Business Aviation

Jet-A And Avgas Per-Gallon Fuel Prices November 2016

Questions for Charles E. Priester Chairman Priester Aviation

News of promotions, appointments and honors involving professionals within the business aviation community.

STOL aircraft still might be very much special purpose vehicles, but the special purposes are a lot less remote than most of us are aware. Convair 600 Executive is equipped with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa IO’s, and will carry 19 including crew. Price of conversion to owner’s Convair 240, 340 or 440 is about $682,720.

Selected Accidents and incidents in October 2016. The following is NTSB information.

The NTSB has recommended that the FAA require all FAR Part 135 operators install flight data recorders (FDR) capable of supporting flight data monitoring programs (FDMP) in their aircraft, and that, once installed, the operators establish structured FDMPs that identify “deviations from established norms and procedures and other potential safety issues.” The Safety Board also wants the FAA to require all Part 135 operators to establish safety management systems (SMS).

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.

Honeywell has received the FAA's STC for enhanced features for the Gulfstream PlaneDeck cockpits on GIV and V aircraft. The latest suite of upgrades will increase crew awareness with the addition of Synthetic Vision Systems and other features. The upgrades include charts and maps, video capability and XM ground-based weather. PlaneDeck provides a 3-D color image of runways, terrain and obstacles.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Winglet specialist Aviation Partners and joint venture partner FlexSys are working with an undisclosed customer to retrofit an aircraft with the first commercial morphing wing. The potentially game-changing aerodynamic innovation has wide-ranging implications for performance-boosting retrofit of existing business jets or clean-sheet designs. The wing-morphing “flexfoil” demonstrator illustrates how the airfoil shape can change in flight to boost performance over a wide range of angles of attack, indicated airspeeds and Mach numbers.

Cessna Aircraft has increased performance targets for its new super-midsize $23.9 million Citation Longitude, the planemaker's latest business jet under development. The announcement was made at the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation in Orlando. Cessna, a division of Textron Aviation, is increasing its initial targets for range from 3,400 nm to 3,500 nm and full-fuel payload by 100 lb., to 1,600 lb. FAA type certification and entry into service is expected in 2017.

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.

World Fuel Services has added three fixed base operators to its network of FBOs. Flightways Columbus at the Columbus Airport (KCSG) in Columbus, Georgia, Emery Air at the Chicago Rockford International Airport (KRFD) in Rockford, Illinois, and Guardian Air Center at Ontario International Airport (KONT) in Canada, have joined the network, it said. World Fuel Services, based in Miami, provides training, credit card processing, marketing support, global fuel logistics and distributes fuel and related products and services.

Being free and in control of my destiny is what put me on the road to the NBAA convention this time and helps put people in private aircraft.

Soon, everything will be connected on the internet. It has become clear that business pilots, flight attendants, and maintenance and operations personnel will increasingly rely on their aircraft's avionics and communications capabilities—usually via satcom—for many other applications.

The fully paperless cockpit is becoming a reality with the advent of FAA-certifiable tablet computers that may be used as Class 1 electronic flight bags in accordance with Advisory Circular 120-76C. Garmin, among other avionics manufacturers, is developing wireless interfaces between tablet computers and avionics systems. Garmin’s link between the G5000 and tablet computers running Garmin Pilot software is the $1,500 Flight Stream 510 SD card that has both internal Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transceiver chips.

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

Rated at 3,230 lb. thrust for takeoff, the Williams International FJ44-4A-32 turbofans produce about 9% more thrust than the original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5R engines fitted to the Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP. At first glance, that seems like a nominal increase at best. But the FJ44-4 has a fat ISA+17C flat rating that makes a considerable difference in hot-and-high airport, climb and cruise performance.

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.