Business & Commercial Aviation

In April 2015, air charter customers and brokers requested more quotes for flights terminating at and originating from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas than any other airport, according to an analysis of Air Charter Guide Worldwide Trip Builder data.

Attendees and exhibitors are expected to grow at EBACE 2015. Plus, a NetJets vice president acted alone when he inappropriately blogged and tweeted about the pilots’ union activities and positions, the company said. And the first contracts signed for Dishwashair, Lufthansa Technik's inflight diswasher, have been from owners of larger executive VIP business jets, according to the Hamburg-based interiors and MRO specialist.

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Fly airplanes long enough and you’ll misidentify something sooner or later — a visual reporting point, a taxiway that looks like a runway, a lighting matrix that seems to be an airport, a waypoint that’s been fat-fingered, and so forth. Recently, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) had cause to research incidents in which flight crews misidentified ground features as an airport environment or runway. Here’s what the bureau’s incident review revealed: Australian Occurrences

Built-for-comfort, not-for-speed has been the design mantra for 90 series King Airs for more than half a century. The roomy 179-cu.-ft. main cabin, measuring section 4.8 ft. tall, 4.5 ft. wide and 7.5 ft. long, seats four passengers in club. Some aircraft have an additional seat or two in the 48-cu.-ft. aft baggage compartment. In the aft cabin, there is a full-width, internally service lavatory with privacy curtain.

Of all the weather phenomena with which pilots must contend, that old nemesis, the thunderstorm, remains the most feared. And for good reason.

These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of Citation Latitude under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance.

The Citation Latitude is the latest proof that Textron Aviation is back on its feet, largely recovered from the Great Recession and fully competing for its historic share of the business jet market. For more than four decades, Citation engineers have been business aviation’s undisputed masters of iteration and the Latitude embraces this low-risk design approach to perfection.

Chairman, NBAA Safety Committee; Senior Manager, Aviation Training and Standards, Altria Client Services Inc., Richmond, Virginia

Jet Aviation recently finalized a 10-year concession agreement with the Macau Airport Authority for 4,000 square meters of a new hangar built specifically for business aviation maintenance, refurbishment and overhaul (MRO) work at Macau International Airport. Under the agreement, Jet will lease half of the new 8,000 square-meter hangar in addition to 1,000 square meters of workshop and office space.

Bell Helicopter says it’s laying off 315 workers because of reductions in V-22 Osprey production and reduced demand for commercial models. The layoffs affect management and non-management employees as well as union and non-union workers. They mainly impact Bell’s Fort Worth, Texas, facilities. Last year, the Textron subsidiary announced a series of layoffs, including 320 in October.

Embraer’s Melbourne, Florida, assembly facility recently broke the century mark in Phenom deliveries when it turned over a Phenom 300 to NetJets. It was the fractional operation’s 40th of the type and is destined for the NetJets’ European operation. The delivery came a little more than three years after the first aircraft was assembled at the rapidly expanding Space Coast campus.

The Santa Monica, California, City Council recently adopted a proposal to implement higher-priced leases for Santa Monica Airport (SMO) tenants. At their March 24 meeting, council members approved new leasing policies for tenants on a variety of parts of the municipal airport, but did not discuss jet exhaust limits, according to reports. The approvals involved new three-year leases for airport tenants and month-to-month leases for non-aviation tenants.

Jet Aviation’s completions center in Basel, Switzerland, was recently awarded outfitting contracts for two Boeing B777-300ER and a BBJ3 aircraft. The 777 project is slated to begin immediately, while the BBJ3 is expected to be delivered to Jet early next year.

With 69 exemptions granted but 771 petitions still in line at the end of March, the FAA is moving to streamline its process for approving low-risk commercial unmanned aircraft operations under so-called Section 333 legislation. In addition to granting exemption holders blanket authorization to fly under 200 ft. anywhere in the U.S. outside of restricted airspace, the FAA has relaxed its requirements for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators and streamlined the approval of petitions that are similar to exemptions previously granted.

Bombardier has certified and delivered its first Learjet 75 light business jet to a customer in Poland. The Learjet 75 received certification by officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of Poland. “We are confident the Learjet 75 aircraft will provide customers in Poland with an experience that exceeds all expectations,” said Veria Kolyuchaya, Bombardier Business Aircraft regional vice president of sales for Eastern Europe, Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States.

Airbus Americas will move its engineering center, along with 400 employees, from Wichita’s Old Town to Wichita State University’s new Innovation Campus, the company said. The Wichita State Innovation Alliance has signed letters of intent with Airbus for the move, which will bring new opportunities for applied learning in aerospace engineering to Airbus, the company said. The move is expected to take place in January 2017. Most of Airbus’s Wichita employees are engineers who work on Airbus wings and airframes.

AgustaWestland’s third prototype AW609 civil tiltrotor is expected to take to the air this month and after completing several proving flights be dismantled and sent to Philadelphia for reassembly. It is then to undergo icing tests in Minnesota late this year. The Italian manufacturer says it has managed to increase range of the aircraft to 730 nm and is developing auxiliary underwing fuel tanks that could up that to 1,100 nm — increases that make it “an ideal transportation solution for offshore travel,” according to AgustaWestland.

Despite the challenges confronting Bombardier, the Montreal planemaker says development of its top-of-the-line Global 7000 /8000 business jet program “is making good progress — including the manufacture and assembly of flight test vehicle one — as we continue to prioritize our efforts in preparation for the flight test program.” Considering that the aircraft has yet to roll out and that it can take 15 months, or much, much longer, to advance from first flight to certification award, program managers might consider turning up th

With the midsize Citation Latitude nearing the end of its flight test program, the new Citation Longitude super-midsize jet program is ramping up significantly with teams working on the project. “We think we know what the configuration of the aircraft is based on a lot of work with customers and where we are,” Textron Chairman & CEO Scott Donnelly said early this year. “So you’ll see that really start ramping up . . .

Dassault plans to roll its first Falcon 5X s.n. 1 through the doors at its Bordeaux production facility early next month, with first flight expected not long thereafter. The aircraft, also powered by 11,450-lb. thrust Snecma Silvercrest turbofans will eventually be joined by two other 5X in the flight test program. A large aircraft, stretching 82.6 ft. from nosecone to tail, and rising 24.5 ft. from ground level to the top of its fin, its flat floor cabin is 78 in. high, 86 in. wide and nearly 40 ft. long from cockpit bulkhead to the rear of the lav.

​A study by the National Business Aviation Association found that more than 20% of all business aviation users felt more productive while on board a

JetTech is amending its Garmin GTN autopilot, coupled with LPV FAA Supplemental Type Certificate, for the Citation 500 series, to include all Primus 1000-equipped Bravo, Ultra, Encore and Excel aircraft. With the amended STC, JetTech will soon offer installation data packages and AIU for its expanded line of Citation aircraft through approved Garmin-authorized dealers along with a complete documentation package to support the installation process.

​ Bell Helicopter’s Model 505 Jet Ranger X is making good headway — in both development and the marketplace. The helicopter began its flight trials at its Mirabel, Quebec manufacturing site last November, the same month that China’s Reignwood Investment, Ltd., signed for 50 of the light singles. The aircraft features a Garmin G1000H integrated flight deck and is powered by a Turbomeca Arrius 2R turboshaft engine rated at 504 shp (takeoff) and 457 shp (max continuous) and fitted with a dual channel FADEC.

Gulfstream’s 5,000-nm G500 and the 6,200-nm G600, unveiled with great showmanship last October, are well along in their development cycles with more than 1,800 hr. of wind-tunnel work completed. First flight of the $43.5 million G500 is to take place this year, with certification targeted for 2017 and entry into service the following year. The $54.5 million G600 is to trail by about a year. The G500 is powered by two 15,144-lb.