2014_10_14 flight_5460

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

FRESH CHINOOKSArmy aviation chief says Italy’s latest ICH-47Fs will deliver a quantum leap in performance 24

BOEING BACK IN Seattle insources parts of 777X production from suppliers to bolster at-risk St Louis fighter plant 19

NBAA PREVIEW PILATUS IS JET-SET AND AT TEXTRON, TWO IS COMPANY SPECIAL REPORT

14-20 OCTOBER 2014

FLIGHT TEST

HIT SINGLEWhy Daher-Socata’s high-speed TBM 900 is top of the props

9 7 7 0 0 1 5 3 7 1 2 6 6

4 2£3.40

14-20 October 2014 | Flight International | 5flightglobal.com

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

14-20 OCTOBER 2014

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

FRESH CHINOOKSArmy aviation chief says Italy’s latest ICH-47Fs will deliver a quantum leap in performance 24

BOEING BACK IN Seattle insources parts of 777X production from suppliers to bolster at-risk St Louis fighter plant 19

NBAA PREVIEW PILATUS IS JET-SET AND AT TEXTRON, TWO IS COMPANY SPECIAL REPORT

14-20 OCTOBER 2014

FLIGHT TEST

HIT SINGLEWhy Daher-Socata’s high-speed TBM 900 is top of the props

9 7 7 0 0 1 5 3 7 1 2 6 6

4 2£3.40

VOLUME 183 NUMBER 5460

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USAF revives B-52 radar replacement programme P26

Air France and Lufthansa hit by industrial action P22. NASA urges ISS partners to maintain commitment P14

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Pix

COVER IMAGEThis image, taken by BillyPix, shows Daher-Socata’s TBM 900 above the Pyrenees. The aircraft is being flown by our test pilot, Peter Collins P46

BEHIND THE HEADLINES It was a case of have hat, will travel for Air Transport Editor David Kaminski-Morrow, who hitched a ride on a Thomson Airways Boeing 787 bound for Palma de Mallorca. Early success with the Dreamliner means the carrier is to boost its fleet of the type (P9)

NEXT WEEK CITATION X+ FLIGHT TESTWe fly Cessna’s Citation X+ and provide an update on the mainline airliner programmes

NEWS THIS WEEK 8 Virgin’s Little Red gets left for dead9 Williams wins out in M-345 contest.

Lufthansa ready for Jump in service as transatlantic demand recovers

10 G650ER wins early approval. First flight coup for Leap-1C engine. New data drives adjusted search for flight MH370

13 RAF Tornados gain reprieve. TaxiBot set for evaluation at Air France hub

14 NASA urges ISS partners to maintain their commitment. Marenco Swisshelicopter quietly confident after successful SKYe tests

AIR TRANSPORT 16 Deployable beacons for A350/A380s.

Inmarsat gets practical as MH370 hunt resumes17 Etihad Regional evaluates ambitious expansion.

Skymark, Airbus to agree A380 order penalties18 US airlines unite against Gulf carriers.

GECAS leaves 747-8 with no lessor on board19 Boeing shakes up 777X supply chain20 Fifty-seaters still best for business at BMI Regional.

Republic gets up close with CSeries test aircraft

NEWS FOCUS22 Airlines and pilots set for long stand-off

DEFENCE .24 Italian army fields F-model Chinook.

KFX project remains on target, says Indonesia25 USAF defends Reaper costs.

Export sales sought for new-look Orlik26 Canberra confirms C-17 fleet boost.

USAF revives B-52 radar replacement programme

BUSINESS AVIATION 27 NetJets looks beyond home markets for fractional

growth. Nextant eyes next launch at EBACE

COVER STORY46 Fast mover Daher-Socata’s TBM 900 follows

where its 850 predecessor left off, delivering speed, superb handling and economy advantages over comparable small jets

FEATURES28 SPECIAL REPORT Business aviation As the

industry gathers for next week’s NBAA convention, we shine a spotlight on the sector

30 On approach Evaluating the prospects for each segment of the market

38 Global distribution How the business aircraft fleet stacks up across the globe

40 Engine of growth Snecma’s Silvercrest turbofan42 Better together Beechcraft and Cessna’s alliance44 Voice of the future Speech recognition systems50 New Swiss role The Pilatus PC-24 is selling well53 The dream fulfilling business Completions56 Into the recovery position The American market

REGULARS7 Comment 58 Straight & Level60 Classified 63 Jobs 67 Working Week

flightglobal.com6 | Flight International | 14-20 October 2014

CONTENTS

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

flightglobal.com/imageoftheday

Vote at flightglobal.com/poll

66%

Making things worse

Limited effectiveness

THE WEEK IN NUMBERS

US

Nav

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Flightglobal’s premium news and data service delivers breaking air transport stories with profiles, schedules, and fleet, financial and traffic information flightglobal.com/dashboard

IMAGE OF THE WEEK This US Navy image shows a Boeing/BAE Systems T-45C Goshawk trainer preparing to land on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in late September. Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database records the service as having 197 T-45s in use, in the A and C models.

View more great shots online and on our weekly tablet edition – visit flightglobal.com/flight-international to access our digital products

The growth in transatlantic seat capacity forecast for this year by American Airlines and British Airways

10%

The number of 1t containers dropped by an Airbus A400M in a single pass – demonstrating its maximum capacity

24The US Ex-Im Bank may double its 2012 target of $1bn in business aircraft sales support by the end of FY2014

$2bn

This week, we ask: Will MH370 mystery be solved? ❑ Yes, eventually

❑ They will locate debris ❑ No trace will ever be found

Last week, we asked: Air strikes in Iraq?: You said:

Best way of dealing with terror threat

15%

19%

TOTAL VOTES:

1,339

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Download the new Commercial Engines Reportnow updated for 2014 with enhanced data and in-depth market analysis

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COMMENT


Read our archive of Flight International comments on editor Murdo Morrison’s blog at flightglobal.com/comment

Searching for answersThe big two airliner manufacturers are split over whether deployable flight data recorders would aid recovery operations after a crash or are simply the wrong solution to the problem

floating locator beacon could have saved lives. Boeing, however, knows these systems intimately and has doubts. The air transport system is so safe that only a handful of aircraft have been lost to the oceans in four decades, despite hundreds of millions of flights. Deployable recorders can be wrongly activated, and statistics state that a few such incidents will happen every year, risking injuries and damage on the ground.

Deployables are certainly not the only, or even the best, answer to the problem of missing airliners. Upgrading onboard data systems to prevent tampering and enable instant reports of deviations from the flight plan is an obvious place to start. Using ADS-B to track aircraft via satellite in real-time all over the world is a more complex undertaking, but another possible step.

But deployables may have a place as one of several solutions. Although such incidents are rare, their impact in the marketplace far outweighs their statistical relevance. The aviation industry must consider all options to prevent another MH370. ■

Another rift in the competitive landscape between Airbus and Boeing has appeared. Airbus is ready

to move forward with a deployable flight data and voice recorder system for commercial aircraft. Boeing has installed deployable recorders on at least three military aircraft fleets, but disagrees that the technology is appropriate or safe for commercial transports.

The Airbus concept involves deploying one of the two sets of flight data and cockpit voice recorders in the event of a mid-air collision or impact with the ground. The deployed unit includes a locator beacon, and is designed to float if the crash occurs in water.

The appeal of such a system is obvious. It could spare the industry the embarrassment of “losing” another air-craft. Air France flight 447 in 2009 was eventually found at the bottom of the South Atlantic, but the search was costly and took more than two years. Malaysia Airlines 370 is still missing, along with clues as to why it suddenly stopped transmitting before executing a series of seemingly purposeful manoeuvres.

If either the Malaysian or French airliners were equipped with a deployable flight recorder, the narrative of the search would likely be very different. The locator beacon would vector search crews within seconds to a precise spot near the impact point. The recorders could be immediately recovered and downloaded, establishing facts and knocking down r umours. In the case of the Yemenia crash in 2009, a See Air Transport P16

The impact of these incidentson the marketplace outweighstheir statistical relevance

Industry must do everything to prevent another MH370

Sales of large-cabin types have been largely un-scathed, with a fall in US and European corporate cus-tomers more than made up by demand from the emerg-ing elites of Asia, who, new to private aviation, have stepped straight into the sector’s billionaire bracket.

But it is the middle of the market that is the most exciting. Midsize and super-midsize types fell from favour after 2008. However, the world of business is waking up to the fact that these aircraft represent great value – comfort rather than opulence, sufficient range for most missions, flexibility and reliability.

This segment is where much of the action is going to be in the next few years. ■

Looking at the amount of product innovation on the business aviation market, one might be tempted to

think: “Crisis, what crisis?” To give the surviving air-framers their due, they responded to the collapse in fortunes in 2008-09 not by hoping normal service would soon be resumed, but by aggressively pursuing developing markets and going back to the drawing board to come up with concepts customers wanted.

Since then, the landscape has changed. The very light jet segment – the great hope of the new century – has failed to materialise in any meaningful sense. Lighter types have struggled too, with high-end travel-lers in newer markets seemingly unimpressed with the prospect of squeezing into a small cabin for two hours. See Features P28

Why middle-sized jets mean business

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THIS WEEK


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US NAVY WILL ADD G550 CAEW TO ITS RANGESELECTION The US Navy intends to procure a new Gulfstream G550 business jet modified with Elta Systems’ conformal airborne early warning (CAEW) system, for use as a range support aircraft at Point Mugu, California. The asset should be delivered before the end of fiscal year 2017. The CAEW system has previously been supplied to the air forces of Israel and Singapore, and is on order for Italy.

FROZEN FUEL DOOMED GALILEO SATELLITESNAVIGATION The partial launch failure that left two of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites in an incorrect orbit has been attributed to frozen hydrazine fuel. This caused the launcher’s restartable Fregat fourth stage to fire in the wrong direction during its second powered phase, about 35min after launch from Kourou, French Guiana on 22 August. An independent inquiry board says the Soyuz launcher was not at fault.

DAHER-SOCATA OFFERS HIGH ALTITUDE ADVICE SAFETY Daher-Socata has issued a service information letter to owners of its TBM series, to heighten awareness of operating the single-engined turboprop at high altitude. The move follows the fatal crash last month of a TBM 900 off the coast of Jamaica, which is believed to have been caused by cabin depressurisation and hypoxia. The letter details the four independent systems that monitor cabin pressurisation, and notes the “time of useful consciousness is short” at high altitude if a fault is not noticed.

BRUNEI REQUESTS HERCULES PURCHASEAIRLIFT Brunei has requested a potentially $343 million purchase of a Lockheed Martin C-130J tactical transport, plus related equip-ment, spare parts, training and logistics support. The nation intends to use the aircraft for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and to support maritime patrol and search and rescue missions.

NORWEGIAN STICKS WITH TRENT FOR NEW 787-9SENGINES Budget carrier Norwegian has retained Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000 for its additional batch of Boeing 787-9s, which will bring to 17 the number of R-R-powered 787s in the Scandinavian airline’s fleet.

PHILIPPINES SEEKS MARITIME HELICOPTERSPROCUREMENT The Philippines has issued a tender for two anti-submarine warfare helicopters, with bidding to commence on 21 October. The Department of National Defence has set a budget of Ps5.4 billion ($120 million) for the acquisition, which will also cover the provision of associated weapons and logistics support.

FIRST FLIGHT FOR RE-ENGINED IL-76MDDEBUT The first of 39 Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A airlifters on order for the Russian air force completed a 4h 20min debut flight from Aviastar SP’s production site in Ulyanovsk on 3 October. Powered by Perm PS-90A-76 engines, featuring new glass cockpit avionics and with a maximum cargo capacity of 60t, the new variant should be handed over to Russia’s defence ministry later this year, after further tests.

RED WINGS TAKES SECONDHAND SUPERJETSTRANSFER Red Wings has signed a deal with Sukhoi to take three used Superjet 100 regional airliners to add to its fleet of Tupolev Tu-204s. The ex-Moskovia aircraft will be handed over to Red Wings by year-end, under a one-year lease with an option to extend.

BRIEFING

Virgin Atlantic is to scrap its domestic UK short-haul

operation, Little Red, in Septem-ber next year, after the venture proved unprofitable.

Little Red has been serving Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen from London Heath-row, but the carrier’s load factors have consistently been poor.

Over the first year since its launch in March 2013 the carrier was achieving peak loads only in the mid-40% range, while it struggled against the domestic presence of British Airways.

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger says the “time lag” between British Airways’ acqui-sition of BMI – which created the opportunity to launch Little Red – and the first flights meant that the new airline “faced an uphill battle” to convert customers.

Kreeger adds that the number of slots made available to Little Red also was “totally inadequate” to challenge BA.

However, “While this challenged environment meant Little Red ultimately did not deliver the results we had hoped, this certainly will not dampen our enthusiasm to try new things in the future,” he says.

Little Red has been using a small fleet of Airbus A320s from Aer Lingus to operate its routes. The Manchester service will be closed next March, while the two

Scottish routes will be continued until September 2015.

Virgin Atlantic says the demand for Little Red services has been mainly from point-to-point rather than connecting passengers – whereas it had hoped for a high level of connec-tions to its long-haul network.

Although it is “on track” to re-turn to profit by the end of this year, the company concedes that Little Red has “not been able to make a positive contribution”.

Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson says the “odds were stacked against us”, and that the carrier failed to attract sufficient corporate custom. The long-haul operation is intending to recruit a number of cabin crew from Little Red once the airline closes.

Virgin used its own slots for the Manchester leg of the Little Red business, and says it is al-ready looking at new opportuni-ties for them.

When it terminates flights to Aberdeen and Edinburgh, its nine remedial slots will be re-turned to the International Air-lines Group, under the terms of the 2012 European Commission ruling that allowed BA’s parent group to take over BMI. They will no longer be restricted to serving Scottish routes. ■Additional reporting by Oliver Clark in London

OPERATIONS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Virgin’s Little Red gets left for deadSir Richard Branson says “odds were stacked against” the short-haul venture, which will be terminated late next year

Routes are operated by a small fleet of A320s from Aer Lingus

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G650ER wins early approvalTHIS WEEK P10

Alenia Aermacchi has selected the Williams International

FJ44-4M turbofan to power its M-345 intermediate trainer, with the engine supplier having beaten rival proposals from Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney.

The M-345 is being developed from the legacy M-311 platform, and Alenia Aermacchi will shortly begin integration work on the 3,400lb (15kN)-thrust power plant for installation on its flight-test aircraft.

The company says it picked the FJ44 to replace the existing P&W Canada JT15D as a result of its performance in the business aviation sector and in service with the Swedish air force, which selected the design to re-engine its fleet of Saab 105 trainers.

First flight of the reconfigured jet is anticipated for the final quarter of 2015, says the airfram-er. New-build prototypes would follow from the end of 2016, ahead of a potential service entry

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First flight of the reconfigured jet is expected at the end of 2015

Holiday group TUI Travel intends to boost to 10 the

number of Boeing 787s it will allocate to UK arm Thomson Airways, having raised its overall Dreamliner order by two to 15.

Thomson’s managing director, John Murphy, confirmed the decision during a briefing on board a 787 bound for Palma de Mallorca on 8 October. The carri-er will have 10 of the type availa-ble from summer 2016, he adds.

Thomson has used the 787 on all long-haul routes since July this year. It is looking at opening ser-vices to Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as broadening its Caribbean reach. Murphy says it is already intending to start a non-stop flight between London Gatwick and Costa Rica from the winter season.

TUI Travel also has 60 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order, with 47 of these to be allocated to Thomson from 2018. The carrier is still finalising details of the type’s configuration, but will test new layout concepts next year. ■

Star Alliance carrier Lufthansa has had an “incredibly suc-

cessful” summer across the North Atlantic, according to chief com-mercial officer Jens Bischof, who has also revealed fresh details about its new denser mainline plat-form, dubbed “Jump” internally.

Speaking on the first revenue flight with the airline’s new pre-mium economy cabin using Boe-ing 747-8 D-ABYQ on 8 October, Bischof said: “We’re feeling yield pressures, yes, [but the] bottom line is good for us.” Capacity on North Atlantic routes was up about 8% during the summer.

All of Lufthansa’s 15 747-8s will be retrofitted with the new premium economy seats for an official launch on 1 December, followed by its Airbus A330-300s and A380s by the end of the third quarter of 2015, through a total investment worth €130 million ($165 million).

Meanwhile, Bischof says the Jump initiative with Airbus A340-300s will be operational by the third quarter of 2015.

“Jump is the first line of de-

SELECTION DOMINIC PERRY MILAN

Williams wins out in M-345 contestAlenia Aermacchi chooses FJ44-4M turbofan to power its trainer over proposals from Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney

with the Italian air force late the following year.

Final assembly of the M-345 High Efficiency Trainer will take place at Alenia Aermacchi’s Venegono Superiore facility in the north of Italy, but the compa-ny has yet to decide where the fuselage and wings will be manu-

factured. “It could be in another country,” it says.

So far, only Rome has commit-ted to up to 30 examples of the new type. However, Alenia Aermacchi anticipates a world-wide market for the M-345 of 250 units, and says several nations have already expressed interest. ■

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All 15 of the carrier’s 747-8s will be retrofitted with the new seats

fence in long-haul and it’s not a separate brand,” he says. “It is an adapted platform where we fly according to the market needs – no first class, relatively small business class, premium econo-my and economy.”

An initial three of its 19 A340-300s will be configured with about 300 business, premium economy and economy seats, representing a 13% to 35% in-crease from current configura-

tions. Possible initial destinations from Frankfurt include Chennai, the Seychelles and Tampa.

The Jump fleet will eventually be increased to 14 of the type.

Lower costs are the key to the Jump initiative, first details of which emerged in July. Lufthansa has negotiated a roughly 20% re-duction compared to its core oper-ation from airports, catering, labour and maintenance, says Bischof. ■See News Focus P22

FLEET DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROWPALMA DE MALLORCA

Extra 787s to give Thomson greater reach

AIRLINES EDWARD RUSSELL FRANKFURT

Lufthansa ready for Jump in service as transatlantic demand recovers

THIS WEEK


For the latest news and features on the business aviation market, go to flightglobal.com/bizav

Gulfstream has secured US certification for its flagship

G650ER ahead of schedule. The ultra-long-range business jet was unveiled four months ago, when the airframer said it was targeting approval before year-end.

The first $66.5 million G650ERs were to begin rolling off the production line in the second half of 2015, but Gulfstream now plans to accelerate shipments by a few months.

Meanwhile, the first $2 million G650 retrofits – originally ear-marked for delivery in early 2015 – will now be handed over at the end of this year.

“We’re excited to get this air-craft into the hands of customers, so they can see just how powerful it is,” says Gulfstream president Larry Flynn.

Gulfstream added 1,810kg

CFM International has con-firmed the maiden test flight

of its Leap engine family, begin-ning with a configuration to be used exclusively by the Leap-1C on the Comac C919.

The almost 3h test flight, to validate aerodynamics and me-chanical items, took place on 6 October using a Boeing 747 test-bed from Victorville, California.

CFM says analysis of the en-

As the deep water search for Malaysia Airlines flight

MH370 resumes, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released an updated analysis of its likely flightpath.

The search activity will be in-fluenced by further refinements to the mathematical model used to determine the Boeing 777-200ER’s course, and by an unan-swered ground-to-air satellite call made to the aircraft at 18:39 on 8 March: 17min after the last posi-tive primary radar fix. Analysis of frequency data related to the failed phone call indicates that the aircraft was on a southerly heading sooner than had previ-ously been expected.

Combined with updates to the models used to calculate MH370’s heading based on seven previous satellite handshakes, es-timates of where the aircraft hit the water have moved to the south – but are still on the so-called “seventh arc”, where the aircraft transmitted its final satel-lite communication. Discovering that the aircraft turned south ear-lier than expected has implica-tions for fuel burn calculations. MH370’s last aircraft communi-cation and addressing reporting system transmission at 17:07 showed a total fuel weight of 43,800kg (96,500lb).

From this, authorities were able to extrapolate aircraft perfor-mance boundaries for a southern turn prior to 18:40.

The ATSB also has discussed possibilities for MH370’s last mo-ments. “Simulator activities in-volved fuel exhaustion of the right engine followed by flame-out of the left engine with no con-trol inputs,” it says.

“This scenario resulted in the aircraft entering a descending spiralling low bank angle left turn and the aircraft entering the water in a relatively short distance after the last engine flameout.” ■See Air Transport P16

CERTIFICATION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

G650ER wins early approvalShipments of ultra-long-range business jet to begin ahead of second half 2015 schedule

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Aircraft’s range has been boosted by 500nm over baseline model

(4,000lb) of fuel weight to enable the G650ER to fly up to 7,500nm (13,900km); a 500nm increase over the baseline model. This po-sitions the aircraft between two emerging competitors: the 7,300nm-range Bombardier Glob-al 7000, due for delivery in 2016;

PROPULSION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

CFM flies first Leap engine for C919

and the 7,900nm Global 8000, ex-pected in 2017.

Gulfstream’s designers im-proved the G650’s range without needing to strengthen its struc-ture or landing gear, or alter its Rolls-Royce BR725 engines. ■See Feature P28

INVESTIGATION GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE

New data drives adjusted search for flight MH370

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The 747 testbed will also be used for Leap-1A and -1B variants

gine’s performance shows that the test was “very successful”.

The 747 testbed will also be used for the Leap-1A and -1B variants of the engine, for the Air-bus A320neo and Boeing 737 Max respectively. But CFM says the configuration currently being tested comprises a “fully integrat-ed propulsion system” which is unique to the -1C.

Further testing steps will in-

clude examining stall margins, economic performance and as-sessing acoustics.

Chief test pilot Steven Crane says the powerplant “behaved like a real veteran”, and that the flight-test information shows the “benefits” the engine has ob-tained from General Electric GEnx technology.

Both the Leap-1C and -1A are “on track” for certification next year, says CFM. The test pro-gramme will cover 28 engines for ground and flight tests directly for the manufacturer, while en-gines will be used for flight tests on behalf of the three airframers.

Meanwhile, Air France-KLM’s Engineering & Maintenance divi-sion is to become a testing part-ner for the Leap engine, under a five-year agreement signed with Snecma. The activity – which is planned to cover some 40,000 cy-cles before service entry – will be performed from late this year at a cell at Paris Charles de Gaulle. ■

THIS WEEK


NASA urges ISS partners to maintain their commitment THIS WEEK P14

Air France has signed a memo-randum of understanding to

evaluate use of the TaxiBot semi-robotic pilot-controlled tow trac-tor with widebody jets at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

Israel Aerospace Industries, which is responsible for the sys-tem’s robotic installations, and French ground equipment manu-facturer TLD, which produces the tractors, are to form a joint task force with Air France to study the impact on taxiing flow at the airport, plus noise and emission reductions. This could be extended to feasibility testing, with the co-operation of Aero-ports de Paris, in the second quarter of 2015.

A preliminary study has indi-cated that a TaxiBot fleet could serve 16 narrowbody and seven widebody types at Charles de Gaulle. Dynamic testing for wide-bodies has started at TLD’s So-rigny site, which should lead to certification in the third quarter of 2015. Narrowbody certifica-tion tests have already conclud-ed, using a Lufthansa Boeing 737 at Frankfurt airport. ■

All three of the Royal Air Force’s Panavia Tornado

GR4-equipped frontline squad-rons will continue to operate the strike aircraft for the immediate future, after the UK government reversed a decision to disband one of the units early next year.

Prime Minister David Camer-on on 3 October confirmed that 2 Sqn’s Tornado GR4s will remain in use at RAF Marham in Norfolk until March 2016. It had previ-ously been expected to stand down in March 2015, and to be re-formed the following month as the service’s fifth operational Eu-rofighter Typhoon squadron.

The RAF’s Tornado force also includes Marham-based 9 and 31 squadrons, plus its 15 Sqn opera-tional conversion unit for the type, at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. The service’s current active fleet totals some 79 exam-ples, as recorded by Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database.

Two squadrons – 12 and 617 – were disbanded in March 2014, as part of a phased reduction of the Tornado fleet. RAF use of the type has been planned to conclude during the 2018/19 financial year,

STRUCTURE CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

RAF Tornados gain reprieveMultiple current commitments prompt UK to safeguard third GR4 squadron until 2016

TRIALS ARIE EGOZI TEL AVIV

TaxiBot set for evaluation at Air France hub

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Eight of the type remain deployed at Kandahar in Afghanistan

as the UK’s replacement short take-off and vertical landing Lock-heed Martin F-35Bs enter use.

Eight of the UK’s Tornados are supporting a US-led coalition car-rying out air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq, with anoth-er detachment operating from Kan-dahar airfield, as the UK nears the end of its combat involvement in Afghanistan at the end of this year. Three more GR4s, which have been providing reconnaissance

services in Nigeria, are due to re-turn to Marham in mid-October.

Writing on Twitter, Air Vice-Marshal Gary Waterfall, air offic-er commanding the RAF’s 1 Group organisation, said: “The call to extend all three frontline Tornado squadrons is true recog-nition of the task ahead and the need to have the current force size.” The planned fifth Typhoon squadron will still be established in early 2015, he adds. ■

THIS WEEK


For more news and analysis about human space exploration projects, go online at: flightglobal.com/spaceflight

Marenco Swisshelicopter has conducted the first flight of

its SKYe SH09 light-single, and says it remains on track to achieve European Aviation Safety Agency certification within 12-16 months.

The initial flight-test prototype performed five low-level hovers totalling around 5min at the company’s Mollis airport site on 2 October, says chief commercial officer Mathias Senes. This generated “lots of telemetry data”, he adds.

Senes praises the performance of the SKYe’s Honeywell HTS900 engine and the moderate level of cockpit noise generated by both the power-plant and the five-bladed com-posite main rotor.

“That was without the engine cowling too. It will kill down the engine noise when that is fitted,” he notes.

Subsequent tests are sched-uled for “the coming weeks”, with two more prototypes of the 2.5t-class rotorcraft due to be rolled out from the first half of 2015 to assist with the certifica-tion campaign.

Marenco is pitching the roughly $3.5 million SKYe at the utility and passenger transport market, and, outside Europe, also for medical evacuation duties.

Production is targeted to eventually reach around 80-100 helicopters per year, with the company’s backlog currently numbering 59 units. ■

NASA administrator Charles Bolden has called on Europe

and the UK to stand behind their financial commitments to the International Space Station and work with the USA to keep it flying through 2020 and even 2024, describing the orbiting outpost as humankind’s “spring-board” to Mars.

Addressing the Royal Aeronautical Society’s space strategy conference in London on 8 October, Bolden stressed that all ISS partners are needed to keep the station flying. Com-mitments to 2020 need to be maintained, he says, and he hopes that the nations will also concur with the USA's decision earlier this year to stick with the programme until 2024.

Critically, he is calling on European governments to reaffirm their support when they meet in Luxembourg in December to approve the next tranche in the European Space Agency’s budget.

After 13 years of continuous occupation, says Bolden, the ISS is showing solid returns in scien-tific research, especially relating to human health in microgravity and the high-radiation space en-vironment. Now is the time for

EXPLORATION DAN THISDELL LONDON

NASA urges ISS partners to maintain their commitmentAdministrator Bolden calls on European governments to support “springboard to Mars”

ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

Swisshelicopter quietly confident after SKYe tests

SATELLITES DAN THISDELL LONDON

Airbus’s eye in the sky could take in a quarter of the globe Airbus Defence & Space is ready to move ahead with satellite technol-ogy capable of streaming real-time video from geostationary orbit.

To be built around a 4m (13ft) mirror developed from the optics produced for the European Space Agency’s galaxy-mapping Gaia spacecraft, the Geostationary Space Surveillance System, or GO-3S, would be capable of returning a video stream at a rate of up to five images per second at 2.5-3m resolution.

In orbit at 36,000km (22,400 miles), one such satellite could view a quarter of the globe, says retired French air force general Jean-Pierre Serra, a special adviser to Airbus Defence & Space chief executive Bernhard Gerwert. Its camera could be pointed at an area of interest within 5min, he told the Royal Aeronautical Society’s space strategy conference in London.

By contrast, a similar concept that would work from low Earth orbit, – some 800km up – as a develop-

ment of Airbus’s Pléiades observa-tion satellite, would provide higher resolution imagery, but could take up to half a day to direct and deliver footage for only the few minutes while it passed overhead.

GO-3S is being developed around camera imagery, but Serra says a “phase two” system should also in-corporate infrared, to enable 24h operation. Airbus has self-funded development for four years, and now needs a customer’s backing to orbit a functioning system by 2021. ■

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Germany’s first astronaut to visit the station is still onboard

all spacefaring nations to grasp the opportunity to work together in a push to reach Mars in the 2030s, he adds.

There is no prospect of NASA going it alone, he stresses, adding that he believes the broadly agreed global space exploration “roadmap” is achievable. All the ISS nations and other partners need “to keep the ball moving down the field” and press on with the research and incremen-tal missions needed to send

humans to Mars, he says, arguing that it would be “generations” before such unprecedented inter-national co-operation in space could be reached again.

Bolden welcomes the contri-bution of the UK in deciding to return to participation in human spaceflight after decades of leaving it to other countries, but cautions that this capability cannot be turned on and off easily. “You can’t be cool about this,” he notes. ■

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the E-4B and P-8A. That experi-ence over more than four decades has made Boeing aware of poten-tial reliability problems, especial-ly with aircraft that lack ejection seats as an activation system for the deployable recorder.

Commercial aircraft must in-stead rely on sensors that can de-tect when a crash or mid-air colli-sion is imminent, which can lead to dangerous miscalculations. Smith cites an example from the mid-1970s of an E-4B inadvert-

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AIR TRANSPORT

Inmarsat has reiterated the need for a practical approach

to aircraft tracking as the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 resumes in the Indian Ocean.

No trace of the Boeing 777-200ER has been found in the seven months since it vanished,

en route to Beijing, on 8 March. At an event in London on 7 October during which Inmarsat detailed the mathematical analysis that narrowed the search area, vice-president of aviation David Coiley stressed that “practical is-sues” needed consideration in the effort to develop global tracking.

He says the question of identi-fying triggers for transmission is crucial, adding: “It’s not efficient for every aircraft to be spewing data all the time.”

Inmarsat has put forward a proposal for a basic free tracking service at 15min intervals, which would bring air transport

closer to the standards for sea-going vessels.

“I don’t see why aviation should be different,” says Coiley. But he adds that even a 15min window becomes “irrelevant” when tracking could be initiated by an unexpected deviation from normal flight. ■

Inmarsat gets practical as MH370 hunt resumesTRACKING DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Airbus is to install a deploya-ble data and voice recorder

with a locator beacon on future A350s and A380s after complet-ing additional studies.

Speaking on 7 October at the US National Transportation Safe-ty Board forum on emerging flight data and locator technolo-gy, Airbus head of security opera-tions Pascal Andrei said that Airbus has been working with suppliers on deployable record-ers and technology will be avail-able “very quickly”.

“I don’t have any roadmap to give you,” Andrei told the forum. “But we have found the location on the aircraft to integrate such deployable recorders. This is something which will come very soon after some more studies.”

Voluntarily adding a deploya-ble recorder would represent Airbus’s most visible response to the high-profile disappearances of Air France flight 447 in 2009 and Malaysia Airlines flight 370 last March. The wreckage of flight 447 was eventually discovered two years later, but the location of MH370 remains unknown.

The decision also creates a new philosophical split with Boeing. Mark Smith, a Boeing air accident investigator, said at the forum that the company believes deployable recorders carry too many risks.

Boeing has installed similar systems on military aircraft, in-cluding the F/A-18 fighter and commercial derivatives such as

TECHNOLOGY STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Deployable beacons for A350/A380s Airbus commits to installing locator systems that will jettison from its widebody aircraft in the event of a crash or incident

Air France flight 447’s resting place took two years to locate

“We have found the location on the A350 and A380 to integrate deployable recorders”PASCAL ANDREI Head of security operations, Airbus

ently jettisoning a deployable recorder over downtown Seattle on final approach to Boeing Field.

Designing a system that yields as little as one inadvertent deployment in 10 million flights would be “difficult to achieve”, Smith says. There are nearly 55 million commercial flights per year, implying five or six inadvert-ent recorder deployments a year.

“I’m not saying deployables are a bad idea,” Smith says. “There’s a balance of benefit and consequence to keep in mind.”

Airbus and Boeing have agreed on other areas where flight track-ing and data reporting can be improved. For example, aircraft health monitoring systems already send updates at pre-select-ed intervals, such as every 10min or 30min. If the aircraft drifts off a pre-determined route or exceeds

speed or altitude limits, the reporting updates can be acceler-ated to once every minute.

But that improvement assumes the health management system is still transmitting.

Investigators of the MH370 dis-appearance still do not know why the aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) stopped functioning shortly after the pilot’s last con-tact with Malaysian controllers. Subsequent readings of satellite handshakes with the aircraft have vectored an international search team to a remote expanse of the South Indian Ocean.

In the absence of ACARS trans-missions, the deployable record-ers offer a potential solution, says Andrei.

One of the Airbus suppliers, Honeywell vice-president of aer-ospace regulatory affairs Chris Benich, also briefed the forum and described how a deployable recorder would work.

The system first senses the start of a crash and releases the deployable recorder from the air-craft. In a previous patent filing, Airbus described the installation as a lower panel in the aft fuse-lage near the tail cone. If the sys-tem lands on water, it is designed to float indefinitely, with a loca-tor beacon to alert search crews of its presence.

Such a system could have saved lives in the 2009 Yemenia crash, as several survivors drowned awaiting rescue. ■

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AIR TRANSPORTUS airlines unite against Gulf carriersAIR TRANSPORT P18

Skymark Airlines and Airbus are close to reaching a

settlement regarding financial penalties over the Japanese carrier’s last-minute cancellation of its order for six A380s.

Japanese media reports claim that Skymark’s chief executive Shinichi Nishikubo has met with Airbus representatives and agreed to reach a settlement by the end of this month.

“We’re going to resolve the problems until the end of October,” the airline told Flight-global. “Everything is currently under negotiation.”

When contacted, Airbus said: “We don’t comment on our discussions with our customers, including commercial matters. What we can say right now on this matter is that Airbus is reserving all its rights and remedies.”

Skymark ordered the A380s in February 2011, but Airbus terminated the order in June – shortly before the first aircraft was due to be delivered – after the airline indicated it did not have sufficient finance to com-plete the delivery.

At that time, the first aircraft (MSN162) had already flown. A second A380 had been assem-bled, although its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines had not been installed. ■

Etihad Airways’ Swiss region-al partner Darwin Airline is

aiming to finalise its fleet strategy by year-end, with aircraft deliver-ies to begin in 2015.

The Lugano-based turboprop operator, rebranded Etihad Regional after the Gulf carrier acquired a one-third sharehold-ing in late 2013, is evaluating its fleet requirements for the next 10-15 years, says chief executive Maurizio Merlo.

Darwin is now embedded within Etihad’s network of partly-owned European carriers and its aircraft plans must fit into the group’s existing fleet and future network strategy, says Merlo.

Etihad has a 29% shareholding in Germany’s Air Berlin, which operates Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s and, through Austrian sub-sidiary Niki, Embraer 190s on thin regional routes. Italian flag carrier Alitalia and Air Serbia – Etihad has 49% shareholdings in both airlines – have Embraer E-Jets and ATR 72 turboprops respectively.

Darwin added four ATR 72-500s to its pre-existing fleet of eight Saab 2000s earlier this year. Another ATR 72 has been wet leased, although that aircraft is used as back-up.

Merlo says the airline needs to

The carrier added four ATR 72-500s to its fleet earlier in the year

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FLEET MICHAEL GUBISCH BARCELONA

Etihad Regional evaluates ambitious expansion plansChief executive of rebranded Darwin Airline says doubling of destinations only a “warm-up”

introduce additional aircraft from early 2015 for its growth plans. Annual turnover – which stands at “around” Swfr100 million ($105 million) today – is targeted to grow 30% a year, he says. Darwin has doubled the number of destinations since Etihad be-came a shareholder, but that was only a “warm-up”, says Merlo.

The ambitious expansion plans are not just aimed at gaining econ-omies of scale, and he adds: “We want to become the most impor-tant regional airline in Europe.”

Darwin intends to focus on four areas under a hybrid strategy: niche routes, point-to-point traffic, wet-lease charters, and feeder-car-rier operations for larger airlines.

Does that mean that Darwin

could take over the regional routes of Etihad’s European equi-ty-partner airlines? Merlo says the idea of Darwin acting as a group-wide regional specialist “has not been discussed” within the partnership.

Whether Darwin’s fleet expan-sion will revolve around additional ATR 72s is not clear, however. Merlo indicates that the plans could involve other types. He says that the turboprops provide competitive operating costs at sector lengths of 300-350nm (555-650km). But he adds that the 68-seat type has performance limitations at air-ports with special arrival and de-partures procedures, such as steep landing approaches. ■

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GECAS has dropped out of the 747-8 freighter orderbook,

converting a three-year-old order for two aircraft into passenger-car-rying 777-300ERs.

The decision represents the loss of the last remaining lessor in the 747-8 order backlog.

Like GE Aviation, which makes the GEnx-2B engines used on the 747-8, GECAS is an oper-ating unit of General Electric.

A GECAS spokesman attrib-utes the decision to factors not specific to the 747-8.

“We operate in a dynamic envi-ronment and as needs change, we’ll sometimes work with our

Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines

are planning to urge the US gov-ernment to re-evaluate its ap-proach towards open skies agree-ments with other countries, amid increased worry over competition from Middle Eastern carriers.

However, the US airlines may have postponed a meeting with White House officials during the week of 6 October over sensitivi-ties linked to ongoing US-led air-strikes against extremist group Is-lamic State. The USA is being aided in its operations by several Middle Eastern nations, includ-ing the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which own the fast-grow-ing Gulf carriers that the three US airlines are concerned about.

Delta, American and United all declined to comment on the meeting when contacted.

The Gulf carriers have angered the US and European airline in-dustry in recent years, expanding their networks and ordering hun-dreds of widebody aircraft. Delta’s chief executive Richard Anderson has been especially vocal.

Qatar Airways is among a number of Middle Eastern carriers to have grown rapidly

“A number of those [Middle Eastern] carriers are not airlines, they’re governments,” he said at the Global Business Travel Asso-ciation convention in Los Angeles in July, adding that the airlines in question have “huge subsidies and huge structural advantages”.

Anderson’s counterparts at American and United have also raised concerns about competi-tion from Gulf carriers. American chief executive Doug Parker said at an event in Washington DC on

6 October: “You have to watch them closely and understand that they’re a force to be reckoned with in the future if they keep ex-panding at those kind of rates.”

United chief executive Jeff Smisek said at the GBTA conven-tion in July that Middle Eastern carriers have a “huge advantage” compared with US airlines. “They’re state subsidised, they’re state controlled and they’re viewed as an arm of the state it-self for tourism, travel and trade.”

The Gulf carriers have repeat-edly fired back at criticism from their US rivals, accusing them of being protectionist.

Meanwhile, International Air-lines Group chief Willie Walsh does not see any imminent change in US airline ownership restric-tions, expressing a much more pessimistic view on the subject than he did just two years ago.

“I think we could still be talk-ing about talking about ownership 10 years from now,” he said at a media event in Washington DC on 3 October. “I don’t see any signifi-cant changes taking place in the short to medium term.”

These comments were far more pessimistic than Walsh, who acknowledges his shift in perspective, made during a speech in the US capital in 2012.

“When industry margins are wafer thin, airlines are definitely stronger together,” he said then. “We need to remove the restrictive regulatory shackles that dominate our industry around the world.”

US law limits foreign owner-ship of domestic carriers to 25%. ■

REGULATION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

US airlines unite against Gulf carriersDelta, American and United set to lobby White House over open skies agreement that allows competition from Middle East

PRODUCTION GHIM-LAY YEO & EDWARD RUSSELL WASHINGTON DC

GECAS leaves 747-8 with no lessor on board

The order will be converted into passenger-carrying 777-300ERs

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OEMs to modify orders,” says GECAS vice-president of global communications Daniel Whitney.

GECAS is the third operating lessor to withdraw from the 747-8 programme. Guggenheim Aviation Partners placed orders for four 747-8Fs in 2007, but exit-ed the programme four years later. Dubai Aerospace Enterprise ordered 15 747-8Fs, but removed all 15 over an 18-month period beginning in December 2011.

Boeing’s total order backlog for the 747-8F now stands at 15 air-craft, with 52 units already deliv-ered. At least seven customers also have unfilled orders for 27

passenger-carrying 747-8s. That gives Boeing about 28 months of backlog at the current rate of out-put of 1.5 747-8s per month.

Boeing has little room to ma-noeuvre if more customers cancel orders. The US Air Force plans to

award a contract to replace the 747-200-based VC-25 fleet, also known as Air Force One, in fiscal year 2017. The current backlog will continue 747 production through January 2017, if produc-tion rates hold steady. ■

AIR TRANSPORTFifty-seaters still best for business for BMI RegionalAIR TRANSPORT P20

Boeing is planning to displace an international supply

chain for flight control surfaces and wing structures on the 777X programme by insourcing and relocating production to its fighter manufacturing complex in St Louis, Missouri.

The St Louis factory had risked shutting down with the backlog of fighter orders running dry in 2019, but will now support a plan to build around 100 777X aircraft per year at current rates.

The McDonnell-founded facil-ity will displace a global network of existing 777 suppliers. Boeing declines to name the companies losing the work on the 777X, but public records show a supply base extending from Spain and the UK to Malaysia and Australia.

MANUFACTURING STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Boeing shakes up 777X supply chainSeattle disrupts international network of suppliers by insourcing flight control surface and wing production work to Missouri

The in-development twinjet features composite wing technology

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Airbus will lose a role supply-ing the movable trailing edge comprised of flaperons and ailerons on the existing 777. Aerospace Composites Malaysia, a joint venture of Hexcel and Boeing, now builds the fixed trailing edge panels on the 777,

but that work will move to St Louis. BAE Systems also will lose its role supplying the fixed lead-ing edge for the 777.

The 777X features a unique folding wing tip, which will also be produced in St Louis. The 7 77-300ER does not have a fold-

ing wing, but the rake wing tip is produced by Korean Air Lines.

Finally, Boeing Aerostructures Australia builds the rudder and elevator for the 777 near Mel-bourne. The company will con-tinue designing the flight control surfaces on the 777, but produc-tion will move to St Louis.

Boeing had previously ousted Goodrich as the landing gear inte-grator of the 777X in favour of Heroux-Devtek.

The composite wing itself will continue to be built in the Seattle area, although Boeing had the op-tion of moving the work to Japan, where the 787 wing is assembled.

Instead, Boeing has re-selected a consortium of Japanese compa-nies to build much of the 777X fuselage structure. ■

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BMI Regional insists that there remains a viable niche role

for 50-seat regional jets, despite the UK-based Embraer ERJ-145 operator being set to move to larg-er aircraft within five years as the existing fleet nears the end of its service life.

While there is a widely held opinion that 50-seat jets cannot be profitably operated in regions where short-haul traffic is domi-nated by low-cost airlines, BMI Regional chief executive Cathal O’Connell says “there is definite-ly a market where this aircraft [category] gives you an advan-tage” over larger types.

The Aberdeen-based airline has 14 ERJ-145s configured with 49 seats, and four 37-seat ERJ-135s.

The jets are deployed on thin routes aimed at business travel-lers, where demand exists for multiple daily frequencies at con-venient flight times rather than simply low ticket fares. Such a route is a link between Bristol and Hamburg, operated twice daily since 2013. Both cities are home to extensive operations by Airbus, which generates a signifi-cant part of the airline’s traffic on that service.

O’Connell says that while a

low-cost airline might be able to fill a narrowbody on that route on a once-daily basis, BMI Region-al’s service is aimed at passengers who want direct flights to their destination in the morning, and to be able to return at the end of the day.

As that operation generates higher costs per seat, ticket prices must include higher service lev-els, such as complimentary hold baggage and in-flight catering.

During the time between the crucial morning and evening hours, BMI Regional operates un-scheduled services, such as cor-porate charter flights. “Upwards of 40%” of the airline’s opera-tions are unscheduled services, and that segment is expected to grow, says O’Connell.

Ultimately, BMI Regional will need to move to 70-80-seat air-craft as the existing fleet is matur-ing, and both Bombardier and Embraer have abandoned the 50-seat regional jet category. While the airline is already an Embraer operator, the Brazilian manufac-turer’s 170/175 series would be “an obvious choice” as there are “very few” comparable other types, says O’Connell. But he in-sists that the airline has not yet made a selection. ■

DELAY TOM ZAITSEV MOSCOW

Bombardier and Rostec tie-up stalledBombardier and Rostec have de-ferred a decision on a project to build Q400 turboprops in Russia until 2015.

A deal signed by the two sides in August 2013 envisaged exploring the potential to set up a joint-venture pro-duction facility, most likely in a spe-cial economic zone near Ulyanovsk.

But work on finalising the agree-ment and getting the project under way within a year has stalled since Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the onset of the Ukrainian crisis.

Sources at Rostec and Bombardier contacted by local me-dia admitted to having as-yet-unre-solved issues which will hinder further progress.

“There are points on which we haven’t reached an agreement,” says a source familiar with the mat-ter at state-owned Rostec. “They concern final product localisation and pricing. Therefore, Rostec has deferred a decision about proceed-ing with the project, while confirming its interest in it.”

A source at Bombardier indicates that the Canadian airframer is in talks with Rostec in the hope of con-cluding an agreement this year.

However, the source adds: “Taking account of the general situa-tion and sensitive political issues, our negotiations could take a longer time and we might expect them to complete in 2015.” ■

BMI Regional operates 14 Embraer ERJ-145s with 49 seats

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Bombardier has showcased one of its CSeries flight test

aircraft to Republic Airways.FTV-4 was deployed to Indian-

apolis International airport, where Republic is based, on 6 October and displayed to the airline’s ex-ecutive team and employees.

“This was a wonderful oppor-tunity for my technical team to get an up-close view of the CSeries, especially of the flight-deck which is revolutionising air travel,” says Bryan Bedford, Re-public’s chief executive.

Bedford had previously cast doubt on Republic’s order for 40 CS300s, announced in February 2010 when it still owned low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines. Frontier was eventually divested in late 2013.

In May, Bedford said that while Republic is not talking about cancelling its CSeries order, the aircraft does not nec-essarily fit in with its current re-gional operations.

Bombardier’s senior vice-presi-dent for sales, marketing and asset management Ray Jones says: “Republic has always said that the CSeries airliner would be utilised as a mainline aircraft and we are very pleased to be work-ing with the airline as it prepares its business and fleet plans for the aircraft’s introduction into the North American market.”

FTV-4 is one of only two CSeries aircraft that returned to flight in September after a 100-day grounding caused by an en-gine failure. ■

DEVELOPMENT GHIM-LAY YEO WASHINGTON DC

Republic gets up close with CSeries test aircraft

FLEETS MICHAEL GUBISCH BARCELONA

Fifty-seaters still best for business at BMI RegionalDespite planning to move to larger types soon, UK carrier believes smallest jets right-sized for thin business routes

The decision to build Q400s near Ulyanovsk has been delayed

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NEWS FOCUS


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Air France pilots with the SNPL union took industrial action in September

Airlines and pilots set for long stand-off

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON

Air France and Lufthansa are facing a rebellion from their flightcrew over wages, retirement ages and attempts to expand lower-cost subsidaries. Can agreements be reached?

Industrial action has played havoc with operations at Air

France and Lufthansa over recent weeks, as pilots revolted against the legacy carriers’ cost-cutting plans. But the battle between management and their best-paid employees is about more than wages and working terms: it is about control and staff influence on the carrier’s future directions.

Airlines carefully select flight-crew to ensure that passengers and aircraft are in the hands of high-calibre individuals who remain cool-headed, stick to the book and, crucially, do not give up in critical situations. But as that determina-tion naturally extends beyond the cockpit, executives have a fight on their hands when pilots perceive their working environment to be under threat.

Pilots and management at Air France and Lufthansa – and at the latter’s wholly-owned sub-sidiaries Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines – are deeply entrenched about the future flightpath of their respec-tive carriers.

For management, the aim is to please investors and sharehold-ers, and improve balance sheets, amid the threat from younger and leaner competitors in both the short- and long-haul arena. Executives are trying to circum-navigate pilots’ long-standing working terms by transferring op-

erations to lower-cost subsidiar-ies. Meanwhile, pilots are retali-ating, with strikes and legal action to avoid fragmentation of their workforce and the loss of privileges, most of which date back to the pre-liberalisation era of state-owned flag carriers.

Air France pilots began industrial action in mid-Septem-

ber over the parent’s expansion plans for low-cost subsidiary Transavia. Air France-KLM was seeking to build this up as a pan-European budget airline with bases outside France and the Netherlands to compete with low-cost carriers such as EasyJet and Ryanair. But the group adjusted the plan soon after the start of the strike – which, it said, was causing daily operating loss-es of up to €20 million ($25 mil-lion), with “catastrophic conse-quences” for the company and its financial position.

Now, Air France-KLM wants to build up the French Transavia division instead, under what it terms a “made-in-France solu-tion”. But pilot unions remain opposed to that move, because it would mean wider employment of flightcrews on terms outside the mainline labour agreements.

Air France-KLM argues that Transavia France “can only de-velop under economic condi-tions that are compatible with the low-cost model”. Any single la-bour agreement for pilots would “totally oppose the principle of this model”, it adds, and particu-larly if such a deal were “under Air France conditions”.

After two weeks of industrial action, French pilot union SNPL halted the strike at the end of September. But no agreement had been reached with Air France-KLM, and another pilot union, SPAF, said it would con-tinue the walkouts.

In Germany, Lufthansa has de-cided to use pilots from outside the airline for its planned low-cost, long-haul sub-fleet of up to 14 Airbus A340-300s, to be oper-ated with a denser cabin configu-ration under the mainline brand on low-yield routes aimed at lei-

sure travellers. While manage-ment was able to agree cost cuts with its flight attendants, catering arm, maintenance division and other stakeholders, it claims that no such deal was possible with flightcrew. Sources familiar with the plans also confirm that Lufthansa is evaluating a wet-lease arrangement with Swiss charter operator PrivatAir for the A340s.

COMPROMISEThe decision is the latest episode in a dispute which has been sim-mering for years between man-agement and German union Vereinigung Cockpit. The last collective labour agreement for the pilots expired in 2012, and has since remained in place as no follow-up deal could be agreed.

The conflict escalated in December 2013, when Lufthansa terminated a transitional pay agreement covering wages if pilots retired early due to medi-cal reasons. This led to a three-day strike in early April and multiple walkouts in August and September.

Lufthansa wants to raise the age threshold at which pilots become eligible for early retirement

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“Lufthansa continues to refuse a unified pay agreement and demands a division of the pilots intothree classes”VEREINIGUNG COCKPIT

NEWS FOCUS


Italian army fields F-model ChinookDEFENCE P24

Lufthansa wants to move from the traditional company-funded system to an employee-financed scheme, and to raise the age threshold at which pilots become eligible for early retirement from 55 to 60 years. The airline says it is willing to compromise and has proposed a stepped approach for the existing workforce, but pilots taken on since January 2014 are to be excluded from the deal.

While the union briefly re-turned to the negotiating table after the stepped-approach offer, the conflict goes deeper than a disagreement about benefit levels and retirement-age thresholds. The absence of a single arrange-ment for the entire cockpit work-force was a key reason for the union to reject the deal.

“Lufthansa management con-tinues to refuse a unified transi-tional pay agreement and de-mands a division of the pilots into three classes,” says Vereini-gung Cockpit. Apart from differ-entiating between existing and new staff members, the stepped approach would, it argues, penal-ise employees who have worked

part time, such as female pilots who reduced their working hours to support their families.

Meanwhile, pilots and flight attendants at Austrian Airlines gained a legal advantage in September, when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in

their favour over management’s unilateral cancellation of a col-lective bargaining agreement two years ago. When the Lufthansa subsidiary failed to reach a la-bour deal with its crew members in 2012, management transferred all the relevant aircraft and em-ployees to lower-cost regional arm Tyrolean Airways.

While the controversial move did not lead to a reduction in pay

levels, it was especially aimed at slowing statutory wage increases in place under the previous agreement, Austrian said at the time. But the transfer also covered productivity rises and pension cuts.

Now, management is aiming for an out-of-court settlement, after the ECJ ruled that conditions in Austrian’s former labour agree-ment should have been honoured until a new contract was reached with its employees. The final rul-ing has yet to be made by Austria’s supreme court, but it is likely to follow the ECJ judgement, as the national court had asked the European institution for advice. Separately, a Vienna court is also assessing the legality of the trans-fer to Tyrolean in 2012.

LITIGATIONAustrian says is preparing what it terms “alternative scenarios” in case it cannot reach a settlement with employees that is satisfactory to the airline. “Ultimately, the judgment hand-ed down [by the ECJ] in Luxembourg makes it difficult for us to defend our position as a quality airline against the com-petition,” notes chief executive Jaan Albrecht.

Nevertheless, that ruling has encouraged Swiss’s mainline pi-lots to also start legal action. After the Lufthansa Group carrier was unable to negotiate agreement on future working terms with the mainline pilots, its management decided to assign its on-order Boeing 777s – which are due to join the fleet in early 2016 – to the airline’s regional arm.

Pilots at the two divisions are represented by separate unions: Aeropers for the mainline, and IPG for the regional operations. All three parties had aimed to reach a deal under which the two pilot corps would be merged into a single unit, but the airline instead signed a labour contract only with IPG. Aeropers says the trilateral agreement failed be-cause management tried to use the settlement to introduce addi-tional cost cuts.

Now, Aeropers has resorted to litigation because, it says, Swiss’s “German management”

has breached several contractual obligations in the existing mainline labour agreement, in-cluding duties to continue nego-tiations and permit employee participation in matters such as the 777’s introduction. The union argues that “outsourcing” of parts of the long-haul opera-tion is not permissible under the current contract.

Swiss has decided to terminate that deal at its earliest possible expiry date in November 2016 because, it says, the differences with Aeropers “on the key is-sues” are “irreconcilable”.

Management at Air France-KLM and Lufthansa could be forgiven for looking enviously at the International Airlines Group and its progress at Iberia. A long-running dispute over job cuts and efficiency plans at the Spanish carrier was finally ended earlier this year, when a series of pro-ductivity deals were struck with unions. Iberia secured not only double-digit percentage salary cuts, but also industrial breathing space until 2017, when the deals will expire.

Perhaps a difference here – and also in Italy, where Alitalia has secured cost-saving labour deals with several of its unions to facilitate Etihad’s investment – has been the spur of the difficult economic backdrop, as the union and staff outlook is probably very different in a country with Spain’s high unem-ployment rate.

Oliver Sleath, European air-lines analyst at Barclays, be-lieves that Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group will eventually succeed in changing their business models against union resistance. “Lower cost units within a legacy [airline] can help to incentivise savings at the mainline carrier,” he says. “If employees are not willing to adapt, investment and growth opportunities will be directed elsewhere.”

However, both carriers are likely to shrink in the process, as their loss-making businesses are gradually eroded by market forces. “It’s like evolution,” observes Sleath. “You have to adapt or die.” ■

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“If employees are not willing to adapt,growth opportunitieswill be directedelsewhere”OLIVER SLEATH European airlines analyst, Barclays

DEFENCE


To learn more about our rotorcraft data service go to flightglobal.com/ascend

A gustaWestland delivered the Italian army’s first two of at

least 16 ICH-47F Chinook trans-port helicopters on 2 October.

“The latest generation Chinook offers a quantum leap in terms of range, protection, safety, combat and overall performance capabili-ties, compared with the current fleet of modernised CH-47Cs, which has been the workhorse of Italian army aviation for more than four decades,” the service’s chief of staff, Gen Claudio Graziano said during a ceremony at the compa-ny’s Vergiate plant near Varese.

A first ICH-47F left with the army’s first qualified crew imme-diately after the ceremony to reach Viterbo; the home of the 1st Regiment “Antares”, which al-ready operates 17 CH-47C+ heli-copters. The second aircraft will follow around mid-October, and two more are to be transferred be-fore the end of the year. Initial op-erating capability with the new variant is expected to be declared in around 12 months.

Indonesia has reaffirmed its commitment to partnering with

South Korea on the KFX indige-nous fighter programme.

In a statement, Indonesia’s de-fence ministry says that six proto-types will be developed, of which one will be given to Jakarta for flight tests. Indonesian per-sonnel will play a role in the pro-gramme, and a final assembly line will eventually be located in the country, it adds.

The two nations’ governments recently signed an agreement which sets the stage for the KFX effort to move into its “engineer-ing and manufacturing phase”, the defence ministry says. An ini-tial technology development

phase had been completed in De-cember 2012, and Jakarta is a 20% partner in the programme.

South Korea received a boost for KFX recently, after confirming its readiness to sign a first pro-duction order for 40 Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fight-ers under its F-X III requirement. A major element of the F-35 bid had been technology offsets re-lated to Seoul’s plan to build an indigenous fighter.

Envisaged as being a twin-en-gined design, the KFX is likely to be produced by Korea Aerospace Industries. Seoul is expected to eventually order 120 production examples of the type, and Indo-nesia 80. ■

ROTORCRAFT LUCA PERUZZI VERGIATE

Italian army fields F-model ChinookService hails receipt of lead aircraft from deal for at least 16 AgustaWestland-assembled transports as “quantum leap”

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A first example of the ICH-47F was flown to Viterbo on 2 October

TRAINERS

Qatar takes first pair of PC-21sPilatus has delivered its first two PC-21 trainers to Qatar, with the pair having left its Stans manufacturing site in Switzerland on 29 September. Registered as QA 353 and 354, the two-seat aircraft are among eight to have been completed so far, under a deal for 24 of the type signed in July 2012. Doha’s acquisition also includes a related package of ground-based training equipment, and a five-year support arrangement with the airframer.

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“The start of deliveries sets a major milestone in the strategic partnership between the compa-ny and the service,” says Agus-taWestland chief executive Dan-iele Romiti. “ICH-47F deliveries will follow at four units per year until 2017,” he adds.

Italy’s new Chinook differs from Boeing’s baseline F-model by using a modified glass cockpit and tailored pilot/vehicle inter-

face, which is common with Can-ada’s recently delivered aircraft. Mission equipment includes a navigation, communication and identification suite, weather radar, L-3 Wescam MX-15HDi electro-optical/infrared sensor and a Selex ES obstacle warning system.

A self-protection package fea-tures Elettronica radar warning receivers, an Airbus Defence & Space missile warning system,

Selex ES laser warning systems and MES-supplied chaff and flare dispensers. An armed fit will come later, including single-bar-rel or minigun 7.62mm machine guns at the lateral doors and a 12.7mm gun on the rear ramp. Ballistic protection and engine infrared suppressors are also in the pipeline, but have not been ordered yet.

AgustaWestland is prime con-tractor for the ICH-47F pro-gramme, which was launched in 2008 and also contains an initial five-year in-service support package. In addition to being re-sponsible for systems integra-tion, final assembly and aircraft delivery, the company also has a licensing agreement with Boeing to market and produce the new Chinook variant for some Medi-terranean nations.

Rome’s order also includes an extended option for an additional four ICH-47Fs, which would be equipped for special operations support tasks. ■

FIGHTERS GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE

KFX project remains on target, says Indonesia

DEFENCE


Canberra confirms C-17 fleet boostDEFENCE P26

A senior US Air Force official has dismissed a report from

the Pentagon’s Inspector General (IG), which claims that the service could waste nearly $9 billion by acquiring more General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper unmanned air vehicles than it needs.

“The data in the report is a year old,” counters Lt Gen Robert Otto, deputy chief of staff for in-telligence, surveillance and re-connaissance. “The air force is only buying 346 aircraft – 55 fewer than the 401 figure con-tained in the report – and we’ve only received about half that number. The projected total

Reaper fleet is far less than the service had originally estimated prior to sequestration.”

The IG looked into whether the USAF had properly justified pur-chasing its original planned total, but says it failed to do so for the projected $76.8 billion price tag.

Air Combat Command (ACC) officials also did not follow prop-er procedures to obtain approval for an increase in procurement, the report finds. Nor did the ser-vice “conduct and maintain con-sistent, complete and verifiable analyses for determining the nec-essary aircraft quantity,” it says. “As a result, the air force risks spending approximately $8.8

billion to purchase, operate and maintain 46 MQ-9 aircraft it may not need.”

In its President’s budget request for fiscal year 2015, the USAF sought funds to procure 83 Reapers, split in annual batches through to 2019, for a total cost of $6.47 billion – a 2015 per-unit air-craft cost of $20 million.

The IG report recommends that the ACC perform a rigorous re-view of how many Reapers are needed to perform specific mis-sions, and that its analysis should be submitted to the air force and joint requirements oversight councils for approval before any further purchases are finalised. ■

The two-man crew of a GFD- operated Bombardier Learjet

35A were killed when their aircraft collided with a German air force Eurofighter during a quick reaction alert training exercise on 23 June, a report from Germany’s BFU accident investigation board has concluded.

After visually identifying the simulated suspect aircraft, the lead pilot of a pair of Eurofighters moved into a posi-tion to the left side of Learjet D-CGFI at an altitude of around 8,000ft, to observe its pilots.

In accordance with an exer-cise scenario, they did not re-spond to initial instructions, until later communicating that a hijacker had been overpowered, and that they were now able to follow the interceptor.

The Eurofighter pilot initiated a bank to the left to an angle of 27˚ shortly after this call, while the pilot in command of the Learjet disengaged its autopilot and made a 5˚ bank to the right. This was followed quickly by a 4˚ bank to the left, and engine power was increased to 88%. At this point, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) reveals that he had lost visual contact with the escort, and handed control to his co-pilot.

“Over the next 6s until the collision, the altitude, indicated airspeed and bank of the Eurofighter remained approxi-mately constant,” the BFU says. By contrast, the Learjet reached a maximum bank angle of 52˚ to the left. The CVR picked up the lead pilot saying “just take the computer”, before “muffled noises” were heard around 2s before impact.

The Eurofighter was severely damaged, with “the entire right engine deformed in the direction of the aircraft longitudinal axis”, the BFU says. Its pilot recovered to Nörvenich air base, switching off the damaged Eurojet EJ200 shortly before landing. ■

Poland’s enhanced PZL-130 Orlik MPT multipurpose

trainer has been formally presented for the first time by Airbus Defence & Space, during a 15min flight conducted from the Polish air force’s Deblin air base on 6 October.

Airbus says the Orlik MPT has amassed more than 30 flight hours since making its debut from Warsaw-Okecie airport on 23 May. During the next phase of the programme, its glass cockpit avionics functionality and

automatic rudder trim, engine anti-icing and anti-skid braking systems will be tested, it says.

Poland’s deputy minister of national defence Czeslaw

Mroczek says a market analysis for a full glass cockpit upgrade to the Polish air force’s PZL-130 Orlik TC-II configuration will be completed before year-end.

The service currently operates 16 aircraft in this standard, and its earlier TC-I examples are also like-ly to be modernised. Twelve new aircraft could also be ordered, to enter into service from 2018.

Meanwhile, Airbus officials have named Chile and Jordan as potential export customers for the Orlik MPT. ■

Export sales sought for new-look Orlik PROGRAMME BARTOSZ GLOWACKI DEBLIN AIR BASE

UNMANNED SYSTEMS DAN PARSONS WASHINGTON DC

USAF defends Reaper costsService says Pentagon Inspector General’s report failed to consider effects of sequestration

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Current planning calls for a total procurement of 346 armed MQ-9s

The trainer has flown for 30h

REPORT CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Learjet collided with Eurofighter during hard turn

DEFENCE


To get more defence sector coverage, subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter:flightglobal.com/defencenewsletter

Australia’s air force could re-ceive an additional two or

potentially up to four more Boe-ing C-17 strategic transports, de-fence minister David Johnston has announced.

The process for purchasing two aircraft has already begun, through a request for pricing and availability via the US govern-ment’s Foreign Military Sales programme, Johnston said on 3 October.

A decision on a possible fur-ther two aircraft will be informed by the outcome of Australia’s 2015 Defence White Paper and Force Structure Review process, he adds.

“Since the first delivery in 2006, we have seen the C-17A Globemaster perform exception-ally well at the forefront of Aus-tralia’s military operations and humanitarian work,” Johnston

The US Air Force is breathing new life into an effort to re-

place the radar on its fleet of Boe-ing B-52H bombers, after an initial attempt launched four years ago.

On 23 September, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center announced that it is seek-ing technical, performance and cost information on a suitable successor for the Northrop Grum-

TRANSPORTS ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN SYDNEY

Canberra confirms C-17 fleet boostAustralia advances plan to add more Globemasters, following the type’s successful deployment in a variety of operations

says. Recent commitments in-volving the Royal Australian Air Force’s current six examples have included supporting the investi-gation into the 17 July shooting down over eastern Ukraine of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 – which was carrying 38 Australi-an nationals among its passen-gers and crew – and disaster recovery operations since the

start of this decade in Pakistan, Japan and New Zealand.

“The aircraft is also currently supporting Australian and coali-tion forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East, providing a long-range, strategic heavy airlift capability between Australia and the world,” Johnston adds. “The ability to rapidly react and move large elements of Australia’s sup-

port systems over long distances during these times has highlight-ed the need for us to have a good-sized fleet.”

Operated by 36 Sqn from Am-berley air base in Queensland, Australia’s current C-17s were ac-quired in three batches. An initial four were ordered under a rapid acquisition programme in early 2006, and delivered between No-vember the same year and August 2008. A fifth entered use in Sep-tember 2011, while the sixth was handed over in November 2012.

Boeing announced last year that it would cease production of the C-17 in 2015. Expecting late demand for the type from new and existing customers, it opted to build about 10 ‘white tail’ air-craft without confirmed buyers. Other potential recipients for the remaining aircraft include Alge-ria and India. ■

man APQ-166 strategic radar first fielded in the 1950s and most re-cently upgraded in the 1980s. Its request for information (RFI) will inform an analysis of alternatives (AoA) about modernisation op-tions for the B-52H fleet in 2020 and beyond, via the strategic radar replacement programme.

“The overall AoA objective is to inform decision makers about

the cost-effectiveness, risk and military worth of radar moderni-sation programme [RMP] alterna-tives,” the document states.

Not including spare radars, the USAF needs to retrofit 76 B-52Hs with the new system. Initial pro-duction kit deliveries should begin around fiscal year 2022, and the RFI specifies a retrofit rate of be-tween 17 and 24 aircraft per year.

A nearly identical RFI was re-leased in May 2010, under which the air force had planned to launch the RMP development activity in late FY2013, following an AoA phase and a competitive contract selection. Funding was cancelled, however, in favour of supporting higher priority programmes.

“The RMP will replace the APQ-166 radar with a fully sup-portable system that maintains all current B-52H mission func-tions, incorporates the additional capabilities of ground moving target indicator/track, surface tar-

get search/track and electronic protection, and provide a growth path for new and enhanced capa-bilities,” the new request says.

According to a report from the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on the 2014 National Defense Authoriza-tion Act, the B-52’s current radar has undergone upgrades, but some parts – such as the antenna reflector, feed and casting – are original and need to be upgraded.

“Although sustainable through the current service life of the B-52, the legacy radar system mean-time-between-failure con-tinues to degrade and sustain-ment costs are expected to signifi-cantly increase after 2017,” the report says. “The committee en-courages the Secretary of the Air Force to develop and implement an affordability strategy for main-taining radar capability on the B-52 aircraft through its predict-ed service-life of 2040.” ■

USAF revives B-52 radar replacement programmeMODERNISATION DAN PARSONS WASHINGTON DC

A new radar will help the strategic bomber to fly on until 2040

The nation’s 36 Sqn could see its fleet size increased to 10

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BUSINESS AVIATIONReady to fly againSPECIAL REPORT P28

US ACCIDENTS UPThe US National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary re-port on aviation accidents in 2013 reveals the accident rate for US Federal Aviation Regulation Part 135 operations rose to 1.24 per 100,000 flight hours, compared with 0.99 per 100,000h in 2012. The NTSB recorded 44 accidents in total last year across all Part 135 operations – including on-de-mand charter, air tour and air medical flights. Ten of the ac-cidents were fatal.

SERVICE CENTREDaher-Socata has appointed Danish business aircraft ser-vices provider Air Service Vamdrup an approved service centre for its TBM single-en-gined turboprop series. Air Service will support TBM 700/850/900 owners from northern Europe to Russia. According to Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database there are over 650 TBMs in service worldwide of which around 90 are based in Europe.

VVIP COMPLETIONAssociated Air Center has hand-ed over a VVIP-configured Airbus A330-200 to an undisclosed Middle East-based customer. The project was the first Airbus widebody completion contract for the Dallas-based company and included a full cabin cus-tomisation complete with high speed data and high definition in-flight entertainment system.

CHINA CLEARS PIPERThe Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has granted certification to Piper Aircraft for its M-Class aircraft family. The decision paves the way for the US airframer to begin selling the Meridian single-engined turbo-prop and the Mirage and Matrix piston singles in the country. Meanwhile, the CAAC has also validated Hartzell propellers flying on Cessna TTx and Mooney Acclaim high-perfor-mance singles.

IN BRIEF

NetJets is hoping to expand its fractional ownership and air-

craft management programmes outside its established bases in the USA, Europe and China and is currently evaluating Russia, India and Latin America as po-tential markets.

The revelation comes as NetJets Europe gears up to accept its first Bombardier Challenger 350. “The first aircraft will be de-livered early next year,” says NetJets Europe sales director Ma-rine Eugene. “We will be taking five in 2015 and have already pre-sold two aircraft. With transconti-nental range and the ability to seat up to 10 passengers, this air-craft is proving very popular.”

NetJets placed an order for up to 75 of the super-midsize types in 2012 as part of a $9.6 billion order for 425 business jets from the Bombardier and Cessna sta-bles. The company has also placed separate multi-billion dol-lar orders for Embraer Phenom 300s – its entry level product – and Bombardier’s Global family of business jets, which sit at the top of its product offering.

The new aircraft are part of a “top-to-tail” overhaul of NetJets’ 500+ strong fleet and should all be incorporated into the operator’s global inventory over the next 10 years. NetJets’ older types are gradually being phased out.

All new aircraft are equipped with NetJets’ bespoke interior,

Signature Series, which features advanced in-flight entertainment and a customised cabin.

NetJets has already taken de-livery of 34 Phenom 300s and 19 Globals – four of each are in ser-vice in Europe. The first Chal-lenger 350 was handed over to the US programme in June and eight will be in service before the end of the year, says Eugene. “The Challenger 350 fills a gap in our product line between the su-perlight XLS+ and the large-cabin [Dassault Falcon] 2000EX. This is the first time we have been able to offer a super-midsize option.”

The Challenger 350s will only be available to NetJets’ fractional ownership customers, with shares from as little as a 16th – or 50 fly-ing hours a year – being sold.

Eugene says NetJets Europe’s 1,000 customers are evenly split between the card and fractional ownership programmes. She ad-mits the new fleet is helping to regenerate the market and stimu-

late interest in the NetJets brand across Europe, which has been impacted heavily by the financial downturn. Many customers – particularly owners of smaller cabin aircraft – saw the value of their share depreciate as the mar-ket collapsed. Despite this set-back, most owners have re-mained with the programme.

Europe’s recovery is mixed. The UK and Germany are performing well, but Italy, France and Spain remain fragile. “It is an unstable geopolitical space so we are spreading our exposure,” she says.

Tom Hoyt, NetJets senior vice-president communication, says the Berkshire Hathaway-owned company is keen “to have a pres-ence in every [major] market, with a broad fleet of aircraft. We are looking at a number of areas including Russia, Latin America and India. We will only proceed when we have the right partners and when we are confident that we can make it work,” he says. ■

EXPANSION KATE SARSFIELD FARNBOROUGH

NetJets looks beyond home markets for fractional growthOperator explores new regions amid financial downturn in Europe as it refreshes fleet

Nextant Aerospace is hoping to launch a new product as early

as next May’s European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibi-tion in Geneva, in partnership with engine supplier GE Aviation.

The move comes as the Cleve-land, Ohio-based company read-

ies the King Air G90XT – a re-manufactured version of the C90 twin-engined turboprop – later this month. Baseline testing with the C90’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engines is complete and Nextant is now preparing to mate the G90XT’s H75 engines with

the fuselage. “We plan to reveal performance data at NBAA later this month,” says Nextant presi-dent Sean McGeough.

The G90XT is set for certifica-tion this year, featuring a Garmin G1000 flightdeck, new interior and refresh of life-limited parts. ■

Nextant eyes next launch at EBACEDEVELOPMENT KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

European deliveries of the Challenger 350 will boost fleet offering

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Jets


BUSINESS AVIATIONSPECIAL REPORT

It has been a long time coming, but the USA’s large but stagnant business aviation market is perking up, even as its share of global new aircraft deliveries slips to 50%. As the industry gathers for next week’s NBAA convention, we shine the spotlight on the sector, with a TBM 900 flight test, a look at prospects for the newly merged Textron Aviation, a focus on large jet completions, an update on Snecma’s breakthrough Silvercrest engine and a rundown of key aircraft programmes under development.

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READY TO FLY AGAIN



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CONTENTS30 On approach Our segment-by-segment

guide to the status of major programmes 40 Engine of growth Snecma’s Silvercrest42 Better together New Cessna and

Beechcraft parent Textron Aviation44 Voice of the future Listening cockpits46 Fast mover TBM 900 flight test50 New Swiss role How Switzerland’s

Pilatus is breaking into the jet business 53 The dream fulfilling business An

overview of the large business jet completions sector

56 Into the recovery position After taking a battering for the past six years, is US market ready for rebound in fortunes?

From top: Pilatus PC-24; Daher Socata TBM 900; Airbus ACJ319 Elegance cabin



fects of global VLJ/light jet inventory – re-mains very fragile, however. “The global financial crisis have been compounded by the euro currency crisis and the collapse of econ-omies in specific [previous strong markets for light jets], such as Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain,” says Hall.

According to fellow aviation analyst Ro-land Vincent, a major barrier to recovery is the oversupply of aircraft in the US market. Large volumes of business jets, particularly in the light jet sector, were delivered during the 2006-2008 period due to high demand. “Many aircraft are being used extensively, while others are being parked until a buyer comes along,” says Vincent.

This over-capacity has caused residual val-ues to plummet. Consequently many aircraft owners have chosen to keep hold of their as-

Sybe

rJet

It has been a long and miserable few years for the lower end of the business jet segment.

The financial collapse of 2008 has been brutal to this huge sector, causing the disintegration of traditional markets in Europe and the USA, and eroding a long established and previously flourishing customer base.

This segment – which spans the $2.9 mil-lion Eclipse 550 very light jet (VLJ) to the $9.4 million Cessna Citation CJ4 light twinjet – makes up 40% of the 18,500-strong global business jet fleet, but demand for these mod-

ON APPROACH

els has been decimated since the financial cri-sis and has yet to recover.

“This sector was hit harder than any other [mature] market segment,” says Daniel Hall, senior analyst with Ascend, a Flightglobal ad-visory service. “A sustained weak market and intensifying competition [with 13 types in this sector] has resulted in plummeting val-ues. Most 10 year-old aircraft have seen their value halved in nominal terms.”

Hall believes the light jet market can only fully recover when the traditional economies have recuperated. Thankfully, recovery in the USA – home to around 70% of the VLJ and light-cabin fleet – is beginning to take hold, with a GDP growth of about 3% expected this year.

With the exception of the UK and Germa-ny, Europe – home to around 12% of the ef-

Lethargy in light jets

SyberJet is planning to fly its SJ30i later this year


BUSINESS AVIATIONPROGRAMMES

sets, rather than sell them at a huge loss.Citing Ascend data, Hall reveals that in 2004

first owners sold their aircraft after four years on average. This dropped to less than three years in 2008, but by 2014 an owner is holding on to their aircraft for around seven years.

For the many customers who have had no choice but to sell their aircraft – often at a huge loss – this has altered market percep-

tions, Vincent says. “Luring these customers back to the fold will not be an easy task,” he adds. What is needed is a fresh approach towards light business jet design, as some of the offerings in this segment are “simply too small” for many owners, particularly in North America.

He points to research from the US Depart-ment of Health and Human Services, which reveals the average weight of an American man in the 95th percentile has increased by 24% – or more than 23kg (51lb) – in the 40-plus years spanning the era of the earliest business jet designs to the pre-recession peri-od. Average height also increased during the same period by nearly 1in.

“The traditional customer has evolved over the years,” says Vincent. “Many of the light business jets around today were designed with the smaller traveller in mind.” Embraer broke the mould with the Phenom 100 and 300, which have proven very popular within the segment due to their relatively spacious cabins. The types are the largest in the entry-level and light-cabin segments. The Phenom 300 was the most popular aircraft in 2013, with 60 of the twinjets delivered between January and December.

Given Embraer’s success other manufactur-ers are now under pressure to increase the cross-sections of their aircraft, or bring some-thing unique to the market within this in-creasingly large and crowded sector.

CESSNACessna has made no secret of its intention to launch a new family of “wide cabin” light business jets, and says the key drivers of this future line-up will be a larger cabin, modern avionics, improved efficiency and direct oper-ating costs.

The Textron Aviation subsidiary is already a market leader in the light business jet sector, with five aircraft in its line-up.

This includes the 1,200nm (2,220km) en-try-level Mustang, the 1,600nm M2, 1,800nm

CJ2+, 2,100nm CJ3+ – which entered service in September – and the 2,400nm CJ4.

The airframer is well aware of the market appeal of small jets with large cabins. In 1994 it launched its Excel business jet which later morphed into the Citation XLS. The 1,900nm aircraft was launched as a competitor to Bombardier’s Learjet 45 – which was intro-duced two years earlier, creating the new su-perlight segment.

Cessna’s has already unveiled a concept de-sign for a light business jet with a roomier cabin in order to gain customer feedback. It declines to comment on the status of the pro-gramme, but says it is “continuing to aggres-sively invest in new products”.

CIRRUS AIRCRAFTThe US developer of the SR family of piston singles is on track to deliver the world’s first single-engined personal jet late next year, and has already received 550 firm orders for the seven-seat Vision SF50. The first production conforming aircraft, C0, flew for the first time on 24 March. It is being used for performance verification and, towards the end of the pro-gramme, will undertake in-air parachute test-ing. Aircraft C1 is scheduled to enter service in the third quarter and will be used for sys-tems, ice and engine testing. A final flying prototype, C2, will join the flight test pro-gramme 45 days later and will undertake reli-ability evaluations.

The $1.96 million, carbonfibre Vision is equipped with a Garmin G3000 flightdeck and an emergency parachute system. Powered by a Williams International FJ33 turbofan, the air-

craft has a range of 1,200nm, a stall speed of 61kt and a cruise speed of 300kt (556km/h).

HONDA AIRCRAFTAfter an 11-year approval effort, the HA-420 HondaJet is finally approaching the finishing line. Certification of the light jet is scheduled for the first quarter of 2015, leading to initial deliveries soon after.

Joint venture partners GE Aviation and HondaJet clinched Part 33 certification for the 2,100lb-thrust (9kN) HF120 engine late last year, following an intensive programme that involved 13 engines performing 14,000 cycles in 9,000h of testing.

PILATUS AIRCRAFTThe Swiss airframer made its first foray into the business jet market with the launch in May 2013 of its PC-24. The light twinjet was rolled-out in August, and is scheduled to make its first flight before the end of the year. Pilatus – developer of the PC-12NG single-engined tur-boprop – says the PC-24 has been so well re-ceived that production of the Williams International FJ44-4A-powered aircraft is al-ready sold out for the next three years.

SYBERJETThe Cedar City, Utah-based start-up is plan-ning to fly its SJ30i later this year. The Mach 0.83 light business jet is a revamped version of the SJ30 – originally built by Sino Swearin-gen and later by Dubai’s Emivest, before being acquired by its current owner MetalCraft.

The latest model will feature a Honeywell Primus Apex-based flightdeck called SyberVision and a new interior when it enters service in the second half of next year.

SyberJet is also developing a more power-ful version of the seven-seat twin, dubbed the SJ30x. This model is scheduled to enter service in 2017, featuring more powerful Williams International FJ44-3AP-25 engines with dual-channel FADEC. SybetJet says: “The SJ30x will offer more range, quicker time to climb, higher cruise speed at alti-tude, better hot-and-high performance, in-creased payload and single-point pressure refuelling.” ■

Other 3.0%

Bombardier13.3%Cessna

60.8%Hawker12.6%

Embraer7.0%

Eclipse3.3%SOURCE: Flightglobal Ascend (September 2014)

VLJ/ENTRY LEVEL/LIGHT JETS IN-SERVICE FLEET MARKETPLACE

VLJ/ENTRY LEVEL/LIGHT BUSINESS JET MARKETPLACE*

Cessna Mustang $3.47M2 $4.67 CJ2+ $7.27CJ3+ $8.44 CJ4 $9.4 Bombardier Learjet 70 $11.3Eclipse EA550 $2.9EmbraerPhenom 100E $4.16Phenom 300 $8.96HondaHA-420 $4.5PilatusPC-24 $8.9SyberJetSJ30i $7.25CirrusVision SF50 $1.98Note: *Price in millions SOURCE: Manufacturer

“[The light jet] sector was hit harder than any other[mature] market segment”DANIEL HALL Senior analyst, Ascend



The superlight and midsize sectors have also had a tough time. This broad segment

– which spans the $13.8 million Learjet 75 to the $24.5 million Gulfstream G280 – repre-sents 43% of the global business jet market according to Ascend, but its overall value has declined since 2013 by more than 10%.

The decline has been more pronounced in the superlight sector, however, which saw the value of its deliveries fall from more than 25% of the total market in 2008 to around 10% in 2013.

However, there are signs that this segment has already started to rebound, and inde-pendent aerospace analyst Roland Vincent is upbeat about its prospects.

“We are more bullish about this sector than any other,” he says. “The purchase indica-tions in our recent survey for the last 15 quar-ters reveal a great deal of interest in midsize models, particularly in the USA where over 70% of the fleet is based… Buyers are in-trigued by the host of new aircraft being de-veloped.”

He argues the superlight/midsize sector of-fers more value to customers than many of the light- and large-cabin offerings on the market today. “They have large stand-up cab-ins, long enough ranges to meet virtually all transcontinental US missions and even the occasional transatlanctic crossing from the US northeast,” he says. Many new buyers are choosing to opt for a midsize business jet straight away rather than move up through the segments, he adds.

Ascend shares Vincent’s optimism. In its recent 10-year forecast, it reveals a steady year-on-year increase in deliveries across these two segments between 2014 and 2023.

This growth can largely be attributed to the arrival of brand new designs alongside mid-life upgrades of existing programmes.

BOMBARDIERThe Canadian airframer has had a busy 10 months. December marked the entry into ser-vice of the superlight Learjet 75 – a remod-elled version of the 16-year-old Learjet 45, featuring more powerful Honeywell TFE731-40BR engines, a Garmin G5000-based Vision flightdeck and a new interior.

Six months later the upgraded Challenger 350 entered service, replacing the best-selling super-midsize model, the Challenger 300. The 10-seat 300 made its service debut a dec-ade ago and ranked second in the shipment

Stuck in the middle

charts in 2013, with 55 aircraft delivered.The 350 is powered by Honeywell

HTF7350 turbofans and features a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 advanced avionics suite and a revamped cabin with Lufthansa Tech-nik’s Nice high-definition cabin management system, contemporary seat design and a new modular galley.

Meanwhile, the future of Bombardier’s newest midsize offering, the Learjet 85, is un-clear following the airframer’s decision in July to review the certification and entry into ser-vice timeframe of the clean-sheet design as part of a wider rethink of priorities with the Global 7000 and 8000 programmes.

The 10-seat aircraft was launched in 2008 and entered flight testing on 9 April this year – more than two years late – due to what Bom-bardier vaguely describes as challenges with the composite construction. The Learjet 85 has continued to perform test flights in Wichita, but Bombardier has steadily refused to clarify the entry into service date for the aircraft.

CESSNAAs with the light sector, Cessna is a pre-emi-nent player in the superlight and midsize seg-ments. Two of its established platforms – the Citation Sovereign and high-speed X – have each undergone a major makeover in the past year. Cessna will be hoping the improved per-formance, revamped interior and Garmin G5000 flightdeck will heighten the appeal and extend the life of the 10-year-old and 18-year-old designs for some time to come.

As competition has intensified in this sec-tor, however, Cessna has turned its attention to new designs to challenge rival offerings.

The first new aircraft to come to market will be the Latitude midsize business jet. Cessna has set its sights on 2015 certification and service entry for the Latitude, which was launched in 2011 and falls neatly within the gap created between the 3,000nm Sovereign+ and the 2,100nm Citation XLS+.

Three Latitude flight-test aircraft have logged more than 600h across 260 flights since the maiden sortie on 18 February. The fourth test aircraft – named P-3 – joined the fleet on 30 September with a 2.5h first flight.

The Latitude shares the wing, aft section and the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306D engine with the Sovereign+, but it introduces a wider and taller cabin, increasing the width by 28cm (11in) to 1.96m and the height by

Other5.8%

Hawker20.7%

Cessna28.2%

Bombardier21.9%

Dassault15.5%

SOURCE: Flightglobal Ascend (September 2014)

SUPERLIGHT/MIDSIZE/SUPERMIDSIZE IN SERVICE FLEET MARKETPLACE

Gulfstream8.0%

“Buyers are intrigued by the host of new aircraft being developed”ROLAND VINCENT Aerospace analyst

Embraer is poised to deliver the first Legacy 500 business jet

Embr

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Embraer is poised to deliver the first Legacy 500 business jet

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10cm to 1.83m.The 2,700nm-range Latitude also features a

Garmin’s G5000 integrated flightdeck and Clarity cabin management system.

These interior features are also destined for the new super-midsize Longitude, which is scheduled to enter service in 2017. The Longitude sits at the top of Cessna’s product line. It uses the same fuselage cross-section, windows, passenger seats and aluminium construction as the smaller Latitude, but ac-cording to its specifications will be 2.74m longer. Powered by a pair of FADEC-equipped, 11,000lb-thrust (49kN) Snecma Sil-vercrest engines, the Longitude is projected to have a maximum take-off weight of around 25,000kg (55,000lb), a maximum range of 4,000nm and a maximum cruise speed of 490kt. Cessna is rumoured to be evaluating a change in the Longitude’s design. This may be its interim answer to a large-cabin offering, which it the airframer is unlikely to consider in the medium term, given capital constraints and the under-performing light jet sector.

EMBRAEREmbraer is poised to deliver the first Legacy 500 business jet, having received certification for the midsize type in August.

The Mach 0.83 10-seat aircraft will be joined next year by its superlight stablemate, the M0.82 Legacy 450.

The clean-sheet Legacy 500/450 were launched in 2008. The programmes have raised the benchmark for superlight and mid-size products by offering features typically found on a large-cabin business jet.

These include fly-by-wire flight controls, a 2m cabin height and a large baggage area. Both aircraft also feature Honeywell HTF7500E turbofan engines and Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics.

The Legacy 500 beat several critical perfor-

mance metrics during the flight-test phase, and can now can take off in 1,250m (4,100ft), compared with the originally promised 4,600ft, increasing the number of missions the aircraft can perform.

Embraer says its strategic aim with the Legacy 500 is to compete with established midsize players such as the Sovereign+ and the Challenger 350 in the super-midsize category, which has held-up well during the downturn.

Embraer’s next task is to usher the mid-light Legacy 450 through certification tests. The aircraft first flew in December 2013, and Embraer believes the flight test programme can be completed within 600 flight hours. Certification is scheduled for mid-2015. ■

The top end of the business jet market has been left largely unscathed by the finan-

cial downturn due to continued demand for high-end aircraft from the world’s wealthy elite and global corporations.

According to Ascend, this sector – which spans the $31 million Challenger 605 to the Airbus ACJ321 – represented 69% of the $18.5 billion business jet delivery value in 2013. Ascend expects the popularity of these top-end aircraft to continue for the next 10 years, as a wave of new designs enter the mar-ket. In its latest forecast it predicts nearly 10,000 business jets will be delivered be-tween 2013 and 2023, with a total delivery value of $258 billion. Of this, the large-cabin/long-range/VIP airliner segment is predicted to account for around 60% of the value share.

BOMBARDIERAscend’s prognosis is supported by Bombar-dier. In its latest forecast it predicts that 5,250 aircraft in the $50-75 million category – the Global 5000 upwards – will be delivered be-tween 2014 and 2033, representing 24% of overall business aircraft industry unit ship-ments and 46% of the total delivery revenue.

In light of this forecast, it is not surprising that the newly restructured company has de-cided to review its development priorities. The appraisal could lead to the ultra-long range Global 7000 and 8000 programmes being shifted to the top of its development pecking order.

The large-cabin and ultra-long-range types were launched in 2010, with entry into ser-vice dates of 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Both aircraft will be powered by General Electric 16,500lb-thrust (73kN) Passport 20 engines and feature an all-new, high-speed transonic wing. The Global 7000 will have a 74.9m3 (2,650ft3) cabin – 20% bigger than the Global 6000, which currently sits at the top of Bombardier business jet family.

The aircraft will have a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90 and a range of 7,300nm at M0.85. Bombardier has given no indication of when the Global 7000’s flight-test campaign will begin, but it stresses that the aircraft remains on track for certification in 2016.

The Global 8000 will feature a 2,240m3 cabin and have a range of 7,900nm at M0.85.

DASSAULTThe French airframer is developing two new business jets in parallel, marking what it calls “an unprecedented financial investment” in

Large-cabin leads way

Three Latitude flight test aircraft have logged more than 600h across 260 flights

Cess

na

SUPERLIGHT/MIDSIZE MARKETPLACE*

BombardierLearjet 75 $13.8Learjet 85 $21.2Challenger 350 $26.54CJ3+ $8.44 CessnaXLS+ $12.9Latitude $16.25Sovereign+ $18.1X+ $23.5Longitude $26Dassault2000LXS $332000S $27.7EmbraerLegacy 450 $16.57Legacy 500 $20GulfstreamG150 $15.7G280 $24.5Note: *Price in millions SOURCE: Manufacturer

❯❯



Falcon jets. The firm now boasts a family of six aircraft at the upper end of the range, from the 3,350nm-range super-midsize 2000S – Dassault’s entry-level offering – to the latest “flagship” 8X, with a 6,450nm range.

The 8X trijet was launched in May and will have the longest cabin and greatest range of any Falcon produced in the company’s 50-year history, when it enters service in 2016.

The 8X is an enhanced and stretched version of the airframer’s former flagship Falcon, the 7X, which entered service in 2007 and is now approaching its 250th delivery milestone.

The 8X offers 1,450nm more range than the 5,000nm 7X, allowing it to connect more city pairs than its stablemate – notably the Beijing-Los Angeles and Hong Kong-London routes. The growing Chinese market was instrumen-tal in the launch of the 8X, and the country now accounts for around 30% of the region’s

business jet fleet. The desire for long-range aircraft, mainly from Chinese entrepreneurs, has resulted in deliveries of 30 7Xs in the past three years alone, including 11 7Xs in 2013.

To allow the extra range Dassault added an additional fuel tank within the centre fuselage section, which enables the 8X to carry up to 15,800kg of fuel.

The 8X also features a redesigned wing de-rived from the Falcon 7X, which has an opti-

mised leading edge profile and winglets. The 8X will be powered by three Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307D engines, each delivering 6,720lb-thrust.

The 8X has an anticipated balanced field length of about 1,830m, an approach speed of about 107kt at typical landing weight and an ability to make approaches at up to 6˚. Like the 7X, it will operate at many of the world’s most challenging airports, including London City, Aspen in Colorado, La Mole-Saint Tropez in France and Saanen in Switzerland, which are normally not accessible to most large-cabin aircraft.

The 8X’s redesigned cockpit will feature a new iteration of the EASy flightdeck, based on Honeywell Primus Epic avionics, with Honeywell flight management systems. An-other facet of the cockpit is the head-up dis-play technology, provided by Elbit Systems, combining enhanced and synthetic vision.

The 8X has the same cabin cross-section as the 7X, but more than 1.1m has been added to the length. This extra space has allowed Das-sault to offer three floor plans in 30 different

interior configurations, and up to 33 windows – four more than the 7X.

Two aircraft are being built for the certifica-tion campaign. The first aircraft is already as-sembled and undergoing vibration testing at Dassault’s Mérignac plant in Bordeaux. First flight is planned for early 2015, leading to cer-tification in the first quarter of 2016 and ser-vice entry later that year.

Dassault has already broken ground on a completions facility at its Little Rock, Arkan-sas site to accommodate the 8X and the all-new 5X.

Unveiled last year, the large-cabin, long-range 5X will be Dassault’s largest business aircraft – eclipsing even the 8X – with a fuse-lage diameter of 2.7m and a cabin height of 1.98m.

The 5X also boasts a new wing – similar in size to the 7X’s – and a new digital flight con-trol system, both developed in-house. The DFCS integrates all moving control surfaces for the first time. This includes a flaperon that enables steep approaches at slow speeds.

The 5X will feature the same new-genera-tion EASy cockpit and head-up display as the 8X.

Unlike the 8X, the M0.8 aircraft will be powered by Snecma’s Silvercrest engine, marking the first time a Falcon has been launched with an all-new powerplant, or one produced by the French manufacturer. The 5X boasts a maximum take-off weight of 31,500kg and a range with eight passengers of 5,200nm.

The first 5X development aircraft has been assembled and is on target to make its first flight in the middle of next year, leading to certification and service entry in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Three development air-craft will be built and the first will be retained for future development work.

The 5X could ultimately be grown to pro-vide Dassault with a competitor for the Bombardier Global 7000 and Gulfstream G650/ER, but the airframer says it has no plans to launch another programme until the next decade at the earliest.

GULFSTREAMThe Savannah, Georgia, headquartered air-framer extended its dominance of the ultra-long-range sector in May with launch of the longest-range business jet to date.

The 16-passenger G650ER, which received its US certification in early October, can fly 7,500nm and will sit at the top of the airfram-er’s six-strong family of twin-engined busi-ness jets, which starts with the 3,000nm midsize G150.

Gulfstream says its decision to launch the ER variant was due to customer demand for more range and capability. “While the base-line G650 covers a huge numbers of city pairs

Other 4.8%

Dassault14.3%

Gulfstream35.8%

Airbus2.8%

Boeing5.6%

Bombardier31.0%

Embraer5.7%


LARGE-CABIN/LONG RANGE/VIP AIRLINER IN-SERVICE FLEET MARKETPLACE

The top end of the businessjet market has been leftlargely unscathed by the financial downturn

The 8X is an enhanced version of Dassault’s former flagship Falcon, the 7X

Das

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with its 7,000nm range, there are always people who need to fly further,” it says.

To accommodate this extra range, the G650ER incorporates about 1,810kg of extra fuel compared with the G650. This has been added without the need to strengthen the airframe structure and landing-gear or in-crease engine thrust, the airframer says.

Take-off length is extended slightly by just over 134m to 1,920m, in order to preserve the 10,000h time between overhaul rating of the Rolls-Royce BR725 A1-12 engines, which also power the G650. Maximum ramp weight and fuel weight are also increased by 1,810kg to 47,000kg and 21,900kg, respectively.

Despite the extra weight, the G650ER will share the same ceiling and operating speeds of the G650, including its M0.85 normal cruise and M0.925 maximum cruise speeds.

With the exception of the minor adjust-ments the G650ER is identical to its stable-mate, which became Gulfstream’s most suc-cessful product introduction ever following its launch in 2010, and now boasts a three-year waiting list. Some G650 position holders have already switched to the more expensive ER version, which will begin rolling off the

production line in the second half of 2015. Gulfstream dismisses any suggestion that the new variant will cannibalise sales of the shorter-range model.

“There is plenty of demand for both vari-ants and we will continue to produce them side-by-side,” the airframer says. For existing G650 owners, a $2 million ER retrofit will be available throughout Gulfstream’s service centre network from early next year.

Gulfstream has broken its four-year silence on the existence of a new aircraft develop-ment programme dubbed “P42”, and is rumoured to be unveiling the mysterious aircraft just before the NBAA convention later this month.

The P42 is widely expected to be launched as a replacement for the G450 – certificated a decade ago – and as a retort to the wide-cabin, clean-sheet 5X from the Dassault Falcon sta-ble. Gulfstream is also rumoured to be work-ing on replacements for the G550 and the out-of-production G350.

BOEINGThe airline manufacturer officially launched its line of Boeing Business Jets, based on its 737 Max, in April, following an order from an undisclosed existing BBJ owner.

The sale comes 18 years after Boeing and General Electric teamed up to develop the BBJ version of the 737. Unlike the initial BBJ, which was based on the 737-700, the first Max-based BBJ variant to be ordered is de-

rived from the larger 737 Max 8, and is de-signed to succeed the current 737-800-based BBJ2. The BBJ Max 8 incorporates the aerody-namic and systems improvements of the standard Max, as well as the fuel efficient CFM International Leap-1B engines, provid-ing a range of 6,330nm – around 800nm more than standard BBJ’s.

Boeing is still studying plans for BBJ Max 7, based on the 737 Max 7, but the business case is not yet clear. The BBJ Max family will, however, include the larger BBJ Max 9, based on the 737 Max 9. The aircraft will have a range of 6,260nm.

The initial variant of the Max is due to enter flight tests in 2016, although the first BBJ version will not be delivered to a completion centre until 2018. The next available slot for a BBJ Max 8 is 2019.

Meanwhile, the first BBJ 747-8 is scheduled to roll out of the completion centre later this year. So too is the first 787 modified into a BBJ. Boeing says it has three BBJ 787s in com-pletion and a fourth will be delivered later this decade. ■

Gulfstream has broken itssilence on the existence of a new aircraft developmentprogramme dubbed “P42”

The 16-passenger G650ER boasts a range of 7,500nm

Gul

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LARGE/LONG-RANGE/VIP AIRLINER MARKETPLACE*

BombardierChallenger 605 $31Global 5000 $50.2Global 6000 $62Global 7000 $72.5Global 8000 $68.7DassaultFalcon 900 LX $42Falcon 7X $52.8Falcon 8X $57Falcon 5X $45EmbraerLegacy 600 $26Legacy 650 $31.6Lineage 1000 $53GulfstreamG450 $42.2G550 $60G650 $64.5G650ER $66.5AirbusACJ318 $72ACJ319 $87ACJ320 $95ACJ321 $110BoeingBBJ $80BBJ2 $93BBJ3 $104BBJ MAX8 $100BBJ MAX9 $110Note: *Price in millions SOURCE: Manufacturer

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This niche sector has been largely shielded from the downturn due to turboprops’ ver-

satility and favourable operating costs in the face of high fuel prices.

Perhaps not surprisingly, models such as the Quest Kodiak, Cessna Caravan and Beechcraft King Air have fared better over the turbulent six years than traditional VIP/exec-utive models such as the Piaggio Aero Avanti due to their appeal across a broader utility market.

That said, the sector has enjoyed strong government demand, says Teal Group aero-space analyst Richard Aboulafia, “because customers continue to prefer cabin size over speed, as the VLJ segment shows”.

The past few months has seen the introduc-tion of the TBM 900 – Daher-Socata’s latest it-eration of the venerable TBM 700 – and over the proceeding two years a clutch of new and upgraded designs are set to enter this increas-ingly crowded market.

EPIC AIRCRAFTEpic Aircraft is planning to fly its E1000 sin-gle-engined turboprop before the end of the year, and plans to launch a major sales and marketing push for the aircraft at NBAA. The $2.75 million E1000 is a certificated, factory-built version of the $1.95 million Epic LT kit plane, the last of which is now being assem-bled at Epic’s Bend, Oregon facility, and will be handed over before the end of year.

While Epic is faced with some tough com-petition in this sector from established brands such as the Pilatus PC-12NG, TBM 900, Cessna Caravan and Piper Meridian, it is con-fident there is still space in this niche sector for a high-speed, low-cost aircraft like the E1000.

The growing orderbook for the Garmin G950-equipped aircraft proves this point.

Turboprop turnaround

“Epic has sold 30 E1000s to date and its Russian distributor, Engineering LLC, has an order for 25 aircraft,” says Mike Schrader, Ep-ic’s director of sales.

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-67A-powered E1000 has a projected maximum cruise speed of 325kt, a range of 1,600nm and a ceiling of 34,000ft. Certification and service entry are scheduled for late next year.

EVEKTORAfter a nearly a decade spent scratching around for funding to bring its first twin-en-gined turboprop to market, Evektor has finally struck gold. In July, the Czech company se-cured a $200 million investment from Malay-sian company Aspirasi Pertiwi, around $50 million of which will help to bring the EV-55 Outback to market by the end of 2016.

The 14-seater was launched in 2005 and bankrolled by Evektor from profits generated by its light sport aircraft range and other engi-neering projects. The Czech government has also supported the programme, and with all the funding raised so far has enabled the air-framer to build an EV-55 prototype (MSN001), which made its maiden sortie three years ago.

Powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-21 engines, the EV-55 is Evektor’s first foray into the business and utility aircraft market. The manufacturer says its objective with the EV-55 is to replace the huge fleets of “obsolete” six- to nine-seat piston twins – including Cessna 402/404s – and be a “successful competitor” to the mar-ket-leading Beechcraft King Air and the sin-gle-engined Pilatus PC-12NG and Cessna Caravan.

KESTREL AIRCRAFTAlan Klapmeier, chief executive of the US start-up, is planning to bring on board a foreign investor he hopes will put the Kestrel high-performance, single-engined turboprop on track for service entry in 32-36 months.

Kestrel – derived from the Farnborough Aircraft F1C3 prototype – would take advan-tage of new advances in carbonfibre airframe technology, which Klapmeier pioneered with the Cirrus SR20 and SR22 piston singles while at the helm of the Duluth-based air-framer.

The Honeywell TPE331-14GR- powered Kestrel has a projected range of 1,300nm and a maximum cruise speed of 320kt. The air-craft will also feature the Garmin G3000 avi-onics suite.

NEXTANT AEROSPACEHaving secured market approval for its first remanufactured aircraft – the 400XTi light business jet – Nextant has turned its attention to a second aircraft from the Hawker Beech-craft stable. Its revamped King Air G90XT is

poised to make its first flight before the end of October and Nextant is planning to certificate and deliver the modernised twin-engined tur-boprop later this year and in early 2015 re-spectively.The G90XT is the first of several King Air up-grade programmes planned by Nextant and its programme partner GE Aviation.

This first model replaces the C90’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engines with GE H80s – a modernised version of the Walter M601. Other upgrades include the addition of a Garmin G1000 flightdeck, a new interior and a refresh of all life-limited components.

PIAGGIO AEROThe Italian airframer launched the third-gener-ation P180 Avanti in May, in an effort to breathe life back into the beleaguered twin-pusher programme.

The Evo – short for Evolution – incorporates a host of improvements and upgrades over its Avanti II predecessor, which entered service nine years ago. These include a revamped and quieter interior, enhanced safety features and increased performance thanks to an auxiliary fuel tank, winglets, redesigned engine nacelles, a reshaped front wing and five-blade compos-ite scimitar propellers, which combined with aerodynamic changes reduce external noise by 68%.

Evo flight testing began in February, and the test aircraft has so far clocked up more than 100h, says the Mubadala-owned compa-ny. Certification and service entry are on track for year-end. ■

Cessna6.0%

Piaggio1.3%

Other13.9%

Pilatus10.6%

Beechcraft46.5%

Piper15.5%

Daher-Socata6.3%


TURBOPROP IN-SERVICE FLEET MARKETPLACE

TURBOPROP MARKETPLACE*

CessnaCaravan $2.15Grand Caravan $2.52Daher-SocataTBM 900 $3.7EpicE1000 $2.75PiperMeridian $2.2 $2.2PilatusPC-12 $3.9Beechcraft King Air C90GTx $3,89King Air 250 $6.1King Air 350i $7.42King Air 350iER $8.46Piaggio Avanti Evo $7.4Nextant $66.5undisclosedEvektor 2EV-55 $2.2Note: *Price in millions SOURCE: Manufacturer



NORTH AMERICAIn-service Average age On order

Very light/entry level/light jets 4,799 17 247

Superlight/midsize/super-midsize 4,415 16 275

Large cabin/long-range/VIP airliners 2,463 15 145

Single- and twin-engined turboprops 6,065 22 28

LATIN AMERICAIn-service Average age On order

Very light/entry level/light jets 1,114 19 17

Superlight/midsize/super-midsize 851 18 2

Large cabin/long-range/VIP airliners 373 13 3

Single- and twin-engined turboprops 1,881 26 1

EUROPEIn-service Average age On order

Very light/entry level/light jets 799 13 108


Large cabin/long-range/VIP airliners 1,074 11 138

Single- and twin-engined turboprops 822 18 8

NOTE: Information for in-service fleet with aircraft in business/corporate/executive and VIP/head of state/government-operated role. SOURCE: Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database

HOW THE BUSINESS AIRCRAFT FLEET STACKS UP IN EACH REGION OF THE WORLD

Share of the world’s business aircraft fleet

63%

Share of the world’s turboprop fleet. Second-largest installed base

20%

NORTH AMERICA

LATIN AMERICA


BUSINESS AVIATIONGLOBAL DISTRIBUTION

AFRICAIn-service Average age On order





MIDDLE EASTIn-service Average age On order





ASIA-PACIFICIn-service Average age On order





Share of fleet made up of high-end business jets

71%

Share of the world’s business jet fleet. Second-largest installed base

14%

Average age of high-end business jets

9YRS

Average age of business jets and turboprops

21YRSAFRICA

MIDDLE EAST

EUROPE

ASIA-PACIFIC



MURDO MORRISON PARIS

Snecma launched its Silvercrest turbofan without a customer. Seven years on, it is set to power two new jets and the engine-maker is convinced it can secure more

ENGINE OF GROWTH

Seven test engines have run for more than 1,200h on Snecma’s outdoor test stands at its main facility in Villaroche near Paris

Snec

ma

Snecma started powering up for its first foray into business aviation just as the sector itself was about to power down. Seven years on from the begin-

ning of the test campaign on the Silvercrest core engine demonstrator in December 2007, the French propulsion specialist is convinced it made the right strategic move in launching full development of the 9,500-1,200lb-thrust (42.3-5.33kN) programme three years later without a confirmed customer.

Since then, two airframers have chosen the high-bypass turbofan for new twinjets: Dassault for its wide-cabin Falcon 5X business jet, un-veiled at the NBAA show last year after a long, undercover development as the SMS project; and Cessna for its super-midsize, top-of-the-range Citation Longitude, one of a pair of relat-ed, all-new models the Wichita manufacturer is readying for certification. Both the 5X and the Longitude are due to enter service in 2017.

Although the period since the birth of the Silvercrest has been tough for business avia-tion – with orders and deliveries still way below 2007-2008 peaks – the larger-cabin, longer-range segment which Snecma chose to play in has suffered less, with the emerging-billionaire markets of Asia and the former So-viet Union helping sustain demand. In fact, François Planaud, director general of Snecma’s commercial engines division, believes there is potential for further applications for Silver-crest. “We are in the right part of the market,” he said. “There are opportunities for this en-gine to come. Silvercrest is the only modern engine in this thrust class for some years.”

HIGHER THRUSTA more powerful variant – for new longer-range types coming on the market – is an op-tion. “It is possible to do a family around it, and one of the things we want to find out from testing is how far we can go, whether we can provide additional thrust,” says Planaud.

Snecma says its market research points to “dynamic growth” in the “high-end” business jet segment, with demand for 8,000 new air-craft over 20 years. While not immune to the downturn, brands such as Bombardier’s Global range, Dassault’s Falcons and Gulfstream have continued to sell strongly. And although a cash crisis forced Cessna to cancel its large-cabin Citation Columbus 18 months after launch in 2008, the US manufacturer expanded its top-end offering with the Longitude and Latitude.

The Safran subsidiary is now entering the final phases of validation on the Silvercrest 1D before engine certification and handing over the first 11,450lb-thrust examples to Dassault in time for the French airframer to begin its flight test campaign with three 5Xs in mid-2015. The Longitude – which will use the

14-20 October 2014 | Flight International | 41

BUSINESS AVIATIONPROPULSION

Snecma is convinced it can win further applications for the engine

Cessna’s Citation Longitude will use the 11,000lb-thrust 1C version of the engine

“Silvercrest is the only modern engine in this thrust class for some years”FRANÇOIS PLANAUD Director general, Snecma commercial engines

11,000lb-thrust 1C version of the Silvercrest – is due to fly in mid-2016, with entry into ser-vice in the latter part of the following year.

The first Silvercrest began ground testing in October 2012 and flew for the first time on a modified Gulfstream GII flying testbed in April this year. It swill be replaced on the GII by a second Silvercrest later this year. Seven test engines have run for more than 1,200h on Snecma’s outdoor test stands at its main facil-ity in Villaroche, near Paris, and on the open-air test cell in Istres, southern France. Endur-ance tests have been carried out at Safran unit Techspace Aero in Belgium.

FIRST TIMEFor Dassault, it will be the first time a Falcon has flown with an all-new engine, and it is per-haps fitting for Snecma that a fellow French aerospace champion is the Silvercrest’s launch customer. Variants of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW307 power most Dassault business jets, with the Falcon 900LX using three Honey-well TFE731s. Cessna too has been a P&WC stalwart, with the PW306 powering its Citation Sovereign. Its other top-of-the-range model, the Citation X+ has the Rolls-Royce AE3007.

Production of the test examples of the Silvercrest has begun in a corner of Snecma’s vast Villaroche final assembly hall, a facility dominated by CFM56s in various stages of completeness. As part of its role in the CFM International joint venture, Snecma builds the fan and low-pressure sections and assembles half of all CFM56s – which power current-gen-eration Boeing 737s and around half of Airbus A320 family aircraft. Some 750 complete en-gines will roll out of Villaroche this year.

Snecma says the Silvercrest benefits from the manufacturer’s “four decades of experi-ence in design and production” of the best-selling commercial engine ever, with more than 25,000 CFM56s delivered. Output of the Silvercrest will be on a different scale, initial-ly two engines a month. How this ramps up depends on Dassault’s and Cessna’s success with their programmes, but production will be in the tens rather than hundreds a year.

Interestingly, Snecma’s 50% partner in CFM, General Electric, is making its own jour-ney into the business aviation market with the

Passport engine, which will power the Bombardier Global 7000 and 8000 jets under development. However, because that engine is in the much bigger 18,000-20,000lb-thrust category, Planaud says there is no likelihood of conflict with its transatlantic counterpart even if Snecma decides to pursue a higher-powered iteration of the Silvercrest.

Further competion for both Snecma and GE could come from Pratt & Whitney, which is continuing a test programme for its PW800, despite the lack of an announced customer. Al-though the United Technologies subsidiary will not comment on the programme – origi-nally earmarked for the cancelled large cabin Cessna Citation Columbus – production work is underway in the supply chain and the en-gine is rumoured to be the choice for the new jet Gulfstream is likely to launch at NBAA.

The 10-20,000lb-thrust PW800 is derived from the core of the PurePower geared turbofan engine developed for narrowbody airliners in-cluding the Airbus A320neo family, Bombar-dier CSeries, Embraer E-Jet E2, Irkut C919 and Mitsubishi Regional Jet. However, it does not include a fan drive gear system and will be as-sembled, along with the manufacturer’s other business aviation and general aviation engines, by Pratt & Whitney Canada in Montreal.

Service is another area where the business aviation market will prove very different to Snecma’s experience with the CFM56, which tends to be operated in large volumes and high cycles.

Business jet owners, by contrast, generally operate single aircraft or small fleets and tend to deal in the first instance with the airframer rather than engine manufacturer. “We have had to take a very different approach to cus-tomer support,” admits Planaud.

To this end, Snecma is setting up a dedicat-ed network of spare part centres, each with a customer response team. The first has been established in Dallas, a second will be opened in Europe – most likely Paris – while an Asian location will selected by the end of the year. “We have done a lot of work with people who have experience in business aviation,” says Planaud. “It’s an exciting challenge and a jour-ney that is very important for us to get right”. ■

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The turbofan offers 9,500-1,200lb-thrust



STEPHEN TRIMBLE WICHITA Cessna and Beechcraft rode the mid-2000s light jet boom to record production rates, de-spite a dearth of new products coming to mar-ket. For Beechcraft, it was also a time of strate-gic confusion, as Raytheon Aircraft fulfilled a decade-long desire to sell off the company, which was rebranded Hawker Beechcraft.

The buyers – a combination of private eq-uity gurus Goldman Sachs and Onex – also seemed to have no long-term interest in the company, with little re-investment in tech-nology and new product lines.

The global financial crisis that devastated the light jet sector after 2008 hit Cessna and Beechcraft particularly hard. Both companies faced not only a collapse in demand but also a new and well-funded competitor in Embraer, which introduced the Phenom 100 in 2008 and the Phenom 300 in 2009. That combina-tion of factors drove Hawker Beechcraft into bankruptcy protection in May 2012.

For the first time in at least a decade, the company founded by Walter and Olive Ann Beech has an owner that wants to take a long-term view of the business. Embraer’s entrance

Beechcraft and Cessna have occupied opposite corners of Wichita, Kansas for some 82 years, stationed only 21km apart on the eastern and west-

ern fringes of Kellogg Avenue. Such proxim-ity bred a special kind of internecine corpo-rate conflict, with even families divided by opposing allegiances to two of the city’s larg-est employers.

So it was a rich form of irony when Cessna and Beechcraft fell under the common corpo-rate umbrella of Textron Aviation, a division formed following Cessna parent Textron’s ac-quisition of Beechcraft out of bankruptcy.

After the $1.4 billion deal was finalised in March, the focus shifted to the challenge of combining these two iconic corporate cul-tures in the same organisation chart.

Even the architecture of the two companies seems incompatible. Pre-acquisition, what is now known as the “west campus” was Beech-craft’s headquarters, a curving, five-storey green structure, which is internally nick-

BETTER TOGETHER

Combining two one-time fierce rivals was never going to be easy, but Textron Aviation says progress has been swift as it plans a bright future for its wide range of platforms

named the “spaceship”. The “east campus” is the site of the Cessna factory, a low-slung complex of straightforward rectangular, whitewashed structures housing assembly bays, test facilities and office buildings.

The combined company is now preparing to make its first appearance at the NBAA con-vention in Orlando, which will feature the debut of the Cessna Citation Latitude, a new jet in the midsize segment. That launch could push the debut of the Textron Aviation brand out of the headlines at NBAA, but chief exec-utive Scott Ernest is not concerned. Indeed, he wants to move past the Cessna-Beechcraft integration story.

SHARED HISTORY“We don’t even talk anymore so much about integration, but just ‘west’ and ‘east’ campus,” says Ernest, in a conference room on the east side of town. “I personally feel we’re kind of through the integration process.”

If the integration task was that simple, it may have had something to do with the corporate history that brought the companies together.


BUSINESS AVIATIONTEXTRON AVIATION

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into the market with fresh technology spelt the end for the neglected Hawker jet series. Although the Hawker brand is out of produc-tion, Beechcraft’s turboprops and piston-driv-en platforms remain highly competitive in their sectors, yet still need new investment and – perhaps – a single-engined turboprop to fill a strategic gap in the portfolio.

Beechcraft has not unveiled a new product or major upgrade since before entering bank-

ruptcy more than two years ago. The brand now has an owner with the financial resourc-es and market awareness to end that drought.

“Textron has the ability to reinvest in prod-uct,” Ernest says. “We can invest in the prod-uct and invest in Beech. It wasn’t Beech’s fault. They were just strapped in the situation they were in. The feedback from the people at Beech has been extremely positive, knowing that they’re going to get someone who can in-vest in them.”

LENGTHY LINE-UPClosing down Hawker jet production was a painful move in 2013, but the decision had the unintended benefit of creating a seamless product portfolio under Textron Aviation.

No other company in the industry can boast a product line-up that stretches from the light-sport category of piston-powered aircraft all the way up to the super-midsize jet seg-ment with no overlap and perhaps only one obvious gap. The combination of the brands creates new avenues for luring new customers and upgrading existing ones.

Textron Aviation is still not ready to com-ment on the only potential gap in the portfo-lio. TBM and Pilatus have shared the market for single-engined turboprops. That has en-couraged a wide range of start-ups with vary-ing degrees of success. It also attracted inter-est from Beechcraft even during its bankruptcy period. Then-Hawker Beechcraft chairman Bill Boisture unveiled a concept for a single-engined turboprop at the 2012 NBAA convention, showing a drawing of an aircraft resembling a Premier 1 with a nose-mounted propeller.

Another feature of Textron Aviation is the sheer size and scale of the operation. In addi-tion to having 21 different platforms available for sale, the three brands now share a custom-er base of more than 17,000 jet- and turbo-prop-powered aircraft, along with more than 200,000 piston-driven vehicles.

The combination also brings together under one corporate roof 21 company-owned service centres, 44 mobile service units and eight distribution centres. These facilities are now specialised by product, but the opportu-nity exists under the integration process to convert them into a universal, globe-spanning support network.

Such possibilities clearly offered relief to Hawker and Beech operators, who en-dured years of uncertainty as the manufac-turer struggled and lapsed into bankruptcy. Now they have the promise of access to a broader service network than ever previ-ously imagined.

“The feedback [from Beech customers] has been very positive,” Ernest says. “I think peo-ple can feel that it’s good that we’ve been able to put a strong face together with respect to all the service activities that we do. They’ve made big investments, and they want to make sure that somebody can take care of that product.”

The next step in the integration process, however, is purely internal. Textron Aviation has initiated negotiations with the Interna-tional Association of Machinists and Aero-space Workers (IAM) to combine the Cessna and Beechcraft workforces under a single la-bour pact.

LABOUR PAINSLabour relations at both companies had been strained amid the financial hardships of the post-2008 market slump. Beechcraft’s union went on strike that year. Cessna’s union voted to strike two years later, but accepted a last-minute deal that averted a work stoppage. Keeping both workforces happy could prove tricky, but Ernest is optimistic. He sees both sides reaching a deal later this month on a combined labour agreement.

The most critical challenge of the integra-tion process may not become visible for sev-eral years. With more than 21 platforms rang-ing across a wide swath of market segments, Textron Aviation must carefully balance de-velopment priorities to stay competitive. The super-midsize Cessna Citation Longitude is the next product in the company’s develop-ment pipeline, with a notional entry into ser-vice in 2017. The next development opportu-nity could be the single-engined turboprop to bridge the gap between the King Air and the piston fleet. Alternatively, Textron Aviation may want to bolster its light jet line-up with a clean-sheet design, if that segment of the mar-ket finally recovers.

Despite such possibly competing priori-ties, Ernest says the company’s track record should speak for itself, as the Latitude re-mains on track for certification next year and the Textron AirLand Scorpion is now in flight-testing after programme launch only three years ago. ■The Cessna Citation Latitude is due to make its debut appearance at this year’s NBAA

The Beechcraft King Air 250 is now part of Textron Aviation’s portfolio


STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Speech recognition systems are finally set to find a place in commercial aviation, as the technology’s applications for pilots increase and safety concerns are met

VOICE OF THE FUTURE

Speech recognition technology is per-vasive everywhere, it seems, except the commercial cockpit. Voice com-mands now field customer service

queries, dictate text messages and assist driv-ers. Cockpit avionics, however, are command-ed exclusively by fingers and feet, interfacing with the computers and controls by tapping pedals, turning knobs, pushing buttons, touch-ing screens and manipulating sticks or yokes.

That is finally about to change, according to the staff at the Rockwell Collins advanced technology centre.

Building upon decades of research and ex-perience, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based avi-onics specialist is poised to unveil at the NBAA convention a plan to integrate speech recognition into the commercial cockpit.

For commercial aircraft, adding an audible interface alternative to human hands and feet has had many false starts. Collins itself first considered introducing voice commands in Pro Line 21, the flightdeck system deployed in the late 1990s. As Pro Line Fusion was being developed a decade later, Collins’s mar-

keters again touted voice recognition as a pos-sible feature. The technology, alas, was still not quite ready.

Meanwhile, speech commands have flour-ished in the most advanced combat fighters. The Eurofighter Typhoon’s direct voice input system allows the pilot to, for example, audibly create a waypoint at a place of inter-est, one of more than 90 possible voice commands. Lockheed Martin has designed the F-35 cockpit with a system that allows a pilot to use voice commands for manually in-tensive “housekeeping chores”, such as changing a radio frequency.

SCEPTICISMArmed with a decade of experience in combat aircraft, Collins appears poised to take the technology into the commercial market for the first time with the next generation of inte-grated avionics systems.

Perhaps aware of scepticism earned from a long history of false promises, Collins points to two fundamental breakthroughs that sug-gest this time may be different.

The first development is a new leap in the accuracy of speech recognition software. The

second breakthrough is a voice command in-terface model that might satisfy the concerns of regulatory agencies.

“The reason voice isn’t there today is because the accuracy of voice over a wide range of pilots is not sufficient that it justifies that additional functionality,” says John Borghese, vice-presi-dent of Collins’s advanced technology centre.

Several years ago, the company set a goal for voice recognition accuracy. The software must correctly interpret well over 90% of words spo-ken in English, regardless of a pilot’s accent or diction, Borghese says. The software must work as well whether the command is spoken by a European, Asian, African or American, as well as whether it is in a wide range of regional accents within those groups.

Collins developed speech recognition soft-ware and spent several years in testing, can-vassing the company’s wide network of pilot advisory groups. The pilots were invited to test the system by speaking commands in cockpit simulators, with any errors of inter-pretation analysed and corrected in the soft-ware algorithm. The process was repeated until the software proved it was accurate be-yond the manufacturer’s stated threshold.


flight management system had been following a flight plan. Shapiro’s voice command and confirmation suspends the flight plan and switches the autopilot to a heading mode, then turns the aircraft left to the new heading.

Such an action is called a “macro command”, because it directs more than a single task. Shapiro next attempts to set a new altitude, but intentionally mumbles the command. The speech recognition system audibly requests him to “say again”. Shapiro then says, clearly, “set altitude to 10,000”. Again, nothing happens.

AUTOMATIONShapiro explains it’s because the automation system recognises that is not a valid command. He needs to use a macro command that will perform three discrete tasks – switching from heading mode to a vertical speed mode, an as-cent or a descent rate and a new altitude level.

“I can say: ‘climb and maintain flight level 310,’” he says. “It’s a macro command. It changed my mode to vertical speed, set my bug to 31,000ft and commanded a 1,500ft/min [7.62m/s] climb.”

So far, Shapiro has demonstrated a series of voice commands that appear to effectively control the simulated aircraft, but do not seem obviously superior to the conventional interface – the flight director mounted on top of the glare shield.

Shapiro concedes that some voice com-mands do not offer time or simplicity advantages over a manual system.

“Some things will, some things won’t,” he says. “If you’re flying along and ATC gives you a fix that you don’t know how to spell, how do you enter that into your [centre display unit]? Fifteen seconds later, you sheepishly call ATC, saying: ‘Hey, can you spell this fix for us?’ It happens quite a bit.

BUSINESS AVIATIONAVIONICS

Voice recognition systems can be used to bypass long navigation menus, speeding up data access

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 cockpit is designed to allow voice command

technology for simple tasks that are manually intensive like changing radio frequencies

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“I can control the flightdeck content through speech – it gives serious time savings ”GEOFF SHAPIRO Senior systems engineer, Rockwell Collins

“We don’t see a difference in accuracy across accents, and that’s because we do a lot of homework,” says senior systems engineer Geoff Shapiro.

Refining the recognition software was only part of the challenge. To field the technology, the avionics company also needs to satisfy regulators that errors in interpretation or exe-cution could never jeopardise safety.

On a recent visit to the advanced technolo-gy centre in Cedar Rapids, Shapiro demonstrated how the system works in a cockpit simulator. “This button here we’re going to call our push control voice button,” he says, wearing a headset with his thumb over a red button on the control stick.

As long as Shapiro holds his thumb on the button, the system is “listening” to him speak. If he lifts his thumb off the button, the speech recognition system stops listening.

“I’m going to give it a command of a head-ing,” Shapiro says, toggling the red activation button. “Turn left, heading 060,” he says.

The system audibly repeats the command and asks him to approve the heading change. Shapiro confirms by clicking the button on his stick again. In the simulated environment, the

With speech recognition, you don’t have that problem because everything is phonetic.”

Another possible advantage of a speech recognition system is helping pilots navigate the lengthy menus of features. Aircraft cockpit systems have become increasingly au-tomated and sophisticated. Browsing through checklists and functions can take dozens of seconds. So Collins and other avionics com-panies have been trying to simplify the process of accessing the right information, and speech recognition is one of the tools.

“Let’s just say I want to bring up a…,” says Shapiro, then he remembers to toggle the voice command button. “Bring up the en-gines,” he commands, then approves the con-firmation request. A display showing the status of each engine flashes on the screen.

“I can control all the flightdeck content through speech as well. We have definitely seen serious time changes because of that,” Shapiro says. “I can get to the data quicker and bypassing several systems. That’s why this by-passing the menu makes sense here. Not every-thing will be better with voice but we believe enough will be better for this to be a benefit.”

The introduction of voice recognition technologies adds capability, but also raises a question: Is English always the best language to use in the cockpit? English is the universal language of air traffic control, but it is also a workload issue for pilots with a different primary language.

“When you fly, you speak English. It’s the standard,” Shapiro says. “Should they main-tain English speaking? Certainly, there are arguments for both. If you’re Chinese, and you interface with your avionics using your natural language that’s one less barrier for you. It’s a valid paradigm to look at. I don’t think we’ve made up our mind what the solu-tion is but the technology enables both.” ■

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Daher-Socata’s TBM 900 follows where its 850 predecessor left off, delivering speed, superb handling and economy advantages over comparable small jets

FAST MOVER


BUSINESS AVIATIONCOVER STORY

Daher-Socata secured US certifica-tion for the third and latest version of its single-engine turboprop, the TBM 900 in March this year. The

aircraft builds on the very successful previ-ous TBM 700 (324 delivered) and TBM 850 (338 delivered) models, with an accumulat-ed fleet total of 1.2 million flight hours.

However, with a certification programme lasting three years and involving over 160,000 man hours of research and development effort plus over 200h of flight testing, together with a significant number of major airframe, systems and avionic improvements, the TBM 900 now represents a new aircraft in its own right, rath-er than being designated simply as an “up-grade” model of the TBM 850. The TBM 900 retains the same internal cabin dimensions as the TBM 850, with up to six seats (for pilot and five passengers).

To date, 30 TBM 900s have already been delivered and Daher-Socata is presently planning on a production rate of 50 aircraft per year at its production facility, in Tarbes, southwestern France. Daher bought the busi-ness from EADS in February 2009 to form Daher-Socata.

I evaluated the TBM 850 in mid-2006 for

PETER COLLINS TARBES

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Flight International and it had greatly im-pressed me then with its speed, economy, flexibility of operation and superb handling qualities. I coined the term “very fast turbo-prop (VFT)” in the 2006 article in response to the almost unprecedented wave of very light jet (VLJ) models being proposed at that time. Tellingly, since then, most VLJ projects have now either stalled or been cancelled, includ-ing Cessna’s Mustang, which ceased volume production earlier this year.

The TBM 900’s quoted price is $3.7 mil-lion. Most customers remain owner-opera-tors, with North America, Latin America and Europe as the dominant markets, but TBM is expanding sales and dedicated sales support into Africa, the Middle East, China, and Australia.

A standardised agreement between the European Aviation Safety Agency and Fed-eral Aviation Administration over the use of single turboprop aircraft in commercial operations, is presently at Notice of Pro-posed Amendment (NPA) stage and TBM is contributing to those detailed discussions.

UPDATESThe major improvements to the TBM 900 are extensive. Carbonfibre composite (for which Daher-Socata has extensive

(Above) The cockpit has been completely redesigned with new control yokes and a true, single power lever configuration

(Main) Registration N900XH was used for the mid-September flight from Tarbes

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❯❯ in-house expertise) now accounts for nearly 25% of the aircraft’s structure. Possi-bly the most obvious external difference is the new, highly swept, carbonfibre, five-blad-ed Hartzell propeller, which still features full reverse capability. The wings now have 0.6m (2ft) carbonfibre composite winglet exten-sions (to TBM’s own design).

The engine remains the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66D, flat rated at 850shp (634kW) but the entire engine inlet air system, including the inertial separator, has been re-designed from the forward inlet to the fire-wall, resulting in an effective power gain of 80shp without increasing fuel consumption.

A new automatic torque limiter allows full power of 850shp to be used as standard from the start of the take-off roll, reducing take-off distances by more than 20% compared with the TBM 850, which could only use 700shp for its take-off roll.

The cockpit has been completely rede-signed and remodelled ergonomically, in-cluding new control yokes and a true, single, power lever configuration controlling all en-gine power, propeller and fuel conditions from just one lever. Avionics now feature the Garmin G1000 system, with three screens. The outer pilot flying displays (PFDs) both have a 10.4” screens, while the central multi-function display (MFD) features a 15” screen.

The G1000 supports a wealth of ad-vanced avionics options, including an ad-vanced autopilot with automatic yaw trim, controller pilot data link control (CPDLC), synthetic vision technology (SVT), GPS/WAAS for the satellite-based approach sys-tem (SBAS) for approaches at austere air-fields and satellite-based weather reports. A new 28V/300A starter-generator system now supports the avionics.

The cabin has also been extensively rede-

signed with new seats, a new automatic pres-surisation system (including a maximum dif-ferential control for medevac conditions) and the cargo compartment can be extended by the quickly removable rear two seats.

The TBM 900’s maximum ceiling remains 31,000ft, while the maximum cruising speed is now 330ktas (knots true airspeed – 611km/h) at 28,000ft, or 326kt at 31,000ft. This equates to a range of 1,440nm (2,670km) with 45min of reserves. At the long-range cruising speed of 252ktas at 31,000ft, the maximum range is 1,730nm, also with 45min of reserves.

EVALUATIONMy short test flight took place from Tarbes in mid-September. The aircraft was a standard production TBM 900, registration N900XH. My safety pilot was Stéphane Jacques, chief test pilot for Daher-Socata, a former French air force fighter pilot and former chief test pilot tutor at the French Flight Test School (EPNER). Weather CAVOK (ceiling and visi-bility okay), very light wind, +15C, QNH (bar-ometric pressure adjusted to sea level) 1,023hp. Mark Diaz, the TBM 900 demonstra-tor pilot, acted as photographer in the cabin.

Zero fuel weight (ZFW) including three crew was 2,430kg; fuel weight was 725kg (1,600lb, or 120 USgal per side) giving a ramp weight of 3,160kg (max ramp weight is 3,370kg) and a CG of 25% (mid range).

I would fly the complete evaluation from the left hand seat with Stéphane handling the

navigation and the radio, including commu-nication with our own dedicated flight test controller (since Airbus uses the same test area over Tarbes).

External checks were simple to conduct and included a check of the 50ft3 oxygen bot-tle, plus engine oil level and fuel filter, both helped by clever small mirrors mounted on the inside of the inspection panels.

Entry to the pilot seat is via the dedicated forward pilot door and small drop-down lad-der. This is such an enhancing feature that it is now fitted as standard.

The cockpit immediately gave the impres-sion of being wonderfully uncluttered and well laid out, with system switches now grouped, automated and rationalised. I espe-cially liked the environmental control system (ECS) panel and the Garmin G1000 alphanu-meric data entry panel set centrally under-neath the multifunction display. The three G1000 screens now dominate and the digital information provided was immense but easy to manipulate, especially when being able to use the data entry panel, rather than an on-screen data insertion method.

This sense of an advanced cockpit design was further heightened by the layout of the single power lever. Looking a little like the top of an automatic gear lever in some cars, the power lever operates in a small, gated “H” ar-rangement. The right hand leg of the “H” acts as a condition and propeller lever to control fuel shut-off for start-up and shutdown, man-ual in-flight feather, low (LO) idle and high (HI) idle fuel flow.

The power lever handle must be lifted to allow it to move backwards or forwards to change mode within the legs of the “H”. In the middle of the “H”, the power lever handle is lifted and rocked into the left hand leg of the “H” to act as an engine throttle controlling flight,

Taking in the view: the aircraft has a maximum ceiling of 31,000ft and a range of 1,440nm with 45min of reserves

The cockpit immediately gave the impression of being wonderfully uncluttered and well laid out

Billy

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BUSINESS AVIATIONCOVER STORY

taxi and reverse power modes (primarily % torque – TQ). To utilise the reverse power range, a separate trigger underneath the power lever handle must be lifted to access the beta range. I thought the single power lever design was ex-tremely neat, simple but very clever and was a real enhancing feature of the new aircraft.

After start, the only check was to ensure the standby generator would come on line with the main generator turned off. With a flight plan preloaded before start and held in mem-ory, we were ready to taxi within 2min of en-gine start, the limiting factor being not engine stabilisation but the alignment of the attitude, heading and reference system (AHARS).

Take-off was runway 02. The power lever was advanced with the aircraft stationary to check propeller governing and I then slammed it open as the brakes were released to check the operation of the torque limiter, which limited at 106% TQ. I then adjusted manually to set 100% TQ. The operation of the power lever throughout the sortie was wonderfully precise, linear and accurate when setting target TQ val-ues. The power lever had no free play or break-out, so very small TQ adjustments could be done with ease.

Rotate speed was 85kias (knots indicated airspeed), coming about 7-8s and approxi-mately 500m (1,640ft) after brake release. I noticed no directional swing during take-off roll. Gear-up and then flap up at 110kt was ac-companied by minimal trim change. Max rate climb speed of 124kias was held and gave an initial climb rate of 2,200ft/min (11.2m/s). To reach 20,000ft took 10min 30s, 30,000ft 17min 15s and 31,000ft 18min 00s. At

31,000ft, the cabin altitude (normal mode) was 9,700ft. Max cruise torque (as indicated by a bug on the TQ gauge) stabilised the air-craft at 188kias at 31,000ft. Cruise consump-tion was 53/53 USgal/hour.

A 60˚/+2.0G banked turn was completed at 31,000ft at 180kias without any buffet. An emergency descent was then initiated with throttle idle, holding a 70˚ banked spiral turn

at +2.5G and just below the VMO of 266kias with about 15-20˚ of nose down. At VMO and +2.5G in the descent, there was only the very slightest hint of wing buffet. The descent from 31,000ft to 15,000ft took just 2min 12s from the start of the manoeuvre.

At 15,000ft, wind up turns at +3.8G were completed at 180kias in both directions, with absolutely no buffet or any other aerodynam-ic effects. Dutch roll with the yaw damper off was lively when initiated and only slightly convergent but damped instantly when the yaw damper was re-engaged.

The automatic yaw trim function of the YD was another enhancing new feature of the air-craft and the pilot requirement to monitor di-rectional trim with the YD engaged was negli-gible. Max yoke deflection aileron rolls indicated a roll rate in excess of 60-70˚/sec.

The TBM 900 retains beautiful handling qual-ities and flew like a fighter throughout the sor-tie and the handling envelope I evaluated.

Two stalls were completed at 15,000ft. The first clean, gear up, gave a spoken “airspeed low” warning at 90kias, a continuous stall tone at 87kias and a defined G break at 80kias. With flap LDG (= full flap and limit 126kias) and gear down, the figures were 75/70/65kias. Wing drop was minimal.

The recovery was to an auto transition from lateral navigation into an ILS approach at Tarbes. The approach type and runway were simple to select. The synthetic vision technology on the primary flight display gave excellent situational awareness of ter-rain. The multifunction flight display, acting as an electronic flightbag or navigational map, was so large that it gave the impression of looking at a wide-screen HD TV at home.

On the ILS approach the aircraft was flown at 45% TQ/170kias. At one dot “above the glideslope”, the flap was taken to TO (= mid flap with limit 178kias). At half a dot above, gear was selected down (178kias limit). On the glideslope, power was reduced to 20-25% TQ and the speed allowed to decay towards 120kias. At 120kias, LDG flap was selected to then arrive at decision altitude (DA) at the landing reference speed of 85kias. It was just so simple to fly.

The final event was a practice forced land-ing, flown initially to glide at 120kias with TO flap from 2,500ft above field. The chosen touchdown point, again at a V ref of 85kias, was achieved with accuracy and with ease. On shutdown, after a 1hour 10min flight, our fuel state was 83/83 USgal.

CONCLUSIONThe new TBM 900 richly deserves its new designation as a new TBM type because it is far beyond that of a TBM 850 upgrade, im-pressive as that aircraft is in itself. The new digital displays and redesigned cockpit of the TBM 900 will inspire owner-operators (many of whom may have low hours experi-ence) with confidence while underwriting that confidence with the safety and surviva-bility that comes from supporting the latest avionic systems and future required naviga-tion performance.

The aircraft’s undoubted classification as a VFT and its combination of climb rate/cruise altitude/cruise airspeed/range/payload/land-ing and take-off performance, gives it usabili-ty and economy advantages that a VLJ will never be able to match.

The aircraft has exquisite handling for its pilots but will continue to delight its pas-sengers. When an aircraft is so outstanding as this, Daher-Socata may have to double the planned production rate in the very near future. ■

The TBM 900’s handling qualities were “beautiful”

Most customers remain owner-operators, with North America, Latin America and Europe the dominant markets

Billy

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DOMINIC PERRY STANS

Pilatus’s first business jet may be a radical depature for the turboprop specialist, but the PC-24 is selling well and the airframer is sure it can meet its target certification

Save for the addition of a cuckoo clock factory, the small town of Stans could not be more Swiss if it tried. Walk a little way out of the main

square and you are surrounded by neat, green pastures full of placid cattle filling the air with the resonant ringing of their bells. The lower reaches of the Alps loom above. It is a curious place for an aircraft manufacturer to be based, but nonetheless it is where Pilatus calls home.

On 1 August – Swiss national day, as it happens – the airframer held a special event at nearby Buochs airfield to celebrate both its 75th anniversary and the roll-out of its newest arrival, the PC-24 business jet. That in itself is not that unusual – all manufacturers seek to mark the first appearance of a new aircraft –

NEW SWISS ROLEbut as we travel the short distance to Buochs, it is apparent that for Pilatus this is a very big deal. What appears to be the whole of Stans, and quite possibly the rest of the canton too, is making its way to the airfield. Visitors have come from far and wide: over breakfast at our hotel, one former local admits he has come all the way from New Zealand for the event.

There, alongside the roll-out of the PC-24, the company has laid on a show: Bligg (Swit-zerland’s top-selling rap star, apparently), nu-merous yodelling troupes (naturally), a pro-cession of Swiss-made vintage tractors and prop-driven Pilatus products through the ages all make an appearance. It is all extremely and unashamedly Swiss. Three grandstands full of the great and good, plus scores more of the general public are present. All whoop and holler appreciatively at a speech given by

Swiss defence minister Ueli Maurer, in which he describes ebullient Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk as a “firework” and expresses his hope that the manufacturer will “sell more aircraft than there are crosses” on his Swiss flag-patterned tie.

FLOWER POWERBut the star of the show is the PC-24 – Pila-tus’s very first jet-powered aircraft, or as Schwenk puts it: “The first business jet ever made in Switzerland.”

In keeping with the theme of the day so far, the edelweiss-daubed twinjet is hauled into the arena by soldiers on horseback, before fire-works explode, glitter is blasted skywards and children bearing, seemingly, all the flags of the world parade around and around the aircraft.

And then the parachutists begin to arrive.

Pilatus bills the PC-24 as a “super versatile jet” due to its short runway performance


BUSINESS AVIATIONPILATUS PC-24

end of 2019 – and Pilatus has taken non-re-fundable deposits of $250,000 from its 84 cus-tomers, $21 million in all. Included within that list is the Swiss government, which has or-dered a single example for VIP transportation.

Pre-payments are non-refundable, explains Schwenk, because unless you are a listed company and you need the fillip that orders provide to your share price, non-binding de-posits give the customer an easy way out, “and those orders aren’t worth one penny”, he says. “We want firm sales and firm com-mitment, and that means a down payment they don’t get back.”

RIGHT PRICEIn return, however, the airframer has guaran-teed the PC-24’s price for the first four years. Aircraft delivered in 2017 and 2018 are pegged at $8.9 million, while that rises in the third and fourth years of production to $9.3 million.

“We have to guarantee a price, and that is difficult because we don’t know [cost] esca-lation and so on. We will fix it for four years and see how the market works – if we have plenty of orders I think the price will go up,” says Schwenk.

Certification triggers the next tranche of pre-payments, with a third due just before de-livery, he says.Pi

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“We will fix [the price] for four years… if we have plenty of orders, the price will go up”OSCAR SCHWENKChief executive, Pilatus

It’s at this point we decide to simply accept what is going on rather than keeping ques-tioning it.

Speaking of questions, though, there is a very long pause between the end of the un-veiling and the beginning of the subsequent press conference. It appears from the troubled looks we get from the Pilatus media team that they have lost their chairman to the moment. Schwenk is eventually located, however, and wearing the traditional shirt of the Nidwalden valley – black with embroidered flowers – he is ready to face the media.

He appears relaxed, animated and very much in his element – there’s certainly no sign of the gruff, reticent executive we were warned to expect. He has every right to be pleased, of course. The PC-24 has gone from official launch to flight-test prototype in a lit-tle over 14 months, and “on the marketing side it is brilliant, we can sell them before they are even available”, says Schwenk.

The jet is sold out for its first three years of production – the next available slot is at the

Power for the jet comes from a pair of Williams International FJ44 turbofan engines

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❯❯ That milestone is presently envisioned for early 2017, with deliveries starting one month later. That relatively short gap between the two is because “we don’t do Skunk Works here”, says Schwenk, meaning that its flight test articles are, by design, very similar to the end product.

AIRBORNE AMBITION“We know how to build prototypes, but we always think of serial production. That’s a big risk if you have to change something, but it is easy to lose momentum if customers have to wait too long for their aircraft,” he says.

By the time certification is wrapped up, says Schwenk, its three-strong flight test fleet will have amassed 2,400h. Or as he initially de-scribes the total hours required: “A lot, lot, lot.”

Of course, the fleet actually has to get air-borne first. Roll-out ushers in an intensive pe-riod of ground trials – including the destruc-tive testing of one wing – before a maiden sortie, tentatively scheduled for March next year, can take place. However, Pilatus has re-mained tight-lipped about the progress made since roll-out, with the company declining to provide any updates.

The initial prototype will be used for enve-lope expansion work “from the very begin-ning”, says Schwenk. “The design is okay as far as we can tell, but you only find out for sure when you are airborne. We want to open all corners of the envelope and see what happens.”

A second PC-24, to be used for systems test-ing, will roll off the assembly line in Stans in around February 2015, and the third aircraft will arrive after a further six months.

Not all is proceeding entirely to plan, how-ever. First flight has slipped by a quarter – al-though Schwenk waves this off as “nothing” given the context – and the jet is, by his own admission, too heavy.

By how much he declines to say, save for noting that “we are still within the limits of the never-exceed weight, but we want to be bet-ter”. Efforts to shed excess mass are still ongo-ing, he says, but he points out the airframer has two years in which to achieve its target. Be-sides, he adds, weight loss programmes even-tually become a price-sensitive issue: you can make the aircraft ever lighter, but only at a cost.

“When you are building an aircraft, every day is a compromise. Either you are too heavy, or not fast enough or you are not inno-vative enough on the avionics,” he adds.

And for all that the PC-24 is the company’s top-of-the-line aircraft, Schwenk admits that could be improved: “We could build a better aircraft than the PC-24, but then it would not be affordable,” he says.

The aircraft is also still being billed, in typi-cally contrarian fashion, as a “super versatile jet”, rather than slotting it into one of the recog-nised weight or cabin categories. This refers, among others, to its short runway performance and promised ability to operate from unpaved airstrips. “Anywhere the PC-12 [turboprop] can land, the PC-24 will be able to land as well,” he says. Pilatus’s marketing materials suggest this amounts to “at least 21,000” facilities world-wide with a runway of at least 820m (2,690ft).

The PC-12 has its own operator base, of course, and there are concerns that its bigger jet-powered brother could eat into its market. However, Schwenk quickly bats away this suggestion. “We don’t want to be our own competition, and we are of the opinion that this will not happen. We will – and already have – customers that order both products.”

PAPER ROLLA commemorative newspaper produced for the roll-out appears to bear this out. Under the headline “PC-24 sold out!” an article lists a number of operators who have plumped for both types, including the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, the United Arab Emir-ates’s Falcon Aviation Services and US corpo-rate U-Haul.

Schwenk is reluctant to talk about the pre-cise nature of the design refinements required to support landings on unpaved surfaces, but reveals that the flaps, actuators and landing gear have all received attention.

Powering the PC-24 – those all-important jet engines – are a pair of Williams International FJ44-4A turbofans, each putting out a maxi-mum 3,400lb-thrust (15kN) at take-off. Given Pilatus’s long relationship with Pratt & Whit-ney Canada – spec sheets for the rest of the

range read like a love letter to the PT6 turbo-prop – it is perhaps surprising to see the choice of the Williams powerplants rather than one of the Canadian manufacturer’s products.

THRUST MATTERSThe selection was concluded after “a long competition” says Schwenk, underlining that “this type of aircraft is price-sensitive”. But he dismisses with a grin the suggestion from a journalist – showing a fine grasp of pun-mak-ing in English for a German-speaking Swiss – that picking Williams “was more a question of trust than thrust”.

Trust is a topic he returns to, however, par-ticularly in relation to the jet’s supply chain. “They have to trust you and you have to trust them,” he says. A system based on price goug-ing is doomed to fail, he stresses, although he also points out that cost still remains an issue “as we are not in the military market, we are in the general aviation market which is very price sensitive”.

Among the quotes displayed on the event’s big screens about the PC-24 is one from Flight International describing it as “the most com-plex aircraft Pilatus has ever built”.

Seated next to us in a grandstand, a local resident asks, with that in mind, if we think the new jet will be a success. So far, so good is the gist of our response, while pointing out that many a company has been brought down by expansion into an unfamiliar area. The or-ders are in and the first aircraft is a reality, now the hard part starts. As ever, flight testing will be the crux.

But, perhaps it is only fair to let Schwenk have the final word. Speaking from a lectern at the ceremony – the PC-24 to his left, ringed by Swiss-flag wielding locals in traditional cos-tume – he described the new aircraft as “com-bining tradition and innovation” – vocalising the clunking visual metaphor beside him.

“If we work together we are unbeatable,” he says. “Once Pilatus, always Pilatus.” ■

“We want to open all corners of the performance envelope and see what happens”OSCAR SCHWENKChief executive, Pilatus

The Swiss airframer is targeting first flight of its new jet in March 2015

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BUSINESS AVIATIONCOMPLETIONS

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“You complete me,” declared Jerry Maguire to his Dorothy in the eponymous schmaltzy 1996 movie. Eighteen years later, one

trusts their happy relationship is still going strong – unlike that between the large US inte-riors houses and American aircraft buyers. The latter seem to be eschewing the notion of a soul mate for life, preferring to take a more pragmatic approach in their choice of a com-pletions partner – that is, if the established players are to be believed.

The landscape has changed somewhat and customers are shopping around. But there are customers still. According to the General Avi-ation Manufacturers Association, global de-liveries of turbine-powered business aircraft jumped by 7.2% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2013. This hike in deliveries should be manifesting itself in the interiors industry round about now.

Companies are taking a proactive approach to looking for new clients. Delaware’s PATS Aircraft Systems, for example, a completion specialist for widebodies and Boeing Busi-ness Jets – and sole provider of auxiliary fuel tank installations for BBJs, says it has been fo-cusing on “finding more customers overseas and putting more emphasis on its refurbish-Dassault is investing in its interiors capacity

MAKING DREAMS COME TRUEThe completions industry is adapting to technology advances and ever-more demanding customers by developing interior concepts that simply were not possible in a previous generation of business jets

LHT can fit Airbus ACJ319s with 96 different interiors

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ment business”. The company’s auxiliary tank installations slowed to four this year from the more typical six to eight, but it says it is anticipating fresh interest when the BBJ Max becomes available in 2018.

One area of concern in an era of increased competition is downward pressure on prices. Associated Air Center president James Colleary says although there are worries, it may not be a long-lasting issue. “Several newer firms have entered the market and have been driving the prices down, so everyone has suffered. Howev-er, I don’t think this will last. Ultimately, things will go back to basics. You need the know-how to manage such large aircraft projects, as well as the skills developed over many years.”

A spokesman for Akridge Aircraft Interiors, which has been trading since 1994 and spe-cialises in executive, corporate, and head-of-state aircraft interior modifications, agrees. He says that patience and long-developed work-shop capabilities are vital, “in the age of big business, where quality has taken a back seat to instant gratification”.

The company’s portfolio includes many corporate aircraft types, ranging from Cessna Citations to a head-of-state Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, with the Gulfstream and Challenger markets as specialties.

Meanwhile, the industry’s old-timers are still going strong too. Lufthansa Technik’s (LHT) Tulsa, Arizona offshoot, Bizjet Interna-tional, reports that the new firm’s new pre-cus-tomised VIP cabin for both the Airbus Corpo-rate Jets family and the Boeing BBJ series has sparked interest in the market.

C0-OPERATIONThe firm’s narrowbody VIP cabin business started eight years ago as a co-operation be-tween itself and Airbus on the successful Elite programme for the airframer’s single-aisle air-liners. Starting at $20m, with a turnaround time of six months, the new concept offers a large variety of configurations and is mission-optimised with regards to cabin interior weight, seating comfort, sufficient stowage volume and the integration of features for maximum comfort and usability, such as a king-sized bed, vanity table, master bathroom with full-sized shower and a private office.

LHT can offer 96 variations of the ACJ319, whereas for a longer aircraft such as the BBJ2 and other comparable types, there are even more combinations. Walter Heerdt, senior vice-president marketing and sales says: “This product is a supplement to our activities in this special completion segment. We see excellent market chances to create a similar success story to the Elite programme.” To date, the firm has delivered more than 20 aircraft under Elite, the last recently out of Bizjet International.

Elsewhere in the market, some long-estab-lished US companies have changed hands

and now belong to Middle East investors, en-suring a healthy stream of aircraft for some years to come. Take Gore Design Completions of San Antonio, Texas, for example. The house officially changed its name to GDC Technics after its acquisition by Malzeer, a Saudi investment group that bought it a year ago. Malzeer owns MAZ Aviation, which is now managing the company.

The idea behind the brand change is to ex-pand the firm’s core business beyond its VIP completions roots and provide a broad range of aircraft modification services, including en-gineering, supplemental type certificate de-velopment and customised modifications.

At the time of its acquisition in May 2013, Malzeer said it had three goals: to complete the projects inside the hangar; to restructure the business internally; and to redesign the image and business direction of the company. At EBACE this year the firm announced its new branding, and said it was working on its first Boeing 787 completion project, which ar-rived on site in February, was under way.

Scheduled to take 36 months (as the first of a brand-new composite type), the new owners have invested $20 million in the tooling and Dassault Systèmes Catia engineering software it needs. Since the 787 is a new design, previ-ous solutions will not work. For example, one of the greatest challenges will be to attach the interior fittings to the inside of the composite fuselage. A second 787 is scheduled to arrive in the near future.

GDC Technics is also set to open satellite facilities in Europe, the Middle East and Afri-ca, further altering the completions landscape in the not-too-distant future.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise-owned Asso-ciated Air Center is both a designated BBJ and an ACJ319 Corporate Jet completions centre. At the end of September, it shipped a VIP ACJ330 to an undisclosed customer and has a

Boeing 747-8 in the hangar. In May, it ap-pointed former chief operating officer James Colleary as president, who says that a Dream-liner is due to arrive “in the next week or so”.

He adds that the company is booked out until the middle of next year, “although we could find space at an offsite facility if we need to”, he adds, should a customer require a project.

ACQUISITIONSA 2015 slot is a far cry from the story a couple of years ago when the market was saturated with widebody requests and centres were supposedly booked out until 2016. Colleary admits that the market for large aircraft is slowing, and attributes that to the fact that “the market is coming off the bubble from the 747, as well as the availability of the 787”. However, he adds that AAC has been working on several smaller projects.

Mergers and acquisitions are keeping the industry afloat by amalgamating skills re-quired to serve customer demands. France’s Zodiac Aerospace, for example, finalised its acquisition of BBJ completion centre Green-point Technologies in June.

Based in Kirkland, Washington, with a subsidiary in Denton, Texas, Greenpoint em-ploys 450 people and has annual revenues of around $150m.

This augments Zodiac’s competencies in VVIP interiors, while bringing certification skills, as well as know-how in design and manufacturing of monuments, galleys, seats and lighting to the US table.

Another foreign-owned company, ST Aero-space’s VIP completions brand Aeria Luxury Interiors, secured a nose-to-tail cabin comple-tion contract for a widebody VIP aircraft this summer. The win was hot on the heels of the San Antonio-based firm’s green aircraft com-pletion deal for a BBJ in February. Aeria says

A greater emphasis on luxury and comfort has prompted the industry to offer innovations such as

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BUSINESS AVIATIONCOMPLETIONS

that the widebody aircraft “will have a life-style-oriented floor plan”, including an exclu-sive door into the private suite, a comfortable master suite and a luxurious bathroom.

A state-of-the-art cabin management sys-tem is also in the pipeline to allow complete control over the custom mood lights and high-definition large-format TV screens, via an in-tegrated iPad. There is also a humidification system and sound dampening package in-cluded to enhance passenger comfort throughout the flight.

The design team will be using a 3D printer to create the cabin features. Among these is a trompe l’oeil custom ceiling. In addition to the decorative features, Aeria will deploy the 3D printer to develop mock-ups, concept modelling proofs as well as production parts. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Aeria’s remodelled hangar imminently, with redeliv-ery planned in the fourth quarter of 2016. As part of the VIP programme, the firm will be developing an STC.

Thanks to innovation in both ideas and execution, there are more options than ever before – even with the hassle of certificating each component to make it airworthy. Cus-tomers are demanding more luxury, comfort and sophisticated technology, as well as ded-icated workspace and amenities. Recent in-novations have included a casino, complete with gaming tables, and a simulated fire-place in a Boeing 787.

And it is almost impossible to keep up with advances in multimedia technology: custom-ers see being able to control the environment and systems in the cabin with their smart-phones as almost an essential nowadays. This means temperature, lighting and window-shades, before you even get to traditional in-flight entertainment options such as volume control and movie selection.

Colleary says: “Cabin management sys-

tems are what customers really want. They especially request the ability to be able to control their environment with their smart phones.” He adds that he has also noticed advances in what is available for seats, with options for both covers and mechanics, such as massage and heating, as well as structure.

Over at Comlux America, however, it is the senses that are taking a leading role. In May its Comlux Creatives team announced its “Five Senses” concept, whereby each sense is re-vealed during the five key phases of the VIP cabin project: definition, concept, material, detail and completion.

Essentially, the firm listens to what the cli-ent wants, helps them to choose colours and materials for the interiors, resulting in “di-mensionally correct coloured layouts and 3D renderings, or even virtual animations”, which leads to the engineering phase. Lastly, the customer can even “smell” the new cabin when the aircraft is finalised.

On a more practical note, and in line with industry thinking on health while travelling, the Comlux engineering department also re-cently developed, manufactured, certificated and integrated a lighter air conditioning sys-tem, which enhances VIP passenger comfort by decreasing the noise contribution to the interior cabin environment to a level where it cannot be heard in flight.

The exterior market is faring reasonably

well, too. Associated Painters, for example, opened a second $6 million narrowbody paint hangar in Spokane, Washington. The one-bay, 2,970m² (32,000ft²) facility accom-modates aircraft up to a Boeing 757-300. As-sociated Painters has a 30-year lease with a 20-year option for the facility.

Elsewhere, manufacturers in the business jet industry are laying the foundations for the long haul. French airframer Dassault broke ground in September on an expansion and upgrade of its 93,000m² Little Rock, Arkansas completion facility to accommodate the Falcon 5X and 8X. A 23,000m² hangar forms part of the $60 mil-lion project, which will boost both production and completion space.

In addition, the manufacturer is refreshing its older hangars and the cabinet, upholstery and headliner shops. The project is slated for completion in early 2016, just before deliver-ies of the large-cabin 5X twinjet and ultra-long-range 8X trijet begin.

INVESTMENTThe investment adds to the $20 million im-provement that added 9,290m² to the site in 2008, including new paint bays and facilities to accommodate the Falcon 7X.

Dassault Aviation chief executive Éric Trappier explains: “This undertaking dem-onstrates a commitment to continue our in-vestment in Little Rock and to ensure the fa-cility will remain at the forefront of completion technology.”

In Melbourne, Florida, Embraer opened its newly constructed Engineering and Technol-ogy Center in September. The 7,000m² state-of-the-art facility is the first of its kind outside Brazil, and part of Embraer’s strategy to ex-pand its global footprint.

The new centre will conduct engineering and development activities for both product and technology development across Em-braer’s business lines with the first assign-ments primarily focused on executive jet inte-riors. It will include a laboratory for the development and testing of materials and in-terior components. Features include 3D com-puter-aided design, 3D virtual reality and pro-totype capabilities.

Located on 5ha (13 acres) of land facing the existing Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 final assembly facility, which opened in 2009 and the Embraer Executive Jets Customer Center, opened in 2011, employment is scheduled to ramp up to a total of 200 by 2016.

So what’s in store for the industry? Colleary is confident that the market will settle and the established players continue to thrive. In terms of innovation he says: “If you can dream it up, we can build it.” That is, provid-ing you can pay for it, of course – something the widebody players are sincerely hoping you will be able to do. ■

a simulated fireplace, a large bar area and a casino complete with gaming tables

“You need the know-how to manage such large aircraft projects, as well as the skills developed over many years”JAMES COLLEARYPresident, Associated Air Center



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As the world’s business aviation in-dustry prepares to descend on Or-lando’s Orange County convention centre between 21-23 October, the

mood of optimism is palpable.Although the impact of the global financial

crisis has been felt more strongly in the domi-nant North American market than anywhere else, exhibitors and attendees at this year’s National Business Aviation Association con-vention and exhibition are cautiously confi-dent that the worst could finally be over.

“The market is certainly getting stronger and the mood of the industry is reflecting this,” says NBAA president Ed Bolen.

Now in its 67th year, NBAA continues to attract healthy numbers, not least because the annual event is the largest showcase for busi-ness aviation anywhere in the world.

Organisers are preparing to receive 25,000 attendees and 1,100 exhibitors during the three-day show. With such impressive num-bers, its perhaps not surprising that NBAA is ranked the fourth-largest trade show in the USA.

US DOMINANCEThe country is home to the world’s largest business aircraft fleet, with nearly 18,000 jets and turboprops.

“Historically, the USA has been the single largest market for business aircraft,” Bolen says. “This began to change after 2008, when the economy collapsed and many companies began to trade globally.”

This in turn had an impact on aircraft sales. According to Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets on-line database, North America accounted for

INTO THE RECOVERY POSITIONThis year’s NBAA is taking place with signs – at last – of improving confidence in the key North American market

70% of new business jet deliveries in 2008. Its share has fallen to less than 50% today. Asia-Pacific and Latin America in contrast have made significant gains over this period, main-ly due to the popularity of large-cabin and long-range business jets with customers in these regions.

North America – in particular, the USA – is unlikely to lose its dominant position in the business aviation sector, however. It remains where most of the traditional airframers are based, and is especially critical for the OEMs with models positioned at the bottom half of the aircraft range.

“Despite the growth of sales to internation-

al markets, it’s been hard [for airframers] to fill the void left by the US decline,” Bolen says.

His view is echoed by Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with US consultancy Teal Group: “A US-based recovery is paramount if the market to make a full recovery, ” he says.

Thankfully, many indicators imply that a broad rebound is imminent. Aboulafia points to high corporate profits – the prime leading indicator for the health of the business aircraft market – an abundance of available cash and a return to commercial lending, as key rea-sons to be optimistic.

“The two trends – profitability and ready cash – implies an economy that’s ready to

Embraer’s Legacy 450 will be on display for the first time

The static park at this year’s show will feature a handful of aircraft making their debuts


BUSINESS AVIATIONCONVENTION PREVIEW

mainder of Dassault’s in-service product line will be on show at the executive airport.

The cabin mock-up of Bombardier’s ultra-long-range Global 7000 will also make its NBAA debut. The Candian company could finally launch an upgraded version of its eight-year old, large cabin Challenger 605.

With so many airframers busily working behind the scenes to bring their new pro-grammes to market in the next five years, fresh product launches are likely to be thin on the ground this year.

Gulfstream could therefore steal the lime-light from its rivals, if it decides to takes the wraps off its secretive P42 project. Develop-ment began on P42 – an internal designation of a new aircraft or family of aircraft – more than four years ago, but has stayed a closely guarded secret.

The Savannah, Georgia-based airframer is bringing its full business jet line-up to the show, with the exception of the G650ER, which has just completed its flight test cam-paign. The first examples of the industry’s longest-range business jet are scheduled to begin rolling off the production line next year.

Meanwhile, the static will also provide a centrepiece for the struggling pre-owned air-craft dealers.

Industry trade body the National Aircraft Resale Association has secured a 10,220m² (110,000ft²) of static display area – the largest single exhibition space at the site. NARA says this will help to increase the visibility of the used aircraft market and provide an opportu-nity for its broker/dealer membership to put their offerings on show.

UNMANNEDNARA will also present a panel discussion during the show covering the current trends and recent changes affecting new and used aircraft sales, including technology changes, aircraft values, financing and regulations.

Another perhaps unlikely sector making its NBAA debut is unmanned air systems.

Although UAS will not feature on the stat-ic, two seminars have been scheduled to dis-cuss the potential effects of these operations on the business aviation industry.

“Unmanned aircraft are a growing part of the business aviation community,” says Chris Strong, NBAA senior vice president, conven-tions and membership. “We’re hearing more about UAS on both the regulatory and func-tional usage level, and NBAA provides an op-portunity for discussion between those famil-iar with the progress toward full integration into the National Airspace System [NAS] and those interested in learning how UAS may be beneficial to their operations,” he adds.

Strong expects these sessions to be forerun-ners of an expanding presence for UAS at fu-ture NBAA conventions. ■

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open the investment funding floodgates as soon as businesses are convinced we are in a self-sustaining recovery,” Aboulafia adds.

For Bolen, the value of business aviation and the show cannot be understated. “Not only is business aviation critical to tens of thousands of cost-conscious companies fight-ing to succeed in a difficult market,” he says. “It is also responsible for the hundreds of thousands of American jobs and millions of dollars of revenue in the country’s coffers.”

TALKING POINTSPromoting the benefits of business aviation is one of the many topics that will be dis-cussed across the convention halls and semi-nar rooms.

The perennial threat of budget cuts and their impact on the industry will be high on the agenda.

A year ago, the industry was dealing with the aftermath of sequestration. Across the board cuts at federal agencies forced the shut-down of US Federal Aviation Administration offices, leading to delays in registering, certifi-cation, selling and delivering business jets.

“This was an enormously frustrating time for the industry, with no aircraft being bought, sold or moved,” Bolen says.

Although the recovery was swift, Bolen is in no doubt that Washington DC will continue to try to find ways to squeeze more revenue out of the business aviation community.

“There will be a new Congress next year and the funding levels and authority of the FAA are set to expire in September,” he says.

“This has the potential for user fees to be

put back on the agenda,” says Bolen.The proposal to charge users of the US air

traffic control systems has been vociferously opposed by the business aviation community. “Paying tax on the fuel you use is a much fair-er system and thankfully we have strong sup-port [for this view] from the general aviation caucus in the House of Representatives,” says Bolen.

The full breadth of the business aircraft sec-tor will be on display in the two static parks. The main display at Orlando Executive air-port will host around 90 aircraft and a much smaller static area – featuring about 10 light aircraft and helicopters – will be erected in-side the convention centre.

Within the static areas and in the exhibition halls, a handful of new aircraft will be making their debut.

Embraer’s Legacy 450 will be on display for the first time. The superlight business jet – which is expected to be certificated next year – will be on parade alongside its stablemates – from the superlarge Lineage 1000 to the entry level Phenom 100E.

Cessna is also bringing its full Citation busi-ness jet line-up, including the Latitude, which will top its billing.

The show will also see the international debut of the 2,700nm (5,000km)-range mid-size business jet, which is on track for certifi-cation and service entry next year.

NBAA also marks the international show debut of Dassault’s Falcon 5X. The large-cab-in, long-range business jet was launched at last year’s NBAA and the French airframer will take the wraps off a mock-up of the 50m³ cabin at its convention centre exhibit. The re-


STRAIGHT&LEVEL

Take coverThe fact that Paris, Ostend, and other places have been

accorded aerial visits by the enemy, who has dropped a

few bombs, has recently given rise to a new class of insurance business that has been developed by Lloyd’s underwriters.

First bloodThe first air raid of the war on Great Britain took place on

October 16 at Rosyth. One bomb glanced off the cruiser

Southampton, and sank the Admiral’s barge. This was the first hit which German aircraft have made upon a British ship.

The boom yearsIn a recent report to its stockholders the Lockheed

Aircraft Corporation gave previously unannounced

details of the $6m programme of work it is now doing under contract with the FAA to refine its supersonic airliner design proposal. By the end of this month the results will be in the hands of the FAA for evaluation.

Brits in spaceEach of the two Juno candidates will be teamed

with a Soviet cosmonaut flight engineer and commander

about three months before the mission. The flight to Mir will take two days, the stay aboard will last six days, and the return will take one day.

The museum says XS726 was acquired “thanks to the generosity of two museum members”, Mike and Kathy Smith. Previous owner Everett Aero in Suffolk refitted the wings after delivery to Newark.

Reds on canvasLooking for an early festive present for a Red Arrows fan? The RAF Association is hoping to raise £50,000 ($80,000) from sales of a limited edition painting to mark the Sparrows’ 50th display season. Only 500 copies have been printed, each signed by all 10 members of the 2014 display team.

The painting itself, by well-known aviation artist and former Jaguar pilot Michael Rondot, will be presented to the

RAF Club. He says: “I have painted an imagined situation showing the synchro pair in front of the other seven Hawks on a blustery, difficult flying day. The Reds turn out and display in all weathers and I wanted to capture that.”

The 700 x 500mm prints cost £100. Details at rafa.org.uk

Pilots wantedPilots are the second most common profession that women fantasise about having a fling with after firemen, a survey by married dating site IllicitEncounters has found. A total of 27% of females polled said they would want to go on a date with an aviator – with firemen scoring 34%. Athletes, musicians and doctors also figure in the top five.

Where aviation journalists came in the list is not revealed.

Memories of the Short Shoe BoxOE Sasso from Luxembourg follows up on our Quirky Dozen: the 12 oddest aircraft ever built, which inevitably featured the Short Skyvan, known to its crew as the Shed.

“A dear friend and Skyvan pilot – no longer with us – used to fly the Skyvan from Luxembourg to Africa for the Paris-Dakar race,” he says. “He used to refer to its as the Shoe Box, which I find more appropriate.”

Dram-jet“Suspect I’m not the first to identify this,” writes Tim Baldwin, in reference to our 30 September piece about the Jetstream 31, G-BWWW – still in operation as a flying testbed with BAE Systems in Warton, and a former corporate shuttle for drinks giant Distillers. “But in light of its first owner, then its current call sign of Whiskey Whiskey is rather appropriate.”

Landing DominieThe latest addition to the Newark Air Museum is a Hawker Siddeley Dominie T1. The Dominie – used to teach RAF aircrew skills in teamwork and systems management – was retired from the service in 2011.

The museum has been trying to get hold of a Dominie for a while; in 2011 it failed to purchase one of the airframes that had been operating from nearby RAF Cranwell.

“Good job this comes with low-bypass engines”.William Whaley posted this image of an Air Zimbabwe

Boeing 737-200 doing a flypast at September’s Big African Air Show in Harare. The answer to “how low can you go?”

is – according to the pilot, apparently – about 10ft.

Wings can only get better: piecing the aircraft back together

From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to [email protected]

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100-YEAR ARCHIVEEvery issue of Flight from 1909 onwards

can be viewed online at flightglobal.com/archive

A perfect display for your wall

WORKING WEEK


Parker personally plans pilots’ itineraries and escorts the groups

Essential guide to island hoppingWhen former US diplomat Jim Parker discovered his pilot’s manual to aviation facilities in the Caribbean was out of date, he launched his own online alternative. His company also organises tours to the region for owner-pilots

WORK EXPERIENCE JIM PARKER

quires an overflight permit. I offer free round-trip permits to members. Most countries in Cen-tral America require permits. These are more difficult to ob-tain. All the islands in the Carib-bean are heavily dependent on tourism dollars and welcome private pilots. The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are the most pilot-friendly. The Baha-mas used to be, but has increased airport fees dramatically in the past few years. Flying privately in the islands is easy and friend-ly. No customs hassles, very few documents, no ramp checks and no airport delays. I have never had an unpleasant experience in over 10 years.How well-maintained is the islands’ infrastructure?The islands depend on tourism. Airports are the primary gateway. Thus, the runways and airport se-curity must meet the high stand-ards set by ICAO and the US Fed-eral Aviation Administration, and by US customs and border protec-tion. All the airports are suitable for commercial regional aircraft and I have never had a security problem with my aircraft. There are US trained security officers at every island airport.

How did diplomacy lead to aviation for you?As a US diplomat, my duties re-quired extensive travel within my assigned countries. What bet-ter mode of transportation than a private aircraft? So I pursued my private licence in the mid-1980s while assigned to the US embas-sy in Canberra, Australia. The airport was only 5min from the embassy. I flew all over Australia for three years and then logged 500h in Japan during my five-year tour at the US embassy in Tokyo, using the US Air Force Flying Club’s Cessna 172RG, P210 and Piper Malibu. I also picked up my multi-engine and commercial rating in Japan.What prompted you to launch this service?I founded CFA in 2004. At that time, there was only one Carib-bean pilot’s guide in the market, which I had in the cockpit when I landed on Nevis Island in the eastern Caribbean. It said there was fuel at Nevis. I asked the tower to send over the Avgas truck. They replied they had not had fuel for three years. It was after this experience that I launched my online pilot’s guide with the commitment to make it the only up-to-date source for current fuel prices and step-by-step arrival/departure proce-dures for all the airports in the Bahamas and Caribbean.Who uses your guidebook?Our guide is online. Thus, we are the only up-to-date source for fuel prices and step-by-step ar-rival/departure procedures for

every island airport. And since we are not a book, pilots can con-tact me by phone or email. I am always happy to answer ques-tions or just chat about island fly-ing. During the past month, there were more than 75,000 pilot vis-its to the guide. Members include private pilots, charter pilots and commercial airline pilots who want to fly their own private air-craft around the islands.Do you act as leader for the sight-seeing squadrons?Caribbean Flying Adventure or-ganises annual “affordable” fly-ins to the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Belize and Guatemala. I plan the itiner-aries and escort the group. Pilots fly their own aircraft. For first-

time international fliers, an es-corted tour with expert hand-holding makes for an anxiety-free trip. Plus, the social value of hanging out with fellow pilots is huge. I’ve logged over 5,000h, 1,600h of which are flying to 101 island airports in the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.Are all nations accommodating?In the Caribbean, only Cuba re-

“I asked the tower tosend over the Avgastruck. They replied they had not had fuel for three years”

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If you would like to feature in Working Week, or you know someone who does, email your pitch to kate.sarsfield@ flightglobal.com

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