By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
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.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
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.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Even before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump is shaking up the business world, taking credit for keeping UTC jobs in Indiana that might have gone to Mexico. “Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences,” Trump says. The parent company of Pratt & Whitney may have been motivated to stay to remain in a Trump administration’s good graces.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
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.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
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.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Quest Aircraft has signed a major fleet order with a sister subsidiary in Japan for up to 20 Kodiak aircraft. The 10-seat aircraft single-engine turboprop will be used for a new membership-based private travel service that was launched in November. The order is Quest’s largest commercial fleet order to date. “We are very excited to have completed such a large order for the Kodiak,” said Nick Newby, Quest senior vice president of sales, marketing and customer service.
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.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
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.
Once again, BCA editors and our business aviation colleagues from the Aviation Week Network have recommended BCA content from this year that readers might want to revisit.
The ability to quickly diagnose a problem and come up with a solution is a valuable skill, even when you earn your living working on multimillion-dollar aircraft.
Teterboro Airport ranked No. 1 again, and the rest of the top five business aviation airports measured by acukwik.com user traffic during October 2016 were mostly stable, according to site metrics.
Soon, everything will be connected on the internet. It has become clear that business pilots, flight attendants, and maintenance and operations personnel will increasingly rely on their aircraft's avionics and communications capabilities—usually via satcom—for many other applications.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Jet Support Services has announced its Tip-to-Tail Program is now available for the Dassault Falcon 8X, Embraer Lineage 1000 and Airbus Corporate Jets, including the ACJ318, ACJ319 and ACJ320. The program includes coverage for the airframe, engines and APU.
The fully paperless cockpit is becoming a reality with the advent of FAA-certifiable tablet computers that may be used as Class 1 electronic flight bags in accordance with Advisory Circular 120-76C. Garmin, among other avionics manufacturers, is developing wireless interfaces between tablet computers and avionics systems. Garmin’s link between the G5000 and tablet computers running Garmin Pilot software is the $1,500 Flight Stream 510 SD card that has both internal Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transceiver chips.
Although Boeing does not market used BBJs, it has decided it is in the best interests of operators, potential buyers and the company to help facilitate the process and, further, to help establish fixed maintenance costs for those considering a pre-owned BBJ.
Rated at 3,230 lb. thrust for takeoff, the Williams International FJ44-4A-32 turbofans produce about 9% more thrust than the original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5R engines fitted to the Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP. At first glance, that seems like a nominal increase at best. But the FJ44-4 has a fat ISA+17C flat rating that makes a considerable difference in hot-and-high airport, climb and cruise performance.
Since its introduction nearly a half-century ago, the Boeing 737 has proven to be the most popular civilian jet ever, with more than 9,000 delivered to date. And the manufacturer is moving to increase its production rate to more than 50 per month, easily the highest in its history. New models and variants — notably including the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and P-8 Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft — are in production and with thousands on back order, the 737 will be a significant presence for a long time to come.
By William Garvey, Jessica A. Salerno, Molly McMillin
Winglet specialist Aviation Partners and joint venture partner FlexSys are working with an undisclosed customer to retrofit an aircraft with the first commercial morphing wing. The potentially game-changing aerodynamic innovation has wide-ranging implications for performance-boosting retrofit of existing business jets or clean-sheet designs. The wing-morphing “flexfoil” demonstrator illustrates how the airfoil shape can change in flight to boost performance over a wide range of angles of attack, indicated airspeeds and Mach numbers.
