NBAA Convention News 102110 by AIN Publications

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Convention News

An independent publication, solely owned by The Convention News Co., Inc., Midland Park, N.J. Atlanta

Vol. 42 No. 26/$9.00

October 21, 2010

NetJets chairman advises patience

INSIDE... • Legacy designers tap latest tech for FBW

by Jeff Burger

The fly-by-wire Embraer Legacy 450 and 500 will feature closed-loop systems, meaning pilots do not directly control the rate of flight control surface movement. Page 12

The growing UK-based group sees indications that the market has bottomed out and is preparing for a shallow climb, with plans to continue its expansion. Page 16

• GE’s TechX to cut fuel burn and emissions The engine manufacturer’s newest engine–the TechX–incorporates the fuel-efficent eCore technology used in GE’s commercial engines. Page 18

Displaying the appropriate paper work are (l to r) Embraer vice presidents Claudio Camelier, Luís Carlos Affonso and Ernest Edwards.

Brazil and EU certify Embraer’s Legacy 650 by Evan Sweetman

• Crane STCs wireless Lear 60 tire checkers The newly certified Crane SmartStem wireless tire pressure monitoring system simplifies taking tire pressure readings, now required by FAA airworthiness directive every 96 hours on the Learjet 60. Page 19

• Learjet 85 is halfway through design phase Bombardier is midway through the detailed design for the composite jet, and parts manufacturing is under way at suppliers and Bombardier-owned manufacturing facilities. Page 35

ON LINE NOW... • Embraer Legacy 650 • Dassault pushes ahead with SMS • Ed Bolen interview • Opening Session Awards

Embraer has been awarded certification of its large-cabin Legacy 650 by the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) and EASA, the company announced at the NBAA convention’s static display yesterday. The $25.9 million Legacy 650, an upgrade of the Legacy 600, was announced at last year’s NBAA show in Orlando, Fla.,

ALMOST JUST PEACHY As of late yesterday, the 63rd NBAA convention easily exceeded expectations, with 23,831 visitors logged, surpassing the total of the entire 2009 show. The DeKalb Peachtree Airport static display is full at 93 aircraft with a waiting list, and 1,083 exhibitors filled the Georgia World Congress Center halls. In marked contrast to last year, NBAA ‘10 participants pulled out the stops, with new aircraft, engine and avionics programs announced, airplanes ordered and hot-andheavy activity on the show floor. Next year, NBAA gathers in Las Vegas, October 10 to 12.

where the company vowed to have the aircraft certified in a year. “We made the promise, and kept to it,” Embraer executive vice president Luís Carlos Affonso told AIN. “Our next step will be to begin delivering the aircraft at the end of the year.” Building on what the Brazilian company has created with the Continued on page 6 u

“Those of us in this room will feel pretty good five years from now,” predicted David Sokol, chairman, president and CEO of NetJets. “Time is the friend of good businesses.” Sokol made the comment yesterday at Dassault Falcon’s annual NBAA “family breakfast,” where he was the guest speaker and revealed plans for NetJets to open an outlet in China. Dassault Falcon hosted the event at the Omni Atlanta CNN Center. “We’ve seen at NetJets a significant return this year, increasing month by month,” Sokol said. “We’re up about 8 percent year over year on flight activity and, while still down from 2007 levels, it’s very much a positive trend. Sales activity is up, particularly in the last four months, with net new owners up in significant numbers for the first time this year. All of those facts

speak well for the future of business aviation.” Still, Sokol acknowledged the obvious–that recent times have been among the toughest this industry has seen. “Last year was my first NBAA event and it was kind of like going to a wake,” he joked. “Our sales folks had been telling me how vibrant NBAA events are and I assumed it was me. I felt like I had leprosy last year.” Sokol forecast a “slowgrowth” period over the next five years in the U.S. and said conditions in Europe will be even more difficult. “U.S. budget deficits…are at record levels,” he said. “The U.S. consumer, their debt is at record levels.” As for the housing industry, Sokol noted that published data indicates a nine-month inventory of unsold homes in the U.S. Continued on page 6 u

Continued on page 60 u

CY CYR

• Gama sees positive signs for charter

MARIANO ROSALES

NBAA

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Iridium set to launch Next generation of satellites by Mark Huber Earlier this month Iridium reached a preliminary agreement for $1.8 billion to finance its Next constellation of advanced low orbit communications satellites, slated for launch beginning in 2015. A syndicate of nine international banks is providing the financing. Launch of the 66 Next satellites and seven spares will be handled by SpaceX from the Vandenberg Spaceport in

southern California. The satellites will be constructed by Thales Alenia Space and managed by Boeing. The new satellites will provide more capacity, higher data rates and flexible bandwidth. Ahead of the launch, Iridium is beginning to move into new markets including LiveTV, flight data recorder streaming and alerting, and Future Air Navigation Systems (Fans), which enables reduced separation and

more direct routing. Operational trials of Iridium Fans by Continental Micronesia and Cargolux have been completed. Greg Ewert, Iridium executive vice president, sees Fans as a key growth area for the company, especially among a large share of its 24,000 general aviation subscribers. The Next system, Ewert said, will have backward compatibility with existing technology. “There won’t be any stranded equipment” with the new satellites, he said. Iridium’s finances appear stable. During the second quarter of this year, the company posted revenues of $84 million, a modest increase from the same period a year ago, with increases in commercial and government revenue sectors. For the

French strikes beginning to pinch GA by Mark Huber Civil unrest in France, in response to the government’s attempt to raise the minimum retirement age to qualify for a pension from 60 years to 62 years, is beginning to affect general aviation operations there. Although street demonstrations and violence appeared to be abating yesterday about one-third of the nation’s high-speed TGV trains were still running behind schedule and truckers were engaging in rolling roadblocks, snarling traffic at several locations throughout the country. At Paris’s two main commercial airports–Charles de Gaulle and Orly–unions announced plans to block access roads. While one-quarter of the flights at Orly were cancelled, mainly due to ATC work actions, traffic at de Gaulle remained

Canadians partner on quiet C850

normal through Wednesday morning. President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered police yesterday to clear blockades of fuel depots, which had caused an estimated one-third of the nation’s gas stations to shut down. The airport fuel situation does not appear near as dire, however. Nevertheless, Universal Aviation (Booth No. 3927) is advising its clients to pre-arrange fuel needs, as opposed to expecting ondemand service. So far, aviation fuel supplies in the Paris and Cote d’Azur regions are holding up, but Universal’s Jeff Bistany, UVair director of fuel supply, said outlying areas, particularly the island of Corsica, are being harder hit. On Corsica, fuel sound-proofing from Montreal-based Silentium on this aircraft type. Nicholas Houseman, Silentium Air president, said his company’s system on those aircraft is about 150 pounds lighter than competing noise-reduction solutions from third-party completion centers and MROs.

by Harry Weisberger Two Canadian companies, cabin-quieting specialist Silentium Air and completions house Flying Colours, have teamed to provide sound-proofing for green and refurbished Bombardier Challenger 850s and CRJ 200 business jet conversions. The partnership, sealed this week at the Flying Colours NBAA booth (No. 1387), makes the Silentium Air system an integral part of all Challenger 850 completions and CRJ 200 conversions by Flying Colours in the Toronto area, and Flying Colours the preferred installer for

Flying Colours CEO John Gillespie (left) and Nick Houseman, president of Silentium Air, have teamed to quiet Bombardier Challenger 850s and CRJ 200 business jet conversions.

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supplies at Ajaccio, Bastia and Calvi are reported tight. On the mainland, the airport at Saint-Nazaire was reported out of fuel on Wednesday morning. Of greater concern is the impact of ATC disruptions because of controller work-to-rule and other delaying tactics, according to Andrew Hughes of handler Ocean Sky. Hughes said those are delaying slot availability and flow control, causing “significant” flight delays that are “having a major impact on the remainder of European air space.” Hughes added, “We have heard warnings about low [fuel] reserves but haven’t suffered any problems as a result–yet.” He said many intra-European flights bound for France were tankering fuel as a precaution. o This, he explained, is due to “a highly tailored fit using an interlocking modular approach without any tradeoff in overall noise levels, typically mid-to-lower 50s dB speech interference level. Furthermore, our solution leads to reduced installation times due to fewer parts.” o

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Youth and Aviation group receives tour of convention Thirty students from Atlanta’s Creekside High School received a guided tour of the NBAA convention from Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot and first African American to fly solo around the world, as part of the Youth and Aviation Program sponsored by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America (MHIA), an effort supported by NBAA. “It’s important to realize the possibilities and opportunities in aviation,” Irving told the students. “It’s not just being a pilot. There are tons of career opportunities.” Patrick Dunne, NBAA’s communications manager, was on hand to greet the students, and pointed out that nine out of

ten jobs in aviation do not involve flying an airplane. MHIA, which manufactured and supports the Mitsubishi MU-2 twin-engine turboprop, sponsors Irving’s many educational efforts, including his Dream and Soar Program. Among other projects, Dream and Soar has organized a group of disadvantaged youth in the Miami area to work with Irving to build a Zenith Zodiac XL kit aircraft in 10 weeks, which Irving subsequently flew. Said Stan Yokoi, general manager of MHIA’s Aircraft Product Support division, “He’s doing a very good job to educate [students] about the opportunities in aviation.” o

CY CYR

by James Wynbrandt

Barrington Irving tells local high school students that not everyone has to be a pilot to participate in aviation. The group was here as part of the Youth and Aviation Program sponsored Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, an effort supported by NBAA. Irving is the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world.

Bombardier stressing global service by Harry Weisberger Bombardier field service reps. Mike McQuay, president of Bombardier’s Dallas-area service centers, remarked that doing business in the less developed areas of the world requires flexibility and, above all, patience. “That’s something we in the West don’t have so much of, but you have to develop it to get along in many parts of the world.” He explained that such operations often require “workarounds” to deal with local “problems” arising from bureaucracy, inefficiency and a culture of corruption. He noted that areas have differing cultural environments that shape behaviors. “For instance,”

said McQuay, “there’s a difference between India and China. You might say India is process-oriented and the Chinese are more resultsoriented. It’s essential that we develop local partners,” he continued. “That doesn’t mean payoffs. We don’t do that, ever. It does call for making special arrangements, establishing a quid pro quo, if you will, a bartering system where you make something available to get something in return.” McQuay concluded by observing, “Once a local relationship is established, though, then those people often become extremely helpful, cooperative and enthusiastic partners.” o

SimCom Training Centers (Booth No. 6656) has partnered with Eclipse Aerospace to provide training in the EA-500 very light jet and will offer training in the JetProp Malibu/Mirage Rocket Engineering conversion. SimCom also has developed a new international operations course. SimCom training in the Eclipse 500 will begin later this year. Two EA-500 Level-D simulators, originally built by Opinicus, have been relocated to SimCom Orlando and will be used to provide initial and recurrent training. Comprehensive courseware is currently under development. Planned upgrades include the Avio NG 1.7 avionics suite, autopilot enhancement, GPS/Waas and flight into known icing. SimCom recently added initial and recurrent training in the JetProp DLX conversion using SimCom’s Piper Meridian simulator at Orlando. SimCom has begun to offer a 2.5-hour international operations course for $260 at its Orlando, Glendale and Scottsdale, Ariz., campuses. The course includes all information required to safely conduct international flight operations and comply with all applicable regulations. –M.H.

a cast of falcons gather here The Falcon 7X in the background appears to be guarding the rest of the Falcon nest as seen on the static line at DeKalb Peachtree Airport. The aeronautical gathering was a popular destination for NBAA visitors during the threeday convention that ends this afternoon. Next stop for the convention is Las Vegas. MARIANO ROSALES

Bombardier Aerospace is in Atlanta this week highlighting its increased emphasis on worldwide customer service and product support for the entire Bombardier business jet and regional airliner customer base. At an NBAA press briefing yesterday, James Hoblyn, president of Bombardier’s customer service organization, noted the addition of three AOG line maintenance facilities, expanding Bombardier’s service network presence to 60 service centers in 26 countries. Earlier this year Bombardier opened its first wholly companyowned European service center at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and a regional support office in Mumbai, India. Other newly appointed service facilities are ExecuJet Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services in Riga, Latvia, the first line maintenance facilities in those countries. Aerovitro S.A., at Monterrey, has become Mexico’s second Bombardier-approved business jet maintenance facility. Hoblyn also discussed the expansion of Bombardier’s customer delivery teams to include all business aircraft customers throughout the world. These teams consist of avionics technicians and cabin interior experts along with Bombardier-trained third-party maintenance specialists. They accompany customers to their operating bases to provide in-depth instruction in aircraft systems, equipment and troubleshooting. They also facilitate customer interaction with

SimCom Offers New Training Options

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Sikorsky invests in Eclipse by Mark Huber In a surprise announcement here yesterday, Stratford, Conn.-based Sikorsky Aircraft (Booth No. 1526) said that it had reached an agreement “in principle” to make a substantial minority investment in Eclipse Aerospace (Booth No. 6667). Executives from both companies provided few specifics about the deal, including its value. “This agreement in principle affords us an opportunity to invest in a

NetJets boss preaches patience uContinued from page 1

and he said a healthy market would have a four-to-six-month inventory. In fact, he commented, those figures don’t account for a “shadow market”–people who want to sell their homes but are waiting to try to do so until conditions improve. “With the shadow market, [the inventory] is probably more like 22 months. So we think it’s probably another 18 months before we see new housing construction getting back to historic levels.” Sokol was perhaps even less optimistic about the short-term outlook for reducing unemployment. “The efficiency that was pushed into the system in the fourth quarter of 2008, at least in our businesses, is extraordinary,” he said. “We have manufacturing businesses that cut 25 percent of their overall employment during that period but today believe they can go back to the same volume levels they were at in 2007 and only bring back about a quarter of those employees. Technological improvements have been put in place that frankly we probably should have been doing a decade ago.” As a result, Sokol said, he expects unemployment to stay “probably north of 9 percent for another 18 to 24 months.” Asian Growth

Though Sokol made similar comments regarding Europe, he sounded decidedly bullish about Asia, where he predicted annual growth in the next five years would hover somewhere between 6.5 and 8 percent. “Anyone who has been to China recently has seen the enormous growth,” he added. “The ability of the central government to control and to throttle that economy is absolutely amazing to see. And while one may not agree with all the policies of China, you cannot deny the

great product and to further leverage our strong aftermarket and product support capabilities for fixed-wing applications,” said Sikorsky vice president Mark Cherry. Eclipse CEO Mason Holland told AIN that the investment would not be used to restart serial production of the company’s EA-500 very light jet, although that remains the company’s eventual goal. “The money will be used for ongoing

extraordinary progress they’ve made economically. They’re going to be one of the economic superpowers of the future.” Sokol said NetJets is “filing for certification to create NetJets China later this year.” He also said the company is expanding in Europe and adding more aircraft, an apparent reference to the announcement here at NBAA that NetJets will buy 50 Embraer Phenom 300s and option another 75. Added Sokol: “We’re strongly of the belief that while we probably have another 12 to 18 months to work through the excess inventory in the [business aviation] sector…we probably reached the bottom point sometime this summer and look forward to growing in this industry.” Finally, Sokol talked about energy, a topic, he said, that “ties into business aviation [because] fuel efficiency and environmental considerations are linked at the hip going forward.” Sokol, who in addition to running NetJets is chairman of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, predicted that “the energy industry will go through enormous change depending on what government decides with regard to climate change.” MidAmerican Energy Holdings, an $11 billion (2009 revenues) company, which like NetJets is also owned by Berkshire Hathaway, is involved in the production, supply and distribution of diversified energy sources in the U.S. and UK. “We’ve allowed the politics of environmental considerations to get way ahead of the technological realities,” Sokol said. “If you think about the globe trying to reduce CO2 by 83 percent by the end of 2050, which is what most of the projections [say] we need to get to, [we need] a complete change in the energy consumption methodology of the world. We’ve had 200 years of an economy that’s been built on use of fossil fuels. “[We’re not] knowledgeable enough to know whether

development as we move toward production,” Holland said. “We are producing the airplane; we just haven’t committed to when. The market is not ready yet. Right now we are refining it and Sikorsky is going to help us with the supply chain.” Holland explained that the Sikorsky investment guaranteed Eclipse’s success, but he could not yet provide specific details on which Sikorsky arm would handle Eclipse parts and logistics. Dave Powell, Sikorsky vice president of sales, declined to say if Sikorsky planned to strike a deal for parts production for Sikorsky products by Eclipse.

the science of climate change is accurate enough or a real issue,” Sokol commented. “It’s really a governmental decision that has to be made. But if it’s made, how do we transition?” Sokol answered his own question by suggesting that “at least $2 billion” should be spent on a nonpolitical effort to study the issue and plot a course forward, and he emphasized that nuclear energy needs to be a big part of any solution. Other speakers at the Dassault breakfast included Charles Edelstenne, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, who confirmed that wind tunnel testing on the upcoming Falcon SMS is done and that the preliminary design is frozen; John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet and Olivier Villa, senior vice president of Dassault Aviation Civil Aircraft. o

Embraer gets TC on Legacy 650 uContinued from page 1

Legacy 600, Embraer wanted to increase range and payload without sacrificing anything else. “There are two main improvements over the 600,” Affonso said. “The new avionics suite offers more flight management capability and the new engines are 10 percent more powerful. This aircraft has about 500 nautical miles more range than the 600, and we didn’t compromise payload.” Structurally, the aircraft is very different from its predecessor. Many parts of the aircraft had to be reinforced to be able to carry increased loads for the range boost, which accommodates city pairs that include São Paulo to Miami, London to New York or Dubai, Dubai to Singapore and Singapore to Brazil. The 650 will carry 13 passengers in standard configuration and have a range of 3,900 nm. “It was also important for us to maintain accessibility,”

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“Right now [the deal] provides an opportunity for us to invest in the aircraft. It’s a great product.” He added that Eclipse “will have access to our supply chain.” Sikorsky Aircraft has been engaged in the acquisition of minority shares in small, innovative companies over the last few years as a way to increase the capacity of its research and development efforts. o

Holographic hud Saab AB (Booth No. 1933) is preparing to pursue the civil market for holographic head up displays (HUDs). The aerospace company, best known for its Gripen series of jet fighters and Saab 340 commuter turboprops, began working with the technology in the mid-1970s, according to Lars-Erik Ousback, Saab communications director. The company currently has a demonstration unit installed in a Eurocopter AStar. Saab, based in Jarfalla, Sweden, said its compact Rigs HUD offers a total field of view and could incorporate enhanced/synthetic vision imagery, including HDTV, with data display. Ousback said the Saab HUD is a high-quality, low-price solution for civil operators, but declined to reveal an exact price for the system. –M.H.

Affonso said. “We are certified out of London City. Of course, the 650 won’t be able to carry full fuel for that, but it can do London to Moscow. It can do the steep approaches. Another airport that is very popular with our customers is Cannes, France. That airport has a lot of landing requirements similar to London City, and we made sure the 650 could land there.” Company engineers also designed the aircraft with fuel tankering in mind when they pushed the max landing weight to 44,902 pounds. Max takeoff weight is 53,572 pounds. Honeywell is providing the Legacy 650’s Primus Elite cockpit, which includes vertical navigation and future air navigation system capability. When speaking with customers, Embraer officials learned of their desire for a three-zone cabin. The 650’s interior features a seating area for four, a table area for dining and a space at the back with a divan that folds out to nearly a queen-size bed. The aft area can be sectioned off

with a curtain for privacy. The Legacy 650 also features the largest cabin-accessible baggage compartment in its class, according to Claudio Camelier, Embraer vice president for market intelligence, corporate jets. “During the market studies, we learned that a lot of customers wanted access in flight. There are a lot of Middle Eastern customers who fly often with their families and wanted the ability to access the baggage area,” he said. While the 650 represents a large number of improvements over its counterpart, the Legacy 600, Embraer has not forgotten those customers. “Most of what has been done with the 650–the new avionics, the sound proofing of the cabin–is being done on the 600 now,” Camelier said. The company is also offering an avionics retrofit for 600 operators wanting to upgrade to the Primus Elite suite. o See www.aintv.com for more Embraer Legacy 650.

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Proper support keeps older aircraft flying by Mark Huber The plunging values of certain models of older business jets has rekindled a timeless debate: when is a jet too old to fly? “A rule of thumb is when the aircraft is somewhere around age 25 to 30 years,” said Conklin & de Decker’s David Wyndham. “At that point costs are really going to be increasing and it will be harder to get the spare parts and the maintenance expertise” for aircraft of that vintage. While this may be a rule of thumb, it is not an absolute, however. For West Star Aviation’s Dave Krogman, the general manager of the company’s Grand Junction, Colo. facility, “It is more about the pedigree of the airplane. “How well has it been maintained throughout its life? If it has been well taken care of, then the cost will not be that great. If, on the other hand, corners have been cut and things have been skipped, you could have some very serious and expensive maintenance,” Krogman said. Wyndham sees other market and manufacturing factors influencing the answer. “What

really affects [maintenance availability] is the popularity of the aircraft. There are hundreds of Lear 35s still out there, so if you have one, you can still get really good support for it. But if you have a 25-year-old aircraft and there are only 20 or 30 left in the world, it is going to be a lot tougher to find support.” In general, he said, “the older the aircraft, the smaller the production run, the more difficult it is to maintain the aircraft.” However, long production runs do not necessarily guarantee hassle-free maintenance, Wyndham warned. “A manufacturer may have built more than a thousand of an aircraft model, but fifty units into the production run, it changed the pressurization valve, or switched out component suppliers or redesigned a component.” Both Wyndham and Krogman agree that the plunging values of certain aircraft have skewed some customer expectations when it comes to the cost of maintenance relative to the value of their aircraft. “You can buy an older Learjet 24 or

Interior and avionics upgrades have remained popular despite the slowdown in demand for upgrades, according to West Star Aviation. The company recently refurbished the interior of a Challenger and updated the avionics suite of a Falcon 50.

Upgrades as simple as new paint can give older aircraft such as the Learjet 35, above, and Challenger, left, a like-new appearance.

King Air 90 for a couple of hundred thousand dollars,” Wyndham said. The prices of some more contemporary models have fallen precipitously over the last two years, according to aircraft price tracking service Vref. A 1984 Cessna Citation III that sold for $3 million two years ago is now headed below $1 million and there are numerous other examples of this kind of depreciation. At the same time, Krogman said, the price of some aircraft maintenance and refurbishment services has actually declined for some items because of new and more efficient methods and price competition. However, he warned that customers who acquire bargain aircraft need to understand that the maintenance requirements of those aircraft have not changed. “An airplane has a cost of maintenance. Sometimes when people buy an airplane inexpensively, they think the maintenance costs will also be low. Well, it is the same airplane so the maintenance costs haven’t changed. It is still capable of the same mission.” Krogman said the speed of parts supply can be an issue for some older aircraft, but, in general, maintenance providers have become adept at finding airworthy parts. “I have never had an airplane come in here and not been able to find a part,” he said. Even with falling used aircraft prices, customers continue to upgrade their aircraft,

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according to Debi Cunningham, West Star’s marketing director. She said upgrades that continue in popularity include winglets for Hawkers and Falcon 2000s, the Dash 4 engine upgrade for Falcon 50s, as well as avionics, onboard entertainment, paint and interior upgrades that are often done in conjunction with major maintenance inspections. While there has been a slight decline in the number of customers pursuing upgrades, Cunningham attributed most of this to the macro economy as opposed to those customers not seeing the value of making

aircraft upgrades on older aircraft. “Once the economy is on the upswing, we believe there will be a surge in older aircraft upgrades,” she said. Krogman said customers will continue to add upgrades to their aircraft, such as the recent wave of Waas LPV STCs, as long as they remain “the right airplanes for the job.” He cites the Cessna 441 as a good example of an older aircraft still going strong, despite having been out of production since 1986. However, he does acknowledge that “maintenance costs increase as an aircraft ages.” At some point that crosses a line that just does not make sense, said Wyndham, who noted that the cost of overhauling an engine can exceed the residual value of an aircraft and that parts scarcities for some models can drive owners to “the salvage market.” o

Nordic service center maintains Citations Scandinavian operators of Cessna’s Citation jets have access to a factory-approved service center in their own region, with the opening of a new facility by Swedish company European Maintenance Service (EMS). Trading as the Nordic Citation Service Center, the operation is located at Gothenburg’s Säve Airport and will provide support for the 500, 525, 550, 560, 560XL and 680 series Citations. The 32,300-sqft building can accommodate up to eight aircraft at a time. “The Nordic Citation Service Center is ideally situated, as Gothenburg lies at the heart of

Scandinavia,” said EMS managing director Stephen Diapère. “Not only are we very conveniently located for warranty maintenance customers in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, but we also offer a new resource for aircraft in Iceland, northern Germany, Russia and the Baltic states.” EMS, which has been working on Citations since the early 1990s, will now provide 24/7 aircraft-on-ground support, as well as comprehensive assistance for visiting flight crew. There are now more than 60 Citations based in the Scandinavian region. o

Jets such as Bombardier’s CRJ are expected to account for the lion’s share of regional deliveries over the next decade.

Analyst sees uptick in regional sales Although deliveries of smaller regional jets have dropped dramatically in the past few years, Forecast International expects growing numbers of jets to be delivered from 2010 through 2019. In its recent study, “The Market for Regional Transport

T R AINING

Aircraft,” Newtown, Conn.based Forecast International projects production of 4,016 regional turboprops and jets valued at $123 billion during the coming decade. Jets should account for about 64 percent of that total, the firm said.

PL A NNING

The 2008-2009 downturn was particularly hard for regional airlines, according to the study. “A recovery is now under way, but could easily stall should the general economy remain sluggish or drop back into recession.” Major airlines with regional

airline feeder networks “are looking to significantly redefine their relationship to the regional

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00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 10

airlines,” the study noted. “The majors want to alter, or even scrap altogether, the fixed-fee-per-departure arrangements that have traditionally defined the major/ regional partnership. Increasingly, regionals are being asked to assume much of the risk, and much of the cost, of feeder operations.” While ATR, Bombardier and Embraer will remain dominant in regional airliner production, new models are entering in the larger-size category and will be competing against narrowbody airliners like the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737. Bombardier’s C Series spans seating ranges from 100 to 145 and Embraer’s E-Jets range from 75 to 125 seats. A reengining program for the E-Jets could mean that Embraer competes in the 125-plus seating category. Other regional jet programs are coming and will add to the competition among RJ manufacturers and offer more choices to airlines. o Boeing Reports 787 PROGREss The sixth and final Boeing 787 to join the flight test fleet flew for the first time earlier this month from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The airplane, ZA006, landed at Seattle’s Boeing Field as planned, but two hours earlier than expected. A Boeing spokesperson said a maintenance message during the flight forced Captains Christine Walsh and Bill Roberson to cut short the mission “as a precautionary measure.” ZA006, the second 787 equipped with General Electric GEnx engines to fly, took off from Paine Field at 11:41 a.m. local time and landed at Boeing Field one hour and four minutes later. “It’s great to have our last flight-test airplane join the fleet,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “We have been focused on completing the testing required for certification of the 787 with Rolls-Royce engines because that is the first model we deliver. A great deal of the testing we’ve done also applies to the 787s with GE engines and won’t need to be repeated.” –G.P.

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MATT THURBER

The high level of technology employed synthetic and enhanced vision and Honin Embraer’s newest business jet family, eywell Ovation Select cabin management the Legacy 450 and 500 program, enables and entertainment system. The jets have detailed exploration and development flat-floor cabins that feature 6,000-foot to take place much further ahead of cabin altitude at maximum altitude, 40 first flight, according to Eduardo Cam- cu ft of internally accessible heated and elier, chief test pilot for the Brazilian pressurized baggage space, a B/E Aerospace vacuum lavatory and club seats manufacturer. “We are ‘flying’ this airplane a lot more that fold into beds. “There are no airplanes with the before first flight than we did the 170,” he said. Camelier was project pilot for the combination of characteristics of these 170 program and is intimately familiar airplanes in the market today,” said Affonso. And the technolwith the airliner’s fly-by-wire ogy, from FBW to the avion(FBW) system and the develics and cabin amenities, is just opment and testing needed to as important to buyers as percertify that airplane. formance, he explained. “They It is much easier, with powwant to have an airplane that is erful cheap computers, to repupdated so it preserves residlicate an airplane by building ual value into the future. The an engineering test simulator customer associates technoland especially so with FBW ogy with safety. It’s on top of designs. The Legacy 450 and their minds. Also they perceive, 500 are even better suited to Eduardo Camelier, in terms of fuel efficiency, the simulation, being Embraer’s chief test pilot ability to optimize routes and first design and also the first business jets ever to use a full closed-loop spend less fuel and be more green, and FBW flight control system on all flight they associate new technologies with controls. On the 170, Camelier said, “We environmental friendliness.” started flying simulation about a year FBW Design before the first flight. [With the 450/500], we’re already flying maybe two or three FBW is not new. The 1970s-era F-16 years before first the flight. We’re doing a fighter was designed with an analog FBW lot more testing on this airplane.” system and airliners–like most Airbuses The Legacy 500 will be the first of and Boeing’s 777–employ FBW flight Embraer’s new family to fly. First metal control systems. FBW in business aviawas cut in April, and the landing gear has tion is rarer, with the only certified airalready been assembled. By the m iddle of craft so far being Dassault’s Falcon 7X. next year, the fuselage and wings should The Gulfstream G650 has FBW flight come together and the new jet is scheduled controls and should be the next FBW to take off during the second half of next business jet to be certified. year. “We are advancing well on this projEmbraer’s 170/190 family and thus the ect,” said Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer business jet-derived Lineage 1000 also executive vice president executive jets. features FBW, but the Legacy 450 and Both the 450 and the stretched fuse- 500 will be the lowest cost FBW business lage 500 share the same Honeywell jets–at $15.25 million and $18.4 million, HTF7500E engines, Rockwell Collins respectively–and also the first to feature Pro Line Fusion avionics suite with full closed-loop FBW systems. Like the

FBW Philosophies Comparison Airbus 380

Dassault Falcon 7X

Yes

Partial

Full

Partial

Full

Boeing 787

Sidestick Closed loop control Flight envelope protection

Embraer E170/190

Embraer Legacy 450/500

Maximum maneuver capability in normal flight envelope

Yes

Thrust lever driven autothrottle

Yes

Dispatch without radio altimeter

As fly-by-wire moves into modern airplanes, manufacturers choose different design philosophies, and Embraer is taking advantage of the latest closed-loop envelope-protection capabilities.

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 12

MATT THURBER

Legacy designers tap latest technology for fly-by-wire jets

pedals moves the flight control surface a corresponding amount, which means, said Caldeira, “that there is a direct link between the pilot pedal input and the rudder [or other open-loop flight control]. If the pilot applies full pedal, it means that the rudder is going to move to full authority. When you have a closed loop control, if a pilot pushes the pedal, it provides a sideslip angle command. And then the surface moves but it moves in a more damped way so the pilot achieves the sideslip command that he wants.” Test pilot Camelier provided more detail. “Normally in a closed-loop control, you’re controlling rates. It you put the sidestick to the left, you’re commanding some roll rate instead of just commanding ailerons and roll spoilers. In our airplane, if [the sidestick] is in the neutral position, it’s commanding zero roll rate. Even if I have a gust or hardover of one of the spoiler A smoothly molded stick replaces the bulky control panels, of course there’s the transient that’s yoke in the Legacy 450 and 500, giving pilots going to happen, but right after the tranprecise finger-tip control of the fly-by-wire system. sient, the airplane will control the rolling 7X and Airbuses, the Legacy 450/500 will motion. That means even with the harhave sidestick controllers. The Lineage dover of a spoiler, it will command a 1000 and G650 have traditional yokes, as little bit of roll and then it stops because the sidestick is in zero. It’s always comdo Boeing’s 777 and new 787. Fabrício Reis Caldeira is flight control manding zero roll rate. So instead of laws manager at Embraer and a key player always having input [equal] control to in the design of the Legacy 450/500. “We the surface, input means you’re comare bringing a technology now available manding a rate that you want. And the only in larger and more expensive air- airplane will do whatever it has to do to planes to the midsize, midlight category give you the rate.” The only other aircraft with full of business jet,” he said. “The reason we adopted the sidestick is the reduction in closed-loop FBW in all axes are the Airweight, maintenance and spare parts com- bus A380 and Boeing 787, according pared to a yoke. It provides a better view to Caldeira. The Falcon 7X has mostly closed-loop controls, except for the rudof displays in the cockpit.” In the FBW Legacys, he explained, der. The Airbus A340-600 has a FBW rudder, but it is open-loop, he “pilot inputs are transmitted said. The Boeing 777 has closedto the flight control computer loop FBW in the pitch axis through a digital databus, and and open-loop FBW in the latthe flight control computer eral and yaw axes. The Embraer also receives information 170/190 uses FBW in pitch and from the airplane’s sensors yaw and hybrid FBW in the roll and then provides the comaxis, with FBW spoilers and conmand to the remote electronic ventional ailerons. unit that commands the flight The most sophisticated elecontrol surface.” ment of the 170/190 FBW sysIn the 450/500 FBW sysFabricio Caldeira, tem is an angle-of-attack (AOA) tem, there are only two modes flight control limiter to prevent stalls, Caldeof operation: normal and laws manager ira said. This also helps with a direct. Normal uses the flight control computers and senses pilot input tailstrike protection feature during takethen commands the flight control surface off and landing and for enabling steep to move to deliver the result requested by approaches at certain constrained airthe pilot. Direct mode is used if there is ports, such as London City. Embraer a failure causing the flight control com- engineers learned a lot about flight conputers not to be available. The controls trols on the 170/190, he said, and “then are still actuated electronically–there is we convinced the management that we no mechanical backup system–but the could do the next step–the first Embraer pilot’s commands are relayed directly and full fly-by-wire airplane.” the flight controls move in p roportion to Envelope Protection the pilot’s control of the sidestick, instead of the computers selecting the amount of FBW design allows engineers to add movement in the controls. envelope protection (see chart on left), one What makes the 450/500 FBW sys- of the benefits of the new technology. But tem unique is that it is used to drive all there are different philosophies for envethe flight controls–rudder, spoilers, flaps, lope protection. Boeing’s 787 has partial ailerons and elevator–and that it is a envelope protection, according to Caldeclosed-loop system. Closed-loop means ira, while Airbus and Dassault employ that the pilot isn’t directly controlling full protection. The 170/190, with its AOA the rate of flight control surface move- limiter, offers partial envelope protection. ment. In an open-loop system, the pilot’s Embraer’s philosophy is to allow the movement of the stick, yoke or rudder Continued on page 44 u

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Gama sees positive signs for charter by Charles Alcock It is just more than two years since Gama Aviation (Booth No. 927) acquired PrivatAir and a foothold in the U.S. aircraft management and charter market. The timing of the deal may not have

been entirely auspicious–closing before the full impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was understood–but the UK-based group has no regrets about seizing the opportunity to move into

the mother of all business aviation marketplaces. “The U.S. is a very mature market and we have focused on delivering the core values that we stand for and have had a very

good response from the American client base,” Gama CEO Marwan Khalek told AIN. Gama is now well on the way to being a global business aviation group, with operations in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. So how does it view market conditions as the industry approaches the start of what

could be the fourth year of an historic slump? “It’s slightly better than it was twelve months ago,” said Khalek. “At that time we were wondering whether the market was bottoming out…Now we see a gradual trend in the right direction, but it will be a shallow climb, and there won’t even be a steady time for some time to come–there is simply no consistency in the market.” According to Khalek, demand has risen slightly in recent months and this has improved flight activity volumes and charter rates to some degree. “But over the past twelve months rates have been crazy,” he said. “People were buying cash flow and that’s just not sustainable. It’s not right for the [aircraft] owners, and management companies should be more responsible.” Business Uptick Expected

Gama’s response to the challenges thrown its way in the wake of the financial crisis has been to decelerate its growth plans to the extent that expectations and targets originally set for next year have been pushed back to 2012 or 2013. The company opted not to cut back on the size of its operation during 2009’s difficult trading conditions, and it still operates more than 72 aircraft. “We have been through a very testing situation that has made us take a hard look at the business and fine-tune things,” said Khalek. Gama broke into the promising Middle East market early this year, securing a commercial air operator’s certificate in the United Arab Emirates in February. It has four aircraft based in the region and expects to add one or two more by year-end. “When things started to go south [in the charter market], there was a lot of nervousness and uncertainty as operators went into a defensive survival mode,” said Khalek. “There are enough signals now to suggest that [current market conditions are] business as normal and that 2006 to 2008 was a boom period and it is not realistic to expect that we will come back to that.” What will it take to turn things around more conclusively? “We would have liked to have seen better performance in terms of the general health of the corporate world,” concluded Khalek. “The traditional corporate groups are now in reasonable health, but there is not enough [business activity] going on. As soon as this picks up we will see betterthan-expected demand because there isn’t a lack of appetite for [business aviation].” o

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 16 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

GE is still active with two programs that started its business and GA unit, the former Walter M601, now the H80, (left) and the Honda HF120. GE is talking with airframers about both engines.

news clips z P&WC Cuts AOG Parts Shipments To 24 Hours In an effort to better guarantee AOG parts shipments within 24 hours, Pratt & Whitney Canada (Booth No. 2704) last month opened a new parts distribution center in Memphis. The new facility’s proximity to FedEx’s national hub will allow customers to place orders until midnight EST for delivery the next day, according to Raffaele Virgili, vice president of customer service for P&WC. Virgili said that approximately 40 percent of all AOG orders are received between 5 p.m., P&WC’s old cut-off time for next day delivery, and midnight. Virgili said the new warehouse primarily supports AOG requirements and line maintenance-level orders for “over-thecounter” customers and that Pratt & Whitney Component Solutions, based in Muskegon, Mich., will continue to stock material required to support repair and overhaul-level activity and diagnostics, prognostics and health management customers. P&WC customers can continue to order all parts from Component Solutions at the same toll-free number, (800) 872-1792.

z Comlux America Outfitting BBJ Comlux America, the Indianapolis-based completion and refurbishment center affiliate of The Comlux Group (Booth No. 3851), has signed a contract to outfit a new Boeing Business Jet. Comlux America was approved earlier this year by Boeing as a center for completion and refurbishment of its BBJ line. It is the fourth order received by Comlux for a narrow-body executive/ VIP completion since the center was opened two years ago. According to CEO David Edinger, Comlux has an A320 Prestige, an ACJ and another Boeing in its green completion pipeline and a 767 coming in for an executive/VIP refurbishment.

z Winglets Saving 4.5 Million Gallons During NBAA Seattle-based Aviation Partners claimed yesterday that its blended winglets will save almost 4.5 million gallons of fuel during the current three-day NBAA Convention. The winglets have been installed on more than 4,000 business and commercial aircraft, according to the company, which credited the winglets for total worldwide fuel savings to date of more than 2.3 billion gallons. Aviation Partners is exhibiting here at the NBAA Convention at Booth No. 4508.

z JetEx Donates 1 Percent of Revenues To Unicef JetEx Flight Support, an aviation services company with more than 260 locations worldwide, has agreed to donate to Unicef 1 percent of the revenues it generates by providing overflight and landing permits. The agreement, which took effect October 15, will be effective through April 15 next year. JetEx CEO Adel Mardini said his company welcomes the opportunity to assist Unicef, “which has a proven record in upholding children’s rights worldwide.” JetEx Flight Support, which is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, is exhibiting here at Booth No. 3809.

z WinAir Launching Charter Service in Taipei WinAir of Taiwan announced at the NBAA Convention that it will launch a charter and aircraft management service in Taipei, Taiwan, on October 29. It will be the country’s first such service. WinAir, which began as a private flight department, operates two U.S.-registered aircraft, a Gulfstream IV and a G450. The company recently took delivery of a G550 that was the first business jet to receive Taiwanese registration. It will add a G650 to the fleet in 2014.

GE’s TechX to cut fuel burn and emissions by Evan Sweetman Officials with GE Aviation announced the launch of the TechX engine at NBAA on Monday, but weren’t about to go into detail until Bombardier made its formal announcement of the Global 7000 and 8000. A technical briefing Tuesday gave more insight into what we can expect from the engine when it receives certification in 2016. The company hopes to see the TechX best its competitors in fuel burn by about 8 percent. Officials also believe it will overstep emission requirements by 50 percent. When addressing requirements set forth by the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection, GE Aviation vice president Brad Mottier said engineers would take into account emissions during takeoff and landing, when they are most concentrated. “There is data to suggest that nitrous oxide emissions at altitude are an issue as well,” Mottier said. “We will be looking very closely into that to see if

improvements can be made. The new powerplant employs a few tricks GE Aviation has developed in its commercial and military markets.

A rendering of the TechX that will power the just-announced Global 7000 and Global 8000.

“I was given the ability to go around GE like a kid in a candy store to develop the business and GA engines,” Mottier said. The lowered emissions and higher-efficiency of the engine come from GE’s branded eCore Technology, mostly design philosophies tailored to the commercial market. A spinoff of that technology is Leap-X which was a honing of the same concepts for

Eclipsing the old

MARIANO ROSALES

z Tai Ping Offering Aviation Carpeting Here Carpet manufacturer Tai Ping has launched the Vestige Collection, which consists of 21 designs that have been recolored for the aviation market. The hand-tufted carpets are made of New Zealand wool and silk, with jute and flax as accents, and are offered in golden browns, ecru, bronze and gray-blues. New York-based Tai Ping is exhibiting here at Booth No. 3241.

Markus Knopf from Innovative Solutions & Support demonstrates the new avionics package on the Eclipse 500 jet.

18aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

narrow-body aircraft. GE also applied the “blisk” it developed for some of its military engines. Normally used for compressor blades, a blisk is a single-piece fan, in which the blades and the disks that connect them to the hub are hewn from a single piece of metal. “The engineers are going to have to design the fan to be much more tolerant of strikes and FOD,” said Chuck Nugent, CF34 program manager. “We will, of course, test it to the standards required for certification and beyond.” Engineers must also take good care to ensure as much work can be done on-wing as possible. “We’ve done a digital preassembly which allows us to simulate the engine to test ease of tooling,” Nugent said. TechX and Bombardier aren’t the only names GE is dropping around the show this year. The

company is still active with the two programs that started its business and general aviation unit: the HF120 it is building for the HondaJet and the rebirth of the Walter M601, dubbed the H80. “We are in talks with airframers about both the H80 and HF120,” Mottier said, but declined to go into further detail. GE engineers have been dutifully putting the HondaJet powerplant through its paces in a very unusual manner. Its first run took place at altitude. Rather, simulated altitude, as they put the engine in an altitude chamber in Cincinnati, Ohio, and ran it up to 46,000 ft without ever leaving the ground, according to Mottier. Since then, they’ve gotten it up to Mach 0.85 at altitude and have yet to actually put it on an airframe. Engineers also ran the engine through the turbulence chamber GE Commercial Engines used for the GE90 flying on Boeing’s 777 airliner. Mottier said he expects the HF120 will receive FAA and EASA certification next year. o

Tokyo Haneda airport welcoming more bizav by James Wynbrandt Business aviation access to Tokyo is about to get easier. Beginning October 31, Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport (RJTT), previously opened to business aircraft arrivals from overseas only between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., will allow eight slots for domestic and international flights (up to four arrivals) during the previously prohibited hours. Slots for nighttime arrivals remain unlimited. “It’s important to let [business aviation users] know that Haneda is open for business,” said Kazuyuki Tamura, auditor and head of the Japan Business Aviation Association (JBAA), which has been working to loosen restrictions on international arrivals at Haneda since 1996. Previously, all daytime international business aircraft arrivals to Tokyo had to use Narita International Airport, about an hour and a half by ground transportation from Tokyo.

standardaero gives can $1,500 StandardAero and Corporate Angel Network (CAN) announced that CAN will receive a donation of more than $1,500 in conjunction with the second annual Business Aviation Motorcycle Charity Ride, which will take place after the closing of the current NBAA Convention. “The great service CAN provides to the families and individuals who deal with the daily battle against [cancer] is incredibly important,” said Scott Taylor, Standard Aero’s senior vice president of business aviation (and an avid motorcycler who owns a Harley-Davidson motorcycle). “It is our pleasure to help coordinate a contribution.” Corporate Angel Network (Booth No. 7331), which is based in White Plains, N.Y., arranges free flights to treatment for cancer patients, using empty seats on corporate flights. StandardAero (Booth No. 7601), which is based in Tempe, Ariz., specializes in engine maintenance, repair and overhaul, major modifications and aircraft refurbishment. –J.B.

Business aviation has been slow to gain a toehold in Japan because the culture stresses public over private transportation. But changing attitudes and the recent completion of a fourth runway at Haneda, which is capable of handing commercial aircraft, led to the policy change, Tamura explained. Aircraft parking has been extended at Haneda, from a maximum of five days to seven days. Moreover, business aircraft arriving at Haneda previously had to park far from the terminal, requiring a long drive across the field with frequent stops for taxiing aircraft. Now, aircraft parking is close to the airport’s new international terminal, further speeding operations. “Japan is now more open to business aviation than ever before,” said Chris Buchholz, Universal Weather and Aviation president, Asia-Pacific. “We

would encourage [Tokyo bound] people using corporate jets to go to Haneda.” Handling company Universal Weather has offices at Haneda, as well as Narita, Osaka and Sapporo. Tamura noted that the “deregulation” at Haneda, as the JBAA calls it, is “a foot in the door,” and that as business aviation usage and demand for slots at Haneda increase, the government will likely allow more traffic. Looking ahead, Tamura said Tokyo also has four air force bases–two used by Japan and two by the U.S. Ultimately, JBAA would like to see one or more of them turned to dual use, further increasing access for private aviation. Buchholz noted that whereas international arrivals of business aircraft were formerly almost exclusively from the U.S., the rise of general aviation throughout the region has changed the picture, with more traffic coming from Hong Kong, China, Korea and Southeast Asia. Convention attendees who want to know more about flying into Japan are invited to visit the Universal Weather booth (No. 3927) for more information. o

Crane gets STC for Learjet 60 tire checkers

mastering their jobs Pictured (l to r) are: Jeff Nix of CAE; Dennis Pepin, Rickey Pate and Kyle McCumpsey, all Home Depot maintenance technicians; and Bill McBride, senior director of flight operations for Home Depot. The three A&P techs are recipients of the CAE SimuFlite Master Aircraft Technician Award.

Ken Blanchard Keynotes NBAA Conference Bestselling author Dr. Ken Blanchard will be the keynote speaker at the NBAA’s 19th annual Leadership Conference, which is set for Feb. 23 to 24, 2011, in San Diego. Blanchard has written more than 40 books on leadership, including The One Minute Manager (coauthored with Spencer Johnson), which has sold 13 million copies. In 1979, Blanchard and his wife Margie cofounded the Ken Blanchard Companies, a management training and consulting firm. He teaches in the Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego and is a visiting lecturer at Cornell University, where he received bachelor’s and doctorate degrees. “We are delighted that Dr. Blanchard will join us for our 2011 Leadership Conference,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “He truly embodies the conference theme, ‘Engaging Leadership.’” –J.B.

by Evan Sweetman Crane Aerospace (Booth No. 2916) has received certification of its SmartStem wireless tire pressure system for the Bombardier Learjet 60 following an Airworthiness Directive issued by the FAA in July. The AD was the result of an investigation into a fatal 2008 Learjet 60 crash that the NTSB reported was caused by underinflated tires. Crane’s SmartStem replaces the existing tire-inflation stem. Sensors imbedded in the stem mean the valve cap doesn’t have to be removed as frequently, reducing the amount of gas lost from the tire. Gas is also lost every time ordinary tire pressure checks are done with regular systems. The stem’s sensors communicate tire pressure through a wireless connection to a handheld device carried by pilots or maintenance crews. The stem simplifies checking tire pressures, especially on the Learjet 60, where the AD requires checks every 96 hours. Crane engineers designed

the system so it can be retrofitted to any existing aircraft. It is currently certified on the Cessna Sovereign and Citation X and is being installed on all new-production Boeing 777s. The 2008 Learjet crash occured after the pilots aborted a high-speed takeoff after the jet’s underinflated main gear tires exploded. That accident killed four people and left two with severe burns. In the Safety Board’s analysis, NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman commented, “This accident chain started with something as basic as inadequate tire inflation and ended in tragedy. This entirely avoidable crash should reinforce to everyone in the aviation community that there are no small maintenance items because every time an airplane takes off, lives are on the line.” o

JoinJet Named Launch Customer for Hawker 800XPR Upgrade Hawker Beechcraft Services Tuesday named JoinJet of Denmark as the launch customer for its Hawker 800XPR upgrade. JoinJet is the charter division of the airline Sun-Air of Scandinavia. The XPR program offers “significant improvements over the performance and capability of the 800XP,” according to Hawker Beechcraft, which said Hawker winglets and Honeywell TFE731-50R engines give the 800XPR “greater range, better time to climb and faster cruise speeds.” Optional avionics and stylized interiors are available as part of the upgrade. n

www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa19 00

Hill Aircraft FBO celebrates 55 years at Fulton County by Matt Thurber Local Atlanta FBO Hill Aircraft & Leasing (Booth No. 6244) is celebrating its 55th year at Fulton County AirportBrown Field here at NBAA. The familyowned FBO was founded by U.S. Navy aviator Guy Hill, Sr., in 1955. While a pilot for Eastern Airlines, Hill started buying and selling airplanes and then bought an FBO at Fulton County for $10,000. He built that into a diverse business with FBO operations, aircraft management and charter, maintenance, parts distribution and aircraft sales. Current FBO president Larry Westbrook married one of Guy’s daughters, Carol, and began working for the company in 1984, starting in line service and then working his way up to president. Earlier this month, Hill Aircraft marked the anniversary by inviting airport patrons and colleagues to a celebratory breakfast catered by the Waffle House restaurant chain. Waffle House also had its 55th anniversary this year and brought a truckload of waffles, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and sausage to the party. The Hill family did a major renovation of the FBO in 2005 to coincide with its 50th anniversary and prepare for the

Elliott has put 23 G1000 systems in C90B and B200/300 series King Airs, more than all other dealers.

Elliott Aviation hits diamond anniversary by David A. Lombardo Elliott Aviation of Moline, Ill., is celebrating its 75th anniversary at NBAA by increasing its capability, passing on “significant” savings to customers and giving visitors to its booth (No. 7127) an opportunity to enter a contest for a chance to win $75,000. “The big news is we’ve received FAA approval as a Class IV repair station,” said Jeff Hyland, the company’s CFO. “It represents a significant cost savings for our customers. Illinois recently passed a law that exempts sales tax on parts and labor if the repair station is

Class IV certified. Until now we have had to add a 7-percent tax, which can be very significant with larger aircraft.” The company will also be displaying its King Air 350 Garmin G1000 panel retrofit at the Garmin display (NBAA Static No. 670). The retrofit is available for the King Air C90, 200 and B200. Elliott has installed 23 G1000 systems in C90B and B200/200 series King Airs–more, says the company, than all other Garmin dealers combined. In the past 12 months, Elliott has earned FAA and EASA certification for its digital flight data recorder for Beechjet 400/400A and Hawker 400XP jets and signed a service center agreement with Jet Support Services. In addition, Elliott Aviation has purchased, refurbished and resold eight Beechjet 400A/Hawker 400XPs. “We’re focusing on the next 75 years,” Hyland said. “We’re in the process of obtaining AS9100B:2004 and ISO 9001:2008 certification and anticipate completion in the second quarter of 2011. We are in the certification process for NDT Level III.” o

Hawker 4000 sets new speed records Hawker Beechcraft’s (HBC) flagship super-midsize Hawker 4000 received six world speed records at NBAA for flights made between October of 2009 and April 2010, all set in the “Speed Over a Recognized Course” category. The awards were presented by National Aeronautic Association (NAA) president Jonathan Gaffney and are sanctioned by both the NAA and the Federation Aeronautique International. “These records are a testament to

Safe Flight PDS aided Enstrom in Thai army sale by R. Randall Padfield 250-powered Enstrom 480B is a variant of the TH-28, which Enstrom developed for the U.S. Army’s new training helicopter. It entered service in 1993. The FAA- and EASA-certified PDS detects the electromagnetic fields of live power lines and alerts pilots of the danger with visual and aural warnings. As the aircraft flies closer to the power line, the warning intensifies. Safe Flight plans to offer PDS to other Enstrom 480 operators as a production option and retrofit. In business since 1946, Safe Flight has designed, developed and manufactured numerous products for aircraft, including stall-warning systems, angleof-attack systems, autothrottles, windshear warning systems and exceedance warning systems. o

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 20

the performance and technology of the Hawker 4000,” said Shawn Vick, HBC executive vice president. “We are pleased to add these records to the growing list of accolades and positive feedback that we are receiving from the aviation community.” The latest record, from Bedford, Mass., to London, covered 3,284 nm at an average speed of 542.70 mph. Five previous records, announced at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva were from Lisbon to Berlin (482.13 mph), Berlin to Milan (395.62 mph), Milan to Bahrain (480. 14 mph), Bahrain to London (454.42 mph) and London to Dubai (540.39 mph). The Hawker 4000 can climb from sea level to FL370 in just over 14 minutes and has a maximum cruise speed of Mach 0.84. o

Think it’s too big for our citation?

MARIANO ROSALES

The first Enstrom 480B helicopters to be equipped with Powerline Detection Systems (PDS), which are designed and manufactured by Safe Flight Instrument (Booth No. 1615) of White Plains, N.Y., will soon be flying. Safe Flight has begun delivery of three such systems to Enstrom, which will install them on new 480Bs destined for the Royal Thai Army. The single-turboshaft helicopters are planned for entry into service with the army in the first quarter of next year. According to Safe Flight, its PDS was a key component in Enstrom’s sale of 16 480Bs to the Thai Army. To be based in the Lopburi province of Thailand, the helicopters will be used primarily for training. The Rolls-Royce

last time the NBAA convention was in Atlanta in 2007. The airport enjoys an advantage over other Atlanta-area airports, according to Westbrook, because it has the only 24/7 control tower besides Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Fulton County can accept international arrivals, with on-call U.S. Customs officers available. “Business has been challenging, but having multiple operations under one roof has helped,” Westbrook said. “Fuel and hangar sales are our bread and butter, but when it’s off in one department, others take up the slack. I think pricing on airplanes is still depressed and probably will be for a while. It’s still going to be some time before it picks up. I don’t know if it’s the worst I’ve seen, but it’s different. It has affected everybody, no matter what business they’re in.” Although fuel sales were down in 2009, volume grew during every month of this year except July and August, he said, thanks in part to a military fueling contract. Hill Aircraft “has been here a long time,” he said, “and hopefully we’ll be here for a long time to come” delivering the “sensational Southern service” that the company is known for. o

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Smartphone apps for aviation find fuel cost, FBO info and much more by Zach O’Brien Applications for smartphones are a growing trend among business aviation companies, which are embracing this technology in order to add to the convenience of their services. The most popular of these phone apps are pilot-friendly information databases. Signature Flight Support has released the iFBO app for the iPhone and iPad. The app can get up-to-date fuel prices and

calculate the price breakdown based on the aircraft type. The iFBO app can also find a Signature FBO, provide contact information and show a list of services and amenities available at the location. A location link to Google Maps is also available. The application can be downloaded for free on the iTunes store. With smartphone apps, pilots don’t need to access a computer

with an Internet connection to access flight information. Universal Avionics announced a free phone app for Droid users that can connect right into the cockpit. The Universal Droid app connects the phone to Universal’s UniNet, which provides the customers’ account navigation database, operator assistance and billing information. The app can access Universal contact information from anywhere

in the world and is available to view in the cockpit through the company’s new solid-state datatransfer unit. West Star Aviation’s new Experience On Call application provides a comprehensive worldwide directory that allows customers to inquire about service needs specific to their aircraft or geographic location. JetNet is releasing an app that can access its Evolution information network. The data includes aircraft owner records, market summaries, aircraft for sale and aircraft performance specifications. The app is available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Droid phones. Universal Weather and

Aviation’s mobile Web app gives customers access to all of the company’s services from any type of smartphone. Instead of developing software apps for each type of smartphone, the mobile Web allows any smartphone user to access Universal’s data and it also avoids the need to submit apps to smartphone companies’ stores for approval. Charter operator Solairus Aviation has released a mobile Web app that enables users to view one-way flights as they come available. The mobile app was created in an attempt to occupy empty leg flights and alert potential customers to these discounted flights. o

Oviv Security Technologies is launching a remote-control option for the Sentinel 100L security system for guarding aircraft on the ground. The new remote control unit has a user interface with a large touchscreen display, providing fast and easy access to all the Sentinel 100L’s functions. With the remote control, Sentinel can be operated just about anywhere in the world via the best-available communication option, be it GSM, Internet-based GPRS or Bluetooth. The remote control also provides an integrated checklist for easy reference. Via a password-protected barrier, users can manage the system’s operating profiles and set up any number of personnel to receive security messages. They can choose between seeing video on demand of the protected aircraft or receive only intrusion notifications. The system can provide timestamped intrusion reports and videos. “The rise in insurance premiums coupled with an ever-increasing number of security threats means that aircraft security on the ground is of paramount importance,” said Bruno Combe, CEO of France-based Oviv (Booth No. 8730). “Our systems are designed to secure and monitor aircraft in any situation and contribute to meet FAA, EASA and NBAA recommendations for business jet security.” Oviv claims that Sentinel is the only security system to protect aircraft from multiple threats, including damage on the ramp, tampering, vandalism or stolen fuel. The system has been designed to guard a perimeter area around the entire aircraft using a radar beacon fitted to the aircraft (the Sentinel 100E version, which looks like a miniature robot) or placed on the ramp in a ruggedized suitcase. The units are lightweight and only take a couple of minutes to set up. o

MARIANO ROSALES

Oviv launches remote-control Sentinel 100L

Lone link to the past Michael Danich of Actron gets an autograph from living legend Dutch Van Kirk, the last remaining crewmember from the Enola Gay at the Toys and Models Booth (No. 4230). The B-29 dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima to seal the end of World War II.

FBO chain TAC Air expanding, upgrading by Jeff Burger FBO chain TAC Air (Booth No. 2533) “saw the recession as a window of opportunity to act on key upgrades,” said v-p and COO Christian Sasfai. The chain, a division of Truman Arnold Companies, debuted a new executive terminal and 45,000 sq ft of new hangar space at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., last month. The terminal–the opening of which was timed to coincide with the World Equestrian Games in Lexington–features a high-definition

movie theater, exercise facilities, showers, a pilot lounge, conference rooms and an art gallery. TAC Air’s contract with the airport mandates that the entire $11 million project will be turned over to Blue Grass Airport at the end of the company’s 20-year lease. Before opening the executive terminal at Blue Grass, TAC Air upgraded and renovated several of its other FBO facilities. In addition, the company is considering expansion through acquisitions.

“We’re taking a serious look at several opportunities,” Sasfai said. Finally, TAC Air is introducing a “Win an iPad at Our Pad” customer loyalty program. To participate, customers register their aircraft tail numbers at www. tacair.com and then log in and record the fuel they’ve purchased from any TAC Air FBO. After purchases total 25,000 gallons, a customer receives an Apple iPad. For those who buy fuel in smaller quantities, iPod prizes are also available. o

www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa21

Otonomy Aviation (Booth No. 4609) has completed development of its new Parabellum system for guarding aircraft while they are parked on the ramp. The system uses high definition CAMHD-1

Otonomy Parabellum uses hi-def video cameras which operators can access via 3G smartphones. The camera can be installed on either the aircraft tail or the belly of the fuselage.

video cameras mounted on the exterior of the aircraft. The cameras can also provide video for the cabin entertainment system. Aircraft operators can remotely access the video feed via 3G smartphones. The

ViaSat takes over SkyLink from Arinc by Harry Weisberger ViaSat, a satellite communication network and equipment provider based in Carlsbad, Calif., announced Tuesday its acquisition of the SkyLink airborne broadband service from Arinc and the transfer of previous SkyLink business jet subscribers to ViaSat’s Yonder high-speed Internet access network. The acquisition adds about 80 privately owned business jets to the Yonder network, which operates internationally in the Ku band of microwave energy. It also adds Ku-band spacecraft to the network’s satellite capacity. Through its preferred service partner, Satcom Direct, ViaSat has over the past few months been gradually transitioning the former SkyLink customers to the Yonder network. Yonder service will provide former SkyLink customers the same quality of service, but with an expanded coverage area thanks to integration of the former SkyLink Ku band satellites with the Yonder network. The Yonder high-speed in-flight Internet service now spans the globe, with continuous coverage of virtually all major city pairs. The mobile Ku band satellite network uses ViaSat technology for seamless

unit is managed via a touchscreen control interface, which itself is security-protected because operators have to identify themselves via a radio frequency identification reader, inputting a personal identification number or with a fingerprint reader. The camera, which is installed in a low-drag housing, simultaneously generates both analog and digital video outputs to cockpit and cabin displays. It can be installed in either the aircraft tail or the belly of the fuselage. The highperformance 1080i imager can work in almost any conditions from bright sunshine to low light. The touchscreen interface unit is a display mounted in the aircraft cabin that allows the operator to review security event information and video recordings. It has ultra-low power consumption, allowing it to operate without an external battery for up to 30 days without recharging. Parabellum also incorporates a video control and communication unit. This includes motion analysis software to minimize false alarm rates and it can detect human activity at up to almost 200 feet from the aircraft. The complete Parabellum system weighs just over two pounds, barely onefifth of the weight of the lightest unit in the competing family of video security systems, according to Otonomy director Guillaume Daudon. –C.A. switching between satellites as aircraft move between coverage areas, to provide nearglobal IP service. In the deal, ViaSat also gains access to STCs held by Arinc to facilitate installation of ViaSat Yonder-compatible VMT-1500 Ku band equipment on Boeing Business Jets (BBJ), Cessna Citation X and Challenger 604 aircraft. ViaSat designs, manufactures, provides and operates a range of broadband aviation communication products, including airborne transceiver antennas, modems and ground station networks for military, civil government, airline and business aviation users. It is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technology and products to the U.S. government, and owns WildBlue, a primary Ka band satellite broadband service provider. The Yonder satellite communication service, being featured this week at ViaSat’s NBAA Booth No. 6126 in Hall C, currently provides Ku band service– in the mid-super high frequency (SHF) range–to large cabin business jets as well as airline and military users. However, eyeing the near-term potential for much greater data handling capacity and transfer speeds in the higher frequency Ka band (at the bottom of the extremely high frequency (EHF) range, ViaSat and JetBlue Airways last month announced their intent to create “the industry’s best inflight broadband for commercial aviation, using ViaSat’s innovative highcapacity satellite technology.” It will start with a currently operating ViaSat WildBlue-1 Ka band satellite now serving residential customers and a higher capacity ViaSat-1 being built for ViaSat by Loral,

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 22

Argus writes a new Cheq on evaluation of charter ops by Mark Huber Argus International (Booth No. 4145) has revamped its Charter Evaluation and Qualification (Cheq) system with a new user interface to ease searching and unlimited TripCheqs. The new system allows users to search, manage and perform due diligence all in one program. Users can now search operators by Argus ratings, aircraft operator, aircraft model and geographic location. The new system is integrated with other Argus products including TripCheq, Asset Monitor, Charter Rating Verification and Insurance Document Management Program. The Trip Explorer feature allows charter brokers to determine if the trip they quoted, but never booked, flew and if so, with which charter operator. Argus recently formed partnerships with the Air Charter Guide on-line, JetVizor, and CharterMatrix to make Argus ratings and search filters available. Charter operators can achieve favorable Argus ratings by a combination of allowing their data to be analyzed and an on-site audit by Argus. Currently,

421 operators have received either gold, gold plus, or platinum Argus ratings. The company manages data on 1,100 charter operators, 5,400 aircraft and 21,000 pilots. Argus CEO Joe Moeggenberg said the number of operators seeking platinum standing, the company’s highest rating, is growing as competition for charter services intensifies. The company also is seeing more market interest from helicopter operators and air-ambulance providers. Its Argus Pros division is the only auditing organization that can conduct an International Standard-Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) audit in conjunction with an Argus platinum audit. Argus Pros has conducted more than 1,000 audits. Separately, Argus said that it had signed the 100th customer for its Argus Prism Armor Internet-based safety management system (SMS) manager. Prism is IS-BAO compliant and aligned with FAA and EASA guidelines for SMS development. o

which is due to be launched in 2011 from the Russian-operated space complex, Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Under the arrangement, by mid-2012 JetBlue’s fleet of more than 160 Embraer 190 and Airbus A320 transports is to be using the ViaSat Ka band satellites. ViaSat will provide Ka band antenna components and SurfBeam2 modems for installation on the airliners. JetBlue subsidiary LiveTV will install and lead the certification process of the new system, manage integration of the ViaSat broadband and related components onboard the aircraft and blend the Wi-Fi-enabled service into the overall cabin experience.

Bill Sullivan, ViaSat business development director, said the high-capacity Ku band service will initially propagate through the commercial airline market, military and civilian government users before beginning to enter the large cabin business jet field in the 2013-2014 timeframe. Sullivan noted that the antenna size required for Ku and Ka band operation currently limits it to the BBJ, Global Express, Gulfstream G650 and Challenger 604-605 classes of business aircraft. He added that Inmarsat has planned to offer Ka band service through a new I-5 series of geosynchronous spacecraft beginning in 2014. o

MARIANO ROSALES

Otonomy Parabellum guards aircraft

Nearly nose-to-nose The big and small, NBAA welcomes them all. A newly arrived Gulfstream taxis to the parking area at the DeKalb Peachtree Airport static display area.

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EASA OKs G1000 for King Air Danish Hawker Beechcraft specialist Scandinavian Aircraft Technologies (ScanTech) is coordinating EASA approval of Garmin G1000 installations in King Air 90s and 200s. The first installation, performed in the U.S., has earned

an EASA STC on a Norwegian King Air 200. ScanTech has been retained by the owner to coordinate EASA approval of the Garmin-owned STC along with handling import and registration with the Norwegian CAA and EASA STC approval

of third-party weather and traffic systems that are interfacing with the G1000. Garmin can provide more details on the system at its booth (No. 6456). The G1000 system update for the King Air C90 and 200 series consists of two display units,

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24aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

levels of operational simplicity and situational awareness to all flight operations. ScanTech believes that interest in the G1000 among European King Air operators and owners is strong and will lead to many more retrofits. The company anticipates more G1000 work as European King Air owners and operators learn about the system. o

FBOs tout Shell loyalty card Sixteen FBOs are joined together at the Eastern Aviation Fuels NBAA exhibit this year (Booth No. 6403) and all are participating in the new Shell Aviation AeroClass loyalty program. Eastern Aviation Fuels markets Shell-branded aviation fuels throughout the U.S. At its NBAA booth, Eastern is enrolling members in the AeroClass program and giving them a sealed envelope that they can bring to a participating FBO. The customer service representative at the FBO has to open the envelope to reveal prizes that the new AeroClass member could receive, which may include up to 10,000 bonus points. Eastern also is giving a flight plan card to all booth visitors, which needs to be validated by 12 of the 16 Shell dealer FBOs at the show. A grand prize drawing will be held for those who submit filled-out flight plan cards. Prizes include a HarleyDavidson motorcycle. The AeroClass program has two membership plans, one for individuals and one for companies. Corporate m emberships may be combined so points from multiple cards can accumulate and be traded for MasterCard gift cards. Points are granted at the rate of one per gallon purchased at Shell FBOs. Once 1,000 points have been accumulated, they can be traded for a $10 MasterCard gift card. Eastern Aviation Fuels serves more than 350 FBOs and airlines, flight departments, helicopter operators and aerial applicators. o

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MATT THURBER

on how to develop, implement and maintain an SMS toolkit according to the guidelines of the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC). The workshops are intended to help flight department managers to ensure

2 2010 NBAA A Adver rtisem ment – Day 3

The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) has been preparing its members for the new requirement for operators to have a safety management system (SMS). The Brussels-based group has staged a series of workshops

In addition to hosting its annual European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibtion–held again this year in Geneva–EBAA is adding a regional forum to its slate of workshops.

that the SMS toolkit is appropriate to the size and complexity of their operation. The first event was held in Italy in late June and another session was held in Malta earlier this month. Separately, EBAA held its first workshop on emergency response planning (ERP) on September 9 and 10. The workshop was based on EBAA’s recently published Emergency Response Guidance Manual, which it developed through its ERP steering group in conjunction with consultants Gates Aviation. The agenda covered ERP basic principles, general guidance and the framework of an emergency response. The idea is that business aircraft operators will come away from the meeting with an actual draft ERP plan prepared to match the realities of their own company’s situation. Association Welcomes Regional Groups

Over the past year, EBAA has formally recognized the affiliation of five new national groups to its organization. The Brussels-based industry group now encompasses the newly formed Russian United Business Aviation Association (RUBAA), the Spanish Executive Aviation Association, EBAA Belgium, the Malta Business Aviation Association and the Austrian Business Aviation Association. EBAA already has affiliations with groups in the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Norway and also acts under the auspices of the IBAC. “The importance and reach of business aviation in Europe continues to increase, with the sector flourishing across the breadth of the region,” said EBAA president and CEO Brian Humphries. “EBAA supports the ongoing development of new, nonprofit, national associations that represent the interests of business aircraft operators and endeavors to advocate on their behalf not only locally, but also at the European level and globally by satisfying the requirements of IBAC membership.” Europe’s national business aviation

groups all face their own particular challenges. For example, RUBAA president Leonid Koshelev explained that the group is pushing for the adoption of internationally accepted, voluntary standards for the operation of business aircraft in his country. His Maltese counterpart, Stanley Bugeja, is dealing with issues relating to the creation of an aircraft register for Malta. The Maltese group is also campaigning for improved access and facilities at Malta International Airport as well as for more acceptable fees and security procedures. Regional Event Planned

Meanwhile, EBAA is to stage a regional forum in Austria early next year with the theme, “One Europe– a Roadmap for Aligning East and West.” The event will be held at the Hilton Vienna hotel in the Austrian capital on Jan. 20 and 21, 2011. Speakers are to include Austrian Business Aviation Association president Dr. Caspar Einem, as well as RUBAA chairman Koshelev and Kimon Daniilides, chairman of Greece’s Hellenic Air Carriers Association. Among the topics to be discussed at the forum are challenges in arranging aircraft finance, achieving industry standards for insurance benefits and easing access for operators from eastern and western Europe when flying into their respective territories. EBAA has previously held regional forums in London and Berlin. EBAA and NBAA are partners in organizing the annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland. The next edition of the show will be held May 17 to 19, 2011 (www.ebace.aero), and here at NBAA you can get more information at Booth No. 7524. o

Saab STCs missile defense system by Charles Alcock Saab Avitronics has arrived at the NBAA show having just achieved the first supplemental type certificates for its Civil Aircraft Missile Protection System (Camps). The equipment has been approved for use on two twin-turboprop models, and the Swedish company believes that having made the breakthrough of civil certification it is now ready to pursue STCs for business jet applications. Camps is designed to protect against the threat posed by shoulder-launched missiles (generally known as man-portable air defense systems, or Manpads). According to Saab (Booth No. 1933), about 100,000 Manpads are in open circulation on the world market. Over the past 15 years, there have been 35 recorded attempts to shoot down civil aircraft with Manpads and no less than 24 of them were successful. To meet civilian requirements for safe, cost-effective operations, Saab has used a new type of electromechanical dispenser

for the decoys used to misdirect incoming missiles by creating an alternative heat source for them to track. The pyrophoric CIVIR decoys, which spontaneously ignite in the air, are also of a new design by the Chemring group. They burn at a lower temperature than conventional flares to achieve a larger radiating area and thus attain the most effective radiation intensity with which to confuse the missiles. The new system meets the requirements of the Wassenaar Agreement on missile protection systems and is installed flush to the aircraft skin to minimize loss of aerodynamic performance. The decoy dispenser is activated by an electro-optical missile approach warning system, which detects any missile launched toward the aircraft during the crucial phases of takeoff and landing. The system detects ultraviolet light from the missile plume and processes this data in an electronic control unit to determine the incoming weapon’s

angle-of-attack. The control unit relays this information to the dispenser system, which immediately calculates the number of decoys and the timing needed to send the missiles off course. Camps can track and deal with multiple missiles simultaneously without any action at the time of the attack on the part of the pilots, who can power, arm and test the system from a controland-display panel in the cockpit. Saab can handle all aspects of installing the Camps package. However, it declined to give any indication as to the price of the system. Camps has now entered service on an Embraer EMB 120 operated by South Africabased charter group Naturelink, which selected the system primarily to protect flights it makes in the Middle East. The equipment has also been fitted on a Lockheed L-382 (a civilian version of the C-130 military transport) operated for an undisclosed VIP client. o

Saab Avitronics currently has an STC for its missile defense system on two turboprops, such as the EMB 120, and a bizjet approval is likely not far behind. The sensor, shown below on a Lockheed L-382 (civil C-130), detects the ultraviolet light of an incoming missile, triggering deployment of decoys to misdirect the projectiles.

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‘Please Remove Your Shoes’ sheds light on airline security Just weeks before the NBAA convention opened, potential terror attacks were once again in the news, with countries warning their citizens about the danger of traveling in Europe due to increased chatter about possible Al Qaida attacks. While the warnings don’t seem to have diminished tourist activities, they are a fresh reminder that terrorism remains a worldwide concern. But at the same time, the nonspecific nature of these warnings serves as an interesting backdrop to a new movie about security, the aptly named Please Remove Your Shoes, produced by Fred Gevalt, a name familiar to many in the aviation business and the founder of the popular Air Charter Guide (which he sold in 2005). Gevalt’s movie, which is making the film festival rounds, pokes a huge hole in the costly security apparatus that has sprung up since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but it also looks back well before 2001 into serious deficiencies that plagued airline security. The underlying theme is not so much that security failed abysmally not only in the 9/11 attacks and others, but that bureaucratic ineptitude and a lack of willingness of security leadership at the FAA and other government agencies to listen to rank-and-file employees blocked critical information in hopeless logjams. U.S. security experts might claim that the vast amounts of money they are spending must be working because of the lack of terror attacks in the U.S. since 9/11. But just because something doesn’t happen doesn’t mean that a preventive measure worked. The amount spent on aviation-related terrorism prevention by Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the U.S. alone is tens of billions per year. Yet more people die in various other activities every year than people who are killed in terrorist attacks, and far less money is spent on prevention of death in these other activities. Widespread Appeal

Gevalt spent $1 million of his own money to produce Please Remove Your Shoes. He started working on the movie in 2008, but quickly realized that he needed professional assistance and enlisted Rob DelGaudio as producer, writer and director; Rocco Giuliano, writer; Thomas DeRenzo to compose the

music; and Joe Figucia, director of photography. The result is tightly edited and beautifully photographed, with gorgeous shots of airliners interspersed with interviews of experts involved in aviation security before and after 9/11. The focus of the 94-minute movie is on airline security because it is aimed at a wide audience, not at the aviation industry. Gevalt feels that adding general aviation to the story would have muddied the message for the general audience. And in any case, general aviation wasn’t used in the 9/11 attacks. “My main motive for doing this centered around the fact that the TSA is a poster child for bad government,” Gevalt said. We had the opportunity to spend money more wisely, he explained. “This is a classic example of an abusive agency that never should have been created, an example of when Congress elects to build an agency too quickly.”

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In the movie, the people interviewed point out how they warned their superiors about weak security and tried to generate interest in improving security, only to be pushed aside. Instances of lack of communication among bureaucrats, which could have prevented attacks such as the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, are highlighted, as are wasteful practices by the TSA, which do nothing to prevent terror attacks. As Brian Sullivan, a former FAA special agent, said in the movie, “Maybe if you listen to your people, that would have helped.” The movie highlights other more amusing TSA antics that have nothing to do with security. As a government agency, the TSA feels compelled to place vast amounts of the information it deals with under sensitive security information (SSI) status. According to the agency, “SSI is information that TSA has determined must be protected from improper disclosure in order to ensure transportation security.” In the movie, according to journalist Audrey Hudson some of this highly secure information is revealed to be a TSA memo about a going-away party that will include Krispy Kreme donuts. She said the TSA declined comment about the memo. Gevalt said he made many attempts to seek comment from the TSA prior to releasing the movie, but the agency chose not to respond. On the Web site for Please Remove Your Shoes, Gevalt is asking people to help do something about the TSA and seeking donations to defray the cost of producing and distributing the movie: “There is something un-American about the Transportation Security Administration; it is heavy handed, it violates at least three amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It is rigid and inflexible. It is managed by unmotivated career bureaucrats. It is lazy and ineffective. And we’re not getting what we paid for.” o

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JetEx opens Kiev FBO, plans network expansion by Jeff Apter After a successful opening of a luxury FBO at Paris Le Bourget Airport as the first step in its international expansion plans, JetEx Flight Support has established a second site in Europe with a facility at Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. In addition to further FBOs planned in Ukraine, the company, which is headquartered at Dubai International Airport, plans to open a facility in that country next year. Meanwhile, it is also exploring sites in Lebanon and China. The Le Bourget FBO has been completely upgraded since the company acquired the half of the building occupied by Belgium’s Flying Group and added it to its own share in February 2009. Managing partner Salem Youssef told AIN that despite the economic downturn, JetEx has “done well and fully met expectations.” When it took over from Flying Group, average daily aircraft movements roughly doubled to 20. Back in April he said he expected traffic at the new base to increase to around 30 movements daily by the end of this year but now he said, “JetEx is handling around 40 movements on an average weekday, rising to 60 on busy days.” About half of the movements involve NetJets Europe flights. Youssef said about 30 percent of JetEx’s client base, including royal families and top government officials, comes from the Middle East and another 40 percent comes from continental Europe, including the growth areas of Ukraine and Russia, with the remainder from North America and elsewhere.

follow at international airports in the cities of Boryspil, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

Kiev’s VIP facilities include a spacious new corporate lounge, private shower and lavatory, crew rest areas and canteen room with free wireless Internet access, LCD TV and refreshments. “The airport recently became a nonstop operation fully equipped to receive business aircraft up to the BBJ,” Vynohradova

said. “Demand for VIP services, including fast-track customs arrangements, guides and supplementary services for trips throughout Kiev, is rising.” The full range of preliminary ground-handling arrangements include ramp supervision, hotel accommodation, transportation, catering, fuel, flight monitoring and

reporting/dispatch. Youssef said the company now is concentrating on its Dubai facility, with discussions due to be finalized at the MEBA show in December. o

Ground-Handling Service

Mariya Vynohradova, JetEx business development manager for countries of the former Soviet Union said, “There is a great deal of focus on private aviation developments in the region, and JetEx is concentrating on Ukraine as a gateway in response to expanding client demand.” She confirmed that Ukraine’s State Aviation Administration has licensed the company for ground-handling administration at five of its airports. The first to come on stream is the 24/7 multilingual operation at Zhuliany Airport, Kiev, which opened on September 9. Others are due to www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa31

Esco EMAS records seventh save at TEB Products made by Zodiac Aerospace (Booth No. 3452) touch almost every aspect of aviation, from cabin interiors to emergency systems and fuel and electrical power management systems. And while pilots hope that they don’t have to take advantage of emergency systems, one Zodiac division–the Engineered Arresting Systems Corp. (Esco)–makes a product that has resulted in some remarkable saves that undoubtedly make flight crews extremely grateful. The Esco division

based in Logan Township, N.J., makes engineered material arresting systems (EMAS)–blocks of aerated concrete placed at runway ends that can stop an aircraft with minimal damage after a runway overrun. Zodiac’s EMAS made a recent save on October 1, stopping a Gulfstream GIV-SP at Teterboro Airport as it overran Runway 6 on landing. The two pilots and seven passengers on board were not injured, and the airplane suffered little

damage. Runway 6 was the same site of a takeoff overrun accident on Feb. 2, 2005, when a Bombardier Challenger 600 operated by Platinum Jet Management failed to lift off and ran off the end of the runway at high speed, slid across a busy roadway and crashed into a warehouse. This Teterboro EMAS save brought the company’s total to seven since the May 1999 takeoff overrun of a Saab 340 at JFK International. While most other saves involved airliners, including a Boeing

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747, another business jet EMAS save took place in July 2006, when a Falcon 900 was successfully stopped at Greenville Downtown Airport in South Carolina. EMAS qualifies as a substitute for runway safety areas (RSA), which the FAA requires at Part 139 commercial airports. RSAs are 500 feet wide and extend 1,000 feet from the runway end. Because many airports were built before RSAs were required, it is often not feasible to install a standard RSA. In the early 1990s, the FAA worked with the University of Dayton, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Esco to develop EMAS. Now EMAS beds are installed at 48 runways at 32 airports worldwide. The first EMAS bed was installed at Teterboro in 2006 and another is scheduled for installation this year, along with nine others at seven U.S. airports. Esco’s latest version is EMASMax, which features a plastic top cover, silicone seam seal, extruded silicone side sealer and plastic bottom tray with integrated forklift slots. Airports typically paint EMAS beds to help pilots avoid accidentally taxiing into them, but the plastic top cover eliminates the need for paint. –M.T.

Booth #8543

Compared with August 2009, there were fewer used business jets for sale in August this year, according to statistics compiled by JetNet (Booth No. 8401). There were also slightly more turboprop aircraft on the preowned market and almost exactly the same number of turbine helicopters for sale at the end of August 2009 and 2010, but slightly more piston helicopters on the market this year. This resulted in 14.9 percent of the worldwide business jet fleet being for sale at the end of August this year (a drop of 2.5 percentage points from August 2009), 10.5 percent of the turboprop fleet (an increase of 1.2 points), 6.9 percent of the turbine helicopter fleet (an increase of 0.1 point) and 6.5 percent of the piston helicopter fleet (a decrease of 1.1 points) Over the same period, business jets experienced an increase in sales transactions of 30.1 percent, turboprops saw an increase of 4.9 percent, turbine helicopters saw an increase of 18 percent and the number of piston helicopter transactions actually decreased by 6.4 percent. However, all segments are taking longer to sell, reported JetNet. The average time on the market clocked in at 77 days for jets, 40 days for turboprops, 93 days for turbine helicopters and 124 days for piston helicopters. All except piston helicopters saw average asking prices decrease, August to August. Average ask prices for jets were down 2.7 percent, for turboprops they were down 5.7 percent and for turbine helicopters ask prices were down 7.8 percent. The average asking price for piston helicopters rose 2.4 percent. –R.R.P.

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Most GIVs featured seating for 12 to 16 with forward or rear galleys, a forward crew lavatory and a main executive lavatory in the rear. Refurbishment can make the airplane nearly indistinguishable from a G450.

Gulfstream’s GIV celebrates milestone 25 years in service for the one-hour maiden flight. “The GIV was the aircraft that launched a thousand Gulfstream aircraft,” said Gulfstream president Joe Lombardo. “It formed the foundation for designing and building the G300, G400, G350 and G450. The aircraft’s first flight was a mileGulfstream’s GIV received FAA certification on April 22, 1987, and by that June the OEM had orders for more than 100 of the model. stone and turning point for the company.” More than 520 of the 536 jets produced in the GIV series are still in operation, the company said. “I believe it became popular because it was on the leading edge of globalization,” said longtime Gulfstream employee Jim Gallagher, On Sept. 19, 1985, three months ahead who is now director of the large and of schedule, the new jet took off from mid-cabin sustaining program. “HalfSavannah (Ga.) International Airport, way through its production run, the just eight days after it was rolled out at the GIV became the preferred tool of global manufacturer’s headquarters in Savan- business jet travelers. Companies relied nah. Lee Johnson and Ted Mendenhall on it to travel worldwide; it helped push were the pilot and copilot, respectively, global commerce.” –C.T. Gulfstream Aerospace last month celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first flight of the Gulfstream IV, which the Savannah, Ga.-based manufacturer said is “the best-selling” large-cabin, longrange business jet in the world.

Mid-Continent STCs battery Mid-Continent Instruments has received an FAA approved model list (AML) and supplemental type certificate (STC) for the Wichita-based firm’s new MD835 lithium emergency power supply source. According to Mid-Continent (Booth No. 6236), the MD835 is the first lithium nanophosphate battery to be AML/STC approved by the FAA for use in Part 23 aircraft. The battery supplies 24.5-volt direct current power for critical and standby equipment and maintains full capacity by recharging during normal flight operations. The AML/STC is approved for 30 aircraft models, including the King Air 90, 200 and 300 series; Beech 1900; Beechcraft Premier jets; and Cessna’s Citation 501 and 525A and B models. The new power source is a direct replacement for the legacy lead-acid-

34aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

powered L0-3 PS-835. The new MD835 uses the same mounting rack, wire harness and flight deck arm/off/test switch MidContinent claims that, at 4.8 pounds, its power source is eight pounds lighter than competing products and requires maintenance intervals only every two years, half the maintenance interval requirements of the PS-835. o

Mid-Continent MD835 lithium battery

Learjet 85 is halfway through its detailed design phase by James Wynbrandt Progress on design and parts fabrication are among the Learjet 85 development milestones Bombardier Aerospace highlighted at NBAA. The detailed design phase for the composite jet is now 50 percent complete and parts manufacturing is under way at Bombardier sites and suppliers’ facilities worldwide. More than 150 composite tools have been delivered, and seven supplier test rigs commissioned. Bombardier currently has more than 1,000 people working on the Learjet 85 program. “We’re fabricating all over the world; we have well over forty suppliers,” said Ralph Acs, vice president, Learjet 85, calling the use of a global supply chain “best practices at Bombardier.” The 10-passenger, midsize Learjet 85 will be Bombardier’s first jet built primarily from composite material and the first primarily composite structure business jet designed for FAA Part 25 type certification. (Hawker Beechcraft’s Premier/Hawker 200 series and Hawker 4000 composite-fuselage jets have a metal wing and empennage.) Powered by two Pratt

& Whitney Canada PW307B engines, the Learjet 85 is projected to have a highspeed cruise of Mach 0.82 and a range of up to 3,000 nm. The aircraft, priced at $18.25 million, is scheduled to enter service in 2013. The first two Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion system integrated test stations (Sits) began formal integration testing in September. The Sits, a static representation of the cockpit that includes actual displays, controls, panels and avionics computers, allows testing of system integration, pilot and maintenance personnel training, production support and certification. Development of manufacturing sites and expansion of the final assembly site in Wichita are on schedule. “Final line assembly starts next year,” Acs said. The fuselage is being made at the Bombardier plant in Queretaro, Mexico. The one-piece pressure vessel reduces parts count versus metal aircraft dramatically, “one of the benefits of composites,” Acs said. A new building in Queretaro for Learjet parts fabrication is being inaugurated today. o

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GlobalAir marks 15th anniversary by Jeff Burger GlobalAir.com, an online resource for aircraft buyers and sellers and aircraft operators, is celebrating its 15th anniversary at the NBAA show. The company launched in late 1995 in the apartment of pre-owned-aircraft broker Jeff Carrithers, under the name Global Aviation Navigator. At the time, FBOs and other aviation businesses were just beginning to acquire dial-up modems and use the Internet. Today, GlobalAir.com ranks among the largest online aviation resources, featuring aircraft-for-sale listings, FBO fuel

prices and flight data for regional airlines, business jets and general aviation partners. The Louisville, Ky.-based company recently revamped its home page, making it easier and faster to use, and created an aviation blog. The site, which averages more than 2.3 million page views per month, also features aviation news, information and commentary. GlobalAir.com has also upgraded its Max-Trax tool for finding up-to-date airport information and fuel prices. Its Airport Resource Center now includes a tab for pilots and flight departments to find all businesses on a particular airfield. The Resource Center offers current METARs, TAFs and TFRs, plus national weather, runway and FBO information. GlobalAir.com is demonstrating its latest Web site enhancements at its booth (No. 3608), where it is also marking its 15th anniversary by giving away an Apple iPad. o

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www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa35

Re-engining may boost legacy aircraft fortunes by Mark Huber Depressed used aircraft values have stalled sales of some re-engine programs, but their providers insist that they remain good values because of the dramatic increases in aircraft efficiency and performance they provide. “We’re seeing a different kind of customer now,” said Clifford Development’s Alden Andre. “Before we’d see a customer who wanted a turn-key solution. They wanted us to go out and find a used airplane and then convert it. Now we are seeing more customers who are bringing their own airplanes to us.” While Andre said he expects turn-key business to improve with the economy, he said that right now those customers are concerned about depressed resale values. Like most re-engine programs, Clifford’s focuses on re-engining a popular legacy aircraft with Williams International FJ44 turbofans with average costs in the $2 million to $2.3 million range depending on the value of the engines to be replaced. Clifford’s program replaces the stock Pratt & Whitney Canada JTD15-4 engines on the Citation II with a pair of Williams FJ44-3As equipped with dual Fadec. The conversion also includes 35 other changes to the aircraft as part of the STC installation, including digital engine display and heavyduty brakes. It reduces empty weight by 250 pounds, average trip fuel consumption by 35 percent, noise to Stage 4 standards and time to climb to FL430 to 27 minutes. Range increases by 50 percent and maximum cruise speed increases by 15 percent. This range of performance improvement is typical for reengine programs currently available for the Citation I and II, Learjet 25, Falcon 50 and the Beechjet from a variety of providers including Clifford, Sierra Industries, West Star, and most recently Nextant Aerospace on the Beechjet. However, since the end of 2008, prices for those airplanes, already depressed, have dropped another 30 to 35 percent on average. A 1983 Learjet 25 is only fetching $440,000, and many other of the aforementioned models can easily be had for less than $1 million on the open market, according to the aviation price tracking and

valuation service Vref. As many of these airplanes are at least 25 years old, buyers will have a hard time finding financing for the aircraft, the conversion or both. However, even in this down market, re-engining still makes sense for some aircraft, according to Vref’s Fletcher Aldredge. “These programs still make sense if someone needs the speed and capabilities” these re-engining programs offer, Aldredge said. “Now, will you get your money back [when you resell the airplane]? Probably not, at least not 100 percent certainly.” Aldredge said historically this has always been the case in good times and bad on a wide variety of aircraft upgrades, not just engines. “We’ve dealt with

this issue for decades. Will you get your money back on a fourblade prop on a King Air? No, but it sure looks cool and if you think it makes [the cabin] quieter, that’s great. You can buy a fancy EFIS panel, and there is nothing cooler than that, but are you going to get your money back on that? Never.” Aldredge said that customers who are attached to their airplanes “have to do an engine overhaul anyway” at some point, and often it makes sense to hold onto the airplane while adding engine upgrades. “Their pilots are typed, their mechanics are checked out, the airplane fits their needs and it works really well. If they don’t put a pencil to it too hard it really makes a lot of sense for those people.” But Aldredge cautions that people who think they are going to increase the resale value of their aircraft anywhere near the cost of an engine upgrade are deluding

New engines are prompting owners of legacy aircraft to keep their steeds. Sierra Industries (top) and Clifford Development (bottom photos) do Citation Is and IIs. Nextant Aerospace specializes in Beechjets.

themselves. “Those few people who go out there and say that they are going to increase the value of their airplane by $2 million–well that’s not going to happen.” However, some of these conversion packages can be real game changers for operators of older aircraft. Spirit Aviation’s SpiritWing conversion for the Learjet 25D yielded a noise reduction to Stage 3, halved fuel burn, and boosted range. With four passengers, range increased from 1,100 to 1,700 nm, but the Spirit Wing was never certified. Sierra Industries’s Citation I packages also yield this category of improvements. The stock airplane barely cruises above 300 knots for long range cruise and has a range of 970 miles with four passengers; payload with full fuel is just 820 pounds. The engines have a TBO of 3,500 hours and cost more than $350,000 to overhaul. However, first-generation Citations have no airframe

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 36

life limit. Properly maintained, they will fly virtually forever. This, combined with their relatively low price, generally under $900,000, makes them attractive candidates for modification. For $1.6 million to $1.8 million–the price varies depending on the trade-in credit for existing engines and the upgrade package selected–Sierra offers a modification that includes the more powerful and fuel-efficient Williams FJ44 engines, auxiliary fuel tanks and a modified wing. This can make these older Citations fly higher, faster and farther than any new very light jet and for less money. Sierra has converted about 175 Citation Is with its Eagle II and Stallion packages and the performance changes can be large. Eagle II flies 54 knots faster and can climb directly to 43,000 feet, 2,000 feet higher than the Citation I. It gets there a lot faster, too. A straight Citation I climbs with both engines at 2,719 fpm; the Eagle II climbs 4,500 fpm. An Eagle II will reach 43,000 feet in 25 minutes, while a straight

Citation I must step climb to 41,000 feet over the course of 80 minutes. Takeoff and landing distances shrink, too, allowing the Eagle II to operate out of 3,000-foot strips. Range increases to 1,400 nm in the Stallion (four passengers, one pilot and IFR reserves) and to 1,650 in the Eagle II. The Stallion can also be fitted with Sierra’s new fuselage auxiliary tank, which boosts range to 1,750 nm. At cruise altitude, an Eagle II delivers 35 percent more thrust and burns 40 percent less fuel than a straight Citation I. The Williams engines are also quieter than the original Pratt & Whitneys, which helps cut cabin noise. The decision to upgrade was not difficult for Bill Hettinger, who owned a stock Citation I and looked at VLJs and the Citation CJ2 before picking up a 1980 Citation I with an Eagle II conversion. “None of the VLJs had the range, and the CJ2 was more expensive,” Hettinger said. “This airplane is a known quantity–it was not a leap of faith.” o

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news clips z West Star Named Bonanza Service Center Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) announced at NBAA it has appointed West Star Aviation (Booth No. 3511) in Grand Junction, Colo., as an authorized service center to support its Beechcraft Bonanza, Baron and King Air models. “West Star Aviation is known for its highly experienced staff and outstanding customer service,” said Christi Tannahill, HBC vice president, global customer support, in making the announcement. An FAA-certified repair station, West Star offers airframe and engine repair and maintenance, major modifications, avionics installation and repair, interior refurbishment, paint, parts, surplus avionics and parts sales and accessory services. West Star also provides complete FBO services at facilities in Grand Junction as well as East Alton, Ill.

z LHT Expands Pre-Delivery Protocols Lufthansa Technik, the Hamburg, Germany-based completion and refurbishment center, has traditionally done pre-completion delivery inspections on aircraft on which it does completions. But now the company is offering to perform pre-delivery inspections for customers who have their aircraft refinished at other (non-Lufthansa Technik) completion centers. On Monday at its booth (No. 7536), Walter Heerdt, senior v-p of marketing and sales for Lufthansa Technik, and Abdulaziz Al Rowaished, president of Aviation Link of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, signed a contract calling for Lufthansa Technik’s Aircraft Production Inspection Program team to do a pre-completion delivery inspection of a Boeing 777-200LR. Aviation Link is managing the completion process on behalf of an unidentified customer.

z Runway Incursions Drop Again The FAA reported that serious runway incursions in the fiscal year (FY) that ended September 30 dropped 50 percent from year-ago levels, the second year in a row they had been halved. For FY2010 the number dropped to six from 12 in FY2009, representing a continuation of the trend. Three of the six incursions involved commercial aircraft. The number of serious runway incursions had been as high as 67 in FY2000. The FAA credited the installation of new technology, better airport markings, improved pilot training and the efforts of general aviation industry trade associations. New technology includes runway status lights, currently in use in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego and slated to be installed at 23 more airports beginning next year.

Spanish bizav rides out the financial storm by Jeff Apter Spain’s business aviation sector has changed substantially over the last few years with the established operators maintaining their businesses and startup companies making an impact on a fast-growing market. But they have not been spared by the ongoing financial crisis that has seen an annual 30 percent fall in the number of hours flown. While the big three operators capture most of the market, the smaller and medium-sized companies are holding their own. Most aircraft registered in Spain belong to individuals who largely put them under management contracts with operators to market the flight hours available when the owner is not using the aircraft. Some management companies including Gestair and TAG also operate their own aircraft, something that the fall in demand has made both risky and costly. The clearest evidence of this is the failure of regular point-to-point corporate flights with VLJs, the main business of the small and medium sized companies. The present total Spanish fleet is estimated at around 125 aircraft operated by 29 companies. The number of registered aircraft is about 10 percent of the total registered in Europe but the big three companies operating most

of them are among the continent’s largest. Gestair entered Spain’s embryonic business aviation field in 1977 when Jesus Macarrón founded Gestiones Aéreas, known as Gestair, and started operations with a Cessna 340. Until the not-too-distant past, the company–still headed by Macarrón and his family–was Spain’s only major operator and its traditional company of reference with its Gestair Private Aviation wing. Bizjets and Airliners

Still Spain’s leading business aviation group, at present Gestair operates 21 aircraft from seven sites and controls 60 percent of the national air-taxi market in volume of operations. The company also operates three light helicopters and one DC-8 freighter. While about 85 percent of customers are business travelers, Gestair Airlines, under an agreement with flag carrier Iberia, operates two Boeing 757s and three Airbus A340s on longrange routes to South America, including Havana, Santo Domingo and Rio de Janeiro, and to various destinations in Spain and Europe. Since it was founded in 2000, Executive Airlines has established itself as Spain’s second-ranking business aviation

operator. It currently has a fleet of 23 aircraft serving medium, long and extra-long-range routes, especially to the U.S., Latin America, Asia and the Gulf. Its main base is at Barcelona. In 2006 Executive Airlines became the first operator to be selected for Jet Aviation’s Skylliance program, established among charter operators covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Executive Airlines is the only Spanish company so far authorized to operate out of London City Airport, which it does with its Falcon and Citation Bravo. In 2008, the company increased its fleet from 12 to 22 jets, 15 of them Gulfstreams, with eight of the 10 new Gulfstreams. The third-ranking company, with 17 aircraft, is the Spanish subsidiary of Switzerland-based TAG Aviation, which over the last few years has seen exponential growth. The smaller operators have succeeded from regional bases in specific niche markets, but the 30-percent fall in demand for flight hours and market uncertainty have affected their markets, too, leaving their aircraft too long on the ground. The most notable of the smaller operations include Soko Aviation with four aircraft and two helicopters followed by Jet Personales with five aircraft, Corporate Jets XXI with three, including a Falcon 900C, and JetNova with two aircraft. Jet Ready, based in Valencia, is the first European company to operate a new generation VLJ with an Eclipse 500. o

z StandardAero Names LA V-P Mark Bianchi has been named vice president and general manager of StandardAero’s Los Angeles facility, the company announced at the NBAA Convention. Bianchi comes to StandardAero from NetJets Aviation, where he served as senior and executive vice president of aircraft maintenance since 2006. He spent 18 years with US Airways, where his positions included manager of quality assurance and regulatory compliance, 737/757/767 fleet manager and base maintenance manager. He has an associate degree in applied science from New York City’s College of Aeronautics and holds an A&P certificate and an FCC general radio/telephone certificate.

Aviation sales executive Tom Chapman has formed Synergy Jet Group, a firm that will offer sales prospecting development and implementation solutions for business aircraft manufacturers, their vendors and a variety of service providers. According to Chapman, who serves as president of the Atlanta-based company, Synergy’s executives each have more than 25 years of experience leading sales and marketing campaigns at major aircraft manufacturers in the U.S. and internationally. Chapman, who is a pilot, has a degree in business administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has completed an executive education program at Harvard Business School.

CY CYR

z Sales Exec Forms Bizav Advisory Firm

Pounding the carpet Thousands of NBAA visitors have been tramping through the aisles of the Georgia World Congress Center since the 63rd annual meeting and convention kicked off Tuesday morning. But there still is time to look around today, not to mention visiting the static display at DeKalb Peachtree Airport.

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 38

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Federal court decision could affect mx liens by David A. Lombardo Members of the Florida Aviation Trades Association learned recently that the Third District Court (Miami) has issued a ruling that will significantly affect the recourse available to the maintenance industry when faced with a non-paying customer. Previously, a repair facility could put a lien on the aircraft when it perceived the customer would not pay the bill regardless of who was in possession of the aircraft. According to Commercial Jet versus U.S. Bank, Commercial Jet filed an action to foreclose a purported mechanic’s lien on a Boeing 767 for which

it had provided maintenance and repairs. Despite an outstanding balance, Commercial Jet returned the aircraft to Silver Jet, its operator, which put it back into service. After it relinquished possession of the aircraft, Commercial Jet recorded a claim of lien for the unpaid balance against Silver Jet and U.S. Bank, the aircraft’s owner. Since the purported lien is by legal definition a possessory lien and Commercial Jet was no longer in possession of the aircraft at the time it filed the lien, the trial court granted U.S. Bank’s motion for summary judgment. The Third District court

National aviation training center opens in Wichita World-class aviation and aerospace training joined world-class research, design, testing and manufacturing in a ceremony Tuesday at the Wichita State University National Institute for Aviation Research booth (No. 1107). The event marked the official opening of the National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT) in Wichita, the city that bills itself as the “Air Capital of the World.” NCAT’s 130,000-sq-ft facility on Wichita’s Jabara Airport will be offering “cuttingedge technology in customized training for companies and traditional technical training for students, along with a unique partnership between training and research.” NCAT is a partnership of Wichita’s aircraft manufacturers and suppliers, Sedgwick

County, the City of Wichita, the State of Kansas, the university’s National Institute for Aviation Research and Wichita Area Technical College. Sedgwick County is the funding partner for the center, working with industry leaders and public partners. NCAT has already opened its doors and offers 37 certifications and degrees. It contains 21 classrooms and 25 labs to provide hands-on, realworld training for up to 1,500 students. Construction for the $52-million center began in 2008. “This training campus is a commitment from the Wichita community to the aviation industry,” said Vicki Pratt Gerbino, president of the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition. –K.J.H. The National Center for Aviation Training opened Tuesday at Wichita State University.

BAE Moves Into Aircraft Remarketing

affirmed the trial court’s order and rejected Commercial Jet’s argument to eliminate the requirement that one must have possession of the property in order to claim a lien. Therefore, it will now be necessary to file a lien while the repair facility (lien holder) is in possession of the aircraft. If the facility releases the aircraft and then tries to file a lien, the lien will not be enforceable. The problem is that aircraft owners frequently pick up their aircraft but don’t receive the final bill, sometimes not until several months later. Worse, there may be a significant chargeback for component core charges that causes customer dissatisfaction, resulting in reluctance to pay the bill. According to the recent decision, repair shops must obtain full payment, or at least a deposit, before releasing the aircraft, otherwise any lien they record might be worthless. o

BAE (Booth No. 8237) is moving heavier into aircraft remarketing, according to Stewart Cordner, vice president of the company’s Avro Business Jet (ABJ) unit. BAE Asset Management recently signed a deal to place eight Airbus A340-200s and -300s for GMT Global Republic. GMT had leased the aircraft to major airlines, including Virgin Atlantic. Cordner said these aircraft, although older, are ideal for low-utilization customers, such as governments looking for cost-effective VVIP lift. BAE has moved both single-aisle and wide-body airliners in the past. It recently placed a Boeing 767-300ER from Presidential Flight and also has represented several Airbus A318s on behalf of funds and banks. BAE also has successfully repackaged and marketed several of its Avro 85 and Avro 100 commuter jets under its ABJ program. Cordner said ABJs are particularly popular in the Middle East, where eight are based. Currently, 24 ABJs are in service. Cordner said the cost of converting an Avro to an ABJ, including the acquisition of the aircraft, is equivalent to a price of a new midsize business jet. BAE announced that it recently placed two more ABJs into service. The first is being operated by Casino Rodos and used to shuttle customers from mainland Europe to the company’s casino on the Greek Island of Rhodes. The aircraft was converted from its airline layout to a 34-seat executive configuration by Inflite Engineering Services at London-Stansted. It is operated on behalf of the casino and its corporate parent, Queenco, by Alfa Air of Bucharest. A second aircraft will be operated as a mining shuttle in Bolivia in a remote area south of La Paz. n

BUSINESS AVIATION safety REMAINS NEARLY LEVEL The total number of U.S. business aviation accidents in the first nine months of this year remained nearly even with

first nine months of this year from 35 in the first three quarters of last year.

the same period last year, despite an uptick in flight hours,

The turboprop segment saw a slight decline in safety as the

according to statistics released by Boca Raton, Fla.-based

total number of accidents rose from 25 in the first three quar-

industry safety analyst Robert E. Breiling Associates. In the

ters of last year to 28 through September of this year, yet those

first three quarters of the year, U.S.-registered business jets

accidents were less costly in terms of human life. Though the

and turboprops experienced 34 accidents, five of them fatal,

number of fatal accidents remained steady at four, last year

compared with 31 accidents–four of them fatal–in the first

there were 23 fatalities (14 of which resulted from the crash

nine months of last year.

of a professionally piloted Pilatus PC-12), while there were

Through the first three quarters of this year, the busi-

12 in the first nine months of this year. Part 135 operations

ness jet category suffered six accidents, including one

experienced significant erosion in safety, with more than dou-

fatal–the January crash of a cargo-hauling Learjet 35A near

ble the number of accidents (including one fatal, resulting in

Chicago that killed the two-person crew. In the same p eriod

two deaths) in the first nine months of this year than in the

last year, the sector suffered six nonfatal accidents. The

same period last year. The corporate/executive category halved

corporate/executive segment saw a 75-percent decline in

its number of accidents year-over-year from six to three and

the number of accidents this year (from four to one), while

saw one fewer fatal accident, while the private/business cate-

the number of accidents among Part 135 and private/busi-

gory saw its number of accidents decline from 11 in the first

ness operators doubled, from one each in the first three

three quarters of last year to seven through September this

quarters to two each (including the fatal cargo flight) in the

year. The number of fatal accidents in the segment remained

first nine months of this year. The fractional business jet

the same at two, but the first three quarters of this year had one

segment experienced one nonfatal accident during the first

fewer casualty. The public/government sector experienced

nine months of the year after seeing none in the same span

two nonfatal crashes during the first nine months of this year

last year. The number of bizjet incidents rose to 41 for the

compared with none in the same period last year.

–C.E.

U.S.-registered Business Jet and Turboprop Accidents Nine Months 2010 vs. Nine Months 2009*

Business jets Nonfatal accidents Fatal accidents Total accidents Fatalities

Total Corp/exec Comm/air taxi Pvt/biz Public/Gov’t Frax Mfr. 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 5 6 1 0 6 6 2 0

1 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 4 2 1 0 0 2 0

2 1 0 0 2 1 0 0

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Business t’props Total Corp/exec Comm/air taxi Pvt/biz Public/Gov’t Frax Mfr. 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 Nonfatal accidents Fatal accidents Total accidents Fatalities

24 21 2 4 15 7 5 9 2 0 0 1 0 0 4 4 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 28 25 3 6 16 7 7 11 2 0 0 1 0 0 12 23 5 17 2 0 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 0

Source: Robert E. Breiling Associates, Boca Raton, Fla.

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 40

These statistics are based on preliminary reports and are subject to change as more information becomes available.

Avionic shows power generators Avionic Instruments is at Booth No. 3417 with two of its newer electrical power generation, conversion and conditioning products. Its 2-KVA static inverter is designed and qualified with current component technology and innovative thermal/mechan-

Colt offers aviation insurance Contract fueler and trip support specialist Colt International (Booth No. 6237) has made its initial entry into the aviation insurance business with the launch of Colt Risk Management Services (CRMS). Based on its experience working with more than 4,000 flight departments and Malcolm Hawkins operators, the company plans to provide custom coverage solutions for any aviation company. The company has named John Springrose, previously with Chartis Insurance, to head the division. “Risk management is about much more than placing insurance companies” said Malcolm Hawkins, Colt International’s president. “It requires a complete understanding of the challenges unique to aviation.” CRMS is partnering with insurance broker the SilverStone Group to provide coverage for its customers. In addition, the company will offer a full range of risk management products, including SMS gap analysis and implementation, IS-BAO auditing and registration, general liability, foreign coverage, loss of license and employee benefits. “Through Colt Risk Management Services, it’s now easier for aviation companies to obtain the breadth of coverage, exceptional customer support and superior value that will enable them to more effectively safeguard their investments,” said Springrose. –C.E.

ical techniques. The design provides overall device isolation, excellent overload and non-linear load handling capability. It is reliable even in extreme thermal and high-level vibration installations, the Avenel, N.J.-based company said. It is available in

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PL A NNING

power for special purpose military and medical aircraft. The 400 Hz units can provide emergency backup power or AC loads on strictly DC-based aircraft. The Avionic Instruments DC-to-DC dimming controller is available in fixed voltage, rheostat-controlled, potentiometer and voltage control configurations. All contain a protection

feature that provides a delayed restart after tripping due to over-temperature, output overvoltage and output over-current conditions. This ensures low power operation during repetitive fault conditions. The new five-volt 75-watt unit features a 31.4-percent reduction in weight from the company’s standard five-volt 75-watt unit. o

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www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa41

Solar Impulse preps for int’l flight

The carbon-free Solar Impulse recently completed test flights over Geneva. Next year it is to make its first international sortie in preparation for around-the-world flights.

Design work has begun on a second prototype of the Solar Impulse aircraft that is due to attempt an around-the-world flight in 2013, powered by the sun. Dassault Aviation (Booth No. 1905) is acting as aeronautical consultant to the Switzerland-based

project, which has already completed a 24-hour flight and several sorties into busy airspace around Geneva and Zurich. Next year, the first prototype is due to make its first international flight, followed by an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 2012.

Weighing 3,520-pounds, the Solar Impulse is powered by four 10-hp electric motors that draw power from 12,000 solar cells fitted in its wings, which span 208 feet. By storing solar power in lithium polymer batteries, the aircraft is able to fly at night. o

A 04 BA 4 N .2 o at s hn t u oot si Vi , b lB

Missionary fellowship expands fleet In the largest deployment of aircraft in its 65-year history, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF ) added three aircraft to its missionary relief programs in September. A Cessna Caravan 208B– leased for two years from MAF’s missionary partner, Samaritan’s Purse–is employed in the rebuilding efforts that MAF is providing in Haiti. Since the earthquake hit the area earlier this year, MAF has coordinated more than 1,200 flights transporting passengers and relief supplies such as water, food, tents, tarps and medical supplies between Florida and Haiti and within the distressed country. Since 1986, MAF has served the people of Haiti by providing missionaries, medical staff and community development workers with air transport, communications networks and distance education. The organization is the sole provider of medical and dental air transport in the central plateau, serving more than 250,000 Haitians. MAF also deployed two Quest Kodiak singles to Papua, New Guinea, continuing its nearly 60-year history of providing transportation to Christian and humanitarian workers there. o

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00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 42 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

21.09.10 14:08

Visit Fort Lauderdale, Fla.based Florida Jet Center’s booth here at NBAA (No. 7115) and enter a drawing to win a mini-chopper motorcycle. A fullservice Learjet maintenance and parts provider, Florida Jet Center also operates a charter service out of Fort Lauderdale’s Executive Airport. Its fleet includes three Learjet 55s, a Gulfstream III and a Eurocopter EC 130B4. Specializing in Learjet maintenance for the past 20 years, Florida Jet Center plans to expand its avionics capabilities to include all types of corporate aircraft. n

Category Killer.

Introducing The Beechjet 400XT. The only remanufactured light jet that clearly out performs the competition in virtually every category at a price under $4 million. Building on the renowned value, ruggedness and technological sophistication of the Beechjet 400A/XP, Nextant has created a whole new category of business jet with more range, more speed, more fuel efficiency and most importantly more value. The Beechjet 400XT clearly trumps the high acquisition and operating costs a new jet purchase demands. It’s What’s Next. Discover What’s Next at NBAA Booth #8245.

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44aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

pilot a lot of latitude within the envelope, and the pilot of a Legacy 450/500 will have the option to command the maximum maneuvering capability, as long as envelope restrictions aren’t violated. The 450/500 will be able to roll at 30 degrees per second, for example, and the pilot can roll at that rate as long as controllability and structural integrity limits are adhered to. In the Airbus, Caldeira said, “for flaps down, they limit the roll rate authority to 7.5 degrees per second. We didn’t want to do that.”

Flying the FBW

If the Legacy 500 flight test simulator is any indication, flying the jet will be easy, requiring just a light touch on the sidestick. Changing the flight path angle is just a matter of a finger-push fore and aft or side to side. The stick is springloaded to the center position. Whatever flight path vector the pilot selects, the airplane automatically stays there, as long as it is within the flight envelope. There is no trim, and in turns, pitch and adverse yaw compensation are automatic, too. “Instead of having constant input to the sidestick,” said Camelier, “you’re flying the sidestick almost as if you were a trim button. So what you do is make small inputs for the minor corrections you want, but never continuously inputting to the sidestick.” The normal envelope boundaries are 33 degrees bank angle, 1.1 times stall speed, VMO and +30/15 degrees pitch angle. Test pilot Eduardo Camelier demonstrates the fly-by-wire controls of the The limit flight envelope Legacy 450 and 500 with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion cockpit. is larger, but the pilot Where an Airbus autothrottle stays must keep pushing on the sidestick to in one position for the entire flight, the get into the limit envelope region. To do Legacy 450/500 autothrottle moves as a 45-degree bank, for example, the pilot engine power changes. “By looking at the simply has to hold the sidestick away thrust lever position, you know what the from neutral. If the sidestick is released engine’s N1 is,” he said. “We think that’s and allowed to go back to neutral, the positive feedback, that the pilot knows airplane will return to the boundary or 33 what the thrust on the engine is by put- degrees bank angle and stay there. The edges of the limit envelope are ting his hand on the thrust lever.” Another feedback feature is the tac- defined as maximum structural load factile warning in the sidestick, which tells tor, maximum design speed, stickshaker both pilots that they are providing input maximum and AOA that doesn’t allow to both sticks at the same time. There the airplane to stall. There are no hard are also audio (“dual input”) and visual limits for bank and pitch, and a pilot warnings. When this happens, say, during could roll the 450/500, as long as it is a high workload situation when the pilots done without jeopardizing controllability might not notice the audible or visual or structural integrity. If the jet was in a warning but will feel the stick vibrate, high-speed condition where it’s not safe the pilot who should be flying presses the to roll, the pilot could not roll. The real benefits of the 450/500’s priority button and takes control. When both pilots are pushing on their FBW system are not just weight savsidesticks, their inputs are summed but ings and easier pilot workload but also that sum is limited to the maximum pos- performance and comfort. By limiting sible input. The last person to press the AOA, for example, the stall speed can be priority button has control. Pressing and lower because the system does not allow holding the priority button for 20 sec- the airplane to stall, but also it doesn’t need a stick pusher, which forces the onds gives control to that sidestick. “The main reason for the priority,” nose down before stalling and extracts a said Caldeira, “is, for example, if you have performance penalty. The AOA limiter also could help prea jam on one sidestick. It’s very rare but vent accidents like the Colgan Air Q400 we have to show that it could happen.” Rudder pedals are mechanically linked crash in Clarence Center, N.Y., where the to each other, but send electronic signals pilot reacted by pulling the yoke aft when to the flight control computers. Like the the pusher fired. “Instead of having somesidestick, the pedals don’t provide posi- thing commanding the airplane to go tional feedback. To help pilots in an down, the nose of the airplane just stays engine-out situation, the rudder is auto- there. The maximum AOA that can promatically programmed to kick in with 80 vide a good lift and also good controllabilpercent of the needed control for opti- ity,” said Caldeira. For windshear or a CFIT-avoidance mum sideslip. This helps the pilot easily maintain control, but also by not going maneuver, the pilot simply has to pull MATT THURBER

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to 100 percent, the slight turn to one side gives a cue as to which engine has failed. “We want the pilot to recognize the failure,” Caldeira said.

the sidestick full aft and add full throttle or push the go-around button on the throttle. This provides maximum climb rate without jeopardizing structural integrity, Caldeira said. “We believe by following this procedure, the pilot’s going to achieve a better climb rate than in a conventional airplane, because in a conventional airplane the pilot doesn’t know the structural limit. So he may pull too hard; then, afraid of jeopardizing the structural integrity, he releases; then he pulls too hard again and he releases. With this simple reliable procedure, the pilot is just going to pull up to the aft stop of the sidestick, command full throttle, and then he’s going to know he’s at the limit of what the airplane can give.” Workload Reduction

Pilot workload is generally lower in the FBW 450/500 because the system automatically compensates for configuration changes like power changes or flaps and landing gear movement. At different weights, the flight characteristics of ordinary airplanes change, but the FBW system compensates so it feels the same no matter what the controls need to do to deliver the requested performance. FBW responds more quickly to control inputs, according to Caldeira, because there is no delay as in mechanical controls, especially when an autopilot servo is involved. “By having a faster response with the actuation system,” he said, “you get a more damped response of the airplane to gust or turbulence.” The 450/500 will be able to fly faster because it can fly closer to the structural limits without compromising safety, Caldeira explained. If speed gets too high, the FBW system moves the elevator to slow the airplane down to Vmo. “Even if you try to hold full sidestick to the front,” said Camelier, “it won’t let you go above a certain speed above maximum design speed.” Another benefit of the closed-loop FBW system is that it helps prevent excessive sideslip from heavy rudder use. “When the pilot gets desperate,” Caldeira explained, “he can apply the pedals from one side to the other. Normally these airplanes are not designed to take this type of load. “With the fly-by-wire system we are in much better shape because even if the pilot applies pedals from one side to the other, it doesn’t mean that [the rudder] is going to move from

one side to the other. The problem is that when you do this type of maneuver [in other airplane types] you can add the load generated by the sideslip, and when you provide the pedal to the other direction, you add to the load provided by the rudder as well. So you can have a much higher load on the fin than the airplane is designed for.”

“Even if the pilot tries to break off his vertical fin, he can’t,” said Camelier. “If he tried to go from one sideslip to another as fast as possible, he would never be able to break that tail off because the closed loop drives the sideslip.” The digital electronic nature of the 450/500 allows engineers to tap into rich sources of data

enabled by the FBW computers, including structural integrity monitors. When a pilot runs into heavy turbulence or makes an extra hard landing in a 170/190, the operator has to send data to Embraer to be analyzed to see if an inspection might be needed. With the builtin integrity monitors on the 450/500, a crew alerting system

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www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa45

NAA honors Harrison Ford with Wright Brothers Trophy

MARIANO ROSALES

chairman of the Experimental County (Wyoming) searchAircraft Association’s Young and-rescue units by flying misEagles program from 2004 to sions in his Bell helicopter, 2009; flying relief missions to including two that resulted in Haiti in his Cessna Caravan; his rescues. “All of us at NAA are work as honorary chairman of very grateful for the work that The National Aeronautic Association and Barry Valentine. This year’s winner the Special Olympics Airlift this Mr. Ford has done to advance has announced the winners of the 2010 of the Wright Brothers Memorial Tro- year and flying Special Olymthe cause of aviation and aeroWesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman phy is Harrison Ford, who will receive pics competitors in his Cessna space in our nation,” said JonAwards and the Wright Brothers Memo- the award at a banquet held December 17 Citation; educating the public athan Gaffney, President and rial Trophy. Ceremonies for the Elder at the Wright Memorial Dinner in Wash- about the benefits of general Harrison Ford CEO of NAA and the ChairStatesman Awards take place on Novem- ington, D.C. aviation through the Aircraft Owners and man of the Selection Committee. ber 8 in Arlington, Va., to honor recipiFord was chosen for the Wright Tro- Pilots Association’s GA Serves AmerWinners of the Wesley L. McDonald ents Gene Kranz; Maj. Gen. Charles D. phy for “outstanding and significant ica campaign; and his many years of Elder Statesman of Aviation Awards were: Metcalf, USAF (Ret.); Robert L. Taylor contributions,” which include serving as assisting the Teton County and Lincoln Gene Kranz, NASA director of mission operations and author of the book, Failure is Not an Option. Since retiring from NASA in 1994, Kranz has been flying his aerobatic biplane, which he built, and serving as flight engineer on the B-17 Thunderbird at airshow performances. Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, USAF (Ret.), is being honored for “his dedication and outstanding leadership” as AVIATION PROGRAMS* RELEVANT PROGRAMS director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Financial Management for Managing the Corporate Aviation Function Force Base in Ohio. Non-Financial Managers April 10–15, 2011 Robert L. Taylor is founder of the March 20–25, 2011 Antique Airplane Association, inductee Developing Leadership Capability in the in the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame and Power and Leadership: Corporate Aviation Function recipient of the Iowa Department of Getting Below the Surface September 20–23, 2011 Transportation Education Award and Experimental Aircraft Association May 1–6, 2011 Founders Award. Taylor served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and For a chance to win a scholarship seat in an the Korean War. Former Air Force fighter pilot Barry upcoming aviation-specific program, visit us at Booth #7622. Valentine served many years in senior positions in government and industry, *NBAA members receive 10% off fee.. including acting FAA Administrator. According to the awards committee, “his www.darden.virginia.edu/exed long-standing dedication as a public servant demonstrates his commitment to PHONE: 877.833.3974 U.S./Canada ensuring a strong future for the aviation/ 434.924.3000 Worldwide aerospace industry.” o EMAIL: Darden_Exed@Virginia.edu

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Heritage to sell BLR winglets BLR Aerospace chose Heritage Aviation (Booth No. 2433) of Burlington, Vt., as an authorized dealer for its King Air winglets. The winglets reduce time to climb and lower fuel burn by 3 to 5 percent. The company said they also improve climb and cruise speeds, enhance aerodynamic performance and stability and deliver safer low-speed handling qualities. BLR (Booth No. 8637) is displaying the winglets on a King Air C90 at the NBAA static display. Heritage Aviation has already installed the devices on its four charter King Air 90s, and mechanic Zlatan Valjevac said, “The instructions and drawings were very detailed, and BLR provided great customer support at our facility. Everything was in readyto-paint condition, and the end result is a very modern-looking aircraft.” BLR has delivered more than 250 sets of King Air winglets, which are standard on the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 90 GTx. o

46aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

to Turbomeca’s 6.74. That’s a slightly bigger spread than for the turbofan manufacturers.

2010

Williams International

Product Support Survey E N G I N E S

If the engine OEM does ‘carry the can,’ how well? Williams keeps the top spot with AIN readers for turbofan support, and Rolls-Royce is the leader in supporting turboprops/turboshafts.

mong turbofan manu facturers, Williams In ternational remains tops with AIN readers for the support it provides to op erators. Rolls-Royce, com bined into one listing this year for the first time instead of be ing separated into R-R and R-R Deutschland, takes second place and, by barely a gnat’s whisker, bumps Pratt & Whit ney Canada to third place. Hon eywell takes fourth place, fol

lowed by GE, CFE and CFM, but the score spread from first to last place is not great, sug gesting that the efforts of all the manufacturers are succeeding to levels that do not vary wildly. Among turboprop/turboshaft manufacturers, Rolls-Royce takes the top spot for product sup port, followed by Pratt & Whit ney Canada (again just barely a gnat’s whisker behind Rolls), Honeywell and Turbomeca, with scores ranging from R-R’s 7.87

2010 ENGINE MODEL ratings Model

Overall Average 2010

Overall Average 2009

Williams has a relatively narrow product line for busi ness aviation, but the company earns top honors among AIN readers for how capably it sup ports the more than 3,500 FJ44s that power 11 different models of business aircraft. Applica tions of the smaller FJ33 remain under development, and for now the FJ44 is Williams’s sole bizjet engine. Product support director Steve Shettler told AIN that Wil liams has expanded its capabil ities for on-wing maintenance by increasing the number of technicians in its repair station who are able to travel and per form maintenance while the en gines are still on wing, reducing

operator downtime and expens es. “This is especially important to our customers out side the U.S. since shipping engines can take time and is expensive. These services are also includ ed at no additional costs to our TAP [Total Assurance Program] customers,” he said. For better service with dayto-day issues or administration, Williams has improved its Web site by posting answers to “nu merous” questions and allow ing customers to ask questions directly to the product support team. “The Web site will also keep a record of all questions and answers for customers’ future reference, and custom ers can schedule and track engine maintenance online, pay invoices and run various re ports,” simplifying the admin istrative and business-related tasks of operating their engines.

Williams International

All the reader comments about product support are available at www.ainonline.com/resource-center/

“Since our fleet continues to expand globally we have made it easier for service centers to become factory-authorized. This helps customers in regions where there are only a few air craft to support to have a local service center do their mainte nance,” Shettler said. Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has opened an office at Hong Kong Interna tional Airport to support business aircraft exclusively; expanded BR710 shop capacity by adding its facility at East Kilbride, UK; and opened its North America on-wing care headquarters just over a year ago. The company reported it has also “added several cus tomer service managers in both Asia and Europe [numbers and locations undisclosed]...taken steps to increase parts availabil ity by equipping each site across the globe with key part compo nents and by expanding parts distribution centers in North America and Europe [locations undisclosed]…made Corporate Care coverage for businessjet engines available to new Continued on page 50 u

Companies are listed in the order of their 2010 overall averages.

Ratings Change from Percentage Auth Service 2009 to 2010 Change Centers

Factory Service Centers

Parts Availability

Cost of Parts

AOG Response

Warranty Fulfillment

Technical Manuals

Cost Overall Technicals Per Hour Engine Reps Programs Reliability

P&WC

PW300 series

8.23

7.56

0.67

8.89%

8.25

8.09

8.19

7.09

8.55

8.44

8.25

8.56

7.76

8.89

Rolls-Royce

Tay

8.12

8.02

0.10

1.28%

8.16

8.32

8.29

6.51

8.36

8.20

7.76

8.53

7.35

9.33

Williams

FJ44

8.09

8.12

-0.03

-0.41%

8.39

8.06

8.31

7.49

7.98

8.18

8.05

7.81

7.92

8.65

P&WC

PW600 series

8.03

8.10

-0.07

-0.88%

8.16

7.75

8.27

7.05

8.19

8.41

8.00

8.19

7.43

8.63

Rolls-Royce

BR700 series

7.93

7.53

0.40

5.31%

8.43

8.24

8.02

6.41

8.08

7.92

7.05

8.38

7.26

9.15

Rolls-Royce

AE3007

7.87

0.00

0.01%

7.93

7.70

7.92

7.17

7.95

8.06

7.39

7.92

7.45

8.90

CF34

7.85

7.26

0.59

8.08%

8.11

7.94

7.98

6.67

7.92

7.64

7.87

7.68

7.55

8.97

P&WC

PW500 series

7.82

7.64

0.18

2.32%

8.09

8.19

7.72

6.26

7.86

7.91

7.96

8.09

7.16

8.64

Honeywell

TFE731

7.81

7.54

0.27

3.57%

7.89

8.23

7.86

6.53

7.93

7.97

7.58

8.06

7.29

8.67

Honeywell

HTF7000

7.75

7.69

0.06

0.83%

8.41

8.20

7.24

6.50

7.81

7.47

7.53

7.75

7.43

8.83

P&WC

JT15D

7.45

7.40

0.05

0.61%

7.37

7.45

7.75

6.34

7.43

7.18

7.35

7.52

6.97

8.65

CFE

CFE738

7.36

7.56

-0.20

-2.68%

7.17

7.89

7.13

6.46

7.38

7.57

7.21

7.89

6.46

8.19

CFM

CFM56

7.32

N/A*

6.33

7.33

7.57

6.00

7.57

7.92

7.50

7.00

6.67

8.67

Rolls-Royce

Spey

7.26

7.39

-0.13

-1.79%

6.73

7.55

7.43

6.00

7.50

7.33

7.38

7.65

5.79

8.42

Turboprop/Turboshaft engines P&WC

PT6A turboprop

7.84

7.41

0.43

5.84%

7.65

7.93

7.94

6.60

7.86

7.88

7.95

8.05

6.85

9.08

Honeywell

TPE331 turboprop

7.84

8.02

-0.18

-2.25%

8.11

8.37

7.88

6.50

8.00

7.72

7.77

8.00

7.37

8.57

Rolls-Royce

250 turboshaft

7.83

6.98

0.85

12.13%

7.73

8.19

7.50

6.05

7.94

8.07

8.26

8.45

7.25

8.57

Turbomeca

(all models)

6.74

6.71

0.03

0.40%

6.74

7.07

6.54

5.46

6.76

6.32

6.52

7.65

6.38

7.70

* Data for the CFM56 engine was not included in AIN’s report of the 2009 Product Support Survey, because the model did not receive the requisite number of ratings. Compiled by Jane Campbell with data provided by Forecast International of Newtown, Conn. Bold indicates highest number in each category.

48aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Rating Scale: Inadequate Poor

Average

Good Excellent

Source: AIN 2010 Product Support Survey

Turbofans

“I ORIGINALLY CALLED MY AIRPLANE INDEFENSIBLE.

“TODAY I CALL IT INDISPENSABLE.. – Warren Buﬀett

More than 20 years ago, I thought my first airplane would be the perfect way to reward myself for a lot of work and the success that came with it. Before long, however, the airplane proved itself to be an incomparable tool for accomplishing a great deal more work and achieving levels of success that would have been impossible without it. I changed the airplane’s name for those reasons. The airplane changed my mind forever. noplanenogain.org Paid for by the National Business Aviation Association

2010 Product Support Survey

and in-service engine operators, wherever they are located.” Pratt & Whitney Canada

OLLIVIER

Basing its strategy on the premise that, above all, customers want product performance, speedy response and ease of working with the manufacturer, P&WC has made “good progress” in the area of “ease of working with us,” according to Raffaele Virgili, v-p of customer service. “Over the past year we have been working hard to raise our services to the next level.” Phase One of the company’s new customer Web portal offers a fresh look and enhanced navigation for existing apps, with more content, f unctionality and apps to come. P&WC is currently benchmarking E-portal leaders in all industries and plans to launch Phase Two late this year by introducing new features such as Pubs Online and tools to report hours and cycles for the company’s Eagle service plan. “Pubs Online will be a leap in service for our customers,” said Virgili. “It will allow them to purchase manuals, manage their subscriptions, provide feedback and view content through the customer portal. They will also receive alerts when new content is available and be able to download content at their convenience.” This service could be available “in the coming months.” P&WC also says it is working “to implement powerful Web publishing and guided troubleshooting capability. This will enable more intuitive navigation or advanced search for general and specialized users alike. The longer-term goal is to complement the standard ATA manuals with work instructions customized for the task at hand.” Over the past year P&WC has been “building on the success of its Customer First Center,” launched in 2007 to make significant gains in AOG return-to-service time. The CFirst center assembles

“the best expertise from across key P&WC front-line services, including technical support, logistics, service engineering, engine maintenance programs and warranty.” This team follows a “total event management approach, t aking full ownership and closely tracking each request until an aircraft is back in the air or every question is answered.” CFirst has “significantly” reduced return-to-service times, according to P&WC. The company has opened new parts centers in Amsterdam and Singapore, and its stated goal in product support “is to be number one in our customers’ eyes every year, across all our markets,” according to Virgili. Honeywell (including CFE)

Since Honeywell has centralized its customer call center to a single 24/7 team answering a single phone number, the company provided a similar response to AIN’s questions for both a vionics and engines, including Honeywell-branded and CFE powerplants. The response team “is provided with enhanced customer management tools that have reduced call handling times to minutes and allow agents to field tens of thousands of inquiries from across Honeywell’s broad service and product portfolio.” Customer-friendly processes include the acceptance of verbal purchase orders, and follow-up calls to the customer within 24 hours to ensure that AOGs have been satisfied and the customer received a positive experience, the company said. “Significant resources” have been invested to enhance Hon eywell’s aerospace customer por tal e-commerce site at myaerospace.com, which now provides pricing and parts availability information, online order placement and tracking, access to publications and automatic generation of e-mail order status. Later this year, additional features will include credit-card processing, access to invoices and online issuance of

Honeywell HTF7000

return authorizations. Honeywell says that for improved global support it has expanded its Spex program, which handles more than 25,000 transactions annually “with 97 percent of all shipments (including mechanical line-replaceable units) shipping within 24 hours.” Expansion includes the staging of parts in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and India, with delivery of more than 90 percent of the stocked parts or exchanges coming from within the region where they are required. “Because of the recent growth in emerging business aircraft regions, we’ve also added international authorized service centers in Latin America, the Middle East, China and India.”

2010 ENGINE MANUFACTURER ratingS

General Electric (including CFM)

Compiled by Jane Campbell with data provided by Forecast International of Newtown, Conn. Bold indicates highest number in each category.

GE’s business and general aviation fleet comprises some 5,000 engines dispersed among 75 countries. They include the CF34 turbofan, CFM56-7B turbofan, CFM56-5B turbofan, CJ610 turbojet, CF700 turbofan, CFE738 turbofan and M601 turboprop. Karl Kasparian, customer support program manager for Cincinnati-based GE Aviation Aircraft Engines, said his company has “invested heavily in its product support and services for business and general aviation in the last few years.” In 2008 GE took the best practices from its aviation operations center and added “special support offerings tailored specifically to business jet customers,” Kasparian said, creating the GE business jet operations center. One call connects customers directly with “a trained expert who can often answer their questions on the spot.” If an answer isn’t immediately available, custom-

Rolls-Royce BR715

50aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F

Overall Average 2010

Overall Average 2009

Ratings Change from 2009 to 2010

Williams

8.09

8.12

-0.03

-0.41%

Rolls-Royce

7.91

N/A*

Percentage Change

Turbofans

P&WC

7.90

7.58

0.32

4.20%

Honeywell

7.78

7.50

0.28

3.79%

7.77

7.14

0.63

8.81%

CFE

7.36

7.49

-0.13

-1.79%

CFM

7.32

N/A

Turboprop/Turboshaft engines Rolls-Royce

7.87

6.97

0.90

12.95%

P&WC

7.86

7.39

0.47

6.39%

Honeywell

7.79

7.76

0.03

0.42%

Turbomeca

6.74

6.71

0.03

0.40%

* Overall average for 2009 not available. In 2009, Rolls-Royce and Rolls-Royce Deutschland were rated separately. This year they are combined under Rolls-Royce.

ers receive a specific time when a response will be given. In the last year, GE has begun closely monitoring the team’s responsiveness to ensure these response commitments are met, and in June this year the team achieved a 98-percent response rate to customer requests. For AOG part delivery performance, said Kasparian, “we are now averaging 4.5 hours from the initial call to part shipment, and mobile repair parties can be dispatched at a moment’s notice. Other enhancements to the business jet operations center in the last year were giving all cases AOG priority level, the addition of more field service engineers and streamlining the warranty fulfillment process.” In January GE launched the Customer Connect initiative to focus on five key areas: personalized customer touch; rapid response resolution; comprehensive training (ensuring customers have access to the latest engine manuals and maintenance train-

ing support); predictive diagnosis (providing customers with databased diagnostics services on performance issues before they become significant problems); and long-term service agreements. Turbomeca

In the past year, Turbomeca said it has expanded its maintenance center network and increased the TBO and MTBF of several Arriel, Arrius and Makila engines. The Arrius 2B2 TBO, for example, has been increased to 4,000 hours from 3,000 and its MTBF to 7,300 hours from 6,200. At the end of last year the company launched Turbomeca IETP (interactive electronic technical publications), which “combines efficiency with user-friendliness and interactivity.” o This year’s survey was devised by AIN’s editors and designed and administered by Newtown, Conn.based Forecast International in full collaboration with AIN.

In AIN’s engine product support survey article, printed in the October edition of Aviation International News and seen briefly at AINonline.com on October 1 until corrected, a typographical error in the first column jumbled the manufacturers in the chart that ranks support for turboprops and turboshafts. The engine placements and scores are correct as shown in the table in the O ctober AIN; only the engines’ manufacturers are listed in erroneous order. As shown correctly in the table on page XX of this issue of NBAA Convention News, Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6A turboprop and Honeywell’s TPE331 turboprop tied for first place, each scoring 7.84, and the Rolls-Royce 250 turboshaft took third place with a score of 7.83. AIN apologizes for the confusion this error caused.

Source: AIN 2010 Product Support Survey

uContinued from page 48

JIM UPTON

E N G I N E S

Duncan Aviation green team looks to environmental future Duncan Aviation (Booth No. 6763) has formed a “green team dedicated to improving business practices and educating team members with the goal of reducing the company’s impact on the environment.” “The benefits of making ‘green’ decisions are good for us and for those who will follow us,” said Jeannine Falter,

Duncan vice-president of business development and green team facilitator. Among the accomplishments already realized by the green team are: • a reduction in the amount of hazardous chemicals purchased and stored by Duncan and use of chemicals that have a low environmental impact. • creation of an eco-friendly interior

Gulfstream trophy for outstanding flying Gulfstream Aerospace president Joe Lombardo presented its annual Alber-Rowley Trophy to the Phoenix Air Group of Carterville, Ga., and the U.S. Navy’s Executive Transport Detachment Pacific, located at Hickam AFB Hawaii. The award is named for Carl Alber and Fred Rowley who, in 1958, made the first flight of a Gulfstream aircraft, and recognizes flights involving superior airmanship and operational achievements performed in Gulfstreams. Phoenix Air won the award for a year-long series of flights in a Gulfstream III in support of the U.S. Africa Command. The aircraft flew nearly 400,000 nm over 900 hours visiting 45 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Navy won the award for 54 hours of flying to four countries over a 10-day period. Transport Detachment Pacific provides airlift in support of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander and flies mostly long-range, oceanic and international flights. –M.H.

refurbishment materials collection for business aircraft, including a range of natural, rapidly renewable and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified materials. • replacement of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs with more energy-efficient alternatives. • recycling of 350 tires, 5,000 pounds of metal, 40 tons of paper and cardboard and 4,000 pounds of aluminum cans last year. “These things were all accomplished by having small groups of people throughout the company question current practices,” said Falter. “We view this as an ongoing process that will make a difference for future generations.” Also part of the accomplishments is a green initiative that introduces a new “chrome-free” paint process, to be phased in later this year at Duncan’s Lincoln, Neb., and Battle Creek, Mich., paint facilities. The process eliminates use of hexavalent chromium (a known carcinogen). While the industry refers to the new paint systems as “green paint” or “chrome-free,” the paint may contain trace amounts of chromium, though low enough to meet the tolerances set by EPA, OSHA and local state and federal disposal programs. Partnering with Sherwin-Williams Coatings and Pantheon Enterprises over the past several years, Duncan developed the chrome-free process and products it describes as “better for the environment, better for the paint technicians and better for the aircraft.” And working closely with the FAA, Duncan recently amended its proprietary FAA-approved paint process to include these new processes and products. Duncan expects to phase the chromefree paint process into its current aircraft paint work by next year, and all aircraft subsequently painted at its centers will use the process. o

embraer TAPS aerocardal AS EXEC JET REP IN CHILE

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

by Mark Huber FlightSafety International (Booth No. 1227) is offering a variety of level7-approved flight-training device solutions for operators of small turbine helicopters. According to the company, these devices provide virtually all the training benefits of a full-motion simulator, include a vibrating base, and are a cost-effective alternative for in-aircraft training. FlightSafety offers two basic types of training in the level-7 FTDs: type-specific training and mission-specific or scenario-based training, during which an operator’s unique missions are simulated. These include EMS, off-shore, electronic news gathering, law enforcement and paramilitary operations. The company also touts level-7’s value for training for inadvertent encounter with instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), instrument refresher training and night vision goggle instruction. The FTDs are fully NVG-compatible and offer Part 135 operators the opportunity to meet initial and recurrent training and checks with minimal in-aircraft time. The level-7 devices are equipped with FlightSafety’s Vital X Visual System, which provides 220-degree by 100-degree (60 degrees down and 40 degrees up) wraparound visual capability and highly detailed and textured scenes that are realistic in all phases of flight and optimized for low level training operations. Detailed scenes that can be created by the system include freeway crash scenes, hospital landing pads, oil platforms (including dynamic sea states) and a highly detailed model of Manhattan. FlightSafety is expanding its surviving inadvertent IMC training to help helicopter operators avoid, prepare for or recover from inadvertent flight into IMC. The training program is non-aircraft specific, customizable and can be conducted in any of the company’s full-motion simulators or FTDs. o

AT THE BOOTHS

MARIANO ROSALES

Embraer announced here that it has appointed Aerocardal as the authorized sales representative for its full line of executive jets in Chile. Shown here (l to r) Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer executive v-p, executive jets; Alexander Kaufman, Aerocardal director; Ricardo Real Ibar, Aerocardal general manager; Breno Correa, Embraer v-p of marketing and sales, Latin Americaexecutive jets; and Ricardo Silva, Embraer regional sales manager for Chile.

FlightSafety offers level 7 FTDs to helo operators

Visit SolidFX at Booth No. 6027 and enter for a chance to win an FX8 Class 1 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), a $1,195 value. The FX8 contains every Jeppesen terminal chart in the world and can also be loaded with AC-U-Kwik worldwide flight planning and airport data. Also on display is the FX10 chart viewer/EFB with a 10.2-inch screen. v

www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa51

New EAA boss meeting bizav

MARIANO ROSALES

Walking the red carpet There was a long steady line of visitors for the Embraer Lineage 1000, which is the largest of the company’s executive jets. Most who took the tour would say it was worth the wait.

Duncan busy with new initiatives Duncan Aviation (Booth No. 6763), appears to be weathering the recession and is launching new initiatives on a variety of fronts. As the company’s rapid response team celebrates its 10th anniversary, Duncan is opening a new location in Seattle, the company’s eighth. The team is located at Boeing Field but performs all engine maintenance and repair work at customer locations, “whether in their hangar or home base.” Duncan has also marked the installation

of its 100th high-speed data (HSD) system installation this year, and has developed an HSD selection tool to assist operators with system options. In addition to the large volume of HSD installations, Duncan holds STCs for installation of Aircell Gogo Biz with Wi-Fi capability in the Challenger 300, Citation 750, Citation 680 and Falcon 900EX EASy. Also in the electronic outfitting arena, Duncan recently completed two more STC approvals for installation of Aircell’s cabin telecommunications router. The router provides Wi-Fi access in the cabin for the Gogo Biz in-flight Internet service. The company’s authorized service center agreement with Bombardier has been officially extended to include Duncan’s newest maintenance facility in Provo, Utah. The Provo location joins Bombardier-approved centers at Duncan’s Lincoln, Neb., and Battle Creek, Mich.

locations. Duncan published several white papers this year that are now available on the company’s Web site. The papers, written by Duncan industry experts, serve as field guides to questions and pressing issues regarding business aircraft operators and address a variety of topics. They include subjects such as Waas, Hawker RVSM certification, paint, maintenance and turbine aircraft values. Finally, according to Duncan, the company now leads the industry in Falcon 2000 winglet installations and dry bay modifications at its Lincoln and Battle Creek facilities. Duncan was the first service provider to install and certify Aviation Partners’ high-mach blended winglets for the Falcon 2000 series. To date, Duncan has completed 16 of the 19 total aftermarket installations on Falcon 2000 and 2000EX jets. –K.J.H.

Flight Options Signs $15 Million Deal With CAE Fractional share provider Flight Options has signed a $15-million deal with CAE (Booth No. 6903) to provide pilot training in six aircraft types: Beechjet 400A, Cessna Citation X, Hawker Beechcraft 800XP and 800XPi and the Embraer Legacy and Phenom 300. In celebration, CAE president and CEO Mark Parent (left) presents a model of the CAE 5000 Series full-flight simulator to Michael Silvestro, CEO of Flight Options.

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 52

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) introduced Rod Hightower, its new president and CEO, to the business aviation community at a ceremony at the sport aviation organization’s booth (No. 3246) at NBAA. Hightower was named to the position this July at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., following an extensive search for a successor to long-time organization leader Tom Poberezny. At his NBAA introduction, Hightower said his plans were to continue serving the organization’s base of aircraft homebuilders while expanding offerings to members who fly certified aircraft. He also said the organization would continue and expand the outreach to youngsters that began with the Young Eagles program. Underscoring that commitment, Hightower was joined at the ceremony by “Miracle on the Hudson” first officer Jeff Skiles, current chairman of the Young Eagles program, which is aimed at introducing youngsters to general aviation. Also joining Hightower were EAA board members Dan Schwinn, founder, president and CEO of Avidyne; Jack Harrington of Eclipse Aerospace, and Kermit Weeks, aircraft collector and creator of Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Fla. Schwinn, a member of the EAA executive search committee, noted that Hightower’s passion for aviation, manifested in his restoration of a Stearman biplane and ownership of a T-6 warbird, qualified him as having the EAA DNA. o

AmSafe Partners with B/E Aerospace for bizjet airbags AmSafe Industries (Booth No. 5133) announced at the NBAA Convention that it has partnered with B/E Aerospace (Booth No. 3327) to offer side-facing divans for business jets that are equipped with AmSafe’s seatbelt airbags. The airbags allow all positions on a divan to be occupied for takeoff and landing and will minimize injuries in the event of a survivable accident. Two business jet aircraft manufacturers have already committed to equipping three models with the product, but AmSafe and B/E would not reveal the OEMs’ names. The seatbelt airbag, which AmSafe introduced in 2001, is already installed on approximately 50,000 seats on general aviation airplanes and airliners. According to the company, it has saved 18 lives and never been inadvertently deployed. Why has it taken so long for the product to come to business jets? “This is a more customized environment than general aviation and airliners,” said AmSafe sales v-p Chris Muklevicz. n

by Evan Sweetman We spend all week walking around the NBAA Convention thinking about business aviation, and at times it feels like there’s more King Airs here than scantily clad models at a car show. But there’s one King Air that stands out from the rest, the one Sierra Nevada Corp. has on static display at NBAA this week. This is Sierra Nevada’s second year at the show, according to company v-p

Key Air lights 25 candles Key Air (Booth No. 7651) is celebrating 25 years of charter/management and FBO operations. The company started with one facility in Oxford, Conn., and has expanded to include three FBOs at airports in Oxford, Conn., Minneapolis-St. Paul and Fort Pierce, Fla. Recent service improvements include a new client support system and company-wide participation in the ServiceElements customer service training program. Key Air has also added Industry Audit Standard registration from the Air Charter Safety Foundation, continued platinum operator status by Argus and successful completion of an IS-BAO audit plus Wyvern-approved status and participation in the FAA safety manageo ment system pilot program.

display aircraft more specifically are L-3-subsidiary Wescam-built MX-15s. Depending on which model of cameras are installed, they have a whole host of capabilities, including gyro-stabilization, geo-pointing (the camera will give you the GPS coordinates of what it’s looking at), infrared and night vision, and it can all be done in HD, if needed. “The hump on the back holds the KuBand and other antennas,” the source said. “For as big as it is, it only cuts three knots off the top speed of the aircraft.” Sierra Nevada’s Joe Fucci said the company also took its services to help with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company footed the bill for that program. “We were based out of Lakefront Airport in New Orleans,” he said, speaking in the mobile command center the company also brought to the show. “We were able to spot oil and talk to ships directly using the [automated identification system]. We could call them direct from the aircraft and tell them where to go.” Four people could work from the command center, directing imagery and information downloaded from the aircraft. From the center, it would be sent to wherever it could best serve, according to Fucci. The information was sent to an Internet media host so anyone with the IP address could access the video. “We could even view it on smartphones,” Fucci said.

MARIANO ROSALES

Liberty King Air shows odd mods at static

Joe Fucci. The company does retrofit work for Defense Department customers plus a few international groups. Its most well known product may be the U.S. Air Force’s MC-12W Liberty, AKA the King Air 350ERs that the Air Force is flying in Afghanistan. When Sierra Nevada mechanics and engineers get their hands on a 350ER for the conversion, they zero out the maintenance and load it with computers, cameras and radars. Immediately noticeable on the exterior of the King Air at NBAA’s static display is the hump on top of the fuselage and the cameras and storage box below. “We pushed the nose out by three feet to fit the camera in the nose,” a company representative told AIN. “That can retract into the nose if you’re not using it.” The cameras on Sierra Nevada’s

The large hump on this Liberty King Air 350ER modified by Sierra Nevada Corp. covers Ku-Band and other antennas but causes an airspeed loss of only three knots.

Another King Air 350 modified for aerial surveillance is at the static display, too, the Aerial Surveillance Systems SkyEye 350, which recently earned FAA certification in the normal category. o

www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa53

Today’s Program | 10.21.10

Today at

NBAA 2010 The NBAA 63rd Annual Meeting & Convention offers an expansive schedule of education sessions, maintenance & operations sessions and special events in addition to a multitude of exhibits at the Georgia World Congress Center. In addition, dozens of business aircraft are dotting the static display at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. Parking at the convention center, including that for handicapped-accessible, is available in seven locations on a first-come, first-served basis. The fee is $10 per entry for cars and $15 per entry for oversized vehicles (for example, buses).

Parking permits can be purchased online at www. gwcc.com; Look for “Parking” at the bottom of the page and then follow the prompts. Shuttle buses are operating between the convention center and the static display. Check the posted signage at both locations for times, or the NBAA Pocket Agenda. For those who prefer to drive, detailed instructions for the route are online at NBAA.org. There is limited parking at DeKalb Peachtree Airport, but there is abundant parking at the Fiesta Mall parking lot–look for signs.

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. NBAA 11th Annual Friends/Partners in Aviation Weather (FPAW) Meeting | Room B401 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Careers in Business Aviation Day, Explore the Possibilities [Registration 9:00-10:00; Keynote, 10:00-11:00; Tour of Exhibit Halls, 11:00-3:00] | Hall B1, Exhibit Floor 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) Help Desk Room B304 9:00 a.m.-noon Bombardier Regional M&O Breakout Sessions | Rooms C105-C110 9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. NBAA Meet the Regulators | Room B305 10:00 a.m.-noon Operation of the Eclipse 500 in Corporate 91 and Part 135 Service| Room B403 11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. NBAA/UAA Reaching Future Business Aviation Professionals: Career Seminar for College Students | Room B101

Log on to AINtv.com for exclusive video coverage of all three days of the 2010 NBAA show. The award-winning AINtv team is posting Webcasts of the top news of each day, including the latest product unveilings and announcements. Plus you’ll find the latest and greatest aircraft and technology from the exhibits.

Information correct at press time. Be sure to check hall signage and NBAA’s Web site-www.NBAA.org-for last-minute schedule changes.

Embraer Legacy 650 Dassault pushes ahead with SMS Ed Bolen interview Opening Session Awards

Watch AINtv at www.aintv.com.

Exhibit Hall Hours

Georgia World Congress Center

Thursday