Business & Commercial Aviation

FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Florida, celebrated its 50th anniversary in October. Its 21,000 graduates have flown for 62 airlines and over 100 corporate flight departments around the world. It employs 160 people and owns nearly 90 aircraft. Its campus also includes classrooms, flight training devices, an Air Traffic Control communications laboratory and on-site accommodations for 300 students.

The FAA officially awarded Cirrus Aircraft its type certificate for the $1.96 million, 300-kt. single-engine turbofan SF50 Vision Jet at the National Business Aviation Association annual convention. The approval comes after an intensive four-year development program. The Vision Jet is powered by a 1,840-lb.-thrust Williams International FJ33-5A, and features a Perspective Touch flight deck powered by Garmin G3000 avionics.

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.

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.

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.

TRU Simulation + Training's Cessna Citation CJ4 full flight simulator has earned Level D qualifications from the FAA. The simulator has been installed at its training center in Carlsbad, California. The company also installed Citation M2, CJ3+ and Citation Latitude simulators at its center in Tampa, Florida. The recurrent courses for the CJ4 training program have received FAA approval and the Current 365 course and distance learning option will be available in the first quarter of 2017.

The preceding elements are “greater than” the subsequent. But theory is often overwhelmed by reality.

The potential failure of critical information technology systems is the No. 1 risk to the aviation industry, according to a new ranking by Willis Towers Watson. The next most pressing risks include competition law scrutiny associated with merger and acquisition activity and dependence on third-party suppliers, followed by the inability to keep up with the pace of change and technological advancement, over-dependence on national infrastructure and changes in seasonal demand.

In the three years since Wheels Up began business, the private aviation membership company has taken delivery of 70 aircraft while membership has grown to 3,700. In the next three to five years, Wheels Up co-founder and CEO Kenny Dichter expects membership to grow to 9,000 or 10,000 and its fleet to reach 200 to 250. In late 2017 or early 2018, Wheels Up plans to expand in Europe with the King Air. “Europe is an unbelievable market,” Dichter said. The company operates a fleet of new King Air 350i turboprops and used Citation XLS+ aircraft.

Textron Aviation has completed certification of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out (ADS-B Out) on the Citation Mustang, completing ADS-B certification efforts for Citation, King Air and Hawker products. Retrofit modifications are now available at company-owned service centers.

Hawthorne Global Aviation Services's ExcelAire facility in Long Island, New York, has been approved by the Cayman Islands as an authorized maintenance provider for private jets registered in the islands. ExcelAire provides jet maintenance services around the clock. The facility offers jet charters, aircraft management, maintenance and fixed base operator services.

In a move of confidence in the Asian business aviation market, Singapore-based Zetta Jet is adding four Bombardier Challenger 650 large jets, valued at $129.4 million, to its fleet of aircraft. The Challengers will join Zetta’s fleet of Bombardier Global aircraft. Bombardier Business Aircraft and Zetta Jet, a private jet operator in Asia, celebrated the addition at an event at the Orlando Executive Airport Oct.

Heli-One will upgrade a fleet of Sikorsky S-61A-4 Nuri helicopters for an Asian operator with Universal's EFI-890H Advanced Flight Displays and Multi-Missions Management System. Heli-One will design and install the initial aircraft with an Asian maintenance, repair and overhaul business performing the upgrades on the remainder of the fleet. The upgrade includes four EFI-890H Advanced Flight Displays and one UNS-1L2 MMMS, Universal’s flight management system for mission support.

Cessna Aircraft and Piaggio America, a subsidiary of Piaggio Aerospace, announced aircraft orders at the recent NBAA Convention. Cessna took an order for three Citation X+ midsize business jets from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. Piaggio signed a contract with West Coast Aviation Services for five Avanti EVO aircraft. West Coast Aviation will use them for charter and fractional ownership. It is the first Avanti EVO sale in the U.S. market.

Bombardier's Global 7000 test aircraft completed its first flight Nov. 4, marking the start of a rigorous flight-testing program. Entry-into-service of the large jet is scheduled in the second half of 2018. The Global 7000 took off from Bombardier’s facility in Toronto under the command of Ed Grabman, the flight’s captain, aided by copilot Jeff Karnes and flight test engineer Jason Nickel at 10:25 a.m. EDT. During the 2-hr., 27-min.

The second Pilatus PC-24 prototype is undergoing avionics tests at Honeywell's Phoenix Deer Valley Airport hangar. Preliminary performance tests are encouraging, with the aircraft meeting or beating early performance projections, Pilatus officials said. They previously said they expect the aircraft to have a 425-kt. maximum cruise speed; 1,950-nm full-tanks range with four passengers at long-range cruise; and 1,190-nm NBAA IFR range while carrying a 2,500-lb. maximum payload.

The Beechjet 400A/Hawker 400XP has the potential to be one of the most popular business aircraft retrofit programs in the past 30 years.

Between November 2015 and October 2016, Teterboro Airport was the most requested departure and destination airport for brokers and travelers shopping for charter flights with the Air Charter Guide Worldwide Trip Builder.

Bombardier’s new Global 7000 made its maiden flight Nov. 4 in Toronto. First delivery is expected in the second half of 2018. The OEM provided this promotional video touting the first flight milestone. Courtesy: Bombardier Business Aircraft

Fred George, Business & Commercial Aviation’s Aircraft Evaluation Editor, shows us the features and performance of the Gulfstream G500 as he takes us up on its 66th test flight.

There are close to 5,000 airports in the U.S. with paved runways, but only about 500 have full- or part-time control towers.

The enduring innovation of Universal Avionics products is closely tied to its core characteristics of designed by pilots, and built by pilots for pilots.

While Honeywell Aerospace's forward view is firmly fixed on the super-midsize business jet market, the Phoenix-based OEM continues to produce its stable of smaller turbine engines.

The turbofan for the USAF Fairchild-Republic T-46 advanced trainer was rated at 1,330 lb. thrust and was assigned the designation F109. But the program was canceled after the first 28 F109s were delivered.

The director of maintenance of a large U.S. charter/management company with experience with HTF7000 turbofans half jokes that, while the engine runs well, you do not want to borescope it.