Business & Commercial Aviation

Fatigue management starts before the mission by determining if each crewmember is fit for flight.

San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, was the most popular business aviation airport among U.S., Canada and Mexico airports during April 2015, according to an analysis of acukwik.com traffic from that month.

San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, was the most popular business aviation airport in April 2015, according to an analysis of acukwik.com traffic from that month. Doha-Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, Paris Le Bourget Airport and London Stansted Airport appeared in the top 10.

Editor’s Note: While our regular readers might think they’re seeing double, that’s not the case. These business jet specification and performance tables may at first appear to be a repeat of those published last month in our May Purchase Planning Handbook, but they are not. We received quite a few changes, additions, revisions and corrections within the category after the publication deadline. Naturally, we determined to update the digital tables immediately.

General aviation manufacturers now are riding the wave of the improved economy. Billings increased to $24.5 billion and deliveries exceeded 2,400 airplanes.

The key to correct recovery the first time is to understand where things can go horribly wrong and how to best get the airplane back to right-side up.

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.

Download the 2015 BCA Purchase Planning Handbook

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

VistaJet has said farewell to it last Learjet, as it moved to an all-Bombardier Challenger and Global business jet fleet. The company has operated 20 Learjets since 2004. Since then, the Learjet fleet has made 18,262 flights, logged 42,962 flight hours and carried 28,685 passengers. Founder and Chairman Thomas Flohr bought the first Learjet, a Learjet 60 for personal use, in December 2003. That became the catalyst for the company, which operates the largest privately owned Bombardier business jet fleet of more than 45 large-cabin Global and Challenger aircraft.

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.

​ 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.

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 . . .

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.