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Magazine Issue

Business & Commercial Aviation, June 2016

VOL. 112 NO. 13 June 01, 2016

Viewpoint

article

Viewpoint: Empty Cockpits

May 24, 2016
The warnings are dire and getting considerable attention in both the trade and general media. The danger? A shortage of pilots.

Intelligence

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Bombardier Business Aircraft's 10-Year Forecast

May 24, 2016
According to the latest annual 10-year forecast by Bombardier Business Aircraft, the industry will deliver 8,300 business jets valued at $250 billion through 2025.
article

RUAG First to Fully Repaint Challenger 350

May 24, 2016
RUAG Aviation is the first company in Europe to fully repaint a Bombardier Challenger 350.
article

Universal Avionics UniLink TSO Expected Midyear

May 24, 2016
Universal Avionics says its UniLink UL-800/801 Communications Management Unit (CMU) Software Control Number (SCN) 31.X is expected to receive technical standard order (TSO) approval by midyear.
article

ABS Jets, Honeywell To Enhance Weather Awareness App

May 24, 2016
ABS Jets, a Prague-based business jet operator, is working with Honeywell to further enhance its inflight weather awareness application, known as Weather Information Service.
article

FAA Approves GIV-SP PlaneDeck

May 24, 2016
Gulfstream Aerospace has received FAA approval for a synthetic vision upgrade to GIV-SP aircraft equipped with PlaneDeck.
article

EBACE Will Be In Geneva Through 2021

May 24, 2016
European Business Aviation Association, the National Business Aviation Association, Geneva's Palexpo exhibit center and Geneva Airport officials have signed an agreement to continue to hold the annual European Business Aviation Convention at Palexpo through 2021.
article

Global 7000 Expected To Fly This Year

May 24, 2016
Bombardier Business Aircraft President David Coleal says the company's top-of-the-line, and long-delayed Global 7000 will finally fly this year and "we're very focused on that right now."
article

Awards For Weisman, Parks And Kopardekar

May 24, 2016
Executive Air Fleet founder Matt Weisman, along with Bruce Parks and Parimal Kopardekar recently received NASA's 2015 ARMD Associate Administrator Award for their planning and leadership of the NASA/Silicon Valley Chapter AUVSI Unmanned Air Traffic 2015 convention.
article

BCA Magazine Wins Neal Award For Best Technical Content

May 24, 2016
A series of technology features stories published by Business & Commercial Aviation last year were judged the best in the business byAmerican Business Media, an association of business information providers.
article

R44 Cadet Certified

May 25, 2016
Robinson Helicopter's two-place R44 Cadet won its FAA certification last month. Robinson says the aircraft's modest price will appeal to the training market as well as operators who want the economy of a small helicopter with the comfort, power, and performance of a larger one.
article

ARG/US Purchases Unmanned Safety Institute

May 25, 2016
ARG/US International has purchased the Unmanned Safety Institute. The privately held company conducts unmanned aircraft system safety training, certification and management.
article

UAS Services Revenue: $8.7 Billion by 2025

May 25, 2016
According to market intelligence firm Tractica, global commercial UAS services revenue is expected to grow from $170 million in 2015 to $8.7 billion by 2025.
article

BNSF Railway To Test Surveillance Of Small UAS

May 25, 2016
BNSF Railway will test low-level surveillance methods necessary for beyond-visual line-of-sight operations for small unmanned aircraft systems.
article

FAA Testing UAV Detection Systems

May 25, 2016
The FAA has expanded its efforts to prevent UAVs from flying too close to airports by signing cooperative research agreements with an additional three suppliers of counter-UAV systems.
article

Jetex Adds FBO In France

May 25, 2016
Jetex is adding a new fixed-base operator location in Marseille,France, continuing the company's expansion in the region. The location offers VIP travelers easy access to the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region.
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Sheltair Acquires Tampa Jet International

May 27, 2016
Sheltair has acquired Tampa Jet International Center at Tampa International Airport, Florida, and plans to expand its infrastructure. The operation and location is expected to fit into Shelter's growth model and complements its network of fixed-base operations.
article

VistaJet Takes Delivery Of 100th Aircraft

May 25, 2016
VistaJet celebrated the delivery of its 100th aircraft since the company's founding in 2004. The company's fleet has grown to more than 60 Bombardier Global and Challenger aircraft with a market value of more than $1.8 billion.
article

Jet Aviation To Open Macau Maintenance Base

May 25, 2016
Jet Aviation expects this quarter to open a business jet maintenance center at Macau International Airport that it is being established partly in response to space limits in Hong Kong.
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Lufthansa Technik Expanding Asia Presence And Products

May 25, 2016
Lufthansa Technik is extending its presence in the Asian market and is expanding its range of products, some of which are already being installed in aircraft.
article

Third AW609 Enters Flight-Test Program

May 25, 2016
Leonardo-Finmeccanica Helicopters has taken the first steps in restarting the flight-test campaign of its AgustaWestland AW609 commercial tiltrotor following the fatal crash of the second prototype last October.
article

Jet-A And Avgas Per Gallon Fuel Prices May 2016

Jun 01, 2016
Jet-A And Avgas Per Gallon Fuel Prices May 2016

Fast Five

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Fast Five: Questions For William "Bill" Koch

May 25, 2016
William Koch, chairman of Hawthorne Global Aviation Services of Dallas.

Analysis

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Pilot Report: Flying The HondaJet HA-420

May 26, 2016
Michimasa Fujino, founding president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Co. Inc, is understandably proud of the new HondaJet. He has personally guided its progress from initial conception to a fully developed model and certified aircraft, fighting through at least five years of delays in the process.
article

Garmin G3000 Avionics

May 26, 2016
The HondaJet's Garmin G3000 avionics package, fully integrated with aircraft engines and systems, is one of the most advanced versions yet developed.
article

GE Honda HF120-H1A Turbofans

May 26, 2016
The 2,000-lb.-thrust-class GE Honda HF120 is one of the most advanced engines in its class, having a 4.5:1 thrust-to-weight ratio, 2.9:1 bypass ratio and 24:1 pressure ratio. It's also one of the quietest and lowest exhaust emission engines in its class.
article

HondaJet HA-420 Comparison Profile

May 26, 2016
Designers attempt to provide exceptional capabilities in all areas, including price, but the laws of physics, thermodynamics and aerodynamics do not allow one aircraft to perform all missions with equal efficiency. Trade-offs are a reality of aircraft design.
article

HondaJet HA-420 Performance

May 26, 2016
Three HondaJet HA-420 graphs are designed to illustrate the aircraft's performance under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions.
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HondaJet HA-420 Options

May 26, 2016
Options range from leather crew seats for $3,000 to a GoGoBiz - Text and Talk system for $151,500.

DOM Notebook

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Sealed Lead-Acid Batteries

May 26, 2016
The invention of the nickel-cadmium (NiCad) battery, which had less gas output and more reliable power than its lead-acid predecessor, was a major catalyst toward allowing aircraft to fly higher and faster.
article

Li-ion's In Your Bird? Oh My!

May 26, 2016
Lithium ion main batteries are becoming more and more common but not without teething troubles. A number of high-profile safety incidents have given the technology a black eye. The danger of thermal runaway is a serious issue and if you have the technology installed in your aircraft you need to keep up to speed.

Cause & Circumstance

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Inflight Breakup

May 26, 2016
Two young men, both aspiring for aviation careers, were killed on March 24, 2014, at about 1738 when the Piper Seminole PA-44-180 they were piloting broke up in flight and crashed into a salt marsh near Brunswick, Georgia. The NTSB determined that the accident probably resulted from the pilots losing control of their aircraft while flying in stratiform instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) at 8,000 ft. MSL.
article

FAA and AOPA Urge Cross-Check

May 26, 2016
The NTSB calls your attention to Advisory Circular AC 91-75, a Safer Skies initiative recommendation authored by the FAA and the industry that highlighted vacuum system failures as a significant cause or contributor to fatal accidents in IMC.
article

Another Partial-Panel Loss

May 26, 2016
The pilot and two passengers were killed on the afternoon of May 3, 2016, when their Beech 35B Bonanza broke up and crashed in Syosset on Long Island, New York. The IFR flight originated in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and was en route to Robertson Field (4B8) in Plainville, Connecticut.

Accidents in Brief

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Accidents In Brief

May 26, 2016
Selected accidents and incidents in April 2016. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

Operations

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Weighty Matters

May 26, 2016
Refusing to load excessive baggage is an awkward matter, especially when the lead passenger insists other pilots accepted the same. But a professional pilot’s primary responsibility is to ensure safe passage, not accommodate overindulgence.
article

Post-Maintenance Test Flying

May 26, 2016
Aviation lore veritably brims with tales of the fearless test pilot flying into harm's way to probe the limits of an experimental airplane's performance, the quintessential scenario being the flutter dive. You know the scene: Pull up, Buck, pull up!
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Experience Matters

May 26, 2016
BCA contributor James Albright, who authors the "http://code7700.com" website, advises using qualified pilots and mechanics on functional check flights.
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A Failed Post-MX Experience

May 26, 2016
In February 2002, a Gulfstream V underwent maintenance at a repair station at West Palm Beach Airport in Florida. The airplane was placed on jacks for a tire change. During the process, a maintenance tech disabled the weight-on-wheels, aka "squat" switches with wooden "Popsicle sticks" to simulate that the GV was in "ground mode" so he could access the Maintenance Data Acquisition Unit in the cockpit to troubleshoot a false overspeed warning problem.
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Lessons From A Master

May 26, 2016
Former Royal Air Force aviator O.W. "Wally" Epton, with nearly 17,000 hr. of stick time specializes in conducting functional check flights and training other pilots how to do the same in a responsible and knowledgeable way.
article

Misfueling

May 26, 2016
The hustle and bustle of busy business aviation ramps can easily result in an uploading of an inappropriate amount of fuel or fueling to the wrong tanks, or both. Accordingly, some business aircraft operators abide by SOPs that stipulate their pilots monitor the refueling process.
article

Rotary CG

May 26, 2016
Weight-and-balance considerations of a helicopter are similar to those of an airplane, except they are far more critical, and the CG range is much more limited.
article

CG and Elevator Trim

May 26, 2016
On May 20, 2002, a Cessna Citation 550 accelerated down 7,200-ft.-long Runway 17L at Will Rogers World Airport at Oklahoma City, destined for Greeley-Weld County Airport in Greeley, Colorado. According to the pilot, he didn't notice any anomalies with the airplane during the preflight examination or while taxiing for takeoff and that the flight controls were free and correct.

Safety

article

Learning How To Say ‘No’

Jun 01, 2016
The pilot breed has in it the primal instinct to attempt every assigned task, no matter the odds of success. Like many of our innate urges, this proclivity must be kept in check because in an airplane, acting on it can be deadly.

Innovation

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Swiss Innovation, Part II

May 26, 2016
The inspiration for "mercy missions" traces back to Nov. 19, 1946, when an off-course American C-53—the paratroop version of the DC-3/C-47—with four crewmen and eight military VIPs aboard crashed into the Swiss Alps. All survived, but they were stranded in deep snow on a high glacier with no means of self-extraction.
article

Swiss No-see’ums

May 26, 2016
As of January 2016, the Swiss Air Force had 31 Boeing F/A-18 Hornets, 22 F-5E and 4 F-5F double-seater Tiger II fighters in its inventory. If you tour the country or look at overhead photographs of the mountain valley airfields where the aircraft are based, you won't spot any of their hangars.

Point of Law

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Aircraft Tracking: Who Is Watching You?

May 26, 2016
There is a growing awareness and concern that those who have asked that ATC tracking data be blocked from dissemination on the Internet are now subject to exposure through growing networks that capture their Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transmissions. Today, there are thousands of tracking capture sites receiving data from unwitting operators.

On Duty

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Awards And Honors

May 26, 2016
Bruce Whitman, chairman, president and CEO of FlightSafety International, receives the medaille de l'Aeronautique from France in New York from Consul General Bertrand Lortholary on April 26, 2016.
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News Of Promotions, Appointments And Honors (June 2016)

May 26, 2016
News of promotions, appointments and honors involving professionals within the business aviation community

20/Twenty

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Used Aircraft Report: Dassault Falcon 10/100

May 26, 2016
The now-classic Falcon 10's sky-high operating costs can be painful, but when you are blasting past lesser light jets at Mach 0.85 to 0.86 you might feel it is well worth the money.

Readers' Feedback

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Readers' Feedback (June 2016)

May 24, 2016
BCA readers share their opinions on articles we published.

Product & Services Previews

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BCA Business Aviation Product And Service Previews

May 26, 2016
BCA shares the latest products and services for the business aviation industry.

50 Years Ago

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Business & Commercial Aviation News from June 1966

May 26, 2016
In June 1966, BCA documented the sites for the 16 antennas on the Grumman Gulfstream II, considered fiberglass aircraft structures and components and covered "pod-like vehicles, attachable to trucks or to the belly of a Skycrane-type helicopter."