Aviation International News
August 2017
PUBLICATIONS Vol. 49 No 8 $9.00
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Avionics Cabin connectivity Passengers want the same experience in the cabin that they have at home or in the office, and network providers and hardware makers are keeping pace with demand. page 46
Maintenance Reaching out to tech tribe NBAA’s annual conference seeks to reach all maintenance personnel, not just managers or prospective managers, as in years past. page 34
Safety First-half accident stats
DASSAULT FALCON 5X FLIES WITH ‘PRELIMINARY’ ENGINES The Falcon 5X made its first flight from Dassault’s final assembly facility at Bordeaux-Mérignac on July 5, powered by a “preliminary version” of the Safran Silvercrest. Design issues with the engines have delayed their development and, in turn, the 5X program. According to Dassault, the preliminary flight-test campaign will last only a few weeks to help streamline the development process. A full-fledged flight-test campaign with “certifiable engines meeting Dassault’s specifications” is scheduled to begin next year. Test pilots Philippe Deleume and Philippe Rebourg were at the controls for the two-hour flight. The preliminary flight-tests will permit Dassault to collect a certain amount of airframe and systems data that could not be generated during ground tests undertaken earlier this spring. The ground campaign involved
engine runs as well as low- and highspeed taxi tests. “We’re committed to limiting the consequences of the four-year engine development delay as much as possible, and the short preliminary flight-test campaign
Test pilots Philippe Rebourg, left, and Philippe Deleume were at the controls for the 5X flight.
is part of this effort,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier. “We will closely monitor the validation tests on the modified Silvercrest, which are scheduled by Safran in the few coming months, as their results will be critical for meeting the 5X entry into service in 2020.” “The inaugural flight with current standard Silvercrest engines marked the beginning of a preliminary flight-test campaign intended to evaluate aircraft handling and test principal aircraft systems and help streamline the development program,” said Dassault Aviation executive vice president of civil aircraft Olivier Villa. “After the first two-hour flight on July 5 at our Bordeaux-Mérignac final assembly facility, the aircraft was ferried to our Istres flight-test facility near Marseille, which is equipped with high-performance monitoring equipment and real-time data analysis resources.
—C.T.
ATC plan headed for House vote Part 1: Aircraft
AIN’s annual report card on how OEMs are doing supporting customer aircraft. By and large, customers are happy with their after-sales support. This year’s top scorers—Embraer and Mitsubishi—held their positions from last year. Page 20
by Kerry Lynch The controversial proposal to create a user-funded independent ATC organization was headed toward a showdown on the U.S. House floor last month as backers worked behind the scenes to build support while opponents stepped up their efforts to block progress. Backers of the bill, the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization
(AIRR) Act, were hopeful that it could be brought up for full House consideration by the end of the month. At press time, lawmakers were believed to be assessing the vote count, and while it was unclear how a vote on the bill would shake out, the tally was expected to be close. Proponents of the ATC reform bill received key cooperation from the House Ways
and Means Committee, which filed the tax component to accompany the FAA reauthorization bill. That is a step further than last year, when the bill was shelved before it could be married with a tax provision. Under the tax provision the aviation excise taxes would be continued through Sept. 30, 2020. Then the bill
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Both U.S.-registered and non-U.S.registered aircraft suffered more accidents and fatalities compared with the first half of last year. page 8
Government FAA bill beyond ATC privatization Duty-time regs and the future of overland supersonic flight, unleaded aviation fuel and Stage 2 aircraft are covered in the House and Senate bills. page 12
Rotorcraft Super Puma returning to North Sea After several design changes to the offshore mainstay, the UK and Norway stood poised to lift the ban on operations of the Super Puma. page 10