A Spotlight of Business Aviation News In The 2010s
May 03, 2021
The First Fly-by-wire Business Jet
Published in AWST, May 3, 2010
Dassault’s Falcon 7X is the first purpose-built business aircraft with a digital flight control system, a technology intended to ease pilot workload, provide flight envelope protection and enable designers to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency.
Design of the system capitalizes on Dassault’s three-plus decades of building Mach 2-class fighters with fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls.
If you want a brief example of how the fortunes of the business jet industry have changed in recent years, few endeavours illustrate the story as well as Cessna’s ambitions to field a super-mid-size aircraft.
In 2008, at the height of the business aircraft boom, the Textron division launched the ambitious division launched the ambitious Columbus with great fanfare.
For many operators - and particularly those in business aviation - the European Union’s Emissions Trading Systems (ETS) is the poster child for good intentions gone terribly awry. The EU’s goal was to stimulate adoption of a worldwide system for curbing aircraft emissions. And while there has been some movement in that direction, what has been created is a convoluted market in carbon credits that favours small airlines, severely penalises business jets and has raised the spectre of an international trade war.
The Brazilian manufacturer is positioning its latest business jet as a midsize aircraft, its 3,000-nm range and $20-million base price competing on paper with the Bombardier Learjet 85, Cessna Citation Sovereign and Gulfstream G150. But the Legacy 500 actually steps up to the super-midsize class, competing in many ways with the Bombardier Challenger 300/350 and Gulfstream G280.
When Piper Aircraft began working on the next evolution of its M500 Meridian, it focused on three goals - an increase in payload, range and speed. It is what dealers and customers had been asking for.
“With those three goals in mind, we set out to develop the M600”, says Brandon McShea, program manager.
Amid the gloom of China’s business aircraft market, a few rays of sunshine are peeking through. Fleet growth in what was once the manufacturers’ great hope has slowed to a crawl and is predicted to drop even further this year. But there are sporadic early indicators of a turnaround.
With several supersonic business jet projects in initial development, Rolls-Royce is cautiously optimistic about the prospects for the embryonic high-speed civil aircraft market and is actively studying a new generation of potential engine designs to power it.
After years of repeated washouts, the business aviation outlook seems rosier. The industry may be at the beginning of a new period of growth. If this long-awaited return to prosperity coccus, it could help accelerate the fulfilment of new demand for lower-cost connectivity and significantly higher cruise speed.
The European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), May 21-23 in Geneva, comes as European business aircraft manufacturers are experiencing varying levels of success. Concurrently, a viable air taxi market faces challenges in establishing itself. Combines, the situation suggest the Continent’s industry remains highly sensitive to short-term changes in its environment, 10 years after a major downturn ruined prospects for a vast expansion.
