Business & Commercial Aviation

Since helicopters generally operate at much lower altitudes than airplanes, the risk of collision with an unmanned aerial system (UAS) is much higher. In recent months the FAA has established an interim policy to speed up airspace authorizations for commercial UAS operators. Since March 23, 2015, the agency has granted authorization for flights at or below 200 ft. to any UAS operator with a Section 333 exemption (in simplest terms, someone using a UAS for commercial purposes).

Before launching into the IFR system, pilots need to familiarize themselves with the instrument requirements for their particular helicopter. Within the same make, model and series of helicopters, variations in the installed avionics may change the equipment needed or the level of augmentation for a particular operation. The complexity of the automatic flight control system (AFCS), autopilot and flight director in some helicopters requires formal pilot training to understand the unit’s operation, limitations, failure indications and reversionary modes.

Officials from the helicopter industry and FAA will meet in Washington, D.C., Feb. 11-12, 2016, to discuss improving weather information availability, heliport standardization and IFR infrastructure. Despite some welcome new elements, gaping holes remain in the country’s weather information “grid.” There are many Non-Federal AWOSs that need to be added to the weather collection and information dissemination system.

When pilots are asked to perform a tough assignment, they should be provided the tools necessary to conduct the mission safely. Assigning a single pilot to a single-engine, VFR-only helicopter with insufficient weather information and without instrument system protection certainly seems contrary to that rule and, indeed, statistics show such circumstances make such operations among the highest risk sectors in civil aviation.

The Learjet 75, Bombardier’s marketing name for the Learjet 45-456 and subsequent units, has been in production since November 2013 and it offers a package of improvements that make it a far more capable business airplane than the original Model 45 introduced in the mid-1990s. It offers true full-tanks, full-seats loading flexibility, substantially better runway performance, sportier climb performance, improved fuel efficiency, longer range and better reliability.

The anti-lasing law has teeth — if law enforcement authorities can find and arrest the perpetrators. Here are some accounts of a handful of laser felons who were caught.

Selected accidents and incidents in November and December 2015. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

The first fatal general aviation accident investigation in which I participated involved load shift. It was summer 1968. A low-time pilot was earning “free time” from an FBO by running an errand to a neighboring airport. There he picked up two cases of oil, stacked them behind the pilots’ seats in the Cessna 150 and returned to his home airport. Turning base to final, the airplane stalled.

It was a grim undertaking as we three accident investigators with the U.S. Forest Service started combing through the twisted metal of a Bell-Soloy 47 strewn across the side of a steep mountain in Utah. The helicopter operator had been contracted by the Forest Service to disburse grass seed over hillsides that had been badly burned months earlier in the summer of 1996. To accomplish this, the operator used a specially designed seeding bucket suspended by cables beneath the turbine-powered helicopter.

Perusing AvWeeks through 10 decades is quite a journey of discovery revealing the brilliance, ingenuity, doggedness, bravery, tragedies and breakthroughs that has delivered the aerospace industry to its place today.

Four minutes after takeoff on Nov. 4, 2010, not long after retracting slats and flaps, Capt. Richard Champion de Crespigny and the crew of Qantas Flight 32, flying an ill-fated Airbus A380 from Singapore to Sydney, heard the two most startling sounds of their flying careers. One of the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce Trent engines had just suffered catastrophic failure.

Turbomeca’s Arrius 2R turboshaft — the first European engine to be fitted to a Bell-produced helicopter — has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The EASA certification, announced by Bell and Turbomeca on Dec. 16, is one of the final hurdles for the new Model 505 JetRanger X turbine-powered light helicopter currently undergoing flight testing. Certification of the helicopter is expected early in 2016.

Business aviation operators responding to a survey reported plans to refurbish and buy new and used aircraft. JSfirm.com, a Texas-based aviation job website, released its first business aviation report from a survey of more than 300 Part 91 and 135 operators. The survey was conducted to gauge the health of the industry, it said. Of those responding, 57% reported an increase in flight hours last year; 35% said they planned to refurbish existing aircraft in the next two years and 47% said they planned to buy new or used aircraft, the survey said.

Just weeks after the FAA set up its online system to register small UAVs, the agency has already signed up at least 181,000 aircraft. Administrator Michael Huerta is “encouraged” by the results but says this is just the beginning. “Our challenge is to make sure everyone is aware of the requirement and registers,” he says. In addition, the FAA has released an B4UFLY mobile application to let UAV pilots know about flight requirements and restrictions. The FAA expects to finalize rules for commercial, non-hobbyist operations of small UAVs by late spring.

India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. plans to develop a new helicopter engine—the Hindustan Turbo Shaft Engine (HTSE) 1200. The announcement follows the first test run of the 25-kN (5,620-lb.) thrust Hindustan Turbo Fan Engine (HTFE) 25. “The HTSE-1200 can be used for helicopters of 3.5-ton class in the single-engine configuration such as the Light Utility Helicopter and for 5 to 8 ton class in twin engine configuration such as the Advanced Light Helicopter and Light Combat Helicopter,” said T.

National Business Aviation Association’s Domestic Operations Committee has created a customs checklist to help business aviation operators meet Customs and Border Protection requirements at U.S. ports of entry. The challenge was in addressing local policies and logistical requirements that vary among the ports of entry, said Ron Bojanski, Midwest Aviation/Kiewit Engineering Canadian operations manager who led the project.

In aviation we’ve long recognized that “scud running” is immensely dangerous, and the protection of operating in the IFR system with an IFR-certified aircraft and IFR-proficient pilot can be an effective means to avoid CFIT-type accidents. In 1997, the FAA allowed passenger-carrying operations under FAR Part 135 for single-engine airplanes, justifying the rule change because it noted that the risk of CFIT far outweighed the risk of engine failure.

The low-drag design of modern business jets makes managing aircraft energy while descending from altitude a challenge. These aircraft tend to build up speed rapidly in a descent and don’t “go down and slow down” well. Such characteristics are especially problematic when ATC issues a late descent combined with an altitude or airspeed constraint.

The FAA is revising Advisory Circular AC 91-37A, Truth in Leasing, dated Jan. 16, 1978. Why? The regulation that the AC explains, FAR Part 91.23, has not changed.

Italian aerospace and defense conglomerate Finmeccanica has begun operations under its new corporate structure. Under CEO Mauro Moretti’s “One Company” initiative, launched Jan. 1, Finmeccanica-owned AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi and Selex ES have now been absorbed into the larger Finmeccanica entity and will operate as divisions rather than separate companies. Under the initiative, AgustaWestland becomes Finmeccanica Helicopters while aircraft manufacturer Alenia Aermacchi becomes Finmeccanica Aeronautics.

Dassault Aviation’s business jet unit saw reduced orders and deliveries in 2015, a disappointing year that was offset in part by new export contracts for the company’s Rafale combat jet. Dassault took in orders for only 45 new Falcon jets in 2015, just half of what the company recorded the previous year. In addition, an order for 20 Falcon Netjets was canceled last year, and Dassault fell short of its goal of delivering 66 business jets in 2015, instead recording just 55.

According to a Victor private jet travel industry report, the three largest private jet travel markets in Europe are: France, with 19.2% of the flights; Germany, with 15.4%; and the U.K. with 12.8%. May 23 was the busiest day for travel in 2015, with 2,221 flights related to the Monaco Grand Prix. The top three airports for high-season private jet travel included Nice, France, with 13,250 flights; Olbia, Italy, with 6,220 flights; and Ibiza, Spain, with 5,634 flights.

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West Star Aviation in Grand Junction, Colorado, has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), putting it in compliance with the China Civil Aviation Regulation, CCAR, Part 145 Maintenance Organization. West Star’s approval includes overhauling and repairing landing gear for business aircraft and services and ultrasonic, eddy current X-Ray, liquid penetrate and magnetic particle inspections.

Embraer has delivered its first Legacy 450 mid-light business jet to Smart Air SA, in Europe. Smart Air, an aviation and advisory company, will manage the first European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)-registered Legacy 450. The aircraft will be available for charter flights from Brussels. It will be operated by ASL, a business jet operator. The delivery took place in late December. It was scheduled to arrive in Belgium on Jan. 6, after departing from Embraer’s headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil.