brought in that will service a range of aircraft. “They are not wringing their hands. They are using their hands.”

As with additive manufacturing, new technologies are adding jobs not only in Wichita, but throughout the industry, and emerging technologies such as hybrid or electrical propulsion have the potential to be a job enhancer, Bunce added.

“A big part of the aerospace manufacturing story has been advancements in automation, efficiencies and advanced capabilities that were happening simultaneously with the recession in both commercial and general aviation,” GWEDC said.

Franson noted many new jobs have been created to replace lost jobs, “but they are different kinds of jobs. There are different roles being played over at the Learjet factory.”

The aerospace community in Wichita has remained active in solidifying its future, Franson said, pointing to the National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT). The Sedgwick County Technical Education and Training Authority developed the $50 million, 224,0000-sqft facility, providing capacity for training at least 1,500 students in day and night classes.

The community broke ground on the center just as the market was collapsing in 2008 and

Continued on page 54 u

Honda marketing team adds new dealer centers

by Kerry Lynch

Speed Sells

The company is slowly building a dealer network as it begins to ramp up production and now has 12 territories in North America, South America and Europe.

As it builds up its sales network, the aircraft is beginning to establish speed records.

The U.S. National Aeronautic Association officially recognized

EAA AirVenture spirit puts the show on the road

by Amy Laboda This week at NBAA 2016, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) has a real treat for attendees: a virtual trip to Oshkosh, Wis., courtesy of the association’s new Spirit of Aviation mobile trailer. The 18-wheeler is parked at the indoor static space at the Orlando Convention Center. One broad side unfolds to expose a mini-workshop for practicing metal bending, foam cutting and gluing and rivet pulling.

(And, yes, you can make-and-take your constructions.)

Tucked against one wall are two individual Redbird basic aviation

flight simulators, replete with video. The curious are welcome to try their hand flying a general aviation airplane of their choice into or out of several different airports.

But the piece-de-resistance in the mobile experience are the Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles that can totally immerse you in the EAA Museum and AirVenture Oshkosh in all its glory.

40,000 Young Eagles

Along with the mobile Oshkosh experience debut, EAA announced this week that more than 40,000 youth have gone beyond just

BARRY AMBROSE

SYI, which provides a range of services, infrastructure and products in more than eight countries, was founded in Caracas, Venezuela, and established operations in Panama in 1928.

Honda Aircraft secured certification in December 2015 for the light jet known for its over-the-wing engine mounting design. Production certification followed in July. By mid-year, Honda had handed over the first dozen aircraft.

With a selection of new speed records to its credit, the HondaJet is now represented by dealers covering potential new markets. SYI Aviation in Panama City, Panama, is expected to expand Honda Aircraft’s presence in the middle Americas.

the first two records this week at NBAA 2016.

The first record involved an East Coast flight on April 9.

The aircraft departed Teterboro Airport in New Jersey at 2:15 p.m. and landed at Fort Lauderdale Executive airport in Florida at 5:06 p.m., marking a two-hour

and 51-minute flight with average headwinds of 60 knots.

The aircraft cruised at 43,0000 feet and reached a maximum ground speed of 414 knots.

The Boston to Palm Beach record occurred on July 19, taking off from New Bedford Regional Airport at 7:18 a.m. and arriving

at Palm Beach International Airport at 10:16 a.m. With headwinds of 30 knots, the flight took two hours and 58 minutes and achieved a maximum ground speed of 422 knots.

The HondaJet’s maximum cruise speed is 422 knots and it can fly up to 43,000 feet. o

taking a first flight with an EAA member since 2009. These Young Eagles have taken advantage of a gift from Sporty’s Pilot Shop, enrolling for no cost in Sporty’s online recreational and private pilot ground school courses.

“There is no better way to ensure a robust aviation community than by attracting new young people to the pilot ranks,” said Sporty’s president Michael Wolf.

“Sporty’s long-term support for the Young Eagles program is outstanding,” said Brian O’Lena, manager of Young Eagles for EAA. “Reaching more kids with these aviation opportunities is paramount.

We’ll celebrate our 25th year of Young Eagles in 2017. As one of the most successful youth aviation programs in history, and with industry support, we’ll continue well into the future.” o

DAVID McINTOSH

Honda Aircraft is expanding its sales reach for its HondaJet, appointing SYI Aviation in Panama City, Panama, as its newest dealer. SYI Aviation will give Honda Aircraft a presence in the middle Americas, providing sales, service and support for the HondaJet in Central America, the Caribbean and portions of South America to include Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

“Our well-received expansion in Brazil last year further solidified the Middle America and South American regions as potential growth markets,” said Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino, adding that SYI’s “experience in the region and track record of partnering successfully with large global companies is a good foundation for a strong relation.”

PICK ME A WINNER

MARIANO ROSALES

Million Air customer and NetJets pilot Kenny Bacheller (pictured here) joined Million Air CEO Roger Woolsey in drawing the name for a giveaway of a 2015 Indian Chief motorcycle at NBAA on Wednesday. Hayden Hutchens of South Polk, Texas, was the lucky winner of the motorcycle, which is valued at $25,000 and specially detailed with a Million Air logo and aviation theme. Before the drawing, Woolsey named Million Air Burbank as its FBO of the year; Jamal Collins, who works at the Million Air base in Tallahassee, Fla., as its line service professional of the year; and Jeanie Chiovari, who is based at Million Air Orlando, as its cusn tomer service professional of the year.

NBAA attendees can get a taste of the Oshkosh experience by visiting the “Spirit of Aviation Mobile Experience” on the display floor.

www.ainonline.com • November 3, 2016 • NBAA Convention News 49

Garmin Pilot version 8.4.4 adds features, new capabilities SMITHSONIAN/NATIONAL AIR SPACE MUSEUM

by Matt Thurber

Bob Hoover, shown here in 2014, made his final public appearance at the Reno National Championship Air Races in September. He spent years as the pace pilot at the event, although he did not fly there this year.

Bob Hoover’s legacy honored, his life celebrated by NBAA

by Amy Laboda “We are honored to pay tribute to the life and the invaluable service of this national treasure,” NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said as he announced the organization’s intent to pay tribute to Bob Hoover during the opening session at NBAA 2016 in Orlando, Fla. Hoover died October 25, 2016, at age 94 of natural causes, exactly one week before the business aviation show opened.

He learned to fly as a teenager in the 1930s and worked his way up from flight instructor for the Royal Air Force early in World War II to combat pilot for the Army Air Force toward the end of the conflict. Hoover was captured and then stole a German airplane to fly to safety at one point. Hoover stayed with the Army Air Force as it transitioned to the U.S. Air Force and ultimately became a test pilot, serving as the backup pilot in the Bell X-1 program, flying the chase plane when Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947. He ejected out of a Republic F-84 in 1947 and hit the tail—breaking

both legs. He was trapped in a disabled F-100 Super Sabre that slammed into the desert, breaking his back. Yet he flew on into his 80s, acting as pilot-in-command of nearly 300 types of aircraft.

Air racing and airshow performances became his passion in later years. He was known on the airshow circuit for wearing a business suit and broad-brimmed Panama hat instead of a flight suit and cap while performing in either Ole Yeller, a P-51 Mustang, or his Shrike Commander. In 1994, the FAA rescinded his pilot’s certificate, citing “diminished cognitive abilities,” and it was 18 months before Hoover, through his friend lawyer F. Lee Bailey, could litigate his way back to flying. He did earn an Australian pilot certificate in the interim and continued performing around the world.

Hoover was honored with NBAA’s Meritorious Service to Aviation Award, and was always seen at the annual NBAA Conventions. Bolen expressed the feelings of many when he said that Bob Hoover’s presence will be missed. o

Garmin has added a number of new features to its Pilot app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices. The latest version for iOS is 8.4.4, and includes Flight Stream 510 integration, Jeppesen chart display, chart overlays, glide range rings and other enhancements.

The Flight Stream 510 is an SD-size MultiMediaCard that installs in the card slot of a Garmin GTN series GPS/ com/navigator with no wiring changes.

Available for $1,495, the 510 contains Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capability, enabling communication between the GTN 650/750 and two Apple or Android devices running Garmin Pilot.

The Flight Stream 510 is the newest addition to Garmin’s Connext family and it enables Garmin’s Database Concierge, which uses the 510’s Wi-Fi capability to automatically transfer databases from Garmin Pilot to the GTN series. This eliminates the need to remove, update and reinsert a database card. Pilots can create a flight plan on Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight Mobile then use the Flight Stream 510’s Bluetooth capability to transfer the flight plan to the GTN in the cockpit, or move a flight plan from a GTN to Pilot or ForeFlight.

In aircraft equipped with Garmin’s GSR 56 datalink/Iridium satcom, the Flight Stream 510 allows pairing of an Apple iPhone or iPad to a GTN for access to texting and voice calling. This means that pilots can use their own mobile device for texting or calling from within Garmin Pilot, including making phone calls over a headset.

Display of Jeppesen charts is enabled in Version 8.4.4, and this allows users to view approach charts and arrival and departure procedures. The user must have a Jeppesen electronic charting license, which can be assigned to Garmin Pilot. The Jeppesen approach charts and airport diagrams can also be overlaid on the Garmin Pilot map, which is another new feature in the app and also works with Garmin’s FliteCharts.

One new feature in the latest Garmin Pilot version allows pilots to overlay approach charts on the main navigation screen. The overlaid chart’s opacity can be adjusted.

An interesting new feature of Pilot is the glide-range ring, which displays a cyan ring on the moving map to show an estimated area where the aircraft can glide using best glide configuration. Users can configure the ring as a simple circle or to show how nearby terrain affects the glide range. Inputs that affect glide range include best glide speed, glide ratio and winds aloft either provided by ADS-B in or forecast data.

Other enhancements in the latest version of Garmin pilot include the ability to access flight planning features directly from the map page, instead of having to leave the map and open the flight-planning page. Garmin has also updated graphical route editing, adding filtering by airports, navaids or waypoints. o

JEFFREY LEE TAKES NEW ROLE WITH FLIGHTSAFETY

CAE ANNOUNCES TRAINING ADVANCES

Jeffrey Lee has joined FlightSafety International as executive director of business aviation development. Lee has a 25-year legacy of managing large flight departments, most recently as v-p of aviation for American Express, where he provided strategic leadership and management for the company’s global aviation operations.

Before that, Lee spent 30 years at IBM, initially in engineering and then rising to director of flight operations. In that latter role, he was responsible for all aspects of a flight department that had as many as 60 people supporting aircraft in New York and Paris.

He has also served on the NBAA board of directors for 12 years, including as chairman from 2007 to 2009, and was awarded the John H. Winant Award in 2015. He further was president of the Westchester Aviation Association for seven years.

“We are very fortunate and proud to have Jeff join FlightSafety,” said FSI president, chairman and CEO Bruce Whitman. His experience of managing flight departments “will contribute to our ongoing development of new and innovative training programs and products. Jeff’s experience and insights as a long-time customer of FlightSafety will help to expand and strengthen our global reach and leadership position.”

—K.L.

CAE’s upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) program received an endorsement from Dassault Aviation, it announced this week at NBAA 2016. The training provider (Booth 4057) also revealed its latest customer web portal upgrade and new training agreements with European large fleet business aircraft operators.

CAE was chosen by European aircraft charter and management firm TAG Aviation as a training partner for multiple training programs. According to the company, CAE will offer training across its global network of heavy, midsize and light jets, which includes CAE’s Gulfstream G650 training program in Dubai.

The new CAE Terminal online portal provides line pilots and flight department leaders with access to documentation, training records and reservation details. Meanwhile, CAE has developed a curriculum that meets Dassault’s training guidelines as its authorized training provider (ATP). These guidelines will continue to follow the new EASA regulation.

“We are very proud of these recent wins, which allow us to expand our presence in the business aviation training market and build on our longstanding relationships with our partners,” said CAE group president of civil aviation training solutions Nick Leontidis. ” —S.C.

50 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

GKN showcases its specialty: innovative use of materials

by Ian Sheppard GKN Aerospace is no newcomer to business aviation, but it comes to NBAA 2016 confident of gaining new business and leveraging its vast experience on various airframes. In business aviation, GKN Aerospace manufactures business jet empennages for the Citation CJ3 and CJ4, HondaJet, G550 and G650 and Falcon 5X and it also manufactures wing structures for the Falcon 7X, 8X and 5X. The company also was selected to manufacture the complete composite fuselage for the HondaJet, and it produces G650 floor and fuselage panels.

Additionally, GKN is involved in business

GARMIN EXPANDING ITS ADS-B MENU Garmin (Booth 1900) has added more aircraft to the list that can be upgraded to ADS-B through its authorized dealer network. The company’s focus has been on addressing “the market’s desire for a cost-effective ADS-B in/out solution, while leveraging existing equipment to minimize cost and installation time associated with an ADS-B upgrade.”

The aircraft/authorized dealer combinations available can be obtained from the company, and include a wide range of types. Several configurations are available, optimized for each individual aircraft type, Garmin said.

For non-TCAS II aircraft, the GTX 345R/GTX 335R ADS-B transponders provide operators with an all-in-one remote-mount solution and include a WAAS-GPS option. The latter model also receives ADS-B in traffic and weather, GPS position data and backup attitude information for display on the Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight Mobile apps.

For TCAS II-equipped aircraft, Garmin said operators can use the GDL 88 ADS-B datalink and GTX-3000 Mode S Extended Squitter transponder “to economically achieve ADS-B requirements.” The GTX 3000 “leverages the GDL 88’s internal WAAS/ SBAS receiver to broadcast aircraft identity, state and intent information (DO-260B compliant) to ATC, while also providing operators with a WAAS position source.

Garmin’s Flight Stream wireless datalink can be added to give crewmembers wireless access to FIS-B weather and traffic on approved mobile devices in the cockpit. Garmin said this is available on certain aircraft.

—I.S.

jet conversions through its Fokker subsidiary in the Netherlands.

Showcased at GKN’s NBAA booth (3290) is a panoramic window designed for airliners. The windows measure fivefeet long by 1.65-feet high and include a demisting capability, as well as GKN’s Crystal Vue II coating. Also being shown is a fuselage panel based on a thermoplastic grid—a welded, boltless assembly that offers a 10-percent reduction in weight and 30-percent lower manufacturing cost.

“As the business jet market continues to strengthen globally, and particularly in the large aircraft category, the industry is also

Austria’s F/ List touts creative interior ideas

by James Wynbrandt Making its NBAA Convention debut, Austria-based VIP interiors components provider F/List (Booth 1444) is showcasing several recent additions to its line of innovative cabin products. Underscoring its work with weight-saving material, the company is displaying lightweight solutions and composite materials from its Hilitech joint venture with the Hintsteiner Group this week at NBAA 2016. The material can reduce interior weights by up to 30 percent.

Hilitech is already supplying lightweight interior components for Lufthansa Technik, as well as the in-development Pilatus PC-24, for which Hilitech provides interior elements including tables, dividers, galley, wardrobe and cabinets. A mockup

Panoramic windows for airliner-size aircaft is just one product that GKN Aerospace can bring to the business aviation market. It also manufactures empennages for several business jets, and the fuselage of the HondaJet.

experiencing a period of extraordinary technological innovation,” said Daniele Cagnatel, GKN Aerospace’s senior v-p of business development and strategy. “Our of the PC-24 cabin is on view at the F/List booth. The company also provides the lavatory zone on the Embraer Lineage 1000e, seen on the Brazilian manufacturer’s flagship on static display at the show.

F/List is presenting its new leather flooring developed with Boxmark Leather and available with a customized tiling concept in a wide range of colors and structures. The optional integrated heating for F/List wood flooring and stone flooring is also on display at the NBAA show for the first time. The floor tiles can be heated in a range between 77 and 86 degrees.

The company’s newly developed softtouch surface material for cabin linings is also being shown here at NBAA 2016.

It is the only soft-touch material currently available without memory effect, so impression bumps left in the material due to people touching it or contact with objects vanish within seconds.

Additionally, the newest product in the F/List portfolio—laser engraving technology—is on display. The technology allows quick engraving treatment of material of

Bombardier begins delivering Globals with Ka-band satcom

by Kerry Lynch Bombardier has begun initial deliveries of Globals equipped with its new Wave (Wireless Access Virtually Everywhere) Ka-band satcom that incorporates Inmarsat JetConnex broadband along with Honeywell JetWave satcom hardware. Last year, the company became the first business jet manufacturer to announce plans to offer the system as an option and it has since secured Transport Canada certification for installation in the Global family.

In addition to new installations, the Canadian manufacturer has made the Wave system available for retrofit,

00 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

and the first installation, on a Global 5000, was recently completed at the company’s Singapore center. The first few systems have been helping to betatest the JetConnex broadband that is ready to go live. Zetta Jet, which operates a fleet of Globals, was the first customer to take delivery of the system from Bombardier.

“This system represents a breakthrough moment in business aviation,” said Kristin Slyker, v-p of business and general aviation at Honeywell Aerospace.

“With the Bombardier Ka-band system, Global aircraft passengers can count

display at NBAA illustrates just some of the new and maturing technologies that will extend the endurance, efficiency and performance of business jets.” o

The message in this artwork exemplifies F/List’s commitment to lightweight interior components.

any hardness or smoothness without stencils. Ideal for stone surfaces, the engraving can be used on pieces up to 6.7 feet by 9.8 feet. The ability to engrave on glass, medium density fiberboard, metal or carbon is also planned. o on a fast and reliable Wi-Fi connection even when they are flying over oceans on long-haul flights.”

Noting that the service provides speeds of up to 15 Mbps, Jean-Christophe Gallagher, who recently took the role of v-p and general manager of customer experience at Bombardier, added, “It is truly like in your home. You don’t have to preload your movies. In the middle of the Atlantic you can connect to the iTunes store and download. That’s the expectation of our customers.”

The Wave system will work in concert with the Rockwell Collins Venue cabin management system on board Global 5000s and 6000s, providing a range of entertainment and business connectivity capabilities.

“The demand for data has just gone exponential,” said Andy Nureddin, v-p of customer support and training for Bombardier Business Aircraft. o

www.ainonline.com • November 3, 2016 • NBAA Convention News 51

Kodiak buyers get year of Camp Systems free Sandpoint, Idaho-based Quest Aircraft (Booth 5271 and indoor static display) has partnered with Camp Systems to offer Quest owners a free one-year subscription to Camp’s maintenance-tracking service. The program will launch in January, and all new Kodiaks delivered will be eligible for the program.

“Camp will provide our customers the most comprehensive monitoring and tracking services to best maintain their aircraft’s performance and condition,” said Nick Newby, senior v-p of sales, marketing and customer service. “We know Kodiak owners will benefit from this service, and we are happy to be able to offer them their first year at no cost.” In addition to maintenance

tracking, the Camp package also offers engine trend monitoring for the Kodiak’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine.

Quest has also named Exclusive Aircraft Sales/Fargo Jet Center as an authorized parts dealer for the upper Midwest.

Fargo Jet Center specializes in aircraft sales, air charter, maintenance, paint and interiors, avionics sales/service/installation and operates a subsidiary FBO, Premier Jet Center, based at Flying Cloud airport in Minneapolis.

“The Kodiak is a good fit for our organization and our territory. Its versatility makes it well suited to a wide variety of operations, ranging from corporate/ personal business use to utility

DAVID McINTOSH

by Amy Laboda

Quest’s Kodiak utility turboprop single has also found favor as an executive transport, when fitted with a VIP interior.

and amphibious activities,” said Randy Jenson, v-p and CFO of Exclusive Aircraft Sales/Fargo Jet Center.

take off in less than 1,000 feet at maximum takeoff weight of 7,255 pounds and climb at more than 1,300 fpm. o

Program offers coverage for popular bizav engines

Sea Prime FBOs expanding in Milan

by Mark Huber

by Curt Epstein A year after opening its new FBO at Milano Linate Airport, and a subsequent joint venture with Signature Flight Support, Italian service provider Sea Prime (Booth 3373) noted it will continue to invest in improving facilities there and at its new location currently under construction at Milano Malpensa Airport.

The company plans to spend more than $22 million (€20 million) by 2020 on infrastructure improvements, including new hangars at the two facilities. At Linate it expects to complete 38,750 sq ft (3,600 sq m) of hangar space,

Quest is displaying its 10-place turboprop Kodiak 100 with an executive interior at NBAA 2016. The Kodiak can

Milano Linate Airport is the site of Sea Prime’s $22 million program to add hangar space and improve service.

large enough to accommodate aircraft up to the size of ultra-long range business jets, by year-end.

According to a recent MasterCard survey, Milan is among the top-five European destinations, with nearly eight million visitors expected this

year. “Milano has always been an important center for business, but we believe it still has to deploy its full potential, not only in terms of number of visitors, but also in terms of quality,” said Sea Prime general manager Chiara Dorigotti. 

Legacy Engine Assurance Program (Leap, Booth 740) has launched to provide affordable maintenance plan coverage for operators of Honeywell TFE731 and Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D engines that power more than 3,000 business jets.

“Over the last decade, airframe, engine and engine part values have dropped substantially; however, the traditional engine programs have actually increased in price,” said Leap president and founder Sean Lynch. “Leap takes advantage of the substantial parts and services discounts now available and passes that value directly to our customers.”

Leap currently covers JT15D4/5 and TFE731-2/3/5 engines, with additional platforms to follow. There are three program

options: comprehensive, proportional and catastrophic.

Comprehensive covers all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, including life-limit parts, LRUs, loaner engines, line maintenance and 24/7 access to Leap’s AOG assistance. Proportional safeguards those starting without a full buy-in on a basis equivalent to remaining time between overhaul time and covers overhauls and comprehensive services by a percentage amount to the remaining equivalent. Catastrophic coverage is limited to failure of an engine before its next scheduled event and also covers LRUs and includes AOG support.

Leap also has full APU coverage for the Honeywell GTCP36-100A and 36-100E and Sundstrand T62T-40C3A/3A1. o

EXCELAIRE OPENS TETERBORO BASE

ASIAN SKY QUARTERLY REPORT FOCUSES ON JAPAN

Charter management company ExcelAire (Booth 4226) is establishing a base at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, the company’s third U.S. location after its headquarters facility at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., and Oakland International Airport in California. “With Teterboro being the busiest business aviation airport in the U.S., the opening of our office there is an important milestone for ExcelAire,” said president Robert Molsbergen, the former president of EJM who joined ExcelAire in August.

ExcelAire also announced that Vickie Mahoney is joining the company as vice-president of business development. She also will head the Teterboro office. ExcelAire operates a fleet of 15 large-cabin business jets.

—J.W.

The latest edition of the Asian Sky quarterly fleet report features an in-depth focus on business aviation in Japan, where there are now 53 business jets and 765 helicopters registered. The publication of the Hong Kong-based private aviation consulting firm also includes an interview with Boeing Business Jets president David Longridge on the China market, as well as the perspective of VistaJet North Asia president Leona Qi. According to Asian Sky, the value of pre-owned business jets worldwide has grown over the past 24 months from $5.8 billion to $7.9 billion. The value of helicopters for sale increased from $638 million to $1.1 billion. More particularly, the value of Boeing Business Jets on the market dropped from $683 million to $584 million.

—C.A.

52 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

NBAA Event

Schedule

EXHIBIT HOURS Exhibit Halls & Indoor Static Display Thursday, Nov. 3 | 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Static Display of Aircraft Thursday, Nov. 3 | 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Thursday, November 3, 2016 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Attendee Exhibitor & Press Registration Location: Orange County Convention Center and Orlando Executive Airport Friends & Partners in Aviation Weather (Day 2 of 2) Location: Orange County Convention Center, Room S310 E/F

9:00 am - 10:15 am Careers in Business Aviation Day General Session Location: Orange County Convention Center, Room S330 C/D (#1)

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Wichita evolves uContinued from page 48

classes began in August 2010. The aviation community also donated surplus technology and equipment to fill out the training centers, and the GWEDC

noted, “Between NCAT’s aviation building and advanced manufacturing building, an entire business jet could be made from design to finish.”

This has had real implications, Franson said, noting that the Wichita Aero Club recently awarded a scholarship to a person

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laid off in the downturn who now is working toward an Airframe & Powerplant license. The scholarship enabled this person, who has a family and is in his 30s, to continue the education. He also was hired by Bombardier. “We’ve got quite a few people moving through the education opportunities,” he said. This enables them to remain in Wichita and be trained for opportunities with the companies once they become available.

Having said that, Wichita has lost a talent pool. GWEDC said some of the workers affected by the recession found other employment outside the industry, some left the area and some retired. “We couldn’t keep all of the workers,” Franson added. That includes not only those on

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the factory floor, but also at the executive levels with many companies seeing new upper level management in recent years, Aboulafia added.

This talent pool is a focal point for the entire industry, added Bunce, who notes that companies such as Disney often lure away top prospects coming out of aviation schools such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Aboulafia expressed concern that the industry could face a “skills gap” with longerterm, older employees remaining and younger people coming in at the entry

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level. What’s been lost are the people in between, creating a need to ensure that there is a bridge in the skills gap.

While resilient, the industry isn’t completely recovered, the executives agree.

In fact, Bunce notes, “The situation now is we have had a number of companies announcing workforce reductions.” He expressed concerns about the struggles of the so-called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which were heavily relied upon to help recover from the downturn. “None of them right now are good for business aviation,” he said.

Bunce also is concerned about overall overcapacity in the global business and general aviation marketplace. “We’ve got too many airplanes out there chasing too

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54 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

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few customers, which is driving residual values down,” he said. “When you have overcapacity and you are looking at too many airplanes, then you decide you don’t need to pump that many airplanes into the system and have workforce adjustments.”

Looking at the possibility of more consolidations, Bunce said, “I don’t like consolidations, but we have an overcapacity out there. We want stability and steady growth for the industry.”

He also doesn’t think a return to the years leading up to the downturn would be good for the industry. “Do we ever want to get to a point like 2007-2008 where people were flipping jets like they were flipping houses? Is that a real market? Or does that set us up for a boomto-bust time. I don’t think it was healthy for our industry.

Aboulafia also noted the possibilities of the future of Learjet, saying the Wichita community could survive another consolidation resulting in a “duopoly” of major players in the light end of the market. “That’s one way of rationalizing in times [of] overcapacity,” he said. “Maybe industry will come back with lower costs and in a nimble way.”

And despite fallout of the downturn, Aboulafia believes Wichita retains a claim to the title of Air Capital of the World. “It’s a fantastic legacy. Even though the entire market has been hit, you still have a terrific collection of legacy names and products,” he said. “I think it would be hard pressed for anyone else in the general aviation market to take that title from them.”

“Until someone tells me there is a new Wichita, I’m not too concerned we are going to lose the title,” Franson added, reiterating, “But there is a new normal. That’s a pretty obvious fact. We have to realize there’s a lot of work to do to maintain a leadership position. It’s a difficult process.” o

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THE DESTINATION FOR AEROSPACE

Overall Average 2016

Overall Average 2015

Rating Change from 2015-2016

Embraer (Phenom, Legacy, Lineage)

8.4

8.1

0.3

Dassault (Falcon)

8.2

8.1

0.1

Gulfstream (GII-GV, G300-G650)

8.2

8.3

-0.1

Gulfstream (G100-G280)

8.2

7.7

0.5

Bombardier (Challenger)

8.1

8.0

0.1

Bombardier (Global)

7.9

7.7

0.2

Textron Aviation (Citation)

7.9

7.7

0.2

Bombardier (Learjet)

7.8

7.7

0.1

Textron Aviation (Premier, Beechjet 400/400A, Hawker 400XP)

7.4

7.2

0.2

Textron Aviation (Hawker)

6.9

7.2

-0.3

Mitsubishi (MU-2, Solitaire, Marquise)

9.3

9.1

0.2

Pilatus (PC-12)

7.6

7.6

0.0

Beechcraft (King Air)

7.1

7.4

-0.3

Bell

7.5

7.9

-0.4

Airbus Helicopters

7.2

7.5

-0.3

Sikorsky

6.5

6.3

0.2

Leonardo Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland)

6.3

6.8

-0.5

Combined Overall Average Ratings of Newer and Older Aircraft JETS

AIN readers rate manufacturers’ product support

by AIN Staff

AIN Publications’ conducts its Product Support Surveys every year. We ask users of business jets, turboprop airplanes and turbine-powered helicopters for statistically valid information about the product support they received from airframe, engine and avionics manufacturers over the last year. The ultimate goal of the surveys is to encourage continuous improvement in aircraft product support throughout the industry. The survey website was open from May 2 to June 15, and respondents were asked to rate individual aircraft, avionics and engine manufacturer product support.

AIN published the 2016 AIN Product Support Survey results, beginning with aircraft manufacturers in the August issue, followed by avionics in September and engines in October. Here’s a summary of those results:

AIRCRAFT

Readers responding to AIN’s 2016 Product Support Survey rank Embraer at the top, with the highest combined overall average (8.4 out of a possible 10) for newer and older aircraft. Dassault Falcon and Gulfstream (both midsizeand large-cabin jets) tie for second place at 8.2. In third place this year is Bombardier’s Challenger series at 8.1, up 0.1 but matching last year’s thirdplace finish.

Two manufacturers tied for fourth place, both with a 7.9 rating, up 0.2 from last year, and these are Bombardier’s Globals and Textron Aviation’s Citations.

Bombardier’s Learjet support climbed to a 7.8 rating, up from last year’s 7.7, leaving it with a fifth-place ranking.

Textron Aviation’s out-of-production jets see a divergence this year, with the smaller jets climbing by 0.2, to 7.4, but the midsize Hawkers dropping to 6.9.

In the turboprop arena,

Mitsubishi’s MU-2s climbed to 9.3 from last year’s 9.1 to top this category, followed by Pilatus’s PC-12s (7.6) and Textron Aviation’s King Airs (7.1), the same placements as last year.

Rotorcraft rankings start with Bell Helicopter at the top of the list (7.5), as it was last year, but with a lower rating (down 0.4), then Airbus Helicopters holding the number-two place (down 0.3 from last year). Sikorsky moved up one place this year to third with 6.5, up 0.2, followed by AgustaWestland with 6.3.

Newer Jets Three OEMs—but an unprecedented four jet series—all earned an 8.4 rating to tie for first place in the “newer business jets” category this year, and all showed an improvement from last year’s ratings. First-place rankings this year were Dassault Falcon, Embraer and both Gulfstream’s midsize and large-cabin jets.

Embraer and Gulfstream midsize saw the largest change, up 0.3

from last year; Falcon climbed 0.2 and Gulfstream large cabins were up 0.1.

Contributing to Dassault’s firstplace finish this year were its top rankings for parts availability (8.6, up 0.2 from last year) and overall aircraft reliability (up 0.1 to 9.0).

Embraer’s rankings were bolstered by an 8.6 for authorized service centers (up from 7.5), 7.3 for cost of parts (from 7.0 last year), 9.0 for technical manuals (up from 8.5) and 9.0 for overall aircraft reliability (up from 8.6).

Gulfstream midsize jets earned top scores as a result of an 8.4 for factory-owned service centers, up from last year’s 7.7; 9.0 for AOG response, up from 8.6; and 9.2 for technical reps, up from 8.1. For large cabin jets, Gulfstream received a 9.1 for warranty fulfillment, up from 9.0; 9.0 (up from 8.6) for maintenance-tracking programs; and 9.0 for overall aircraft reliability for large-cabin jets, up from 8.9.

Bombardier’s Challengers

56 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

TURBOPROPS

ROTORCRAFT

* Listed in order of the 2016 overall average; ties are listed alphabetically; bold indicates highest number in each catergory.

moved into second place, up 0.2 from last year and also up two places from last year’s fourth.

In third place this year was Textron Aviation for the Citations, climbing 0.3 to 8.1 and up from last year’s fifth place.

Bombardier’s Globals received the same 7.8 rating as last year, but this year moved up to fourth place from the fifthplace tie with the Citations. This year, the Learjets and Textron’s Hawker 400XPs ranked in fifth place. The larger Hawkers climbed 0.2 points this year.

Older Jets In the “older jets” category, Bombardier made a big move up to first place with an 8.1 rating for the Globals. The company’s Challengers came in second place with the same 8.0 as last year, followed by Learjet in third, climbing 0.4 to 7.9, and tied with Dassault Falcon (down 0.1) and Gulfstream’s large-cabin jets (down 0.4).

The Globals and Challengers tied for top ranking in the factory-owned service centers category with 7.3, up from the Challengers’ 6.4 last year. (The Globals did not receive enough ratings in the older jets category to be included last year.)

Top ranking for authorized service centers was for the Challengers at 8.1, climbing sharply from 6.4 last year. The Globals secured an 8.2 ranking in parts availability and a 9.3 for technical reps. Challengers were ranked at 8.7 (up 0.3) for maintenance-tracking programs. Learjets achieved top rankings in cost of parts (6.3), AOG response (8.5) and technical manuals (8.4), up 0.3, 1.1 and 0.5 respectively.

Falcons also scored an 8.2 for parts availability (down 0.3 from last year); 8.6 for warranty fulfillment (up 0.5); and 8.9 for overall aircraft reliability (down 0.1).

Gulfstream’s large cabin jets tied with Falcon’s 8.9 for overall aircraft reliability (down 0.2 from last year).

Textron Aviation’s Citations garnered fourth place, the same position as last year, with the same 7.7 overall average rating. In fifth place in this category were Textron’s lighter jets at 7.0 (down 0.4), followed by the Hawkers at 6.7 (down 0.8).

Turboprops The results in the turboprop categories are the same as last year. (Typically AIN doesn’t

Continued on page 58 u

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AIN readers rate OEMs’ support uContinued from page 56

receive enough ratings to include the Daher TBM series.

These categories could see some change when new turboprops such as the Epic E1000 and Textron single-engine turboprop enter the market.)

In first place in the newer turboprops category was Pilatus’s PC-12 series, with a 7.8 rating, up 0.1 from last year. Top ratings for the PC-12 included factory owned service centers (8.5), parts availability (7.4), AOG response (7.5), warranty fulfillment (8.7), technical manuals (8.5), technical reps (8.6), maintenance tracking programs (8.4) and overall aircraft reliability (the highest for any newer aircraft at 9.1).

In second place was Textron Aviation for its King Airs.

In the older turboprops category, Mitsubishi’s MU-2s remain at the top of the list with a 9.3 rating, up from 9.1 last year, followed

by King Airs at 7.0 (down 0.3). The MU-2s received top ratings in every category, matching last year’s 9.8 ranking for overall reliability, the highest of any aircraft in the survey.

Rotorcraft The rankings of the rotorcraft manufacturers are not separated by newer and older airframes, but of note were the category rankings, with Bell Helicopter receiving top spots in factoryowned service centers (7.8), authorized service centers (7.4), parts availability (7.2), cost of parts (6.1), AOG response (7.6), warranty fulfillment (7.5), technical manuals (8.5) and maintenance tracking programs (7.2).

Airbus Helicopters was ranked at the top for warranty fulfillment (tied with Bell at 7.5), technical reps (8.5) and overall aircraft reliability (8.1).

AVIONICS

Garmin remains in the top spot for cockpit avionics manufacturers, with a first-place overall average of 8.2, down 0.1 from last year. Rockwell Collins takes second place, with an overall average of 8.0, the

same as last year. In third place this year is Universal Avionics at 7.9, down 0.1 from last year when it and Rockwell Collins shared the second-place slot.

Honeywell and BendixKing (they are sister companies but serve different market segments) swap places this year, with Honeywell in fourth place at 7.6 (up 0.1) followed by BendixKing at 7.4 (down 0.3).

Garmin’s score this year sees top ratings for overall product

reliability (8.8), technical reps (8.4), cost of parts (7.4) and parts availability (8.3).

Top ratings for Rockwell Collins are technical reps (8.4), technical manuals (7.9) and parts availability (8.3).

Universal Avionics scores the highest rating for warranty fulfillment (8.5) and AOG response (8.4).

On the cabin electronics side, two companies received enough Continued on page 60 u

Overall Average 2016

Overall Average 2015

Rating Change from 2015-2016

Factory Owned Service Centers

Authorized Service Centers

Parts Availability

Cost of Parts

Dassault (Falcon)

8.4

8.2

0.2

7.5

8.0

8.6

7.1

8.7

8.8

8.5

9.1

8.4

9.0

Embraer (Phenom, Legacy, Lineage)

8.4

8.1

0.3

8.0

8.6

7.8

7.3

8.3

8.8

9.0

8.8

8.8

9.0

Gulfstream (G150-G280)

8.4

8.1

0.3

8.4

8.3

8.2

7.2

9.0

8.9

7.6

9.2

8.9

8.6

Gulfstream (G300-G650)

8.4

8.3

0.1

8.2

8.3

8.4

6.4

8.5

9.1

8.5

8.8

9.0

9.0

Bombardier (Challenger)

8.2

8.0

0.2

7.3

7.8

8.1

6.8

8.5

8.5

8.2

8.9

8.6

8.8

Textron Aviation (Citation)

8.1

7.8

0.3

7.9

7.6

8.2

6.6

8.3

8.6

8.1

8.4

8.2

8.7

Bombardier (Global)

7.8

7.8

0.0

7.6

7.4

7.4

6.5

8.0

7.7

7.9

8.5

8.5

8.2

Bombardier (Learjet)

7.7

8.0

-0.3

7.5

7.5

7.8

6.1

7.9

8.7

7.5

8.7

8.1

7.8

Textron Aviation (Premier, Hawker 400XP)

7.7

7.0

0.7

8.2

7.5

7.0

4.9

8.4

8.0

7.9

8.5

7.8

8.8

Textron Aviation (Hawker)

7.2

7.0

0.2

8.0

6.9

6.8

6.1

6.9

7.9

7.2

7.3

8.4

7.6

Bombardier (Global)

8.1

NA

NA

7.3

8.0

8.2

6.2

8.4

8.1

8.3

9.3

8.6

8.8

Bombardier (Challenger)

8.0

8.0

0.0

7.3

8.1

8.1

5.7

8.3

7.8

8.3

9.2

8.7

8.8

Bombardier (Learjet)

7.9

7.5

0.4

6.8

7.4

7.6

6.3

8.5

8.1

8.4

9.0

8.3

8.8

Dassault (Falcon)

7.9

8.0

-0.1

6.5

7.6

8.2

6.2

8.3

8.6

7.8

8.4

8.3

8.9

Gulfstream (GII-GV, G300-G550)

7.9

8.3

-0.4

6.8

7.8

8.0

5.8

8.2

8.2

8.4

8.6

8.4

8.9

Textron Aviation (Citation)

7.7

7.7

0.0

7.2

7.5

8.0

6.2

7.9

8.1

7.5

7.7

8.3

8.5

Textron Aviation (Premier, Beechjet 400/400A, Hawker 400XP)

7.0

7.4

-0.4

7.0

7.1

6.4

5.8

5.5

8.0

7.2

7.3

8.2

7.6

Textron Aviation (Hawker)

6.7

7.5

-0.8

6.4

7.1

5.9

5.4

6.5

6.8

6.4

6.5

8.4

8.3

Pilatus (PC-12)

7.8

7.7

0.1

8.5

6.8

7.4

5.6

7.5

8.7

8.5

8.6

8.4

9.1

Textron Aviation (King Air)

7.4

7.5

-0.1

8.4

7.2

7.0

6.0

6.1

7.9

7.4

8.2

7.5

8.2

Mitsubishi (MU-2, Solitaire, Marquise)

9.3

9.1

0.2

9.2

9.6

9.5

8.4

9.8

9.3

9.1

9.7

8.6

9.8

Textron Aviation (King Air)

7.0

7.3

-0.3

7.4

7.1

6.8

5.4

6.4

7.6

6.8

7.8

7.3

8.6

Bell

7.5

7.9

-0.4

7.8

7.4

7.2

6.1

7.6

7.5

8.5

7.6

7.2

8.0

Airbus Helicopters

7.2

7.5

-0.3

7.2

7.2

6.4

5.2

7.2

7.5

7.5

8.5

6.8

8.1

Sikorsky

6.5

6.3

0.2

6.6

6.8

6.3

4.4

5.8

5.8

7.6

7.4

7.0

7.2

Leonardo Helicopters (AgustaWestland)

6.3

6.8

-0.5

6.2

7.2

5.6

4.3

5.6

6.7

6.9

6.7

6.3

7.0

2016 Category Ratings by Newer and Older Aircraft

AOG Warranty Technical Response Fulfillment Manuals

Technical Reps

Maintenance Overall Tracking Aircraft Programs Reliability

NEWER BUSINESS JETS

OLDER BUSINESS JETS

NEWER TURBOPROPS

OLDER TURBOPROPS

ROTORCRAFT (ALL AGE ROTORCRAFT)

Listed in order of 2016 overall average; ties are listed alphabetically. Bold indicates highest number in each category.

58 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

2016 Manufactures

Overall Average 2016

Overall Average 2015

Ratings Change 2015 to 2016

GE

8.4

8.0

0.4

Williams

8.3

8.3

0.0

Rolls-Royce

8.2

8.1

0.1

uContinued from page 58

Honeywell

8.1

8.0

0.1

ratings this year to be added to the results: cabin monitor manufacturers Aircraft Cabin Systems and Rosen Aviation.

Tying for first place this year are Gogo Business Aviation and Satcom Direct with an 8.3 overall average, both up 0.1 from last year’s first-place tie. Rockwell Collins received the second highest score this year with a ratings jump of 0.4 to a 7.9 overall average, followed by Aircraft Cabin Systems (7.8), Honeywell (7.5) and Rosen Aviation (7.4).

Satcom Direct tops the charts for overall product reliability

P&WC

7.9

7.9

0.0

CFE

7.6

7.7

-0.1

TURBOFAN

AIN readers rate OEMs’ support

2016 Average Ratings of Cockpit Avionics and Cabin Electronics

TURBOPROP/TURBOSHAFT Honeywell

8.8

8.5

0.3

P&WC

7.6

7.8

-0.2

Turbomeca

7.3

6.8

0.5

* Companies are listed in order of their 2016 o­ verall average.

at 8.6 and receives high marks for technical reps (8.9), technical manuals (8.3) and warranty fulfillment (8.8). Gogo Business Aviation’s high scores are for AOG response (8.4), cost of parts (7.8) and parts availability (9.1).

the top spot with Rolls-Royce in 2012. This year’s second-place finisher Williams had been king of the hill for eight of the past 10 years (sharing that honor once, with Rolls, in 2014). Rolls-Royce takes third place among turbofan makers this year, followed

ENGINES AIN readers rank GE as the top provider of product support among turbofan makers this year, a distinction the company earned once previously in the past 10 years when it shared

Overall Average 2016

Overall Average 2015

Rating Change 2015 - 2016

Parts Availability

Cost of Parts

AOG Response

Warranty Fulfillment

Technical Manuals

Technical Reps

Overall Aircraft Reliability

Garmin

8.2

8.3

-0.1

8.3

7.4

8.0

8.2

7.8

8.4

8.8

Rockwell Collins

8.0

8.0

0.0

8.3

6.7

8.2

8.3

7.9

8.4

8.5

Universal Avionics

7.9

8.0

-0.1

8.1

7.1

8.4

8.5

7.4

7.1

8.6

Honeywell

7.6

7.5

0.1

8.0

6.2

7.6

8.2

7.6

7.4

8.0

BendixKing by Honeywell

7.4

7.7

-0.3

7.6

6.6

7.3

7.8

7.3

7.2

8.3

Gogo Business Aviation

8.3

8.2

0.1

9.1

7.8

8.4

8.5

8.0

8.1

8.4

Satcom Direct

8.3

8.2

0.1

8.4

7.2

8.2

8.8

8.3

8.9

8.6

Rockwell Collins

7.9

7.5

0.4

8.0

7.1

7.9

8.3

7.5

8.3

8.0

Aircraft Cabin Systems

7.8

NA

NA

7.4

7.1

7.8

8.5

8.1

8.0

7.9

Honeywell

7.5

7.5

0.0

7.6

6.5

7.4

7.9

7.1

7.8

8.1

Rosen Aviation

7.4

NA

NA

7.6

6.7

6.6

7.2

8.1

7.8

7.7

COCKPIT AVIONICS

CABIN ELECTRONICS

*Companies listed in order of their 2016 overall average. Ties are listed alphabetically. Bold indicates highest number in each category.

2016 Category Ratings of Engine

Overall Average 2016

Overall Average 2015

Ratings Change 2015 - 2016

Factory Service Centers

Auth.

Service Centers

Parts

Cost of Parts

AOG Response

by Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney Canada and CFE. It should be noted, however, that the top four placers this year are each separated by only one tenth of a point.

By a much wider margin, Honeywell takes the top spot among manufacturers of turboprops and turboshafts, outscoring second- and thirdplace finisher Pratt & Whitney Canada by almost a full point.

Safran Helicopter Engines (née Turbomeca) takes fourth place.

Rolls-Royce (manufacturer of the ubiquitous 250 helicopter turboshaft) did not receive enough responses to qualify for inclusion in the survey report.

Among specific turbofan models, the engine with the highest overall average score this year is the Rolls-Royce AE3007, besting the Williams FJ44, with which it tied for first last year. The GE CF34 ranks highest in overall reliability this year with a score of 9.6.

Among turboprops, the Honeywell TPE331 takes top honors in every single category, bar none. o

Warranty

Technical Manuals

Technical Reps

Cost per Hour Programs

Overall Engine

Turbofan Rolls-Royce

AE3007

8.5

8.3

0.2

8.5

8.8

8.5

7.9

8.6

9.1

7.2

8.6

8.3

9.4

GE

CF34

8.4

8.0

0.4

8.1

8.1

8.5

7.1

8.2

8.5

7.8

8.6

8.5

9.6

P&WC

PW600 series

8.4

7.9

0.5

8.4

8.2

8.6

6.8

8.0

8.8

8.3

9.0

8.4

9.1

Rolls-Royce

Tay

8.4

8.2

0.2

8.7

8.2

8.9

7.4

9.0

9.1

8.0

8.4

7.1

9.4

Honeywell

HTF7000

8.3

8.2

0.1

8.8

8.9

8.0

7.0

8.3

8.2

8.0

7.9

8.4

9.3

Williams

FJ44

8.3

8.3

0.0

9.0

8.1

8.4

6.8

8.2

8.0

8.5

8.0

8.5

9.2

Rolls-Royce

BR700 series

8.1

8.0

0.1

8.2

8.3

8.1

6.6

8.2

8.4

7.4

8.6

7.5

9.4

P&WC

PW500 series

8.0

8.0

0.0

7.8

7.9

7.6

6.5

8.4

8.0

8.5

8.7

7.6

8.9

Honeywell

TFE731

7.9

8.0

-0.1

7.6

8.3

8.2

6.5

8.2

8.2

7.7

8.0

7.7

8.8

P&WC

PW300 series

7.8

7.7

0.1

7.5

7.9

7.8

6.7

7.9

8.5

7.9

7.8

7.5

8.7

CFE

CFE738

7.6

7.7

-0.1

7.6

8.0

7.4

6.2

7.9

8.2

7.5

8.5

5.6

9.1

P&WC

JT15D

7.5

7.8

-0.3

7.6

7.1

7.5

5.9

7.2

7.5

8.2

8.1

6.8

9.0

Turboprop/Turboshaft Honeywell

TPE331 turboprop

8.9

8.6

0.3

9.3

9.3

8.4

7.6

9.3

9.1

9.0

9.3

7.8

9.8

P&WC

PT6T/B/C turboshaft

8.0

7.8

0.2

8.4

7.4

7.8

6.8

8.0

8.5

8.7

8.3

7.3

9.0

P&WC

PT6A turboprop

7.6

7.8

-0.2

7.2

7.6

8.0

5.8

7.3

7.7

8.3

8.3

6.6

9.0

Safran

Arriel

7.5

7.3

0.2

8.0

7.4

7.6

6.4

7.4

7.0

7.4

8.1

6.7

8.2

* Companies are listed in order of their 2016 overall average. Ties are listed alphabetically.

60 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

AIRBORNE LITHIUM-ION FIRES A GROWING THREAT

Mesinger stresses need for brokers, attorneys

by Mark Huber Aircraft brokers Jay and Josh Mesinger and aviation attorney David Cooke explained the importance of using specialized brokers and attorneys in aviation resale transactions at a seminar on Wednesday at NBAA 2016.

The trio stressed that assembling a coordinated, specialized team was more important than ever in today’s complex aircraft resale environment.

“The business is okay right now, but it has never been more difficult,” said Mesinger, who has been in the aircraft resale business for 42 years, beginning as a Piper dealer in Texas before moving into jet sales, now in partnership with his son Josh. Cooke, with the New Jersey law firm of Genova Burns, stressed the role of brokers in “eliminating uncertainty” in aircraft transactions, while Mesinger emphasized that his clients who relied on general or in-house counsel noted that those attorneys were inadequately versed in the appropriate aviation regulations that are often critical determinants in transactions. “A buyer’s in-house attorney often doesn’t understand these things,” he said.

The dynamics of the current resale market have made the need for reliance on a specialized team even more critical, Mesinger said, citing aging aircraft issues, the large number of used aircraft on the market and

the recent trend to import aircraft into the U.S. An oversupply of a particular make and model on the market can create a propensity for soft deals for that aircraft—that is when the buyer has the option to accept or reject the aircraft at the conclusion of the pre-buy inspection.

This is in contrast to hard deals that prevail in conditions of scarcity, when there is a rising market with short demand, and buyers are locked into deals earlier in the buy cycle with nonrefundable deposits or terms that give sellers opportunities to cure.

In any market condition, a skillful aviation attorney who knows how to craft a detailed aviationspecific pre-buy agreement is valuable as that agreement then becomes a vehicle to “create a level of confidence and a level of trust,” Mesinger said.

While importing an aircraft into the U.S. might at first glance seem like a bargain, especially a large-cabin late-model aircraft, Josh Mesinger cautioned that the associated transaction costs can easily be double that of a domestic deal and that pre-buy inspections, log book verifications, de-registrations, escrow and title clearances are all more complex. Cooke counseled that it was a good idea to obtain aviation counsel in both export and import countries when doing such a deal. o

BURN BAG DEALER OFFERS UPGRADE Baker Aviation (Booth 1724), which distributes the Hot-Stop L fire containment bags manufactured by Industrial Energy Products, is offering a retrofit solution for clients who wish to upgrade their earlier bags to the same standard as the new Evolution models.

“As pioneers in this fire-containment market, we wanted to offer our loyal customers who purchased the original Hot-Stop L laptop, XL tablet or tablet-size kits from 2010 to 2015 an opportunity to upgrade to the latest technology without incurring the larger out-of-pocket expense of purchasing a new bag,” said Baker Aviation president and COO Ray Goyco. “We will coordinate with our customers to send the legacy Hot-Stop bag to the manufacturer, where the same airtight zipper that is used in the Hot-Stop Evolution bags will be inserted for a fraction of the cost of a new bag.”

Designed initially to isolate the threat of a runaway lithium-ion battery fire from any of the numerous personal electronic devices powered by them, the bags have evolved to deal with the heavy smoke that can accompany these fires as well. Launched earlier this year, the new zerotolerance bag incorporates the latest zipper technology that adds an extra barrier to contain battery smoke, fire and explosions. The product is designed to contain a device in full thermal runaway until it has burned itself out. It can also be used as a preventative measure if a device shows signs of overheating.

—C.E.

The recent recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone due to its potential to catch fire has highlighted the threat that all lithium-ion batterypowered devices present, especially on board an aircraft. With millions of mobile devices in use, training crews on how to deal with this possible hazard is now crucial. Since 1991, there have been 129 incidents involving aviation and lithium battery fires, 17 percent of them occurring in the last year alone, according to FAA statistics (although not all of these involved mobile devices).

Flaws in battery manufacturing, impact damage, overheating of gray-market batteries or overcharging by low-cost replacement chargers can all start a fire. While typical fire-suppression methods such as electrical-qualified fire extinguishers might temporarily extinguish the flames, they will not end the threat as the overheated device will flare up again and burn until there is no more fuel to consume. Another concern is that battery damage to a Li-ion-powered device could cause thermal runaway days later.

Yet it is a tough call for a flight crewmember to tell a passenger in flight that their smartphone, tablet or laptop is about to ignite. “If it is heating, particularly if you are starting to see smoke, even wisps of

Carville, Matalin rock NBAA uContinued from page 1

advisor Matalin. “I’m giving him 271 or 272 [electoral votes of the 270 required] and I can go through three maps to show how he can do it.”

“I think Hillary will win,” countered Carville, Bill Clinton’s former campaign manager, noting if Democrats win all the states they’ve carried in the last six elections, “you’re 28 short [of needed Electoral College votes].

Mary, you can see Trump’s got an avenue to 270, but you have to do two bank shots to get there.”

Their appearance at the show continues a quadrennial NBAA tradition of having the couple give their insights to the contest on the eve of the election. As for the tenor of this year’s campaign, most analysts “conclude we’ve never seen anything like this,” said Matalin, but she disagrees.

“I’d say Kook versus Crook, we have seen many election cycles like this,” going back to the 1800s.

Nonetheless, it was clear

smoke, it’s going to go,” said industry safety expert John Cox, the CEO of Safety Operation Systems, who has been studying aircraft fires for the past 15 years.

“It’s totally unpredictable as to the severity of the discharge, so you have to assume that it will be a severe discharge and cool it.”

In a presentation on Wednesday at NBAA 2016, he described how battery cells rupture and burn at more than 1,000 deg F, in the process ejecting flaming gel, spraying molten copper and emitting clouds of toxic, highly-flammable, ether-based vapors and smoke that can quickly reduce visibility in an aircraft cockpit. Cox recommends dousing the device in water, cooling it below its ignition temperature, and then securing it in an airtight containment device.

He also advocates the adoption of new FAA guidelines, and the introduction of specific crew training to deal with the problem. To ensure cockpit visibility in a continuous smoke situation he recommends the use of products such as VisionSafe’s EVAS, which comes as standard equipment on the Gulfstream G650.

Lastly he urges operators to provide proper protection for those who will have to deal with an exceptionally hazardous situation.

—C.E.

both see the contest as marking a seismic shift in the political system. The pair also answered questions texted in real time from the audience, and posed

by NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, who hosted the session. Asked to describe this election cycle in one word, Carville asked rhetorically, “Can I use two? ‘Holy moly!’” Matalin’s response: “Transitional.”

With the plethora of polls continuing to provide conflicting prognostications, Carville pointed to two coming out between now and election day that deserve attention: “The NBC-Wall Street Journal poll is the gold standard, and the Bloomberg poll is well done,” said Carville. “There’s different skill levels of pilots, and it’s the same thing with polls. It’s not like aviation where you’ve got everything mapped out. There’s a large, unpredictable nature to this [polling] business.”

Asked if the media is responsible for the polarization of public discourse, Matalin and Carville agreed its main cause is the electoral redistricting of the past four decades, which created

safe zones for Democratic and Republican elected officials alike, allowing them to appeal only to their core constituencies, and freeing politicians to express ever greater degrees of antipathy toward opponents across the aisle.

The dialog was the main event in a session that included the presentation of the NBAA’s Meritorious Service Award, the organization’s highest honor, to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) for his legislative advocacy on behalf of general aviation, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame’s Combs-Gates Award to author David McCullough for his recent bestseller “The Wright Brothers.”

The SRO crowd mirrored the size of this year’s gathering.

More than 1,100 exhibitors are displaying in the exhibition hall, 100 aircraft are on static display at Orlando Executive Airport and another 17 aircraft are on indoor static display here at the Orange County Convention Center. Attendance is on track to match last year’s more than 27,000 attendees, according to NBAA. o

www.ainonline.com • November 3, 2016 • NBAA Convention News 61

BBJ specialist Aloft taps Sundin as CEO BBJ Completions and MRO “Every BBJ is an individual specialist Aloft AeroArchitects custom work of art,” said John (Booth 2031) announced a lead- Eichten, Aloft’s vice president of ership change, naming Robert sales and marketing. “As experts Sundin as president on the BBJ platform, we’ve also become exand CEO. John perts at managing the Martin, current technical impacts of president and CEO, variance and individwill assume the role uality into our system of board chairman. of ensuring complete Sundin, a 30-year accuracy, efficiency veteran of the and the highest debusiness aviation gree of quality.” industry, has previously held leadAloft will also ership positions perform a scheduled with Bombardier, 12-month inspecLandmark Aviation tion on another and Dassault Falcon Aloft AeroArchitects has BBJ, Eichten said, Jet. “My focus will named industry veteran and simultaneously be to oversee the Robert Sundin as its new install and receive president and CEO. next pivot of Aloft’s an STC for its own business by leveragADS-B out soluing John’s foundation of consis- tion. The company is developtent performance into a period of ing additional STCs through its growth in key business segments,” FAA Organization Designation he said.

Authorization, Eichten said.

Aloft also recently redeAdditionally, Mike Warburton, livered three BBJs following a commercial and military aviascheduled maintenance at the tion veteran, has joined Aloft as company’s Delaware facility. vice president of strategic sales/ Two of the aircraft underwent technology integration. o 15-year inspections and the third had a six-year maintenance inspection that included extensive VIP interior removal and reinstallation.

AMY LABODA

by James Wynbrandt

Women in Corporate Aviation scholarship winners and sponsors gathered at the organization’s annual awards luncheon during NBAA 2016.

Women in Corporate Aviation awards 15 scholarships worth $78K

by Amy Laboda Sometimes coming to the NBAA Convention really pays off. That was the feeling for 15 deserving Women in Corporate Aviation (WCA) members who were awarded scholarships valued at $78,544 yesterday at NBAA 2016. WCA is a non-profit mentoring association for business aviation professionals.

WCA luncheon attendees were treated to a bit of excellent mentoring on the spot from awards luncheon keynote speaker Denise Wilson, president and CEO of Desert Jet, a nine-year-old FBO, business jet charter, maintenance and

aircraft management company based in Palm Springs, Calif.

Association president Isha Jordan said, “Denise is an amazing business aviation leader, who spoke about the benefits of creating one’s own path and how to keep ones’ ears open for creative opportunities.”

Scholarship winners this year included Karyn Wojcik, Diar “Didi” Aranki; Genevieve Zasada; Sarah Cooke; Tamara Collum; Wendylie Alix; Elizabeth Stenning; Antoinette Amaral; Holly Tagima; Linda McGurin; Mikael Enz; Anusha Gregory; Karla Todd; Michelle Powell;

Lucy Evans; and Sarah Gursky.

The WCA scholarships came from donors that included Air Training International; AirFlite; CAE SimuFlite; Executive Jet Management; FlightSafety International; MedAire; Susan C. Freidenberg; Signature Flight Support; Universal Weather & Aviation; and Women in Corporate Aviation.

The association welcomes students, individuals and businesses that wish to join in its efforts to develop business aviation professionals and support one another, both in the present and future. o

DAVID McINTOSH

IDAIR TAILORS HIGH-END IFE FOR SECOND BBJ 787

BELL AND MECAER SHOW VIP 525 INTERIOR, ANNOUNCE UPCOMING 505 PROJECT Bell Helicopter (Booth 219) and Mecaer unveiled the MAGnificent VIP 8 passenger interior for the Bell 525 super-medium twin helicopter for the first time in North America this week at NBAA 2016. The companies also announced their intent to develop a luxury interior for the smaller Model 505 Jet Ranger X single. The 525 interior is installed in a full-scale mock-up of that helicopter’s passenger cabin and is on display at Bell’s NBAA booth.

—M.H.

62 NBAA Convention News • November 3, 2016 • www.ainonline.com

Having announced the completion of work on a first Boeing 787 head-of-state aircraft in May, Idair (Booth 1864), the cabin systems joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Panasonic Avionics, revealed this week at NBAA 2018 that it had carried out similar installations for a second BBJ 787. This included installation of an in-flight entertainment system, cabin management system and connectivity solution.

The aircraft was completed by Greenpoint Technologies in Moses Lake, Wash., for Kestrel Aircraft Management, and was displayed at EBACE 2016 in May. The aircraft has 16 VIP seats and each has controls for the cabin lighting, entertainment and communications that include mobile telephony and IP TV. The first 787 Idair worked on was completed by Associated Air Center in Dallas.

“We will continue our close collaboration with Greenpoint and customer representatives like Kestrel Aviation Management to ensure a best-in-class experience for our VIP customers,” said Dr. Wassef Ayadi, CEO of Idair.

—I.S.

NEWS CLIPS z Hearst Buying Camp Systems

z Lord Expands into Flight Control Systems With its June purchase of SKF’s Fly-by-Wire Systems France (FbY) subsidiary, Lord (Booth 1244) has expanded into flight controls, part of an initiative to “rebalance” its aerospace business evenly between rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, while pursuing opportunities in aircraft electrification, said Lord Aerospace president Bill Cerami. FbY collaborated with Airbus on the A320’s fly-by-wire system and provides the fly-by-wire cockpit controls for Embraer’s Legacy 450 and 500. NBAA 2016 attendees can try out a cockpit simulator at Lord’s booth. It is outfitted with all the fly-by-wire controls—sidesticks, throttle, flap/slat lever, speed brakes and rudder pedals—that the company’s new subsidiary provides for the Legacys.

z ArincDirect Adds SmartNotam and FOS App Rockwell Collins is enhancing its ArincDirect services with the addition of SmartNotam from Swiss air navigation services provider Skyguide and the release of a new Flight Operations System (FOS) mobile app.

The company is working with Skyguide to integrate SmartNotam into the ArincDirect flight-planning services.

SmartNotam will simplify a pilot’s review of Notams by providing the capability to sort, filter and categorize Notams through SmartNotam, said Skyguide COO Alex Bristol.

“The ArincDirect flight-planning application currently provides time, altitude and flight path information,” said Bob Richard, senior director, flight support services for Rockwell Collins. “By integrating SmartNotam with our flight planning service, for the first time, ArincDirect customers will have one, seamless tool to reduce the number of Notams they must review prior to departure, improving safety and efficiency.”

z Satcom Direct Can Now Carry SiriusXM Satcom Direct (Booth 2626) is now an authorized provider of SiriusXM Aviation Weather Pro and satellite radio services.

SiriusXM’s Aviation Weather Pro product provides in-cockpit Nexrad, lightning strike, high-resolution composite and basereflectivity radar, surface visibility, TAFs, Metars, extended forecasts, graphical winds and temperatures aloft, echo tops, turbulence, icing and real-time TFR information.

With SiriusXM signals carried on Satcom Direct’s routers, pilots and passengers have no line of sight restrictions or altitude limitations on data or radio reception. “Adding our weather and audio to Satcom Direct’s portfolio of managed services will increase convenience and add value to Satcom Direct customers,” said Dave Wasby, v-p of aviation and marine services at SiriusXM.

z New App From Cobham Tests ADS-B Capability Cobham AvComm (Booth 1953) has introduced a new app to allow operators to check that their aircraft’s ADS-B equipment is working correctly. The ADS-B Integrity Test Application controls Cobham’s IFR6000 or IFR6015 transponder test sets, as well as the GPSG-1000 Positional Simulator. These are required by FAA to support supplemental type certification and post-approval testing of ADS-B equipment.

For research and development and factory testing, the app will control Cobham’s IFF-45TS/A MK XII/A bench test set and the GPSG-1000 for ADS-B out performance. The system can generate a complete ADS-B out compliance report, formatted to FAA requirements and including total latency measurements and pass/fail criteria.

DAVID McINTOSH

Hearst Business Media is acquiring Camp Systems International (Booth 3939), a provider of software-as-a-service solutions including maintenance-tracking software used to manage more than 19,000 aircraft, 30,000 engines and 1,300 maintenance facilities worldwide. Terms were not disclosed and the deal is expected to close by year-end, subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition, announced last week, is part of Hearst’s continuing strategy to diversify into data and information-based companies.

New brakes from Parker and updated EVO landing gear will improve performance and cut maintenance costs, according to Piaggio.

Piaggio offers upgrades for legacy Avanti owners

by Charles Alcock Piaggio Aerospace is boosting its aftermarket support for operators of its P180 Avanti twin turboprop with options for new brakes and landing gear. On Wednesday at NBAA 2016, the Italian manufacturer also signed new service center agreements with eight U.S. repair stations.

Parker’s wheel and brake division is developing an alternative braking system for the Avanti that Piaggio said will reduce the cost to operators by as much as 70 percent. The new steel brakes and main gear wheels will be available for retrofit from

mid-2017 under an STC developed by Parker.

Piaggio is now offering legacy Avanti operators the option to install the more advanced landing gear that it uses for the current-production Avanti EVO model. The new equipment is expected to halve overhaul costs with an extended time between overhaul. It also includes a new digital steering system intended to reduce pilot workload.

Avanti operators also now have the option of retrofitting a new anti-skid system, as well as LED taxi and landing lights

Gama Aviation striving for long-term growth

by Ian Sheppard Gama Aviation—best known in the U.S. for operating Wheels Up’s fleet of King Air 350is—continues to grow its international presence and develop what it believes to be a more-or-less unique model, combining FBOs, a managed/charter aircraft fleet and an MRO. Marwan Khalek, founder and CEO, told AIN at NBAA 2016 that its managed fleet continues to grow, noting that the company (Booth 3319) will soon add three more aircraft in Hong Kong. In addition, he said, Gama is preparing to build a new facility in Sharjah, where it already has an operation, that will allow it to tap far more into the lucrative Middle East market. The company will be expanding more on these plans next month at the MEBAA show.

Meanwhile, AIN recently visited Gama Aviation’s new FBO in Jersey, where the company held

a private viewing event with a range of aircraft from OEM dealers in the UK. Growing Managed Fleet

As well as its Wheels Up contract, Gama Aviation also manages aircraft that it charters out for the owners, and this fleet is growing, Khalek said. “For us, the U.S. has been a good growth market. Wheels Up is evidence of that but we mustn’t lose sight of the success in our core business in the management business, particularly in the U.S. “Europe remains flat, but the maintenance side is still pretty good. And it’s pleasing that we’re seeing movement in the Far East and Middle East now.” He said the model of managing aircraft for owners and using them for charter remains robust and popular, “particularly in places like Sharjah.”

mounted on the landing gear struts. Piaggio said that operators will be able to install the new landing gear package for no more than it costs to overhaul the currently installed components.

The new service center agreements signed this week cover maintenance support for the Avanti, the Avanti II and the EVO models at the following facilities: Greenpoint Aerospace (Denton, Texas); Intercontinental Jet Service (Tulsa, Okla.); Mather Aviation (Rancho Cordova, Calif.); Signature TechnicAir (Scottsdale, Ariz.); Stevens Aviation (Greenville, S.C.); Turboprop East (North Adams, Mass.); and West Star Aviation (East Alton, Ill.). Recently, Piaggio also extended the existing service center agreement with Banyan Air Service in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. o On Wheels Up starting up in Europe, he said, “It is very much on the horizon and we’re putting in place a complex plan for when they decide it’ll happen.”

He suggested that the only reason it hadn’t happened already was the amount of resources being used for growth in the U.S. “We’re really excited about rolling that out,” Khalek said.

The Gama Aviation CEO also said, “We’re relaunching the Africa business,” without elaborating, before concluding that the company has “a well defined strategy, partly through organic growth and some by acquisition.”

He suggested that “consolidation must continue,” and Gama has a list of possible opportunities, but will not risk rushing.

Aircraft-wise, the company will not purchase any more aircraft itself, but will keep those it has on long-term contracts such as the Scottish Air Ambulance (King Airs). But this special missions part of its business is something he hopes to expand on an international basis. “We’re looking to use our experience in new opportunities.” o

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