NBAA Convention News 10-19-10 Issue by AIN Publications

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Vol. 42 No. 24/$9.00

October 19, 2010

Cessna tweaks Citation X, now labels it ‘Ten’

INSIDE... • Garmin unleashes G5000 cockpit The company that pioneered glass cockpits for general aviation is stepping into the big leagues with its Part 25 integrated G5000. Page 5

Although the dust is finally beginning to settle in the busines aviation market, the engine and avionics manufacturer predicts the industry will have to endure at least one more down year before a rebound begins. Page 14

• Hawker intros Hawker 200 and King Air 250 The Wichita airframer came to NBAA with numerous announcements, including a new name for its a Premier and a replacement for its King Air 200GT. Page 92

• Shanghai to host relaunched ABACE NBAA and the Asian Business Aviation Association are reintroducing ABACE, which will make its much anticipated return to Shanghai in 2012. Page 89

• Boeing finds BBJ market in China The Seattle airframer has sold three BBJs in the Asia-Pacific region and expects the market to grow in the next five years, with demand in China doubling in that period. Page 93

ON LINE NOW... • Garmin G5000 • New Globals • G650 • Honeywell forecast • Embraer/NetJets order

Bombardier is pushing the term ultralong-range to new lengths with its just announced Global 7000 and 8000.

Ultra-long-range gets longer by James Wynbrandt Bombardier introduced two new jets, the Global 7000 and Global 8000, to the top end of its Global family of ultra-long-range business jets at NBAA yesterday. The larger Global 7000 features a four-zone cabin and will have a 7,300-nm range, and the shorter Global 8,000 has a three-zone cabin and a 7,900-nm range. “By extending this great family, we are once again offering a business jet travel experience that is unmatched and ahead of its time,” said Steve Ridolfi, president, Bombardier Business

Aircraft. The entry-into-service date for the Global 7000 is set for 2016 and for the Global 8000 it is 2017. Both of the new jets are priced at $65 million in 2010 dollars. The current inproduction Global fleet includes the Global Express XRS and the Global 5000. “The whole philosophy is to maintain the high ground in the long-range category of aircraft,” said Bob Horner, Bombardier’s senior vice president, sales. Continued on page 90 u

Comfort and function highlight G650 cabin by Kirby J. Harrison Describing the cabin of Gulfstream’s new G650, senior v-p of programs, engineering and test Pres Henne said it began with a sketch of a cup holder and a single window. “That simple drawing led to an aircraft interior where form follows function.” Gulfstream unveiled the finished cabin here at DeKalb Peachtree Airport on Sunday, installed in certification test flight aircraft S/N 6004. The new cabin will be available for viewing by invitation only and will return to the certification test program on Thursday. Big is one way to describe the cabin. There is 6 feet 3 inches of headroom in the flat-floor environment. At 8

feet 2 inches wide and 53 feet 7 inches long, it is 14 inches wider and 2 feet longer than the G550 cabin, and the G650 has 28 percent greater cabin volume than the G550.

KIRBY J. HARRISON

• Honeywell forecasts return to growth in ’12

by Mark Huber

Gulfstream president Joe Lombardo relaxes in G650’s spacious cabin.

But cabin environment is not the only standard. Studies have shown cabin altitude to increase crew and passenger fatigue, particularly on long flights. And the G650 will be capable of carrying eight passengers and four crew 7,000 nm nonstop. With a cabin altitude of 4,850 feet at its ceiling of 51,000 feet, the G650 has the lowest cabin altitude in the industry, according to Continued on page 118 u

When Cessna canceled the large-cabin Citation Columbus last year, many wondered what the company would do next. Now we know: the Citation X will remain Cessna’s flagship– for now. Yesterday the Wichita-based airframer unveiled a longer and slightly faster variant of its iconic mach 0.92 Mach speedster, first delivered in 1996, and rebranded it the Ten. Cessna chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton said the Ten would be the first of several planned new product announcements over the next several years, at an estimated rate of one per year. “We want Continued on page 94 u

NetJets Buying Up to 125 Phenoms NetJets (Booth No. 170), the largest player in the fractional-jet-share business, has signed an agreement to purchase 50 Phenom 300 light jets from Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. The Berkshire Hathaway-owned NetJets, based in Columbus, Ohio, has an option to buy 75 additional Phenom 300s, which could bring the deal’s total value to more than $1 billion (U.S.) at current list prices, according to Embraer. NetJets chairman and CEO David Sokol wouldn’t say when his company will make a decision regarding the optioned jets but declared, “It is our hope to buy them all.” The aircraft, which Embraer plans to deliver beginning in 2013, will be specially outfitted for NetJets and branded as the Phenom 300 Platinum Edition. Sokol said that NetJets Europe will use about 20 percent of the Phenom 300s, with the rest to be based in the U.S. –J.B.

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Bolen: bizav needs activists, urges members to prod lawmakers The appearance by the CEOs of the Big Three automakers before Congress in November 2008 touched off a wave of anti-business aviation sentiment that included a proposal that any companies accepting government bailout money would have to get rid of their aircraft. The business aviation industry soon found itself with a big target on its tail and as a highly visible object of ridicule and scorn by legislators, the media and the general public. “Clearly, between November of 2008 and the launch of No Plane No Gain in February, we saw policymakers and opinion leaders disparaging the use of business aviation,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “Since then, we have seen them not just go neutral, but go to the point where they are saying publicly, ‘I want to be identified as a strong supporter of this industry. I want to publicly say I not only support this industry, but this industry is good for America,’” he added, noting that more than 120 people in the U.S. House of Representatives have joined its newly formed General Aviation Caucus. In the Senate, 31 members have joined that body’s new GA caucus. In October 2009, a little less than a year after the three automakers flew to Washington from Detroit in individual company aircraft, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue signed a proclamation saying aviation is critical to the state of Georgia, and he highlighted business aviation. Since then, 12 other governors have signed legislation extolling the virtues of business aviation. “And finally, this year in April, we had the House and Senate pass a joint resolution commending business aviation for its response to Haiti,” Bolen said. “That suggests to us that our message is getting through, our message that business aviation is essential to our nation’s job base, to

NBAA’s fact book now available The NBAA’s 2010 Business Aviation Fact Book is available in either a printed version or online at www.nbaa.org/factbook. The free Fact Book, according to the NBAA (Booth No. 7103), is “a comprehensive profile of the industry that provides real-world information and data about its value to citizens, companies and communities across the country.” Features this year include extensive data on business aviation’s contributions to the U.S. economy, NBAA member company profiles, new sections on business aviation’s record on safety, security and environmental stewardship and reports on humanitarian missions flown n by business aircraft.

MARIANO ROSALES

by Paul Lowe

While TSA was expecting 100 to 150 people per session, the business aviation industry had more than 300 at every one. “We ultimately generated over 7,000 comments to the docket,” said Bolen. “We asked for and received congressional hearings on the [LASP], and we feel that we the economic vitality of small communities, made a difference. And this is what hapto the productivity of companies and to our pens when the entire community gets emergency relief. involved. The fact of the matter is, NBAA “So we think that the [No Plane No can lead, we can define, we can facilitate Gain] program is having a prothe work of our members, found effect,” he added. “And but we can’t do it without our it’s a program that we had spemembers’ engagement.” cifically targeted at policymakBolen also recalled that in ers and opinion leaders.” 2006, the Air Transport AssoNevertheless, Bolen stressed ciation (ATA) revealed a plan that everybody in the busito shift $2 billion of airline ness aviation community needs taxes onto business aviation to become an advocate for the during FAA reauthorization industry. “For almost six years deliberations, and figuratively now, NBAA has been talking to seize control of the ATC systhe business aviation community tem. He said ATA spent NBAA president and CEO about the importance of every- Ed Bolen urges members to more than $20 million “effecbody in our community being an make their presence felt tively trying to disparage and activist,” he explained. “We’ve to Washington lawmakers. destroy business aviation. Our

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NBAA and its members have worked tirelessly–and ultimately successfully–to remind lawmakers of business jets’ value as tools for productivity, and must continue to do so.

always felt that we are a large and significant industry. But unless and until our community becomes active and engaged, mobilized and outspoken, we don’t make our size and significance felt.” NBAA believes that the business aviation community can shape its own destiny by making all of its individual and collective voices heard. He said this was made clear when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) proposed its Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) in October 2008. NBAA and AOPA immediately got the comment period extended so that it would carry over well into 2009. According to Bolen, NBAA specifically asked that the TSA hold public hearings around the country, “that they go out into the community and hear and feel and see what our community thought about [LASP].” ‘We Made a Difference’

NBAA attended and spoke at all five hearings. “But I think what we as a community were able to do was we were able to show our size, our significance, our commitment to safety and security, and also our common sense,” he recalled.

4aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

community responded, and today user fees are not part of the FAA reauthorization bill.” The airlines attacked business aviation, he suggested, because they didn’t think the business aviation industry would answer the call. But the community did and it made a difference, he said. “So I think what we are seeing,” he explained, “is the community is recognizing that when they get involved, when they write their congressmen, when they talk to their family and friends, when they organize and attend airport or regional events, when our community gets involved, we can make a difference.” Bolen said that the ATA thought it “could roll business aviation [on the user fee debate] because they’re never organized, they don’t respond, and we did. And it made a difference. Our community engaged in the user fee fight.” But he warned that even if the current FAA reauthorization is passed, which now seems more likely, user fees will not go away. “My feeling is that user fees are a really bad idea,” Bolen said. “And in Washington, it’s almost impossible to kill a really bad idea.” o

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news clips z StandardAero Reopens Springfield TFE731 Shop StandardAero (Booth No. 7601) has reopened its TFE731 heavy maintenance, repair and overhaul operation at its 265,000-sq-ft production and support f acility in Springfield, Ill. The shop will initially be capable of p roviding major periodic inspections (MPIs) for Honeywell TFE731s but shop c apabilities will be reassessed periodically for the possible addition of other engine types and services. In the past year the company has upgraded customer offices at all its sites and also invested $500,000 in the Springfield facility by moving the TFE731 MPI shop back and improving the facility’s appearance by painting hangars and floors. Garmin’s G5000 integrated avionics system is intended for light to ultra-long-range business jets certified under the FAA’s Part 25 rules. Cessna Aircraft is the launch customer.

Garmin unleashes G5000 cockpit by Stephen Pope Garmin, the Olathe, Kan. company (Booth No. 6456) that pioneered glass cockpits and synthetic-vision technology in small general aviation airplanes, is stepping up into the bizav big leagues with a Part 25 integrated avionics system called G5000 that will square off against business jet cockpits from industry heavyweights Honeywell and Rockwell Collins. Garmin’s move into the Part 25 cockpit market has been anticipated ever since the company broke into the lower echelon of business aviation with a version of the G1000 avionics system in the Cessna Citation Mustang. After Garmin added to its cockpit repertoire with improved versions of G1000 for the Embraer Phenom 100 and 300 and then at last year’s NBAA convention unveiled the G3000 cockpit–the baseline system for the developmental HondaJet–many observers predicted it was only a matter of time before Garmin moved up market into larger business jets. Scalable Configuration

Garmin’s G1000 and G3000 avionics systems are intended for Part 23 airplanes, defined by FAA regulations as those weighing less than 12,500 pounds. The company’s decision to step up into larger and heavier airplanes from light business jets to ultralong-range models means the certification requirements also become more difficult to meet. Universal Avionics has done it with its EFI-890R retrofit avionics system for business jets, but until now no other avionics manufacturer besides Honeywell and Rockwell Collins has succeeded in developing an OEM glass cockpit for a Part 25 business jet. Garmin’s launch customer for

the G5000 system is Cessna. “We started looking seriously at expanding the capabilities of G1000 about three years ago,” said Bill Stone, Garmin’s avionics product manager. “Our work on the G3000 system will allow us to bring G5000 technology to the market more quickly than we might have otherwise.” G5000 development, he said, is about halfway done, with validation testing just now starting. Its certification, he added, is targeted for early 2012. The G5000 system will share the multifunction touchscreens originally developed for the G3000 cockpit. In the new cockpit there will be a dedicated touch screen for each display connected through a common network. The configuration will be scalable, allowing the installation of between three and five displays, depending on the application, Stone said. The new cockpit will also feature larger displays than those found in the G1000 or G3000 system, measuring 14.1 inches diagonal for the new GDU 1400 display and 12.1 inches for the GDU 1200 display. Garmin, for the first time, is using a wideformat 16:9 aspect ratio (versus

4:3), which should improve the synthetic-vision presentation on the primary flight display. The display will boast 1280- by 800-pixel resolution and LED backlighting for excellent brightness and sunlight readability, Stone said. Enhanced Backend

The 5000’s MFD will have split-screen capability so that two separate vertical pages can be viewed side-by-side. Pilots may simultaneously view maps, charts, TAWS, flight planning, weather or video input pages. In addition, aircraft synoptics can be graphically depicted on the MFD to help simplify monitoring and troubleshooting. Behind the scenes the G5000 cockpit will feature new backend sensors that can meet the stricter requirements of Part 25. G5000 components now undergoing flight testing include new attitude-heading reference systems, air data computers and an enhanced wea ther radar. Garmin is also developing a new TCAS for the G5000 system. Introduction of an inertial navigation system or head-up display, however, are not currently on its roadmap, Stone said. Continued on page 20 u

The G5000 cockpit features wide-aspect XGA displays available in 12.1-inch diagonal or 14.1-inch sizes. The system is scalable to include between three and five displays.

z Flightcraft Named Hawker Beech Service Center Hawker Beechcraft has appointed Flightcraft of Portland, Ore., as an authorized service center for King Airs and pistonpowered models. Flightcraft is an FBO and operates a charter/ management division, as well as offering airframe, component and propeller maintenance, avionics installations and repair and parts support. The company, owned by heavy equipment dealers The Papé Group, also owns an FBO in Eugene, Ore. It was founded in 1948.

z Tailwind Buys Kelly Aerospace Energy Systems Hartzell Propeller parent company Tailwind Technologies has p urchased the assets of Kelly Aerospace Energy Systems of Montgomery, Ala., for an undisclosed amount. The new division has been renamed Hartzell Engine Technologies and will remain in Montgomery. Mike Disbrow, senior vice president of sales, marketing and customer support at Hartzell Propeller, (Booth No. 7021) will lead the new division. Hartzell Engine Technologies’ product line is to include turbocharger systems, alternators, starters, Janitrol heaters, fuel pumps, oil filters, ignition harnesses, magnetos, voltage regulators and MCUs and a large range of other electrical components.

z Lockheed To Run Flight Service Stations through ’13 The FAA has extended for another three years until 2013 the contract it has with Lockheed Martin to run the automated flight service stations that disseminate weather information to pilots in the U.S. The original contract was awarded to the company in 2005. “It doesn’t really matter how we feel [about the service],” said Dennis Roberts, the FAA’s director of flight service program operations, “it’s how you, the customer, feels. Flight service is a complex program, and 95 percent of its business is general aviation. It’s an important piece, and one that the FAA wants to pay attention to.” The FAA wants to hear pilots’ comments about the service provided by Lockheed Martin and welcomes calls to 888-3587782 or e-mails to 9-AWA-ATO-SYSOPS-FS@faa.gov.

z First Phenom 300 Delivered in South America Embraer’s first South African customer for a Phenom 300 light jet, John McCormick, CEO of McCormick Property Developments, took delivery of his airplane last month during a ceremony at the manufacturer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil, just a few months after the first Phenom 100 entered operation in South Africa. The Phenom 300 entered service in December 2009, after winning certification from the Brazilian civil aviation authority ANAC and the FAA. This year, EASA issued its type certification for the jet, and, in July, the South African Civil Aviation Authority issued its approval. The airplane holds up to 11 occupants in a cabin designed in partnership with BMW Group DesignworksUSA. Some of the airplane’s distinctive features include a single refueling port, externally serviced lavatory and short runway capability. One of the fastest jets in the light jet category, the Phenom 300 can fly 453 knots ktas at up to 45,000 feet. Its range of 1,971 nm (NBAA IFR reserves) gives the Phenom 300 the ability to fly nonstop from Cape Town to Luanda, Angola; from London to Athens; from Delhi to Dubai and from Brasilia to Buenos Aires. n

00aaNBAA Convention News 19, 2010 • www.ainwww.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010• •October NBAA Convention Newsaa5

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Socata could resurrect Grob SPn by Charles Alcock Daher-Socata is jointly study ing plans for a new aircraft development under an exclusive agreement with Allied Aviation Technologies, which owns the assets of the SPn light business

T R AINING

jet program on behalf of the main creditor for the aircraft’s former developer Grob Aerospace. The agreement was confirmed last month with former Grob Aerospace CEO Niall

PL A NNING

Olver, who has been trying to line up fresh investors for the SPn since the company’s bankruptcy in January 2009. Speculation about possible new plans for the SPn has

Flight testing of Grob’s SPn was well under way when the company was declared insolvent. Reworking the aircraft will allow Daher-Socata to launch a jet sooner.

been prompted by unofficial reports that the three remaining prototype examples for the aircraft are set to be relocated from Grob Aircraft’s headquarters at Tussenhausen-Mattsies in southern Germany. Grob Aircraft, which is owned by Germany’s H3 Aerospace group, controls Grob Aerospace’s training aircraft business, which was sold separately during the insolvency process. Allied owns the prototypes in addition to all intellectual property associated with the SPn program and has been storing the aircraft in Tussenhausen-Mattsies. Daher-Socata’s confirmation of the joint study agreement with Allied says that it is “evaluating a 100-percent composite, twinengine business aircraft program based on the SPn platform.” Resurrecting the SPn program, which was quite far advanced when Grob Aerospace hit financial difficulties with the sudden withdrawal of its main backer in August 2008, would provide a way to do this more quickly than starting with a completely new design. Though further details of the prospective partnership have yet to be confirmed by either side, the next step, presumably, would be for the SPn prototypes to be transferred to Socata’s engineering and manufacturing base at Tarbes in southwestern France. It is still unclear whether DaherSocata intends to complete the SPn certification process on the basis of the existing design, or use the work done so far as the foundation for a new design. Soon after acquiring a 70-percent controlling stake in Socata from EADS in February 2009, French industrial group Daher indicated that it would defer plans to launch a new aircraft until early 2010. At the time, Socata was quietly working on various new product concepts under the program heading NTx, but had yet to confirm whether or not this would be powered by a turboprop or a turbofan engine. In April 2009, Daher-Socata indicated that it would need to find new investment partners to complete the business case for a

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Continued on page 10 u

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Grob SPn by the numbers Price (2008)

$7.7 million

Engines

Two Williams FJ44-3A turbofans (each, 800 pounds thrust)

Seats

One pilot, nine passengers

uContinued from page 8

Cabin volume

405 cubic feet

Max takeoff weight

13,889 feet

new aircraft development. The company said that it could fund approximately one third of the development costs with an injection of some €250 million ($318 million) but that others would have to provide the rest of the launch fund. Conceivably, Daher-Socata has concluded that a less costly route to market would be to pick the pieces of the SPn program. Its short statement on the development in September

Max range (1 pilot and 6 passengers)

1,800 nm

Max cruise speed

415 knots

Service ceiling

41,000 feet

Balanced field length at mtow

3,000 feet

Landing distance

2,670 feet

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gave no indication as to whether it would still seek to involve other investors. In December 2008, China’s Guizhou Aviation Industry Corp. had offered to pay $3.5 million to acquire the SPn part of Grob Aerospace’s assets, but this bid was rejected by insolvency administrator Dr. Michael Jaffé. Potentially, completing the certification of the SPn and rebranding it as a Socata product could get the French airframer into the jet market ahead of its Italian rival Piaggio Aero. Piaggio and its main shareholders–Mubadala and Tata–have been tentatively working on plans for a jet for several years, but have yet to give a clear indication as to when it may launch what is tentatively being referred to as the P1XX. At July’s Farnborough airshow, Mubadala’s executive director for aerospace, Homaid Al Shemmari, said that the Abu Dhabi based group plans to have its first business jet ready for service by 2018. A Mature Program

Even after Grob Aerospace’s collapse, Olver continued to insist that the business case for the SPn was sound. While seeking ways to find new financial backers and keep the program’s engineering team together in early 2009, he indicated that the program would ask Honeywell to commit to providing updated versions of the aircraft’s planned Primus Apex avionics suite. When Grob Aerospace was declared insolvent in November 2008, the aircraft had been due to complete certification by the end of that year. The company was preparing to deliver the first 35 aircraft during 2009 before increasing annual production to 48 units. Then priced at $7.7 million, the SPn attracted more than 100 orders, including 25 placed by Alpha Flying for its U.S.-based PlaneSense fractional ownership program. Before the insolvency, Grob had intended to open a completions and delivery center for the SPn at St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport in Switzerland in 2009. Grob also had a U.S. subsidiary based at Portsmouth, N.H., which, before being declared insolvent itself, was handling North American sales and would have eventually taken over product support. Originally, the all-composite SPn, which was launched in 2005, had been due to complete certification by the end of the third quarter of 2007. However, a fatal crash of the second prototype in 2006 delayed the program by nine months. Barely two weeks before being forced to declare provisional insolvency in August 2008, Grob had achieved the first flight of the fourth prototype aircraft and flight testing was well advanced. o

The newly named Piper Altaire has abandoned the original proof-of-concept Meridian fuselage in favor of a taller and wider body, which the company says is scalable for future generations.

New and improved PiperJet morphs into Piper Altaire by Kirby J. Harrison Piper Aircraft today is introducing its evolved and renamed PiperJet Altaire, showing a mockup of the redesigned fuselage and cabin interior and describing the aircraft as “the next step” in the evolution of its single-engine very light jet program. The PiperJet Altaire is based on the proof-of-concept PiperJet, which has been flying since 2008. That airplane uses the fuselage of the single-engine turboprop Meridian and, according to Piper, this fuselage did not lend itself to the company’s long-range plans for scaledup future generations. “We wanted to give our jet customers an even roomier light jet that incorporates a scalable design, paving the way for a future family of competitive business jets,” said Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger. Cabin Upgrades

At first glance, the Altaire appears quite similar to the proof-of-concept PiperJet, with its single engine mounted in the vertical stabilizer. A closer look, however, reveals a larger, 61.5-inch-diameter circular fuselage (nine inches taller and four inches wider) and round cabin windows replacing the rectangular windows of the Meridian. A still closer look shows an expanded-chord wing and a shorter vertical stabilizer. The Altaire cabin (211 inches long, 55 inches wide and 55 inches high) is dramatically different from the cabin in the proof-of-concept airplane. The new design eliminates the through-the-cabin wing spar intrusion and allows for a 12.5-inch-wide and six-inch-deep drop aisle. There are an additional four inches of headroom and more elbow room with a nine-inch-wider cabin. Behind the main cabin is 20 cu ft of baggage space, which will be accessible in flight. In the nose is an additional 20 cu ft for baggage, heated but not pressurized. The Altaire typically will be configured

for one pilot and five passengers (one of them riding in the cockpit right seat), with a storage cabinet directly across from the main door that can be replaced by another passenger seat. Other options for that space include a lavatory and a cabinet containing a mini-galley or entertainment center. The four seats in the cabin will be arranged in a club configuration. An optional modular design allows the relatively easy swap-out of those features to meet mission requirements. Other features in the cabin will include leather seats, zebrawood cabinetry and trim, cup-holders and docking stations for personal devices such as iPods. Standard cabin amenities include LED lighting and dual-zone environmental controls. A three-foot-wide cabin door includes a built-in stair for ease of entry and exit. Millennium Concepts of Wichita has been selected to provide “one of the safest and most reliable seats available for this class of aircraft,” said Piper executive v-p Randy Groom. The passenger seats will include a three-point restraint system and all will have energy absorbers in the seat pan and bolsters around the torso and thighs for comfort. Performance Promises Unchanged

Up front, the PiperJet Altaire will carry Garmin’s G3000 avionics suite, featuring what Piper describes as “the first touchscreen-controlled glass cockpit ever designed for light turbine aircraft.” Also part of the package are three GDU 1200W displays, two GTC 570 touchscreens and GFC 700 automatic flight control system. Performance projections announced with the proof-of-concept airplane have not changed. Powered by the Williams The cockpit of the Altaire will sport Garmin’s G3000 avionics suite. It features three displays and two touchscreens, along with automatic flight controls.

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 12

International FJ44-3AP, the Altaire is expected to have a range of 1,200 nm with four passengers (800 pounds). Max range with a lighter load is expected to be 1,300 nm. Max cruise speed is projected at 360 knots at a cruise ceiling of 35,000 feet. Flight controls for the Altaire will be control yokes, replacing the sidestick controls tested in the proof-of-concept model. Handling will be enhanced by the Williams International FJ44-3AP engine’s Exact “passive vector changing exhaust system.” The design allows three to five degrees of vectored thrust, which is particularly effective in countering the nose-down pitch tendency in aircraft with an engine mounted above the centerline. This thrust vectoring is achieved not by movement of the exhaust nozzle, but by way of shaping the throat on one segment of the nozzle. When the flow through the nozzle is subsonic, typical at takeoff speeds, it conforms with the curvature of the shaped throat, thanks to the Coanda effect (the tendency of a stream of air to be attracted to a nearby surface), thereby achieving some upward thrust deflection to compensate for the high thrust line of the PiperJet Altaire’s finmounted engine installation. But when the pressure ratio becomes supersonic in cruise, the over-expanded stream pushes away from the extended surface, reducing the vector. According to Williams, the result may be shorter takeoff field length and reduced trim drag. Berger describes the Altaire as a combination of “revolutionary single-engine performance with ground-breaking efficiency.” Piper claims the total variable operating cost per hour for the Altaire will be $727.36, compared with $867.16 for Cessna’s Mustang and $972.88 for Embraer’s Phenom 100, at average speeds of 320 knots for the Altaire, 310 knots for the Mustang and 324 knots for the Phenom 100. The Altaire carries a $2.6 million price tag, typically equipped. The price, said Groom, is about $400,000 less than the Mustang and “considerably” less than

that of the Phenom 100. The airplane, he added, is now in the detailed design phase and parts fabrication has already begun. Structural testing is scheduled for next year and a first flight in 2012. The first and second conforming prototypes will be built simultaneously and a total of four airplanes will be involved in the certification flight-test program. Certification is expected at the end of 2013, with customer deliveries to begin in early 2014, slightly later than the originally expected delivery date. The Altaire will be built in Vero Beach, Fla., where Piper will reconfigure the existing plant to accommodate production. According to Groom, the company currently has orders for more than 150 airplanes backed by $75,000 refundable deposits. The next payment is not due until first flight of the first conforming prototype. According to Piper, pilot transition from the Meridian turboprop single “should be seamless,” aided by the Altaire’s simplified glass cockpit. Customers will receive both in-depth simulator training and line-oriented flight training. Piper has not yet announced a training partner. Hiring Groom, who came to the company a little less than six months ago with considerable experience in product support, was a major step in the creation of a service network for the Altaire. Piper expects to lay out a detailed plan for the network as the airplane nears certification. The naming of the Altaire came after much discussion, said Groom, “and a lot of suggestions.” The name Altaire was selected based on the celestial importance of the star Altair. Further cementing the decision was the fact that Altair is the brightest star in the Aquila constellation, and Aquila can be translated from both Arabic and Latin as eagle or bird. Altair also happens to be the name of the lunar surface access module designed for NASA’s Project Constellation. The marketing folks added the final “e,” said Groom, for aesthetic reasons. o

Honeywell forecasts end of downturn, growth returning by Curt Epstein in 2012, fueled by deferred demand, new high-value aircraft models and more solid rates of global economic recovery. The forecast anticipates a cyclic peak likely higher than in 2008, occurring late in the decade. Honeywell last year estimated 2009 would finish with an industry output of between 750 and 800 business jets. According to the General Aviation Manufacturer’s Association, the total number of jets (including business jetliners which are generally excluded from the survey) handed over was 870. Through the 10-year forecast horizon, last year the company predicted deliveries of up to 11,000 new business jets through 2019, based on record purchase expectations outside of North America. While this year’s forecast sees little change in that total, there has been some shuffling in regional demand. “This year operators outside North America have become more cautious about the strength and pace of the recovery,” said Wilson. “While they are still looking beyond the current economic climate and anticipating a return to improved business conditions,

At this year’s NBAA show, while attendees search for signs that the industry downturn is finally ending, engine, equipment and avionics manufacturer Honeywell sees at least one more down year in 2011 before the start of a rebound cycle. The Phoenix, Ariz.-based company released its 19th annual business aviation forecast Sunday and despite the gradual uptick in business net usage over the past year, it predicts deliveries of between 675 and 700 new business jets for this year– the lowest total since 2004–followed by another year of less than 700 deliveries in 2011. “I think the downturn in 2009 demonstrated for all of us that nothing is really firm in an economic calamity as we saw, but that said, we are seeing a lot less volatility in that order book, a lot more stability and more of a sense of continuity,” Rob Wilson, Honeywell’s president for business and general aviation, told AIN. “I would add that we have yet to see widespread consistent order intake across the entire industry and that is what we are looking for before we start to signal a strong recovery.” That recovery is now expected to begin

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they have tempered near-term expectations and buying decisions as reflected in the current delivery forecast.” Honeywell’s survey methodology involves interviewing 1,200 randomly selected flight departments worldwide. “As part of the survey, we ask ‘do you plan to purchase [a business jet] in the next five years,’ and that’s what we cite as the purchase expectation number,” said Charles Park, the company’s director of analysis. “Then we go on and ask ‘at what point in the five-year window do you expect to replace or expand your fleet?’” Park and his team–using production data from the airframers and market analysis–then project that out to the forecast’s 10-year horizon. Based on the survey results, Honeywell sees increasing activity toward the end of that five-year window, with approximately 90 percent of planned purchases considered for 2011 and beyond. “Acting on these purchase plans in 2011 and 2012 is critical to giving the recovery momentum as current backlogs will not sustain delivery levels indefinitely,” said Wilson. If this occurs we will start back on the path toward recovery and expansion in the industry.” Over the life of the survey Honeywell sees a potential worldwide demand of more than 5,000 business jets during the 2011-2015 timeframe, excluding orders from fractional providers and branded charter start-ups. Despite the slowdown in orders, Wilson noted there have been relatively few program cancellations from the manufacturers. “Even in a downturn many of the OEMs across the industry are continuing to work on new airplane development and historically new aircraft entering service have driven demand, especially as they set new points of performance around value,” he said. “Part of what is going to fuel our recovery is some of these new aircraft coming on line in the latter part of the next five years.” While the total delivery prediction of up to 11,000 new business jets over the next decade remained unchanged from last year’s forecast, Honeywell this year revised its sales value upward by 10 percent to $225 billion, reflecting the increasing popularity of large-cabin aircraft among survey participants. “Another point that keeps coming

Regional Demand for New Jets in the Next Regional Demand for New Jets Five in the NextYears Five Years

Corporate and Charter Traditional Corporate and Charter Operator Base Asia/Pacific 6%

Africa/Middle East 4%

International Share of Demand 42%

Latin America 13% Europe 19%

North America 58%

back is the importance of the large-cabin aircraft,” Wilson said. “It’s 70 percent of the dollar value over the forecast horizon and 42 percent of all the mentions that were in the survey.” Overseas Expectations Shrink

According to the survey results, international demand now equals approximately 42 percent of the new business jets purchase plans considered over the next five years, after exceeding 50 percent in last year’s forecast, the decline attributed mainly to the lackluster global economy. Overall, the survey called for five-year purchase expectations around 30 percent, with North America trending up one point over last year to an anticipated replacement or expansion of 26 percent of the respondents’ existing fleet. During the next ten years the region is expected to account for 58 percent of aircraft deliveries. “Despite the slow pace of recent economic growth in the U.S. and the ongoing concerns over job growth and credit restrictions, the survey indicates that purchases over the next five-year period are planned at levels similar to those reported in our 2009 survey, reflecting the value and productivity these aircraft deliver,” said Wilson. Deferred purchasing was a clear motivation, with the aircraft age selected as a reason for replacement plans in 45 percent of the replies. In Europe, the second largest consumer of business jets, purchase expectations of

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34 percent of the current fleet were down considerably from last year’s record high of nearly 59 percent, but the forecast considered possible declines of the dollar against the European currencies as a potential incentive for aircraft purchases starting as early as next year. In terms of purchase plans, large and midsize cabins outpaced small aircraft by a five-to-one margin, while a desire for longer legs and new aircraft with their comprehensive warranty coverage were named as key factors in purchase considerations. The Middle East, Africa and Asian regions have likewise tempered their purchase expectations over the next five years. Based on the plateau of oil prices that existed for most of the year and sluggish increases in oil demand, the Middle East and Africa have become more conservative in their economic outlook, as evidenced in purchase expectations of approximately 30 percent, down 25 points from last year’s survey. Purchase plans in the region are still planned for sooner in the five-year window than North America, Latin America and Europe, but diminish during the mid-forecast period, when expectations in those other regions begin to improve. In Asia, the current purchase plans of 40 percent represent an 18 point decline from those of a year ago, which Honeywell attributes to caution among operators due to slow recovery of the region’s major trading partner economies and concerns of export-fueled growth and Chinese real estate markets. In the fractional ownership segment, new jet deliveries were off 80 percent from last year through the first half of 2010 and net incremental sales have continued to deteriorate further after last year’s more than 50 percent loss. Honeywell is forecasting significantly lower deliveries over the next few years as excess capacity is worked off and shareholder levels are rebuilt.

Gulfstream G250, Embraer’s Phenom 300 and Cessna’s CJ4 will make up approximately 22 percent. Long-range and ultralong range aircraft such as the new Gulfstream G650 and Bombardier’s Global family will garner 21 percent. Those longer-range aircraft will constitute nearly 50 percent of the delivery dollar value over that same

period. Very light jets will constitute the remaining 25 percent of demand but equate to only five percent of the retail shipment value. While the personal jet segment is not a part of the survey, the forecast calls for deliveries over the next 10 years of 500 to 1,000 of the aircraft such as the still-developing PiperJet and the slowly developing Cirrus Vision.

As recently as two years ago, Honeywell’s forecast called for deliveries of the diminutive aircraft on the order of 4,000 to 5,000 in a 10-year span. Last year that number dwindled to between 1,000 and 1,500. The outlook also does not explicitly include businessliners such as the Airbus ACJ, Boeing BBJ, Embraer Lineage 1000

See www.aintv.com for more Honeywell Forecast coverage.

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Based on the results of the survey, Honeywell sees a slow but steady change in aircraft category demand over the next five years. Through 2015, medium to large aircraft such as the Bombardier Challenger 605, Dassault Falcon 7X, Cessna’s Citation X and Embraer’s growing Legacy family will account for 32 percent of the projected purchases, while light and medium business jets including new designs like Bombardier’s Learjet 85, the

and other corporate versions of twin-aisle and regional jetliners among its forecast totals, yet Honeywell predicts deliveries in this segment to average roughly 20 aircraft per year for the 10-year period. o

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PILOT REPORT > Dassault Falcon 900LX z Saddle Up Your (P-51) Mustang with JSSI JSSI (Booth No. 7337) will give away a ride in a P-51 Mustang equipped with dual flight controls tomorrow at its booth. The winner will receive round-trip airfare and accommodations for two to Kissimmee, Fla., where they will get to fly the P-51 operated by Stallion 51. Former NASA astronaut and Navy Capt. Eugene Cernan will announce the winner at 3:30 p.m. at the JSSI booth. Cernan was the “last man on the Moon” when he made the round trip to the barren satellite in 1972, ending one of the most illustrious periods of manned space travel. NBAA attendees can enter the sweepstakes at the booth or online at FlyP51.jetsupport.com.

z Cessna GreenTrak Slashes the Cost of Flying Cessna’s GreenTrak flight planning software will allow operators to use cost indexing to minimize trip costs and the cost of the European Emissions Trading Scheme or any likely U.S. “cap and trade” emissions charge by balancing DOCs, fuel burn and carbon emissions. GreenTrak does this by determining optimum climb, cruise and descent speed schedules for a determined cost/time ratio using variable inputs including fuel cost, aircraft weight, altitude, wind speed and direction, temperature and individual companies’ cost structures. The software produces a flight plan with the lowest total trip cost in terms of fuel burned and carbon produced. The software is available via subscription through CESNAV and runs from a PC or an electronic flight bag.

z NBAA Enhancing Static Display Safety To enhance safety and protect the aircraft at the static display at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, the NBAA is offering to loan exhibitors Plane Sights static wick covers and aircraft markers. The equipment, which the NBAA is offering at no charge, makes wing tips and static dischargers more obvious to setup personnel and distracted attendees who might otherwise inadvertently cause damage. Plane Sights specializes in remove-before-flight items that are available at nearly 500 dealers worldwide. Plane Sights dealers here at the show include EDMO (Booth No. 4141), Aviall (Booth No. 4516) and Cessna and Bombardier parts divisions.

z Eagle Creek Ramping Up Staffing Indianapolis-based Eagle Creek Aviation Services is in hiring mode at NBAA (Booth No. 2519) and looking for as many as 25 full- and part-time aircraft technicians and sales and management personnel. Matt Hagans, CEO, anticipates an ongoing hiring program through the first quarter of next year. The company specializes in Twin Commander turboprop, Cessna Citation and piston-powered aircraft sales and service. In addition to the Indianapolis facility, which is an Embraer Phenom service center, it also operates Naples Jet Center in Naples, Fla. and recently acquired Seattle-based American Avionics. The company is also recruiting pilots for its Embraer Phenom fleet.

z SimCom Offers New Training Options 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.

Sweet-flying Falcon makes NBAA debut by Robert P. Mark Dassault Falcon’s 900LX exterior reminded me a bit of a lady caught without her makeup when I first saw her outside Epps Aviation at Atlanta’s DeKalbPeachtree Airport (PDK), site of the NBAA Convention static display this year. The aircraft, F-WWFB, had just completed the ferry flight from the Merignac, France assembly facility. Later, after a two-hour flight, it was clear the winglet-equipped bird will be a worthy successor to the 900EX once she’s painted and interiored. The LX’s winglets–the same ones used on the 2000–are in fact, the only noticeable differences between the LX and EX. Even the aircraft maximum takeoff weight remains 49,200 pounds. July certification of the $39 million LX, however, means the end of the production line for the 900EX. More perfect first-flight weather could not have been had (it was clear and 20 miles visibility) as I began the preflight of “Whiskey Foxtrot Bravo” with Dassault’s Merignac chief pilot Frédéric Lascourréges at my side. To be fair to 900LX competitors, the interior-free aircraft I flew at NBAA was extremely light; its basic operating weight (BOW) was only 24,000 pounds. Even with our planned 10,000-pound fuel load, the airplane was still 15,500 pounds under max gross. The BOW on standardequipped 900LXs should end up closer to 26,500 pounds. The triple-engine 900LX will carry a substantial load

from London City Airport, as do all Falcons, with enough fuel to make Gander non-stop. Long range in the LX translates into 4,750 nm over the EX’s 4,450 nm. A walk-around of the LX goes quickly, because there’s little sticking out in the slipstream other than temperature and airspeed probes. After making sure all external doors are locked and that no critters have crawled into the gear doors, it was time to climb into the left seat. Since this is a Falcon 900, engine startup has not changed and we were quickly taxiing toward Runway 20 Left at PDK. At this weight and even at idle, releasing the brakes meant the aircraft would accelerate on the taxiway. With dual Fadecs, line up meant three throttles to the stops, and the 900LX quickly accelerated. Even with a mere eight degrees of nose-up pitch in the climb, it was tough holding the airplane speed down until 10,000 feet. After that, the aircraft was a rocket. With a few ATC restrictions, we leveled at FL200 in seven minutes where I set up for steep turns to test handling. Given a chance, all Falcons demonstrate their fighter aircraft heritage. In a 50-degree bank and even with the “Bank Angle” warning yelling in the background, the pilot can easily trim an LX to fly hands off. I tried the

same thing at FL350 just to be sure there were no differences up high. Still hand flying back to PDK, ATC asked for a rapid descent. I complied with flight idle, nosedown trim and speed brakes at two. The rate down was around 10,000 fpm when I looked over to check the pressurization; it was keeping up easily. Vibrations from the speed brakes were minimal; in the clouds, the folks in back would never know they were out. It was time for a few landings, including a touch and go with the center engine shut down. Idle thrust at 50 feet above the runway and the airplane wanted to float just a tad the first few times, but eventually I figured it out. Pitch angle at takeoff rotation was still steep and the aircraft raced to traffic pattern altitude once again. Lascourréges said relatively heavy takeoffs, even when considering secondsegment climb restrictions, are a breeze, including even out of LaPaz, Bolivia, where the field elevation is 13,300 feet. On the crossing from France, the ferry pilots flew F-WWFB at Mach 0.83 as high as FL430. They left the factory in France with 18,000 pounds of fuel and landed eight hours later at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey with 4,000 pounds remaining. Sweet. o

Dassault’s Falcon 900LX arrived here after a flight from the company’s Merignac, France assembly facility. It will supplant the Falcon 900EX, and the only noticeable exterior difference is the -LX’s Falcon 2000 winglets.

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

ROBERT P. MARK

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Garmin intros G5000 cockpit uContinued from page 5

With the G5000 avionics system, Garmin is hoping to rewrite the rules for what a business jet flight deck can be. The touchscreen controls are being designed to reduce the amount

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of training and memorization required to become comfortable with the system. The G5000’s touchscreen incorporates a variety of icons for performing flight management tasks, radio control, audio adjustment, synop tics and other functions that, when pressed, provide access to system pages arranged by phase of operation. “Back”

Make calls.

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and “home” buttons will let pilots quickly retrace their steps or return to the main screen. Like the G1000 and G3000 systems, the G5000 cockpit will feature Garmin’s synthetic-vision technology, which creates a compelling virtual 3-D view of the world on the PFDs using an internal terrain and obstacle database. Stone said Garmin

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will also introduce technology to fuse synthetic views with infrared enhanced-vision camera images, similar to concepts demonstrated by Honeywell and Rockwell Collins. The EVS view will be fused within the SVT view to give pilots a “window into the real world” on the flight displays. Honeywell dominates the

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Hawker Beechcraft (Booth No. 947) is offering a bundled upgrade package called XTRA, which is “designed to provide our loyal Bonanza customers with attractive enhancements that will renew the appearance, performance and functionality of their aircraft,” said vice president of global customer support Christi Tannahill. In addition, the company will offer “seamless, turnkey” aircraft installation of the packages through its factory owned Hawker Beechcraft Services maintenance facilities. The primary bundle available through the XTRA program includes installation of Garmin G500 avionics, D’Shannon tip tanks, a gross weight increase, new interior by Aviation Design of Groveland, Calif., and a fresh exterior paint scheme by Hawker Beechcraft Services. Availability of the XTRA upgrade varies by aircraft model. For information, contact Timothy Glaser at (316) 676-7706, or e-mail Timothy_Glaser@ hawkerbeechcraft.com. –K.J.H.

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large-cabin, ultra-long-range business jet market with its Primus Epic cockpit, known as PlaneView in large Gulfstreams and EASy in Dassault Falcons. Rockwell Collins controls much of the rest of the bizjet cockpit market with its Pro Line 21 cockpit, which is standard in the Beech Premier, Learjet 60XR, Challenger 300 and 605, Gulfstream G150, several Hawker models and the Piaggio Avanti II. Rockwell Collins has also won several cockpit competitions in the last few years with its new Pro Line Fusion integrated avionics system, which will fly in the Bombardier Global line, Learjet 85, Gulfstream G250 and Embraer Legacy 450 and 500. All of which begs the question, is there room for a third player in the Part 25 business jet cockpit market? Garmin certainly thinks so, and points to its strong product support track record, excellent reliability, low cost and light weight as reasons OEMs will, too. “We’ve delivered more than 8,000 G1000 systems and currently spend a third of our R&D budget on aviation,” Stone noted. “It is our trajectory of innovation that differentiates Garmin.” o

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STATE OF THE INDUSTRY > Dassault Aviation

Delivery rise boosts Dassault Aviation by Charles Alcock Financial results for the first half of 2010 appeared to suggest that Dassault Aviation has begun to reverse the severe downward trend its Falcon business jet operations have endured over the past 24 months or so. Nonetheless, announcing a welcome deceleration in aircraft order cancellations on July 29, the French group’s management indicated that the apparent strengthening in the market is not yet enough to constitute a full-blown, sustainable recovery for the troubled business aviation sector. In any case, this year could yet prove to be a momentous one for the French airframer as it prepares to begin

the next phase of its longplanned new-generation SMS super-midsize jet development. Already this year it has achieved both U.S. and European certification for its new Falcon 900LX and has also had its 7X approved in the key emerging market of China. Consolidated orders (once cancellations had been factored out) for the first six months of this year amounted to just two Falcon sales. But this represented a marked improvement on the same period last year when Dassault lost a total of 56 Falcon orders. Over the course of last year, the company’s backlog was reduced by no fewer than 163

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What Will SMS Add To the Falcon Flock? The next big new idea from Dassault is its long-awaited SMS super-midsized jet program. The company has been decidedly secretive about what the program will amount to, making it hard to anticipate exactly where it will fit in the Falcon product family. At face value, the SMS will be a replacement for the Falcon 2000 series. It will likely be the smallest of the Falcons, although Dassault is evidently trying to retain the established Falcon fuselage cross section. Dassault has indicated that the architecture and aerodynamic outline of the SMS is already frozen. Before the program can move to the next phase of development, several key decisions need to be taken in the selection of major partners. One especially important unresolved issue is whether Dassault will stick with the early powerplant choice it made in June 2007 when it announced that the SMS would feature the 10,000-pound-thrust class Rolls-Royce RB282 engines. However, the company has since indicated that this decision is not final and that other options, which might include the French Safran group’s proposed Snecma Silvercrest turbofan, are being reconsidered. Financially, Dassault’s ability to launch the SMS program may have been strengthened by the marked improvement in its available cash reserves during the first half of this year. As of June 30, 2010, the group reported available cash at €2.7 billion ($3.4 billion)–representing a 35-percent improvement on where it stood 12 months earlier and 15 percent up on the end of 2009. Dassault’s accountants define available cash as cash, cash equivalents and assets available for sale, plus marketable securities and borrowing capability. However, even assuming the SMS program does come to market, Dassault’s long-term product development planning still does nothing to address the lower end of the market (midsized aircraft and smaller) or the very top end (that is, larger than the 7X, which competes with aircraft such as the Bombardier Global 5000 and the Gulfstream G550). Dassault seems to be sticking with its decision not to seek to conceive new-generation replacements for the Falcon 20 or 50 series, nor does it appear to have a direct answer to new rivals such as the Gulfstream G650. Any ambitions the company may have in the realm of a possible supersonic business jet remain entirely private. –C.A.

canceled Falcon orders (including 65 from the NetJets fractional ownership group and 98 for other customers). Among the other high-profile order cancellations were those forced on beleaguered financial institutions Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland. According to Dassault, excess pre-owned aircraft inventory is still suppressing new aircraft sales. The more obvious and immediate good news for Dassault from the first-half 2010 results was that it delivered 45 Falcons in the six months through June 30 (almost twice as many as the 26 deliveries it made in the same period of 2009). The company expects to have delivered a total of 85 jets by year-end. Achieving this would mean setting a new company record for annual Falcon deliveries–surpassing the previous record of 77 delivered in 2009 (paradoxically, since that year also marked the peak for order cancellations). This bedrock of order backlog was built up during the recent boom years around the middle of the last decade, when delivery rates were actually lower (51 in 2005, rising to 61 in 2006, 70 in 2007 and 72 in 2008). The 73-percent improvement in deliveries achieved by Dassault in the first half of 2010 was significantly driven by increased production of the Falcon 2000LX, which effectively doubled output of the 2000-series products from eight to 16 units. Dassault Group–Deliveries (units) First half year

119%\0.37 9%\0.37

27%\0.37 65%\0.90

6% %\0.12 6%\0.12

75%\1.50

2266

2009

• • Falcon

2010 Rafale

Consolidated Sales–Dassault Group (Euros/Billions) First half year €1.38

27% €0.37 8% €0.11

€1.99

65% €0.90

19% €0.37 6% €0.12

2009

• • Falcon

Defense Export

•

75% €1.50

2010

Defense France

Falcon sales continue to make up the lion’s share of Dassault’s total sales.

22aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Falcon 900LX

Falcon 7X

All of these deliveries were the new LX type, which is replacing the 2000DX and 2000EX models. The company also more than doubled deliveries of the Falcon 7X, increasing those from nine to 21 units between January and June this year. In common with other business aircraft makers, Dassault has placed more emphasis on exploiting rising demand in emerging export markets in Asia, the Middle East and South America. At August’s Labace show in São Paulo, Dassault Falcon president and CEO John Rosanvallon said the company expects to achieve a 60-percent market share in Brazil with the anticipated delivery of at least 13 new Falcons. Brazil is set to generate $150 million in sales this year alone. The first-half 2010 results also showed a marked recovery in consolidated sales for the Dassault group. They also showed that, despite business aviation’s widespread malaise, Falcon sales actually accounted for a rising percentage (75 percent) of its overall sales (with the rest consisting of defense business, including its Rafale fighter). Consolidated group sales also appeared to be on the road to recovery so far this year. The first-half 2010 total stood at €1.99 billion ($2.53 billion)–more

than twice the €1.3 billion ($1.68 billion) amount recorded in the same period of the previous year. Operating income for the first half of this year reached €248 million ($315 million), which was 104 percent above the year-ago period. Dassault’s operating margin also improved to 12.4 percent during the first six months of this year versus 8.7 percent last year. Dassault chairman Charles Edelstenne has warned that the group will have to achieve further improvements in productivity to meet the threat posed by U.S. competitors that have relocated some work to lower-cost economies while also continuing to benefit from a dollar-euro exchange rate that favors U.S. exporters. Last year, at the height of the downturn, Dassault eliminated some 350 positions at its U.S. completions center in Little Rock, Ark., through a mix of layoffs, early retirements and scrapping temporary staff positions. While the company has so far avoided mass layoffs in France, where labor laws make this a much more costly and complicated policy, there has been some reduction in output rates at its factories. o

Atlantic Aviation used tugs to help position aircraft at the NBAA static display.

Atlantic spooled up for static display influx by Curt Epstein While NBAA was last held in Atlanta as recently as 2007, it has been more than a decade since DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) played host to the static display. In 1999, PDK’s Mercury Air Group (now Atlantic Aviation) was the show’s host FBO and the annual manufacturers’ showcase has returned there again this year. Preparations for this year’s display began soon after last year’s NBAA wrapped up in Orlando, according to Richard Thacker, Atlantic’s general manager for PDK and Hartsfield International airports. With more than 90 aircraft on display attracting thousands of visitors each day, along with the based and transient customers, the week demands the best from the host FBO, and Thacker was able to call on the resources of the Atlantic Aviation

chain. “Actually, most of our locations reached out to us and asked how they could help in sending us people and resources,” he said. “All of our best and brightest are [here].” He added, “Our goal was to have an FBO host the static display while maintaining superior service standards for our transient customers.” While this is the first NBAA show Thacker has worked in his 19 years with the company (originally spent with Mercury), he made sure to get some advice from show veterans, including Hill Aviation president Larry Westbrook, who co-hosted the static display in 2007 at Fulton County Airport, and Bob Showalter, chairman of Showalter Flying Service in Orlando, who is viewed as the industry’s static display guru. “Larry Westbrook

was instrumental in giving me some insight on what to expect, and we talked to Bob a little bit as well because he’s the consummate professional down here and he gave us a few pointers,” Thacker told AIN. “We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, we just want to be consistent with what the NBAA has expected at other locations.” For the show, Atlantic PDK expects to welcome approximately 200 transient aircraft, in addition to the nearly 80 based at the FBO. Some smaller aircraft were temporarily relocated and two hangars were emptied to make room for the exhibiting aircraft. Managing numerous aircraft is not a new concept for Thacker, who before his transfer to PDK seven years ago spent a dozen years as the operations manager at the company’s Reno, Nev. location, preparing for the annual influx of aircraft for the Reno Air Races. Based on his experience there, he set a goal of providing seamless service for his regular customers during the duration of the show. “My

Static display host FBO Atlantic Aviation was able to enlist help from the chain’s other facilities to ensure smooth handling for transient customers during the days of the convention. Some 90 aircraft are on show at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.

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

position with the airport and the NBAA right from the get-go was, ‘I am not going to inconvenience my base tenants,’” he said. “I’ve got a lot of high-profile, very loyal and long-standing tenants here.” Part of that service commitment involved ensuring that the FBO’s equipment is up to the task of moving and powering up dozens if not hundreds of airplanes. “We went over all of our ground support equipment in preparing for the show; we did all the preventative maintenance so nothing goes down,” said Thacker, who added that a mechanic is on alert just in case. In another contingency, the FBO has brought in sandbags in case heavy rains threaten to bring water into the show hangars. It also sent out a call for more signaling wands, chocks and carpets. Virtual Design

The actual planning for the oversized jigsaw puzzle that is the static display rested on the shoulders of Joe Hart, NBAA’s senior manager of regional forums and static displays. Long before the first display airplane’s tires touched the runway, he knew exactly where it would end up in the display. “I use a program called Hangar Planner in which I’m able to merge the static display layout that I create in AutoCad with the scaled views of the aircraft,” he said. “We build the entire display on paper and then we build it in real life.” With limited space at PDK for this year’s display, NBAA had to establish a cap of approximately 90 airplanes and was forced to create a waiting list for exhibitors eager to display their offerings. Making sure the aircraft are on hand when required is crucial to the smooth set up of the display. “I spend a lot of time educating the exhibitors that the schedules we put forth are firm and if they cannot make it, there is a very high likelihood that the aircraft wouldn’t be in the display,” said Hart. As the aircraft began to arrive, Hart dispatched the tug crews and told them where the aircraft needed to ultimately be positioned. The actual aircraft movements were handled by Lektro, an Oregon-based company that has been part of NBAA conventions since 1986 and supplies tugs and operators to park the arriving airplanes. “The maneuverability with the aircraft and the near zero turn radius that the Lektros provide are really what

allows us to pack more aircraft into the available space,” Hart told AIN. “You could do it with conventional tugs but it would probably take two to three times as long.” As the static display took shape, truckloads of equipment including dozens of GPUs and temporary air conditioners along with tents and generators soon formed a small town on PDK’s tarmac. Unlike last year when airframers such as Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft gave up booths in the convention center and concentrated their efforts on the static display, this year both OEMs have returned to the show floor as well. Aside from the personnel and equipment involved in creating the static display, to make sure the FBO operations run smoothly during the week, Thacker designated one “deck boss” in overall command of the ramp, and three subsupervisors, each of whom oversees a section fielding a fuel truck, a tow team and a van and driver to expedite arrivals and departures of based and transient aircraft. Atlantic PDK also is providing free shuttle service to the nearby MARTA train station along with rail passes to get visitors downtown to the convention center. After the show wraps on Thursday, the Atlantic PDK staff will have a chance to catch their breath after the whirlwind. “We’ll have Friday to put everything back together,” said Thacker. “I think it’s important that we get all the pieces back in place and get a sense of normalcy back.” o

News Note Air Charter Guide has linked its online directory of charter operators with Argus’s safety rating service to assist customers researching Part 135 operators. Each Argusrated operator’s Air Charter Guide listing has the applicable rating symbol displayed with a link to the Argus Web site. Argus’s Charter Evaluation and Qualification (Cheq) program grants Gold, Gold Plus and Platinum ratings to operators based on their safety records. Data from the NTSB and FAA is compiled and a proprietary algorithm produces the final Cheq score that, at a c ertain level, grants the operator a Gold rating. The Gold Plus and Platinum ratings require a comprehensive onsite audit. Since 2000, Argus has created Cheq scores for approximately 425 charter operators listed in the Air Charter Guide. n

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00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 24

Ovation Select mockup here with all the bells and whistles by Kirby J. Harrison Ovation Select, the cabin management system (CMS) from Honeywell, is back again at NBAA, bigger and better than ever, installed in a new, large-cabin mockup with production hardware and all the bells and whistles. Two previous Ovation Select CMS demo exhibits carried prototype hardware and were more “background items at the shows,” explained cabin systems business leader Paul Lafata of the business and general aviation unit in Sarasota, Fla. “This is completely new, very closely replicating an actual aircraft cabin, with an aircraft-grade interior.” Features include high-definition mon itors, Blu-ray players, surround-sound audio, LED lighting, iPod and iPad docks with auxiliary control interface panels, passenger control units and more. The iPad interface, among others, is being demonstrated at the company’s exhibit (Booth No. 6600). One goal in creating Ovation Select was to make it easily scalable to fit any aircraft, said Lafata, “from a midsize business jet to the biggest stuff flying.” By “biggest stuff flying,” Lafata is including narrow- and widebody executive/VIP aircraft from the Boeing Business Jet to the 747, traditionally outfitted

Honeywell’s JetMap HD Shows the Way At the convention, Honeywell is demonstrating its new JetMap HD at its booth (No. 6600). Unlike the JetMap III software upgrade introduced last year, the JetMap HD is a hardware upgrade and is not backwards compatible with JetMap II or JetMap III. JetMap HD is, of course, a full high-definition moving map system. It features a day-and-night mode and can be configured for 1080p very high resolution. –K.J.H.

Visit Honeywell, Win an Apple TV Visitors to the Honeywell exhibit (Booth No. 6600) could win one of two A pple TVs to be given away during the show. Jut stop by, pick up a button at the Ovation Select CMS demonstrator that says, “I got rocked by Ovation Select,” and wear it on Tuesday and Wednesday. Honeywell will have spotters on the show floor who will randomly pick out as winners two individuals who are wearing the button. –K.J.H.

by independent completion and refurbishment centers. It is designed as a forward-fit item for new aircraft and as a retrofit package. Ovation Select has already been picked by Embraer as standard cabin equipment for its mid-size Legacy 450 and 500 models. There were three major goals in development of Ovation Select, explained Lafata: it had to incorporate a high-definition entertainment system that would satisfy anyone and interface with virtually any carry-on entertainment device; it also had to meet the productivity demands of corporate users with all the wireless, e-mail and high-speed data transfer features; and finally, it had to meet dealer expectations in the form of reliability, as well as ease of maintenance. To meet both user and dealer expectations, Honeywell has assembled repair and overhaul resources at sites in Europe and the U.S. A third site is to be added later in Asia. There is also a worldwide stock of spares and parts, all FAA/PMAapproved. The system also has a selfdiagnostic feature. Ovation Select is nearing certification, according to Lafata. “We hope to have it before the end of the year, at the latest in early 2011, and initially on Honeywell’s Falcon 7X and Gulfstream 550.” o

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28aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Learjet 60 locker nears FAA OK The new Raisbeck Engineering Learjet 60 aft fuselage locker is a centerpiece of the Raisbeck exhibit this year at the NBAA convention (Booth No. 7937). According to sales manager Tobin Shackelford, the locker is in the final stages of certification and the first units are expected to go into service in the first quarter 2011. The locker is incorporated into the lower aft fuselage. It is nearly 12 feet long and will carry 300 pounds in more than 25 cu ft of space. According to Raisbeck, the locker carries no aircraft performance penalty and is “a fully recoverable asset in Blue Book value.” The locker is long enough to accommodate oversize items such as golf bags and skis and will be initially offered as a customer option on production Learjet 60XRs. It will be offered as an aftermarket item at a later date. o

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bankruptcy of the original Eclipse Aviation, with a focus on helping the owners of the 260

Eclipse 500s keep their airplanes flying safely and efficiently and a goal of eventually restarting the EA500 production line. Eclipse Aerospace purchased the assets of bankrupt Eclipse Aviation and opened the company’s doors a little more than a year ago. Since then, Eclipse Aerospace has resumed all the modification programs necessary Engine mods that will allow the EA500 to fly at 41,000 feet are expected to be approved by year-end.

to bring the EA500 to its latest airframe and avionics configurations and launched campaigns to fix ongoing problems. Two of those campaigns are bearing fruit. The first is a windshield modification that helps dissipate precipitation static. The second addresses Airworthiness Directive 2008-24-07, which limits maximum altitude to 37,000 feet, 4,000 feet lower than the originally certified service ceiling. To meet FAA certification requirements, the EA500 requires that a special chemical be applied to the windshield to dissipate precipitation static. The modification replaces that cumbersome process, which has to be done every eight to 12 months, by bonding a thin carbon strip to the windshield and the airframe, which creates a conductive path that, according to the company, “acts as a diverter to dissipate potential precipitation static under certain flight conditions.” The windshield strip modification costs $19,950 for parts and labor. AD 2008-24-07 limits the EA500 to a maximum pressure altitude of 37,000 feet because the model experienced “several incidents of engine surge” of its Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-As, according to the FAA. Carbon buildup on the static vane during high bleed flow conditions caused the surge problem, the agency said. Eclipse Aerospace has completed the final design and is testing the modifications and expects certification by the end of the year, allowing EA500 operators to enjoy more efficient flying at the 41,000-foot maximum altitude for which the jet was originally designed. Pricing for the engine mod has not yet been decided, according to Eclipse, but it will be covered under warranty for buyers of a refurbished Total Eclipse. The Total Eclipse is an EA500 with all the latest modifications, including a 20,000-hour airframe life and factory warranty. Sale price of the Total Eclipse EA500 is $2.15 million. o

32aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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NBAA chair urges members to speak up to lawmakers by Paul Lowe In the view of NBAA chairman Pat“Your credibility vanishes,” Cunrick Cunningham, members of Con- ningham pointed out. “That’s why it’s gress began to listen to business aviation so important that our members are when the industry talked about jobs in more active and they’ve got to contact their constituents’ districts and “when their officials and let them know what we communicate to them that the aver- they want.” age business aircraft is not necessarily a One of the aviation issues currently Gulfstream jet or a BBJ.” Many legisla- of great interest to the business aviators were surprised to find that the aver- tion community is the Transportation age business aircraft is a King Air and Security Administration’s (TSA) Large may be supporting a medium-size com- Aircraft Security Program (LASP). pany and it might be vital to that com- Cunningham was more than willing to pany to have that airplane to do business. talk about it. “I think that once the folks What TSA originally tried in Congress gradually started to deliver, he said, was basito understand that,” Cuncally a carbon copy of the ningham said, “they realized regulations that were covthat a lot of the folks back ering the airlines. Luckily home were thinking that genthe aviation community got eral aviation was a pretty involved in these town halls good thing and business avithat TSA held around the ation, too.” The other thing country and TSA heard sigthat Congress needed to hear, nificant complaints from he said, was that aviation is people in aviation. an industry where our counThey centered on things try is still strong. “I think the that were prohibited on the Pat Cunningham, light bulb may have gone on airplane, simple things like NBAA chairman for a few when they realized utensils and golf clubs. And that out there in Wichita and in Savan- some companies make things that might nah, Georgia, we’re employing a lot be considered a prohibited item but they of people making state-of-the-art air- might need to carry to sell to a customer. planes and it’s a real boon to the econ“It was obviously kind of an attempt omy,” he added. to put the airline-type regulations in Cunningham, director of aviation place,” Cunningham recalled. “The good for PepsiCo, acknowledges that NBAA thing, I think, from every indication, is has more member involvement than that TSA has listened. And we’re hopeever before. One reason, he said, is ful that it will come out with a regulation the association has set up the Contact that makes a lot more sense.” Congress feature on its Web site. There is hope, too, that the weight “So when we’ve got a hot issue,” he thresholds that require LASP compliexplained, “[NBAA president and CEO] ance increase. “There’s no way to tell Ed Bolen can reach out to the member- how much it will go up and we really ship and he can say, ‘Listen, we have this hope it goes up,” he said. “And we’re issue that is really important to us and hopeful that they’ll give us something business aviation. You need to contact that keeps whatever level of security we your congressman about it.’ And there need, and allows the business aviation will be a way to go on the Web site and community to be out there operating click on the link and write a letter–either freely and doing what we need to do to e-mail it or send it by snail mail, if you keep our business going.” want–to your congressmen and let them In response to a question about Nextknow that someone back home really Gen, Cunningham noted that business cares about it.” aviation has always supported the proAs Cunningham has learned from gram. “As long as it is rolled out the right long experience on the NBAA board way, it can help relieve the congested airof directors and hears repeatedly from space that we have in the country now NBAA’s Bolen and NBAA senior vice and will have in the future if we don’t do president for government affairs Lisa Pic- something. I think most business aviacione, when you go into a congressman’s tion operators are most concerned with office to try to make him understand that how much it will cost,” he said. he should pay attention to business aviaHe noted that the people of business tion issues because they are really impor- aviation have been in the lead when it tant to his district, or a senator to his comes to upgrading their airplanes, but state, the first thing they will ask a staff said there is concern not only about member is, “What are we hearing on this whether “the cost will be such that we issue from the people back home?” And can equip the guy who has a large busiif they’re not hearing from the people ness aircraft, but also will someone back home on that issue, then you are just operating a Citation or a King Air be another lobbyist just trying to get them to able to afford whatever [the feds come vote a certain way. up with]. That is a big concern.” o

34aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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Training for your aircraft, your way It’s true ... every aircraft is distinctive. Every flight department unique. Every pilot an individual. You fly your aircraft your way to meet the needs of your passengers. With the utmost safety, efficiency and service. That’s why at CAE we offer you the flexibility, innovative technology and our can-do attitude to tailor training to your operational requirements and your schedule. Even enhance your fleet operations and curriculum using analysis of real-world flight data.

Your training experience with CAE will be world-class from checkin to checkride. Pilot and maintenance training courses across your fleet, leveraging global best-practices. Industry-leading CAE technology, from travel-saving e-Learning to the most advanced fullflight simulators. Mentoring by highly experienced instructors. And well-appointed, easy-to-access training centres worldwide … with a CAE team ready to personalize solutions for your unique needs.

Let’s have a conversation about flexible training solutions for you and your aircraft – NBAA 2010, Booth #6903

conversation@cae.com

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twitter.com/CAE_BizAviation

one step ahead

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by Jeff Burger The Hiller Group (Booth No. 6244), which already supplies fuel at more than 600 U.S. airports, plans “in the near term to expand into Canada and look at Europe as well.” That’s according to company president and CEO Martin Hiller, who made the comment during a press conference yesterday. During the same session, the Tampa, Fla.-based Hiller Group announced a program that offers reward points to users of AvCard, an aviation charge

card accepted at more than 7,500 locations worldwide. With each AvCard transaction at Chevron, Texaco and other participating dealers, customers receive FlyBuys reward points that they can exchange for rebates, fuel, goods or services. Also here at NBAA, the Hiller Group unveiled plans for a multifaceted consult council, which will hold its first summit early next year. The council will consist of FBO leaders, Hiller fuel-supply

CY CYR

Hiller eyes expansion into Canada and perhaps Europe

partners and other key figures from the general-aviation industry. “Bringing together smart people makes perfect sense from a business-decision perspective,” said Martin Hiller. “The aviation fuel industry is changing and, with the assistance from the aviation industry, we can provide better decisions that affect the success of our FBO partners.” Elaborating on those changes, Hiller said, “Today’s downstream refining business is very challenging. Oil companies face increasingly challenging refining margins where business models are shifting toward an emphasis on manufacturing and equity barrel production. The organization that can best leverage fuel supply and equally provide realistic FBO support programs will stand successful in the years to come.” o

Marty Hiller, president and CEO of the Hiller Group, expounds on plans to expand its fuel supply business to Canada and possibly to Europe.

EMS Aspire connects jets EMS Aviation (Booth No. 6829) is unveiling a new line of Iridium and Inmarsat voice and data systems. The “Aspire” family of airborne communications systems is aimed at delivering “feature-rich connectivity to owners and operators of small and medium size business jets,” according to the company. EMS’s first such system, an Aspire 200 LG, will be installed on a Cessna Citation Sovereign. The Inmarsat system offers voice and data connections through one channel of SwiftBroadband (SB200) service. With a high-gain antenna, the system also supports automatic switching to Swift 64. Depending on the antenna/transceiver options selected, the system will facilitate data transfer rates of 2.4 kbps to 432 kbps. Standard wiring on the Aspire system will support either Iridium or Inmarsat components, allowing changes and upgrades to the system without rewiring. For OEMs it affords the opportunity to wire an aircraft before having to commit to a specific system. Aspire features a first of its kind (for business jets) corded and wireless color touchscreen handsets, which are based on the Android smartphone opererating system and can be used to make calls and check e-mail. The handsets can also be upgraded to enable integration with an aircraft’s cabin management system to control the lights and entertainment system. The handset will be available next year. Cliff Topham, EMS vice president of sales and marketing, said the system would be sold through dealers, but said the price would be “well below $100,000 and probably closer to $50,000,” with Iridium-based systems being less expensive. The Aspire 200 LG will be available in December. It includes an eight-pound transceiver, integrated amplifier/diplexer and blade antenna. The transceiver can be installed outside the aircraft’s pressure vessel. o

CY CYR

by Mark Huber

tom sawyer and huck finn would be Proud Dan Ozanic (left) of Chicago and Brian Ashmead of Atlanta paint a fence at the Bombardier static display. The pair work for Renaissance Management. That’s a Global 5000 in the background.

Baldwin’s SMSlite uses Web to share aviation safety data by James Wynbrandt Baldwin Aviation of Hilton Head Island, S.C., a developer of flight department safety management systems (SMS), introduced a Web-based program, SMSlite, at the NBAA Convention. The program is designed for operators that have already met the registration requirements for International Standard for Business Aviation Organizations (IS-BAO). “SMSlite was created for flight organizations looking to improve their methods of collecting, reporting and distributing safety data and communicating

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 38

it more effectively through their organizations,” said Don Baldwin, president and CEO of Baldwin Aviation (Booth No. 2719). “We call it ‘lite’ because one of its basic attributes is that it eliminates unnecessary steps and needless paperwork and lightens the administrative workload associated with managing safety-related data.” SMSlite is intended to bring more transparency and efficiency to the task of sharing safety information within an organization, even as operators move toward adopting programs that meet

the demands of IS-BAO, a continuous improvement program. Baldwin is currently the only IS-BAO-registered SMS implementor. The program allows customization of many elements of SMS reporting, including risk assessments, safety reports and internal audit forms. “We realize that one of the major impediments to effective safety management is the paperwork and augmentation that goes with it,” said Baldwin. “Especially in the smaller flight operations, logical and necessary steps are delayed or ignored because there’s just no time to standardize or properly codify the procedures. SMSlite addresses that concern. It’s a safety data management center that, when supplementing an existing safety program, can take an organization to the next generation of safety management in a matter of days.” o

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ANOTHER REASON TO CHOOSE JETEX

Each year millions of children and mothers in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorest countries become victims of disease, famine, natural disaster and conflict. JetEx Flight Support is working with UNICEF to improve the lives of these millions and bring them a brighter future. JetEx have pledged UNICEF one percent of their revenue from overflight and landing permits to help provide clean food and water, education, medication and much more to some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

In aid of: JetEx Flight Support are proud to support unicef

Rockwell Collins fusing online with real-world ops by Matt Thurber The success of data services, such as the General Motors automotive OnStar system, suggests that some hardware manufacturers will eventually make most of their revenue not from the painstaking process of designing and manufacturing physical products but from selling data to owners of their hardware. In aviation, this trend is firmly evident in Rockwell Collins’s purchase of flight handling company Air Routing in January. And especially so with the announcement of the new Rockwell Collins Ascend Flight Information Solutions products. Ascend is the first big product resulting from the Air Routing acquisition and also marks the retirement of the Air Routing brand name. Henceforth, the Houston-based flight planning, handling and information services division is known as Flight Information Solutions. A simple way of thinking of Ascend is that it is a content-management system for aircraft, consolidating and accumulating all the data needed to accomplish missions and sharing data generated by each flight. “This is a business that begins to take Rockwell Collins in a new direction,” said Steve Timm, vice president and general manager of information management, commercial systems. Rockwell Collins began exploring the information management problem in 2008, he said. “We saw an opportunity to address some of the new things that were occurring. The systems on the airplane are becoming more and more capable and sophisticated. The amount of information that they depend upon weather, charts, maps, news, entertainment–or the amount of information generated by the airplane, maintenance, as an example, is exponentially higher than it was just years ago.” What was interesting for Rockwell Collins was how to manage all this data efficiently. “As the systems on the airplane become more complex,” Timm said, “the systems on the ground aren’t keeping up, and it’s creating a hell of challenge for the flight operations organizations.” Customers were asking for help, he said. Rockwell Collins’s key airborne products–the Venue cabin management system and Fusion avionics suite–are fundamental to the company’s shift “beyond products and solutions as it evolves into an information-management company,” according to Timm. “When we rolled out those brands, a key tenet within the flight deck and cabin was an information pillar. We’re going to deliver on that promise by making the systems on the airplane more connected and synchronized to systems on the ground that support planning and closeouts of the entire mission.” Flight operations today are supported by many disparate service providers who aren’t integrated, efficient or predictable, Timm said. Examples include trip

planning and support, maintenance, catering, fuel and weather services. “You can get those services today, but you’ll get them from many different providers.” Rockwell Collins worked with customer advisory boards to learn what they needed. Four key areas emerged: safety, security, regulatory compliance; efficiency; unique passenger experience (customers want a seamless transition to office or home entertainment environments in their aircraft); and most important, psredictability of operations.

ground and aircraft systems together is called Aircraft Information Manager (AIM). AIM includes flight support services from the Air Routing acquisition, like regional trip support (self-service) capability for simpler trips, traditional handling for longer complex trips and including datalink via Satcom Direct for flight plan upload to the aircraft. Other flight support capabilities include the fuel stop analyzer, weather updates, weight and balance and single invoicing. AIM’s cabin services are enabled by the Venue cabin management system. Services include integration of smartphones and uploading news and entertainment to the cabin. Database updates and maintenance data downloads are the other AIM offering. AIM will enable the aircraft to download maintenance data from the

Rockwell Collins’s Venue cabin management system (top) and Pro Line Fusion avionics suite (below) are fundamental to its shift as it evolves into an information management company. Collins says it will make the systems on the airplane connect and synchronize with systems on the ground.

Aircraft owners want to know that they can travel when they want to reliably. Ascend Cuts Invoices

Ascend integrates all of the services needed to satisfy those key requirements from a trusted and reliable source, Timm said. Customers no longer will have to deal with what is typical now, receiving invoices from 15 to 20 different service providers after one trip. What Ascend is, he explained, “is a globally integrated suite of application services that optimize flight support, maintenance operations and cabin services, all from a single source.” The services provided include flight planning and filing, concierge service, fuel, weather updates and automatic transfer of data to and from the airplane wirelessly, including nav and other database updates. “We’re going to make the aircraft a node on a network that is tightly synchronized with your flight operations,” he said. The core capability that links the

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 40

maintenance data computer and upload nav databases on the airplane wirelessly, by using local 3G or Wi-Fi networks, when the aircraft is on the ground, activating as soon as weight-on-wheels signals the system after landing. The Fusion avionics suite includes the IMS-6000 information management server that facilitates these data transfers. Aircraft equipped with Pro Line 21 and 4 avionics will need the addition of an IMS-3500 that allows the same connectivity. While the goals mentioned above are important for Rockwell Collins customers, the bottom line of Ascend is that it will also save money. “The savings is significant when you integrate these systems,” Timm said. “We’re talking about in the range of 3 to 7 percent of your flight operations costs being a targeted improvement.” These savings come from lower fuel and operating costs and also the lower overhead costs available from dealing with one service provider instead of multiple companies. o

Pro Line Meets Ascend Rockwell Collins’s Pro Line Fusion avionics suite has gained new OEM platforms and is now the selection for aircraft from five manufacturers. These include Bombardier’s Learjet 85, Global 5000, XRS and the just-announced 7000/8000 and the C series airliners, Embraer’s Legacy 450/500, the Gulfstream G250 and Mitsubishi MRJ70 and 90. At the Rockwell Collins booth (No. 7557), the company is showing NBAA attendees for the first time videos of Pro Line Fusion flight tests where synthetic vision system (SVS) output is displayed on a head-up guidance system. The video was shot over the mountains near Mammoth, Calif. Data is delivered to the head-up guidance system via fiber-optic cables. Pro Line Fusion is designed to work closely with Ascend and will offer new functionality to simplify flight operations. For example, pilots flying to an airport will be able to mouse-click on that airport’s approach feather on their multifunction display using the cursor-control device, and that approach will then automatically load into the FMS, saving a lot of button pushing. Another unique feature is the airport dome, a translucent dome-like element that sits over the destination airport in the SVS view, helping the pilot instantly see the airport location in relation to the aircraft. As the aircraft gets nearer to the airport, the dome gradually becomes clearer. The Bombardier Global 5000 and XRS will be first to deliver with Pro Line Fusion and will incorporate the SVS view on the head-up guidance system, graphical flight planning on the FMS, a handy cg envelope calculation and display system and the airport visualization (dome) enhancement. Next up will be Gulfstream’s G250, which will feature a cursor-control device designed by Gulfstream engineers. Rockwell Collins is spending 20 percent of revenues on research and development, according to Greg Irmen, vice president and general manager, business and regional systems.” He admitted that Rockwell Collins can’t share all of the research that it is doing, but one area of focus is a single-pilot-configured Part 25 jet. “In fact, it may even be beyond a single-pilot-configured aircraft to a pilotless aircraft,” he explained. “While that may sound extreme and maybe the marketplace may not go to that place, by studying that goal and that vision, it generates a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and energy around coming up with features and functions that enable going to a single-pilot operation. When you get those features and functions, what you find is it’s all around making the operation simpler and improving the safety of flying the aircraft. Are those features not desired regardless if you have n one pilot or two pilots?”

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Swift Aviation welcomes you to NBAA 2010! Come see how Swift is Defining Excellence one customer at a time. Visit us in Booth 5937

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The dictionary defines excellence as “The state, quality, or condition of excelling; superiority.” At Swift Aviation, we define excellence as “Exceeding our customer’s expectations in every way possible.” We operate a state-of-the-art fixed base operation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport offering concierge level crew and passenger amenities and on-demand charter service with a global reach. Swift Aviation defining excellence in fixed base operation and charter.

IS&S sees bright spots amid economic gloom Innovative Solutions and Support (IS&S) is featuring its latest integrated cockpit avionics systems at its NBAA booth (No. 4443), including new flat-panel

cockpit and RNP products. The publicly held company recently reported encouraging financial news. For 2010’s third quarter, Exton, Pa.-based IS&S

reported revenue of $7.8 million, a $2.4 million increase over the preceding quarter. Thirdquarter net income of $1.39 million represented a 17.8-percent profit margin and a 19.2-percent improvement over the 2009 third quarter. Geoffrey Hedrick, the company’s chairman and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to The IS&S retrofit cockpit, here in the Citation 550, replaces legacy instruments with minimal wiring changes.

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report improvement in top- and bottom-line performance despite the continued sluggish economy. Our margins in the quarter were up from the year ago period on incrementally higher revenues.” Roman Ptakowski, IS&S president, added, “Both our backlog and new opportunities are growing as our flat-panel display cockpit/IP is qualified on an increasing range of general aviation, commercial air transport and military aircraft.” He noted there has been “some increase in demand for our air data products.” o

shanghai to host bizav show

Bravo rewards program available at participating locations in the U.S. and Canada. New Bravo members’ points will be awarded within three weeks from when the member completes their registration online. Active Bravo members will have points posted within ten days of NBAA.

44aaNBAA • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com B A I LConvention E Y L A U E R M ANews N Air BP Aviation Services Thousands Ad Airbp101991 Pub: AIN-NBAA Daily Color: 4-color Size: Trim 7.8125" x 10.375"

The business aviation inustry will find a new portal d opening into China next year when the inaugural Shanghai International Business Aviation Show (SIBAS) opens its doors at Hongqiao International Airport from April 13 to 15. With the goal of SIBAS being so successful that it becomes an annual event, its organizers–the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology and the Shanghai Society of Aeronautics–have signed Marti Smith, a former director of NBAA, as an “international partner.” Smith has more than 20 years of experience producing aviation conferences and conventions on four continents. She has also worked with the Canadian Business Aviation Association and Signature Flight Support. Last year, Smith formed MS Management, which focuses on management of international aviation conferences, conventions and static displays. Making SIBAS a success is not going to be easy. Even the organizers point out that “no pure business aviation show has been successfully organized in China mainland [even though] the actual demand of the market is huge.” SIBAS is exhibiting at NBAA at Booth No. 1369. o

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2010

Product Support Survey

A I R C R A F T by Matt Thurber

Gulfstream once again takes the number-one slot for jets (those built in the U.S.); Hawker Beechcraft takes the top spot among newer turboprops and Bell claims the number-one rating among helicopters. strongly to 7.66 this year, up by more than 5 percent. Unfortunately, we did not receive enough responses this year to include all of the turboprops. Mitsubishi’s MU-2 held its lead with a small jump to 8.90, Hawker Beechcraft’s newer King Airs climbed almost 3 percent this year, to 7.61, while its older models declined by more than 3 percent, to 6.82. Helicopters saw big gains this year, with Bell again at the forefront with a 13.5-percent jump to 7.91. AgustaWestland climbed more than 9 percent to 7.48, while Sikorsky edged up 3 percent to 7.09. Eurocopter’s ranking dropped this year by about 5 percent, to 6.17. It is interesting to see that in all the aircraft categories, overall reliability is the predominant high-scoring ranking for all the manufacturers. In the newer jet category, however, Bombardier Learjet scored highest for technical reps, and the Global series ranked much higher when comparing technical reps with overall reliability. Among many of the other jet manufacturers, technical reps received the second-highest score, which shows not only that the reps are doing a good job but also how important they are in the product support spectrum. With business aircraft, the personal touch is clearly critical. What about the lowest rankings? As is always the case, cost of parts received the lowest scores for every manufacturer, for both newer and older jets, turboprops and helicopters, except AgustaWestland. o All the reader comments about product support are available online at www.ainonline.com/resource-center/

46aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Overall Average Ratings of Newer and Older Aircraft Combined (in order of 2010 ratings) The chart below provides the overall average rating of each manufacturer when the newer and older aircraft scores are combined. This gives OEMs and readers a glimpse of a manufacturer’s overall support ratings for all its products. The chart is broken down by jets and turboprops, as the level of service and support can vary widely between the two segments.

Overall Average 2010

Overall Average 2009

Rating Change from ’09 to ’10

% Change

Gulfstream (GII through G550)

8.23

N/app.

Cessna (Citation)

7.91

7.65

0.25

3.33%

Gulfstream (Astra, Galaxy, G100, G200)

7.76

N/app.

Bombardier (Learjet)

7.69

7.26

0.43

5.93%

Dassault (Falcon)

7.64

7.38

0.26

3.53%

Hawker Beechcraft (Hawker; except 400XP)

7.44

7.19

0.25

3.43%

Bombardier (Challenger)

7.41

7.16

0.25

3.48%

Boeing (BBJ)

7.37

7.80

-0.43

-5.53%

Hawker Beechcraft

7.19

7.04

0.16

2.23%

7.18

6.73

0.45

6.67%

Mitsubishi (Marquise, MU-2, Solitaire)

8.90

8.81

0.09

1.02%

Hawker Beechcraft (King Air)

7.14

0.00%

JETS

(Premier I, Diamond, Beechjet 400A, Hawker 400XP)

Bombardier (Global Express/XRS, Global 5000) TURBOPROPS

Compiled by Jane Campbell with data provided by Forecast International of Newtown, Conn. Bold indicates highest number in each category. * The Gulfstream rating category changed this year, and therefore a direct comparison cannot be made between this year’s and last year’s ratings.

Source: AIN 2010 Product Support Survey

ulfstream took the lead again in the annual AIN Product Support Survey, coming out ahead in both the newer and older (more than 10 years old) categories and also in the combined newer and older aircraft. Bombardier’s ratings for all models climbed over last year’s. Although the company ranked low in the newer and older jet categories, Bombardier’s improved scores may reflect its elimination of a controversial program under which customers flying older aircraft had to pay extra fees for product support of classic aircraft. The model with the largest percentage growth in rankings compared to last year is Bombardier’s newer Learjets, up 7.61 percent to 7.95. One change this year involved realigning the Gulfstream models to reflect their pedigree more accurately. Now the U.S.built large-cabin Gulfstream jets (GII through G550) and the Israel Aerospace Industries-built models (Astra, Galaxy, G100 to G200) are clearly separated. The realignment means that last year’s Gulfstream numbers are not compared to this year’s rankings. For newer business jets, Gulfstream’s large-cabin models topped the rankings at 8.31, followed by Cessna’s Citations, up more than 5 percent, to 8.22. Bombardier’s Learjet line made a big leap this year to third place, moving past last year’s finish behind Dassault Falcon, Hawker Beech craft (Premier, etc.) and the Challenger line. Bombardier’s Global line also saw a healthy jump of more than 6 percent this year, to 7.16. In fourth place this year is Gulfstream for its IAI-built jets, at 7.75, followed by Dassault Falcon in fifth place at 7.68. Hawker Beechcraft’s newer jets climbed

How the Survey Was Administered Continued weakness in the business aviation market appears to be reflected in a low response rate to the 2010 AIN Product Support Survey compared to previous years. This year’s survey invited 17,284 AIN readers to participate, of which only 921 completed the survey, for a return rate of 5.3 percent. Previous participation levels were 12 percent in 2009, 10.28 for 2008 and 10 percent in 2007. According to Forecast International of Newtown, Conn., which helped design and administer the survey with AIN, “While this response is a valid basis for determining subscriber opinion, the decrease in participation is discouraging and appears to be a cumulative, strong result of the poor condition of the business aviation community over the past few years.” The AIN Product Support Survey is conducted entirely on the Internet, although some participants are invited via postcard. AIN did not, however, have e-mail addresses for all invited participants, so the return rate for those with e-mail addresses (11,050) is higher, at 8.3 percent. It should be noted that AIN has asked airframe manufacturers to provide customer lists so that some models that don’t typically receive high enough response rates to be included might quality for inclusion. This also will help with new models entering service, such as Embraer’s new Phenom 100 and 300, and with out-of-production aircraft.

In all of these cases, the manufacturer, if electing to participate, is required to provide a complete list of those customers, and AIN invites those customers who qualify to become subscribers. Not all of those lists include e-mail addresses, which explains the difference between the 8.3 percent participation rate for participants with e-mail addresses and the 5.3 percent rate for the total number of invited participants. Last year, for example, 14,948 people were invited to complete the survey, while this year that number jumped to 17,284, swelled by lists provided by manufacturers. This year’s survey was accessible from April 23 to June 13, with time added to encourage additional participation. One change that might have made a difference this year is that respondents were initially required to provide registration numbers of the aircraft they operate. AIN changed this requirement during the survey and made providing registration numbers voluntary on May 20, but this might still have discouraged participation. This year, AIN also added questions about where the aircraft is serviced and the type of service facility. The survey asks AIN readers to rate their aircraft, engines and avionics in 10 categories. On the one-to-10 rating scale, one is inadequate

2010 ratings

and 10 is excellent. To be listed in the results, a manufacturer had to garner at least 20 ratings. The following are the 10 ratings categories, including explanations of the key points that survey participants were asked to consider when submitting their opinions. n Factory Service Centers–cost estimates versus actual, on-time performance, scheduling ease, service experience. n Authorized Service Centers–same as above. n Parts Availability–in stock versus back order, shipping time. n Cost of Parts–value for price paid. n AOG Response–speed, accuracy, cost. n Warranty Fulfillment–ease of paperwork, extent of coverage. n Technical

Manuals–ease of use, formats available, timeliness of updating.

n Technical Reps–response time, knowledge, effectiveness. n Maintenance

Tracking Programs–cost, ease of use, accuracy,

reliability. n Overall

Product Reliability–how the product’s overall reliability and quality stack up against the competition’s. –M.T.

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

NEWER BUSINESS JETS

Rating Overall Overall Factory Auth. Mx Overall Change % Parts Cost AOG Warranty Technical Technical Average Average Service Service Tracking Aircraft from ’09 Change Availability of Parts Response Fulfillment Manuals Reps 2010 2009 Centers Centers Programs Reliability to ’10

Gulfstream (GIV through G550)

8.31

N/app.

7.96

8.24

8.44

6.35

8.58

8.55

8.24

8.74

8.71

9.08

Cessna (Citation)

8.22

7.81

0.41

5.24%

7.78

8.28

8.33

6.93

8.43

8.40

8.04

8.56

8.41

8.79

Bombardier (Learjet)

7.95

7.39

0.56

7.61%

7.69

7.78

7.90

6.51

8.13

8.41

7.91

8.82

8.00

8.38

Gulfstream (G100 to G200)

7.75

N/app.

7.70

7.54

7.32

6.60

7.81

8.07

7.84

8.26

7.80

8.38

7.68

7.52

0.16

2.18%

7.55

6.94

7.71

6.27

8.07

7.56

7.97

8.03

8.47

7.66

7.29

0.37

5.11%

7.84

7.90

7.07

6.23

7.28

8.27

7.31

8.24

8.25

8.26

Bombardier (Challenger)

7.63

7.56

0.07

0.94%

7.65

7.48

7.24

6.08

7.72

7.87

7.66

8.29

7.90

8.30

Hawker Beechcraft (Premier I, Hawker 400XP)

7.41

7.40

0.01

0.09%

8.11

8.29

7.13

5.52

7.18

7.27

7.62

7.59

7.76

7.92

Bombardier (Global Express/XRS, Global 5000)

7.16

6.73

0.43

6.38%

7.40

7.16

6.77

5.63

7.18

7.39

6.88

8.20

7.44

7.52

Gulfstream (GII through GIV)

8.14

N/app.

0.38

5.28%

7.96

7.76

8.35

6.14

8.65

8.27

8.23

8.61

8.76

Dassault (Falcon)

7.59

7.21

0.38

5.28%

7.91

6.97

7.73

5.61

7.92

7.35

7.33

8.11

7.91

8.84

Cessna (Citation)

7.46

7.39

0.07

0.97%

7.58

7.08

7.70

5.86

7.53

7.22

7.70

7.58

7.79

8.32

Bombardier (Learjet)

7.35

7.11

0.24

3.33%

7.32

6.58

7.34

6.00

7.67

7.04

7.64

7.74

7.92

8.01

Hawker Beechcraft (Hawker)

7.18

7.03

0.15

2.08%

7.33

6.89

6.92

5.62

6.98

6.87

7.27

7.93

7.95

8.06

Bombardier (Challenger)

7.06

6.66

0.40

6.00%

7.79

6.86

6.71

5.29

7.03

6.76

7.16

7.45

7.74

7.93

Hawker Beechcraft (Premier I, Diamond, Beechjet 400A)

6.94

6.74

0.20

2.92%

7.25

6.95

5.58

7.06

7.00

6.26

6.77

7.33

8.05

7.61

7.41

0.20

2.67%

7.74

6.77

7.02

6.31

7.51

7.97

7.81

7.91

7.93

8.77

Mitsubishi (MU-2, Marquise, Diamond, Solitaire)

8.90

8.81

0.09

1.02%

9.35

9.47

8.83

7.74

8.82

9.00

8.78

8.87

8.81

9.57

Hawker Beechcraft (King Air)

6.82

7.06

-0.24

-3.41%

7.35

6.45

6.85

5.65

6.48

6.59

7.04

6.66

6.79

8.07

7.91

6.97

0.94

13.54%

8.29

7.93

7.68

6.32

7.87

8.06

8.13

8.48

8.29

8.46

Q Q

Dassault (Falcon) Hawker Beechcraft (Hawker except 400XP)

OLDER BUSINESS JETS

NEWER TURBOPROPS

ROTORCRAFT (All Ages) Bell AgustaWestland

7.48

6.85

0.63

9.18%

8.52

8.13

6.54

6.13

6.79

7.70

8.29

8.25

5.90

8.00

Sikorsky

7.09

6.88

0.21

3.08%

7.10

6.95

6.58

5.92

6.88

7.32

7.54

7.74

7.24

7.68

Eurocopter

6.17

6.50

-0.33

-5.06%

6.18

5.53

5.26

4.76

6.00

6.18

6.68

7.33

6.00

7.51

Bold indicates highest number in each category.

Compiled by Jane Campbell with data provided by Forecast International of Newtown, Conn. * Last year’s ratings for Gulfstream are not included due to changes made to more accurately reflect G ulfstream’s model breakdown.

Q Q Q

1 Less than 10 years old More than 10 years old

Rating Scale: Inadequate

Poor

Average

Good

Excellent

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa47

Source: AIN 2010 Product Support Survey

OLDER TURBOPROPS

Q Q

Hawker Beechcraft (King Air)

Frasca sees stable market for FTDs Urbana, Ill.-based simulator manufacturer Frasca International (Booth No. 1839) has received an order from Purdue University for an Embraer Phenom FAA level-6 flight training device (FTD). It will include the same Garmin Prodigy avionics found in the aircraft and will be used in the university’s professional pilot training program. The FTD will also feature a high-fidelity digital sound system, electronic control loading, auto-testing, graphical instructor station and Frasca’s TruVision visual with 220-degree display. “This is our 25th consecutive year as an NBAA exhibitor, Rudy Frasca, founder of Frasca International, told AIN. “Business aviation is an important market for us and we feel the contacts and relationships made during the show are invaluable.” The company, which has been building flight training devices and flight simulators for more than 50 years, continues to do well, said Frasca. “Our diverse product line and geographic market reach help keep our business stable during the ups and downs of the industry,” he said. “Since we supply military organizations, commercial ventures, airlines, flight schools, universities and colleges worldwide, we have a wide customer base to draw from.” Frasca also is currently building two Phenom synthetic training devices for the Finnish Aviation Academy. Both are being built in conformance with

JAR FSTD level-2 and FNPT II MCC requirements. Each will include a TruVision Global 220-degree visual system. Most recently the company installed a second Cessna Citation Mustang flight training

device built to level-5 FTD standards for the FAA. It fulfills a NASA research grant by the Aerospace Human Factors Research Lab at the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in Oklahoma City. –D.A.L.

Frasca recently installed a Citation Mustang FTD at the FAA’s Oklahoma City medical facility.

How to triple the lifes

News Note Greenwich AeroGroup’s Summit Aviation (Booth No. 2726) has received AS9100 aerospace quality standard system certification at its Somerset, Ky. facility. AS9100 addresses the diversity and complexity of the industry’s supply chain and takes into account the complete life cycle of aerospace products. Summit’s Middletown, Del. facility has held AS9100 certification since 2007 and recently has undergone a recertification audit. The company offers aircraft and engine maintenance and modification services on Bell, Eurocopter, Sikorsky, Boeing and MD helicopters as well on Pilatus, Cessna Caravan and Beechcraft King Air turboprops and Beechjets and other light jets. n

48aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

CRS Jet Spares touts program to limit billbacks CRS Jet Spares is inviting convention attendees to drop off their business cards at its booth (No. 6213) to enter a drawing for a chance to win a Harley C

CY CMY

Davidson motorcycle. This is the tenth year the company will be giving away a motorcycle during the show—for 2010 it is a 2010 Harley Sportster XL 883.

The drawing is to be held at the booth on Wednesday, at 3 p.m. You must be present to win. CRS Jet Spares president Armando Leighton Jr. said his mission this year at NBAA is to talk to customers about the company’s Option 2 program. “June was the end of our fiscal year and when we ran the numbers on our new Option 2

program we were very surprised to see what a strong effect it had. We had 25 percent fewer billbacks,” he said. “We created the Option 2 program to assist our customers with the billback, one of the most dreaded parts of the industry. Rather than deal with the uncertainty of the standard component exchange transaction,”

Come see us at NBAA

Hall B, Stand 4516

he explained, “what commonly happens is the customer pays a price then finds out later that the core wasn’t as good as anticipated, resulting in an additional billback. With Option 2, the customer pays a slightly higher fee and is guaranteed there will be no billback.” Leighton also said that CRS Jet Spares is highlighting a show special and he invites attendees to stop by the booth for more details. –D.A.L.

Avtrak expands mx tracking by David A. Lombardo

espan of your mouse. The all-new aviall.com. Simpler. Faster. And takes fewer clicks to place your order! Intelligent Search

New E-mail Notifications

Look for your part using simple search terms such as a part number, NSN, description, or partial description. The search function is more accurate and faster than ever before. Once you find the part you want, simply click the checkbox and hit the Add to Cart button.

Aviall.com now offers e-mail notifications at the point we receive your order, once your order has shipped and when your invoice has been generated. You can even store your e-mail address simply by clicking the check box. You’ll know where your order is all the way through the process.

Multi-Line Order Also called “MO”, the Multi-Line Order capability allows you to copy and paste your MS Excel spreadsheet with part numbers and quantities right into the site. MO is fast with accurate sorting and a clean presentation of results.

Save Shopping Carts If you build a Shopping Cart and plan to buy those parts again, click Save as Template. Save as many templates as you want. Then next time you need to place that order, simply drag and drop the template into the “drop zone” and hit the load button.

Avtrak and Midcoast Aviation have reached an agreement by which Avtrak will provide technology that will automate the information flow through Midcoast Aviation’s MRO processes, said Dennis Steinbeck, v-p of business development for Littleton, Colo.-based Avtrak. More details about the agreement are to be announced by Avtrak (Booth No. 2137) here. Midcoast is part of Jet Aviation, which is owned by General Dynamics, parent company of Gulfstream Aerospace, which uses Avtrak to power maintenance tracking for Gulfstream owners and operators. “One of our primary goals at NBAA this year is to demonstrate and highlight the continued expansion of our technical publications portal,” Steinbeck said. “We have spent a significant amount of time and money enhancing this area of the system, which allows customers to generate maintenance work instructions for a single task, or a group of tasks, easily and efficiently.” The company plans to relocate to a new office at Centennial Airport by the end of this year. “We have outgrown our current office space. During 2010 we will have increased our staff by more than 20 percent, raising it to 55.” About a year ago Avtrak began a marketing effort in Mexico, which has proved to be a successful venture. “We now have an enrolled fleet in the area nearing triple digits. We are also an approved vendor for the government of Mexico and are supporting a significant number of their aircraft, too.” To support that activity, Avtrak recently opened an office in Toluca that will also support Avtrak’s expansion in the rest of Latin America. o

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa49

Sierra offers Citation cockpit refit Cessna Citation engine retrofit specialist Sierra Industries of Uvalde, Texas, has taken a step into the avionics realm with a new program to engineer an integrated digital Garmin glass cockpit upgrade for legacy Cessna Citation 501s.

Developed in c ooperation with Garmin International and featuring the primary flight (PFD) and multifunction (MFD) displays from the G1000, the retrofit package is featured at the Sierra booth (No. 5851). The G501SP upgrade is well under

way toward FAA supplemental type certification early next year. The G501SP flight deck will include individual Garmin GDU 1040 10.4-inch PFDs for pilot and copilot, and a centrally mounted 10.4-inch MFD replacing the original Sperry Sierra Industries is developing a retrofit Garmin glass cockpit for legacy Citations.

electromechanical ADI and HSI instruments. Upgrade options include twin Meggitt LCD engine instrument displays, Garmin’s SVT synthetic-vision technology, Jeppesen charts, XM weather, TAWS-A or -B and a pedestal-mounted flight management alphanumeric keypad. According to Sierra, this digital avionics package integrates the latest in GPS, terrain, weather and aircraft traffic technologies, significantly enhancing situational awareness and streamlining the pilot’s workload. The company claims the Meggitt EIDS digital engine instrumentation, Garmin SVT and TAWS installed as part of the G501SP upgrade give the classic Citation capabilities that compare favorably to the newest light jets on the market. o

You might be wondering where we’re going?

400XT sports dimmable windows InspecTech Aero Service, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Booth No. 4907), has equipped the Nextant Aerospace 400XT twin on static display with SPDSmart window i-Shades. The dimmable windows in the Hawker Beechcraft 400A/XP, remanufactured by Nextant as the 400XT, are controlled through the Rockwell Collins Venue cabin management system either individually or via a master controller. The i-Shades are windows in which a layer of emulsion is sandwiched. When an electric current is passed through the emulsion, the window changes from clear to opaque. The degree of tint depends on the strength of n the current.

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50aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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Altitude Aerospace displays ‘Pounamu’ cabin for BBJ partially funded by the New Zealand government and with a grant from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Rather than build the cabin mockup in the traditional manner, Altitude started with a retired Boeing 737 fuselage to create an “out of the ordinary” example of its design and engineering expertise,

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Visit us at Booth #4160 52aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Altitude Aerospace is showing a cabin mockup of its executive BBJ–called Project Pounamu. The New Zealand company, which also offers a multi-role cabin for the BBJ-C, designed the cabin with a bar and conference room.

the skills of its upholstery and cabinetry artisans and the experience of a crew of talented modification and installation specialists. No less important, said Altitude general manager Michael Pervan, was the contribution by “the best suppliers in the market,” including DeCrane, ATG, Tisca Tiara, Aeristo, Tapis, Nordam, Air New Zealand, Flight Interiors and Circa Marine. Motivation for the project, said head of programs and procurement Pascal Jallier, came from “a desire to assure potential customers that we know how to undertake the most complex programs, even though we are technically a new name to the industry.” While Altitude entered the executive/VIP completion and refurbishment business just a little more than two years ago, the Christchurch, New Zealand-based company’s experience in 737 design and interior work as part of Air New Zealand Engineering Services goes back some 30 years. Altitude not only holds an EASA designated organization approval, it also holds an FAA Part 145 repair station certificate and is on Boeing’s list of centers

approved for BBJ cabin completion work. Altitude has already done several major BBJ refurbishments and expects to do its first BBJ green completion in 2012. The Pounamu project here in Atlanta aims to offer proof of that experience. By developing a new ducting system design, the mockup features a more spacious cabin with an additional four inches of headroom. Visitors enter the mockup through a grand entrance and from there move into a salon with bar and seating for six. The next cabin zone is a fully functioning conference room equipped with a 55-inch, high-definition, LED-lit monitor, credenzas of exotic wood veneers and swiveling executive seats. “We took as much ‘mock’ out of this mockup as possible,” said business development manager Sue Hart. If there is a single aspect to the project that most accurately reflects the attitudes of those involved, it comes from the name– Pounamu. In Maori, it is a word for the highly valued nephrite jade stone unique to New Zealand; a stone considered by the Maori to possess great mana, “the stuff of which magic is made.” –K.J.H.

Ship It AOG gets exclusive on detailing products

Raymond Goyco, Ship It AOG COO, said the company is also working with exhibit floor neighbor Lektro during the show. “Lektro is across the aisle from us with their tugs on display,” Goyco said. “We’re an authorized representative for Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma so we are working in conjunction with them at the show.” He added Ship It AOG is also hosting a representative from Unitron, and its AC GPU is on display. “We see NBAA as an opportunity to meet with our clients from all over the world,” Goyco said. “Their support has resulted in our rapid growth over the last three years, during which we have tripled our customer base, and now we have an inventory of more than 11,000 individual components and accessory products. As a result we have just added a new 7,000-square-foot warehouse adjacent to our existing facility in Addison, Texas, giving us a total of 14,000-squarefeet of warehouse space.” o

2 2010 NBAA A Adver rtisem ment – Day 1

When it comes to creating mockups, Altitude Aerospace has taken the art to a new level with the Boeing Business Jet Pounamu cabin on display here at NBAA 2010 (Booth No. 1213). Project Pounamu was formed in late 2009, the child of a collaboration of skilled business jet interior specialists,

Ship It AOG was named the exclusive distributor of a new aircraft cleaning product line produced by Aero Detail Supplies. Grady Simmons, Aero Detail Supplies’s president, is on hand at the Ship It AOG booth (No. 1814) to talk about the product line and application. The line includes aircraft interior and exterior cleaning supplies Simmons created for his own detailing company and it is offering exclusively through Ship It AOG. “Rather than paying someone thousands of dollars to detail your aircraft you can now have your own staff do it for a fraction of the cost,” he said. This week the company is giving away free samples of the general cleaners and lusters and Garmin Nuvi automotive GPS units.

Tough Times, TighT BudgeTs

Real soluTions In an economy where every penny counts, operators are looking for ways to minimize maintenance costs. Pratt & Whitney Canada’s Component Repair Business took up the challenge and developed improved repair processes to salvage key engine components that would otherwise be scrapped, enabling even more cost-effective solutions. Thinking outside the box. It’s what managing through tough times is all about. And it’s what you can depend on from P&WC.

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G ar r e t t Leather

Celebrating Avion’s th Anniversary

Toast with us for the anniversar y celeb r a tion a t NBAA in A tla nta

Greenpoint showcases its 747-8 completions options Independent cabin completion specialist Greenpoint Technologies (Booth No. 4345) is at NBAA in a big way with Aerolift and Aeroloft elevator and loft concepts for Boeing’s new 747-8. The Aerolift program, according to executive vice president Sloan Benson, is turning out to be a popular product option among 747-8 buyers. The ground/main deck elevator is currently in “extensive engineering development.” It consists of an automated door on the fuselage, a lift carriage with internal doors and a cabin enclosure. It will carry four persons or a wheelchair and one attendant. From a privacy and security perspective, the enclosed carriage reduces the occupant’s exposure to the public, allowing close-quarter boarding of waiting ground transportation. It is also a practical solution to disembarking and boarding at FBOs where neither airstairs nor jetways are available. The Kirkland, Wash.-based company claims multiple contracts in place for its new Aeroloft. The concept turns the upper fuselage section aft of the upper deck and above the main deck into useful space for a private rest area. Greenpoint is wrapping up the engineering phase and production is scheduled to start in a few months to provide support of Aeroloft installations at its own or other

completion centers in late 2011. “Being a Boeing-only completion center is a key advantage to our customers,” said Benson. “They know we have the technical experience to deliver on our promise.” Greenpoint completed a Boeing Design Delegation Level 5 audit (the highest level) in May this year, focusing on engineering and information technology systems. Looking forward to a steady, if slow, economic recovery and an accompanying demand for narrow- and widebody business jets, Greenpoint is “fully engaged now and excited about the future,” said Benson. In addition to growing interest in Aerolift and Aeroloft, Greenpoint has a number of Boeing Business Jets in various stages of completion and additional BBJs in the pipeline. To meet demand, Greenpoint is aligning critical resources by establishing its own engineering test lab, cabinetry shop and manufacturing capabilities. “The flexibility to execute complex projects and adapt to new technologies enables Greenpoint to service its clients’ best interests which are time and money,” said Benson. –K.J.H.

The Aerolift, above, from Greenpoint solves concerns about security and privacy, as well as the more practical matter of debarking and boarding at FBOs where airstairs or a jetway are not available. Greenpoint’s Aeroloft proposal for a 747-8 master suite, left, takes advantage of the space afforded in the aircraft’s nose.

Greenpoint Builds Quality Supplier Base

NBAA Booth 3227 800.342.7738 www.garrettleather.com

54aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

In tough times, Greenpoint Technologies (Booth No. 4345) has placed renewed emphasis on development of a healthy supplier base. The Kirkland, Wash. independent completion and refurbishment center has identified suppliers and vendors as “a vital element in best practices and risk mitigation translating to overall program success.” According to Dave Linder, senior director of supply chain management, “Our objective as a company is to use only ‘approved’ suppliers, and to seek out and grow our supplier base.” Linder said Greenpoint reviews supplier performance metrics monthly, and through the third quarter of this year has added 10 vendors to its approved supplier list. He also noted that 92 percent of Greenpoint suppliers meet or exceed qualifications for AS9100 ISO9001:2000 quality standards or FAA Part 145 repair station compliance requirements and have a performance rating above 80 percent. n

IT’S GREAT WHE N

EVERYTHING CLICKS.

Stop by and See uS at tHe nbaa bootH #7954 or at tHe Static diSplay

Honeywell inav® witH GrapHical FliGHt planninG Honeywell’s Primus Apex® integrates advanced auto flight, navigation and situational awareness capabilities into one of the most sophisticated avionics systems available today. Creating and modifying flight plans has never been so easy. With the new trackball cursor control device, pilots can create or modify their flight plans using pull-down menus and click-and-drag commands. In fact, all flight information can be managed on the INAV using simple point-and-click commands. This single-screen situational awareness is similar to larger global business jets, making the PC-12 NG one the most sought after, single-engine aircraft in the world.

Primus Apex

Learn more at www.pc12ngcockpit.com

PI L AT U S. D E S T I N AT I O N: FO U N D W W W. PI L AT U S - A I RC R A F T.C O M + 1 . 8 0 0.74 5 . 2 8 87

Light jet market ebbs & flows along with general economy by Cyrus Sigari

Despite an active first quarter in the light jet market, the remainder of the year has proven to be a sobering reminder that the world continues to recover from the financial meltdown of 2008 and 2009. This is not surprising, considering that the light jet market tends to react directly to the general economy as measured by stock market indices. In April 2009, for example, the Cessna Mustang, CJ1+, CJ2+ and CJ3 pre-owned inventory was at its peak at 123 aircraft for sale, according to statistics provided by JetNet. At the end of March 2010, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering around 11,000, that number had dwindled to 66 jets for sale. By the end of July 2010, when the Dow had dropped to 10,000, the inventory rose to 82 aircraft for sale. Not great news for those who are considering selling for reasons other than upgrading, but good news for those who want to take advantage of the fat inventory of today. While we look at the impact of the global economy on the light jet market as a whole, micro-economic factors need to be considered for each make and model of light jet to fully . understand the landscape C_AIN_October2010_JC_AIN 20/09/2010 15:37 Page 1

Eclipse 500 Despite the aircraft’s tumultuous past, faithful buyers and motivated sellers are supporting the Eclipse 500 market with a steady stream of sales of preowned models. Buoyed by the support of Eclipse Aerospace, the new parent company of the Eclipse 500 design, and their perceived ability to stay afloat, confidence is slowly being reinforced by the service and support offered by the company. A new relationship with SimCom Training Centers has restarted simulator training, making insurance underwriters more likely to insure Eclipse 500 operations at reasonable rates. As the aircraft has gone through numerous upgrades since the first production unit entered

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Eclipse 500

service in late 2006, pricing of the forsale fleet varies significantly. Aircraft equipped with the original Avidyne cockpit suite and lacking the extended tip tank (ETT) configuration are trading in the $500,000 range. Pre-owned Avio NG/ETT Eclipse 500s are trading just below $1 million. Those modified with Avio NG 1.7 are bringing approximately $1.25 million. Meanwhile, Eclipse Aerospace is marketing its Total Eclipse factory refurbished Eclipse 500s at more than $2 million. It is unclear how many jets the factory has sold at those prices. With the availability of pre-owned Citation Mustangs within 10 percent of the purchase price of a Total Eclipse, questions remain as to the market size for a $2 million-plus Eclipse 500. Cessna Citation Mustang The Mustang continues to be the darling of the light jet market with more than 300 flying after only four years of production. A mix of owner-pilots, commercial operators and corporate flight departments rave about the aircraft’s efficiency, capability and the support offered by Cessna. Despite the success the company has had with the Mustang, the realities of the global economic environment continue to dampen company ambitions as the Independence, Kan. factory has slowed production of new units.

Cessna Citation Mustang

In July, with hopes of breathing new life into the product, Cessna announced the availability of the new High Sierra Edition Mustang featuring a modified interior, a new paint scheme and synthetic-vision technology, electronic charts and locking fuel caps as standard equipment, as well as prepaid maintenance. Demand for Mustangs will be directly affected by how the pre-owned market continues to perform. Since the beginning of the year, the Mustang pre-owned market has stayed consistent with about two airplanes trading hands per month. The strongest demand continues to be for lightly used (100 to 300 hours) machines, with historical prices ranging from the lowto mid-$2 million range depending on options, hours and pedigree. Like-new aircraft are trading in the $2.5 million to $2.7 million range. Factory invoice on a new Mustang delivered today is about $3.1 million.

ANALYSIS SERVICES DRIVEN B

Cessna CJ/CJ1/CJ1+ CitationJets (1993 to 1999) are trading between $1.3 and $1.8 million, CJ1s (2000 to 2005) between $1.9 and $2.5 million and CJ1+s between $3 and $3.8 million. The combined CitationJet/CJ1/CJ1+ markets continue to see downward pressure influenced both the Mustang and Embraer Phenom 100 markets. The newer technology and relatively low acquisition price has attracted most new entrants into the world of jet ownership down the path of the Mustang or Phenom 100. As a result, a buildup of inventory has made the purchasing landscape attractive for individuals looking for a proven CitationJet at a bargain price.

the aircraft types discussed in this report. Inventory increased 76 percent from the end of March to the end of August, with for-sale aircraft increasing from 17 available units to 30 units. Many of the current sellers are reporting the need to sell their CJ3s to prepare for a future CJ4 delivery. CJ3 prices range from the mid$4 millions up to the low $6 millions. CJ2s are trading in the high $2 millions to mid $3 millions and CJ2+s are trading in the low $4 millions to low $5 millions.

Cessna CJ4

Cessna CJ2/CJ2+/CJ3 The arrival of the CJ4 has had a direct impact on both the CJ2/2+ and CJ3 markets. The CJ3 market saw the largest increase in the for-sale inventory of all of

a handful of aircraft having been delivered thus far. Current pricing on typically equipped CJ4s delivered in 2010 is approximately $9 million. Embraer Phenom 100

Cessna CJ2

Cessna CJ1

Cessna CJ4

The CJ4, Cessnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flagship single-pilot jet, was certified earlier this year. The OEM has been aggressive in promoting the new product, a significant step for the factory as it moves from maintaining its order book of early adopters to creating new orders. Year-to-date deliveries of the CJ4 appear to have been tempered as compared to publicly announced forecasts, with the FAA registry showing just

N BY QUALITY AND EXPERIENCE

Embraer continues to attack the light jet segment with its entry-level Phenom 100, with more than 150 of the model delivered since the end of 2008. As a Ânatural part of the maturing of the Phenom 100 market, the pre-owned market has grown along with the total Phenom fleet. Delivered Phenoms that are priced at or near the original invoice price remain

Embraer Phenom 100

untouched by buyers. However, when sellers accept the actual market value of their assets, aircraft are consistently selling in 15 to 45 days. Factory invoice on a new Phenom 100 delivered today is about $3.4 million. Lightly used Phenom 100s are trading just below $3 million. Embraer Phenom 300

Actual deliveries of new Phenom 300s from the factory remain in the single digits. The delivery position market has been relatively flat, with only a handful of transactions. Several positions are for sale on the secondary market for aircraft delivering in the next 12 months. The delivered price of more than $8 million puts the Phenom 300 in competition with lightly used midsize jets. o Cyrus Sigari is co-founder and president of jetAviva, a light jet sales and acquisition firm based in Santa Monica,Calif. *Market data provided by JetNet

Embraer Phenom 300

EVS prices trimmed for Alaska groups by Harry Weisberger Max-Viz, the Portland, Ore.area infrared enhanced-visionsystem (EVS) manufacturer, and One Sky Aviation of Anchorage, Alaska, have teamed to offer a minimum 25-percent discount

for EVS systems and kits to two Alaska organizations. The discount for Max-Viz EVS sensors (100/600/1500) and fully certified STC installation kits is being offered to Alaska Air Carrier

Association and Alaska Airmen’s Association members for the remainder of this year in response to a recent spike in accidents. “One Sky and Max-Viz are putting safety ahead of profits to

enhance the tremendous efforts of both the AACA and the Airmen’s associations,” said Max-Viz vice president of sales Bob Yerex. “The loss of senator Ted Stevens, one of the most endeared statesmen and true patriarchs of Alaska history, in a tragic aviation accident has spurred us into this cooperative concession.” Max-Viz designs and markets

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Max-Viz is offering discounts on EVS sensors for two Alaska groups.

what it calls the smallest, most reliable and affordable airborne EVS. The devices show actual images of terrain and other potential obstacles that cannot be seen by the naked eye during poor visibility conditions such as light fog, haze, smoke, brownout and whiteout, light precipitation and darkness. “The company has a significant investment in Alaska,” Yerex continued, “having teamed with One Sky Aviation to develop and certify our EVS product line on both general and business aircraft, as well as on helicopters. After nearly 10 years flying SAR here in Alaska, I have a defined personal investment, which is continued through the Alaska Air Carriers Association and a very cooperative relationship with the FAA in Anchorage.” Cary Foster, owner of One Sky Aviation added, “We have had the opportunity to develop these EVS STCs on platforms as varied as single-engine Cessnas through S-76 helicopters and transport category multi-engine turbine aircraft. Having personally known and worked closely with Bob Yerex for more than 25 years has clearly been an advantage in that, together, we and Max-Viz have received certification for nearly 200 separate aircraft, including almost the entire single-engine Cessna product line.” One Sky has completed international EVS certifications including Brazilian approval for the Sikorsky S-76 and is working on a Eurocopter EC 135 STC for a customer in Argentina. Foster was named Alaska’s Mechanic of the Year this past spring for his commitment and contribution to the safety of Alaska aviation through his work on these STC approvals. Lou Churchville, the company’s vice president of business development, is circulating here at the NBAA Convention to acquaint operators and installers with MaxViz’s activities. “We decided not to exhibit in Atlanta this year largely because so much of our business at the moment is factory-direct work,” he said. Churchville also noted that an agreement with Flight Vision under which the latter marketed Max-Viz EVS has been terminated. o

S P A C E -T I M E C O N T I N U U M YO U R ’ D AY I S N U M B E R E D. 10 .19. 2 0 10

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Europe preps for high-altitude regs by Charles Alcock The requirement for aircraft flying above FL285 in Europe to have the latest VDLM2 datalink capability begins on Jan. 1, 2011, and initially will apply to all new aircraft delivered after that date.

From Feb. 5, 2015, the mandate will be extended to all aircraft wanting to fly above this altitude. Aviation communications specialist Arinc Direct (Booth No. 3440) is advising operators not

to delay preparations to ensure that their aircraft can meet the VDLM2 requirement to avoid the inconvenience and additional operating cost of having to operate below FL285. Speaking at the

Arinc recently installed a new VHF datalink ground station at the UK’s Oxford Airport.

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

Light Jets Europe conference in the UK last month, Arinc Direct senior business manager James Hardie also advised operators who are due to take delivery of new aircraft to double-check that they are certified as VDLM2compliant if the delivery is to be made from the start of next year. “Just because your aircraft already has datalink doesn’t mean you can relax,” warned Hardie, referring to the fact that existing datalink installations do not necessarily meet the VDLM2 requirements. In some cases, upgrades can be made via software changes (as long as the aircraft is digitally wired), but operators need to check with equipment suppliers to be sure. The transition entails a progression from an Acars datalink based on analog VHF with data rates of just 2.4 kbps to the VDML2 standard based on a mode-2 VHF digital link at 30.5 kbps combined with ATN software for controller pilot datalink communications. Infrastructure Deployments

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00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 60

21.09.10 11:41

Work on ensuring that the necessary VDLM2 ground stations are in place is quite far advanced with the final deadlines for national air traffic management providers to comply being 2013 in western Europe and 2015 for most of central and eastern Europe. For its part, Arinc has already deployed most of the ground network that it uses to deliver services requiring datalinks. Its most recent installation was a new VHF datalink station at the UK’s Oxford Airport to meet growing demand for its GLOBALink VHF service. Hardie urged operators to view the required investment in reaching the VDML2 datalink standard as worthwhile in terms of more efficient use of Europe’s airspace. Not to be underestimated is the fuel-savings benefit of operating above FL285. For example, a Cessna Citation Mustang flying from Oxford to Nice would burn 131 pounds less fuel by operating at the VDML2-cleared altitude (a 10.8-percent saving). A longer trip would yield a more significant saving. o

PPG Aerospace (Booth No. 4053) Total Service Solutions Group has signed a multi-year contract with Savannah, Ga.based Gulfstream to provide comprehensive chemical support for the airframer’s G450, G550 and G650 programs. The group

provides customers with a modular approach for customized chemical management. Based in Sylmar, Calif., the PPG Industries subsidiary will provide chemical purchasing, ware housing and just-intime delivery of products such as

premixed frozen sealant, as well as quality control documentation, inventory management and environmental data collection and reporting. “We will take over responsibility for life-cycle management of chemicals, enabling Gulfstream to reduce its related

MATT THURBER

PPG to supply sealant for Gulfstreams

PPG Aerospace will provide life-cycle management of chemicals for Gulfstream’s G450, G550 and G650 programs, reducing costs for the airframer.

system costs significantly,” said Will Wenck, an account manger with PPG’s Application Support Center (ASC) in Kennesaw, Ga. “With less time and effort needed to manage and report chemical use, Gulfstream can focus on the business of building, selling and supporting airplanes.” A crucial component in that process is the steady supply of sealant, which has a wide variety of aerospace applications including fuel tank sealing, corrosion inhibition, aerodynamic smoothing, electrical insulation, windshield/canopy sealing, priming and topcoating. Workers at PPG’s Kennesaw facility will mix the sealant and load it into ready-to-use cartridges that will then be frozen for as-needed delivery to the aircraft manufacturer. “Gulfstream production operations require high volumes of premixed frozen sealant,” said Wenck. “Planning and forecasting are critical because the material has a typical shelf life of only 30 days and must be stored at temperatures below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.” o

Tu r b i n e

Comfort

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If you want to stay in your comfort zone, but while cruising at 31,000 feet and with an approach speed slow enough to land on most runways, the TBM 850 from DAHER-SOCATA is for you. Nearly as quick as a light jet, but at a fraction of the cost, the TBM 850 offers substantially more payload and range. Featuring outstanding dependability and ease of handling, the TBM 850 is powered by the Pratt & Whitney PT6A turbine engine and equipped with state-of-the-art Garmin G1000 avionics. The TBM 850’s luxuriously-appointed cabin and distinctive European styling raise the bar even further. We invite you to take the controls for an unforgettable experience, flight after flight. Contact your nearest TBM 850 distributor: www.tbm850.com

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Phenom 100 tire blowouts prompt scrutiny from FAA by Curt Epstein For the third time this year, an Embraer Phenom 100 suffered a dual tire blowout upon landing after a reported failure in the brake-by-wire system. The latest incident occurred September 25 as the twinjet landed at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. According to an airport official, the

Phenom had just taken off and retracted its gear when the pilot noted a brake failure indication and notified the tower of his intention to return. Upon application of the emergency brake, both main tires blew and the aircraft spun on the runway but did not leave it.

KEEP CATCH

This follows incidents on September 10 in Brenham, Texas, where a Phenom 100 departed the runway after it suffered a dual blowout, and one on March 4 in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. In both of those instances the aircraft also displayed a brake failure caution message before landing and required the use of emergency brakes to stop. The FAA is working with its Brazilian counterpart and the airframer to address it. “Embraer has issued service materials for two identified issues, and there is ongoing evaluation of the root causes for at least two additional components that

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might be contributing,” the agency stated. In May, the Brazilian manufacturer issued an operational bulletin regarding appropriate brake cool down times and brake checks after any landing, rejected takeoff or extended taxiing, stating it has noticed that “under certain conditions, the brake assembly temperatures may reach levels that may lead to a malfunction of a shuttle valve assembled to it. Possible consequences are temporary loss of main brakes during taxi, followed or not by BRK Fail CAS message.” That bulletin was followed a day later by a service bulletin that dealt with the replacement and installation of a new shuttle valve in the Meggitt brake system, which was expected to improve reliability. According to Edson Mallaco, Embraer’s v-p for customer support and services, executive jets, approximately 70 percent of the 150 affected aircraft have already incorporated the service bulletin. Embraer, in its response to the incidents, noted that it could not comment further due to the ongoing NTSB investigation. The company cautioned that the “reported brake events may have been caused by a different number of factors and it is premature to establish any connection between the relevant scenarios at this point.” The airframer is mulling additional clarifications to its flight operations manuals. In an e-mail sent this month to Phenom 100 operators, Embraer highlighted several procedural aspects for pilots regarding the use of the aircraft’s emergency brakes. Operator Experience

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66aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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Tom Latson, the NTSB’s investigator-in-charge of the Brenham, Texas incident, told AIN that he would like to hear from any Phenom 100 operator who has experienced a BRK Fail EICAS warning in the past (tom.latson@ntsb.gov). Among those would be Jim and Betsy Frost, owners of the first Phenom 100, who took delivery of their aircraft less than two years ago. Since then, they have experienced three brake failure incidents, although none resulted in a tire blowout. The first was a brake fail warning upon landing, the result of a failure of the right brake control valve. In this instance, Betsy Frost was able to stop the aircraft using only the left brake. The next incident occurred while taxiing at Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport. The main brake system failed and the aircraft was successfully stopped with the emergency brake. In the third instance, upon departing from a small Texas airport, the couple received a brake fail warning, which cleared itself before they landed without incident at Houston Hobby. Jim Frost believes that the pilots who received brake failure notification soon after takeoff in those recent instances would have had ample opportunity to avoid damage to the aircraft by selecting a diversion airport with a long wide runway. “Given an eight- or ten-thousand foot runway, stopping the Phenom with the emergency brake system should not be too difficult, but trying to land on a six-thousand foot runway can be very difficult,” he said. o

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Universal Weather intros mobile trip-planning feature

I FLY THE MU-2 BECAUSE…

by Matt Thurber

‘‘

It has a unique set of valuable capabilities, like a smooth ride in turbulence, the ability to get in and out of short runways and reliability – much more bang for your buck.

’’

– Brett Meares, MU-2 Pilot

Brett Meares and his L model MU-2 based at his Tampa, Florida Gulfside Construction Services were the perfect team, working long hours to restore and save lives in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Brett was well prepared for the emergency work in Haiti drawing on his experience serving the insurance industry as a disaster restoration expert. Along with other MU-2 owners and operators, Meares flew missions to Haiti almost immediately after disaster struck but Meares’ commitment is particularly notable as he says he logged about one-hundred missions delivering doctors, medical supplies and other crucial supplies. The L model MU-2 he flew to Haiti is the second MU-2 Brett has owned and he vows he won’t own another kind of plane. “I believe the nature of man is basically good, call it religious or whatever, but my experience in Haiti was very impactful for me. The MU-2 was the right plane for the job.” – Brett Meares – MU-2 Pilot To learn more about the MU-2 experience visit www.mu-2aircraft.com or

After the logistical nightmare caused by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano earlier this year, Universal Weather and Aviation owner Greg Evans challenged his colleagues to develop a way for the company to help clients in future volcanic ash events. Product manager for weather and mobile solutions Shawn Rampy and his team took up the challenge and researched the problem, consulting with experts and studying possible practical solutions. The result is Universal’s new volcanic ash monitoring and modeling service. The company is employing an ash forecasting tool developed by the scientific community, which “applies the latest physics to pollution and ash dispersion advection physics,” Rampy explained. “We have set it up such that we are able to run numeric simulations on any ash event at any point on the globe and for any time periods or durations.” Volcanic ash forecasting is part of the regular trip-planning services offered by Universal. “We wanted to get this piece of it out there now,” he said. “There is heightened sensitivity because of the events of last spring, and we understand the pain these types of events cause.” In his research on volcanic ash events, Rampy found that the nine volcanic ash advisory centers offer only 18-hour forecasts of ash movement and that there is a surprising amount of volcanic activity around the world. The forecasting tool allows Universal forecasters to look days into the future instead of hours, by modeling ash physics and weather and wind forecasts to see how an ash event will affect customer trips. “We’re looking at this information and proactively contacting clients,” Rampy said. Mobile Access

At Universal’s NBAA booth (No. 3927), visitors can learn more about the new volcanic ash forecasting service and try Universal’s newest development– access to online trip status information from any mobile device. Universal is also giving free copies of the print version of the UVTripPlanner to attendees. Trip status is one of the primary ways that Universal customers interact with the company and it has been available online for a while. But so many pilots are using mobile devices that Universal felt it was

important to meet the demand for access to Universal services on the mobile Internet. “This offering will replicate the full functionality of our existing online desktop trip status experience,” said Rampy. “We’re presenting the same tools in a format that they can access 24/7/365 instead of that small time that we spend in front of our computers.…We’re committed to be the leader for providing tools for clients where they are, whenever they are, when they need it and also whichever device.” Web-based Apps

The way Universal is making its tools accessible on mobile devices is different from what has been typical. Most companies are developing applications or software that runs on specific devices: for example, apps on Apple’s App Store for the iPhone and iPad, or Android apps for smartphones (and soon tablet computers) that run Google’s mobile operating system. BlackBerrys have their own App World, and there are others like the upcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system and Symbian used in Nokia phones. Writing an app for each device is expensive and time-consuming. By making its tools available on the devices’ Web browsers, Universal avoids the hassle of device-specific app development and will have an easier time updating its offerings. “The strategy for us is to present a comprehensive and all-inclusive offering. This will take advantage of the unique conventions on each device, with the same look and feel clients are comfortable with in each mobile operating system,” said Rampy. The next tool that Universal plans to add to its mobile offerings is its UVTripPlanner directory, which is to be available on the mobile Web platform shortly after the NBAA show, according to Marcus Walker, product manager for flight planning. When customers access Universal’s Web site via their mobile devices, the system will automatically recognize the type of device and optimize the display for that device, he explained. And as more aircraft have the capability of logging on to the Internet in flight, Universal customers will be able to use these new tools for all of the their flight planning and handling, especially when last-minute changes occur. o

contact Pat Cannon at 972-248-3108.

OBAMA SIGNS BONUS DEPRECIATION PROVISION President Obama signed new legislation that includes a provision for bonus depreciation, which allows aircraft buyers to accelerate cost recovery of their purchase made this year. “NBAA thanks President Obama for enacting this important tax provision for American businesses,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “Now that the President has signed the measure into law, companies will be able to take advantage of the provision right away, giving them access to the benefits of business aviation.” Bolen appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” last month to discuss the importance of bonus depreciation. View the video at www.nbaa.org/news/multimedia/videos/20100824-cnbc.php. –M.T.

68aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Bose upgrades Headset X with noise-canceling A20 The A20 headset control module is battery powered, but the A20 can also run on aircraft power using a six-pin connector. A welcome feature is the

Fans of Bose’s noise-canceling headsets might want to stop by the company’s NBAA booth (No. 6068) to try out the A20. Introduced at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh in July, the $1,095 (retail) headset incorporates some significant improvements from the original Bose Aviation Headset X, which pioneered noise-canceling for aviation headsets when it hit the market 12 years ago. The major improvements on the A20 are not just built-in Bluetooth and auxiliary input but greatly enhanced noise reduction. Where the Headset X has one internal microphone inside each ear cup to supply the antinoise signal that cancels sound waves, the A20 has microphones inside and outside the ear cup. These cancel noise in a wider range of frequencies and also help cancel ambient noise that the Headset X couldn’t sense. Bose engineers redesigned the center torsion spring and reduced the A20’s clamping pressure by one third (compared to most headsets, according to the company). New cushions made from a memorytype foam have leatherette covering that dries out quickly. The ear cups are smaller overall but have a larger interior volume to accommodate people with bigger ears. The microphone can be attached to either ear cup. The aux audio input is handy for connecting GPS units and audio devices like MP3 players directly to the headset (standard 3.5-mm adapter). The Bluetooth is only for cell phones, however, and won’t work with wireless MP3 players. For safety, the multifunction/audio priority switch allows pilots to select from three choices: intercom prioritized over aux input; intercom mixed with aux; or intercom only.

smart shutoff, which turns off the battery automatically when it isn’t being used. The A20 comes with a fiveyear warranty and is FAA/ JAA TSO approved and meets RTCA/DO-160D and DO-214 environmental requirements. For pilots who don’t want the Bluetooth feature, a non-Bluetooth A20 retails for $995. –M.T.

AT THE BOOTHS Each day during the NBAA convention, Dallas Aeronautical Services (Booth No. 1453) is giving away a free hammer for use in tap testing of bonded structures to the first 25 visitors who work at maintenance departments. The company is based in Lancaster, Texas, and specializes in repair and exchange of composite components, overhaul of Gulfstream II and III thrust reversers, metal machining and manufacturing and composite structures training. Dallas Aeronautical also offers in-house primer and topcoat capabilities, composite and metal-to-metal bonding and can design and fabricate tooling. v

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www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa69

The composite ‘very light personal jet’ is expected to cruise at more than 400 knots at 41,000 feet with four occupants and their luggage. Range is predicted to be 1,500 nm.

Stratos Aircraft shows off its composite ‘people friendly’ jet by Kirby J. Harrison

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Stratos Aircraft, here at NBAA with a full-scale mockup of its Stratos 714 “very light personal jet” (Booth No. 7815), is promoting the four-seat, single-engine aircraft as “very friendly.” Stratos designers and engineers started with a clean sheet and an awareness that most twinjet business aircraft flights average 1,000-mile legs and carry only 1.6 to 2.5 passengers. From that, they came up with a single-engine jet carrying four people. And, added president and CEO Alex Craig, “with comparable room, comfort and performance at a significantly lower cost.” With the centerline Williams International FJ44-3AP engine placed near the center of gravity, handling is expected to be predictable, with “benign stall characteristics.” Thanks to a straightwing design, the airplane is expected to have a 63-knot stall speed and 100-knot approaches “will be normal,” he said. Full-authority digital engine controls will be standard, with a high level of automation. Starting the engine will be a simple matter of pushing a single button. An auto-throttle feature, typically not available except in high-end business jets, will be optional, said Craig. The 714 will feature as standard sidestick controls, glass cockpit and a fully integrated autopilot. Carrying four occupants and luggage, the aircraft is expected to cruise at 41,000 feet at more than 400 knots, with a range of up to 1,500 nm. Passengers Not an Afterthought

While the 714 has all the bells and whistles to please the owner/pilot, the Stratos designers didn’t forget the passengers. Of carbon composite construction, the airplane is expected to have a quieter cabin than a comparable aircraft of typical aluminum construction. The cabin is 4 feet 8 inches wide, the rear seats will recline nearly 45 degrees and, according to the company, “People over six feet five inches tall are surprised to discover that they can occupy any seat with plenty of legroom and enough headroom to allow for one of those Indiana Jones fedoras.” While three passengers plus one pilot is standard, the four-place cabin can be configured for five. A private lavatory behind the rear seats also is an option.

At EAA’s AirVenture 2010 in Oshkosh in July, Craig watched as a 6-foot 10-inch former Chicago Bulls basketball star climbed into the pilot’s seat of the f ull-scale mockup and remarked with a surprised laugh, “I fit.” Then his brother, also 6 feet 10 inches tall, sat down in the adjacent seat. Finally, a third family member sat down in the one of the rear seats and Craig took the remaining spot. “With 30 inches of legroom between the front and rear seats,” said Craig, “we all fit. It’s a very light p ersonal jet, but with the room and amenities of a much larger business jet.” Funding and Orders

Bend, Ore.-based Stratos is accepting refundable deposits, which are placed in escrow in interest-bearing accounts at Wells Fargo Bank. According to chief sales officer Kevin Jordan, deposits in the Assurance Deposit Program can be retrieved by the investor “at any time,” said Jordan. Deposits are being taken based on a $2 million sale price, and while declining to discuss an exact number, Craig said orders began coming in immediately after the initial mockup was unveiled at AirVenture 2009. The company completed an initial first phase of fund raising in the amount of $15 million that will take the 714 through to the first flight of a conformable aircraft. An additional $110 million will be raised to take the program through certification and first deliveries, he said. Craig declined to discuss an exact timeline for specific goals. However, he said, “We do know precisely how long and how much money it is going to take for every phase, in detail. We’ve already met with the FAA and have the type certification program laid out.” Despite a market landscape littered with very light jet failures, Craig is convinced that Stratos has learned from the mistakes that afflicted those programs. One fundamental difference, he explained, is that Stratos is not promoting new technology. “Every major element of this airplane is already certified, from the engine to the fully integrated autopilot. Sometimes it’s better not to be the first to fly,” he said, “but to be a fast follower and an astute student who can learn and benefit from the costly and financially fatal mistakes of others.” o

Everest touts value of ‘fuel management’ by Curt Epstein Everest Fuel Management customer would do themselves is using its NBAA appear- to properly manage fuel if they ance (Booth No. 6048) to had the time and resources, so mark an impressive milestone. we can be a great resource and In business for five years, the time savings for the pilot or Houston-based company has for the scheduler,” Lewis told recently added its 2,000th jet to AIN. The company specializes in searching for the lowest fuel its fuel program. In its present incarnation, prices for its customers, and the company, which president aside from a per gallon marRob Lewis described as the gin based on the entire pursecond or third largest buyer chase, charges no other fees nor of jet fuel in the market after requires any plan enrollment. Based on its volume of fuel fractional providers like NetJets, resulted from the joining purchases, along with direct of contract fueler Everest Avi- deals with oil companies and ation Resources and Sentient more than 1,000 FBOs and fuel Jet’s fuel management program providers around the world, after Sentient merged its fuel Everest said it offers significant program with Everest early last fuel savings for flight departyear. This past February, the ments. “We typically find that division was spun off and sold our process and our pricing to Australian private equity enable the customer to save fund Macquarie Global Oppor- 45 to 55 cents per gallon on average,” said Lewis. “That’s tunity Partners. “Fuel management is the compared to our experience notion that we would do what a of what typical customers are 9/14 NBAA 2010 ad 1_NBAA 2010 9/15/10 10:43 AM Page 1

already paying for fuel with whatever methods they have available to them.” For most of the company’s customers, once an itinerary is set by a flight department, a copy is sent (in many cases automatically) to Everest. “That begins the process on our end to start to research what the different fuel options are, and what’s the best one to use,” Lewis said. From the time they receive the itinerary, the turnaround time for the research is approximately six minutes. That research also takes into account variables such as ramp fees and what volume of fuel purchase would get them waived. Everest also looks for price breaks for different uplift

amounts. The company then arranges the fuel, notifies the customer and the FBO–as well as the handler if it’s an international flight–so all parties are aware of what to expect when the aircraft arrives. Once the transaction is complete, the fueler then bills Everest, which verifies the amount of fuel uplifted and the correct price before charging the customer. If there is a discrepancy, Everest’s post-verify department will investigate it. Another area of savings offered by the company is in time, as recent industry austerity has forced the contraction of flight departments. Remaining employees often find themselves with more tasks. “The schedulers have multiple responsibilities,”

Sample Fuel Volume and Savings Report Uplifts

Total gallons uplifted

4,617

Avg retail price per gallon

$5.71

Avg Everest price per gallon

$4.75

Avg savings price per gallon

$0.96

Total $ discount vs. retail Ramp fee savings

said Lewis. “They have to make sure the pilots are on duty, and that the caterer is there, the ground transportation is there, all things that the customer notices or are safety related items. Fuel may be one of the last things they have time for, and on our end, that’s all we do,” he said. During the past two years, the company has experienced “tremendous growth,” which according to Lewis could be tied to the recent downturn and the trend of cost cutting. “I think the belt tightening both in terms of getting the fuel price down, and [having] a smaller flight department to deal with these issues, just creates a dynamic where the nature of our product fits even better over the last two years than where the needs were five years ago,” he said. “Two years ago we did decide to get more aggressive about trying to grow the business. I think those two things coincided very well.” o

$4,432.32 $2,720

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• Stall Warning Systems • Angle-of-Attack Systems • Automatic Throttle Systems (AutoPower®) • Airborne Wind Shear Warning Systems • N1/EPR/RAT Flight Computers • Speed Command Attitude Thrust (SCAT®) • Ice Detection Systems • Helicopter Exceedance Warning Systems • Helicopter Powerline Detection Systems

Visit us at NBAA – Booth #1615

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa71

Hubbard QS3 hush kits quiet Gulfstream IIs/IIIs by Matt Thurber Hubbard Aviation Technologies has made a major commitment to its Stage 3-certified

QS3 hush-kit program for the Gulfstream GII, GIISP, GIIB and GIII. The program was

originally launched by Stage III Technologies, which received an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) in December 2003 for the modification but went out of business in February 2008. Hubbard Aviation founder Stanley Hubbard owns the first Gulfstream II modified with the QS3 hush kit and bought the assets of Stage III Technologies.

Stage III contracted with 10 vendors to manufacture all the components for the hush kit, but now Hubbard Aviation is working with a single vendor, Aeroshear Aviation Services, a Van Nuys, Calif. manufacturing company and FAA-approved repair station. Hubbard Aviation has contracted for Aeroshear to build components for six hush

kits and order materials for an additional six kits. Aeroshear will do the first few installations at its Van Nuys maintenance facility, then Hubbard will authorize other installation centers. The kit is expected to sell for $1.5 million, and installation should take about four weeks and around 1,000 labor hours. Installation involves removing systems, shelves and brackets from the Gulfstream’s “hell-hole” and adding some structural elements, including a stainless steel I-beam that transfers loads to the fuselage. The three major components in the hush kit are an alternating-lobe exhaust nozzle, fuselage-mounted ejector with noise-absorbing acoustic lining and cascade-style thrust reverser. QS3-modified Gulfstreams meet Stage 3 noise limits without any operational restrictions, according to the company, including the ability to depart at mtow with normal flap settings and no reduction in engine pressure ratio. The hush kit doesn’t affect the operation of the engine and doesn’t cause any changes in performance. The cascade-style thrust reverser system is lighter than the original clamshell system and uses 82 percent power instead of the 94 percent for the clamshell system, reducing engine wear. Lower-cost Noise Compliance

With used GIIs selling for as little as $500,000, does it make sense to offer a retrofit that will cost more than $2 million? QSC president and COO Bernard Weiss believes that there is a market for the QS3 hush kit. Gulfstream IVs sell for three to four times the price of a GIII, and as the economy recovers from the recession, charter hours have increased and used airplane prices should firm up. As the GIV and GIV-SP near the $10 million mark, a used and hushkitted GII or GIII, he said, “looks like a more reasonable decision.” Hubbard Aviation recently conducted flight tests of a QTAequipped GII-SP and Hubbard’s QS3-modified GII-SP. While both met the Stage III noise certification standards, according to Hubbard’s testing, the QS3 Gulfstream was quieter than the QTA jet in flyover (by 3.8 dB), lateral (by 4.1 dB) and approach (by 6.1 dB). Here at NBAA, Hubbard is showing the QS3 hushkit, both on a Hubbard Gulfstream at the static display and with an actual nacelle mounted on a stand that shows how the hushkit and thrust reversers work. o

72aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

10th ‘Twin Commander U’ coming in ’11 by David A. Lombardo Matt Isley, president of Twin Commander Aircraft, said the company’s 10th Twin Commander University will be held April 28 to 30, 2011, at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort

& Spa in Bonita Springs, Fla. “We’ve held Twin Commander University every other year since the early 1990s. It’s an opportunity for everyone to get together and discuss issues

relating to service and maintenance of the fleet,” Isley said. “Some of the sessions scheduled include flying Waas approaches, thunderstorm avoidance tactics and using Nexrad mapping.

We’re going to talk about our latest product upgrade initia tives, and [Honeywell’s] Helmuth Eggeling will offer his TPE331 pilot operating tips. FlightSafety International will also be making a presentation as will Honeywell, StandardAero and others. There will also be some good, old fun mixed in.” Here at NBAA, representa-

A number of Twin Commanders are in government service as fire spotters.

tives from factory-authorized Grand Renaissance Twin Commander service centers are on hand at the Twin Commander booth (No. 2519) to discuss operational, service and maintenance issues. Isley said the representatives are from Aerocentro de Servicos of Caracas, Venezuela; Aero Air of Hillsboro, Ore.; Eagle Creek Aviation Services of Indianapolis; Naples Jet Center, Naples, Fla.; Legacy Aviation of Yukon, Okla.; and Executive Aircraft Maintenance of Scottsdale. A staff member from StandardAero/Augusta, specializing in the H oneywell TPE331-10T engine conversion, is also present. Twin Commander also has announced that is offering special pricing for the Dash 10T engine conversion until December 31. Included in the special price is removal and replacement of the engines, the hot-section upgrade by StandardAero and airframe upgrades to accommodate the new engines. The upgrade involves replacing the engine’s hot section, which results in a nearly 20-percent increase in thermodynamic rating, according to Twin Commander. Maximum flat-rated power with the Dash 10T is available to 16,000 feet compared with 10,000 feet for the original Dash 5. This enables the modified 690 to cruise 25 knots faster at altitude. One of Isley’s favorite subjects when talking to customers is how Twin Commander Aircraft supports the speedy twin turboprop’s role in government. “We have 76 Twin Commanders in various types of government service,” he said. “One popular adaptation of the Twin Commander is its air attack role for fire spotting. Twin Commanders are being used to lead other aircraft into a fire zone to pinpoint a dump zone. The operators have told us they like the aircraft because two engines provide that extra layer of safety and the high wing configuration affords excellent ground visibility.” o

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 74

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Please visit us at Booth 3257 in Hall B.

Avfuel branches out into global trip-planning business by Kirby J. Harrison Avfuel, known best for its global fuel distribution services, is here at NBAA (Booth No. 7346) promoting its new Avplan worldwide flight-planning business. According to vice president of contract fuel Russ Standefer, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company had

begun working with some of the better known international trip planners over the past several years in an effort to provide a more complete service for its customers. “But we realized after a while that what we really needed to do was to make flight planning Avfuel’s Avplan flight-planning service arranges ground handling, concierge services, permits and customs, as well as the company’s bread and butter–fuel services.

an integral part of our own business,” he said. The opportunity to do so came with the acquisition earlier this year of Pacific Coast Forecasting, based in Van Nuys, Calif. “We had a lot of experience in trip planning,” said Michael Wittman, founder of Pacific Coast and now director of flight support at Avfuel. “We brought the entire organization into Avfuel, moved it to Ann Arbor, and we’re now up and running, 24/7, anywhere in the world, as Avplan.” Personalized Service

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For a chance to win a scholarship seat in an upcoming aviation-specific program, visit us at Booth #7622. *NBAA members receive 10% off fee..

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76aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Wittman said Pacific Coast also brought with it a personalized service that’s typical of a smaller operation that fit into Avfuel’s corporate culture. “You don’t get handed from one person to another, instead you deal with the same person throughout,” he explained. “And with Avfuel as the parent company, with its extensive Internet technology, we have the ability to carry that personalized service even further. It’s old-fashioned service with high-tech capabilities.” Finally, he said, “Pacific Coast also brought along a majority of its longtime customers, adding to the pool of regular Avfuel customers who can now take advantage of the new trip-planning service. Avplan, Wittman added, can arrange customs and immigration support, ground handling, concierge services, visa waivers, permits and insurance. It also provides international and domestic flight planning and passenger handling, and “as a one-stop shop, we can also arrange fuel services.” o

AT THE BOOTHS Information provider Conklin & de Decker Associates is offering 20-percent discounts to NBAA attendees for its popular products, including the Aircraft Cost Evaluator, Life Cycle Cost software, Aircraft Performance Comparator and State Tax Guide. The first three products cover hundreds of aircraft types, and the tax guide lists sales and use taxes, exemptions, registration and other fees, personal property taxes and others for all 50 states in the U.S. Demos of these products are available at the Conklin & de Decker exhibit (Booth No. 1519). v

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Visit us during NBAA at the Rockwell Collins booth 7557.

Pentastar rides out recession with diverse service offerings by Matt Thurber

Surviving in the aviation business during an economic downturn is easier for diversified companies like Pentastar Aviation. The company has two FBOs–one at Oakland County International Airport in Pontiac, Mich., and another at Van Nuys Airport in Southern California. Ad_NBAA100818.pdf

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“It’s been tough sledding,” admitted Edsel B. Ford II, who bought the operation called DaimlerChrysler Aviation on Oct. 31, 2001, and resurrected the company’s former name, Pentastar Aviation. What gives Pentastar Aviation (Booth No. 7119) an advantage is that it serves

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78aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Pentastar Aviation operates two FBOs one in Pontiac, Mich., and another Van Nuys, Calif. Owner Edsel B. Ford II, right, is considering whether to build a new facility on the California site.

almost every facet of aviation except for manufacturing, which certainly has been in a tough place of its own during the downturn. Pentastar’s core business is its charter/management division, but the company also operates a heavy maintenance and avionics service facility, including the only independent Gulfstream-authorized service center in the U.S. It also offers aircraft sales and a fairly new service whereby the company manages flight operations for the University of Michigan Health System aeromedical service. That contract covers one jet and three helicopters. “I think they realized we could do really good work for them and they’re pleased with us as a supplier,” he said. “That’s a new niche for us. We think that with the university under our wing we can potentially pick up some new customers.” Ford said he is happy with the Van Nuys FBO, but will need to make some decisions about whether to build a new facility, as was planned when Pentastar bought the current property a few years ago. “We’re in the midst of negotiating with LAWA,” he said, referring to Los Angeles World Airports, which runs Van Nuys Airport. “Right as we were trying to figure out our long-term strategic plan, the recession hit,” he said. While aircraft management has been a decent business to be in, because many jet owners can’t afford to sell their aircraft and need help caring for their airplanes and charter revenue to keep costs down, “the management services business is not that much easier,” according to Ford. One positive outcome for Pentastar, however, is that it has been storing aircraft for banks that ended up owning them after

foreclosing on loans. Pentastar not only keeps its hangars fuller, but also maintains the stored aircraft so they retain value and are ready to sell. Ford, who spent time at this year’s EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis., at the Ford Motor pavilion, is impressed at the sophistication of modern light turboprops and jets and sees a business opportunity. “We could provide dispatch services and light maintenance,” he said. (Ford is the great-grandson of automobile magnate Henry Ford and is a member of the Ford Motor Co. board of directors.) Although Pentastar consistently scores high in industry surveys like the annual AIN FBO Survey, the company also surveys 100 percent of the pilots that use its FBOs. “We’ve gotten some terrific feedback,” Ford said. One example was a complaint that the TV remote control in the pilot’s lounge was too complicated, so that was changed. A female pilot mentioned that it might make sense to install a changing table in the restroom. “That was a good idea,” he said, “so we put one in.” Another example was a request by NetJets to place cones around parked airplanes, so now all airplanes are coned. For a Midwest-based company, the charter market has been “tough sledding,” he said. “The charter business is not where it used to be. People are always asking for better pricing. It doesn’t seem like business is improving that much from the charter point of view or selling airplanes on behalf of our customers. On other hand, the maintenance business is very good, very steady, and customers are willing to pay for services. We don’t get too much pushback on pricing.” o

Astronics offers new LED lights

positioning amplifies light intensity by redirecting and refocusing stray light back into the reflector. The design requires fewer LEDs, which means that the lights generate less heat, weigh less and last longer, the company said, “resulting in a more stable and reliable product.” “In contrast to many of the competing LED landing/taxi lights that employ large quantities of LEDs pointed straight outward,” said Perry Rucker, sales and marketing manager for the exterior lighting product line, “our approach results in a more efficient thermal design, ensuring a stable light output over the life of the product.” The new LED lights are also available in an infrared output version for night-vision-goggle operations. Astronics, which is based in East Aurora, N.Y., is working with aircraft manufacturers to make the new LED taxi and landing lights available for retrofit. o

Astronics, a provider of advanced, high-performance lighting and electronics systems for the global aerospace industry, has announced a new line of LED landing and taxi lights that consume much less power than the incandescent lights that they replace. Available in standard PAR36 and PAR46 sizes and a variety of beam patterns, the new LED lights are designed to optimize “the optical efficiency of the parabolic reflector by placing the LED within the reflector’s focal spot,” according to Astronics (Booth No. 3653). This

Visit us at NBAA Exhibit #8637

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Plus, they’re standard on the new 90GTx Adding Winglets to your King Air 90 will deliver a range of tangible benefits, including improved speed, handling, and rate of climb. In fact, Hawker Beechcraft is installing BLR Winglets as standard equipment on all new 90GTx aircraft. Winglets are also available for King Air 200, 200GT, and 300 aircraft. Want to know how Winglets can benefit your operation? Contact BLR for performance details.

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80BLR aaNBAA News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com P2 AIN.indd Convention 5 10/11/10 10:16 AM

Interior refurbs provide alternative to new jet buys by Kirby J. Harrison At a time when the business aviation used business jets is starting to dwindle industry is showing signs of recovery, you and prices of some models are rising. may be wondering whether it makes more According to brokers, a lot of buyers sat sense to update a used airplane or buy a on the fence for the past year waiting to new one from a manufacturer. Some bro- see how low the market would go. It did kers, analysts and consultants say you’re get low enough to buy a good used Gulfnow often better off putting money into stream GIV-SP for about $20 million, a good used aircraft–one you buy or one some $10 million less than it was going you already own–than opting for a fac- for 18 months ago. But prices are inchtory-fresh model. ing up again, arousing interest among One dramatic recent example of how those fence sitters. Gulfstream Vs that this can pay off involves a Boeing 777 that were selling in the $20 million range are the buyer purchased shortly after an air- already up to $27 million, according to line retired it. The total cost–which covered Bryan Comstock, president of Jeteffect acquiring the jet and having it gutted and (Static Display), a jet sales and acquisifinished in a government executive/VIP con- tions firm in Long Beach, Calif. Hofffiguration–slightly exceeded $70 million. man noted that clean, low-time midsize The big twinjet is now for sale in the jets are also starting to move. $110 million range, and a representaAnother factor to consider when tive for the buyer expects that if the mar- deciding whether to refurbish or upgrade ket continues to recover, its value could a used aircraft is the cost of the work. approach $170 million by 2013. Others The recession has driven at least six caution, however, that aircraft are depreciating assets and that one should never count on their values increasing over time, as the past two years have painfully illustrated to some owners. A major cabin upgrade can make more sense than buying new even for those who want the latest and greatest, said Kevin Hoffman, president and CEO of Aerospace Con- Midcoast Aviation refurbished this Bombardier Challenger 601-3A. cepts in Montreal. He noted that the wait for a new airplane, even now, small- and medium-sized refurbishment might be two years, during which time the specialists out of business. Most of those definition of “latest and greatest” could that remain have cut refurbishment and evolve, prompting work-order changes upgrade charges down to little more than and delivery delays. On the other hand, what they need to keep the doors open if you purchase a low-time used jet, for and a core of skilled employees working. which the upgrade isn’t likely to take more But that’s starting to change as used airthan six months, the technology you have craft inventory begins to shrink. added will still be relatively new when the A refurbishment or major upgrade airplane is delivered. is one of the first things a used airBut the best reason to buy used and craft buyer considers, and according refurbish, said Hoffman, is that it simply to Jerry King, chairman and founder of costs less. You can purchase a relatively King Aerospace (Booth No. 4939), “We low-time Bombardier Global Express have more quotes out now than we’ve these days for about $24 million, and a had in years.” major interior upgrade will bump up His company isn’t the only one keepyour cost by about $2 million. And that’s ing busy. “Maintenance shops are back including the latest in high-speed Inter- up to about 75 percent of what they were net connectivity, a cabin-management before the recession,” said Randy Keeker system with Blu-ray video, a couple of of Comlux (Booth No. 3851), whose 42-inch HD video screens, satellite televi- Indianapolis-based business has seen an sion and docks for such carry-on enter- increase in maintenance and overhaul tainment as iPods and video games. work and who expects refurbishment Add another $500,000 to $1 million orders to follow suit. “It sure looks a lot for cockpit avionics upgrades and exte- better than 18 months ago.” rior paint and you end up with nearly Despite these trends, refurbishment or a the equivalent of a new $53.25 million major upgrade of an older model can save Global Express XRS at about half the you a substantial sum. But that doesn’t necprice. The range will be about 1,000 nm essarily mean they’re the best solution for less, but if that limitation isn’t mission- you. Refurbishing or upgrading can be critical, you’ve got a bargain. time consuming. And there’s nothing quite On the negative side, the crop of good like a brand-new airplane. o

Sandel delivers its first HeliTAWS by Harry Weisberger Sandel Avionics, Vista, Calif., has gained TSO and Part 27 supplemental type certificate (STC) approvals for its class-A HeliTAWS helicopter terrain avoidance and warning system, which includes a proprietary nuisance-alert elimination feature and high-resolution 3-D terrain display. The first HeliTAWS fleet installation is for Agusta 109s flown for North Memorial Medical Center, Robbinsdale, Minn. MSP Aero of Minneapolis–an FAA-approved repair station specializing in helicopter and business jet avionics including 800-MHz (P25 compliant) radios, Waas-capable GPS upgrades and STC development–is doing the installations under Sandel’s recently issued STC. The HeliTAWS is designed to increase the safety of demanding helicopter missions such as helicopter emergency medical services, offshore operations, tactical military support, search-and-rescue and airborne law enforcement. According to Sandel, HeliTAWS exceeds requirements governing en route helicopter TAWS. The ruggedized, self-contained system’s display directly replaces existing radar altimeter indicators. The company, which is demonstrating the HeliTAWS system at its booth here (No. 4127), claims its TrueAlert technology increases pilot confidence in terrain avoidance by eliminating nuisance alerts, a significant problem with other terrainwarning products that limits their usefulness in helicopter operations. With TrueAlert, Sandel says, pilots can safely take off, cruise, hover and land at off-airport locations without triggering nuisance alerts while still receiving class-A terrain warnings during the entire flight. The system requires no in-flight pilot management. “We wanted to develop a breakthrough that would significantly raise the bar on HTAWS performance and expectations,” said Gerry Block, Sandel’s president. “The universal complaint with all existing systems has been that during normal helicopter missions the pilot gets unnecessary and distracting alerts. In contrast, HeliTAWS completely eliminates nuisance alerts. “The difference with HeliTAWS,” he continued, “is that our system works exactly as the pilot expects in all phases of

flight. This includes the capability for off-airport landings in terrain-challenged environments, which was quite a technical design achievement.” The self-contained 3-ATI

panel-mounted HeliTAWS incorporates an HTAWS computer, terrain and obstacle databases, plus configurable interfaces for digital and analog avionics. It can serve as a primary radar

altitude indicator compatible with virtually all radar altimeter systems. It can also display TCAS, TAS or TCAD traffic. HeliTAWS is available with Sandel’s proprietary on-demand MIL-STD-3009 class-B nightvision-system optics. The company began to ship the product late this summer at a retail list price of $18,950. o

Sandel’s compact ST3400H HeliTAWS can be installed in the place of an existing radar altimeter.

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa81

New projects slow, as manufacturers await rebound

usiness aviation is at a crossroads, held back by a brutal economy that is still taking its toll on flight departments, canceled new aircraft orders and used aircraft prices that remain at record lows. Development of new jets remains a bellwether for the industry, driving implementation of new technology, manufacturing jobs and eventually hiring of pilots, mechanics, flight attendants and FBO personnel. But the new aircraft scene has slowed down considerably and some programs are essentially on hiatus, waiting for a financial shot in the arm while others, propelled by surviving orders, are moving ahead. Certainly the economy is a factor, but perhaps the dearth of new aircraft on the horizon has more to do with the fact that so many market niches have already been skillfully filled by so many aircraft manufacturers. Bold manufacturers are moving ahead, however, and for the next few years programs that were launched in better times will come to fruition. And perhaps by then the ranks of used airplanes will have thinned and new technologies will encourage manufacturers old and new to break out their sketchbooks and pen some radical new designs.

New Business Jets 2010 by Matt Thurber certification of the Vision jet in 2012 or 2013, depending how quickly the funding comes through. The $1.72 million (2009 $) Vision jet is powered by a Williams International FJ33-5A and will cruise at 300 knots at a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet. Maximum range will be 1,100 nm with 400 pounds of payload. The Vision jet will seat five, with space for two additional seats.

Daher-Socata NTx

Another company with a nascent jet design is Daher-Socata, which recently hired back Stéphane Mayer as CEO. Mayer was chairman and CEO of EADS Socata from 2003 to 2007, and Daher bought the Socata division in 2008. One of Mayer’s jobs appear to be resurrecting the dormant Grob SPn program, which could replace the NTx jet (see page 8).

Small-cabin Jets Cirrus Vision

Cirrus Aircraft has weathered the recession by embarking on a stringent efficiency improvement program that is helping the company survive in the brutally challenging piston single-engine marketplace. While Cirrus sales are relatively strong, they would have to be substantially higher to provide sufficient excess cash to pay for the expense of bringing the singleengine Vision jet to market, and Cirrus needs millions more dollars to reach FAA certification. Meanwhile, the Vision jet design has progressed, with about 25 percent of the detail design work accomplished. Cirrus is seeking outside funding to see the jet program through to certification and production for the 430 aircraft in the Vision order backlog and is projecting

Diamond • D-Jet

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 82

MATT THURBER

Diamond Aircraft’s D-Jet remains the front-runner in the single-engine jet race, but problems with the company’s diesel-powered airplanes appear to have drawn resources away from the D-Jet program. The D-Jet was originally scheduled for certification last year, but Diamond delayed the program for a year after opting to certify the jet with a Williams International FJ33-5A turbofan, more powerful than the engine originally planned. More recently Diamond pushed the D-Jet certification to the end

MATT THURBER

Cirrus • Vision

Diamond D-Jet

of next year, which still keeps Diamond at the front of the single-engine jet certification race. The $1.89 million (2009 $) D-Jet seats five and will fly to 25,000 feet with a maximum cruise speed of 315 knots and maximum range of 1,350 nm.

Embraer • Phenom 300

Embraer Phenom 300

On schedule, Embraer certified and began deliveries of the $8.14 million (2010 $) Phenom 300 last year. The company has orders for about 800 Phenom 100s and 300s, with two thirds of those expected to be the 100 model and one third 300s. One Phenom 300 was delivered last year to Executive Flight Services (a subsidiary of Executive AirShare) and through the second quarter of this year another five were delivered. The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535-powered Phenom 300’s performance turned out better than projected, with NBAA IFR range growing to 1,971 nm from 1,800 nm (with six occupants) and both takeoff and landing distance shorter and fuel consumption lower than expected.

Hawker Beechcraft Hawker 450XP

The Hawker 450XP program remains something of a mystery, with Hawker Beechcraft declining to comment on the jet’s current status. The 450XP program was announced at the 2008 NBAA convention as a long-overdue upgrade of the Hawker 400XP. The major change is replacement of the original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D engines with Fadec-controlled PW535Ds. Both are rated at 2,695 pounds thrust, but the PW535D is flat-rated to ISA + 20 degrees C versus ISA +12 for the JT15D. With the new engines, the 450XP could fly 235 nm farther carrying four passengers from sea level on a 95-degree F day or 630 nm farther from a 5,600-foot-high

Hawker Beechcraft • Premier II

airport. Climb to FL370 would be four minutes faster, long-range cruise seven knots quicker (421 knots) and mtow 350 pounds higher (allowing 350 pounds additional fuel load with max payload). Price of the 450XP was set at $7.596 million (2010 $), equipped with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics, and deliveries were to begin this year.

Hawker Beechcraft Premier II

Last August, Hawker Beechcraft announced a delay in the Premier II program. The upgrade to the Premier IA was launched at the 2008 EBACE show, at which time entry into service was scheduled for the second quarter of this year. Now deliveries are not planned until the end of 2012 or early 2013. A Premier IA first flew with 3,050-pound-thrust Williams In ternational FJ44-3AP engines more than a year ago. The new Fadec-controlled engines replace the original hydromechanically con trolled 2,300-pound-thrust FJ442As. Other changes include larger splayed Continued on page 84 u

uContinued from page 82

ventral fins on the aft lower fuselage for added lateral stability at low speeds. The engine upgrade delivers performance improvements without adding fuel, including 45,000-foot maximum altitude with 8,000-foot cabin (thanks to a higher 9.0-psi pressurization differential); a 350-nm range increase (four passengers with full fuel, NBAA IFR reserves, 100-nm alternate); 530 pounds more payload; and 15-knot increase in maximum cruise speed to 465 knots. The Premier II mtow is 13,800 pounds, up from the Premier IA’s 12,500 pounds and necessitating certification in the commuter category. The Premier II will remain a single-pilot jet. Price of the Premier II is $7.365 million (2010 $).

Honda Aircraft HondaJet

Honda Aircraft could not bring its first conforming prototype HondaJet to NBAA this year as the airplane is expected to make its first flight soon. That airplane was supposed to fly earlier this year, but Honda Aircraft added another delay in the program and now doesn’t expect certification until the second half of next year, with first deliveries in the first quarter of 2012. Price of the HondaJet is now $4.5 million, including Garmin G3000 avionics. The conforming prototype HondaJet was powered on and completed poweron tests in July. A static-test article equipped with more than 1,800 strain gauges has been assembled at Honda Aircraft’s Greensboro, N.C. R&D facility, and subcomponent and control-surface stress testing is complete.

and 300 air starts. “We exercised the design to beyond the envelope and technical requirements,” he said. The engine is meeting thrust and specific fuel consumption targets, he added. Flight testing of the HF120 on the GE Honda CJ1 is expected soon or might have already begun by the time this issue is printed. Some of the tests that were planned for the flying testbed were shifted to the altitude chamber, Dwyer said, “because of some program decisions we made.” Flight testing will be done from GE Honda Aero’s facilities in Burlington, N.C., where engines will eventually be assembled. Early engines are being built at GE’s Lynn, Mass. factory. So far, five HF120s and one core engine have been run and seven engines are under assembly and slated for flight testing and certification. Several of these will be delivered as certified engines. “Every day a lot of people are working around the clock getting the work done,” he said. “This is the fun part of the program.”

Piaggio Aero P1XX

Piaggio Aero, with the backing of new shareholders Tata and Mubadala, is actively working on the design of a new jet, tentatively called the P1XX. John Bingham, president and CEO of Piaggio America and chief marketing officer for Piaggio Aero, told AIN that the P1XX is not simply the company’s Avanti with jet engines in place of turboprops but an entirely new design. A launch date for the P1XX program has not been announced. Bingham said in late July that the company is planning further announcements about the P1XX, but he wouldn’t say when these will take place. So far, he has revealed that a dedicated team is working on the P1XX program, and the jet design is well beyond the preliminary concept stage.

JIM UPTON

Piper Aircraft PiperJet Altaire

Honda Aircraft • HondaJet

Honda Aircraft is manufacturing the metal wings for the conforming prototype itself; these had been contracted to Avcorp of British Columbia. The HondaJet’s fuselage is composite and the engines are mounted in a unique overwing configuration that yields higher aerodynamic efficiency while freeing up fuselage space for passengers and baggage, according to the manufacturer. HondaJets will be produced at a 250,000-sq-ft factory under construction in Greensboro and due for completion early next year. The HondaJet’s GE Honda Aero Engines HF120 turbofan is slated to achieve certification in the second half of next year, according to company president Bill Dwyer. The first HF120 was used for altitude tank testing and pushed to extremes of internal temperature, pressure, heat, cold, transients

Piper Aircraft has taken a different approach to the single-engine jet market with a much larger aircraft that will carry six passengers in single-pilot operation. Here at NBAA (Booth No. 1247), the Vero Beach, Fla.-based manufacturer is to unveil its conforming prototype which differs substantially from the first proof-of-concept article that was little more than a Meridian with a jet replacing the turboprop. Powered by the Williams International FJ44-3AP, the new PiperJet Altaire is expected to have a max range of 1,300 nm and max cruise speed of 360 knots. By comparison with the Meridian box cabin cross-section on the proof-of-concept, the Altaire will have a circular cabin providing nine inches more headroom, four inches more elbow room

Piper Aircraft • PiperJet Altaire

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com 84

and a drop-down center aisle. There has also been a price jump, from an expected $2.199 million (in 2009 dollars) to $2.6 million, typically equipped. With backing from the Brunei- and Singaporebased investment firm Imprimis, Piper expects a first flight in 2012 and customer deliveries to begin at the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014.

Bombardier • Learjet 85

Stratos 714

lower maintenance costs, advantages of the composite airframe include the ability to use larger passenger windows (measuring 12 by 16 inches) and a more spacious interior offering 665 cu ft of passenger space and 130 cu ft for luggage as well as a full galley and aft lavatory. Range target carrying four passengers at the Mach 0.78 long-range cruise speed is 3,000 nm.

Stratos Aircraft is aiming for high performance by using a smaller airframe (with seating for four) powered by a large engine, the 3,030-pound-thrust Williams International FJ44-3AP. Performance goals include a 415-knot maximum cruise speed, 1,500-nm range and 41,000-foot maximum altitude, all for a $2 million price tag. The Stratos program is still at the early stages and needs a significant infusion of funding to reach the prototype construction phase and achieve certification. Interest in the Stratos 714 remains high, according to chief technology officer and vice president of engineering Carsten Sundin. The company has completed the baseline design, including computational fluid dynamics analysis of airfoils and systems design and structures analysis. Stratos is funded to continue at its current pace, but needs new financing to build a prototype. Once that funding is in place, the prototype should fly in about 15 months, according to Sundin.

Cessna Citation CJ4

Stratos • 714

MARIANO ROSALES

New Business Jets 2010

Midsize Jets Bombardier Learjet 85

The unique nature of Bombardier’s Learjet 85 is not just that its airframe is made almost entirely of composite materials but that it will be the first composite business jet certified to FAA Part 25 regulations (Boeing’s 787 should be the first composite Part 25 airplane to be certified). The structure for the $17.2 million Learjet 85 will be manufactured by the company’s Queretaro, Mexico division and the jet will be assembled in Wichita, where Bombardier plans to invest a total of $600 million in the program. The first manufacturing validation unit for the Learjet 85’s pressure vessel was completed in July and was built on production tooling. Production for the first flight-test jet begins later this year, and first flight of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307B-powered Learjet 85 should take place next year, although Bombardier has not revealed this timeline specifically. Entry into service is planned for 2013. Learjet 85 avionics are the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion suite. Besides

Like clockwork, another Cessna Citation model entered service this year, the latest in the line of CitationJets. The CJ4 received FAA certification on March 12 and first delivery was on April 15. With last year’s cancellation of the large-cabin Columbus, for the first time in many years Cessna has no new models on the horizon, unless the company makes a surprise announcement here at the NBAA convention. Scott Donnelly, CEO of Cessna parent Textron, recently hinted at possible new developments saying that research-and-development spending at Cessna and sister company Bell Helicopter will rise as the economy improves, with new models and upgrades to existing aircraft expected as soon as 2012. The $9 million (2010 $) CJ4 retains the CitationJet line’s single-pilot capability, but adds 300 pounds to the CJ3’s maximum payload, for a payload of 2,100 pounds and full-fuel payload of 1,000 pounds. The CJ4’s fuselage is three feet longer than the CJ3’s and features the larger door than the Mustang. A moderately swept wing and more powerful Fadec-controlled 3,400-pound-thrust Williams International FJ44-4A engines help the jet climb directly to 45,000 feet in 28 minutes, cruise at 453 knots and fly for 2,002 nm with two crew and five passengers. Equipment includes Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics and Venue cabin management system.

Embraer Legacy 450 and 500

Embraer is one of the few manufacturers moving ahead with new aircraft programs, and the “midlight” Legacy 450 and midsize 500 are leapfrogging the competition in the application of modern technology to business jets. Both the 450 and 500, made with the same-diameter flat-floor fuselage and the same wings and empennage and powered by Honeywell HTF7500E engines, feature fly-by-wire envelope-protected flight control systems, the Rockwell Collins Fusion avionics suite and Honeywell’s Ovation Select cabin connection system. The 12-passenger Legacy 500 is to fly Continued on page 86 u

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New Business Jets 2010 Gulfstream G250

uContinued from page 86

next year and gain certification in 2012, followed by first flight of the Legacy 450 in 2012 and certification in 2013. Besides the six-foot difference in the length of the cabin, the major difference between the two jets is range. The $15.3 million Legacy 450 will fly 2,300 nm with four passengers, while the $18.4 million Legacy 500 will fly 3,000 nm with the same number of passengers (with NBAA IFR reserves).

Embraer • Legacy 450

Spectrum Aeronautical S.40 Freedom

Spectrum’s Freedom is the launch customer for the GE Honda Aero Engines HF120 turbofan, but it appears that the S.40 and the S.33 Independence programs

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Embraer • Legacy 500

have stalled due to the recession and tough business jet marketplace. The two jets feature a lightweight composite construction process called fibeX that is supposed to allow for an airframe weight half that of a conventional aluminum airframe and therefore deliver spectacular performance. Last year Spectrum completed the first “fuselage manufacturing demonstrator” test article for use in validating the production process. The goal was to fly the S.40 this year and the S.33 a year later. Specifications of the S.40 include cruise speed 440 knots, IFR range 2,250 nm and seating for seven to nine passengers, all at the low mtow of 9,550 pounds. More recently, according to Spectrum president Austin Blue, the company has slowed development of the S.40 and S.33 due to resource con-

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straints. “We have had to decelerate the programs considerably, due primarily to our desire to pace the program optimally with the resources available,” he told AIN. “This has meant layoffs for those involved in both programs, though we have maintained a team that is actively working on continuing the development. For a while now that focus has been on the core composites technologies, which look excellent. We have attracted significant interest and customers,” said Blue. “We are confident that our combination of the right composites structural approaches, next-generation automated manufacture and the winning designs we have will be successful. We dearly wish that we were able to accelerate their introduction, but for now we are moving ahead the best we can in a difficult environment.”

The super-midsize G250 test program had logged more than 300 hours and 96 flights as of late August, according to Gulfstream. The third and final flight test G250 made its first flight on June 28 from Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. This airframe is being used for functionand-reliability testing. Gulfstream is working with Rockwell Collins to adapt the avionics manufacturer’s Pro Line Fusion system for the G250’s PlaneView250 avionics suite. The G250 Gulfstream • G250

is powered by 7,445-pound-thrust Honeywell HTF7250G turbofans and will fly 3,400 nm at Mach 0.80 with four passengers (NBAA IFR reserves). Total cabin volume is 935 cu ft and baggage capacity 154 cu ft (interior and exterior), and the G250 offers a full galley and aft lavatory with wardrobe closet, two large windows and a vacuum toilet. At maximum cruise altitude of 45,000 feet, cabin altitude is 7,000 feet.

Large-cabin Jets Dassault Falcon 900LX

Dassault Falcon’s newest model, the 900LX, received FAA and EASA certification in July. Equipped with Aviation Partners blended winglets, the 900LX can fly 4,750 nm, nearly 300 nm farther than its predecessor. Dassault engineers flew 215 hours in two 900LXs since flight testing began a year ago. The avionics suite is Dassault Falcon’s EASy system, based on Honeywell’s Primus Epic system with synthetic vision, runway awareness system, XM weather and electronic approach and en route charts.

Super-midsize Jets Dassault Falcon SMS

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86aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Dassault has not revealed any details of its so-called SMS jet. While it was originally supposed to be powered by the 10,000-pound-thrust-class Rolls-Royce RB282, those plans have been dropped and no new information has been released. The SMS is expected to use the same fly-by-wire system as the Falcon 7X. The use of the 10,000-pound-thrust engines may signal Dassault’s plans to enter the high-speed long-range market, but we’ll have to wait to see if and when the company decides to make a formal announcement.

Dassault • Falcon 900LX

Big Iron Embraer Legacy 650

Embraer’s Legacy 650 should be certified and enter service shortly. The first public appearance of the new 650 was at the LABACE show in Brazil in August. An upgrade of the Legacy 600, the 650 features a reinforced landing gear and a new wing design with an additional 381-gallon fuel tank in the wing box, boosting range 500 miles, to

Embraer • Legacy 650

3,900 nm with four passengers. Also new are Rolls-Royce AE3007A2 engines, with 210 more pounds of thrust than the Legacy 600’s AE3007A1Es.

Gulfstream G650

Gulfstream’s large-cabin G650 (S/N 6001) reached Mach 0.995 during flutter testing on August 12 and the four airplanes in flight test had logged more than 575 hours and 170 flights by late August. Here at NBAA, Gulfstream is highlighting the G650’s cabin interior, an example of which is installed in S/N 6004. The fifth and final G650 had completed initial phase manufacturing by the end of August and began engine testing. In preparation for certification next year and entry into service in early 2012, Gulfstream will fly the five flight-test G650s for a total of 1,800 hours. S/N 6002 has completed temperature testing at the McKinley Climatic Lab at Eglin AFB in Florida and is now involved in performance testing. S/N 6003 is being used for testing of the G650’s PlaneView II avionics

Gulfstream • G650

as well as in-flight load measurement and ice protection system testing. S/N 6004, equipped with a full interior, is the function and reliability test article. PlaneView II is Gulfstream’s implementation of Honeywell’s Epic avionics suite and includes as standard

equipment synthetic vision, enhanced vision and a head-up display. The G650 is Gulfstream’s first aircraft with fly-bywire flight controls, which include envelope protection. Cockpit controls are a conventional yoke, and the system is backed up with hydraulic- and electricpowered backup actuators and a backup flight control computer in case of a complete flight control computer failure. The 16,100-pound-thrust RollsRoyce BR725-powered G650 will also be Gulfstream’s longest-range jet, capable of flying 7,000 nm at Mach 0.85 with Aerion • SSBJ

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eight passengers and four crew (NBAA IFR reserves). High-speed cruise is Mach 0.90. List price of the G650 is $64.5 million (completed). The company reports holding nearly 200 orders for the airplane.

Supersonic Business Jets Aerion SSBJ

The last great unfilled market niche may yet be filled by Aerion, the Reno, Nev. company that has everything in place to launch a contender in the supersonic business jet (SSBJ) category. Aerion’s proposed $80 million SSBJ taps into currently available technology to deliver a Mach 1.6 jet that would seat eight passengers. No radical engine technology is needed, just two tried-and-true Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219s. Aerion has $250,000 deposits for more than 50 airplanes and is still seeking a major aerospace partner to help bring the SSBJ to market. Further developments of the Aerion jet are awaiting a solid economic recovery, and once the program is formally launched, Aerion SSBJs could be zipping across the Atlantic in four or five years. o

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Global Jet boosts Web training with G550 engine-run courses Global Jet Services, an aviation maintenance training firm, has launched an online engine-run course for the Gulfstream G550. The course employs interactive instruments, panels, consoles and controls that allow technicians to press buttons, flip switches and pull handles. Graphics and simulations provide the experience of being in the cockpit and exercises introduce emergency procedures that can be practiced in timed scenarios. “We know that it can be difficult to perform engine-run training in the field,” said Global Jet Services president J.D. McHenry, “so we developed a course that offers as close to a real hands-on experience as you can get outside of an actual

cockpit or full-sized simulator.” Added Phil DiGennaro, the company’s Gulfstream instructor: “This is as good as it gets outside of a real G550–maybe even better, because during the course you can practice things over and over again until you get it right, without using a drop of fuel and with no risk to the aircraft or maintenance crew.” Global Jet plans to introduce enginerun courses for additional aircraft models, including the Citation 560/XLS, Hawker 800XP and Challenger 604. The company is based in Weatogue, Conn., and is highlighting its aircraft maintenance and management training courses at its NBAA booth (No. 1235). –J.B. www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa87

JOHN WINANT AWARD >

NBAA honors board member Stinebring with Winant Award by Mary F. Silitch “Given Paul Stinebring’s remark- certificate, he started teaching others to able contributions to the International fly. Business Aviation Council [IBAC], we In 1967 Stinebring joined the Bank of believe it is entirely appropriate that he is St. Louis, flying a Twin Beech at Spirit of St. receiving the John Winant Award,” said Louis Airport, then a King Air. He joined NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. Emerson in 1974 as a pilot and has since “After all, it was John Winant who more held positions of increasing responsibility. than any other individual is responsible He continues to fly frequently. His for the creation of IBAC.” FAA certificates include the ATP and his Winant, who died last year, was pres- aircraft type ratings in the Dassault Falident of NBAA for many years. “We felt con 7X, 10, 20 and 50; Cessna Citation this award would be a fitting tribute to John 500; Gulfstream 159; Hawker HS125; Winant, who not only served as a resource Lockheed JetStar and Learjet. He also is to all of his successors but who also wrote an A&P mechanic, and lists the Falcon two books on business aviation 7X and the JetStar among his and NBAA after he retired from favorite airplanes to fly. the association,” Bolen said. Stinebring is receiving another “IBAC was John Winant’s award at this year’s convention: vision,” Stinebring, director NBAA’s Pilot Flying Safety of international operations for Award. He is second on the list Emerson Electric, told AIN. “I of top pilots with 26,713 safe have a lot of respect for him and corporate flight hours, and it’s for all he did for business avinot the first time he has been ation. I’m really excited about among the top five. this award. It connects so well Paul Stinebring is He attributes his outstandreceiving the Winant with where my interests lie.” ing safety record to “professional Award and a pilot A member of the NBAA safety award. training and his company’s disciboard of directors from 1995 plined use of standard operating to 2005, Stinebring also served for 12 procedures.” He told AIN, “training is years on the governing board of IBAC, very important and the company is very a group of 15 business aviation organiza- supportive, providing good training with tions around the world, founded in 1981. no budgetary compromises. Safety is a NBAA is IBAC’s largest supporting mem- culture within the department; it starts ber and its newest member is the Russian with the chairman of the company and United Business Aviation Association. goes down to the people who fly.” Stinebring was chairman of the IBAC The John Winant Award recognizes Governing Board from 2003 through 2006 former NBAA Board members who, as and has been vice chairman and chair- Winant did, continue to dedicate their time man of the IBAC International Stan- and expertise to promoting business avidard for Business Aircraft Operations ation after they have concluded their ser(IS-BAO) Standards Board since 2004. vice as NBAA directors. It was first given He also served as NBAA’s representative last year to Phil Roberts and David Vornto the IBAC Finance Committee from holt, two former NBAA directors who have 2003 through May. “IBAC gives us a voice been instrumental in establishing the Ohio in Montreal, representing business avia- Regional Business Aviation Association, tion at ICAO [International Civil Avia- “enhancing the visibility of business aviation Organization],” Stinebring told AIN. tion within the National Aviation Hall of This year’s Winant Award recipient Fame and bringing business aviation to the served on several NBAA committees, attention of Ohio’s university system.” o including those dealing with international operations, air traffic and airspace News Note and government affairs. “My work with NBAA has always been supported by my Duncan Aviation (Booth No. 6763) has company,” he said. Emerson Electric has launched an interior refurbishment program that guarantees installation of new achieved IS-BAO certification, a product soft goods in 14 calendar days for operaof IBAC, which developed the standard tors of Citation Xs, Encores, Ultras, XLs for the safety management system, “a and Sovereigns. “Duncan Aviation has code of best practices [that] covers everycombined its extensive knowledge of thing that goes into a flight operations aircraft interior refurbishments with its manual,” he noted. efficient interior completion processes to develop a method that allows for this Stinebring became interested in avi14-day aircraft transformation,” said comation when he took an introductory airpletion sales representative Nate Klenke. plane ride at the age of 21. He attended He added that the success of the program Parks College in Cahokia, Ill., now part begins with proper planning and a coordiof St. Louis University. He was initially nated effort by Duncan and the operator interested in maintenance and engineerbefore work even begins. Duncan Aviaing, then learned to fly. While working tion is a family-owned independent aviation services provider located in Lincoln, as a mechanic for TWA, Stinebring conNeb., and Battle Creek, Mich. n tinued flying at St. Louis Lambert Field, then after earning his flight instructor

88aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

ABACE returning yearly to Shanghai 2012-2014

Chuck Woods, chairman of AsBAA, and Helena Lang, a Hawker Pacific officer, discuss revival of ABACE in 2012.

about prospects for 2012, Bolen said he was announcing “the right show at the right time in the right place.” Moreover, he noted that ABACE would return to Shanghai in 2013 and 2014 “and potentially beyond that as well” and that NBAA and AsBAA may also host regional forums elsewhere in Asia similar to the ones that NBAA organizes in the U.S. “The [business aviation] market in China is exploding,” said Jason Liao, chairman and CEO of the China Business Aviation Group and the NBAA’s chief representative in Asia. “It’s very exciting right now.” Leading business jet manufacturers– including Airbus, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream and Hawker Beechcraft–issued statements lauding the return of ABACE and promising support for the show. o

AIN Plans Daily ABACE Coverage AIN Publications, publisher of NBAA Convention News and Aviation International News, has committed to publishing three daily show editions at ABACE in 2012. The company also publishes daily on-site issues at the Farnborough, Paris, Singapore, Dubai and MEBA airshows and at the EBACE and HAI conventions. In addition, it produces Business Jet Traveler magazine and a variety of e-mail newsletters, including AINalerts, AINmxReports and BJTwaypoints.

StandardAero expands U.S. mobile response by Evan Sweetman StandardAero (Booth No. 7601) is expanding its mobile response capabilities around the U.S. and is looking to expand its global presence, vice president of business aviation Scott Taylor said at the NBAA Convention yesterday. The company plans to establish three new mobile service teams (MSTs) next year in Atlanta, Scottsdale, Ariz., and another in the Northeast, but that

location has yet to be determined. The company added four additional MSTs around the U.S. this year as well. These MSTs are based at Van Nuys, Calif., Little Rock, Ark., San Jose, Calif., and Dallas. The MSTs can respond to AOG calls within 24 hours, according to the company. StandardAero has also seen an increase in demand for service in Europe and Asia

Where have you gone, Arnold Palmer...

NBAA

...this foursome turns their lonely eyes to you. (With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel.) The group is participating in a charity chipping contest sponsored by Boeing Business Jets. The challenge took place at the the NBAA 14th Annual Chairman’s Charity Classic Golf Tournament Sunday at Stone Mountain Golf Club.

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

and is looking to expand in those areas. “It’s a matter of looking to see where the concentration of aircraft is,” Taylor said. “Asia is one we’re looking at very closely.” The company has also completed renovations of its Springfield, Ill., engine shop. The 265,000-sq-ft facility will be used to perform maintenance and overhaul work on Honeywell TFE731 engines, according to the company.

Standard Aero senior v-p Scott Taylor said the company also wants to increase its global presence.

MARIANO ROSALES

The Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE) will return to Shanghai in 2012, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen announced yesterday here at the NBAA convention. The NBAA and the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) will cohost the three-day event (February 28 to March 1, 2012). It will be held at Hongqiao Airport’s new Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Center, which offers more than 13,000 sq ft of hangar space and a static display area capable of accommodating 60 business aircraft. The NBAA and AsBAA hosted the first ABACE event in Shanghai back in 2005, but the organizers cancelled a 2009 conference in December 2008, largely, Bolen said, because “the industry was experiencing “as difficult a month as any in the history of business aviation.” Sounding decidedly more optimistic

MARIANO ROSALES

by Jeff Burger

The engine shop will first be used for major periodic inspections, but the company will look into expanding the role of the facility. “We found the customers wanted one-stop-engine shopping,” Taylor said. “So we’re working to meet their requests by improving the Springfield facility.” In addition to the newly renovated facility, StandardAero plans to work closely with OEMs to expand its authorized service center capability, Taylor said. StandardAero launched its GE CF34 7/10 program, which will cover inspections of the engines for every 7,000 hours or 10 years, according to Taylor. “Because Challenger business jets typically go longer between inspections than their commercial counterparts, they are more prone to unscheduled maintenance,” Taylor said. Under the 7/10 program, business aviation CF34 operators will be covered for those unforeseen issues that would be caught with the more frequent inspections commercially operated engines receive. The cooperation with OEMs also includes working with Embraer to begin offering Embraer Legacy 650 Rolls-Royce AE3007 powerplant support. Standard Aero already services Embraer jets in Houston, Los Angeles, and Augusta, Ga. o

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa89

Despite tough times for bizav, Dassault preparing for future by Kirby J. Harrison Dassault Falcon Jet chairman Charles Edelstenne offered a less-than-glowing look at the current state of business aviation as it struggles with the recession and he noted in a press conference yesterday that there are mixed signals with regard to a recovery. It was three years ago at the NBAA Convention in Orlando that the industry was faced with the sub-prime crisis, he pointed out. “Today, we are still struggling,” he added. And while the sale of 34 new Falcon Jets in the first three quarters of this year and expectations of the delivery of more than 85 aircraft by the end of the year are good signs, a true recovery in new aircraft sales is not likely until the used aircraft market recovers. And the used aircraft inventory continues to decline only very slowly. Dassault Falcon president John Rosanvallon noted that while sales were balanced evenly among the three Falcon models, the fact that only 25 percent of those sales were from U.S. customers was “disappointing.” On the other hand, he noted that Dassault expects to deliver

Two new Globals join Bombardier clan uContinued from page 1

The new jets are the result of a rethinking of the design brought on by the economic downturn that commenced in 2008. “We were well into development at the beginning of the economic crisis, and it was the crisis that actually caused us to take a breath and relook at what we’re bringing to the market,” said Horner. “[These aircraft] are substantially different from first envisaged, with a brand-new engine and a new wing, a platform that will take us well into the century, rather than just a stretch or a plug [in an existing airframe]. It’s a very, very different place from where we thought we would be.” The new Globals will fly on a new aerodynamically efficient transonic wing,

Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Jets, is pleased with the two new Globals.

three Falcon 7Xs in China this year. Both Edelstenne and Rosanvallon pointed to an increase in flight activity as a positive sign, and pointed out that passage of the Small Business Jobs Act extending the bonus depreciation bill would likely spur new aircraft sales. Rosanvallon also noted an increase in the number of inquiries on the part of Fortune 500 companies. But again he addressed a less-than-optimistic outlook from Honeywell, which in its 2010 forecast suggests no real recovery before 2012. (See article on page 14) The Honeywell forecast is one with which both men generally agree, but at the same time Dassault is investing in the future by strengthening service and support worldwide. Among the steps to expand and improve service and support is launch of new spares pricing initiatives. The new “high-volume discount” program for spare-parts purchases and free shipping on core return purchases are part of a broader effort to reward customers. The high-volume discount program

is based on a customer’s total annual spare-parts purchases from Dassault, with a discount being applied to qualifying purchases in the following year. It also includes three new tiers of purchase volume, each with its own discount, allowing operators who fall into these category tiers potentially to qualify for a higher discount next year. Eying Asia as a growing market for Falcon aircraft, Dassault is expanding its sales, service and support network in that part of the world. Dassault Falcon recently signed an agreement adding the Hawker Pacific business aviation service center in Shanghai as an authorized service center. At Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Airport, Hawker Pacific is scheduled to be fully on line within six months. A Falcon “go team” is already positioned at the site and prepared to provide support to Falcon operators in the area. The center is expected to receive its Part 145 repair station certificate from both the U.S. and Chinese aviation authorities by April 2011. The Shanghai center will be capable of handling work on all three Falcon models. Meanwhile, Dassault’s wholly owned component repair facility–Midway Aircraft Instrument in Teterboro, N.J.–has received Part 145 certification from the Civil Airworthiness Authority of China (CAAC). Approved capabilities under

the CAAC certificate include 138 part numbers on the Falcon 900EX, 900EX EASy, 900DX and 2000 models. “This is not only a benefit to Falcon operators in China where the fleet is rapidly expanding, but also to transient operators passing through the region who may need maintenance and repair. Dassault Falcon has also established an Asian sales and marketing headquarters in the Chinese capital of Beijing. According to Jean-Michel Jacob, who will lead the sales team as v-p of international sales, “Firmly establishing Dassault’s presence in China today positions us to serve the needs of its growing business aviation sector.” Closer to home, Dassault Falcon has appointed Jeddah-based Saudia Private Aviation Engineering and Maintenance as a line service center, expanding Dassault’s authorized network in the Middle East. The facility, with 43,000 sq ft, two large hangars, workshops and storage, employs more than 75 technicians, and provides maintenance services for all Falcon models. In the U.S., Dassault Aviation Services Reno recently received Part 145 approval from EASA. “With our newly granted EASA certification, Reno is fully capable of servicing any European-registered aircraft, from AOG support and line maintenance up to a C-check,” said DAS chief operating officer Bob Sundin. o

powered by GE’s new high-bypass TechX 16,500-pound-thrust turbofan engine. NOx emissions are said to be 50 percent below ICAO’s proposed Civil Aircraft Emissions Protocol (CAEP-6) regulations. Fuel efficiency is projected to be 8 percent better than the Global XRS. Four Staterooms

The Global 7000 features a fourzone cabin with a volume of 2,637 cu ft. High-speed cruise will be Mach 0.90. The long-range cruise of Mach 0.85 will deliver a range of 7,300 nm, providing the endurance for flights between London-Singapore, New York-Dubai or Beijing-Washington with 10 passengers. “In talking to principals, the prime focus has been on the cabin, and the reaction to the four staterooms has been very positive,” Horner said. “We’d imagined that most [customers] would want to have three staterooms, but a lot of feedback said, ‘Give us that fourth stateroom at the back of the airplane.’ That allows you to have a dedicated bed and shower. It becomes like a suite as opposed to a pullout couch.” In highlighting the interior size, Bombardier doubtless has an eye on Gulfstream, its main competitor in the large cabin ultra-long-range business aircraft space, which is showcasing the new Gulfstream G650 here at the convention. For comparison, the Global 7000 cabin measures 59.6 feet long, 6.92 feet wide and 6.25 feet high; the G650 cabin is 53.6 feet long by 8.2 feet wide by 6.25 feet high. The G650’s cabin volume is 2,138 cu ft. The Global 8000 will have a three-zone

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The family of Global aircraft

cabin of 2,236 cu ft and a range of 7,900 nm at Mach 0.85, sufficient for Sydney-Los Angeles, Hong Kong-New York and Mumbai-New York flights with eight passengers. Windows 80 percent larger than current Globals will provide more natural light, and the interiors also feature an accessible baggage area and crew rest area, and will provide options for defining floor plans. The cockpit will feature an updated version of the Global Vision (Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion) flight deck in the Global Express XRS and advanced connectivity for the cabin management system. “We’re already there in terms of avionics,” Horner said. “What we’re trying to do is not differentiate one from the other in terms of price point, but in terms of customer need,” Horner said. “So if you want the additional range, go for the 8000. If you want the additional cabin size, go for the 7000.”

“Our whole philosophy at Bombardier, with Learjet, Challenger and Global, is to have a family,” continued Horner “This is an extension of that overall philosophy.” Having rethought the new Globals in the context of challenging economic times, Bombardier is eager to propel its new entrants in the long-range fleet. “With the official launch, we’re taking orders and signing purchase agreements,” Horner said. “It’s no longer an LOI [letter of intent]. That product is well under way. So from a salesman’s point of view, there’s a tremendous opportunity for us. We’ve got the perfect platform, and many of our customers are coming, so we’ve got four days of tremendous opportunity to talk to our customers, and sign purchase agreements.” o See www.aintv.com for more Global coverage.

Jet Aviation offers Jet Start service by James Wynbrandt Jet Aviation Flight Services of Teterboro, N.J., introduced JetStart, a turnkey program to assist new aircraft buyers in establishing a flight department before aircraft delivery, at NBAA. JetStart offers ad hoc services that can be integrated into a service package to support owner-specific operational objectives. Services include prebuy inspections, aircraft conformity checks, completion monitoring, personnel recruitment, Part 135 services, flight following, maintenance planning and tracking, consulting and auditing services. “The JetStart program brings a multitude of benefits to the aircraft buyer,” said Bob Seidel, Jet Aviation’s senior vice president and general manager. “The new owner is supported by a highly experienced company with the resources to offer timely, efficient and predictable approaches to launching a new business aircraft into service.” Jet Aviation (Booth No. 2404) has established “hundreds of flight department operations over the last 40 years,” according to Gary Dempsey, president,

Jet Aviation US Aircraft Services. Chris Wheeler, a 15-year veteran of Jet Aviation, has been appointed as vice president of operations of the JetStart division. Concurrently, Jet Aviation

has launched Jet Response, a mobile maintenance service program to assist clients with AOG (aircraft on ground) events in the Boston, White Plains, N.Y. and Teterboro, N.J. areas.

“The service is facilitated through response vehicles equipped with time-saving tools and diagnostic equipment,” said David Smith, the company’s senior director, MRO services. “The mobile maintenance trucks also contain a fully functional workshop and benches, complete with electronic data and supplies.” Rounding out its new

offerings, the company’s Jet Professionals division has introduced a group health insurance plan to help small and midsize business aviation companies to control and reduce employee healthcare costs. The Benefits Connection plan offers consulting, employee advocacy, benefits administration and health and wellness programs. o

P VI LE BO A S A O T N IT USE TH B S # 1AA 31 1

FAA REPAIR STATION COMPLETION DUE 1ST QUARTER 2011

conklin & de decker gives scholarship Conklin & de Decker, in association with NBAA, has announced the winner of the third annual Alan H. Conklin Business Aviation Management scholarship. The award will be presented here at the show to Richard Valentine, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn. This is the first time the award has been presented to a maintenance student. Valentine, who is majoring in aerospace maintenance management, has been on the dean’s list every semester since his freshman year and has been president and vice president of his university’s aerospace maintenance club. The $5,000 scholarship honors Alan Conklin, founder of Conklin & de Decker, which has been providing aviation research, consulting and education since 1984. The company, which is exhibiting here at the show at Booth No. 1519, has offices in Orleans, Mass.; Arlington, Texas; and n Phoenix.

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news clips z Caravan Paint Job Celebrates 25 Years A Cessna Grand Caravan with a special 25th anniversary paint scheme is on display at this year’s NBAA at the OEM’s static display at DeKalb Peachtree Airport. Cessna delivered the 2,000th Caravan in September. The aircraft was first delivered in 1985. Since then the single-engine turboprop has been certified in 100 countries and the fleet has amassed more than 13 million flight hours.

z TWC Aviation Buying ACM Aviation Los Angeles-based TWC Aviation announced here at the show that it has signed a binding agreement to acquire ACM Aviation, a worldwide aircraft management and charter firm based in San Jose, Calif. The deal will give the combined company 22 operating bases throughout the U.S. The privately held TWC Aviation, which is headquartered at Van Nuys Airport, provides aircraft management, sales, maintenance and acquisition services as well as charter. The company is exhibiting here at the show at Booth No. 6052. ACM Aviation was founded by Mike Markkula, the third employee and eventually president of Apple Computer.

z Texas Airport Puts New Brand On Its FBO Sugar Land [Texas] Regional Airport has renamed its FBO Global Select. “A new name will allow us to market the FBO independently from the city’s airport,” explained Phillip Savko, director of aviation for the airport. “Typically, FBOs that are run by municipalities have an unfavorable reputation. Global Select’s new facility and top-notch amenities set it apart. This new campaign will help us spread awareness through the industry.” The FBO, under its former name of Sugar Land Regional Airport, took the top spot in the AIN FBO Survey for the last two years. Global Select offers aircraft ground services; half a million square feet of ramp for aircraft parking; onsite U.S. customs services; catering; Shell-branded fuel; conference rooms; an executive lounge; a flight-planning office; Wi-Fi; onsite rental cars; and hangar and office space.

z ExcelAire Adds Two Global 5000s to Fleet ExcelAire–a jet charter firm that also offers aircraft management, maintenance and sales–has added two Bombardier Global 5000s to its fleet. A 16-seat Global, which will be on static display here at the show, will be based in Columbus, Ohio, while a 13-seat Global will be based at Long Island MacArthur Airport, where ExcelAire is headquartered. The 16-seater has a 5,000-nm nonstop capability while the 13-seater has a 5,200-nm nonstop capability.

z Aerospace Filtration Markets in Australia Aerospace Filtration Systems (AFS), a subsidiary of Donaldson (Booth No. 8315), has an agreement with Wintech-Int of Australia to represent the St. Louis company’s rotorcraft Inlet Barrier Filter product line in Australia and New Zealand. AFS has the filter certified for the AgustaWestland A119 Koala, AW119Ke and AW139; Bell 205A1, 206B, 407, 206L-3/4, 206L-1(C30), 429 and 430; Eurocopter EC130, AS350 B/BA/ B1B2/B3, AS350s with Soloy or Heli-Lynx Honeywell engine conversions; and MD Helicopters MD369H Series, MD 500D/E/F and MD900/902. The company is currently developing versions for the AgustaWestland AW109 Power and Grand and the Bell 206L.

z Exclusive Aviation Buys St. Paul, Minn. Hangar Exclusive Aviation has purchased a 17,000-sq-ft hangar at St. Paul Downtown Airport. The facility includes 1,700 sq ft of office space. Besides reporting acquisition of the St. Paul hangar, Exclusive has announced the addition of Dave Monacell to its dedicated sales staff. Monacell will “expand and lead” the company’s turbine and jet aircraft sales, acquisitions and brokerage. A commercial pilot with multi-engine, instrument and single-engine sea ratings, he joins Exclusive with 12 years of experience in aircraft sales. Exclusive Aviation is the aircraft sales division of Fargo Jet Center (Booth No. 7346), which has offices in Fargo, N.D., and St. Paul, Minn.

Hawker Beechcraft unveiled its rebranded Hawker 200 here yesterday.

HBC Premier is now Hawker 200 by James Wynbrandt Hawker Beechcraft (HBC) announced the rebranding of its Premier light jet as the Hawker 200 and introduced the King Air 250, a replacement for the King Air 200GT, at the NBAA Convention yesterday. The company also announced an upgrade program for the Hawker 400XP that will include new engines and other improvements. The Premier/Hawker 200 rebranding is one result of extensive customer surveys and usage analysis Wichita-based HBC recently conducted. “Over the last 12 to 18 months the team at Hawker Beechcraft has endeavored to thoughtfully engage with the people who use our products,” said Shawn Vick, HBC’s executive vice president. “We’ve had more than 3,000 conversations through a variety of third-party, objective survey questions.” HBC also analyzed 12 months of operating experience of light jets in the U.S. and found “the Hawker 200 can do the mission 95 percent of the time and go faster, higher, farther, in more comfort, with a larger cabin diameter, higher altitude and lower operating cost and lower purchase price than our competitors,” Vick said. “When we put that position against the competition, the message that came back from all corners of the world was, why is this is not a Hawker?” Enhancements for the rebranded Hawker 200 will include new Williams International FJ44-3AP engines, winglets, increased gross takeoff weight and maximum altitude, multiscan weather radar, ADS-B out, 400-hour inspection intervals and a 10-year warranty on the airframe, which features a composite fuselage and metal wings. The Hawker

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200 evolved from the Premier II program, according to HBC. HBC is currently developing the Hawker 200 cabin configurations. (HBC introduced a flexible interior with its King Air 350 last year, and elements of that flexibility may be incorporated into the Hawker 200.) During the convention, Hawker Beechcraft is soliciting customer comments on various interior configurations; an outreach Vick calls “One of largest focus groups we’ve ever held at NBAA.” At its static display HBC is showing a full-scale mockup of the Hawker 200 interior. The Hawker 200, scheduled to enter service in 2012, is priced at $7.55 million. The operating cost is estimated at $4.33 per mile. Hawker 400XP Upgrade

The company also announced a high-performance retrofit upgrade for the Hawker 400XP, featuring winglets, new Williams International FJ44-4A-32 engines and optional avionics and system enhancements. The Williams engines replace the original Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5Rs. Among the other performance improvements, the upgraded 400XP will be capable of climbing to FL370 at maximum weight in 12 minutes, seven minutes faster than the current 400XP. HBC’s surveys also probed King Air customers’ preferences. “Most people are satisfied with speed, range and cabin comfort; the answer that came back was, ‘We want an airplane that can get us into and out of more airports,’” said Vick. As a result, the focus of the King Air 250 was to increase its short field and high-and-hot landing and takeoff capabilities. The King Air 250 incorporates three major changes over the

King Air 200GT it replaces: new Hartzell composite propellers, composite winglets and a ram air recovery system to increase engine performance. Hawker Beechcraft said the change answers the responses from surveyed customers. At gross weight at sea level on a standard day, the 250 will take off in 2,111 feet. At a 5,000-foot elevation on a standard day, that distance is 3,094 feet (both over a 50-foot obstacle). These represent an improved short-field performance of more than 450 and 700 feet, respectively. The King Air 250 will be priced at $5.79 million. HBC notes the 250 marks the 10th improvement in the product line since 2003. Said Vick, “To put this in context, we’ve been listening closely to what people want relative to a light jet, relative to the King Air twin turboprop category airplane, and we’ve really endeavored to bring to them the things they’ve asked for.” HBC also announced several other developments at NBAA: The company introduced two broadband Wi-Fi solutions for in-service Hawker 4000 and 800XPs equipped with Honeywell avionics via STCs, both featuring Aircell ATG 4000 and ATG 5000 equipment. A King Air Transformation package offers 15 popular upgrades to improve performance. They include new composite propellers, winglets and flight displays. HBC has made the static area its major NBAA display, showcasing all 10 of its aircraft and new livery for the fleet under the cover of its 36,000sq-ft tent. HBC’s Global customer support staff retains a booth presence (No. 947) at the convention center. o

Gulfstream ‘doing well’ relatively by Mark Huber

al’s Savannah learning center in November. Individual fleet aircraft have successfully conducted testing for flammable fluid drainage and ingestion, water ingestion, ram-air turbine testing, anti-skid brake tuning, component cooling and systems operation, aerodynamic stall testing and parameter identification testing for fly-by-wire control law development. The G650s have

by Kirby J. Harrison

MARIANO ROSALES

Boeing Business Jets president Steve Taylor predicts a growing market for the BBJ in the Asia-Pacific region.

scheduled to make an appearance at Air Show China in Zhuhai in December. According to Metrojet CEO Björn Näf, the BBJ is a great airplane for a region where most of the demand for air charter is for large-cabin and narrowbody jets. The new BBJ is configured for 18 passengers and has a range of more than 6,000 nm. Metrojet will place the airplane on its charter certificate and will operate, manage and maintain it on behalf of the owner. “We expect the market in China to double over the next five years,” said Näf. “We’re also looking at India as a growth market.” Taylor said Boeing has sold 195 BBJs since the first delivery in 1999 and delivered 153. The backlog, he said, is valued at about $6 billion. Since NBAA 2009, the manufacturer has sold two BBJs, a 747 and a 777, and has delivered

MARIANO ROSALES

Gulfstream v-p Pres Henne discusses the iPod interfaces in the G250 and G650.

Boeing predicts strong order book for bizliners Boeing Business Jets president Steve Taylor delivered good news from China in a press conference here yesterday. The Seattle-based manufacturer (Booth No. 3304) has sold three BBJs in the Asia/Pacific region, one of which is already flying with Hong Kong charter operator Metrojet and is

confirmed a wide-range of operating data including minimum control airspeeds, initial cruise performance and flight-control system/flight-control law performance. Testing has also been conducted to measure in-flight loads and validate initial Plane View avionics, autopilot and flight management systems. Gulfstream also began testing aircraft S/N 6004 with a fully fitted interior over the summer and flew a test aircraft ballasted for a crew of four and eight passengers over a 5,000– nm closed course at Mach 0.90 in 9 hours and 45 minutes. Pres Henne, Gulfstream vice president of engineering, certification and test, said he believes

damping responses. The FAA issued a type inspection authorization (TIA) for the G650 in August. The first three production aircraft are on the line and the first G650 training simulators will be delivered to FlightSafety Internation-

MARIANO ROSALES

Gulfstream Aerospace (Booth No. 2043) has been able to “proactively manage our business to respond to market realities,” said company president Joe Lombardo. “When you consider today’s market realities, we’re doing relatively well.” At a press conference here yesterday, Lombardo said that he expected the company to produce 97 aircraft this year; 76 large-cabin and 21 mid-cabin aircraft. He cited “renewed interest” in the mid-cabin sector and said that Gulfstream’s new aircraft development program for that market, the G250, and its new large cabin market offering, the G650, “are on track.” He said orders for the 650 are holding at approximately 200. Through October 12, the four-aircraft G650 test fleet had amassed 700 hours over 200 flights, on its way to projected certification in 2011, and individual aircraft had achieved important milestones. A fifth aircraft is expected to join the program shortly. The first test aircraft, S/N 6001, had logged 415 flight hours. During flutter testing this aircraft achieved a dive speed of Mach 0.995 and demonstrated acceptable

Gulfstream “is doing relatively well,” said president Joe Lombardo.

three BBJs, a BBJ2, three BBJ3s, a 777-300ER and a 777-300LR. Boeing Business Jets has sold eight 747-8s and 13 787s for completion in executive/VIP or head-of-state configuration. The company expects to deliver five 747-8s “all in a clump” to various completion centers for outfitting at the end of 2011. Two more will be delivered in 2012 and the eighth in 2013. Deliveries of 787s for executive/VIP and head-ofstate configuration are expected to begin in mid-2012. Boeing, he said, continues to offer upgrades of the BBJ and announced that the Rockwell Collins enhanced vision system (EVS) was certified last week by the FAA on a BBJ operated by the Air National Guard. The Rockwell Collins EVS is available to current and future BBJ operators as a post-production or optional modification. Also recently approved by the FAA for the BBJ was Panasonic’s eXconnect high-speed Internet package. The STC was granted in August, and the high-speed Internet package provides data transfer up to 50 Mbps. Boeing expects worldwide coverage will be available by year-end. o

Four General Dynamics Aviation Brands Become Two Gulfstream parent General Dynamics is consolidating four brands in its General Dynamics Aerospace Group into two. The General Dynamics Aviation Services division, a network of five service centers, will be rebranded as Gulfstream beginning in January. The change will not result in a consolidation of facilities or a reduction in the types of aircraft–including non-Gulfstream aircraft–serviced at these centers. Similarly, General Dynamics’ Midcoast Aviation maintenance and completion center brand will be rebranded as Jet Aviation. –M.H.

this sets a new speed/distance record for civil aircraft. The aircraft reached its initial cruise altitude of FL390 in 23 minutes. Gulfstream’s other new product in development, a supermidsize G250, outfitted with a full interior, arrived here Sunday from its manufacturer, Israel Aircraft Industries, and is on static display at DeKalb Peachtree airport. Like its larger G650 sibling, the G250 will have a Gulfstream-designed cabin management system that can be controlled by an iPod or iPhone. (See story on page one). The G250 has a balanced field length of 5,000 feet and takes less than 20 minutes to reach FL410 at maximum gross weight. Three aircraft are in the test program and key systems, including the brake-by-wire system and the Honeywell HTF7250G engines have been successfully tested. Load testing of key structural components is complete and the aircraft has received RVSM approval. Gulfstream declined to reveal the number of G250s on order, but did admit that deliveries of its mid-cabin offerings, the G150 and the G200, had plunged since 2008 from 69 to 19 in 2009.

This year the company expects to deliver 21. Lombardo said that largecabin production rates were “stable” due to strong demand outside the U.S. and Europe, and that the company’s product support business “is experiencing healthy growth.” He said that over the last decade the share of the Gulfstream fleet outside the U.S. has grown by 90 percent, from 17 to 29 percent of the total fleet of 1,900 over the last decade, and matched by a concomitant growth in the company’s product support. “The BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India, and China] are driving a lot of demand and it will continue to grow,” Lombardo said. Lombardo declined to reveal the company’s plan for a followon aircraft to take the place of either the G450 or G550. Gulfstream did announce a gross weight and 700-pound payload increase on the G450. Payload increases from 1,800 to 2,500 pounds, allowing the aircraft to take off with 12 passengers and full fuel. Henne said Gulfstream is continuing its research into supersonic transport. o

TWG Aviation acquires assets of Vitesse Aviation by Jeff Burger TWG Aviation, which provides charter/management, maintenance and FBO services under the names Business Jet Access and Business Jet Center, has completed the purchase of a variety of assets from Vitesse Aviation. TWG acquired 7.5 acres with two hangars at Dallas Love Field, where Vitesse had operated an FBO and provided aircraft maintenance, charter and management services. TWG will now begin to incorporate these services into its Business Jet Access and Jet Center operations at Love Field. TWG and Vitesse announced in June that they were completing their due diligence of the purchase. Vitesse, meanwhile, is retaining its FAA Part 145 repair station certificate and is moving its landing gear, component and

machining business to a facility near Love Field, where it will continue to supply general aviation and commercial airline parts. In other TWG news, Business Jet Access has received IS-BAO certification from the International Business Aviation Council. The certification means that the company has met best-practices standards that have been verified by an accredited ISBAO auditor. Business Jet Access has also been issued a Platinum safety rating from Argus International and obtained an FAA Part 145 repair station certificate. In addition, it has been designated as an authorized charter carrier for flights to and from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. o

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Citation X is now Citation uContinued from page 1

MARIANO ROSALES

to take the markets we are established in and maintain our leadership position,” he said, leaving open the door that the canceled Citation Columbus could be resurrected in the future. “At some point in time I’m sure you’ll see us go up market.” The new Citation Ten is scheduled for first flight at the end of next year and to enter into service in 2013. The price has been initially set at $21.495 million (2010). While Cessna declined to estimate the aircraft’s Mmo, Pelton said the Ten would be faster than the Mach 0.925 Gulfstream G650, but declined to set an exact number. “We are not going to get into specific performance until next year.” However, on a typical 2,500-nm trip, Cessna estimates the Ten will burn 145 pounds less fuel and arrive two minutes sooner than the current model. This latest iteration will feature winglets, uprated Rolls-

Cessna boss Jack Pelton

Royce engines, a 15-inch longer cabin with new interior, an iPhone-like cabin management system and the launch of the Garmin G5000 avionics suite. The changes yield a variety of performance improvements. Payload increases by 214 pounds, range at high-speed cruise increases by 211 nm to 3,107 nm and the initial cruise altitude increases to FL450 from FL430. Time to climb to FL450 is only 23 minutes; to FL350 (anti-ice off) it is only 13 minutes. Not only will the Ten have a higher initial maximum cruise altitude, it will be able to fly faster at various altitudes; cruise speeds will increase from two to 19 knots, depending on altitude. At FL350 high-speed cruise increases from 525 ktas to 527 ktas, while at FL490 it bumps from 460 ktas to 479 ktas. The Ten will use a pair of Rolls-Royce AE3007C2 highflow-fan turbines, rated at 7,034 pounds of thrust each, that

deliver a 4 percent boost in takeoff thrust, 9 percent better climb performance, 7 percent more cruise thrust and a 1.4 percent improvement in specific fuel consumption. The engine will be certified prior to aircraft type certification. The new engines feature a more efficient fan with 38.5-inch compound swept fan blades, which Rolls-Royce says are more durable and improve stability. The engine will also have a larger LP turbine to improve durability and HP compressor vane schedule for efficiency as well as new Fadec software with improved engine health monitoring and engine start logic. The first AE3007C engine entered service with the Citation X in 1996 and Rolls-Royce has delivered more than 600 to Cessna to date. The engine is produced at RollsRoyce’s Indianapolis plant. The Citation Ten will be the launch platform for the Garmin G5000 avionics suite (see story on page 5), featuring three 14-inch LCD primary and multifunction displays and four touch-screen control panels. The Part 25 avionics suite, a first for Garmin, will include TCAS II with Change 7.1, synthetic vision, electronic charts, SafeTaxi, dual FMS with Waas LPV and RNP 0.3 Saaar capability, solid-state weather radar with turbulence detection and vertical scan, integrated Taws, ADS-B Out, Link 2000+ datalink, autothrottles with speed and thrust modes and diagnostics with data logging and interface with Cessna’s AReS system. Options include satellite weather and ICAO Type 1A flight data recorder. The G5000 will be the most prominent feature in the Citation Ten’s restyled cockpit, resplendent with streamlined switching, metalized trim and other luxury automotive-style accents. System options include XM satellite weather and Garmin (via Iridium satcom) worldwide weather, lightning detection, a second HF radio, transmission of maintenance data in flight and enhanced SafeTaxi with situational alerting on runway, taxiway and for insufficient runway length. Joel Mugglin, Cessna Citation X product marketing manager, said the G5000 will be upgradeable to include ADS-B In once that is defined. While the winglets will be available for retrofit on older Citation Xs, the G5000 avionics will not. Cessna is developing a proprietary cabin management system (CMS) for the Ten with

The Citation X, first delivered in 1996, will be upgraded and rebranded as the Citation Ten. It will remain Cessna’s flagship for the foreseeable future. The Ten will be longer and slightly faster than the original.

Dallas-based Heads Up Technologies. The CMS integrates the cabin electrical system, avionics and communications through a fiber-optic backbone. The interactive touch-screen controller at each seat, about the size of an iPhone, has a built-in Internet browser (Internet service required) and controls digital audio and video (a Blu-ray player sits in the forward closet), lights, window shades, cabin temperature, interactive moving map and cabin diagnostics. Texts can be sent from seat to seat and the VIP controls can be designated to any seat in the cabin. While the CMS screen is large enough to view video media, Cessna does plan to offer monitor options. The CMS is scalable for future growth. Anticipated phone service will be via Aircell Axxess II, with optional Internet via Aircell (domestic) and Inmarsat SwiftBroadband (international). Cabin Wi Fi, high-speed Internet and satellite radio will be available as options. Mugglin described the CMS as “unobtrusive, but very functional. You won’t know it is there

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until you touch it.” Roger Whyte, Cessna senior executive vice president for sales and marketing, said the new CMS already has been successfully bench tested. The 15-inch cabin stretch provides 8.6 inches of additional legroom in the forward club four-seat grouping and nearly five inches in the aft grouping. The seats are restyled with eight extra degrees of pitch, allowing passengers to lean farther back when the seats are in the takeoff and landing position. “You feel cradled, like you do in a sports car,” said Mugglin. The sidewall tables are also larger for the forward club area. A side-facing divan will be available as a custom option, but will not be pre-certified. The jet will feature restyled side ledges large enough for drinks and personal electronics and will contain USB charging ports. The galleys include a new optional large galley that covers the forward right-hand window and has a translucent back panel for transmitting natural light. A new left-hand

forward closet provides some additional storage. Cabin lighting has been refreshed with overhead, dimmable and warmth-adjustable overhead white ambient lighting and RGB color-adjustable LED accent lighting on the side ledges, aisle and cabinetry. Pelton said the Ten exemplifies Cessna’s commitment to “new product development” and its intention to “maintain a general aviation leadership position.” He said that R&D spending on the Ten had eaten Cessna’s profit year-to-date and that R&D was approximately six percent of revenues. For the first six months of 2010, Cessna posted revenues of $582.8 million. “I think it is time to take some bold moves. We’re going to move a little differently on our product strategy,” Pelton said. “In the past we’ve adopted a lot of designs that have lower risk and we are going to break that dynamic at Cessna.” Mugglin said that much of the impetus for the Ten came from some of the owners of the 300 aircraft currently in service. “Existing Citation X operators do not want production discontinued. We are excited to give them something to think about again,” he said. Cessna’s Whyte said that he expected “a lot” of orders for the Ten to come from existing customers. o

Gulfstream GIII gets ‘f lying theater’ Flight Display Systems has gone Hollywood, in a manner of speaking. To be more specific, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based cabin entertainment specialist provided a 42-inch, high-definition, LCD widescreen monitor for the recently completed Gulfstream III cabin of a Hollywood producer. According to Flight Display, the unidentified producer is using the sidewall, credenza-mounted monitor and multiple Blu-ray video players “to screen films and review his various productions.” The “Flying Theater,” as well as Flight Display’s new Select cabin management system, was installed by independent completion and refurbishment specialist International Jet Interiors of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., as part of a major cabin upgrade. Other features in the GIII are three separate cabin zones, each with independently controlled cabin lighting, attendant call

that will charge the iPad and allow the user to share music and video throughout the cabin. The $875 FDMEDPLR-3 adapter is more than just an iPad cable, however. It includes a small box that is permanently installed in

the aircraft, with a connector that attaches to the iPad or iPhone. The adapter can also be incorporated into Flight Display’s iPad mounting system, which allows the iPad to rotate into landscape or portrait mode. o

Flight Display Systems recently installed a ‘Flying Theater,’ a 42-inch high-definition LCD monitor, in the sidewall credenza of a Hollywood producer’s Gulfstream GIII.

Flight Display Systems is showing its new iPad mount here at NBAA.

functions and electronic window shades. In addition to the 42-inch widescreen, International Jet also installed 20-inch and 10.2-inch monitors, as well as iPod docking stations and auxiliary input ports for computer video. At its exhibit here (Booth No. 1335), Flight Display is unveiling its new Apple iPad mount, an idea that director of international sales Nick Gray said came from an equipment dealer in the United Kingdom. “With so many millions of iPhones, iPads and iPods sold, it should come as no surprise that more and more passengers are carrying their preferred media into the cabin,” said Gray. Flight Display currently offers an iPod/iPhone/iPad adapter cable

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FuelerLinx offers fuel price aid by Curt Epstein Aviation fuel-management software provider FuelerLinx has unveiled a new fueling pricing aid. The San Franciscobased company, which developed software that automatically finds the latest fuel prices for its customers, is demonstrating its FBOLinx Web site (www. fbolinx.com) here at the NBAA convention (Booth No. 5748). FBOLinx promises not only to streamline fuel price updating chores for FBOs, but provide valuable information for FuelerLinx subscribers as well, the company said. “The biggest question that people always want to ask is, ‘What is the ramp fee relative to the price per gallon?’” said Kevin Moller, FuelerLinx founder and president. “If I know that I have to spend $500 for a ramp fee, I’m willing to spend maybe five cents more per gallon if I can go someplace where I don’t have to pay it.”

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While helping its flight department customers navigate through the ramp fee avoidance policies was clearly a priority for FuelerLinx, finding a way to contact thousands of FBOs and update those policies efficiently took some creativity. In the end, the company found a way to get the FBOs to come to FuelerLinx. The newly launched site offers individual FBOs as well as chains the ability to simplify their weekly chore of updating fuel prices to all of the contract fuel programs in which they participate. When they first enroll, FBOs enter their weekly pricing matrix, including pricing breaks in five different volume categories. Then they select their contract fuel purchasing programs and enter the pricing adjustment for each–fixed price, a percentage off, a fixed amount per gallon or an intoplane fee. The FBO is also asked to enter its ramp fee waiver information. Once that data is entered, FBOLinx sends the data to all the contract fuel companies the FBO does business with, eliminating the need for them to contact each one. The Web site also communicates with

the FuelerLinx subscription fuel management program software, which draws out the ramp fee policies and relays the information to subscribers to help them determine their best deal. The company has also made some recent upgrades to the FuelerLinx program, which helps flight departments buy fuel more efficiently and more cost effectively. The subscription-based system allows operators to enter all their contract fuel programs and automatically presents the prices available based on negotiated deals and volume discounts. The system is now integrated with the CTA-FOS and BART scheduling software packages. “The major difference between what you saw last year and today is we have pretty much automatic pull of the fuel prices into our system,” said Suzanne Moller, FuelerLinx vice president of business development and marketing. “Instead of manually loading all the files, you enter your name and password and the system automatically double-checks those prices every three hours for all the major fuel vendors.” If subscribers have a relationship with a fuel provider, they can enter their password and the location desired and the system will update that customer’s negotiated pricing in real time. Once the vendor is selected, the system e-mails the fuel provider and dispatcher with the pricing for the requested amount and a confirmation of the location and date. Once a flight is dispatched, the software archives the price lists from the fuel provider. To provide further insurance of correct billing, the system automatically tracks fuel purchases and notes which purchases have not been reconciled through a simple bar chart. Another feature is the addition of proximity and sectional charts, furnished through an agreement with Runway Finder. In addition to providing weather updates, the site also provides hotel locations and information about other airportarea amenities useful for pilots. o

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96aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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STATE OF THE INDUSTRY > Bombardier

Canadian airframer plans ‘Super Global’ by Nigel Moll The buzz, as these words are written, is that Bombardier planned to unveil a “Super Global” here at the NBAA Convention, and in the end the company was not able to maintain complete radio silence. Possibly alarmed at the prospect of too much substantial chatter erupting ahead of time, the company chose to confirm the basic premise of its planned announcement on September 30. The pre-convention speculation represents something of a turning of the tables. For years, this same variety of scuttlebutt had been scrutinizing the fuselage diameter of the Gulfstream large-cabin business jets, which, while growing dramatically longer in both feet of cabin length and nautical miles of range over the decades, had remained unchanged in cabin width since the marque was introduced in 1958 as a twin turboprop. It was the Canadair/Bombardier Challenger and Global Express that first focused attention on the Gulfstream cross section as being suddenly less spacious, and not until unveiling the G650 in March 2008 did Gulfstream finally bust out of the aging GI/II/III/IV/V/550 crosssection mold and increase its biggest jet’s structural cabin width. The G650 increases cabin width by 14 inches beyond the G550’s and two inches beyond that of the Global 5000 and Global Express XRS. Would Bombardier spend a billion dollars to eliminate a two-inch shortfall and challenge the G650 on speed and range? It could be argued that Bombardier’s advantage in cabin width thus far with the Global has been handicapped somewhat by the Canadian a irplane’s

relatively antiquated cathoderay-tube avionics (now, finally, addressed by the adoption of a Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion suite available soon on new aircraft–part of the Global Vision cockpit–and retrofittable Honeywell Primus Elite displays for in-service aircraft) and by Gulfstream’s enduring leadership in product support–factors that complicate apples-to-apples comparisons and exemplify the variables manipulating the purchase decision for a big-ticket long-range jet. So now the pressure is presumed to be on Bombardier to mount a counter offensive to the G650, which has already attracted orders for some 200 copies of what will be Gulfstream’s new flagship. Until Bombardier revealed details of the new jet at this convention, the question was whether a “Super Global” would be an aerodynamic/engines/systems upgrade of the current Global Express XRS (requiring perhaps $200 million in development money) or an all-new airplane requiring as much as $1 billion to develop, test and certify. Learjet Future

That’s the conundrum facing Bombardier management in the large-cabin, ultra-long-range segment. Lower down, the dilemma is more the future of Learjet, which is pinning its hopes on the all-composite Learjet 85 currently under development while watching demand wither for its existing Wichita-built offerings. To Bombardier Business Aircraft, the recession has been most evident in sagging sales of the Learjet 40XR and 45XR. In the first half of 2009, Learjet delivered

Bombardier achieved a modest gain in Learjet 60XR deliveries this year, but the fate of the Learjet line likely rests on the in-development Learjet 85.

Bombardier saw deliveries of its super-midsize Challenger 300 fall from 19 in the first half of last year to 14 in the first half of this year.

22 examples of the 40XR/45XR but only nine in the same period this year. The 60XR managed one gain in the first half of this year, logging six deliveries versus five in the first half of last year. Shipments of the Challenger 300 super-midsize slid to 14 aircraft in the first half of this year from 19 in the first half of 2009, and the largecabin Challenger 605 almost held its own (23 in this year’s first half versus 24 in the same period last year). The Global 5000 and Global Express XRS logged a combined 25 deliveries in this first half, versus 31 in last year’s first half. Shipments of the CL850/870/890 actually made gains in this year’s first half, climbing to five from three in the first six months of last year. Overall, the trend for Bombardier has been inching in the right direction for the past five quarters, with net orders for business aircraft climbing from

minus 53 to two, four, six and most recently 14. Wichita-based Learjet is facing the same painful labor decisions that bedevil Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft and, like those crosstown competitors, has looked south to save money by having systems and subassemblies made in Mexico. All primary structure for the composite Learjet 85 will be made at a Bombardier-owned facility in Querétaro, about 130 miles north of Mexico City, but final assembly will take place in Wichita–for now holding on to its title of Air Capital of the World but less firmly than it has for the past seven or so decades. This past summer, in return for an assurance it would keep Learjet 85 final assembly in Wichita, Bombardier secured an agreement under which the state of Kansas will provide $27 million in bond financing to help build a new paint facility, customer

Bombardier’s Regional Airliner Outlook Now that the market for new 50-seat airplanes has completely evaporated, Bombardier has stopped building CRJ200s and any turboprop smaller than the 70- to 78-seat Q400. As of July 31, the order backlog for even its 70-seat CRJ700 had dwindled to 35 airplanes, while the backlog for the 76to 88-seat CRJ900 stood at 22. Still in flight test, the 100-seat CRJ1000 carries an order total of 49 airplanes from two customers–Brit Air of France and Spain’s Air Nostrum. Meanwhile, the Q400 line stands as the c ompany’s most active, and still carries a backlog of 73 airplanes as of July 31 after the company delivered 32 of the high-speed turboprops during the first seven months of the year. Notwithstanding some modest sales success during the last quarter, when it drew orders for eight CRJ900s from Lufthansa and seven Q400s from Qantas, Bombardier clearly has reached the conclusion that the future of its commercial aircraft division lies with what it believes will emerge as a robust market for 110- to 149-seat mainline single-aisle airliners. Still, the company’s C Series project, consisting of the 110- to 125-seat CS100 and the 120- to 145-seat CS300, has drawn firm orders for just 90 examples from three customers since the program’s launch in 2008. It drew no orders at July’s Farnborough airshow, a venue widely expected to yield business from at least one and perhaps two customers, including Qatar Airways. The project recently entered its detailed design phase; Bombardier expects to fly the CS100 in 2012 and intends to use five test vehicles to certify the smaller of the two variants, and deliver the first airplane by the end of 2013. Plans call for development of the CS300, which will use two test vehicles, to lag by roughly a year. –Gregory Polek

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delivery center and production flight-test facility in Wichita. All told, Bombardier said it will be investing $600 million in the Learjet 85 program in Wichita, creating at least 300 new jobs in a city that sorely needs them. Infrastructure Investments

Bombardier Aerospace is investing some $35 million over the next five years to structure a worldwide service and maintenance network. In March the Canadian airframer opened its new $8 million wholly owned service center at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Currently leased from Martinair, the space provides 45,339 sq ft, and an initial staff of 37 is expected to expand to 50 by year-end. The hangar is capable of accommodating a combination of eight Learjets, four Challengers and two Globals. Bombardier’s training network will employ five more business jet simulators in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East by early next year, including the first full flight simulator for the Learjet 40/40XR and Learjet 45/45XR, which was qualified in April at CAE’s Burgess Hill Training Centre in the UK. Another CAE location in Europe is expected to add a Challenger 300 simulator this year. Both the Learjet 40/45 and Challenger 300 simulators will offer the first training programs for these jets in Europe. Also in April, the EmiratesCAE training facility in Dubai began offering training in a Global Express simulator. Early next year, a Challenger 604 simulator, which is now located at Bombardier’s Montreal training facility, is to be moved to CAE’s facility in Amsterdam. And in North America, a Challenger 605 full-flight simulator is to enter service at Bombardier’s Dallas facility this year and a Global Vision avionics simulator is to go live in Montreal in the first quarter of next year. o

Business aviation mobilized quickly to bring medical supplies and personnel to Haiti after the earthquake.

Emergency network seeks support over and over again that the resources are available, but without someone acting as the passenger’s advocate and championing momentum, the assets rarely get coordinated,” said Eissler. Members of the group are

here at NBAA looking for industry support such as donations of flights, expertise and funds to help it succeed in its mission to “use the power of business aviation to solve problems during emergencies and urgent situations.” –C.E.

STEPHEN POPE

Sky Hope Network, a new nonprofit organization, has been established in the wake of the business aviation industry’s volunteer response to the Haiti earthquake. Founded and headed by Robin Eissler, previously a key member of the aviation response group Corporate Aircraft Responding to Emergencies (C.A.R.E., now known as AERObridge), which helped marshal more than 800 volunteer flights in the weeks following the January disaster, the new organization will concentrate on three main areas of activity. Similar to AERObridge, Sky Hope Network will coordinate business aviation relief flights during disasters, but as a full-time charity it will provide coordination and referrals of flight requests for urgent or emergency situations through its own Robin Eissler aircraft network or by working with other flight charity organizations. “After we evaluated all the charity flight groups, we found some areas that were lacking and incorporated Sky Hope Network with the goal of filling these gaps,” Eissler told AIN. “For in stance, there is no charity flight group available to carry patients needing treatment, who are noncancer patients, long distances.” The last area of concern for the group is in offering emergency assistance, both flight- and non-flight related, for people in the business aviation community, which Eissler hopes will enable the Georgetown, Texas-based Sky Hope Network to “be a vehicle to help our peers in the industry d uring their time of need.” Such assistance could take the form of donated hotel points or airline miles. In addition to Eissler, who serves as the group’s president and chairman along with her role as vice president of aircraft brokerage firm Jet Quest, the other founding members include Eric Zipkin, president, Tradewind Aviation; Sean Anthony, Windsor Jet Management’s director of maintenance; Janet Bressler, president of AOPA Insurance Agency; and Jo Damato, NBAA’s director of operations and educational development. Combined, the group, which has wide-ranging industry experience from flight operations to risk management, believes it can help improve business aviation’s response to crisis. “I have found

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Honeywell demo shows fused SVS/EVS views by Stephen Pope guidance cues and terrain shading in colors that mimic VFR sectional charts. That presentation becomes far more convincing–and reassuring–once the EVS view is added in the center of the primary flight displays. Using special software algorithms, the EVS image from a Kollsman IR camera mounted in the nose is shaded in the same

PHOTOS: NIGEL MOLL

Honeywell has given the aviation world its first glimpse of a cockpit technology that developers say will change the way future pilots aviate by combining the views of a syntheticvision database of obstacles, topography and airports with a forward-looking infrared camera on a single cockpit display. The company wasn’t the first avionics manufacturer to explore such a concept–and Honeywell concedes that it probably won’t be the first to bring the technology to market–but nonetheless it relished the opportunity to be the first to publicly demonstrate the merging of synthetic-vision system (SVS) and enhanced-vision system (EVS) visuals on a business jet primary flight display. Nighttime Demo Flights

Honeywell chose to reveal its progress on the developmental enhancements to its SmartView SVS by inviting aviation journalists on a series of nighttime demonstration flights last month between Arizona’s Phoenix Deer Valley Airport and Prescott Ernest A. Love Field. Flown in a company Cessna Citation Sovereign captained by chief test pilot Jary Engels, the sorties gave the trade media their first opportunity to see such an SVS/EVS presentation in the cockpit of a real airplane. The one word that most easily came to mind after the experience: impressive. While Honeywell tempered expectations for the demonstrations with the admonition that the developmental technology was still probably five years from reaching the market, the fused SVS/EVS view that journalists saw on the demo flights seemed enticingly close to becoming a flight-deck-ready upgrade to its Primus Epic avionics system. Hundreds more hours of flight testing are needed for initial certification, and even more work lies ahead before Honeywell can realize its goal of using the technology to obtain lower landing minimums for properly equipped airplanes– but the work done so far shows immense promise. Honeywell’s SmartView SVS gives pilots a compelling 3-D virtual look at the world ahead of the airplane, complete with

Honeywell’s merged SVS/EVS presentation matches real and synthetic features extremely well.

Inside the EVS box in the middle of the screen, the runway, taxiways and lighting can be easily seen.

As soon as the pilot puts the gear down on final, the view automatically declutters to show more of the EVS box.

colors as the resident SVS terrain in the background, while also being “blended” with the SVS view. The technique helps to merge the SVS and EVS views into a single coherent picture that makes every flight the equivalent of a bright, sunshiny day. Descending over northern Arizona on one of the flights, mountain peaks that could not be seen out the windshield because of the darkness were easily discernable on the PFD. The SVS and EVS views of terrain almost always matched up perfectly as mountains entered and exited the EVS portion of the display–including the subtle color shifts from brown to green as the terrain rose and fell. When the images didn’t align properly, it was usually because the real sky in the distance was darker than the virtual blue sky on the SVS display or in areas where the database’s interpretation of terrain did not mesh perfectly with the real world outside. Still, during the majority of the demonstration flights, the SVS and EVS worlds matched one another surprisingly well. The biggest difference on the EVS portion of the display was the ability to clearly make out roads, rivers and other ground features that were not present in the SVS view. On approach the technology seemed even more impressive. As the pilot reached to pull down the gear handle, the view on the displays automatically shifted, decluttering the flight path marker to allow more of the EVS view to be seen on the display. Once established on final, the landing runway was highlighted by a cyan-colored rectangle with a cyan course line flanked by thicker cyan dashed lines (“Paver stones,” Engels called them), highlighting the final approach course all the way to the runway threshold. As the Sovereign reached decision altitude, a virtual graycolored runway marked 22L morphed into (and matched extremely closely with) the real Runway 22L at Prescott Airport that appeared in the EVS window. Unlike the SVS portion of the display, inside the EVS window one could see taxiways, airport lighting including the VASI and other aircraft and ground vehicles. Developers say this real-world view on the PFD is what makes SVS/EVS blending such an important safety enhancement. “The benefits of blending the synthetic view, which we’ve

00aaNBAA 100 aaNBAAConvention ConventionNews News• •October October19, 19,2010 2010• •www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com

already certified, with a realworld enhanced view using sensor data is pretty obvious,” said Chad Cundiff, vice president of crew interface products for Honeywell. “You can imagine if there was a deer on the runway or truck driving across how valuable it would be to have that IR view.” Once on the ground, the enhanced SmartView presentation changes again, this time expanding the EVS box and turning it gray to provide an improved view for taxiing at night or in low visibility. Many pilots who fly with HUD-based EVS systems say IR technology’s greatest safety benefits come while taxiing at night, especially on unfamiliar airports. Some of those same pilots complain about the limitations of IR-based EVS, one of which is that it cannot see through solid clouds or fog. But because of the way Honeywell blends SVS and EVS views, the technology can be used in clouds. In such cases, the SVS view becomes dominant even in the EVS portion of the display. One benefit of the SVS/EVS blending technique Honeywell has developed is that it helps pilots easily pick out the height of cloud layers above and below. (Another drawback of IR-based

Honeywell says it is still working on the proper alignment of SVS and EVS views to provide a more natural look.

Honeywell uses software algorithms to match the EVS terrain coloring with that the SVS database.

EVS is it cannot detect LED lighting, which is fast becoming the standard at airports around the world.) The big question now is whether the FAA will someday allow landing credits as it currently does for HUD/EVS operations. Pilots flying with HUD-based EVS are permitted to continue straight-in precision approaches to 100 feet if they can see the runway using the EVS. Honeywell is hoping to obtain a similar operational enhancement in airplanes equipped with SVS/EVS. Cundiff noted that the FAA’s NextGen roadmap calls for the introduction of “equivalent visual operations” (intended to give aircraft VFR capabilities in IFR conditions) sometime between 2012 and 2016. Honeywell representatives are part of FAA and RTCA working groups now exploring such technologies. Situational Awareness Improves

Perhaps the best indication of whether SVS/EVS blending will improve safety and enhance situational awareness came during a portion of the demonstration flight when Engels shut the SmartView system off. The display automatically reverted to the traditional blue-over-brown presentation of an electronic ADI. Invariably when this happens in a high-performance airplane in the mountains at night, the pilots’ immediate reaction is they want the SVS view turned back on–asap. Given the choice of an SVS view or a display featuring blended SVS and EVS, chances are very few pilots would choose the former. “Having that IR view of what’s really outside raises the comfort level at least a notch or two,” Engels said. A number of Honeywell’s competitors are working toward similar goals, and at least two of them appear likely to cross the certification finish line with blended SVS/ EVS products before Honeywell does. Rockwell Collins has been testing a similar concept for use with its Pro Line Fusion cockpit, due for certification in 2012, and Garmin has put SVS/EVS blending high on its wish list for the G1000/G3000/ G5000 family of cockpits. Still, given the progress Honeywell has made to date, even if it has to settle on being second or third to market, it won’t be long afterward that pilots of Primus Epic-equipped airplanes benefit from SVS/EVS fusion. o

Seattle FBO celebrates 80 years by R. Randall Padfield Eighty years in business is no small accomplishment for any company, but it is a particularly significant achievement in the aviation industry, which, as we all know, experiences its share of ups and downs. Galvin Flying Ser vices, an FBO at Boe ing Field-King County International Airport in Seattle is one such company. Here at NBAA, the company is inviting one and all to join in a cake cutting marking its 80th anniversary, tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the AirBP Booth (No. 7903). Jim Galvin founded Galvin Flying Services in the middle of the Great Depression, on Oct. 31, 1930, in economic conditions that were a lot worse than they are today. He offered barn storming, flying newspaper reporters and flight instruction. He also reached the rank of commander in the U.S. Coast Guard. Galvin died peacefully in 1991 at the age of 87. The current president of the company is Peter Anderson, Galvin’s nephew, who joined the company in 1969 and was appointed president in 1980. Today the company provides line service, aircraft management and sales, charter (as an Argus Gold Plus-rated service) and flight instruction (more

than 17,000 pilots trained). Galvin Flying Service re ceived an overall rating of 7.72 (on a scale from 1 to 10) in AIN’s FBO Survey 2010 The Americas. This placed Galvin in the 50th

percentile of the 142 FBOs in the Western Hemisphere that received the required number of ratings to be listed in AIN’s final report of the survey (see www. ainonline.com/resource-center). o

Above, Peter Anderson, nephew of Jim Galvin, founder of Galvin Flying Service, is now company president. At right, Jim Galvin and wife Marian, circa 1946, in front of a Ryan Brougham.

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‘creative training’ session planned For a creative approach to training, check out today’s workshop, “Training Resources and Bundled Training: Innovation and Creativity in Business Flight Department Training.” The session, which will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon, and will focus on “training that pertains specifically to today’s economy and its effect on training and safety,” according to session organizers. Presenters at the seminar will include: Scott Miller, vice president, The Partnership for Corporate Aviation Training; Richard Sedgwick, chief pilot, Target Corp.; Harlan Gray Sparrow III, manager, National Simulator Program, AFS-205, FAA; Doug Mykol, president emeritus, AirCare Solutions; Shawn Scott, president, Scott International Procedures; and Franco Pietracupa, director, flight training and op erations, Bombardier Aeron space.

“The King Air 350 has great flexibility and agility, and so does Hawker Beechcraft Services. Buying and upgrading an aircraft is a complicated process. Hawker Beechcraft proved they were willing to go the ‘extra miles’ to satisfy our needs.” —Captain Renato Balbino, Director of Flight Operations, Viação São Geraldo

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Atlanta 2010 R e s tau r a n t Guid e

by Jennifer Brett

ou’ll notice a number of trends on display in the Atlanta restaurants you visit during your time here. First, you’ll see chefs embracing the organic, locally sourced, “farm to table” concept. Second, you may sense a new energy, as restaurants have adapted to recent economic conditions with revamped menus and a renewed emphasis on customer service. (Complimentary valet service is nearly standard). And finally, you may find yourself dining among famous guests. Atlanta has become an attractive place for film crews to set up shop. Movies including The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock; Hall Pass, starring Owen Wilson; and Lottery Ticket, starring Ice Cube and Bow Wow all were filmed here, leading to plenty of star sightings. Other film projects, including a remake of Footloose, starring Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid; The Fast and the Furious V, starring Vin Diesel; and Wanderlust, starring Jennifer Aniston, have been shooting this fall. Atlanta’s many famous residents include actor-director-playwright Tyler Perry, who films television and movie projects here, along with numerous sports figures and entertainers. Don’t be surprised if you bump into a celebrity in the valet line at any of these eateries.

accommodates groups as needed. Recently spotted here: B-52s frontman Fred Schneider, pop starlet Katy Perry and Dancing with the Stars alumna Julianne Hough.

Bistro Niko

Bistro Niko 3344 Peachtree Road N.E. 404-261-6456 www.buckheadrestaurants.com

Elegant yet comfortable, Bistro Niko is an Atlanta favorite. Locals know to order the gougers (warm cheese puffs) the moment you sit down, as they take a few minutes. Signature dishes include the skate wing, sautéed in brown butter with capers; the crisp duck confit and coq au vin. Popular starters include the rich truffled white bean soup or one of the “tartes”–thin flatbreads with salmon or wild mushroom. Located next to The Buckhead Club in the heart of Atlanta’s preeminent retail district, with a quick, efficient valet service, Bistro Niko offers semi-private dining in the salon adjacent to the main dining room, and easily

downtown. It’s in a chic, industrial-looking building with a concise menu that demonstrates that simple, locally sourced ingredients can produce exquisite results. (If you’ve never enjoyed Brussels sprouts, you might consider trying the delicately BLT roasted ones here.) 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd. If you go at lunch you’ll enjoy exploring the list of unique sandwiches, which 404- 577-7601 www.bltsteak.com pair nicely with the addictive garlicNoted restaurateur Laurent Touron- herbed fries. Favorite dishes include the roasted poblano with del’s decision to add downpimento cheese, a nice town Atlanta to his list of medley of flavors, and culinary outposts is a credit the rack of pork, flat iron to our city’s dining scene. It’s steak and Chesapeake French bistro meets Ameriflounder. Starting with can steakhouse, with a full the artisan cheese plate raw bar. Whether you seek allows you to sample a braised short ribs, filet, hanvariety of tastes. gar steak or New York strip, The open-air set up makes you can be assured of a qualfor a lively dining room, but ity cut and superb service, more private dining areas and your meal begins with Bocado are available as well. those beloved popovers. The menu also features a number of seafood dishes, with inter- Flip Burger Boutique esting sides like spicy barbecue corn or 1587 Howell Mill Rd. N.W. creamed spinach with nutmeg. 404-352-3547 The restaurant is located in the down- www.flipburgerboutique.com town W Hotel, a 28-story building com-  plete with helipad, so if you’d like to gaze Yeah! Burger out on Atlanta from above before or after 1168 Howell Mill Rd. N.W. your meal, take the elevator up to the 404-496-4393 Wetbar Lounge on the 16th floor. www.yeahburger.com Atlanta has embraced the gourmet Bocado burger fad with great enthusiasm, and 887 Howell Mill Rd. these two fun spots, located close to one another and to downtown, give you a 404-815-1399 www.bocadoatlanta.com good idea of what the local burger wars This little Westside gem is very close to are all about. Flip is the brainchild of

00aaNBAA 102 aaNBAAConvention ConventionNews News• •October October19, 19,2010 2010• •www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com

South City Kitchen

past Top Chef finalist Richard Blais. The menu goes well beyond the basic burger, offering turkey, crab, veal, pork sausage or tuna and steak tartare in between two buns. Don’t worry, you can find a beef burger here, and even a veggie pattie. If you’re in the mood for a decadent treat, finish with a Krispy Kreme doughnut milkshake. While neither of these places would be considered formal dining, Yeah! Burger is definitely the more casual. Here, you walk up to order and assemble a custom burger at the counter. Choose beef, bison, chicken, turkey or veggie on a white, wheat or gluten-free bun with a variety of cheeses and all manner of toppings, such as bacon jam or sliced avocados. Salads and hotdogs are also available, sides include onion rings and hand-cut fries and the Creamsicle shake is a favorite dessert. Both stock a nice selection of beers and wines, along with cocktail menus. Legal Sea Foods 275 Baker St. N.W. 678-500-3700 www.legalseafoods.com

The Atlanta rendition of this Boston-based chain is located a short walk from the Georgia World Congress Center. In nice weather, the terrace offers a great view of the Georgia Aquarium–the world’s largest. The famous clam chowder is a favorite way to start a meal here, and the menu features just about everything that swims. The main dining room is upstairs, while the bar is downstairs–a great place to grab Continued on page 104 u

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a drink and a snack in between meetings, or to begin the evening with associates. Note: the restaurant’s front door is close to the entrance of Ventanas, a special events facility that often hosts starstudded parties. If you see a line on the sidewalk, it likely signifies a special event, not a crowd at Legal. Livingston 659 Peachtree St. N.E. 404-897-1991 www.livingstonatlanta.com

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When Gone With the Wind premiered in Atlanta in 1939, stars Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable celebrated at the gala at the Georgian Terrace. The hotel, across the street from the historic Fox Theatre, has recently been restored and its restaurant, Livingston, exudes a sleek Art Deco aura and a sophisticated menu. Starters include the peekytoe crab fritters, beef tartare or crispy spring pea ravioli. Entrées include short rib, salmon, rack of lamb, filet mignon and rabbit. Cocktail and nibbles from the excellent bar menu are available on the terrace. The main dining room is sweeping and grand, but Livingston has a private dining room, too. If there’s a show at the Fox on the night you go, dine after the curtain rises, usually 8 p.m. Miller Union 999 Brady Ave. 678-733-8550 www.millerunion.com

Bon Appetit magazine named Miller Union one of the 10 best new restaurants Miller Union

in America, and Atlanta Magazine declared it Restaurant of the Year. The menu is sophisticated Southern, with dishes such as grilled pork with seasonal vegetables, or sautéed quail with herbpecan rice. Starters include grits fritters with country ham, and be sure to save room for one of the homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert. The wine list is excellent. The décor is rustic-chic. The exterior looks industrial, but inside you’ll feel like you’re in the farmhouse kitchen of a friend’s country estate. It’s located in Atlanta’s Westside neighborhood, very close to downtown. Recently spotted dining alone at the bar while reading: Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers. Paces 88 88 West Paces Ferry Rd. 404-563-7910 www.paces88.com

The chic restaurant in Atlanta’s St. Regis Hotel, along with the extensively stocked adjacent wine bar and dark wood paneled pub a few steps away, all attract a lively and sometimes famous crowd. (Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Josh Duhamel and Dennis Quaid, to name a few.) The recently repurposed menu features an upscale twist on classics such as the lobster quesadilla or “luxury” burger with foie gras and prosciutto or buffalo chicken iceberg wedge, while standards such as crab cakes or New York strip remain. Favorite starters include the goat cheese puff pastry, oysters on the half shell or the artisan cheese plate. If you’re having cocktails at this popular Buckhead spot in the early evening, you can observe the nightly champagne sabering* out on the terrace. [Sabrage, the technique for opening a champagne bottle with a sabre, has its origins in a Napoleonic ceremony. The saber (or a heavy knife) is slid with some force along the body of the bottle toward the neck. When the blade hits the collar, the glass breaks, separating the collar from the neck of the bottle, allowing the champagne to be poured. The cork remains embedded in the separated collar; it never “pops.” For a quick demonstration, Google “champagne sabreing” and check out the YouTube videos of the process.–Ed.]

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Restaurant Eugene

Avfuel Contrac t Fuel

Restaurant Eugene 2277 Peachtree Rd. 404-355-0321 www.restauranteugene.com



Holeman & Finch 404.948.1175 www.holeman-finch.com

Located at the border of Buckhead and Midtown, a short drive from downtown, Chef Linton Hopkins’ local destination–Restaurant Eugene–is a past Atlanta Journal-Constitution Restaurant of the Year. The menu features an appealing range of seafood, game and poultry, but vegetables are a tremendous draw here, too. Hopkins could not be more sincere about sourcing fresh, local ingredients: he and his wife, Gina, are the founders of the Peachtree Road Farmer’s Market. Five- or seven-course tasting menus allow you to explore the range of Hopkins’ talents. Next door to Restaurant Eugene is Holeman & Finch Public House (both places pay tribute to Hopkins’ grandfather, Eugene Holeman). Locals are wild about the famous Holeman & Finch burgers, but they aren’t available until 10 p.m. each night, and only 24 are made at a time. When they’re gone, they’re gone, and the nightly burger blast often sells out in less than a minute. South City Kitchen 1144 Crescent Ave. 404-873-7358 www.southcitykitchen.com

After former First Lady Laura Bush’s recent book signing at a local Barnes and Noble, she and her team of security personnel enjoyed the Southern comfort food at South City Kitchen in Midtown, a short drive from downtown. Mrs. Bush, who dined with her security team at a table on the patio, enjoyed pan-seared Georgia mountain trout with summer squash-mirliton gratin, roasted tomato jam, arugula, lemon and extra virgin olive oil, as well as a side of succotash. Other items on the “Contemporary Southern” menu include barbecue shrimp, seafood jambalaya, steak, meatloaf, and their famous buttermilk fried chicken. Desserts like mini pecan pies or

South City Kitchen

cinnamon raisin bread pudding exhibit upscale Southern comfort at its finest. Note: If you’re waiting for a table, Tin Lizzy’s Cantina right next door is a good spot for a margarita. Woodfire Grill 1782 Cheshire Bridge Rd. 404-347-9055 www.woodfiregrill.com

Fans of Bravo’s Top Chef reality show have made the executive chef a celebrity at this Atlanta treasure, although Kevin Gillespie would argue that the food is the star. A metro Atlanta native who passed up a full scholarship to MIT to pursue a culinary career, Gillespie was an early and ardent adopter of sourcing local, sustainable ingredients and became famous for his pork-loving repertoire during his run on the show. A fun way to experience Gillespie’s genius is the five- or seven-course chef’s tasting menu, and the chef himself will gladly pose for photos if you like. Note: it can seem impossible to secure a reservation here, but it’s not. Gillespie recommends that instead of trying to secure a table through online reservation sites, such as Open Table, that you call instead. o Jennifer Brett writes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s daily Peach Buzz column and blog. Follow her at @AJCBuzz on Twitter during your time in Atlanta for timely updates on celebrity sightings.

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MERITORIOUS SERVICE TO AVIATION

meritorious service AWARD >

Arnold Palmer receives NBAA’s highest honor

AWARD WINNERS HALL OF FAME

Winners of NBAA’s Meritorious Service Award constitute a veritable who’s who of aviation. The r equirements are so demanding that, in years such as 1952, 1955, 1990 and 2000, when no one person stood out, NBAA’s top honor was not awarded. 2009

Serge Dassault For steadfast advocacy of business aviation.

1979

Dr. Charles Stark Draper For developing inertial navigation instruments and guidance systems.

2008

Phil Boyer In recognition of his advocacy of general aviation as president of AOPA.

1978

r. Richard Whitcomb D For designing aircraft to reduce drag and increase speed without the need to add power.

2007

Bryan Moss For his leadership at Gulfstream Aerospace.

1977

William Remmert and D. Robert Werner For their contributions to making business a viation a safe, efficient and practical transportation tool.

1976

George Haddaway For his dedication and unflagging spirit in s upporting business aviation.

by Mary F. Silitch Golf legend Arnold Palmer is being bestowed with NBAA’s top honor–the Meritorious Service Award. Palmer’s name has been synonymous with golf since Aug. 20, 1955, when he won the Canadian Open, his first professional tournament. In addition to winning 92 overall tournaments in his career, including four Masters, he’s become a successful businessman and philanthropist. But he is also a pilot and is a staunch supporter of business aviation.

Arnold Palmer

His fascination with aviation started as a youngster growing up in Latrobe, a small Pennsylvania industrial town east of Pittsburgh, Palmer said. Latrobe had “a nice little airport barely a mile from my home on the perimeter of Latrobe Country Club.” He noted that the airport was renamed Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in 1999 and has undergone expansion and modernization over the years. Palmer hung out at the airport, got a ride in a Piper Cub and decided he would learn to fly one day. “Little did I realize what an important part of my life–athletic, business and family–aviation would become in the years ahead.” Starting out on the golf circuit in the mid-1950s with “arduous trips” in a car and trailer, Palmer decided that flying would be a better way to travel. “All of that driving in those early years convinced me that flying was the only way to go,” he said. “And in my own airplanes with their short-field capabilities.” Palmer started taking flying lessons and in 1961, he said, “I acquired my first aircraft–an Aero Commander 500–to do much of my traveling on the tour. I moved up to a 560F Commander two years later and had gotten

so busy by then that I hired a part-time pilot to fly with me.” The golf pro switched to jets in 1966, when he bought a Jet Commander, then a Learjet in 1968. He bought the first of his seven Cessna Citations, a 500 model, in 1976 and kept trading up the line. He moved into a Citation X in 1996, buying the first production model. With his 2002 model, he said, “I can fly the Latrobe-to-Orlando trip between my two main bases in little more than 90 minutes. The range and speed of the Citation X have been particularly valuable to me in my vast golf course design business in the U.S. and abroad. I log something like 25 hours a month in the air and have more than 18,000 hours in my logbook,” he told AIN Palmer is a spokesperson for the No Plane No Gain advocacy campaign, jointly sponsored by NBAA and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. “The campaign educates policymakers and opinion leaders about the value of business aviation to citizens, companies and communities across the country,” said Palmer. “For lending his voice to our industry’s advocacy campaign, NBAA is pleased to honor Arnold Palmer with our highest award,” said NBAA president Ed Bolen. “I could never have accomplished even half as much as I have in my golf and business careers over the last four decades without having had my own airplanes, especially the business jets since 1966, and an excellent airport so close to home,” Palmer said. NBAA has not been the only one to honor Palmer. This past February, President Barack Obama gave him the Congressional Gold Medal, shortly after his 80th birthday. Former President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 and former President Bill Clinton gave him the National Sports Award in 1993. o Don’t Miss Million’s Air Harley Giveaway As it does every year at the NBAA convention, the Million Air FBO chain will have a drawing at its booth (No. 7155) for a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle. This year it’s a Heritage Softail Classic with a 1,584cc twincam 96B counterbalanced engine, staggered shorty exhaust, full-coverage front fender, Lexan windshield and saddlebags. The $20,000, lowslung cruiser is on display at the Million Air booth, and visitors may register for the drawing until 1 p.m. on Wednesday October 20, when a n winner will be picked.

106aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

2006

Archie Trammel In recognition of his weather radar training programs.

2005

E dward Stimpson Instrumental in crafting the Aviation Trust Fund while serving at the FAA.

2004

Stuart Matthews For his leadership as president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation.

1975

William Lear, Sr. For contributions of incalculable value in aviation safety, navigation and operation.

2003

r. Sam Williams D For developing small gas turbine engines and fan-jet engine technology through his company, Williams International.

1974

Edward Swearingen For perception and leadership in expanding the nation’s business aircraft fleet.

2002

James Raisbeck F or the innovative modification and enhancement programs he and his company have created over the past three decades.

1973

Dwane Wallace For leading general aviation to its position in the world’s transportation market.

2001

Paul Poberezny For his contribution to aviation through the Experimental Aircraft Association.

1972

NBAA Silver Anniversary member companies: The American Rolling Mill Co., Burlington Mills Corp., Corning Glass Works, General Electric Co., Republic Steel Co., Reynolds Metals Co., Wolfe Industries.

2000

No award given

1999

Donald Engen For a lifetime of dedication to aviation.

1971

Michael Murphy (Marathon Oil Co.) For creating a corporate/executive flight operation that is recognized for safety and excellence.

1998

harles Coppi C For his 40-year career dedicated to the Gulfstream line of corporate jets.

1970

Juan Trippe For his pioneering spirit in developing international air travel.

1997

R. Dixon Speas For a distinguished lifetime of dedication to aviation.

1969

Olive Ann Beech For her dedication and contributions to business aviation.

1996

r. Leonard Greene D For his role in developing the stall-warning indicator and as a supplier of air-safety and performance technology to the world’s major air carriers.

1968

Henry Schiebel, Jr. (Grumman Aircraft) For his contributions to the development and progress of business aviation.

1967

1995

Russ Meyer For tirelessly championing passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act, and for pledging resumption of production of single-engine Cessnas.

Henry Dupont For his encouragement of the business aviation industry.

1966

Allen Paulson For his contributions to the development of high-performance, long-range business aircraft.

James McDonnell For his contributions to the progress of civil and military aviation.

1965

ee Howard D For his substantial contributions to the progress of civil aviation in the inventions and innovations that have improved safety, performance and utility.

E.B. Jeppesen For the development of aerial cartographic and information services.

1964

James B. Taylor In recognition of 50 years of leadership in the development, manufacture and marketing of business aircraft.

1963

.L. Ueltschi A For his innovative leadership and tireless dedication to aviation safety through quality flight training for over 50 years.

Edwin Alber Link For his contribution to flying safety through his Link Trainer.

1962

Senator A.S. “Mike” Monroney In recognition of his contributions to safety in the air.

1961

William Piper, Sr. In recognition of his vision and determination in bringing the realm of flight to thousands of pilots.

1960

Donald Wills Douglas For his contribution to the advancement of the aeronautical sciences.

1959

James Doolittle For being a pioneer in instrument flight.

1958

No record of award

1957

Igor Sikorsky For his development of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.

1956

Eddie Rickenbacker For his contributions to military and commercial aviation.

1955

No award given

1954

Donald Stuart (Civil Aeronautics Administration) F or his development of aerial navigation systems.

1953

Charles Lindbergh For his many contributions to aviation.

1951

No award given

1950

Col. J. Francis Taylor, Jr. In recognition of his development, testing and evaluation of aerial navigation aids.

1950

Arthur Godfrey For his outstanding contribution to the use of aircraft as a business aid.

1994

1993

1992

1991 1990

No award given

1989

J ohn Winant In recognition of many years of service to NBAA.

1988

E d King In recognition of his 40 years of service to general aviation.

1987

ick Rutan, Jeana Yeager and Burt Rutan D For their service to aviation.

1986

Air traffic control system For dedication through 50 years of service and meeting the challenges of an ever-expanding airspace system.

1985

NASA space shuttle crews For personifying all that is best of current advancements in aviation and aerospace technology.

1984

. Scott Crossfield A For being in the right place at the right time with the right stuff in developing aviation technology.

1983

Senator Barry Goldwater For being an outspoken aviation advocate and bold supporter of American leadership in aeronautics.

1982

harles “Kelly” Johnson C For attaining goals never before imagined.

1981

Robert Hotz For his ability to motivate and promote the wisdom of advancement in air transportation, space and defense.

1980

Sir Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohain For their separate and independent development of the jet engine.

William Schulte

(Asst. Administrator for General Aviation, FAA)

For his untiring efforts to present business aviation’s requirements to the highest government levels.

ERAU to provide data on aerospace exports Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU, Booth No. 1733) has signed an agreement to help promote competitiveness in the U.S. aerospace manufacturing industry. The agreement is between ERAU’s Center for Aviation and Aerospace Leadership (CAAL) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). “The President has called on us to double U.S. exports, and this agreement will help us increase the performance of U.S. aerospace companies,” said ITA assistant secretary for manufacturing and services Nicole Lamb-Hale. The terms of the agreement call for Embry-Riddle’s CAAL and the ITA manufacturing and service unit’s aerospace team to collect, analyze, report and distribute information about the U.S. and international aerospace industry. Embry-Riddle will be able to use ITA reports in its Worldwide Campus curriculum and the two organizations will collaborate on outreach events and sharing industry data. “The ITA/ERAU partnership will also help provide small-to-medium-sized aerospace manufacturers with the resources they need to be more competitive in today’s global m arket,” said retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Mansfield, an aerospace executive at CAAL. “It is important to remember that these manufacturers

play a key role in the U.S. aerospace industry.” The partnership also supports the U.S. National Export

T R AINING

Initiative to double exports within five years, according to Embry-Riddle, and ITA’s Manufacture America Program conferences, which are aimed at helping U.S. manufacturers “rethink, retool, and rebuild their operations through exploring new products, markets, processes and sources of finance.” –M.T.

PL A NNING

Embry-Riddle Alumni Reunion Tonight Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University alumni are invited to a reception tonight at the One Ninety One Club (191 Peachtree Street) from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served, and the guest speaker will be Col. (ret.) Mark Tillman, pilot for president George W. Bush and commander of Air Force One from 2001 to 2009. To RSVP or for more information, visit the Embry-Riddle booth (No. 1733) or contact Irene Montgomery at irene.montgomery@erau.edu, (386) 226-7663. n

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News Note Cobham Avionics Integrated Systems’ remote bugs panel (RBP) has received FAA approval for installation on a range of helicopters, i ncluding the Bell 204/205/210, 206/407 and Eurocopter AS 350 and AS 355. These STCs complement previous approvals under a Part 23 approved-model list for more than 750 larger airplane models. They include installation via service bulletin, making the panel available for retrofit into existing aircraft as well as an option on for new aircraft installations. Cobham’s panel (Booth No. 3826) features dedicated controls for frequently used functions, including autopilot, display parameters, communications and night-visiongoggle-mode operation. n

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www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa107

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY > Embraer to follow a year later, according to Affonso. Embraer is beginning to run systems integrations rigs and is continuing to develop, through the use of an engineering simulator, the flyby-wire system control laws for the two aircraft. By the time deliveries of the two new aircraft begin, the industry could see a new top bizjet manufacturer in volume, if not revenue. In JPMorgan’s September business jet report, equity analysts estimate that next year Wichita-based Cessna will deliver only five more aircraft than its Brazilian rival. That gap is estimated to narrow to just two business jets in 2012. By 2013, when the Legacy 500 joins the fleet, Embraer could land on top of the list in terms of delivery volume. “We are certainly happy to be increasing our market share in the industry,” said Affonso, adding the reasons behind the airframer’s success are simple. “We talked to the customers, we understood the characteristics that they wanted in airplanes, we developed those differentiated airplanes and we are introducing them to the market on time, meeting and exceeding the specs.”

by Curt Epstein volatility makes it difficult to predict the exact numbers of each aircraft that will be delivered in the near future. Despite the increased output, according to Affonso, the company does not have any immediate plans to increase its workforce, outside of hiring in specific technologies where Embraer feels it needs to concentrate more effort. Legacy 650 Makes Debut Here

The airframer is also eagerly anticipating certification and deliveries of its Legacy 650, which is making its North American debut here at NBAA. The 650 is a major upgrade of the Legacy 600 with Honeywell’s Primus Elite cockpit, improved soundproofing and an extended range of nearly 4,000 nm (four passengers and two pilots, no-wind NBAA IFR reserve, 200-nm alternate). Embraer expects deliveries of the new jet, which was first announced at last year’s NBAA convention, to commence before the end of the year. It also will continue production of the Legacy 600, which starting next year will receive the new avionics and soundproofing upgrades. Progress is continuing on schedule for the Legacy 500, with the first metal for the new twinjet having been cut on April 19. The company’s suppliers have begun the flow of components aimed at a first flight in the second half of next year. The São José dos Camposbased manufacturer anticipates certification for the Legacy 500 around the beginning of 2013 with deliveries to commence soon after, while its 450 sibling is

Financing Raises Eyebrows

KIRBY J. HARRISON

While the industry downturn has affected airframers in different ways, in terms of deliveries, Brazil’s Embraer has managed to avoid the decline in output that has beset its North American competitors. In this year’s first half statistics released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, while most bizjet makers were posting negative results compared with the first half of 2009, Embraer–based on the surging deliveries of its new Phenom 100– showed a 107-percent increase in business jet deliveries year-overyear. It delivered 60 jets during the first six months of the year, comprising 51 Phenom 100s, five Phenom 300s, three Legacy 600s and one Lineage 1000. So far, the OEM has delivered a combined total of approximately 170 of the 100s and its larger stablemate Phenom 300, which received certification late last year. While Embraer doesn’t publicly break down its orders between the two, it admits that it has–like most companies–suffered some cancellations. “If you remember the good times in the first half of 2008, we announced that we had about 800 Phenoms sold. So far we have delivered 170 Phenoms and our backlog is around 550 airplanes,” said Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer’s executive vice president, executive jets. “Our guidance for deliveries this year is 120 units between the 100 and 300. So if you compare the 550 unit backlog, you’ll see it’s about a four-year backlog.” While the manufacturer plans to continue to ramp up production of the 300 for at least the next year, Affonso said market

Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer executive vice president-executive jets, displayed the Legacy 650 at Labace in August. The company expects certification by year-end.

While Embraer has cornered approximately 14 percent of the bizjet market despite having delivered its first Legacy only in 2002, some are publicly questioning how the company has achieved this level of success without improper government subsidies. “This is an almost unbelievable feat for a company that has been manufacturing business aviation aircraft for a little more than seven years,” wrote Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who called for a U.S. International Trade Commission review of industry competition in the U.S., China, Brazil, Canada and Europe. “Considering similar statistics from previous years that were later proven to be the result of illegal subsidization of aircraft from the European Union, Embraer’s activity does not seem possible without heavy and creative support across the board.” Brownback’s suspicions are not without precedent. In the early 2000s, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that both Embraer and Canadian manufacturer Bombardier received illegal subsidies for their aircraft programs from their respective governments, and as recently as this summer, the WTO issued its final ruling in the protracted dispute between Boeing and Airbus,

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Legacy 600

KIRBY J. HARRISON

Brazilian airframer to ramp-up production

Phenom 100

stating that the European Union illegally subsidized the entire line of Airbus aircraft. Embraer’s official response directly refuted Senator Brownback’s statements: “Contrary to the senator’s assertions, the company’s recent success with business aircraft is not the result of government subsidies. Embraer did not use launch aid or any other illegal subsidies to develop its business jets portfolio or the equally successful E-Jet family of commercial aircraft. Rather, Embraer financed the $1 billion development of the latter with a public offering of stock, contributions from risk-sharing partners and retained earnings. It did not use any public funds for either family.” A Level Playing Field

Affonso also denied wrongdoing by his government. “[Embraer has] the support of the Brazilian government, and the position the government takes about the WTO negotiations and international trade disputes is that countries should create a level playing field,” he told AIN. “In other words, the Brazilian government is against illegal launch aids or distorting subsidies. If the competition is not between companies, distorting subsidies becomes a competition between the treasuries of the countries, and we believe the treasuries of the U.S. or the European Union or Canada are stronger than the Brazilian treasury. This game should be played on a level playing field.”

Affonso said the airframer has not received any grants or financing packages, with repayment dependent only upon the commercial success of the airplanes. He also noted that while other manufacturers are seeking to move jobs out of the U.S. to remain competitive, Embraer is establishing a final assembly facility in Melbourne, Fla., for its Phenoms. The factory is expected to open early next year and provide at least 200 jobs. Affonso also cited further domestic economic activity generated by the Brazilian manufacturer. “Our statistics demonstrate that 66 percent of the bill of materials of our airplanes comes from the U.S. We believe that we generate over 7,000 jobs through this business of buying parts and components from the U.S.,” he said. Last month, Embraer signed a loan agreement with a group of 25 international financing institutions for $1 billion in available credit, broken down into $400 million for pre-export financing and $600 million for working capital financing. This, according to the company, represents a renewal of the syndicated credit operation of $500 million announced in August 2006. For 2010, Embraer’s guidance is for net revenues in the business jet segment to be $1.1 billion. Through the second half of this year, net sales for executive aviation were $311.4 million and aviation services $280.3 million. o

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DOSWELL AWARD > Doswell Award History NBAA established the Doswell Award in 1988 to honor the memory of John P. “Jack” Doswell. It is presented each year to an individual “for lifelong achievement on behalf of and in support of the aims, goals and objectives of business aviation.” Jack Doswell flew B-24s in World War II, C-54s in the Berlin Airlift and was a member of the Special Missions Air Squadron before retiring from the Air Force in 1950 and becoming director of flight operations for FlightSafety International. n © 2010 Cobham, plc. All rights reserved.

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Chuck McKinnon receives lifetime achievement award by Mary F. Silitch Chuck McKinnon is this year’s recipi- system, launched by Pan American and ent of the NBAA John P. “Jack” Doswell American Airlines. He flew the first business airplane award, granted for lifelong individual achievement in supporting business avi- used by IBM–an Aero Commander–and ation. At age 95 and newly remarried to established the company’s European base Jan Barden of Aviation Personnel Inter- at Le Bourget. IBM Euroflight was the national, McKinnon looks back to a first business aviation operation at the long lifetime of involvement with avi- Paris airport. In the early 1970s McKination. “I’ve been interested in aviation non worked to save the airport, which was since I knew there was such a thing,” he threatened with closure to make room for development of Charles de told AIN. Building model airGaulle Airport. planes when Lindbergh made At IBM, McKinnon realized his famous transatlantic flight there was a need to computerto Le Bourget, McKinnon ize the flight department but the couldn’t know that he would company wasn’t interested in be closely connected with the developing the system commerParis airport later in life. cially. In 1971 he started his own A student at Georgia Tech, company to develop one, and one of the 10 schools in the eventually sold his Polaris dataCivilian Training Program in base software to Lockheed. 1939, McKinnon learned to McKinnon was NBAA’s repfly there. After graduating with Chuck McKinnon degrees in engineering and business, he resentative on a committee to standardize went to work as a junior engineer for cockpit instrumentation and flight-hanStone and Webster, the engineering com- dling characteristics of commercial aircraft. At the time, American Airlines experienced pany that helped build Hoover Dam. McKinnon later was offered a job at an accident attributed to the lack of stanUnited Airlines, and after eight months dardization. Since there was no organizaof training became part of its engineering tion for aeronautical engineers then, they group. He was on the committee to evalu- looked to the Society of Automotive Engiate new airplanes and flew for the airline. neers as a model. The committee was comDuring World War II, McKinnon had a prised of chief test pilots of all the OEMs commission in the Army Air Corps and flew and the engineering pilots of all the world’s airlines. And as a m ember of the commitwith the Army Air Transport Command. Back on the homefront, McKinnon tee, McKinnon flew all the new commercial devised a system for passenger airline res- airplanes, prototype equipment and instruervations but United wasn’t interested in mentation systems. Among his memorable flights, it. He subsequently went to work for IBM, which developed the Sabre reservation McKinnon recalled, were those when he carried presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman after they retired, and presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before they took the high office. o

DOSWELL AWARD LEGION OF HONOR 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989

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Richard Van Gemert George A. Saling E. Patrick “Pat” Epps Jim Waugh Ronald Guerra Allan Lane Byron “Skip” Reed II Robert Duncan Myron Collier Rod Kauber Paul Stevens Milton H. “Milt” Pugsley J. Sheldon “Torch” Lewis Raleigh Drennon Preston Parrish Janice Barden Priscilla Blum & Jay Weinberg David Woodrow Donald Baldwin Scott Miller William Watt

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Falcon 7X EASy shows FBW value by Stephen Pope

G L O B A L

in Morristown, N.J. That’s where the journalists along for the ride got the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in the 7X sim, becoming familiar with the airplane’s fly-by-wire flight control system and Honeywell Primus Epic-based EASy flight deck. Piloting a fly-by-wire airplane is a completely different experience for those who haven’t tried it, as is flying with a sidestick and trackball cursor controller. The Falcon 7X’s digital flight control system is designed to prevent the airplane from exceeding the performance envelope while enhancing stability. Dassault has included protections against overspeed, stall and structural overstress, as well as provided auto trim and stability augmentation that makes hand flying the Falcon 7X a joy. Sitting in the sim’s right seat, the sidestick fell easily to hand and exhibited control feel that seemed perfectly suited for the 70,000-pound trijet. Navigating through several EASy functions

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using the trackball was a similarly self-explanatory exercise, with the cursor control device behaving exactly like a PC trackball, including click-on menus and drag-and-drop functions for altering the flight plan.

At CAE’s facility in Morristown, N.J., pilots can familiarize themselves with the fly-bywire controls and the sidestick in Dassault’s flagship Falcon 7X.

augmentation. “We could have used fly-by-wire to create an unstable airplane like we do with our fighters, but we chose instead to maintain a stable platform but adjust aerodynamic properties to gain efficiency,” Saland said. The Falcon 7X cabin feels much larger than the Falcon 900’s, although both airplanes have the same cross section. The 7X wins on cabin length. This airplane was outfitted with a satellite television, Inmarsat SwiftBroadband Internet and moving map displays. The onboard Wi-Fi connection provided speeds good enough for downloading e-mail using an iPhone–when it was working. The connection dropped several times during the flight. (The cause of the problem was later traced to the microwave oven, which blocked

Workload Reduction

EASy symbology on the primary flight display also simplifies the pilots’ job by providing flight path vector and energy management cues taken from fighter jets. The fly-by-wire system uses whatever control surface is needed to achieve the commanded flight path, including the ability to activate spoilers, slats and airbrakes or move both ailerons up or down simultaneously. Woody Saland, manager of technical programs, pilot ops and training for Dassault Falcon, said use of fly-by-wire in the 7X not only makes the pilot’s job easier, it also allows the airplane to fly more efficiently by minimizing drag force thanks to the use of auto trim and stability

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onboard Wi-Fi signals anytime it was turned on. The offending oven was replaced with a lowerpower model that did not cause the problem to recur.) Falcon 7X pilots are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Falcon EASy II cockpit, an upgrade of the original Honeywell design that has faced a number of delays. EASy II is a major upgrade that will offer new operational features such as Waas/LPV, RNP Saaar (special aircraft, aircrew authorization required), ADS-B out, synthetic-vision system, as well as compliance with mandated high-speed digital flight data recorder and remote independent power supply for N-registered Part 135 aircraft, and controller pilot datalink communication for Europe. o

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Air Carrier Certificate Number BKEA492C

The delivery last month of a Dassault Falcon 7X to a Fortune 500 customer furnished opportunities to ride along on the flight to the airplane’s new home base, as well as get some stick time in the level-D flight simulator at training provider CAE. Both experiences revealed quite a lot about Dassault’s flagship bizjet. Although the buyer had placed its order for this particular airplane years ago, it was still heartening to witness a customer take delivery of an ultralong-range business jet, given the continued sluggish state of the economy. The acceptance flight was only the fourth for the airplane after its trip across the Atlantic from the Dassault factory in Bordeaux to its completion center in Little Rock, Ark. A Dassault pilot flew right seat for the flight since the company pilots had never before flown a Falcon 7X–this in spite of having lots of time in the company Falcon 900 and having just completed initial training at CAE

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SeAttle Boei ng Fi el d 800.768.1101

10/7/10 12:06 PM

This year’s Middle East Business Aviation show is enticing more participation from NBAA visitors here by offering a bottle of Champagne to anyone who signs on the dotted line here.

news clips z Avfuel Booth Giveaway Features 25 iPads Avfuel Corporation is reporting what it terms “strong growth” in its business in the first three quarters of 2010. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company has added 43 FBOs to its branded network of U.S. dealers, bringing its market share to 22 percent. Among the new FBOs: Vail Valley Jet Center (EGE), Scottsdale Air Center (SDL), Martha’s Vineyard Airport (MVY), Montgomery Aviation (MGM), Pensacola Aviation (PNS), Salt Lake JetCenter (SLC), ProJet (JYO) and XJet FBO (APA). Avfuel’s contract-fuel network, meanwhile, has witnessed double-digit growth in terms of both the number of those seeking fuel and the number of locations where it is available. Here at the show (Booth No. 7346), Avfuel is demonstrating its soon-to-be-released iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry apps, which allow users to find Avfuel FBOs and contract fuel locations. Giveaways at the company’s booth will include 25 iPads, which will be preloaded with the Avfuel app.

z UK Oxford Airport Offers Transatlantic Deals

Mideast bizav show logs 40 percent growth by Charles Alcock This year’s Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) show, to be held in Dubai from December 7 to 9, is set to be the biggest event yet. According to Fairs & Exhibitions, the company that organizes the biennial event, this year’s show will have about 40 percent more exhibitors than in 2008, with 350 companies booked. The number of trade visitors is expected to climb to 7,000, an increase of about 27 percent. Fairs & Exhibitions (Booth No. 4933) is taking exhibition space reservations for MEBA at the NBAA show. Anyone who signs up this week will go home with a bottle of Champagne. “We are very pleased with the growth,” said Alison Weller, managing director of Fairs & Exhibitions’ aerospace division. “The Middle East is still a priority to business aviation companies. Everyone is suffering from budget cuts, but the Middle East is still a major focus for their marketing plans.” Judging by the 300 or so companies booked as of last week, MEBA’s exhibitor list certainly has a strong Middle Eastern flavor, reflecting the growth in the local industry over the past decade. The Dubai Air Show, also organized by Fairs & Exhibitions, is held in alternate years, with the next edition set for November 13 to 17, 2011. The company has frozen exhibition prices for the event until the end of 2010 and companies committing here at NBAA also will be given a bottle of bubbly.

“There is far more diversification in the Middle Eastern business aviation sector today,” Weller told AIN. “New companies are being started all the time to fill gaps in the market.” Saudi Arabia remains the region’s biggest country for business aviation, but the United Arab Emirates (including Dubai) is close behind and the market is now more widely spread to include other Arabian Gulf states such as Qatar and Kuwait. Among the first-time exhibitors at this year’s MEBA will be Qatar Executive and Saudia Private Aviation. These companies are part of the growing trend for established airlines– in this case Qatar Airways and Saudi Airlines, respectively–to branch out into higher-yield private aviation services. MEBA is once again being staged at the Dubai Airport Expo convention center. This year, indoor exhibits will extend from the facility’s Central Hall into the East Hall. There will also be some 30 two-level chalets along the front of a static line that is expected to feature more than 70 aircraft. The increasingly busy Dubai International Airport, where the center is located, has managed to provide some additional airport parking days. The show has the support of all the world’s leading business aircraft manufacturers, including Boeing, Airbus, Gulfstream, Dassault, Bombardier, Embraer,

Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Sikorsky. Aircraft on display will range from the largest airlinerclass models to new very light jets. Honeywell will also be exhibiting at MEBA for the first time and the list also includes western business aviation services groups with established Middle Eastern operations, including Jet Aviation, ExecuJet, Comlux and Gama Aviation. The MEBA show (www. meba.aero) is being held in close cooperation with the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA). Its chief executive Ali Al Naqbi is in the process of increasing the group’s staff with a view to arranging more events and services for members (140 from across the Middle East and North Africa). On the day after this year’s show, it will host a meeting of the International Business Aviation Council, of which MEBAA is a member. According to Fairs & Exhibitions, MEBA is now the world’s third largest business aviation trade show, after NBAA in the U.S. and Europe’s EBACE. Weller argued that it provides a far more direct and convenient way to connect with the Middle Eastern market than these events. The last MEBA show in November 2008 saw approximately $1.5 billion in new deals announced. Meanwhile, Fairs & Exhibitions also has confirmed dates for the third Aircraft Interiors Middle East show. This will be held on Feb. 1 to 2, 2012, also in Dubai. In addition to exhibitors showcasing the latest in cabin design and fittings, as well as technological innovations, the show will feature workshops for industry professionals. The last event was held in February of this year. o

The UK’s Oxford Airport wants to make NBAA show goers an offer they’ll find hard to refuse. First-time North American aircraft arriving there from a trans-Atlantic flight through the end of April 2011 will find just about everything they need from the airport priced at just $150 per item. The “150 Deal” covers the following items for $150 each: landing fees for an aircraft up to the size of a Bombardier Global Express; all handling; parking for up to a week; crew accommodation per night in Oxford’s five-star Randolph Hotel; car rental with on-site Enterprise; or limousine service into central London. As part of the promotion, the privately owned airport, which is located about 60 miles northwest of the British capital, is also offering a night in London’s five-star Carlton Tower hotel for £150 ($230) and a 23-minute helicopter flight into London for £1,500 ($2,300), which it claims to equate to less than some other London airports’ daily aircraft parking rates. Oxford Airport lies outside London’s congested terminal movement area. Its standard operating hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. throughout the week, and the site offers a new private terminal.

z Sherwin-Williams Offers JetFlex Coatings Sherwin-Williams’s JetFlex interior aircraft coatings were designed to improve the appearance of commercial aircraft cabins and cockpits. The products were formulated for optimum adhesion to composite surfaces, plastic, wood or metal. JetFlex is available in a range of low-gloss and flat colors in two formulations: solvent-based polyurethane enamel and water-reducible polyurethane dispersion. Both formulations meet the FAR/JAR 25.853 regulations for burn, smoke and heat release, as well as Boeing material specification BMS 10-83G, Type II and III, including flammability, yellowing resistance and smoke-stain resistance requirements. No catalyst is needed for application, and the product can be quickly air or force dried. Although JetFlex coatings are stain, abrasion and scratch resistant and resistant to solvents and chemicals, they are easy to clean. The formulations are free of isocyanate, chrome and lead and contain low amounts of volatile organic compounds.

z Gore Shows ‘Virtual Walk’ Through Designs Gore Design Completions is introducing its “e-Wall” here at its NBAA booth (No. 3703). The mobile digital display will place all the San Antonio-based independent completion and refurbishment center’s capabilities at the user’s fingertips on a touch-screen monitor and even allow an animated “virtual walk” through past designs. Back home, Gore Design is making good use of the 44,250 sq ft of hangar space it recently added to the existing 100,000 sq ft. The grand opening isn’t scheduled until November 12 but the space is quickly filling. Work at Gore Design began in September on a Boeing 777 for another head of state and a contract has been signed for an Airbus A320 for the same head-of-state to whom a Boeing 767 was delivered.

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa113

Jeppesen using RAIM to fine tune RNP by R. Randall Padfield air navigation, civil air communications and air traffic management. Southwest Airlines is the first civil aviation customer for the product, which is also designed for use by general aviation operators. The FlitePlan RNP Predictor predicts the availability of a certain level of RNP along a route of flight, which includes the departure and arrival procedure phase of the flight. Using such factors as aircraft type and configuration at a particular time and place and current GPS satellite status, the RNP Predictor computes a prediction report of the aircraft’s actual navigation performance (ANP). This enables operators to comply with all FAA, European, ICAO and other global RAIM prediction requirements. By taking all route details from the flight plan and calculating RAIM availability for all route types (oceanic, en route, terminal and approach), the RNP Predictor allows flight planners, dispatchers and aircrew to plan around periods of reduced GPS availability. It does this on a leg-by-leg basis and includes destination and alternate airports for RNAV and RNP operations anywhere

Enabling Replanning

The RNP prediction report can be included as part of a flight plan so the crew can see RAIM availability. Once in flight, the aircraft flight management system monitors the actual navigation performance and the crew can verify the prediction with actual observations. If the ANP value falls below the required RNP value, the crew must take action. The RNP prediction reports help dispatchers and crews understand areas where the RNP values may fall below required levels, and re-plan routes if necessary. The tool has two main elements, according to Jeppesen. The “airport watch” service monitors a customer’s regular airports in real time. As Notice Advisory to Navstar Users (NANUs) are received by the tool, the status of any affected airport is relayed back to the user’s dispatch or flight planning system, either textually or graphically. The second

MARIANO ROSALES

Several elements of the Next Generation Air Transportation System depend on GPSbased area navigation (RNAV) and required navigation performance (RNP). RNP is essentially RNAV with onboard performance and alerting capability. The ability of the aircraft’s own navigation system to monitor its navigation performance and to inform the crew if the required performance is not being met is a defining capability of RNP operations. The technology that assesses the integrity of GPS signals within a GPS receiver is called receiver autonomous integrity monitoring, or RAIM. Englewood, Colorado-based Jeppesen (Booth No. 3004) is introducing here at NBAA a new product that improves upon the company’s current RAIM prediction technology, which provides predictions of GPS satellite availability while assessing the integrity and accuracy of GPS-based navigation signals. Called the Jeppesen FlitePlan RNP Predictor, the RAIM prediction product was developed jointly by Jeppesen and its technicalsupport partner, DW International (DWI), a consultant on

in the world. The Jeppesen prediction tool calculates RAIM at each waypoint at the time the aircraft is expected to arrive. In addition, it checks RAIM 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after the estimated arrival at a configurable interval for each waypoint. The tool fills in calculation points between waypoints so the minimum sample time is maintained between calculation points.

WORKING FOR A LONG STRETCH Surrounded by boxes and rapidly growing exhibits, two booth pros put together one of the many exhibits that go toward making up an NBAA exhibit hall. The annual gathering is one of the 10 largest conventions in n the U.S. and attendance is historically in the 25,000 range for the three-day event.

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The Jeppesen FlitePlan RNP Predictor integrates with Jeppesen’s Jetplan flightplanning engine (shown here) on the customer’s Web site and is planned to become available as a hosted service next year. While the RNP Predictor currently works only with Jeppesen Jetplan, it is designed so that it can be integrated with other systems using standard XML technology.

element is the request/reply service, in which a single airport, group of airports or entire flight plan can be submitted to the tool for analysis. By using RNP procedures, pilots can fly more precise routes and approaches based on satellite data, thus reducing fuel consumption, emissions and noise effects. “Through reduced fuel burn, flying RNP procedures will also allow airlines to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner,” said Thomas Wede, Jeppesen senior vice president and general manager, aviation. Said Jeff Martin, assistant director of operations for Southwest Airlines, “The Jeppesen FlitePlan RNP Predictor enables us to capitalize on our significant investment in RNP approaches and will produce a bottom-line improvement within Southwest Airlines’ operations.” Southwest Airlines, Jeppesen and DWI worked closely together to integrate the tool into Southwest’s local systems, including its in-house dispatch tool and Jeppesen Flight Planning system. When a flight plan is run, a request can be made to include RNP prediction, and this report is then included as part of the flight plan. The RNP prediction system resides locally at Southwest and communicates with the air operations center and flight planning systems through a Jeppesen messaging protocol. Jeppesen expects that dispatchers working for airlines or business aviation operators with larger fleets will be the primary users of the RNP predictor. However, “pilots could potentially self-brief and selfdispatch.” The RNP Predictor

currently works only with Jeppesen’s Jetplan flight planning service, but it is designed so that it can be integrated with other systems using standard XML technology. The FlitePlan RNP Predictor does not require user customization for RNP values above 0.3. “For values below that level, to enable precision approach analysis, details of the aircraft FMS are needed and some set-up may be required,” explained a Jeppesen spokesman. “Costs for the service are still being finalized,” said the spokesman, “but we plan to make them competitive and commensurate with the value the service provides. The fees are expected to reflect fleet size and will be on a subscription basis.” Updates are managed by Jeppesen and DWI and coordinated with the customer in the case of a locally installed system. The subscription charge will cover any regular updates. Customer specific updates may be chargeable on a time and materials basis. o

AT THE BOOTHS Banyan Air Service, an FBO at Florida’s Fort Lauderdal Executive Airport, is giving away an Apple iPad in a drawing at Booth No. 7043. At the booth, Banyan representatives will update visitors on upcoming events at Banyan, including King Air Day (October 29), the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show and Porsche Jet Preview. Banyan’s 24-hour facility provides FBO services as well as aircraft management, hangar and office space, aircraft sales, avionics installation and repair, pilot supplies and maintenance. n

Avinode streamlines link between charter operators, customers by Charles Alcock The new Empty Leg App features a GPS-based search function that allows users to source the most beneficial aircraft capacity depending on where they are in the world at any given time and which airports they can most conveniently access. They can store their favorite airports to speed up the search process. Meanwhile, the merger process between Avinode and its former competitor U.S.-based Charter X, has been gathering pace since it started in March. The two companies’ IT departments are well on the way to completing the complex task of integrating their respective online systems and the new combined charter marketplace should be released progressively from early next year. In June the North American sales and support functions for both marketplaces were moved to Avinode’s existing operation in Miami. The operations of the new group’s SchedAero and Wyvern subsidiaries have been combined in Trenton, N.J. Wyvern’s safety audit ratings for individual operators are set to be added to the Avinode portal very soon (see box). The combined company has been keeping Avinode and

MARIANO ROSALES

Online charter portal Operator Link, is already satAvinode is launching its new isfied with the response to the Operator Link Web service system. “We chose Operator here at the NBAA Convention. Link because it gives our clients immediate access The latest addition to to real-time availabilits Avinode Link family ity information on our of products helps operentire fleet,” said Andy ators to market their Schweikert of DB Aviaircraft directly to end ation. “Our Operausers from their own tor Link has already Web sites. generated a number As well as generof qualified leads ating new leads for through requests, and flight bookings, Oper- Avinode CEO we’ve also gotten a ator Link is designed Per Marthinson few inquiries about to streamline the pro- links charter the tool that have cess by which customers buyers and sellers. search for suitable aircraft and turned into requests,” he said. request charters online. Custom- “All in all it’s been a real time ers can study real-time pricing saver for us.” and availability data generated Empty Legs on iPhones directly from the main Avinode system. They can also view airSeparately, Avinode is releascraft information and photos, ing its first iPhone applicaflight time estimates and operation here at NBAA, bringing tor terms and conditions in any its existing Empty Leg Link serone of seven languages. vice into the palm of charter Operators have plenty of flex- customers’ hands. Importantly ibility to customize the appear- though, Avinode leaves it to its ance and functionality of the members–operators and broservice, which Avinode claims kers–to approach their prospeccan be integrated seamlessly tive customers through the app, into any Web site. The Swe- which is built on a base that can den-based company is demon- be customized to include only strating the system at its NBAA their empty leg availability and booth (No. 8541). branding. The broker or operChicago-based DB Aviation, ator releases its own version of the first company to implement the app via the iPhone store.

Someone has to do it For those who have never gotten to an NBAA Convention before it opened, the enormity of the setup is a wonder to behold. This worker is but one of many who labor to get the exhibit floor ready for day one.

Wyvern Claims Dominance in Safety Audits Wyvern, the safety audit arm of newly merged online charter portal Avinode/Charter X, now claims to be the main provider of due diligence data in the business aircraft charter sector. According to the company, its Pilot and Aircraft Safety System (Pass) is currently processing more than 1,800 reports each month. Each Pass report checks and verifies key information concerning the operator, aircraft and crew for a given trip and summarizes the findings in a onepage report. In recent years, Wyvern has invested heavily in the development of the Aviation Safety Intelligence platform, an advanced data collection and analysis system for the air charter industry. According to the company, the value of the Pass system to the charter buyer lies in the data collected and maintained for each operator, aircraft and pilot. Each evening, the Wyvern system queries an array of federal and other publicly available data sources for updated information. Data not available through such sources is obtained directly from charter operators and monitored a regular basis. “By providing safety intelligence on the operator, aircraft and crew assigned to each trip, Pass assures each party involved that they are booking a safe and compliant flight,” said Wyvern CEO Jim Betlyon. Over the past two decades, the company also has developed and maintained its Wyvern Standard as a trademarked safety benchmark based on input and cooperation from major corporate flight departments to measure operators against safety standards that exceed minimums required by the FAA. (Booth No. 8537) Separately, SchedAero, another Avinode/Charter X subsidiary, is demonstrating the latest version of its Web-based flight scheduling software at the NBAA convention. The system was unveiled at NBAA’s Schedulers and Dispatchers conference earlier this year. –C.A.

Charter X customers posted on the integration process via a blog, where they can read updates and post comments or questions. Here at the NBAA show tomorrow, it will hold a question and answer session at Booth No. 8541 at 5 p.m. Burlington, Vt.-based operator Heritage Aviation has been marketing its eight aircraft through Avinode for the past eight years. “The recent Avinode-CharterX merger has allowed us to centralize our data and eliminate duplication,” explained company executive Jean-Sébastien Chaulot. “In early 2011, our redesigned Web site will include a link providing quotes and availability directly from Avinode.” “We have made a lot of progress and have been surprised at how successful we have been so far in bringing together the cultures of the two companies,” Avinode CEO Per Marthinsson told AIN. “We share the same core values and have had a lot of our people relocating between the various offices.” According to Marthinsson, customer response to the merger has been very positive. “We are creating one truly global market place with [charter] data distributed around the world,” he said. “Before, brokers might have had to look in two places to find the information, but now a broker in Munich can find everything

Avinode is releasing its first iPhone application here. It puts its Empty Leg Link into charter customers’ hands.

from a turboprop in Dresden [in eastern Germany] to a light jet in Arizona.” In August, Avinode opened a new office in South America and it is laying plans to expand into Asia. It also is rolling out other new tools, such as the software and Web architecture to drive the EmptySectors.com site operated by major brokering group Air Partner. o

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news clips

NBAA builds a PDK playground

z Social Media Meets Bizav Today At Signature

by Curt Epstein

The ever evolving link-up between social media and business aviation takes another step ahead when the first of the show’s many Tweet-Ups begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Signature Flight Support’s Booth No. 3257. NBAA’s own Business Aviation Social Media session comes on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Room B312. Both current and future users of social media in business aviation are invited. The Signature event is a precursor to the 2nd annual Business Aviation Meetup–BA-meetup.com–planned for March 14-16, 2011 at Royal Air Force Base (RAF) Northolt just outside London. AIN will be tweeting during the NBAA convention through both @ainonline and @jetwhine.

z NBAA Boosting Members with Coffee Klatches The NBAA Membership Department is hosting two–one-hour coffee socials at its headquarters booth (No. 7303): A nonmember coffee hour will be held on Tuesday from 10 to 11 a.m. A new member coffee social is slated for Wednesday from 10 to 11 a.m. Various staff, board and committee members will be on hand to answer questions about the organization, member benefits and NBAA giveaways and prizes. All members are encouraged to attend to meet and greet participants.

When NBAA’s Annual Meeting and Convention last made its appearance in Atlanta in 2007, the association inaugurated a new community benefit program that aimed to foster a bond with the local area and the host airport by building playgrounds for needy organizations. “NBAA recognizes that the communities around the airport provide a lot of support to us on a host of different levels and we

In addition to the construction of a $50,000 aviationthemed playground, the nearly 400 industry volunteers–some of whom pledged their services months in advance–also built an outdoor classroom, a garden and a 200-foot-long concrete retaining wall to divert rain runoff. A gym used by club patrons for indoor soccer, which had suffered wall damage from errant kicks, was repaired, and

z ACANA Panel To Discuss DOT Charter Regs The Air Charter Association of North America (ACANA), a nonprofit trade group, will hold its first NBAA news conference today at the show. The catered event is set for 2 to 2:45 p.m. in Room B207 here at the Georgia World Congress Center. Eight panelists will cover topics such as forthcoming DOT regulations; the broker versus operator debate; broker/operator contractual agreements; and why Part 125 isn’t a safe option for charter customers. Speakers will include Air Partner’s David McCown; Marty Guinoo, CEO of Sentient Jet; Rich Brennan, Delta Private Jets’ sales director; Paul McCluskey, Air Charter Service’s vice president of sales; Kathleen Byers, CharterSearch’s vendor relations director; Jeff Moneypenny, vice president of sales at Ultimate Jet Charters; Brad Bruce, Aerodynamics Inc.’s vice president of flight group; and Gary Lind, general manager of Priority Jet.

FlightAware announced here at the show that users of its online flight-tracking, flight-data and flight-planning services can now make fuel arrangements with the new free FuelAware service. FuelAware allows dispatchers and pilots to submit pricing requests anonymously to FBOs for passenger, pilot and aircraft services and to make reservations at FBOs. FBOs respond to the anonymous bids in the system, which consolidates responses so the trip manager can make the best reservation selection. The online service includes facility photos, location maps, amenity information and user reviews. FlightAware, which has offices in Houston and New York, is exhibiting at Booth No. 6523.

z Hong Kong’s Asia Jet Adds Citation XLS Another Cessna Citation XLS+ is on its way to China. Hong Kong-based Asia Jet will add the aircraft to its charter fleet and use the aircraft for demonstration flights beginning in 2011. Six Citation Excel/XLS/XLS+ jets are currently operating in China. At Cessna’s NBAA static display, the company is showcasing two Mustangs (medical evacuation and High Sierra versions), a CJ1+, CJ2+, CJ3, CJ4, XLS+, Sovereign, Encore+, Value Plus Ultra and Citation X and a 25th anniversary Grand Caravan and a Corvalis piston single.

z Odyssey Aviation Building FBO at Exuma Odyssey Aviation Bahamas (Booth No. 6244) will build an FBO at Exuma International Airport (MYEF) in Georgetown, Exuma. The 2,400-sq-ft FBO–the airport’s first–will offer customs and immigration services, high-speed Wi-Fi, a WSI weather station, a flight-planning room, lounges for pilots and passengers, satellite TV and other amenities. The FBO represents an upgrade of the satellite location that Odyssey Bahamas has operated in Georgetown, Exuma, since the end of last year.

NBAA

z FlightAware Users Can Now Get Fuel A small army of NBAAers labor on rebuilding a playground near PDK. It was constructed for the Brookhaven Boys & Girls Club when the show last here.

have chosen to give back to these same communities by organizing these community builds,” said Maureen Cameron, NBAA’s marketing director for convention, seminars and forums. The program returned this year after a one-year hiatus and saw an army of volunteers tackle improvements and renovations to the Brookhaven Boys & Girls Club, located two miles from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, home to this year’s static display. According to Bill McBride, Home Depot’s senior director of corporate aviation and a member of the NBAA show’s local committee, the facility, which provides a safe place for working parents to send nearly 500 children every week after school, was in need of repair. After it was selected by the local committee as the site for this year’s community build, the youth club’s administrators presented the project organizers with a list of needs.

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the volunteers also leveled and refurbished a group of outdoor volleyball courts, used not only by the children but by adult community leagues as well. Another of the day’s major accomplishments was the refurbishing of the teen center, an important part of the building, according to McBride, who was one of the project leaders. “The boys and girls club is about young adults helping children so you’ve got these teenagers who go out and work with the kids as part of their program, for a specific sporting event, a reading event or a mathematics event, then they go into what we call the teen center to relax and unwind.” The room, which had falling ceiling tiles, offered the teens little space to do homework or socialize. The volunteers repaired the room and installed desks and study areas along with flat screen televisions, which share wall space with new aviation-themed artwork such

as a cockpit and a runway view. A table converted from an aircraft elevator furthers the aviation connection. The community “giveback” concept began three years ago when NBAA partnered with Home Depot on the construction of a playground at an elementary school near Fulton County Airport in honor of NBAA’s 60th anniversary. While the program continued the following year in Orlando, with the building of a playground near an apartment complex, last year’s build was eliminated due to the economic situation. “Last year it was very clear given everybody’s budgets and the cuts we had to make not only at NBAA but also all of our members, that we couldn’t expect them to send their folks in early to be on a project like this,” said Cameron. Faced with similar constraints this year, the Atlanta local committee took matters into their own hands. “This time our local committee decided that they wanted to do this because they see the value in giving back to the communities near the airport,” said Cameron. “What they did was organize a grass roots effort to come up with all of the funding for this project from local companies as well as members.” That effort, led by McBride and Christine Ison, O’Gara Aviation’s v-p of marketing, succeeded in raising more than $100,000 in donations and contributions from companies large and small to fund the project. They also partnered with the local non-profit charity organization Hands On Atlanta to handle the project logistics. The group worked with NBAA and the club to manage the program and decide which tasks the volunteers could reasonably complete during the one-day build. In the days leading up the event, preparation such as delivery of supplies and building materials was done by local volunteers marshaled by the organization. Some of the group’s volunteers returned on Sunday to work with those from the business aviation community. “This whole outreach program is about business aviation reaching out to the community and this is going to leave a lasting impression for hundreds of kids on a daily basis, year after year after year,” said McBride. o

Aircell goes gaga over Gogo Biz

news clips

by Harry Weisberger

z Ross Aviation Buys Ronson FBO at Trenton, N.J.

Aircell (Booth 3737) is celebrating rapid adoption of its Gogo Biz high-speed in-flight Internet service capability by business jet OEMs and charter and fractional operators in the wake of its Gogo service’s near-saturation of the air transport market. John Wade, Aircell executive v-p, called Aircell’s Gogo Biz, “the fastest-selling product we’ve ever had–even in this economy.” He will be participating in the NBAA panel, “Putting Satellite Communications to Work on Your Aircraft,” today from 2 to 5 p.m. in Conference Room B308. Wade told AIN that the Gogo Biz air-ground system serving North America is the “first true, affordable, office-in-the-sky system. I’ve had users tell me, ‘You gave me my life back. It’s the first time in my life I’ve been able to land with my inbox empty.’” Wade added that the product has brought Internet access cost down by an order of magnitude, to less than $100,000 for business aviation broadband access, with equipment installed.

Bombardier has joined Dassault and Cessna in making a range of Aircell offerings available as factory options. Bombardier recently chose a suite of Aircell systems aboard select Learjet and Challenger models. This variety of equipment and network services includes Aircell Axxess cabin communications, an Iridium-based global voice and narrowband data service; a SwiftBroadband solution powered by Thrane & Thrane, providing data connectivity for e-mail and light Internet service through the Inmarsat I-4 constellation; and Gogo Biz. Gogo Biz serves North America through a network of air-to-ground links similar to cellular telephone, with data throughput as high as 3.1Mbps. Thus text messages, voice calls, e-mails and large documents are all being sent from and received in aircraft cabins. Aircell has been holding a series of seminars in which business aviation operators and users can learn about satellite networks, service providers,

Signature Offers Help Gaining DCA Access by Jeff Burger Signature Flight Support, which operates more than 100 FBOs worldwide, has announced that it will assist corporate flight departments and charter operators in gaining access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. At Signature’s booth (No. 3257) here at the show, aircraft operators will be able to complete the DCA

Access Standard Security Program (DASSP) application with the help of Signature representatives, who will provide information about implementing DASSP. Also here at the show, Signature is launching its iFBO iPhone app, which provides customers with access to flight-planning and service information. The app allows users to calculate fuel

required hardware and system capabilities, not only Aircell’s but those available throughout the inflight communications industry. The next two of these Aircell seminars are scheduled for October 28 in Reno, Nev., at the Grand Sierra Resort, and November 18 in Tampa at the Embassy Suites on the University of South Florida campus. Both events are in conjunction with Aircraft Electronics Association regional meetings. Broomfield, Colo.-based Aircell has already held nearly two dozen of the 45-minute “Getting Your Business Aircraft Online: The Seminar” sessions nationwide. They offer detailed understanding of the new generation of in-flight connectivity from most basic to the most comprehensive services available. Aircell is giving NBAA attendees complimentary coupons for free Gogo airborne Wi-Fi use on their post-convention return airline flights. Passengers normally pay $12.95 per flight for the service. o and handling costs for a particular location, aircraft make and model and fuel uplift, for both avgas and jet-A. There’s also a locations database that details FBO amenities and services and a function that lets users add any location to a favorites list for easy access. In other Signature news, the company has appointed Tad Dixon as tenant and hangar sales manager. Dixon will be based at Signature’s Orlando, Fla., headquarters and will be responsible for supporting tenant office and hangar sales agreements for the Signature FBO network. o

Spit and Polish for a Lineage 1000

CY CYR

Las Vegas-based Alex Perez polishes the starboard nacelle of an Embraer Lineage 1000 on the static line at DeKalbPeachtree Airport here in Atlanta. He is employed by the Orlando, Fla.- headquartered Allen Groupe, which operates facilities around the country to clean and detail aircraft.

Ross Aviation, a nationwide FBO chain, has acquired the assets of an FBO formerly operated by Ronson Aviation at Trenton Mercer Airport in West Trenton, N.J. The FBO–which for now will continue to be known as Ronson Aviation–is the 14th location in the Ross network. Ronson Aviation provides fueling; 72,000 sq ft of hangar and office space; aircraft maintenance; and avionics sales, installation and service. Ross Aviation has rehired all of Ronson’s employees, including general manager Wolcott Blair. Ross FBOs are exhibiting in booths 4909-4915.

z First Citation CJ4 Delivered To Europe This month Cessna delivered its first Citation CJ4 in Europe. The $9 million aircraft went to a private operator in the UK. EASA certification is pending and Cessna anticipates delivering the first European-registered CJ4 into Germany in the second quarter of next year. Separately, Cessna announced that it will release a troubleshooting program for the aircraft next month. The CJ4 Expert System program can be run from disk or the Internet and will speed maintenance diagnosis of alerts received from the engine indicating and crew alerting system. New CJ4s will be delivered with the Expert System. Other Citation maintenance providers can access the system through Cessna customer service. Customers can use the Expert System as a maintenance training tool for aircraft systems, according to the company.

z Fargo FBO Airlifting Cattle To Kazakstan Fargo Jet Center (Booth No. 7346), an FBO in Fargo, N.D., has signed an agreement with Global Beef Consultants to support an airlift of cattle to Kazakhstan. Approximately 160 Angus and Hereford cattle will be transported on each of 12 flights from Fargo to Kazakhstan. Fargo Jet Center has already loaded a Kalitta Airlines 747-200 for the first of the flights, which are scheduled to take place at a rate of about two per week. The project represents the largest-scale upgrade of Kazakhstan’s cattle herds in modern history, according to the Central Asia News Wire.

z Bizav Career Day on Thursday In an effort to attract the next generation of professionals to the business aviation industry, NBAA will be hosting a “Careers in Business Aviation Day” event on Thursday. Local youth ranging from 12 years to college students are being invited to attend NBAA 2010 free of charge to learn all there is to know about the potential careers available in business aviation. Groups of students will see the world of business aviation by touring the exhibit hall and visiting with a wide variety of exhibitors. They will also have an opportunity to meet college and university admissions officers representing schools with specific aviation programs. Additionally, students will hear from keynote speaker George Dom, who spent 26 years as a U.S. Navy officer and pilot. Dom’s experience includes commanding the air wing on the USS John F. Kennedy, being a flight leader of the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron the Blue Angels and teaching at the Navy Fighter Weapons School, commonly known as “Top Gun.” For more information on the event visit www.nbaa.org/events/ amc/2010/students/career-day/.

z Ethernet Switch Powers Aviation Devices International Communications Group (Booth No. 4649) has introduced a fast Ethernet switch that will power up to eight aeronautical devices including EFBs, handsets, cameras and wireless access points with basic capabilities such as store and forward data packets, automatic medium dependent interface crossover (MDI-X) support and 10/100 megabytes per second autospeed sensing. The “e-Switch” has received FAA PMA and airworthiness approval. It provides a closed and secure environment for connection of aircraft Ethernet devices and flight deck EFB operations.

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Gulfstream G650 lands at PDK uContinued from page 1

Gulfstream. And at 41,000 feet, the cabin altitude is as low as 2,800 feet. The G650 offers 195 cu ft of baggage storage, 11 percent more than the G550. Passengers and crew in the G650 can also breathe easier, for two reasons. First, the cabin air is not recycled but 100-percent fresh. Second, the lavatories are independently vented. Also addressing comfort, the G650 has 16 windows in the distinctive horizontal oval shape, but 16 percent larger than those in the G550 and raised 3.4 inches for optimum viewing by seated passengers. In addition to the natural light the windows provide, Gulfstream uses LED lighting throughout the cabin, with motion-activated lights in drawers, cabinets and closets. The upand down-wash lighting allows for a selection of colors as well as a range of white light. Have a Seat and Relax

In the G650’s cabin, standard equipment includes two electrically articulated seats with heated back and base cushion. The seats have four-way pan tilt, back cushion massage, single-position memory pre-set and press-and-hold controls for full upright and full flat positions. Both the electric and manual seats feature electric lumbar support, press-and-hold electronic release seat tracking/ swivel and full-flat berthing. The inboard armrest has space inside for miscellaneous storage or an optional 12.1-inch, high-definition personal monitor. There is 21 inches of sitting space between the seat arms. Customer advisory board members suggested making the divan more couch-like and “with the added benefit of one-touch berthing, this new divan is exactly what they wanted,” said manager of design operations Andrew Fulford. Configured for sleep, the divan provides an 80-inch by 41-inch bed. As a divan, the back is reclined at a 104-degree angle for greater comfort. With an emphasis on reliability and ease of maintenance, Gulfstream has introduced Cabin Essential into the G650, a design philosophy built on consideration of all aspects of cabin function– waste, water circulation, communication, lighting, power, cabin controls and entertainment. And

the PlaneConnect system detects any failure and transmits reports from the aircraft to technicians on the ground. Virtually all systems in the cabin are redundant, so they will work even after a failure until a repair can be made. Maintenance personnel might be surprised to find that only six tools are required to remove and install the interior. According to senior v-p of operations Dennis Stuligross, “Easy installation and removal translate to reduced downtime for our operators. We understand that our customers need to have an aircraft that’s ready to go when they are.” Also new in the G650 is the company’s own Gulfstream cabin management system (GCMS) with CabinView high-definition audio/video distribution. GCMS provides digital control of cabin systems through touchscreens, capacitive touch switches and passenger control units. Using an iPod Touch synched to a particular aircraft seat, passengers will be able to control the lighting, temperature, speakers, monitors, entertainment equipment, window shades, CabinView system and flight attendant call. Later Gulfstream apps will allow the use of other personal communication devices as cabin control units and allow upgrades as newer devices enter use.

G650 passengers control environment settings using an iPod Touch, while the galley controls come on an intuitive 10-inch touch screen.

With GCMS, passengers will also be able to set and save preferences for a particular activity, including working, dining, relaxing and sleeping. For example, if their preferred working conditions involve a reading light, a closed window shade and a certain color temperature for indirect lighting, they will be able to save those preferences under the “work” label. Later, when they select “work” from the menu, GCMS will automatically adjust to the preset environment parameters. “The GCMS uses a platform many people are already familiar with–the iPod Touch, which is an easy device to use,” said Bob Geary, director of final phase research and development. Because each seat comes

with its own passenger-control unit, passengers can create an environment ideally suited to their needs during that particular flight, he explained. “They have total control over their environment and there’s really no learning curve, especially since the system works with other personal handheld devices as well.” As for entertainment, the equipment includes a Rosen dual-slot Blu-ray DVD player and CD player, dual 128-gigabyte media servers and dual USB ports. In the cabin as standard are two 26-inch HD monitors, one in the forward bulkhead and one pop-up unit in the credenza. Optional 12.1inch personal monitors are available for seats. Flight attendants or onboard chefs will find the G650 galley a substantial departure from the typical galley. “You can walk up to it and it’s reminiscent of the kitchen in your house,” said Henne. The 10-inch touchscreen controls for the galley and cabin are “completely intuitive,” from powering up or down the entire cabin to preset options. The controls were also designed for ease of use by passengers. The galley houses a stainless-steel appliance stack with two coffee makers, a microwave, a convection oven and a refrigerator with freezer. There

In the cabin, standard equipment includes two electrically articulated seats. The divan also is electrically powered and can provide one-touch berthing. It was recommended by a Gulfstream customer advisory board.

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The galley houses a stainless steel appliance stack with a microwave, convection oven and refrigerator/freezer.

are also removable shelves, solid-surface countertops with a removable cutting board over the sink and two exposed windows for natural lighting. Additional convenience space can be found in the electrically operated pocket door in the forward cabin bulkhead and in the electrically operated console tables. Storage capacity in the freestanding credenza is another convenience multiplier. In addition to four separate storage areas, the credenza also holds a three-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine and a 26-inch monitor with electric lift. The crew rest area in the G650 includes 80 inches of berthing and a 17-inch monitor. Gulfstream design engineers still have some work ahead of them to refine the design and construction of the G650 cabin. “We want to validate the design in a real-world environment before we start delivering the G650 to customers,” said Henne. “Toward that end, we outfitted our G650 integration test facility in Savannah with many of the aircraft’s interior systems and have already begun evaluating them on the ground. But we also want to test them in the air. The interior we installed on 6004 will allow us to do that. The point is to ensure that the cabin is as reliable as possible.” This is the first time in its history that Gulfstream has installed and will test a complete interior on a flight-test aircraft. In the G650 cabin, said Henne, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts. There is nothing like it in the air.” o See www.aintv.com for more Gulfstream 650 coverage.

The placement of windows and balconies neatly disguises the Heaven’s Landing hangars and avoids the industrial park appearance.

a strategic advantage

Airpark gives Peachtree state its own corner of ‘heaven’ There are angels to meet you here at the Heaven’s Landing NBAA booth (No. 7914), but lovely as they may be, they are of the earthly variety. The actual Heaven’s Landing is an exclusive estate airpark like nothing else on earth, the developers claim. Nestled in the lush, green mountains of northeast Georgia, the airpark is just a 25-minute flight from Atlanta’s DeKalbPeachtree Airport. Its 5,069-foot paved concrete runway is surrounded by a 635acre gated community with more than 300 estate-sized lots, of which nearly 150 are already sold. Fourteen houses have been completed and another three are partially built. Forty hangars are already available for use.

The hangars are as large as 3,000 sq ft, with aluminum bifold doors and remote-controlled openers. And all are designed to look like anything but aircraft hangars. On the field, jet-A and 100LL are available. According to developer Mike Ciochetto, the private community’s amenities include a three-story clubhouse with private lounge, dining rooms, fitness center, racquetball and tennis courts, steam room and sauna. There is also a large swimming pool, an equestrian stable and bridle and hiking trails. As for the angels welcoming visitors to the Heaven’s Landing exhibit, Ciochetto is apologetic. “I’m afraid they’re just here for the show.” –K.J.H.

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The 5,069-foot runway at Heaven’s Landing is paved concrete and can accommodate aircraft up through larger business jets.

Gorilla app simplifies expenses Tired of lugging around slippery bundles of receipts and having to figure out what they were for and when and where you generated that expense for that painful aspect of business travel, the expense report? Gorilla Expense, a new NBAA exhibitor at Booth No. 4641, has developed software to make the expense process easier. Gorilla’s software is a combination of the online Gorilla Expense system, tied to a mobile application that runs on iPhones, BlackBerrys and Android phones. When you pay for an expensable item on a trip, simply shoot a photo of the receipt with your phone’s built-in camera and edit a few details about the expense. It’s then automatically incorporate into your Gorilla Expense account. Once back at your office or from any computer with Internet access, you can complete your expense report. Or, for

an extra fee, Gorilla will customize your software to integrate with your company’s ERP or accounting system to further automate the expense reporting process. The software can also handle foreign currencies, as well as incorporate company policies and limitations, warning users of policy violations, for example. Gorilla Expense has focused previously on the consulting and engineering fields, but given the amount of travel done by aviation industry personnel, company president CV Sudarshan saw an opportunity and decided to exhibit at this year’s NBAA show. Gorilla Expense costs from $10 to $50 per person, depending on how many users work for the company that buys the software. NBAA attendees can view the iPhone app at the Gorilla Expense booth and sign up for a free trial of the product, said Sudarshan. o

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A CLEAR ADVANTAGE Vous trouverez ces mêmes renseignements en français sur le site Web indiqué.

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa119

Preowned Report The inventory is down from its record high, and some pricing has begun to stabilize by Bryan A. Comstock For more than a year, recovery mode in the pre-owned aircraft market has meant more an outflow than intake. Although the number of choices has decreased, there has been no corresponding increase in prices, making it extremely attractive for buyers. Currently, purchasing an aircraft is more about operating cost than it is about acquisition costs. While flagship aircraft for the major manufacturers can still see mid- to upper-$40 million pricing, the low end has never been lower. Excellent values prevail in the sub-$2 million sector, which may present the industry the opportunity to initiate first-time buyers into the ranks of jet owners. Aircraft in this segment will not have the latest technology and most efficient powerplants but they will allow first-timers an affordable entrée into the market. Consider a late-model (’85, ’86, ’87) Westwind 2 with transcontinental range for close to $1 million. Too old for you? Then jump 10 years and fly away in Beechjet 400A for about $500,000 more and where financing will be a bit easier to attain as it falls within the 20-year window many lenders like to see. Another compelling story is the original Cessna CitationJet, which can be found between $1 and $1.5 million in its earliest form. While prices could always fall below their already historic lows, consider that all three models above– the Westwind 2, Beechjet 400A and CJ– are well below their two-year inventory peaks. In addition they also are at, or below, their 12-month moving average. When you look further at the available inventory of each model, you begin to notice that nearly half of the offerings of each have been for sale for more than a year. One can draw his or her own conclusions as to the questions this raises. Are there not enough buyers, or are the buyers just staying away because prices on many of them are still out of the range buyers are willing to pony up? The “days on market” figure also Learjet 60XR

plays a role in the overall inventory. In mid-September there were 2,634 aircraft for sale worldwide, according to aircraft database company JetNet. More than half of them have been on the market for a year or more, and a quarter of them have celebrated their second birthday on the market. Yet despite this, the number of aircraft on the used market has managed to fall below its all-time high of roughly 3,100 aircraft for sale slightly more than a year ago. Prices Regulate

It can be a tough call to say who is serious about selling and who is not. Another database, AircraftPost, applies its own formula to make that determination for its paid subscribers. Hit a certain number of days on the market and/or be priced a certain percentage over comparably priced aircraft and you won’t show up on its database of aircraft for sale. As an example, by applying its parameters to one market, AircraftPost presented about 45 percent fewer choices than another database, which lists any aircraft that the owner “says” is for sale. One of these had been listed for sale for more than 1,500 days. So while you may read analyst reports about high inventory, there clearly is more to the story. It has been my experience that one of the more confusing things to the buyers is too many choices, but that can be equally confusing to a seller, whose natural instinct might be to price his aircraft at or above the closest comparable aircraft to his. Unfortunately, if that aircraft is grossly overpriced to begin with, there will be two grossly overpriced aircraft languishing on the market. A case in point is the Learjet 60XR market, which has been dormant for more than a year. For a time, 60XRs were priced in the upper $8 and $9 million range, and with every new listing seemed to come another price at which buyers’ snubbed their collective noses. Just recently, prices of a small number have dipped to the low-$8 millions and one even dropped into the high-$7 millions, which will likely cause buyers to take a look and maybe engage the seller with an offer. Any current production model like the 60XR runs into the same challenges–you end up having to compete

00aaNBAA 120 aaNBAAConvention ConventionNews News• •October October19, 19,2010 2010• •www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com

Falcon 2000

with the most formidable of competitors–the manufacturer. Obviously, the manufacturer has far more arrows in its quiver than the reseller does, unfortunately leaving the reseller up against the ropes, with price being about the only effective weapon in his arsenal. Without the backlogs of a few years ago as their savior, resellers are forced to wage battle against the manufacturer’s fresh factory warranty, crew training, price flexibility, trade-in ability and so forth. Speaking of price, every model was negatively impacted by price over the last two years, but we since have seen many markets stabilize, while some have been selling above the trading floors established during the downturn. In this area some Gulfstream models stand out. Fifteen of the roughly 325 G550s are available for sale on the used market, about half the number available 18 months ago. The current figure is comprised of five future delivery positions, five U.S.- and five non-U.S.-registered and -deliverable aircraft. Those positions are getting a tepid market response from buyers, presumably due at least in part to the constricting language of many purchase agreements. Perhaps also at play is the lack of clear forward-looking visibility of buyers given the economic climate. Excluding position sales, G550s have been selling at a one-a-month pace during the past year, setting a price floor of $33.2 million and reaching as high as $45.1 million. Consider that only about half of the GVs available on the market are for sale– the other half are for “lease only,” or have a “sale pending.” The average asking price sits slightly above $24 million at present, but should the limited pool of availability shrink further, a case will likely be made for higher pricing in this segment. If that should occur, look for pricing in the GIV-SP market to strengthen. Offers in that segment have plunged in the last 18 months from a high around $40 million to about $15 million today–the lowest it has been in the last three years. You might expect the Challenger 604 to follow suit and while it might, it clearly hasn’t yet. In the spring, it looked as though that was going to occur, when offerings shrank from 50 at the peak to 37, but then it reversed direction again and jumped to nearly 45 available. The model may well benefit from the depleting supply of GIV-SPs

when buyers looking for this class aircraft find limited offerings to choose from. Values among 604s having been compelling for some time and the right catalyst could trigger a buying spree similar to that which occurred in the GIV-SP market. One of the sweet spots for Bombardier has been its Challenger 300 and while, at 28 for sale right now, used offerings are in abundance, that figure is below its high of 36 from a year ago and slightly below its 12-month moving average. At NBAA two years ago you couldn’t twist someone’s arm and get a 300 bought for less than $20 million, but this year one traded at $10.5 million. In fact, the average sale price in the most recent sixmonth period is $12.86 million, according to AircraftPost, down slightly from the previous six-month period. Apathetic Buyers

The recovery has not been broad-based, witnessed by the fact that scads of models appear to be attractively priced, but have yet to garner sufficient respect from buyers. Entry-level offerings, super-midsize and large-cabin all present examples that have fallen victim to buyer apathy. Consider the versatile Gulfstream G200, whose inventory started to rise two years ago (from 24), peaked in ’09 (at 38) and then retraced its path last month to 24 (coincidentally taking 24 months to return to its two-years-ago level). Not only did it reach a peak of nearly 40 aircraft for sale, but it had to fight market forces once its replacement–the G250– was announced in October 2008 right about the time the overall market was tanking. The average length of time to sell a G200 during the last 12 months has been well over a year–421 days to be exact–according to AircraftPost. Also according to AircraftPost, $7.8 million is the pricing floor for the G200 and about half of the roughly dozen that have sold during the same time frame went for less than $10 million. Compared to two years ago when $15 to $20 million was the common trading area, this looks like just one of a number of compelling values. Buyers seem to be in tune as choices are slightly more than 20, or about 10 percent of the operating fleet of G200s and well below its 12-month moving average of 30. As with any model, when prices plunge they typically take everything around it down, too, and in this particular example,

it looks like the G150 was the recipient of a pricing slap down presumably courtesy of the G200 market malaise. Only three have sold in the last 12 months and only two this year–one in the past six months, which was a bank repossession. Sale prices for the three were all sub-$10 million. The 10 for sale now carry an average asking price of $10.66 million, which would seem to ensure that we will see further trades in this area. While I’m not totally on board with using the absorption rate the real estate industry uses, AircraftPost does provide one, which, based on recent sales rate shows five years to deplete the supply of G150s. Unlike the real estate industry, what typically happens with aircraft is the owner, recognizing the time/cost value of money and market conditions, will drop the price to a level that will move the jet quickly. The Falcon 2000, another super-midsize, appears to be doing some market

Hawker 850XP

formation flying with the G200 and Citation Sovereign as it relates to inventory, but has a clear edge with time to move on the market, which is about 300 days fewer than the G200 and 100 days fewer than the Sovereign, looking at the past six months. Sale prices are within a tight range among the three, with the six-month sale prices averages shaking out like this: the Citation Sovereign, $11.3 million, and both the Falcon 2000 and G200 $10.45 million. Ratcheting down a notch below the super-midsize finds the tarmac littered with mid-cabin models. In nearly equal amounts are the Hawker 800XP with 57, the Learjet 60 with 57 and the Citation Excel/XLS with 60. In general there are some incredible deals out there and with this many offerings between the above-mentioned popular pre-owned model types this segment is no exception. About 30 percent of the Learjet 60s sold in the last year went

sub-$3 million with a posted low of $2.1 million; a number of them were repossessed. The high so far this year is $4.3 million, occurring twice–most recently on a 2002 model with about 1,800 hours total time. The market participants may have gorged themselves on the low-priced aircraft and may have, for the time being, satiated their hunger when you consider that during the past 12 months the Learjet 60 averaged two sales per month. As we write this, none of the successor Learjet 60XR models has sold in the past 15 months, but recent price adjustments appear ready to change that stat. The Hawker 800XP, on the other hand, increased its sales rate in the last six months, moving about three per month on average, up from about two in the previous six-month period. Average pricing held steady at around $4.3 million, according to AircraftPost.

Gulfstream G550

While aircraft prices have been crushed harder than a Napa Valley grape at a fall harvest festival, it doesn’t appear likely that sellers are going to squeeze more juice out of buyers anytime soon. Those who are waiting for the market to recover may not realize that it already has and this may be the new normal for some time. Those who have reluctantly accepted the excruciating shift in pricing have taken their lumps and moved on, often rolling up into their upgrade at a similarly beaten-down price. While sellers may not be too impressed with the extent of the recovery, the fact is, buyers have returned to the market and are deploying cash to buy aircraft. n Bryan Comstock is the president of Jeteffect, based in Long Beach, Calif., which markets and acquires business jets. Sources: JetNet, LLC; AircraftPost

Challenger 604

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www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa121

#1 Sugar Land Regional Airport

Service remains facilities’ trump card by Matt Thurber

Top 10 FBOs credit customer service efforts for their success Each January, AIN surveys readers who are frequent users of fixed-base operators (FBOs) at more than 1,000 airports around the world. And as before, the results show that pilots, dispatchers and flight department personnel worldwide take seriously their desire to receive excellent customer service when patronizing those FBOs and to share their appraisals of those facilities. In AIN’s 2010 FBO Survey, the top North American FBO was once again the City of Sugar Land, Texas, which jumped to first place last year after a steady climb towards the top. It’s unusual to see a cityowned and–operated FBO score so high in the AIN FBO Survey, but Sugar Land is unique, enjoying extremely strong support from the local community, city leaders who appreciate having a dynamic, Online Features www.ainonline.com/resource-center/ Survey results What makes a good FBO? What makes a bad FBO? Up-and-coming FBOs (U.S.) Up-and-coming FBOs (non-U.S.)

business-oriented airport in their backyard and a management team free to run the facility as they see fit, with customer service the highest priority. Sharing top billing with Sugar Land Airport is long-time favorite Wilson Air Center’s Memphis, Tenn. base in second place, the same spot it held last year after a long run of first-place finishes. Wilson Air Center owner Robert Wilson, son of Kemmons Wilson, founder of the Holiday Inn hotel and real estate development conglomerate, has focused on maintaining the FBO’s high level of customer service during the recession, not only at the Memphis base but his company’s other two FBOs–one in Charlotte, N.C., and the other in Houston (Hobby Airport). As a sign of the company’s commitment to its employees, Wilson Air Center has continued to pay its traditional onecent-a-gallon fuel bonus, split among all employees, as well as funding its 401k retirement plan. This year, Tampa International Jet Center moved up from last year’s eighth place to capture third. FBO president Phil Botana attributes the Jet Center’s success to a commitment to maintain

#2 Wilson Air Center-Memphis

122aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

staffing during the recession and avoid layoffs. “We wanted to be a place people would be happy with through the recession,” he said. AirFlite, the Toyota-owned FBO in Long Beach, Calif., and also part of the ExxonMobil Avitat fuel service network, moved into fourth place from sixth place during last year’s survey. Toyota continues to provide strong support to its FBO, according to Peggy Zaun, customer and aviation relations manager. In fifth place was Pentastar Aviation’s Michigan base, a significant achievement given the extraordinary amount of competition from six other FBOs at Oakland County International Airport in Pontiac, Mich. At ever-popular Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, Meridian Teterboro remains highly ranked, but moved down slightly to sixth place. The effects of the recession weren’t helped by the massive East Coast snowfall during the winter, but business is improving, in part thanks to Meridian’s strong charter and maintenance divisions, which complement the FBO. Banyan Air Services retains its seventh-place slot, with business down about 10 percent compared to the #3 Tampa International Jet Center

Top 40 Busiest Airports for Bizav (according to number of responses)

Airport

Responses

Teterboro (TEB)

688

Palm Beach International (PBI)

308

Westchester County (HPN)

299

Centennial (APA)

259

Chicago Midway International (MDW)

254

Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Int’l (FLL)

249

Dallas Love Field (DAL)

248

Hobby (HOU)

241

Scottsdale Municipal (SDL)

241

Washington Dulles International (IAD)

240

DeKalb-Peachtree (PDK)

232

McCarran International (LAS)

209

Le Bourget (LFPB)

197

Van Nuys (VNY)

194

Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE)

187

Lester B. Pearson International (CYYZ)

187

Sky Harbor International (PHX)

174

Los Angeles International (LAX)

172

Hanscom Field (BED)

168

Miami International (MIA)

160

Metropolitan Oakland Int’l (OAK)

158

Addison (ADS)

154

London Luton (EGGW)

154

Bob Hope (BUR)

153

Logan International (BOS)

142

Pitkin County/Sardy Field (ASE)

137

John Wayne/Orange County (SNA)

136

Pierre Trudeau International (CYUL)

135

Monterey Peninsula (MRY)

129

Orlando International (MCO)

121

Boca Raton (BCT)

119

Chicago Executive (PWK)

116

Eagle County Regional (EGE)

115

Nassau International (MYNN)

113

McClellan-Palomar (CRQ)

112

Morristown Municipal (MMU)

111

Austin Bergstrom International (AUS)

109

Boeing Field/King County Int’l (BFI)

109

San Francisco International (SFO)

108

Lindbergh Field (SAN)

107

previous year, but improved market share, thanks to founder Don Campion’s consistent focus on the company’s fundamental business philosophy. “The purpose of business is to create customers for life,” he said. “We come to work for one reason: to serve the customer.” Million Air Addison ranked eighth place in this year’s FBO Survey and was also able to avoid layoffs by prudent belt-tightening and focusing on the long term. Jet Aviation Palm Beach, in ninth place, was hit hard by the recession because customers cut back on seasonal travel. But the FBO’s core employee team members, many there for as long as 20 years, remain employed and delivering the level of service that customers expect. An ongoing focus on safety has also helped keep costs low because accidents and incidents are terribly expensive. “We had a phenomenal year in terms of safety,” said senior vice president Norbert Erich. “If we don’t have an incident, that’s a savings to the bottom line.” Business Jet Center in Dallas ranked in tenth place. Like Pentastar, Business Jet Center also faces a high amount of competition, with seven FBOs located at Dallas’s Love Field. During the recession, Business Jet Center has gained market share.

Toronto; UVavemex in Toluca, Mexico; Irving Aviation Services in Gander, Newfoundland; and Skyservice Avitats in Calgary and Montreal. In the rest of the world, Tag Aviation’s Farnborough, UK FBO scored top billing, followed by Signature Flight Support in Hong Kong. Third place went to Harrods Aviation at London Stansted. Also at the same airport is Universal Aviation’s FBO, which ranked in fourth place. Eccelsa General Aviation came in fifth, a strong indication that business aircraft travel is picking up in Olbia, Sardinia.

Top 40-rated FBOs - The Americas (according to overall average) The annual AIN FBO Survey lists top-rated facilities according to the responses from pilots, dispatchers and users of FBOs. This year, the Top 40 FBOs in the Americas received overall averages of more than 8.00. The categories that users were asked to rate were line service; passenger amenities; pilot services; and facilities. Duplicate rankings indicate a tie.

Overall Average

FBO

Airport

City of Sugar Land

Sugar Land Regional (SGR)

9.13

Wilson Air Center

Memphis International (MEM)

9.09

Tampa International Jet Center

Tampa International (TPA)

8.97

AirFlite

Long Beach Airport Daugherty Field (LGB)

8.93

Pentastar Aviation

Oakland County International (PTK)

8.88

Meridian Teterboro

Teterboro (TEB)

8.85

Banyan Air Services

Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE)

8.79

Million Air

Addison (ADS)

8.72

Jet Aviation

Palm Beach International (PBI)

8.69

Business Jet Center

Dallas Love Field (DAL)

8.68

Dulles Jet Center

Washington Dulles International (IAD)

8.66

Signature Flight Support

St. Paul Downtown-Holman Field (STP)

8.64

Yellowstone Jet Center

Gallatin Field (BZN)

8.63

Swift Aviation Services

Sky Harbor International (PHX)

8.60

Scottsdale Air Center

Scottsdale Municipal (SDL)

8.59

Texas Jet

Meacham International (FTW)

8.59

Enterprise Jet Center

Hobby (HOU)

8.57

Avitat Westchester

Westchester County (HPN)

8.55

Outside the U.S.

Del Monte Aviation

Monterey Peninsula (MRY)

8.53

Top North American FBOs outside the U.S. include Skyservice Avitat in

Skyservice Avitat

Lester B. Pearson International (CYYZ)

8.51

Wilson Air Center

Douglas International (CLT)

8.51

UVavemex

Adolfo Lopez Mateos International (MMTO)

8.49

National Jets

Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL)

8.47

Monterey Jet Center

Monterey Peninsula (MRY)

8.42

Million Air

Salt Lake City International (SLC)

8.41

Denver jetCenter

Centennial (APA)

8.40

Showalter Flying Service

Orlando Executive (ORL)

8.37

Signature Flight Support

Minn./St. Paul International (MSP)

8.37

Irving Aviation Services

Gander International (CYQX)

8.32

Skyservice Avitat

Calgary International (CYYC)

8.31

Vail Valley Jet Center

Eagle County Regional (EGE)

8.29

Jet Aviation

Teterboro (TEB)

8.29

Galaxy Aviation

Witham Field (SUA)

8.28

Million Air

Hobby (HOU)

8.27

Avitat Boca Raton

Boca Raton (BCT)

8.26

DB Flight Center (formerly DB Aviation)

Waukegan Regional (UGN)

8.21

Business Jet Center

Metropolitan Oakland International (OAK)

8.20

Galaxy Aviation

Palm Beach International (PBI)

8.13

SheltAir Aviation Services

Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL)

8.12

Skyservice Avitat

Pierre Trudeau International (CYUL)

8.12

Atlantic

Hobby (HOU)

8.08

First Aviation Services

Teterboro (TEB)

8.07

Atlantic

Chicago Midway International (MDW)

8.06

Atlantic

Pittsburgh International (PIT)

8.03

DuPage Flight Center

DuPage (DPA)

8.00

The Methodology

The AIN FBO Survey asks readers to rate FBOs that they frequent in four key categories: line service; passenger amenities; pilot amenities and services; and facilities. Survey designer and administrator Forecast International received 1,679 completed survey returns, down from last year’s 2,661. The completed return rate was 11.7 percent compared to 18.1 percent last year and 13.3 percent the year before, possibly a reflection of the large number of jobs lost in the business aviation industry last year. o

#4 AirFlite

#5 Pentastar Aviation

Rank

Source: AIN 2010 Americas FBO Survey

Data compiled by Forecast International of Newtown, Conn.

www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention News 123

news clips z Townsend Introduces New Leather Lines Townsend Leather is showcasing new offerings at this year’s NBAA convention. The company has seven new product lines, among them: WET Leather, a QuickShip Classic, Vertucci in both calfskin and deerskin, as well as Lambskin Faux Parchment from the Roger Thomas collection. The Johnstown, N.Y.-based leather provider is hosting a reception today at an off-site location to celebrate the launch of the new products. And at its exhibit booth (No. 2419), Townsend Leather is making presentations on leather cleaning, maintenance and restoration. Leather care and cleaning products are available for purchase.

z Piaggio Aero Takes on Russian Market Italian turboprop manufacturer Piaggio Aero, which recently announced its entry into the Brazilian market, plans to bring its business to Russia as well. The company is seeking Russian certification for its popular P.180 Avanti II twin-engine turboprop, which it expects to begin delivering in the country by April or May of next year. Piaggio Aero has signed an agreement with Moscow-based Aviacharter, a charter-flight consolidator, to handle sales and marketing of the aircraft in Russia. Aviacharter is also the first Piaggio Aero customer in the country, having signed a letter of intent to buy two P.180 Avanti IIs as soon as the aircraft receives Russian certification. The company is exhibiting here at the show at Booth No. 2750, and has an Avanti II at the static display at DeKalbPeachtree Airport.

NBAA hosts gala, auction for CAN The Corporate Angel Network (CAN) will once again be the beneficiary of this year’s NBAA charity benefit, held tomorrow night from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Georgia World Congress Center’s Murphy Ballroom. The Westchester County (N.Y.) Airport-based charity eases the burden of travel for cancer patients by arranging free flights to treatment centers using empty seats offered by business aircraft operators. Headlining the evening’s entertainment is the legendary rock group Chicago. Attendees can also bid on dozens of items in the live and silent auctions. Since its inception in 1981, CAN has helped thousands of families dealing with life-threatening illnesses. “Being the beneficiary of funds raised at the NBAA/CAN Charity Benefit’s live

and silent auction last year not only brought us needed funds, but the related promotional exposure created a high level of fresh interest and was a factor in the increased number of cancer patients we’ve been able to fly this year,” CAN’s executive director Peter Fleiss told AIN. “We flew an all-time record of 307 patient flights in July alone and recently flew our 35,000th cancer patient to specialized treatment.” Admission to the benefit, which includes a cocktail reception, dinner, admission to the auctions and the concert is $195. Other options include attending just the reception (requested donation $25), or standing room at the concert ($80). Tickets can be purchased from the NBAA booth near the silent auction area in Hall C, or just before the benefit, outside the Murphy Ballroom above Hall B. –C.E.

z Jet Aviation Moscow Receives EASA Authorization Jet Aviation Moscow Vnukovo recently announced that it has expanded its base and line service maintenance coverage to include Bombardier Challenger 300s and Gulfstream G200s under its EASA 145 maintenance approval. The operation has continuously expanded its service capabilities since it became a legal Russian entity in May. It serves as a line maintenance, AOG and authorized warranty line service facility for the Bombardier Challenger, Global Express and Learjet. In addition, it holds line service authorization for the full range of Gulfstream jets, and also services Embraer and Hawker aircraft. Jet Aviation (Booth No. 2404) became the first global business aviation maintenance company to enter the Russian market when it opened an operation at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport in November 2007. It remains the only MRO provider to serve the business aviation community in the greater Moscow area. Since last year, Jet Aviation Moscow Vnukovo has expanded its offerings to include 24/7 line maintenance and AOG support. The company also serves Domodedovo, Shermetyevo and other Russian airports. Separately, Jet Aviation has received maintenance approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands.

z NTSB Offers Disaster Response Course Next Month The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a t hree-day course November 16 to 18 to teach participants how to deal with transportation disasters. The “Transportation Disaster Response–A Course for Emergency Responders” class will be held at the NTSB Training Center in Ashburn, Va. Cost ranges from $1,080 to $1,238, depending on how soon attendees sign up. The course is designed for emergency responders and people who have accident-response roles in their organizations. Topics to be covered include: the incident command system; events involving terrorism and/or hazardous materials; interaction with the news media; communicating with the local community and families of the victims; assistance to family members; forensic aspects of recovery and identification; and long-term issues facing the affected community following a major disaster. Two aviation accidents will be part of the case studies: the Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash in Clarence Center, N.Y., and the US Airways ditching in the Hudson River.

Continuing its tradition of top-notch musical entertainment for its annual benefit, NBAA features 25-time platinum album group Chicago live in the GWCC’s Murphy Ballroom tomorrow night. The group is the first American band to have a Top 40 album in each of five decades.

Leather maker launches green product initiatives Perrone Aerospace (Booth No. 4468) has launched its “Lifecycle Sustainability” initiative, a program that encompasses green practices throughout the leather and textiles provider’s manufacturing and refurbishing processes. Also part of the effort is “a commitment to producing leathers and materials that are environmentally and human-health-friendly.” Leading the Fultonville, N.Y.-based firm’s initiative is a new, lightweight, fuel-saving leather seating material, Leather XT. Perrone describes the leather as weighing as much

as 40 percent less than regular leather seating material. It is a top-grain leather that is permanently bonded to a lightweight, military grade fabric to provide material strength, durability and fire-retardant qualities. Perrone also seeks to “reduce, reuse and recycle” to keep products in useful service and to minimize waste. The company uses pieces of useable leather in the manufacture of consumer goods such as slippers and iPhone and iPad cases. Smaller scraps are sold in bulk to leather novelty manufacturers, that convert them into key chains and coasters.

NBAA LOOKS TO THE FUTURE Sites for coming conventions Year

Milestone

Dates

Venue

2011

64th

Oct. 10-12

Las Vegas

2012

65th

Oct. 30-Nov. 1

Orlando

2013

66th

Oct. 21-23

Las Vegas

2014

67th

Oct. 21-23

Orlando

00aaNBAA 124 aaNBAAConvention ConventionNews News• •October October19, 19,2010 2010• •www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com

Another facet of the green program is chromium-free leather, which is biodegradable and less harmful to natural resources. It can also be recycled safely. Perrone is ISO14001 environmental process certified and its commitment to a “cradle-tocradle” lifecycle includes: • Packaging for all products using recycled goods and recycling of all incoming cardboard, •E nergy efficient lighting throughout the 90,000-sq-ft facility, •E limination of fluorocarbons in the manufacturing process, •E limination of volatile organic compounds from the emulsion process, • Recycling of heat from manufacturing process back into the facility and the process itself. (In summer months, recycled heat is used to aid the hidedrying process, and in winter months to provide heating for the factory.) According to Perrone director of marketing Marc Cognetti, the green policy “focuses on eliminating waste, redundancy and harmful chemicals and substances throughout the development, production and lifecycles of its products.” –K.J.H.

Today’s Program | 10.19.10 All events held at Georgia World Congress Center.

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.

NBAA Registration Georgia World Congress Center

Exhibit Hall Hours DeKalb-Peachtree Airport

Tuesday

7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Tuesday

8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Wednesday

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Wednesday

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Thursday

8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Thursday

8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

NBAA Convention News Room B203 • 404-223-5317 E-mail: mthurber@AINonline.com

Tuesday

10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Wednesday

9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Thursday

9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Static Display Hours Tuesday

9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Wednesday

9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Thursday

9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Traffic Flow Management–Dealing with Constraints and Preparing for the Future | Room B305

10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Operating in the NAS–the Basics of Making Traffic Flow Management Work for You. | Room B305

Tax Benefits of Aircraft Ownership Room B313

10:00 a.m.-noon NBAA Maintenance Committee Open Forum | Room B304 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Bombardier Regional M&O Breakout Sessions | Rooms C105-C110 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m Flight Planning Optimization and Fuel Uplift Requirements to Reduce Operational Costs | Room B309 Pilatus M&O | Room B403

+1 (321) 439-8581 • Room B203 e-mail: CAlcockAIN@aol.com

126aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Overcoming Current Operations Challenges for Part 91 and Part 135 Room B311 Global Business Aviation Update Room B309 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Putting Satellite Communications to Work on Your Aircraft | Room B308 2:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Honeywell Avionics Technical Update, TFE731/CFE738 M&Os | Room B401

NBAA Resources and Bundled Training: Innovation and Creativity in Business Flight Department Training | Room B312

3:00 p.m.-3:30 Honeywell HTF7000/APU M&Os Room B401

Aviation Insurance Claims Adjuster Panel | Room B311

3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. NBAA Certified Aviation Manager Program Update | Room B306

10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO)–Business Aviation’s Safety Management Systems (SMS) “Gold Standard” | Room B308

3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. NBAA Security Council Meeting Room B302

11:00 a.m.-noon NBAA Coffee Social for Nonmembers Booth No. 7303

We’re posting a morning newscast, followed by a later newscast around lunchtime and additional separate interviews and features throughout.

2:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Honeywell Avionics Pilot Primus Elite Updates, HTF7000/APU M&Os Room B401

10:30 a.m.-noon How to Use General Aviation for Business purposes | Room B313

NBAA Certified Aviation Manager (CAM) Governing Board Meeting | Room 302

Log on to AINtv.com for exclusive video coverage of all three days of the 2010 NBAA show on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (October 19, 20 and 21). 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.

Watch AINtv at www.aintv.com.

8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Opening General Session | Hall B1, Exhibit Floor

3:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m Beechcraft Premier M&O | Room 407 3:30 p.m.-4:00 p.m Honeywell TFE731 M&O, Avionics Pilot FMS 6.1 Updates | Room B313 3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Single Pilot - Safely | Room B313

Noon-3:00 p.m. Beechcraft King Air M&O | Room 407

Business Aviation Update: China/Asia Room B309

1:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Honeywell Leadership Kickoff | Room B401

Prepare Your Flight Department: Family Assistance Response After an Incident/Accident | Room B312

1:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m. NBAA Local/Regional Business Aviation Associations Networking Session | Room B304

4:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Honeywell TPE331 M&O | Room B401

1:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Honeywell Avionics Pilot Mandates, TFE731/CFE738 M&Os | Room B401

4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Stabilized Landing Concept–A Runway Excursion Tool | Room B310

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

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