Business & Commercial Aviation

Cessna Citation crash in Germany: Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation determines that the cause was the pilot-in-command’s decision to conduct the VFR approach “even though he was aware of the prevailing instrument weather condition at the airport."

StandardAero is offering global high-speed broadband connectivity for the business aviation market for Falcon aircraft. Working with Honeywell’s new JetWave Ka-band system, the cabin completion and MRO facility has completed an STC for the Falcon 900B, C and EX series, as well as for the Falcon 50 series. The new system was first fitted for a Falcon 900EX operator. Documentation has also been submitted for European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) validation.

The FAA is seeking bids to build a remote air traffic control tower at Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL), a business and general aviation facility about 50 sm north of Denver. The airport was formerly known as the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport. In a request for information issued Nov.

Constant Aviation has developed a ADS-B equipment solution for the Cessna Citation X. Constant Aviation, based in Cleveland, completed its first ADS-B upgrade on a Citation X, the company said. Its “solution” to meet the Jan. 1, 2020, mandate to equip differs from the manufacturer’s in that it does not require LPV capability as a prerequisite, which lowers the cost, the company said. If the work to upgrade is done concurrently with scheduled maintenance, the cost and downtime can be lower in many cases, it said.

The Federalist Papers No. 62, published in 1788, James Madison warned, "It will be of little avail to the people, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood." I suspect this founding father would be flummoxed by today's federals, especially if he decided to go flying.

Astronics Corp. has been selected as a supplier for Textron Aviation's new Cessna Denali single-engine turboprop. Astronics will supply an aircraft power system that features Astronics’ Corepower Induction Starter Generator System and Corepower Electronic Circuit Breaker Unit and the 28-Volt DC Empower In-Seat Power Supply. The Empower in-seat power systems allow passengers to simultaneously use and charge multiple personal electronic devices in the air. The Denali’s first flight is expected in 2018.

In the little more than two months since releasing its Part 107 Small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) rule on Aug. 29, the FAA had received more than 30,000 new aircraft registrations from commercial operators and more than 22,500 remote pilot applications. Jay Merkle, the FAA’s Director of Systems Integration and Requirements Analysis, said more than 10,000 of the applicants for the remote pilot license had passed the test. The Part 107 rule takes the place of what was previously an onerous Certificate of Authorization process for each operation.

Increased business jet deliveries in North America and Western Europe during the third quarter helped offset declining shipments to emerging market regions, along with China and Latin America, according to a recent UBS market research report. Global business jet deliveries fell 5% during the third quarter compared to a year ago. Deliveries to North American customers rose 9%, while deliveries increased 13% in Western Europe during the quarter.

BCA: We are too shortsighted to realize that the fewer accidents we have, the more people will fly and the more airplanes we will sell in the long run.

West Star Aviation has received a supplemental type certificate for the installation of a Future Air Navigation System (FANS) Controller Pilot Data Link Communications application on Dassault Falcon 900B aircraft. The application updates and supplements current communications equipment and allows direct exchange of text-based messages between the controller and pilot and improves communication capabilities in areas that usually require third-party HF communication relay such as oceanic and en route airspace.

Satcom Direct last month completed the acquisition of TrueNorth Avionics, a manufacturer of cabin communications systems, thereby expanding its service offering to VIP aircraft operators. Ottawa-based TrueNorth, which designs, develops and manufactures satcom systems, TrueNorth becomes a business unit within the Satcom Direct family of companies focused on avionics development.

According to business office chair-maker Herman-Miller, a chair should breathe, which is to say its surface materials should provide comfort and allow conduction of heat and dispersion of moisture away from the surface of the sitter's skin. Also, a seat should have a neutral effect on body-surface temperatures, so that thermal comfort is not posture dependent. It does this by allowing the flow of air to the body and water vapor away.

Quintus Technologies has been selected by Gulfstream Aerospace to provide a high-pressure fluid cell press. The Flexform press will go to Gulfstream's Mexicali, Mexico, facility, which produces wiring harnesses, sheet metal components, subassemblies and machine parts, Quintus said. “The Flexform process requires only one rigid tool half; the other tool half is a flexible rubber diaphragm under uniform hydrostatic pressure,” the company says.

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

Business aviation professionals say they are optimistic about the Middle East private jet market, a new survey shows. In research from Global Jet Capital, a provider of financing for corporate aircraft, 59% of 200 business aviation professionals surveyed said the Middle East private jet market is currently attractive for finance companies, while 15% say it is unattractive. Over the next three years, 41% of those surveyed said they expect the market to become more attractive, while 13% said they believe it will become less appealing.

New York's Westchester County has applied to the FAA to privatize its county-owned airport, marking the third time since 2000 that the Empire State or one of its counties has attempted such a spinoff under the federal agency’s troubled Airport Privatization Pilot Program (APPP). A preliminary application filed in November names Empire State Airport Holdings as the private company that would operate the Westchester County Airport under a 40-year lease, with the transfer taking place as early as March 2017.

Embraer Legacy 500 is the company's first aircraft to have the certified version of the Embraer Enhanced Vision System.

Bombardier's second Global 7000 flight test vehicle is now under Canadian registry. MSN 70002 was registered Nov. 22 with tail number C-GBLB. The registry comes less than three weeks after the first flight of the first Global 7000 test aircraft. The aircraft flew for the first time Nov. 4 in Toronto. The aircraft is now in Wichita for flight testing, which is progressing, the company said. Bombardier is not projecting first flight or other milestones for the second aircraft or for its other Global 7000 flight-test vehicles, a spokeswoman said.

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

Marco Tulio Pellegrini, CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, believes that for business aviation to break free of its nearly decade-long slump it needs to change the way it operates. Accordingly, Embraer is proposing a business model in which leasing companies buy business aircraft to lease to charter companies that then operate scheduled point-to-point services between cities with high business-passenger traffic.

Beechcraft is promoting improved performance on its King Air 350HW and 350ER models by offering a more powerful version of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engines and an increased gross weight option. The improvements are FAA and EASA certified and available as factory options on new aircraft.

Most pilots have probably heard the story from Greek mythology about Icarus, the ancient aviator who flew too close to the sun and came crashing down into the sea. Since it was Daedalus, his father, who designed and constructed those wings of bird feathers tied with string and wax, it can be said that not only was he the original aeronautical engineer, but he included a maximum cruise altitude in his design specifications. Fly too high, he warned his son, and the wax used to fasten the feathers would melt.

The first phase of a three-part modernization of Terminal 3 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was completed Dec. 6. It includes a new atrium and museum gallery. Targeted for completion by early 2019, Phase 2 of the project will create a 15-gate south concourse with new food and retail areas. Phase 3, to be completed in 2020, will involve the demolition and construction of a new north concourse.

Flirtey, a start-up drone operation, has begun trials of autonomous pizza delivery, flying to customers' homes from a store north of Auckland, New Zealand. The commercial trials follow a demonstration delivery in August. Currently available to select customers, the two companies plan to launch pizza-by-drone deliveries at increasing scale in the near future. “We are moving closer and closer to widespread store-to-door drone delivery,” Flirtey CEO Matthew Sweeny says.” “To conduct these deliveries in an urban environment ...

GI Aviation has earned an air operator's certificate from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority to enable the start of commercial flights with its fleet of Pilatus PC-12NG aircraft in the Gulf region. GI Aviation has been working to begin new entry-level service for business aviation in the region, which has been dominated by larger business jets. GI Aviation worked with Hendell Aviation in Finland to help it obtain the air operator’s certificate.