Business & Commercial Aviation

Selected accidents and incidents in March 2016. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

In a flat market for new aircraft, the best place for avionics makers is to focus their resources on the aftermarket, and indeed that’s what we’re seeing — witness the panel upgrade competition between Sandel, Garmin, Universal, Avidyne and others. Prices for some avionics, such as transponders and thunderstorm detectors, have tumbled or risen only marginally, while cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) and flight data recorders (FDRs) are up dramatically.

Five questions for Rhett Ross, president and CEO of Continental Motors Group Ltd., Mobile, Alabama, and his answers.

The Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games — dubbed “Rio 2016” — are scheduled to begin Aug. 5 and extend through Aug. 21. The 2016 Paralympics will run from Sept. 7 to Sept. 18 in the same locale.

There’s no mistaking a 2016 Pilatus PC-12 NG from earlier versions of the aircraft. The third iteration of this 22-year-old model sports a five-blade Hartzell prop with scimitar shaped blades made of black carbon fiber. It is more efficient at converting torque into thrust in all phases of flight than the aluminum Hartzell four-blade prop it replaces.

The FAA’s Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) program, operated under contract by the Mitre Corp. and launched in 2007 to aggregate and disseminate data from FOQA, ASAP, ATSAP programs and other sources, has so far yielded 19 safety enhancements (SEs) from data contributed by airlines.

A new forecast by the FAA predicts that the number of turboprops, business jets and rotorcraft in the active general aviation fleet will increase over the next two decades, although the largest segment of the fleet, fixed-wing piston aircraft, is expected to shrink. The agency said the long-term outlook for general aviation is favorable, though the active fleet should increase by just 0.2% per year from 2015 to 2036.

Five years ago, the FAA forecast the number of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operating in U.S. airspace would grow to 25,000 by 2020 and 30,000 by 2030. In its latest forecast, the agency revised that number somewhat. Now it expects sales of some 7 million small hobby and commercial drones a year by 2020. At the same time, the FAA has released is latest update on UAS sightings by pilots, controllers and the public. The 583 reports submitted between Aug.

Cessna Aircraft announced that it is now making Safe Flight’s angle-of-attack system standard equipment on all Cessna Skyhawk 172 aircraft and optional on its Skylane 182 and Turbo Stationair 206.

Clay Lacy Aviation has partnered with SmartSky Networks to offer hardware sales, certification and installation of the SmartSky 4G network on Gulfstream G200, GIV-SP and GV aircraft. SmartSky’s technology delivers a secure signal that locks onto each aircraft in the network, the company said. Passengers will be able to stream, chat, call, game and video conference. Visit: http://smartskynetworks.com/earlybird2016/

Safran’s nearly three-year delay in development and certification of the Silvercrest engine has slowed Dassault’s Falcon 5X considerably, but Cessna says it’s had no impact on its Hemispheres program. The new engine has been in the running to power Textron Aviation’s newest Citation. But in a statement, a spokeswoman says while it has not yet announced an engine provider, the Hemisphere program is on schedule, with first flight expected in 2019.

The potential mainland Chinese business aircraft market is perhaps six times as large as the current fleet, research based on the buying and chartering capacity of the country’s rich people suggests. Already, 1,420 people in mainland China have the potential to own business aircraft, according to estimates gathered by luxury publisher and rich-list compiler Hurun Report and Minsheng Financial Leasing. The purchasing potential of those people is 1,750 aircraft, the companies say. In addition, 9,000 Chinese mainlanders could charter business aircraft.

Susan Sheets Brogan, who served for 20 years as president of the National Aircraft Resale Association and as a business aviation advocate in Washington, died April 7 after a short battle with cancer. She was 63. Brogan worked in collaboration with the National Business Aviation Association and other Washington trade groups to advance the interests of aircraft owners and pilots. A proud private pilot and a former French and Latin teacher, she began her aviation career in 1980 with French aircraft manufacturer Aerospatiale, now Airbus Helicopters.

Duncan Aviation has launched an electric logbook feature to myDuncan, a web-based project management system. The feature allows customers to view logbook entries in real-time and categorized by airframe or engine and communicate with inspectors through the system. Duncan, introduced in 2006, allows customers to monitor the progress of maintenance or upgrades through email alerts, job status reports and updates with hour and cost estimates.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.’s service center in Sorocaba, Brazil, has performed maintenance on its first Argentina-registered aircraft, a large-cabin Gulfstream business jet. Gulfstream Brazil was awarded maintenance authorization approval from Argentina’s Administracion Nacional de Aviacion Civil in August. Last year, Gulfstream Brazil performed work on 92 aircraft.

​ Dassault Aviation’s Falcon 8X ultra-long-range business jet is entering the final stages of its flight test and certification program as the company prepares for initial delivery. FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification of the trijet is expected by midyear, with entry-into-service by late summer, Dassault said. Three aircraft are in the flight test program, have flown more than 650 hr. in 325 flights and have nearly completed all certification test requirements. In the meantime, production and support activities are ramping up.

Italy’s Tecnam has rolled out the P2012 Traveller, a piston twin aimed at meeting demand for a new small airliner to replace types such as the Cessna 402Cs operated by Cape Air. Capua-based Tecnam says Cape Air will be the launch customer for the new model, but adds that details of the Nantucket, Massachusetts airline’s commitment are confidential until the first flight, expected this summer. According to Tecnam, Cape Air has been involved in joint development of the 11-seat aircraft and members of its leadership team were present at the roll-out on April 1.

Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Bombardier WAVE (Wireless Access Virtually Everywhere) has been awarded a supplemental type certificate from Transport Canada. Bombardier WAVE is a high-speed Ka-band Wi-Fi service for Global 5000 and Global 6000 aircraft. Certification follows extensive flight hours and rigorous testing aboard Global business jets, the company said. The equipment allows passengers to stage a video conference, browse the Internet or stream online shows.

Light jet charter operator JetSuite is adding 10 Embraer ERJ 135LR aircraft to its fleet of Embraer Phenom 100 and Cessna Citation CJ3 jets.The first of the 30-seat ERJ 135s has been delivered by Embraer, with the rest to follow by mid-2017. The aircraft will be available for booking, with charter flights beginning this month. The new jets can be chartered for $8,000 per hour plus sales tax, which equates to less than $300 hourly per seat for 30 passengers.

Blackhawk Modifications in Waco, Texas, has appointed Wipaire’s Leesburg, Florida, facility as an authorized dealer and installation center for Blackhawk XP series engine upgrades. The facility recently completed the installation of Blackhawk’s newly FAA-certified engine upgrade, the 867-shp PT6A-140 engine upgrade for the Cessna Caravan.

On April 14, the Corporate Angel Network (CAN) launched its 50,000th flight, carrying one-year-old cancer patient Baron Yerbe and his parents back to Atlanta after receiving his treatments at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. Diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer, at three months of age, the little boy has been undergoing treatment available only at Sloan Kettering. The flight, conducted by NCR, flew from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Cobb County International Airport - McCollum Field.

Nearly two years after the last E-4B flew from Boeing’s Wichita, Kansas facility — along with Boeing — a new large aircraft completions center has opened inside the former Boeing hangar. Emerald Aerospace is leasing two of three large hangar bays where Boeing employees once performed modification and maintenance on commercial and military aircraft, including E-4Bs and VC-25s, or Air Force One — all military versions of the civilian 747. And as it grows, Emerald intends to lease the third hangar bay.

Gogo Inc. has rolled out new hourly pricing plans for turboprop and light jet operators, which the company says will make connectivity affordable and predicable for all aircraft operators. The new service plans start at $39 per hour and do not require the purchase of block hours have no minimum monthly fee. After paying for the first hour, customers then pay only for what they use and incur fees only when the service is being used.

​Carter Aviation Technologies, LLC wants to build a larger, twin-turbofan version of its slowed rotor/compound helicopter, which it believes can break the rotorcraft world records for speed, range, and altitude.

Gen. J. R. Jack Dailey, director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, took the wraps off a larger than life-size bronze statue of R. A. “Bob” Hoover at a private reception at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on April 2, 2016. “Bob Hoover has been an eye witness to the history of aviation. He’s the only pilot ever to taxi his (Aero Commander Shrike) airplane into this hangar. And that’s a record we intend to let stand forever,” Dailey said.