NBAA CONDEMNS DISREGARD FOR BUSINESS AVIATION’S SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP

NBAA Exposes Misleading Study Dismissing BA’s Sustainability Leadership while Defending Business Aviation’s Environmental Commitment and Economic Importance

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has forcefully challenged a DC-based think tank’s study for promoting a misleading caricature of business aviation that ignores the sector’s sustainability leadership and the industry’s essential role in the nation’s economy and transportation system.

The report, released by the partisan, Washington, DC-based Institute for Policy Studies, omits key information about the game-changing innovations that continually lower the carbon footprint for business aviation, and overlooks independent survey data that provides a true representation of the industry as one comprised mostly of small and mid-size companies, flying largely to communities lacking airline service, typically with mid-level employees aboard.

The association said that included among the countless companies fitting this description are those like the Pullman, WA-based company that uses a business airplane to monitor key installations providing power to the region’s electric grid; the Minnesota-based frozen-food company that flies a turboprop aircraft to reach distribution centers in small towns across the US and the Phoenix, AZ-based medical company whose airplanes transport doctors to patients in isolated rural areas.

“Further, the report pointedly minimises the industry’s legacy of achievements in sustainable flight,” including lightweight composites, winglets and satellite-based avionics, as well as business aviation’s growing use of sustainable aviation fuels shown to reduce aviation carbon emissions by as much as 80 per cent – all of which are key to the industry’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions from business aircraft by 2050, NBAA said.

As a final deceptive claim, the study suggests dramatic hikes in costs for those relying on business aviation to operate in the nation’s air transportation system, looking past the reality – as noted by no less an authority than the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) – that the system’s costs are largely driven by the operations of commercial airlines, given the scale and complexity of the carriers’ hub-and-spoke operations. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long used the same economist-accepted cost-allocation methodology to reach the same conclusion.

“Unsurprisingly, the report provides none of this information, instead falling back on the tired practice of disparaging an entire industry to sound a predictable call for a raft of punitive taxes, fees and regulations disguised as ‘proposals,’” the Association noted. “Rather than being distracted by the overheated rhetoric the report offers in support of this agenda, NBAA urges an honest discussion of business aviation’s societal benefits and environmental leadership.” SP

— By SP’s Special Correspondent

SOLAR IMPLULSE 2: HIGH ON SUNLIGHT

While Solar Impulse’s ability to fly while the sun shone was undoubted, its batteries had to store enough energy to keep the four propellers spinning through the dark night-time hours

On July 26, 2016, Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi to cheering crowds. After 14 months of travel and 550 hours in the air, the Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft had accomplished what many experts had deemed impossible: flying 40,000 km around the Earth – including over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – without a drop of liquid fuel. Flown alternately by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg, and Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard, it completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only the sun’s vibrant rays to power its four electric motors.

The idea had occurred to Piccard after he made the first, non-stop, round-the-world flight in a balloon in 1999. His Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon only just managed to reach its destination, landing with virtually no reserves of the propane gas it had been burning to remain airborne. But aviation industry insiders said Piccard’s solar plane was an impossible dream because, to have enough solar panels, it would need to be massive, yet extremely light. However, his idea was enthusiastically received by Borschberg, who had trained as a pilot in the Swiss Air Force, and was now working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The duo officially announced their project in 2003. After building and testing Solar Impulse 1, a prototype, they constructed Solar Impulse 2, optimised for long-distance flight, reduced energy consumption and improved performance. From the carbon fibre and other materials required for this ultra-lightweight plane, to the electronics necessary to create its super-efficient motors, every tiny component had to be optimised to the limit. The final product was the fruit of the efforts of a core team of 150 people, 80 partners and 80 companies, including Solvay, Omega, Schindler and ABB.

Solar Impulse 2’s delicate wings and fuselage were covered with 17,248 photovoltaic solar cells, each roughly the thickness of a human hair. These cells could absorb sunlight and charge the plane’s four highly efficient lithium-ion batteries. While the aircraft’s ability to fly while the sun shone was undoubted, its batteries had to store enough energy to keep the four propellers spinning through the dark night-time hours. The flight profile was tailored accordingly – climbing to around 8,500 m during the day and collecting as much solar energy as possible, and then gliding down to about 1,500 m during the night to conserve battery charge. In theory the plane could fly on forever in this manner. But the lone pilot obviously could not.

Solar Impulse 2 was incredibly light. Its wingspan of 71.9 m was only slightly less than that of an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner. But while a fully-loaded A380 weighs around 575 tonnes, the carbon-fibre Solar Impulse 2 weighed only about 2.3 tonnes, or scarcely more than a sport utility vehicle (SUV). The aircraft’s wings could not be banked more than five degrees, otherwise it might spin out of control. Its cockpit was unpressurised. But it had advanced avionics, and a simple autopilot that allowed the pilot to steal cat naps. It also carried oxygen, permitting flight up to an altitude of 12,000 m. While it had a maximum speed of 140 km/h, it generally cruised at 90 km/h by day, reducing to 60 km/h at night to save power. It had no reserve fuel, so if the batteries malfunctioned or their charge were exhausted, the plane would be incapable of continuing.

Unlike the early aviation pioneering flights, this one needed a strong ground organisation. A mission control centre was established in Monaco using satellite links to gather real-time flight telemetry and remain in constant contact with the aircraft and its support team. The route was entirely in the Northern Hemisphere, eastward from Abu Dhabi. Mission control also predicted the weather and guided the aircraft through areas where it could absorb enough solar energy to survive the long night ahead. Since the plane was very vulnerable to adverse weather, the pilot had to wait patiently till good weather conditions were predicted along the route of each leg. Crossing the Pacific and Atlantic oceans took up to five days and nights. The longest of the 16 legs, an 8,924 km flight from Nagoya, Japan, to Hawaii, US, lasted nearly 118 hours. During this stage, Borschberg broke the absolute world record for the longest duration uninterrupted solo flight. It was just one of 19 official aviation records set during the journey. On these very long flights, the pilot could keep the plane flying on autopilot and take 20-minute naps. He would practise yoga and other exercises to promote blood flow and remain alert. His seat also served as a toilet seat.

However, extraordinary as the Solar Impulse 2 expedition was, in the end it showed that the prospect of pure solar-powered commercial aircraft is still remote. SP

— JOSEPH NORONHA