nbaa convention news 102110

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Atlanta OctOber 21, 2010 Vol. 42 No. 26/$9.00

•��Legacy�designers�tap�latest�tech�for�FBWThe fly-by-wire Embraer Legacy 450 and 500 will feature closed-loop systems, meaning pilots do not di-rectly control the rate of flight control surface movement. 2

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

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

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

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

Continued on page 60 u

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

ON�LINE�NOW...

ALMOST JUST PEACHY

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

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

Embraer has been awarded certification of its large-cabin Legacy 650 by the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) and EASA, the company announced at the NBAA convention’s static display yesterday.

The $25.9 million Legacy 650, an upgrade of the Legacy 600, was announced at last year’s NBAA show in Orlando, Fla.,

where the company vowed to have the aircraft certified in a year.

“We made the promise, and kept to it,” Embraer executive vice president Luís Carlos Affonso told AIN. “Our next step will be to begin delivering the aircraft at the end of the year.”

Building on what the Brazil-ian company has created with the

NetJets chairman advises patience by Jeff Burger

“Those of us in this room will feel pretty good five years from now,” pre-dicted David Sokol, chair-man, president and CEO of NetJets. “Time is the friend of good businesses.” Sokol made the comment yesterday at Dassault Fal-con’s annual NBAA “fam-ily breakfast,” where he was the guest speaker and revealed plans for NetJets to open an outlet in China. Dassault Falcon hosted the event at the Omni Atlanta CNN Center.

“We’ve seen at NetJets a significant return this year, increasing month by month,” Sokol said. “We’re up about 8 per-cent year over year on flight activity and, while still down from 2007 lev-els, it’s very much a posi-tive trend. Sales activity is up, particularly in the last four months, with net new owners up in significant numbers for the first time this year. All of those facts

speak well for the future of business aviation.”

Still, Sokol acknowl-edged the obvious–that recent times have been among the toughest this industry has seen. “Last year was my first NBAA event and it was kind of like going to a wake,” he joked. “Our sales folks had been telling me how vibrant NBAA events are and I assumed it was me. I felt like I had leprosy last year.”

Sokol forecast a “slow-growth” period over the next five years in the U.S. and said conditions in Europe will be even more difficult. “U.S. budget def-icits…are at record lev-els,” he said. “The U.S. consumer, their debt is at record levels.”

As for the housing industry, Sokol noted that published data indicates a nine-month inventory of unsold homes in the U.S.

Continued on page 6 uContinued on page 6 u

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

4aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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NBAAConvention News®

Iridium set to launch Next generation of satellites by Mark Huber

Earlier this month Iridium reached a preliminary agreement for $1.8 bil-lion to finance its Next constellation of advanced low orbit communications sat-ellites, slated for launch beginning in 2015. A syndicate of nine international banks is providing the financing.

Launch of the 66 Next satellites and seven spares will be handled by SpaceX from the Vandenberg Spaceport in

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

more direct routing. Operational trials of Iridium Fans by

Continental Micronesia and Cargolux have been completed. Greg Ewert, Irid-ium executive vice president, sees Fans as a key growth area for the company, espe-cially among a large share of its 24,000 general aviation subscribers.

The Next system, Ewert said, will have backward compatibility with exist-ing technology. “There won’t be any stranded equipment” with the new satel-lites, he said.

Iridium’s finances appear stable. Dur-ing the second quarter of this year, the company posted revenues of $84 million, a modest increase from the same period a year ago, with increases in commercial and government revenue sectors. For the

Canadians partner on quiet C850by Harry Weisberger

Two Canadian companies, cabin-qui-eting specialist Silentium Air and com-pletions house Flying Colours, have teamed to provide sound-proofing for green and refurbished Bombardier Chal-lenger 850s and CRJ 200 business jet conversions.

The partnership, sealed this week at the Flying Colours NBAA booth (No. 1387), makes the Silentium Air system an integral part of all Challenger 850 com-pletions and CRJ 200 conversions by Flying Colours in the Toronto area, and Flying Colours the preferred installer for

sound-proofing from Montreal-based Silentium on this aircraft type.

Nicholas Houseman, Silentium Air pres-ident, said his company’s system on those aircraft is about 150 pounds lighter than competing noise-reduction solutions from third-party completion centers and MROs.

This, he explained, is due to “a highly tailored fit using an interlocking modular approach without any tradeoff in overall noise levels, typically mid-to-lower 50s dB speech interference level. Furthermore, our solution leads to reduced installation times due to fewer parts.” o

Flying Colours CEO John Gillespie (left) and Nick Houseman, president of Silentium Air, have teamed

to quiet Bombardier Challenger 850s and CRJ 200 business jet conversions.

French strikes beginning to pinch GAby Mark Huber

Civil unrest in France, in response to the government’s attempt to raise the min-imum retirement age to qualify for a pen-sion from 60 years to 62 years, is beginning to affect general aviation operations there.

Although street demonstrations and violence appeared to be abating yesterday about one-third of the nation’s high-speed TGV trains were still running behind schedule and truckers were engaging in rolling roadblocks, snarling traffic at sev-eral locations throughout the country.

At Paris’s two main commercial air-ports–Charles de Gaulle and Orly–unions announced plans to block access roads. While one-quarter of the flights at Orly were cancelled, mainly due to ATC work actions, traffic at de Gaulle remained

normal through Wednesday morning. President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered

police yesterday to clear blockades of fuel depots, which had caused an estimated one-third of the nation’s gas stations to shut down.

The airport fuel situation does not appear near as dire, however. Never-theless, Universal Aviation (Booth No. 3927) is advising its clients to pre-arrange fuel needs, as opposed to expecting on-demand service.

So far, aviation fuel supplies in the Paris and Cote d’Azur regions are hold-ing up, but Universal’s Jeff Bistany, UVair director of fuel supply, said outlying areas, particularly the island of Corsica, are being harder hit. On Corsica, fuel

supplies at Ajaccio, Bastia and Calvi are reported tight. On the mainland, the air-port at Saint-Nazaire was reported out of fuel on Wednesday morning.

Of greater concern is the impact of ATC disruptions because of controller work-to-rule and other delaying tactics, according to Andrew Hughes of handler Ocean Sky. Hughes said those are delay-ing slot availability and flow control, causing “significant” flight delays that are “having a major impact on the remainder of European air space.”

Hughes added, “We have heard warnings about low [fuel] reserves but haven’t suffered any problems as a result–yet.” He said many intra-European flights bound for France were tankering fuel as a precaution. o

Bombardier stressing global serviceby Harry Weisberger

Bombardier Aerospace is in Atlanta this week highlighting its increased emphasis on worldwide customer service and product support for the entire Bombar-dier business jet and regional air-liner customer base. At an NBAA press briefing yesterday, James Hoblyn, president of Bombar-dier’s customer service organiza-tion, noted the addition of three AOG line maintenance facilities, expanding Bombardier’s service network presence to 60 service centers in 26 countries.

Earlier this year Bombardier opened its first wholly company-owned European service center at Schiphol Airport in Amster-dam and a regional support office in Mumbai, India. Other newly appointed service facilities are ExecuJet Malaysia in Kuala Lum-pur and Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services in Riga, Latvia, the first line maintenance facilities in those countries. Aerovitro S.A., at Monterrey, has become Mexi-co’s second Bombardier-approved business jet maintenance facility.

Hoblyn also discussed the expansion of Bombardier’s cus-tomer delivery teams to include all business aircraft custom-ers throughout the world. These teams consist of avionics techni-cians and cabin interior experts along with Bombardier-trained third-party maintenance special-ists. They accompany customers to their operating bases to pro-vide in-depth instruction in air-craft systems, equipment and troubleshooting. They also facil-itate customer interaction with

Bombardier field service reps.Mike McQuay, president of

Bombardier’s Dallas-area service centers, remarked that doing busi-ness in the less developed areas of the world requires flexibility and, above all, patience. “That’s some-thing we in the West don’t have so much of, but you have to develop it to get along in many parts of the world.” He explained that such operations often require “workarounds” to deal with local “problems” arising from bureau-cracy, inefficiency and a culture of corruption.

He noted that areas have dif-fering cultural environments that shape behaviors. “For instance,”

said McQuay, “there’s a difference between India and China. You might say India is process-oriented and the Chinese are more results-oriented. It’s essential that we develop local partners,” he contin-ued. “That doesn’t mean payoffs. We don’t do that, ever. It does call for making special arrangements, establishing a quid pro quo, if you will, a bartering system where you make something available to get something in return.”

McQuay concluded by observ-ing, “Once a local relationship is established, though, then those people often become extremely helpful, cooperative and enthusi-astic partners.” o


Youth and Aviation group receives tour of conventionby James Wynbrandt

Thirty students from Atlanta’s Creekside High School received a guided tour of the NBAA convention from Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot and first African American to fly solo around the world, as part of the Youth and Aviation Program sponsored by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Amer-ica (MHIA), an effort supported by NBAA.

“It’s important to realize the possibili-ties and opportunities in aviation,” Irving told the students. “It’s not just being a pilot. There are tons of career opportunities.” Patrick Dunne, NBAA’s communications manager, was on hand to greet the stu-dents, and pointed out that nine out of

ten jobs in aviation do not involve flying an airplane.

MHIA, which manufactured and sup-ports the Mitsubishi MU-2 twin-engine turboprop, sponsors Irving’s many edu-cational efforts, including his Dream and Soar Program. Among other proj-ects, Dream and Soar has organized a group of disadvantaged youth in the Miami area to work with Irving to build a Zenith Zodiac XL kit aircraft in 10 weeks, which Irving subsequently flew.

Said Stan Yokoi, general manager of MHIA’s Aircraft Product Support divi-sion, “He’s doing a very good job to educate [students] about the opportuni-ties in aviation.” o

www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa5

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

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SimCom offerS New TraiNiNg opTioNS

SimCom Training Centers (Booth No. 6656) has partnered with Eclipse Aerospace to provide training in the EA-500 very light jet and will offer training in the JetProp Malibu/Mirage Rocket Engi-neering conversion. SimCom also has developed a new international operations course.

SimCom training in the Eclipse 500 will begin later this year. Two EA-500 Level-D simulators, originally built by Opinicus, have been relocated to SimCom Orlando and will be used to provide initial and recurrent training. Comprehensive courseware is currently under development. Planned upgrades include the Avio NG 1.7 avionics suite, autopilot enhancement, GPS/Waas and flight into known icing.

SimCom recently added initial and recurrent training in the Jet-Prop DLX conversion using SimCom’s Piper Meridian simulator at Orlando.

SimCom has begun to offer a 2.5-hour international operations course for $260 at its Orlando, Glendale and Scottsdale, Ariz., cam-puses. The course includes all information required to safely conduct international flight operations and comply with all applicable regula-tions. –M.H.

a CaST of falCoNS gaTher here

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

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and he said a healthy market would have a four-to-six-month inventory. In fact, he commented, those figures don’t account for a “shadow market”–people who want to sell their homes but are waiting to try to do so until condi-tions improve. “With the shadow market, [the inventory] is prob-ably more like 22 months. So we think it’s probably another 18 months before we see new hous-ing construction getting back to historic levels.”

Sokol was perhaps even less optimistic about the short-term outlook for reducing unemploy-ment. “The efficiency that was pushed into the system in the fourth quarter of 2008, at least in our businesses, is extraordi-nary,” he said. “We have man-ufacturing businesses that cut 25 percent of their overall employment during that period but today believe they can go back to the same volume levels they were at in 2007 and only bring back about a quarter of those employees. Technological improvements have been put in place that frankly we probably should have been doing a decade ago.” As a result, Sokol said, he expects unemployment to stay “probably north of 9 percent for another 18 to 24 months.”

Asian GrowthThough Sokol made similar

comments regarding Europe, he sounded decidedly bullish about Asia, where he predicted annual growth in the next five years would hover somewhere between 6.5 and 8 percent.

“Anyone who has been to China recently has seen the enor-mous growth,” he added. “The ability of the central government to control and to throttle that economy is absolutely amaz-ing to see. And while one may not agree with all the policies of China, you cannot deny the

extraordinary progress they’ve made economically. They’re going to be one of the economic superpowers of the future.”

Sokol said NetJets is “fil-ing for certification to create NetJets China later this year.” He also said the company is expanding in Europe and add-ing more aircraft, an apparent reference to the announcement here at NBAA that NetJets will buy 50 Embraer Phenom 300s and option another 75.

Added Sokol: “We’re strongly of the belief that while we proba-bly have another 12 to 18 months to work through the excess inven-tory in the [business aviation] sector…we probably reached the bottom point sometime this summer and look forward to growing in this industry.”

Finally, Sokol talked about energy, a topic, he said, that “ties into business aviation [because] fuel efficiency and environmen-tal considerations are linked at the hip going forward.” Sokol, who in addition to running Net-Jets is chairman of MidAmeri-can Energy Holdings, predicted that “the energy industry will go through enormous change depending on what government decides with regard to climate change.” MidAmerican Energy Holdings, an $11 billion (2009 rev-enues) company, which like Net-Jets is also owned by Berkshire Hathaway, is involved in the pro-duction, supply and distribution of diversified energy sources in the U.S. and UK.

“We’ve allowed the politics of environmental considerations to get way ahead of the technologi-cal realities,” Sokol said. “If you think about the globe trying to reduce CO2 by 83 percent by the end of 2050, which is what most of the projections [say] we need to get to, [we need] a complete change in the energy consump-tion methodology of the world. We’ve had 200 years of an econ-omy that’s been built on use of fossil fuels.

“[We’re not] knowledge-able enough to know whether

the science of climate change is accurate enough or a real issue,” Sokol commented. “It’s really a governmental decision that has to be made. But if it’s made, how do we transition?” Sokol answered his own ques-tion by suggesting that “at least $2 billion” should be spent on a nonpolitical effort to study the issue and plot a course forward, and he emphasized that nuclear energy needs to be a big part of any solution.

Other speakers at the Das-sault breakfast included Charles Edelstenne, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, who con-firmed that wind tunnel testing on the upcoming Falcon SMS is done and that the preliminary design is frozen; John Rosanval-lon, president and CEO of Das-sault Falcon Jet and Olivier Villa, senior vice president of Dassault Aviation Civil Aircraft. o


HolograpHic Hud

Saab AB (Booth No. 1933) is preparing to pursue the civil market for holographic head up displays (HUDs). The aerospace company, best known for its Gripen series of jet fighters and Saab 340 commuter turbo-props, began working with the technology in the mid-1970s, according to Lars-Erik Ousback, Saab communications director. The company cur-rently has a demonstration unit installed in a Eurocopter AStar.

Saab, based in Jarfalla, Sweden, said its compact Rigs HUD offers a total field of view and could incorporate enhanced/synthetic vision imag-ery, including HDTV, with data display. Ousback said the Saab HUD is a high-quality, low-price solution for civil operators, but declined to reveal an exact price for the system. –M.H.

Legacy 600, Embraer wanted to increase range and payload with-out sacrificing anything else. “There are two main improve-ments over the 600,” Affonso said. “The new avionics suite offers more flight management capabil-ity and the new engines are 10 per-cent more powerful. This aircraft has about 500 nautical miles more range than the 600, and we didn’t compromise payload.”

Structurally, the aircraft is very different from its prede-cessor. Many parts of the air-craft had to be reinforced to be able to carry increased loads for the range boost, which accom-modates city pairs that include São Paulo to Miami, London to New York or Dubai, Dubai to Singapore and Singapore to Bra-zil. The 650 will carry 13 passen-gers in standard configuration and have a range of 3,900 nm.

“It was also important for us to maintain accessibility,”

Affonso said. “We are certified out of London City. Of course, the 650 won’t be able to carry full fuel for that, but it can do London to Moscow. It can do the steep approaches. Another airport that is very popular with our customers is Cannes, France. That airport has a lot of landing requirements similar to London City, and we made sure the 650 could land there.”

Company engineers also designed the aircraft with fuel tankering in mind when they pushed the max landing weight to 44,902 pounds. Max takeoff weight is 53,572 pounds.

Honeywell is providing the Legacy 650’s Primus Elite cock-pit, which includes vertical navi-gation and future air navigation system capability.

When speaking with custom-ers, Embraer officials learned of their desire for a three-zone cabin. The 650’s interior features a seating area for four, a table area for dining and a space at the back with a divan that folds out to nearly a queen-size bed. The aft area can be sectioned off

with a curtain for privacy. The Legacy 650 also features

the largest cabin-accessible bag-gage compartment in its class, according to Claudio Camelier, Embraer vice president for mar-ket intelligence, corporate jets. “During the market studies, we learned that a lot of customers wanted access in flight. There are a lot of Middle Eastern cus-tomers who fly often with their families and wanted the ability to access the baggage area,” he said.

While the 650 represents a large number of improvements over its counterpart, the Legacy 600, Embraer has not forgotten those customers.

“Most of what has been done with the 650–the new avionics, the sound proofing of the cabin–is being done on the 600 now,” Cam-elier said. The company is also offering an avionics retrofit for 600 operators wanting to upgrade to the Primus Elite suite. o

Embraer gets TC on Legacy 650

NetJets boss preaches patience uContinued from page 1

See www.aintv.com for more Embraer Legacy 650.

uContinued from page 1

Sikorsky invests in Eclipseby Mark Huber

In a surprise announcement here yes-terday, Stratford, Conn.-based Sikorsky Aircraft (Booth No. 1526) said that it had reached an agreement “in principle” to make a substantial minority investment in Eclipse Aerospace (Booth No. 6667).

Executives from both companies pro-vided few specifics about the deal, includ-ing its value. “This agreement in principle affords us an opportunity to invest in a

great product and to further leverage our strong aftermarket and product support capabilities for fixed-wing applications,” said Sikorsky vice president Mark Cherry.

Eclipse CEO Mason Holland told AIN that the investment would not be used to restart serial production of the compa-ny’s EA-500 very light jet, although that remains the company’s eventual goal.

“The money will be used for ongoing

development as we move toward produc-tion,” Holland said. “We are producing the airplane; we just haven’t committed to when. The market is not ready yet. Right now we are refining it and Sikorsky is going to help us with the supply chain.”

Holland explained that the Sikor-sky investment guaranteed Eclipse’s suc-cess, but he could not yet provide specific details on which Sikorsky arm would handle Eclipse parts and logistics.

Dave Powell, Sikorsky vice presi-dent of sales, declined to say if Sikorsky planned to strike a deal for parts produc-tion for Sikorsky products by Eclipse.

“Right now [the deal] provides an oppor-tunity for us to invest in the aircraft. It’s a great product.” He added that Eclipse “will have access to our supply chain.”

Sikorsky Aircraft has been engaged in the acquisition of minority shares in small, innovative companies over the last few years as a way to increase the capacity of its research and development efforts. o

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Proper support keeps older aircraft flyingby Mark Huber

The plunging values of cer-tain models of older business jets has rekindled a timeless debate: when is a jet too old to fly? “A rule of thumb is when the aircraft is somewhere around age 25 to 30 years,” said Conklin & de Decker’s David Wyndham. “At that point costs are really going to be increasing and it will be harder to get the spare parts and the maintenance expertise” for aircraft of that vintage.

While this may be a rule of thumb, it is not an absolute, however. For West Star Avia-tion’s Dave Krogman, the gen-eral manager of the company’s Grand Junction, Colo. facility, “It is more about the pedigree of the airplane.

“How well has it been main-tained throughout its life? If it has been well taken care of, then the cost will not be that great. If, on the other hand, corners have been cut and things have been skipped, you could have some very serious and expensive maintenance,” Krogman said.

Wyndham sees other mar-ket and manufacturing factors influencing the answer. “What

really affects [maintenance avail-ability] is the popularity of the aircraft. There are hundreds of Lear 35s still out there, so if you have one, you can still get really good support for it. But if you have a 25-year-old aircraft and there are only 20 or 30 left in the world, it is going to be a lot tougher to find support.” In general, he said, “the older the aircraft, the smaller the produc-tion run, the more difficult it is to maintain the aircraft.”

However, long production runs do not necessarily guar-antee hassle-free maintenance, Wyndham warned. “A manufac-turer may have built more than a thousand of an aircraft model, but fifty units into the produc-tion run, it changed the pressur-ization valve, or switched out component suppliers or rede-signed a component.”

Both Wyndham and Krog-man agree that the plunging values of certain aircraft have skewed some customer expec-tations when it comes to the cost of maintenance relative to the value of their aircraft. “You can buy an older Learjet 24 or

King Air 90 for a couple of hun-dred thousand dollars,” Wyn-dham said. The prices of some more contemporary models have fallen precipitously over the last two years, according to aircraft price tracking service Vref. A 1984 Cessna Citation III that sold for $3 million two years ago is now headed below $1 million and there are numer-ous other examples of this kind of depreciation.

At the same time, Krogman said, the price of some aircraft maintenance and refurbishment services has actually declined for some items because of new and more efficient methods and price competition. However, he warned that customers who acquire bargain aircraft need to understand that the maintenance requirements of those aircraft have not changed. “An airplane has a cost of maintenance. Some-times when people buy an air-plane inexpensively, they think the maintenance costs will also be low. Well, it is the same air-plane so the maintenance costs haven’t changed. It is still capable of the same mission.”

Krogman said the speed of parts supply can be an issue for some older aircraft, but, in general, maintenance provid-ers have become adept at find-ing airworthy parts. “I have never had an airplane come in here and not been able to find a part,” he said.

Even with falling used air-craft prices, customers con-tinue to upgrade their aircraft,

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

aircraft upgrades on older air-craft. “Once the economy is on the upswing, we believe there will be a surge in older aircraft upgrades,” she said.

Krogman said customers will continue to add upgrades to their aircraft, such as the recent wave of Waas LPV STCs, as long as they remain “the right airplanes for the job.” He cites the Cessna 441 as a good exam-ple of an older aircraft still going strong, despite having been out of production since 1986. How-ever, he does acknowledge that “maintenance costs increase as an aircraft ages.”

At some point that crosses a line that just does not make sense, said Wyndham, who noted that the cost of overhaul-ing an engine can exceed the residual value of an aircraft and that parts scarcities for some models can drive owners to “the salvage market.” o


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

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

Nordic service center maintains Citations

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

“The Nordic Citation Ser-vice Center is ideally situated, as Gothenburg lies at the heart of

Scandinavia,” said EMS man-aging director Stephen Diapère. “Not only are we very conve-niently located for warranty maintenance customers in Swe-den, Denmark, Norway and Finland, but we also offer a new resource for aircraft in Iceland, northern Germany, Russia and the Baltic states.”

EMS, which has been work-ing on Citations since the early 1990s, will now provide 24/7 aircraft-on-ground support, as well as comprehensive assis-tance for visiting flight crew. There are now more than 60 Citations based in the Scandi-navian region. o

Analyst sees uptick in regional salesAlthough deliveries of smaller

regional jets have dropped dra-matically in the past few years, Forecast International expects growing numbers of jets to be delivered from 2010 through 2019. In its recent study, “The Market for Regional Transport

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

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

Major airlines with regional

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

airlines,” the study noted. “The ma jors want to alter, or even scrap altogether, the fixed-fee-per-de-parture arrangements that have traditionally defined the major/regional partnership. Increasing-ly, regionals are being asked to as-sume much of the risk, and much of the cost, of feeder operations.”

While ATR, Bombardier and Embraer will remain dominant in regional airliner production, new models are entering in the larger-size category and will be competing against narrowbody airliners like the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737. Bombardier’s C Series spans seating ranges from 100 to 145 and Embraer’s E-Jets range from 75 to 125 seats. A re-engining program for the E-Jets could mean that Embraer com-petes in the 125-plus seating category.

Other regional jet programs are coming and will add to the competition among RJ manu-facturers and offer more choices to airlines. o

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com10aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

Jets such as Bombardier’s CRJ are expected to account for the lion’s share of regional

deliveries over the next decade.

Boeing RepoRts 787 pRogRess

The sixth and final Boe-ing 787 to join the flight test fleet flew for the first time ear-lier this month from Paine Field in Everett, Wash. The airplane, ZA006, landed at Seattle’s Boe-ing Field as planned, but two hours earlier than expected. A Boeing spokesperson said a maintenance message dur-ing the flight forced Captains Christine Walsh and Bill Rober-son to cut short the mission “as a precautionary measure.”

ZA006, the second 787 equipped with General Elec-tric GEnx engines to fly, took off from Paine Field at 11:41 a.m. local time and landed at Boeing Field one hour and four minutes later.

“It’s great to have our last flight-test airplane join the fleet,” said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “We have been focused on completing the testing required for certifica-tion of the 787 with Rolls-Royce engines because that is the first model we deliver. A great deal of the testing we’ve done also applies to the 787s with GE engines and won’t need to be repeated.” –G.P.

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

The high level of technology employed in Embraer’s newest business jet family, the Legacy 450 and 500 program, enables detailed exploration and development to take place much further ahead of first flight, according to Eduardo Cam-elier, chief test pilot for the Brazilian manufacturer.

“We are ‘flying’ this airplane a lot more before first flight than we did the 170,” he said. Camelier was project pilot for the 170 program and is intimately familiar with the airliner’s fly-by-wire (FBW) system and the devel-opment and testing needed to certify that airplane.

It is much easier, with pow-erful cheap computers, to rep-licate an airplane by building an engineering test simulator and especially so with FBW designs. The Legacy 450 and 500 are even better suited to simulation, being Embraer’s first design and also the first business jets ever to use a full closed-loop FBW flight control system on all flight controls. On the 170, Camelier said, “We started flying simulation about a year before the first flight. [With the 450/500], we’re already flying maybe two or three years before first the flight. We’re doing a lot more testing on this airplane.”

The Legacy 500 will be the first of Embraer’s new family to fly. First metal was cut in April, and the landing gear has already been assembled. By the middle of next year, the fuselage and wings should come together and the new jet is scheduled to take off during the second half of next year. “We are advancing well on this proj-ect,” said Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer executive vice president executive jets.

Both the 450 and the stretched fuse-lage 500 share the same Honeywell HTF7500E engines, Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suite with

synthetic and enhanced vision and Hon-eywell Ovation Select cabin management and entertainment system. The jets have flat-floor cabins that feature 6,000-foot cabin altitude at maximum altitude, 40 cu ft of internally accessible heated and pressurized baggage space, a B/E Aero-space vacuum lavatory and club seats that fold into beds.

“There are no airplanes with the combination of characteristics of these airplanes in the market today,” said

Affonso. And the technol-ogy, from FBW to the avion-ics and cabin amenities, is just as important to buyers as per-formance, he explained. “They want to have an airplane that is updated so it preserves resid-ual value into the future. The customer associates technol-ogy with safety. It’s on top of their minds. Also they perceive, in terms of fuel efficiency, the ability to optimize routes and

spend less fuel and be more green, and they associate new technologies with environmental friendliness.”

FBW Design FBW is not new. The 1970s-era F-16

fighter was designed with an analog FBW system and airliners–like most Airbuses and Boeing’s 777–employ FBW flight control systems. FBW in business avia-tion is rarer, with the only certified air-craft so far being Dassault’s Falcon 7X. The Gulfstream G650 has FBW flight controls and should be the next FBW business jet to be certified.

Embraer’s 170/190 family and thus the business jet-derived Lineage 1000 also features FBW, but the Legacy 450 and 500 will be the lowest cost FBW business jets–at $15.25 million and $18.4 million, respectively–and also the first to feature full closed-loop FBW systems. Like the

7X and Airbuses, the Legacy 450/500 will have sidestick controllers. The Lineage 1000 and G650 have traditional yokes, as do Boeing’s 777 and new 787.

Fabrício Reis Caldeira is flight control laws manager at Embraer and a key player in the design of the Legacy 450/500. “We are bringing a technology now available only in larger and more expensive air-planes to the midsize, midlight category of business jet,” he said. “The reason we adopted the sidestick is the reduction in weight, maintenance and spare parts com-pared to a yoke. It provides a better view of displays in the cockpit.”

In the FBW Legacys, he explained, “pilot inputs are transmitted to the flight control computer through a digital databus, and the flight control computer also receives information from the airplane’s sensors and then provides the com-mand to the remote electronic unit that commands the flight control surface.”

In the 450/500 FBW sys-tem, there are only two modes of operation: normal and direct. Normal uses the flight control computers and senses pilot input then commands the flight control surface to move to deliver the result requested by the pilot. Direct mode is used if there is a failure causing the flight control com-puters not to be available. The controls are still actuated electronically–there is no mechanical backup system–but the pilot’s commands are relayed directly and the flight controls move in proportion to the pilot’s control of the sidestick, instead of the computers selecting the amount of movement in the controls.

What makes the 450/500 FBW sys-tem unique is that it is used to drive all the flight controls–rudder, spoilers, flaps, ailerons and elevator–and that it is a closed-loop system. Closed-loop means that the pilot isn’t directly controlling the rate of flight control surface move-ment. In an open-loop system, the pilot’s movement of the stick, yoke or rudder

pedals moves the flight control surface a corresponding amount, which means, said Caldeira, “that there is a direct link between the pilot pedal input and the rudder [or other open-loop flight con-trol]. If the pilot applies full pedal, it means that the rudder is going to move to full authority. When you have a closed loop control, if a pilot pushes the pedal, it provides a sideslip angle command. And then the surface moves but it moves in a more damped way so the pilot achieves the sideslip command that he wants.”

Test pilot Camelier provided more detail. “Normally in a closed-loop control, you’re controlling rates. It you put the side-stick to the left, you’re commanding some roll rate instead of just commanding aile-rons and roll spoilers. In our airplane, if [the sidestick] is in the neutral position, it’s commanding zero roll rate. Even if I have a gust or hardover of one of the spoiler panels, of course there’s the transient that’s going to happen, but right after the tran-sient, the airplane will control the rolling motion. That means even with the har-dover of a spoiler, it will command a little bit of roll and then it stops because the sidestick is in zero. It’s always com-manding zero roll rate. So instead of always having input [equal] control to the surface, input means you’re com-manding a rate that you want. And the airplane will do whatever it has to do to give you the rate.”

The only other aircraft with full closed-loop FBW in all axes are the Air-bus A380 and Boeing 787, according to Caldeira. The Falcon 7X has mostly closed-loop controls, except for the rud-der. The Airbus A340-600 has a FBW

rudder, but it is open-loop, he said. The Boeing 777 has closed-loop FBW in the pitch axis and open-loop FBW in the lat-eral and yaw axes. The Embraer 170/190 uses FBW in pitch and yaw and hybrid FBW in the roll axis, with FBW spoilers and con-ventional ailerons.

The most sophisticated ele-ment of the 170/190 FBW sys-tem is an angle-of-attack (AOA) limiter to prevent stalls, Calde-ira said. This also helps with a

tailstrike protection feature during take-off and landing and for enabling steep approaches at certain constrained air-ports, such as London City. Embraer engineers learned a lot about flight con-trols on the 170/190, he said, and “then we convinced the management that we could do the next step–the first Embraer full fly-by-wire airplane.”

Envelope ProtectionFBW design allows engineers to add

envelope protection (see chart on left), one of the benefits of the new technology. But there are different philosophies for enve-lope protection. Boeing’s 787 has partial envelope protection, according to Calde-ira, while Airbus and Dassault employ full protection. The 170/190, with its AOA limiter, offers partial envelope protection.

Embraer’s philosophy is to allow the



Eduardo Camelier, chief test pilot

FBW Philosophies Comparison

Boeing 787 Airbus 380Dassault Falcon 7X

Embraer E170/190

EmbraerLegacy 450/500

Sidestick Yes Yes Yes

Closed loop control Yes Yes Yes Yes

Flight envelope protection Partial Full Full Partial Full

Maximum maneuver capability in normal flight envelope

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Thrust lever driven autothrottle Yes Yes Yes Yes

Dispatch without radio altimeter Yes Yes

A smoothly molded stick replaces the bulky control yoke in the Legacy 450 and 500, giving pilots precise finger-tip control of the fly-by-wire system.

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

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Fabricio Caldeira, flight control laws manager

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Gama sees positive signs for charter by Charles Alcock

It is just more than two years since Gama Aviation (Booth No. 927) acquired PrivatAir and a foothold in the U.S. aircraft man-agement and charter market. The timing of the deal may not have

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

the mother of all business avia-tion marketplaces.

“The U.S. is a very mature market and we have focused on delivering the core values that we stand for and have had a very

good response from the Ameri-can client base,” Gama CEO Marwan Khalek told AIN.

Gama is now well on the way to being a global business avia-tion group, with operations in the U.S., Europe and the Mid-dle East.

So how does it view mar-ket conditions as the industry approaches the start of what

could be the fourth year of an historic slump?

“It’s slightly better than it was twelve months ago,” said Khalek. “At that time we were wondering whether the market was bottoming out…Now we see a gradual trend in the right direction, but it will be a shal-low climb, and there won’t even be a steady time for some time to come–there is simply no consis-tency in the market.”

According to Khalek, de mand has risen slightly in recent months and this has improved flight activ-ity volumes and charter rates to some degree. “But over the past twelve months rates have been crazy,” he said. “People were buy-ing cash flow and that’s just not sustainable. It’s not right for the [aircraft] owners, and manage-ment companies should be more responsible.”

Business Uptick ExpectedGama’s response to the chal-

lenges thrown its way in the wake of the financial crisis has been to decelerate its growth plans to the extent that expectations and tar-gets originally set for next year have been pushed back to 2012 or 2013. The company opted not to cut back on the size of its opera-tion during 2009’s difficult trad-ing conditions, and it still operates more than 72 aircraft. “We have been through a very testing situa-tion that has made us take a hard look at the business and fine-tune things,” said Khalek.

Gama broke into the prom-ising Middle East market early this year, securing a commercial air operator’s certificate in the United Arab Emirates in Feb-ruary. It has four aircraft based in the region and expects to add one or two more by year-end.

“When things started to go south [in the charter market], there was a lot of nervousness and uncertainty as operators went into a defensive survival mode,” said Khalek. “There are enough signals now to suggest that [current market conditions are] business as normal and that 2006 to 2008 was a boom period and it is not realistic to expect that we will come back to that.”

What will it take to turn things around more conclusively? “We would have liked to have seen bet-ter performance in terms of the general health of the corporate world,” concluded Khalek. “The traditional corporate groups are now in reasonable health, but there is not enough [business activity] going on. As soon as this picks up we will see better-than-expected demand because there isn’t a lack of appetite for [business aviation].” o



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z P&WC Cuts AOG Parts Shipments To 24 HoursIn an effort to better guarantee AOG parts shipments within

24 hours, Pratt & Whitney Canada (Booth No. 2704) last month opened a new parts distribution center in Memphis. The new facility’s proximity to FedEx’s national hub will allow custom-ers to place orders until midnight EST for delivery the next day, according to Raffaele Virgili, vice president of customer service for P&WC. Virgili said that approximately 40 percent of all AOG orders are received between 5 p.m., P&WC’s old cut-off time for next day delivery, and midnight.

Virgili said the new warehouse primarily supports AOG requirements and line maintenance-level orders for “over-the-counter” customers and that Pratt & Whitney Component Solu-tions, based in Muskegon, Mich., will continue to stock material required to support repair and overhaul-level activity and diag-nostics, prognostics and health management customers. P&WC customers can continue to order all parts from Component Solu-tions at the same toll-free number, (800) 872-1792.

z Comlux America Outfitting BBJComlux America, the Indianapolis-based completion and

refurbishment center affiliate of The Comlux Group (Booth No. 3851), has signed a contract to outfit a new Boeing Business Jet.

Comlux America was approved earlier this year by Boeing as a center for completion and refurbishment of its BBJ line. It is the fourth order received by Comlux for a narrow-body executive/VIP completion since the center was opened two years ago.

According to CEO David Edinger, Comlux has an A320 Pres-tige, an ACJ and another Boeing in its green completion pipeline and a 767 coming in for an executive/VIP refurbishment.

z Winglets Saving 4.5 Million Gallons During NBAA Seattle-based Aviation Partners claimed yesterday that its

blended winglets will save almost 4.5 million gallons of fuel dur-ing the current three-day NBAA Convention. The winglets have been installed on more than 4,000 business and commercial aircraft, according to the company, which credited the winglets for total worldwide fuel savings to date of more than 2.3 billion gallons. Aviation Partners is exhibiting here at the NBAA Conven-tion at Booth No. 4508.

z JetEx Donates 1 Percent of Revenues To UnicefJetEx Flight Support, an aviation services company with more

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

z WinAir Launching Charter Service in TaipeiWinAir of Taiwan announced at the NBAA Convention that it

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

z Tai Ping Offering Aviation Carpeting HereCarpet manufacturer Tai Ping has launched the Vestige

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

news clips

GE’s TechX to cut fuel burn and emissions by Evan Sweetman

Officials with GE Avia-tion announced the launch of the TechX engine at NBAA on Monday, but weren’t about to go into detail until Bombardier made its formal announcement of the Global 7000 and 8000.

A technical briefing Tuesday gave more insight into what we can expect from the engine when it receives certification in 2016.

The company hopes to see the TechX best its competitors in fuel burn by about 8 percent. Officials also believe it will over-step emission requirements by 50 percent.

When addressing require-ments set forth by the Commit-tee on Aviation Environmental Protection, GE Aviation vice president Brad Mottier said engineers would take into account emissions during take-off and landing, when they are most concentrated.

“There is data to suggest that nitrous oxide emissions at alti-tude are an issue as well,” Mot-tier said. “We will be looking very closely into that to see if

improvements can be made.The new powerplant employs

a few tricks GE Aviation has developed in its commercial and military markets.

“I was given the ability to go around GE like a kid in a candy store to develop the business and GA engines,” Mottier said.

The lowered emissions and higher-efficiency of the engine come from GE’s branded eCore Technology, mostly design phi-losophies tailored to the com-mercial market.

A spinoff of that technol-ogy is Leap-X which was a hon-ing of the same concepts for

narrow-body aircraft. GE also applied the “blisk”

it developed for some of its mil-itary engines. Normally used for compressor blades, a blisk is a single-piece fan, in which the blades and the disks that con-nect them to the hub are hewn from a single piece of metal.

“The engineers are going to have to design the fan to be much more tolerant of strikes and FOD,” said Chuck Nugent, CF34 program manager. “We will, of course, test it to the standards required for certification and beyond.”

Engineers must also take good care to ensure as much work can be done on-wing as possible.

“We’ve done a digital pre-assembly which allows us to sim-ulate the engine to test ease of tooling,” Nugent said.

TechX and Bombardier aren’t the only names GE is dropping around the show this year. The

company is still active with the two programs that started its busi-ness and general aviation unit: the HF120 it is building for the Hon-daJet and the rebirth of the Walter M601, dubbed the H80.

“We are in talks with air-framers about both the H80 and HF120,” Mottier said, but declined to go into further detail.

GE engineers have been duti-fully putting the HondaJet pow-erplant through its paces in a very unusual manner. Its first run took place at altitude. Rather, simulated altitude, as they put the engine in an altitude cham-ber in Cincinnati, Ohio, and ran it up to 46,000 ft without ever leaving the ground, according to Mottier. Since then, they’ve got-ten it up to Mach 0.85 at altitude and have yet to actually put it on an airframe.

Engineers also ran the engine through the turbulence chamber GE Commercial Engines used for the GE90 flying on Boeing’s 777 airliner.

Mottier said he expects the HF120 will receive FAA and EASA certification next year. o

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

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

Eclipsing thE old

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


Crane gets STC for Learjet 60 tire checkersby Evan Sweetman

Crane Aerospace (Booth No. 2916) has received certification of its SmartStem wireless tire pressure system for the Bombar-dier Learjet 60 following an Air-worthiness Directive issued by the FAA in July.

The AD was the result of an investigation into a fatal 2008 Learjet 60 crash that the NTSB reported was caused by under-inflated tires.

Crane’s SmartStem replaces the existing tire-inflation stem. Sensors imbedded in the stem mean the valve cap doesn’t have to be removed as fre-quently, reducing the amount of gas lost from the tire. Gas is also lost every time ordi-nary tire pressure checks are done with regular systems. The stem’s sensors commu-nicate tire pressure through a wireless connection to a hand-held device carried by pilots or maintenance crews. The stem simplifies checking tire pres-sures, especially on the Lear-jet 60, where the AD requires checks every 96 hours.

Crane engineers designed

the system so it can be retrofit-ted to any existing aircraft. It is currently certified on the Cessna Sovereign and Citation X and is being installed on all new-pro-duction Boeing 777s.

The 2008 Learjet crash occured after the pilots aborted a high-speed takeoff after the jet’s underinflated main gear tires exploded. That accident killed four people and left two with severe burns.

In the Safety Board’s anal-ysis, NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman commented, “This accident chain started with something as basic as inade-quate tire inflation and ended in tragedy. This entirely avoid-able crash should reinforce to everyone in the aviation com-munity that there are no small maintenance items because every time an airplane takes off, lives are on the line.” o


mastering their jobs

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

joinjet named Launch customer for hawker 800XPr uPgrade

Hawker Beechcraft Services Tuesday named JoinJet of Denmark as the launch customer for its Hawker 800XPR upgrade. JoinJet is the charter division of the airline Sun-Air of Scandinavia.

The XPR program offers “significant improvements over the perfor-mance and capability of the 800XP,” according to Hawker Beechcraft, which said Hawker winglets and Honeywell TFE731-50R engines give the 800XPR “greater range, better time to climb and faster cruise speeds.” Optional avionics and stylized interiors are available as part of the upgrade. n

standardaero

gives can $1,500

StandardAero and Cor-porate Angel Network (CAN) announced that CAN will receive a donation of more than $1,500 in conjunction with the second annual Busi-ness Aviation Motorcycle Charity Ride, which will take place after the closing of the current NBAA Convention.

“The great service CAN provides to the families and individuals who deal with the daily battle against [can-cer] is incredibly important,” said Scott Taylor, Standard Aero’s senior vice president of business aviation (and an avid motorcycler who owns a Har-ley-Davidson motorcycle). “It is our pleasure to help coordi-nate a contribution.”

Corporate Angel Network (Booth No. 7331), which is based in White Plains, N.Y., arranges free flights to treat-ment for cancer patients, using empty seats on corpo-rate flights.

StandardAero (Booth No. 7601), which is based in Tempe, Ariz., specializes in engine maintenance, repair and over-haul, major modifications and aircraft refurbishment. –J.B.

Tokyo Haneda airport welcoming more bizav by James Wynbrandt

Business aviation access to Tokyo is about to get easier. Beginning October 31, Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport (RJTT), previously opened to business aircraft arrivals from overseas only between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., will allow eight slots for domestic and international flights (up to four arrivals) during the previously prohib-ited hours. Slots for nighttime arrivals remain unlimited.

“It’s important to let [busi-ness aviation users] know that Haneda is open for business,” said Kazuyuki Tamura, auditor and head of the Japan Business Aviation Association (JBAA), which has been working to loosen restrictions on international arriv-als at Haneda since 1996.

Previously, all daytime inter-national business aircraft arriv-als to Tokyo had to use Narita International Airport, about an hour and a half by ground trans-portation from Tokyo.

Business aviation has been slow to gain a toehold in Japan because the culture stresses pub-lic over private transportation. But changing attitudes and the recent completion of a fourth runway at Haneda, which is capable of handing commercial aircraft, led to the policy change, Tamura explained.

Aircraft parking has been extended at Haneda, from a maximum of five days to seven days. Moreover, business air-craft arriving at Haneda pre-viously had to park far from the terminal, requiring a long drive across the field with fre-quent stops for taxiing aircraft. Now, aircraft parking is close to the airport’s new interna-tional terminal, further speed-ing operations.

“Japan is now more open to business aviation than ever before,” said Chris Buchholz, Universal Weather and Avia-tion president, Asia-Pacific. “We

would encourage [Tokyo bound] people using corporate jets to go to Haneda.” Handling company Universal Weather has offices at Haneda, as well as Narita, Osaka and Sapporo.

Tamura noted that the “deregulation” at Haneda, as the JBAA calls it, is “a foot in the door,” and that as business avia-tion usage and demand for slots at Haneda increase, the govern-ment will likely allow more traf-fic. Looking ahead, Tamura said Tokyo also has four air force bases–two used by Japan and two by the U.S. Ultimately, JBAA would like to see one or more of them turned to dual use, further increasing access for pri-vate aviation.

Buchholz noted that whereas international arriv-als of business aircraft were formerly almost exclusively from the U.S., the rise of gen-eral aviation throughout the region has changed the picture, with more traffic coming from Hong Kong, China, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Convention attendees who want to know more about flying into Japan are invited to visit the Universal Weather booth (No. 3927) for more information. o

ken bLanchard keynotes nbaa conferenceBestselling author Dr. Ken Blanchard will be the keynote speaker at

the NBAA’s 19th annual Leadership Conference, which is set for Feb. 23 to 24, 2011, in San Diego.

Blanchard has written more than 40 books on leadership, includ-ing The One Minute Manager (coauthored with Spencer Johnson), which has sold 13 million copies. In 1979, Blanchard and his wife Mar-gie cofounded the Ken Blanchard Companies, a management training and consulting firm. He teaches in the Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego and is a visiting lecturer at Cornell Univer-sity, where he received bachelor’s and doctorate degrees.

“We are delighted that Dr. Blanchard will join us for our 2011 Lead-ership Conference,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “He truly embodies the conference theme, ‘Engaging Leadership.’” –J.B.


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Hawker 4000 sets new speed records

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

“These records are a testament to

the performance and technology of the Hawker 4000,” said Shawn Vick, HBC executive vice president. “We are pleased to add these records to the growing list of accolades and positive feedback that we are receiving from the aviation community.”

The latest record, from Bedford, Mass., to London, covered 3,284 nm at an average speed of 542.70 mph. Five previous records, announced at the European Business Aviation Con-vention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva were from Lisbon to Berlin (482.13 mph), Berlin to Milan (395.62 mph), Milan to Bahrain (480. 14 mph), Bahrain to London (454.42 mph) and London to Dubai (540.39 mph).

The Hawker 4000 can climb from sea level to FL370 in just over 14 minutes and has a maximum cruise speed of Mach 0.84. o

Hill Aircraft FBO celebrates 55 years at Fulton Countyby Matt Thurber

Local Atlanta FBO Hill Aircraft & Leasing (Booth No. 6244) is celebrating its 55th year at Fulton County Airport-Brown Field here at NBAA. The family-owned FBO was founded by U.S. Navy aviator Guy Hill, Sr., in 1955. While a pilot for Eastern Airlines, Hill started buying and selling airplanes and then bought an FBO at Fulton County for $10,000. He built that into a diverse busi-ness with FBO operations, aircraft man-agement and charter, maintenance, parts distribution and aircraft sales.

Current FBO president Larry West-brook married one of Guy’s daughters, Carol, and began working for the com-pany in 1984, starting in line service and then working his way up to president.

Earlier this month, Hill Aircraft marked the anniversary by inviting airport patrons and colleagues to a celebratory breakfast catered by the Waffle House restaurant chain. Waffle House also had its 55th anni-versary this year and brought a truckload of waffles, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and sausage to the party.

The Hill family did a major renova-tion of the FBO in 2005 to coincide with its 50th anniversary and prepare for the

last time the NBAA convention was in Atlanta in 2007. The airport enjoys an advantage over other Atlanta-area air-ports, according to Westbrook, because it has the only 24/7 control tower besides Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Fulton County can accept inter-national arrivals, with on-call U.S. Cus-toms officers available.

“Business has been challenging, but hav-ing multiple operations under one roof has helped,” Westbrook said. “Fuel and hangar sales are our bread and butter, but when it’s off in one department, others take up the slack. I think pricing on airplanes is still depressed and probably will be for a while. It’s still going to be some time before it picks up. I don’t know if it’s the worst I’ve seen, but it’s different. It has affected everybody, no matter what business they’re in.”

Although fuel sales were down in 2009, volume grew during every month of this year except July and August, he said, thanks in part to a military fueling contract. Hill Aircraft “has been here a long time,” he said, “and hopefully we’ll be here for a long time to come” deliv-ering the “sensational Southern service” that the company is known for. o

Elliott Aviation hits diamond anniversaryby David A. Lombardo

Elliott Aviation of Moline, Ill., is cel-ebrating its 75th anniversary at NBAA by increasing its capability, passing on “significant” savings to customers and giving visitors to its booth (No. 7127) an opportunity to enter a contest for a chance to win $75,000.

“The big news is we’ve received FAA approval as a Class IV repair station,” said Jeff Hyland, the company’s CFO. “It represents a significant cost sav-ings for our customers. Illinois recently passed a law that exempts sales tax on parts and labor if the repair station is

Class IV certified. Until now we have had to add a 7-percent tax, which can be very significant with larger aircraft.”

The company will also be displaying its King Air 350 Garmin G1000 panel retrofit at the Garmin display (NBAA Static No. 670). The retrofit is available for the King Air C90, 200 and B200.

Elliott has installed 23 G1000 sys-tems in C90B and B200/200 series King Airs–more, says the company, than all other Garmin dealers combined. In the past 12 months, Elliott has earned FAA and EASA certification for its dig-ital flight data recorder for Beechjet 400/400A and Hawker 400XP jets and signed a service center agreement with Jet Support Services. In addition, Elliott Aviation has purchased, refurbished and resold eight Beechjet 400A/Hawker 400XPs. “We’re focusing on the next 75 years,” Hyland said. “We’re in the pro-cess of obtaining AS9100B:2004 and ISO 9001:2008 certification and antici-pate completion in the second quarter of 2011. We are in the certification pro-cess for NDT Level III.” o

Safe Flight PDS aided Enstrom in Thai army saleby R. Randall Padfield

The first Enstrom 480B helicop-ters to be equipped with Powerline Detection Systems (PDS), which are designed and manufactured by Safe Flight Instrument (Booth No. 1615) of White Plains, N.Y., will soon be flying. Safe Flight has begun delivery of three such systems to Enstrom, which will install them on new 480Bs destined for the Royal Thai Army. The single-turbo-shaft helicopters are planned for entry into service with the army in the first quarter of next year.

According to Safe Flight, its PDS was a key component in Enstrom’s sale of 16 480Bs to the Thai Army. To be based in the Lopburi province of Thai-land, the helicopters will be used pri-marily for training. The Rolls-Royce

250-powered Enstrom 480B is a variant of the TH-28, which Enstrom devel-oped for the U.S. Army’s new training helicopter. It entered service in 1993.

The FAA- and EASA-certified PDS detects the electromagnetic fields of live power lines and alerts pilots of the dan-ger with visual and aural warnings. As the aircraft flies closer to the power line, the warning intensifies. Safe Flight plans to offer PDS to other Enstrom 480 oper-ators as a production option and retrofit.

In business since 1946, Safe Flight has designed, developed and manufac-tured numerous products for aircraft, including stall-warning systems, angle-of-attack systems, autothrottles, wind-shear warning systems and exceedance warning systems. o

Think iT’s Too big for our ciTaTion?

For some reason, men have the reputation of always wanting a big-ger car, a bigger boat, a bigger house or big-ger airplane. But to make use of these P&WC engines, you need a big airplane.

Elliott has put 23 G1000 systems in C90B and B200/300 series King Airs,

more than all other dealers.


Smartphone apps for aviation find fuel cost, FBO info and much moreby Zach O’Brien

Applications for smart-phones are a growing trend among business aviation com-panies, which are embracing this technology in order to add to the convenience of their ser-vices. The most popular of these phone apps are pilot-friendly information databases.

Signature Flight Support has released the iFBO app for the iPhone and iPad. The app can get up-to-date fuel prices and

calculate the price breakdown based on the aircraft type. The iFBO app can also find a Sig-nature FBO, provide contact information and show a list of services and amenities avail-able at the location. A location link to Google Maps is also available. The application can be downloaded for free on the iTunes store.

With smartphone apps, pilots don’t need to access a computer

with an Internet connection to access flight information. Uni-versal Avionics announced a free phone app for Droid users that can connect right into the cock-pit. The Universal Droid app connects the phone to Univer-sal’s UniNet, which provides the customers’ account navigation database, operator assistance and billing information. The app can access Universal con-tact information from anywhere

in the world and is available to view in the cockpit through the company’s new solid-state data-transfer unit.

West Star Aviation’s new Experience On Call applica-tion provides a comprehensive worldwide directory that allows customers to inquire about ser-vice needs specific to their air-craft or geographic location.

JetNet is releasing an app that can access its Evolution information network. The data includes aircraft owner records, market summaries, aircraft for sale and aircraft performance specifications. The app is avail-able for iPhone, BlackBerry and Droid phones.

Universal Weather and

Aviation’s mobile Web app gives customers access to all of the company’s services from any type of smartphone. Instead of developing software apps for each type of smart-phone, the mobile Web allows any smartphone user to access Universal’s data and it also avoids the need to submit apps to smartphone companies’ stores for approval.

Charter operator Solairus Aviation has released a mobile Web app that enables users to view one-way flights as they come available. The mobile app was created in an attempt to occupy empty leg flights and alert potential customers to these discounted flights. o

Lone Link to the past

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

Oviv launches remote-control Sentinel 100L

Oviv Security Technologies is launch-ing a remote-control option for the Sen-tinel 100L security system for guarding aircraft on the ground. The new remote control unit has a user interface with a large touchscreen display, providing fast and easy access to all the Sentinel 100L’s functions.

With the remote control, Sentinel can be operated just about anywhere in the world via the best-available communica-tion option, be it GSM, Internet-based GPRS or Bluetooth. The remote control also provides an integrated checklist for easy reference.

Via a password-protected barrier, users can manage the system’s operating pro-files and set up any number of personnel to receive security messages. They can choose between seeing video on demand of the protected aircraft or receive only intrusion notifications. The system can provide time-stamped intrusion reports and videos.

“The rise in insurance premiums cou-pled with an ever-increasing number of security threats means that aircraft secu-rity on the ground is of paramount importance,” said Bruno Combe, CEO of France-based Oviv (Booth No. 8730). “Our systems are designed to secure and monitor aircraft in any situation and con-tribute to meet FAA, EASA and NBAA recommendations for business jet security.”

Oviv claims that Sentinel is the only security system to protect aircraft from multiple threats, including damage on the ramp, tampering, vandalism or sto-len fuel. The system has been designed to guard a perimeter area around the entire aircraft using a radar beacon fitted to the aircraft (the Sentinel 100E version, which looks like a miniature robot) or placed on the ramp in a ruggedized suitcase. The units are lightweight and only take a cou-ple of minutes to set up. o

FBO chain TAC Air expanding, upgrading by Jeff Burger

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

movie theater, exercise facilities, show-ers, a pilot lounge, conference rooms and an art gallery. TAC Air’s contract with the airport mandates that the entire $11 million project will be turned over to Blue Grass Airport at the end of the company’s 20-year lease.

Before opening the executive termi-nal at Blue Grass, TAC Air upgraded and renovated several of its other FBO facil-ities. In addition, the company is con-sidering expansion through acquisitions.

“We’re taking a serious look at several opportunities,” Sasfai said.

Finally, TAC Air is introducing a “Win an iPad at Our Pad” customer loyalty program. To participate, customers reg-ister their aircraft tail numbers at www.tacair.com and then log in and record the fuel they’ve purchased from any TAC Air FBO. After purchases total 25,000 gal-lons, a customer receives an Apple iPad. For those who buy fuel in smaller quanti-ties, iPod prizes are also available. o

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ViaSat takes over SkyLink from Arincby Harry Weisberger

ViaSat, a satellite communication net-work and equipment provider based in Carlsbad, Calif., announced Tuesday its acquisition of the SkyLink airborne broadband service from Arinc and the transfer of previous SkyLink business jet subscribers to ViaSat’s Yonder high-speed Internet access network.

The acquisition adds about 80 pri-vately owned business jets to the Yonder network, which operates internationally in the Ku band of microwave energy. It also adds Ku-band spacecraft to the net-work’s satellite capacity. Through its pre-ferred service partner, Satcom Direct, ViaSat has over the past few months been gradually transitioning the former Sky-Link customers to the Yonder network.

Yonder service will provide former SkyLink customers the same quality of service, but with an expanded coverage area thanks to integration of the for-mer SkyLink Ku band satellites with the Yonder network. The Yonder high-speed in-flight Internet service now spans the globe, with continuous coverage of virtu-ally all major city pairs.

The mobile Ku band satellite net-work uses ViaSat technology for seamless

switching between satellites as aircraft move between coverage areas, to provide near-global IP service. In the deal, ViaSat also gains access to STCs held by Arinc to facil-itate installation of ViaSat Yonder-com-patible VMT-1500 Ku band equipment on Boeing Business Jets (BBJ), Cessna Cita-tion X and Challenger 604 aircraft.

ViaSat designs, manufactures, provides and operates a range of broadband avia-tion communication products, including airborne transceiver antennas, modems and ground station networks for military, civil government, airline and business aviation users. It is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technology and products to the U.S. gov-ernment, and owns WildBlue, a primary Ka band satellite broadband service provider.

The Yonder satellite communica-tion service, being featured this week at ViaSat’s NBAA Booth No. 6126 in Hall C, currently provides Ku band service–in the mid-super high frequency (SHF) range–to large cabin business jets as well as airline and military users. However, eyeing the near-term potential for much greater data handling capacity and trans-fer speeds in the higher frequency Ka band (at the bottom of the extremely high frequency (EHF) range, ViaSat and JetBlue Airways last month announced their intent to create “the industry’s best inflight broadband for commercial avi-ation, using ViaSat’s innovative high-capacity satellite technology.” It will start with a currently operating ViaSat Wild-Blue-1 Ka band satellite now serving res-idential customers and a higher capacity ViaSat-1 being built for ViaSat by Loral,

which is due to be launched in 2011 from the Russian-operated space complex, Bai-konur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Under the arrangement, by mid-2012 JetBlue’s fleet of more than 160 Embraer 190 and Airbus A320 transports is to be using the ViaSat Ka band satellites. ViaSat will provide Ka band antenna components and SurfBeam2 modems for installation on the airliners. JetBlue sub-sidiary LiveTV will install and lead the certification process of the new system, manage integration of the ViaSat broad-band and related components onboard the aircraft and blend the Wi-Fi-enabled service into the overall cabin experience.

Bill Sullivan, ViaSat business devel-opment director, said the high-capacity Ku band service will initially propagate through the commercial airline market, military and civilian government users before beginning to enter the large cabin business jet field in the 2013-2014 time-frame. Sullivan noted that the antenna size required for Ku and Ka band opera-tion currently limits it to the BBJ, Global Express, Gulfstream G650 and Chal-lenger 604-605 classes of business aircraft.

He added that Inmarsat has planned to offer Ka band service through a new I-5 series of geosynchronous spacecraft beginning in 2014. o

Otonomy Parabellum guards aircraft

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

video cameras mounted on the exterior of the aircraft. The cameras can also provide video for the cabin entertainment system.

Aircraft operators can remotely access the video feed via 3G smartphones. The

unit is managed via a touchscreen control interface, which itself is security-protected because operators have to identify them-selves via a radio frequency identification reader, inputting a personal identification number or with a fingerprint reader.

The camera, which is installed in a low-drag housing, simultaneously gener-ates both analog and digital video out-puts to cockpit and cabin displays. It can be installed in either the aircraft tail or the belly of the fuselage. The high-performance 1080i imager can work in almost any conditions from bright sun-shine to low light.

The touchscreen interface unit is a dis-play mounted in the aircraft cabin that allows the operator to review security event information and video recordings. It has ultra-low power consumption, allow-ing it to operate without an external bat-tery for up to 30 days without recharging.

Parabellum also incorporates a video control and communication unit. This includes motion analysis software to min-imize false alarm rates and it can detect human activity at up to almost 200 feet from the aircraft.

The complete Parabellum system weighs just over two pounds, barely one-fifth of the weight of the lightest unit in the competing family of video security systems, according to Otonomy director Guillaume Daudon. –C.A.

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com22aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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

Argus writes a new Cheq on evaluation of charter ops by Mark Huber

Argus International (Booth No. 4145) has revamped its Charter Evaluation and Qualification (Cheq) system with a new user interface to ease searching and unlimited TripCheqs.

The new system allows users to search, manage and perform due dili-gence all in one program. Users can now search operators by Argus ratings, air-craft operator, aircraft model and geo-graphic location. The new system is integrated with other Argus products including TripCheq, Asset Monitor, Charter Rating Verification and Insur-ance Document Management Program. The Trip Explorer feature allows char-ter brokers to determine if the trip they quoted, but never booked, flew and if so, with which charter operator.

Argus recently formed partnerships with the Air Charter Guide on-line, Jet-Vizor, and CharterMatrix to make Argus ratings and search filters available.

Charter operators can achieve favor-able Argus ratings by a combination of allowing their data to be analyzed and an on-site audit by Argus. Currently,

421 operators have received either gold, gold plus, or platinum Argus ratings. The company manages data on 1,100 charter operators, 5,400 aircraft and 21,000 pilots.

Argus CEO Joe Moeggenberg said the number of operators seeking plat-inum standing, the company’s high-est rating, is growing as competition for charter services intensifies. The company also is seeing more mar-ket interest from helicopter opera-tors and air-ambulance providers. Its Argus Pros division is the only audit-ing organization that can conduct an International Standard-Business Air-craft Operations (IS-BAO) audit in conjunction with an Argus platinum audit. Argus Pros has conducted more than 1,000 audits.

Separately, Argus said that it had signed the 100th customer for its Argus Prism Armor Internet-based safety management system (SMS) manager. Prism is IS-BAO compliant and aligned with FAA and EASA guidelines for SMS development. o

Nearly Nose-to-Nose

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

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EASA OKs G1000 for King AirDanish Hawker Beechcraft

specialist Scandinavian Air-craft Technologies (ScanTech) is coordinating EASA approval of Garmin G1000 installations in King Air 90s and 200s.

The first installation, per-formed in the U.S., has earned

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

of third-party weather and traf-fic systems that are interfacing with the G1000. Garmin can provide more details on the sys-tem at its booth (No. 6456).

The G1000 system update for the King Air C90 and 200 series consists of two display units,

a primary flight display and a multifunction display. Garmin says the G1000 brings enhanced

levels of operational simplicity and situational awareness to all flight operations.

ScanTech believes that inter-est in the G1000 among Euro-pean King Air operators and owners is strong and will lead to many more retrofits. The com-pany anticipates more G1000 work as European King Air owners and operators learn about the system. o


The G1000 integrates all

primary flight, nav, comm,

terrain, traffic, surveillance, and

weather data on three displays.

FBOs tout Shell loyalty card

Sixteen FBOs are joined together at the Eastern Aviation Fuels NBAA exhibit this year (Booth No. 6403) and all are participating in the new Shell Aviation AeroClass loyalty pro-gram. Eastern Aviation Fuels markets Shell-branded aviation fuels throughout the U.S.

At its NBAA booth, Eastern is enrolling members in the Aero-Class program and giving them a sealed envelope that they can bring to a participating FBO. The customer service representa-tive at the FBO has to open the envelope to reveal prizes that the new AeroClass member could receive, which may include up to 10,000 bonus points.

Eastern also is giving a flight plan card to all booth visitors, which needs to be validated by 12 of the 16 Shell dealer FBOs at the show. A grand prize draw-ing will be held for those who submit filled-out flight plan cards. Prizes include a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

The AeroClass program has two membership plans, one for individuals and one for compa-nies. Corporate memberships may be combined so points from multiple cards can accu-mulate and be traded for MasterCard gift cards. Points are granted at the rate of one per gallon purchased at Shell FBOs. Once 1,000 points have been accumulated, they can be traded for a $10 MasterCard gift card.

Eastern Aviation Fuels serves more than 350 FBOs and airlines, flight departments, helicopter op-erators and aerial applicators. o

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European bizav association continues education series by Charles Alcock

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

on how to develop, implement and maintain an SMS toolkit according to the guidelines of the International Busi-ness Aviation Council (IBAC).

The workshops are intended to help flight department managers to ensure

that the SMS toolkit is appropriate to the size and complexity of their opera-tion. The first event was held in Italy in late June and another session was held in Malta earlier this month.

Separately, EBAA held its first work-shop on emergency response plan-ning (ERP) on September 9 and 10. The workshop was based on EBAA’s recently published Emergency Response Guidance Manual, which it developed through its ERP steering group in con-junction with consultants Gates Avi-ation. The agenda covered ERP basic principles, general guidance and the framework of an emergency response. The idea is that business aircraft oper-ators will come away from the meeting with an actual draft ERP plan prepared to match the realities of their own com-pany’s situation.

Association Welcomes Regional Groups

Over the past year, EBAA has for-mally recognized the affiliation of five new national groups to its orga-nization. The Brussels-based indus-try group now encompasses the newly formed Russian United Business Avia-tion Association (RUBAA), the Span-ish Executive Aviation Association, EBAA Belgium, the Malta Business Aviation Association and the Austrian Business Aviation Association. EBAA already has affiliations with groups in the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Norway and also acts under the auspices of the IBAC.

“The importance and reach of busi-ness aviation in Europe continues to increase, with the sector flourishing across the breadth of the region,” said EBAA president and CEO Brian Humphries. “EBAA supports the ongoing develop-ment of new, nonprofit, national asso-ciations that represent the interests of business aircraft operators and endeav-ors to advocate on their behalf not only locally, but also at the European level and globally by satisfying the requirements of IBAC membership.”

Europe’s national business aviation

groups all face their own particular chal-lenges. For example, RUBAA president Leonid Koshelev explained that the group is pushing for the adoption of internationally accepted, voluntary stan-dards for the operation of business air-craft in his country.

His Maltese counterpart, Stanley Bugeja, is dealing with issues relating to the creation of an aircraft register for Malta. The Maltese group is also cam-paigning for improved access and facil-ities at Malta International Airport as well as for more acceptable fees and secu-rity procedures.

Regional Event PlannedMeanwhile, EBAA is to stage a

regional forum in Austria early next year with the theme, “One Europe–a Roadmap for Aligning East and West.” The event will be held at the Hil-ton Vienna hotel in the Austrian cap-ital on Jan. 20 and 21, 2011. Speakers are to include Austrian Business Avia-tion Association president Dr. Caspar Einem, as well as RUBAA chairman Koshelev and Kimon Daniilides, chair-man of Greece’s Hellenic Air Carriers Association.

Among the topics to be discussed at the forum are challenges in arranging air-craft finance, achieving industry stan-dards for insurance benefits and easing access for operators from eastern and western Europe when flying into their respective territories. EBAA has previ-ously held regional forums in London and Berlin.

EBAA and NBAA are partners in organizing the annual European Busi-ness Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland. The next edi-tion of the show will be held May 17 to 19, 2011 (www.ebace.aero), and here at NBAA you can get more information at Booth No. 7524. o


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Saab STCs missile defense systemby Charles Alcock

Saab Avitronics has arrived at the NBAA show having just achieved the first supplemental type certificates for its Civil Air-craft Missile Protection System (Camps). The equipment has been approved for use on two twin-turboprop models, and the Swedish company believes that having made the breakthrough of civil certification it is now ready to pursue STCs for busi-ness jet applications.

Camps is designed to pro-tect against the threat posed by shoulder-launched missiles (gen-erally known as man-portable air defense systems, or Manpads). According to Saab (Booth No. 1933), about 100,000 Manpads are in open circulation on the world market. Over the past 15 years, there have been 35 recorded attempts to shoot down civil air-craft with Manpads and no less than 24 of them were successful.

To meet civilian requirements for safe, cost-effective opera-tions, Saab has used a new type of electromechanical dispenser

for the decoys used to misdirect incoming missiles by creating an alternative heat source for them to track. The pyrophoric CIV-IR decoys, which spontaneously ignite in the air, are also of a new design by the Chemring group. They burn at a lower tempera-ture than conventional flares to achieve a larger radiating area and thus attain the most effective radiation intensity with which to confuse the missiles. The new system meets the requirements of the Wassenaar Agreement on missile protection systems and is installed flush to the aircraft skin to minimize loss of aerody-namic performance.

The decoy dispenser is acti-vated by an electro-optical missile approach warning sys-tem, which detects any missile launched toward the aircraft dur-ing the crucial phases of takeoff and landing. The system detects ultraviolet light from the missile plume and processes this data in an electronic control unit to determine the incoming weapon’s

angle-of-attack. The control unit relays this information to the dis-penser system, which immedi-ately calculates the number of decoys and the timing needed to send the missiles off course. Camps can track and deal with multiple missiles simultaneously without any action at the time of the attack on the part of the pilots, who can power, arm and test the system from a control-and-display panel in the cockpit.

Saab can handle all aspects of installing the Camps pack-age. However, it declined to give any indication as to the price of the system.

Camps has now entered ser-vice on an Embraer EMB 120 operated by South Africa-based charter group Nature-link, which selected the system primarily to protect flights it makes in the Middle East. The equipment has also been fitted on a Lockheed L-382 (a civil-ian version of the C-130 mili-tary transport) operated for an undisclosed VIP client. o


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

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00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa00

‘Please Remove Your Shoes’ sheds light on airline security

Just weeks before the NBAA conven-tion opened, potential terror attacks were once again in the news, with countries warning their citizens about the danger of traveling in Europe due to increased chatter about possible Al Qaida attacks. While the warnings don’t seem to have diminished tourist activities, they are a fresh reminder that terrorism remains a worldwide concern. But at the same time, the nonspecific nature of these warnings serves as an interesting backdrop to a new movie about security, the aptly named Please Remove Your Shoes, produced by Fred Gevalt, a name familiar to many in the aviation business and the founder of the popular Air Charter Guide (which he sold in 2005).

Gevalt’s movie, which is making the film festival rounds, pokes a huge hole in the costly security apparatus that has sprung up since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, but it also looks back well before 2001 into serious deficiencies that plagued airline security. The underlying theme is not so much that security failed abysmally not only in the 9/11 attacks and others, but that bureau-cratic ineptitude and a lack of willingness of security lead-ership at the FAA and other govern-ment agencies to listen to rank-and-file employees blocked critical information in hopeless logjams.

U.S. security experts might claim that the vast amounts of money they are spending must be working because of the lack of terror attacks in the U.S. since 9/11. But just because something doesn’t happen doesn’t mean that a preventive measure worked. The amount spent on aviation-related terrorism prevention by Homeland Security and the Transporta-tion Security Administration (TSA) in the U.S. alone is tens of billions per year. Yet more people die in various other activities every year than people who are killed in terrorist attacks, and far less money is spent on prevention of death in these other activities.

Widespread AppealGevalt spent $1 million of his own

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

music; and Joe Figucia, director of pho-tography. The result is tightly edited and beautifully photographed, with gorgeous shots of airliners interspersed with inter-views of experts involved in aviation secu-rity before and after 9/11. The focus of the 94-minute movie is on airline security because it is aimed at a wide audience, not at the aviation industry. Gevalt feels that adding general aviation to the story would have muddied the message for the general audience. And in any case, general aviation wasn’t used in the 9/11 attacks.

“My main motive for doing this cen-tered around the fact that the TSA is a poster child for bad government,” Gevalt said. We had the opportunity to spend money more wisely, he explained. “This is a classic example of an abusive agency that never should have been created, an exam-ple of when Congress elects to build an agency too quickly.”

System FailuresIn the movie, the people interviewed

point out how they warned their superi-ors about weak security and tried to gener-ate interest in improving security, only to be pushed aside. Instances of lack of commu-nication among bureaucrats, which could

have prevented attacks such as the Pan Am 103 bomb-ing over Lockerbie, Scot-land, are highlighted, as are wasteful practices by the TSA, which do nothing to prevent terror attacks. As Brian Sullivan, a former FAA special agent, said in the movie, “Maybe if you lis-ten to your people, that would have helped.”

The movie highlights other more amusing TSA antics that have nothing to do with secu-rity. As a government agency, the TSA feels compelled to

place vast amounts of the information it deals with under sensitive security infor-mation (SSI) status. According to the agency, “SSI is information that TSA has determined must be protected from improper disclosure in order to ensure transportation security.” In the movie, according to journalist Audrey Hudson some of this highly secure information is revealed to be a TSA memo about a going-away party that will include Krispy Kreme donuts. She said the TSA declined comment about the memo.

Gevalt said he made many attempts to seek comment from the TSA prior to releasing the movie, but the agency chose not to respond.

On the Web site for Please Remove Your Shoes, Gevalt is asking people to help do something about the TSA and seeking donations to defray the cost of producing and distributing the movie: “There is something un-American about the Transportation Security Administra-tion; it is heavy handed, it violates at least three amendments to the U.S. Constitu-tion. It is rigid and inflexible. It is man-aged by unmotivated career bureaucrats. It is lazy and ineffective. And we’re not getting what we paid for.” o

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 19, 2010 • www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com • October 19, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa0030aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

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JetEx opens Kiev FBO, plans network expansionby Jeff Apter

After a successful opening of a luxury FBO at Paris Le Bourget Airport as the first step in its international expansion plans, JetEx Flight Support has established a second site in Europe with a facility at Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. In addition to further FBOs planned in Ukraine, the com-pany, which is headquartered at Dubai International Airport, plans to open a facility in that country next year. Meanwhile, it is also exploring sites in Leb-anon and China.

The Le Bourget FBO has been completely upgraded since the company acquired the half of the building occupied by Bel-gium’s Flying Group and added it to its own share in February 2009. Managing partner Salem Youssef told AIN that despite the economic downturn, JetEx has “done well and fully met expectations.” When it took over from Flying Group, average daily aircraft movements roughly dou-bled to 20. Back in April he said he expected traffic at the new base to increase to around 30 movements daily by the end of this year but now he said, “JetEx is handling around 40 move-ments on an average weekday, rising to 60 on busy days.” About half of the movements involve NetJets Europe flights.

Youssef said about 30 percent of JetEx’s client base, includ-ing royal families and top gov-ernment officials, comes from the Middle East and another 40 percent comes from continen-tal Europe, including the growth areas of Ukraine and Russia, with the remainder from North America and elsewhere.

Ground-Handling ServiceMariya Vynohradova, JetEx

business development man-ager for countries of the former Soviet Union said, “There is a great deal of focus on private avi-ation developments in the region, and JetEx is concentrating on Ukraine as a gateway in response to expanding client demand.”

She confirmed that Ukraine’s State Aviation Administration has licensed the company for ground-handling administration at five of its airports. The first to come on stream is the 24/7 mul-tilingual operation at Zhuliany Airport, Kiev, which opened on September 9. Others are due to

follow at international airports in the cities of Boryspil, Myko-laiv, Kharkiv and Lviv.

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

said. “Demand for VIP ser-vices, including fast-track cus-toms arrangements, guides and supplementary services for trips throughout Kiev, is rising.” The full range of pre-liminary ground-handling arrangements include ramp supervision, hotel accommo-dation, transportation, cater-ing, fuel, flight monitoring and

reporting/dispatch.Youssef said the company

now is concentrating on its Dubai facility, with discussions due to be finalized at the MEBA show in December. o


Esco EMAS records seventh save at TEBProducts made by Zodiac Aerospace

(Booth No. 3452) touch almost every aspect of aviation, from cabin interiors to emergency systems and fuel and electrical power management systems. And while pilots hope that they don’t have to take advantage of emergency systems, one Zodiac division–the Engineered Arrest-ing Systems Corp. (Esco)–makes a prod-uct that has resulted in some remarkable saves that undoubtedly make flight crews extremely grateful. The Esco division

based in Logan Township, N.J., makes engineered material arresting systems (EMAS)–blocks of aerated concrete placed at runway ends that can stop an aircraft with minimal damage after a runway overrun.

Zodiac’s EMAS made a recent save on October 1, stopping a Gulfstream GIV-SP at Teterboro Airport as it over-ran Runway 6 on landing. The two pilots and seven passengers on board were not injured, and the airplane suffered little

damage. Runway 6 was the same site of a takeoff overrun accident on Feb. 2, 2005, when a Bombardier Challenger 600 operated by Platinum Jet Management failed to lift off and ran off the end of the runway at high speed, slid across a busy roadway and crashed into a warehouse.

This Teterboro EMAS save brought the company’s total to seven since the May 1999 takeoff overrun of a Saab 340 at JFK International. While most other saves involved airliners, including a Boeing

747, another business jet EMAS save took place in July 2006, when a Falcon 900 was successfully stopped at Greenville Down-town Airport in South Carolina.

EMAS qualifies as a substitute for run-way safety areas (RSA), which the FAA requires at Part 139 commercial airports. RSAs are 500 feet wide and extend 1,000 feet from the runway end. Because many airports were built before RSAs were required, it is often not feasible to install a standard RSA. In the early 1990s, the FAA worked with the University of Day-ton, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Esco to develop EMAS. Now EMAS beds are installed at 48 run-ways at 32 airports worldwide. The first EMAS bed was installed at Teterboro in 2006 and another is scheduled for instal-lation this year, along with nine others at seven U.S. airports.

Esco’s latest version is EMASMax, which features a plastic top cover, silicone seam seal, extruded silicone side sealer and plastic bottom tray with integrated fork-lift slots. Airports typically paint EMAS beds to help pilots avoid accidentally taxi-ing into them, but the plastic top cover eliminates the need for paint. –M.T.


Used market remains wobbly

Compared with August 2009, there were fewer used business jets for sale in August this year, according to statistics compiled by JetNet (Booth No. 8401). There were also slightly more turbo-prop aircraft on the preowned market and almost exactly the same number of turbine helicopters for sale at the end of August 2009 and 2010, but slightly more piston helicopters on the market this year. This resulted in 14.9 percent of the worldwide business jet fleet being for sale at the end of August this year (a drop of 2.5 percentage points from August 2009), 10.5 percent of the turboprop fleet (an increase of 1.2 points), 6.9 percent of the turbine helicopter fleet (an increase of 0.1 point) and 6.5 percent of the piston heli-copter fleet (a decrease of 1.1 points)

Over the same period, business jets experienced an increase in sales transac-tions of 30.1 percent, turboprops saw an increase of 4.9 percent, turbine helicop-ters saw an increase of 18 percent and the number of piston helicopter transactions actually decreased by 6.4 percent.

However, all segments are taking lon-ger to sell, reported JetNet. The average time on the market clocked in at 77 days for jets, 40 days for turboprops, 93 days for turbine helicopters and 124 days for piston helicopters.

All except piston helicopters saw aver-age asking prices decrease, August to August. Average ask prices for jets were down 2.7 percent, for turboprops they were down 5.7 percent and for turbine helicopters ask prices were down 7.8 per-cent. The average asking price for piston helicopters rose 2.4 percent. –R.R.P.

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Gulfstream’s GIV celebrates milestone 25 years in service

Gulfstream Aerospace last month cel-ebrated the 25th anniversary of the first flight of the Gulfstream IV, which the Savannah, Ga.-based manufacturer said is “the best-selling” large-cabin, long-range business jet in the world.

On Sept. 19, 1985, three months ahead of schedule, the new jet took off from Savannah (Ga.) International Airport, just eight days after it was rolled out at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Savan-nah. Lee Johnson and Ted Mendenhall were the pilot and copilot, respectively,

for the one-hour maiden flight. “The GIV was the aircraft that

launched a thousand Gulfstream air-craft,” said Gulfstream president Joe Lombardo. “It formed the foundation for designing and building the G300, G400,

G350 and G450. The air-craft’s first flight was a mile-stone and turning point for the company.”

More than 520 of the 536 jets produced in the GIV series are still in oper-ation, the company said. “I believe it became popular because it was on the lead-ing edge of globalization,” said longtime Gulfstream employee Jim Gallagher,

who is now director of the large and mid-cabin sustaining program. “Half-way through its production run, the GIV became the preferred tool of global business jet travelers. Companies relied on it to travel worldwide; it helped push global commerce.” –C.T.


Gulfstream’s GIV received FAA certification on April 22, 1987, and by that June the OEM had orders for more than 100 of the model.

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

Mid-Continent STCs batteryMid-Continent Instruments has received

an FAA approved model list (AML) and supplemental type certificate (STC) for the Wichita-based firm’s new MD835 lithium emergency power supply source.

According to Mid-Continent (Booth No. 6236), the MD835 is the first lithium nanophosphate battery to be AML/STC approved by the FAA for use in Part 23 air-craft. The battery supplies 24.5-volt direct current power for critical and standby equipment and maintains full capacity by recharging during normal flight operations.

The AML/STC is approved for 30 air-craft models, including the King Air 90, 200 and 300 series; Beech 1900; Beech-craft Premier jets; and Cessna’s Citation 501 and 525A and B models.

The new power source is a direct replacement for the legacy lead-acid-

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

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Learjet 85 is halfway through its detailed design phase by James Wynbrandt

Progress on design and parts fabrica-tion are among the Learjet 85 develop-ment milestones Bombardier Aerospace highlighted at NBAA.

The detailed design phase for the com-posite jet is now 50 percent complete and parts manufacturing is under way at Bombardier sites and suppliers’ facil-ities worldwide. More than 150 compos-ite tools have been delivered, and seven supplier test rigs commissioned. Bombar-dier currently has more than 1,000 people working on the Learjet 85 program.

“We’re fabricating all over the world; we have well over forty suppliers,” said Ralph Acs, vice president, Learjet 85, calling the use of a global supply chain “best practices at Bombardier.”

The 10-passenger, midsize Learjet 85 will be Bombardier’s first jet built pri-marily from composite material and the first primarily composite structure busi-ness jet designed for FAA Part 25 type certification. (Hawker Beechcraft’s Pre-mier/Hawker 200 series and Hawker 4000 composite-fuselage jets have a metal wing and empennage.) Powered by two Pratt

& Whitney Canada PW307B engines, the Learjet 85 is projected to have a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.82 and a range of up to 3,000 nm. The aircraft, priced at $18.25 million, is scheduled to enter ser-vice in 2013.

The first two Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion system integrated test stations (Sits) began formal integration testing in Sep-tember. The Sits, a static representation of the cockpit that includes actual displays, controls, panels and avionics computers, allows testing of system integration, pilot and maintenance personnel training, pro-duction support and certification.

Development of manufacturing sites and expansion of the final assembly site in Wichita are on schedule. “Final line assembly starts next year,” Acs said.

The fuselage is being made at the Bombardier plant in Queretaro, Mex-ico. The one-piece pressure vessel reduces parts count versus metal aircraft dramati-cally, “one of the benefits of composites,” Acs said. A new building in Queretaro for Learjet parts fabrication is being inaugu-rated today. o

GlobalAir marks 15th anniversary by Jeff Burger

GlobalAir.com, an online resource for aircraft buyers and sellers and aircraft operators, is celebrating its 15th anniver-sary at the NBAA show. The company launched in late 1995 in the apartment of pre-owned-aircraft broker Jeff Carrithers, under the name Global Aviation Naviga-tor. At the time, FBOs and other aviation businesses were just beginning to acquire dial-up modems and use the Internet.

Today, GlobalAir.com ranks among the largest online aviation resources, fea-turing aircraft-for-sale listings, FBO fuel

prices and flight data for regional airlines, business jets and general aviation part-ners. The Louisville, Ky.-based company recently revamped its home page, mak-ing it easier and faster to use, and created an aviation blog. The site, which aver-ages more than 2.3 million page views per month, also features aviation news, infor-mation and commentary.

GlobalAir.com has also upgraded its Max-Trax tool for finding up-to-date air-port information and fuel prices. Its Air-port Resource Center now includes a tab for pilots and flight departments to find all businesses on a particular airfield. The Resource Center offers current METARs, TAFs and TFRs, plus national weather, runway and FBO information.

GlobalAir.com is demonstrating its lat-est Web site enhancements at its booth (No. 3608), where it is also marking its 15th anni-versary by giving away an Apple iPad. o

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Re-engining may boost legacy aircraft fortunes by Mark Huber

Depressed used aircraft val-ues have stalled sales of some re-engine programs, but their pro-viders insist that they remain good values because of the dramatic increases in aircraft efficiency and performance they provide.

“We’re seeing a different kind of customer now,” said Clifford Development’s Alden Andre. “Before we’d see a customer who wanted a turn-key solution. They wanted us to go out and find a used airplane and then convert it. Now we are seeing more customers who are bring-ing their own airplanes to us.”

While Andre said he expects turn-key business to improve with the economy, he said that right now those customers are concerned about depressed resale values.

Like most re-engine programs, Clifford’s focuses on re-engin-ing a popular legacy aircraft with Williams International FJ44 tur-bofans with average costs in the $2 million to $2.3 million range depending on the value of the engines to be replaced.

Clifford’s program replaces the stock Pratt & Whitney Can-ada JTD15-4 engines on the Citation II with a pair of Wil-liams FJ44-3As equipped with dual Fadec. The conversion also includes 35 other changes to the aircraft as part of the STC installation, including dig-ital engine display and heavy-duty brakes. It reduces empty weight by 250 pounds, average trip fuel consumption by 35 per-cent, noise to Stage 4 standards and time to climb to FL430 to 27 minutes. Range increases by 50 percent and maximum cruise speed increases by 15 percent.

This range of performance improvement is typical for re-engine programs currently avail-able for the Citation I and II, Learjet 25, Falcon 50 and the Beechjet from a variety of pro-viders including Clifford, Sierra Industries, West Star, and most recently Nextant Aerospace on the Beechjet. However, since the end of 2008, prices for those air-planes, already depressed, have dropped another 30 to 35 per-cent on average. A 1983 Lear-jet 25 is only fetching $440,000, and many other of the afore-mentioned models can easily be had for less than $1 million on the open market, according to the aviation price tracking and

valuation service Vref. As many of these airplanes are at least 25 years old, buyers will have a hard time finding financing for the aircraft, the conversion or both. However, even in this down market, re-engining still makes sense for some aircraft, according to Vref’s Fletcher Aldredge.

“These programs still make sense if someone needs the speed and capabilities” these re-engin-ing programs offer, Aldredge said. “Now, will you get your money back [when you resell the airplane]? Probably not, at least not 100 percent certainly.”

Aldredge said historically this has always been the case in good times and bad on a wide variety of aircraft upgrades, not just engines. “We’ve dealt with

this issue for decades. Will you get your money back on a four-blade prop on a King Air? No, but it sure looks cool and if you think it makes [the cabin] qui-eter, that’s great. You can buy a fancy EFIS panel, and there is nothing cooler than that, but are you going to get your money back on that? Never.”

Aldredge said that custom-ers who are attached to their air-planes “have to do an engine overhaul anyway” at some point, and often it makes sense to hold onto the airplane while adding engine upgrades. “Their pilots are typed, their mechanics are checked out, the airplane fits their needs and it works really well. If they don’t put a pencil to it too hard it really makes a lot of sense for those people.”

But Aldredge cautions that people who think they are going to increase the resale value of their aircraft anywhere near the cost of an engine upgrade are deluding

themselves. “Those few people who go out there and say that they are going to increase the value of their airplane by $2 million–well that’s not going to happen.”

However, some of these con-version packages can be real game changers for operators of older aircraft. Spirit Avia-tion’s SpiritWing conversion for the Learjet 25D yielded a noise reduction to Stage 3, halved fuel burn, and boosted range. With four passengers, range increased from 1,100 to 1,700 nm, but the Spirit Wing was never certified.

Sierra Industries’s Citation I packages also yield this category of improvements. The stock air-plane barely cruises above 300 knots for long range cruise and has a range of 970 miles with four passengers; payload with full fuel is just 820 pounds. The engines have a TBO of 3,500 hours and cost more than $350,000 to over-haul. However, first-genera-tion Citations have no airframe

life limit. Properly maintained, they will fly virtually forever. This, combined with their rela-tively low price, generally under $900,000, makes them attractive candidates for modification.

For $1.6 million to $1.8 mil-lion–the price varies depending on the trade-in credit for exist-ing engines and the upgrade package selected–Sierra offers a modification that includes the more powerful and fuel-efficient Williams FJ44 engines, auxiliary fuel tanks and a modified wing. This can make these older Cita-tions fly higher, faster and far-ther than any new very light jet and for less money.

Sierra has converted about 175 Citation Is with its Eagle II and Stallion packages and the performance changes can be large. Eagle II flies 54 knots faster and can climb directly to 43,000 feet, 2,000 feet higher than the Citation I. It gets there a lot faster, too. A straight Citation I climbs with both engines at 2,719 fpm; the Eagle II climbs 4,500 fpm. An Eagle II will reach 43,000 feet in 25 minutes, while a straight

Citation I must step climb to 41,000 feet over the course of 80 minutes. Takeoff and landing distances shrink, too, allowing the Eagle II to oper-ate out of 3,000-foot strips. Range increases to 1,400 nm in the Stallion (four passengers, one pilot and IFR reserves) and to 1,650 in the Eagle II. The Stallion can also be fit-ted with Sierra’s new fuselage auxiliary tank, which boosts range to 1,750 nm. At cruise altitude, an Eagle II delivers 35 percent more thrust and burns 40 percent less fuel than a straight Citation I. The Wil-liams engines are also qui-eter than the original Pratt & Whitneys, which helps cut cabin noise.

The decision to upgrade was not difficult for Bill Hettinger, who owned a stock Citation I and looked at VLJs and the Citation CJ2 before picking up a 1980 Citation I with an Eagle II conversion. “None of the VLJs had the range, and the CJ2 was more expensive,” Hettinger said. “This airplane is a known quan-tity–it was not a leap of faith.” o


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

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Spanish bizav rides out the financial stormby Jeff Apter

Spain’s business aviation sec-tor has changed substantially over the last few years with the established operators maintain-ing their businesses and start-up companies making an impact on a fast-growing market. But they have not been spared by the ongoing financial crisis that has seen an annual 30 percent fall in the number of hours flown. While the big three operators capture most of the market, the smaller and medium-sized com-panies are holding their own.

Most aircraft registered in Spain belong to individuals who largely put them under manage-ment contracts with operators to market the flight hours avail-able when the owner is not using the aircraft. Some management companies including Gestair and TAG also operate their own air-craft, something that the fall in demand has made both risky and costly. The clearest evidence of this is the failure of regular point-to-point corporate flights with VLJs, the main business of the small and medium sized companies.

The present total Spanish fleet is estimated at around 125 air-craft operated by 29 companies. The number of registered aircraft is about 10 percent of the total registered in Europe but the big three companies operating most

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

Bizjets and AirlinersStill Spain’s leading busi-

ness aviation group, at present Gestair operates 21 aircraft from seven sites and controls 60 per-cent of the national air-taxi mar-ket in volume of operations. The company also operates three light helicopters and one DC-8 freighter. While about 85 per-cent of customers are business travelers, Gestair Airlines, under an agreement with flag carrier Iberia, operates two Boeing 757s and three Airbus A340s on long-range routes to South Amer-ica, including Havana, Santo Domingo and Rio de Janeiro, and to various destinations in Spain and Europe.

Since it was founded in 2000, Executive Airlines has estab-lished itself as Spain’s sec-ond-ranking business aviation

operator. It currently has a fleet of 23 aircraft serving medium, long and extra-long-range routes, especially to the U.S., Latin America, Asia and the Gulf. Its main base is at Bar-celona. In 2006 Executive Air-lines became the first operator to be selected for Jet Aviation’s Skylliance program, established among charter operators cov-ering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Executive Airlines is the only Spanish company so far authorized to operate out of London City Airport, which it does with its Falcon and Cita-tion Bravo. In 2008, the com-pany increased its fleet from 12 to 22 jets, 15 of them Gulf-streams, with eight of the 10 new Gulfstreams.

The third-ranking company, with 17 aircraft, is the Spanish subsidiary of Switzerland-based TAG Aviation, which over the last few years has seen exponen-tial growth.

The smaller operators have succeeded from regional bases in specific niche markets, but the 30-percent fall in demand for flight hours and market uncer-tainty have affected their mar-kets, too, leaving their aircraft too long on the ground. The most notable of the smaller operations include Soko Aviation with four aircraft and two helicopters fol-lowed by Jet Personales with five aircraft, Corporate Jets XXI with three, including a Falcon 900C, and JetNova with two aircraft. Jet Ready, based in Valencia, is the first European company to operate a new generation VLJ with an Eclipse 500. o


Pounding the carPet

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

z West Star Named Bonanza Service CenterHawker Beechcraft (HBC) announced at NBAA it has ap-

pointed West Star Aviation (Booth No. 3511) in Grand Junction, Colo., as an authorized service center to support its Beechcraft Bonanza, Baron and King Air models.

“West Star Aviation is known for its highly experienced staff and outstanding customer service,” said Christi Tannahill, HBC vice president, global customer support, in making the announcement.

An FAA-certified repair station, West Star offers airframe and engine repair and maintenance, major modifications, avionics in-stallation and repair, interior refurbishment, paint, parts, surplus avionics and parts sales and accessory services. West Star also provides complete FBO services at facilities in Grand Junction as well as East Alton, Ill.

z LHT Expands Pre-Delivery ProtocolsLufthansa Technik, the Hamburg, Germany-based completion

and refurbishment center, has traditionally done pre-completion delivery inspections on aircraft on which it does completions. But now the company is offering to perform pre-delivery inspec-tions for customers who have their aircraft refinished at other (non-Lufthansa Technik) completion centers.

On Monday at its booth (No. 7536), Walter Heerdt, senior v-p of marketing and sales for Lufthansa Technik, and Abdulaziz Al Rowaished, president of Aviation Link of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, signed a contract calling for Lufthansa Technik’s Aircraft Produc-tion Inspection Program team to do a pre-completion delivery inspection of a Boeing 777-200LR. Aviation Link is managing the completion process on behalf of an unidentified customer.

z Runway Incursions Drop Again The FAA reported that serious runway incursions in the fiscal

year (FY) that ended September 30 dropped 50 percent from year-ago levels, the second year in a row they had been halved.

For FY2010 the number dropped to six from 12 in FY2009, representing a continuation of the trend. Three of the six incur-sions involved commercial aircraft. The number of serious run-way incursions had been as high as 67 in FY2000.

The FAA credited the installation of new technology, better airport markings, improved pilot training and the efforts of gen-eral aviation industry trade associations.

New technology includes runway status lights, currently in use in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Diego and slated to be installed at 23 more airports beginning next year.

z StandardAero Names LA V-PMark Bianchi has been named vice president and general

manager of StandardAero’s Los Angeles facility, the company announced at the NBAA Convention.

Bianchi comes to StandardAero from NetJets Aviation, where he served as senior and executive vice president of aircraft main-tenance since 2006. He spent 18 years with US Airways, where his positions included manager of quality assurance and regula-tory compliance, 737/757/767 fleet manager and base mainte-nance manager. He has an associate degree in applied science from New York City’s College of Aeronautics and holds an A&P certificate and an FCC general radio/telephone certificate.

z Sales Exec Forms Bizav Advisory FirmAviation sales executive Tom Chapman has formed Synergy

Jet Group, a firm that will offer sales prospecting development and implementation solutions for business aircraft manufactur-ers, their vendors and a variety of service providers.

According to Chapman, who serves as president of the Atlanta-based company, Synergy’s executives each have more than 25 years of experience leading sales and market-ing campaigns at major aircraft manufacturers in the U.S. and internationally. Chapman, who is a pilot, has a degree in busi-ness administration from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and has completed an executive education program at Harvard Business School.

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The total number of U.S. business aviation accidents in the first nine months of this year remained nearly even with the same period last year, despite an uptick in flight hours, according to statistics released by Boca Raton, Fla.-based industry safety analyst Robert E. Breiling Associates. In the first three quarters of the year, U.S.-registered business jets and turboprops experienced 34 accidents, five of them fatal, compared with 31 accidents–four of them fatal–in the first nine months of last year.

Through the first three quarters of this year, the busi-ness jet category suffered six accidents, including one fatal–the January crash of a cargo-hauling Learjet 35A near Chicago that killed the two-person crew. In the same period last year, the sector suffered six nonfatal accidents. The corporate/executive segment saw a 75-percent decline in the number of accidents this year (from four to one), while the number of accidents among Part 135 and private/busi-ness operators doubled, from one each in the first three quarters to two each (including the fatal cargo flight) in the first nine months of this year. The fractional business jet segment experienced one nonfatal accident during the first nine months of the year after seeing none in the same span last year. The number of bizjet incidents rose to 41 for the

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

The turboprop segment saw a slight decline in safety as the total number of accidents rose from 25 in the first three quar-ters of last year to 28 through September of this year, yet those accidents were less costly in terms of human life. Though the number of fatal accidents remained steady at four, last year there were 23 fatalities (14 of which resulted from the crash of a professionally piloted Pilatus PC-12), while there were 12 in the first nine months of this year. Part 135 operations experienced significant erosion in safety, with more than dou-ble the number of accidents (including one fatal, resulting in two deaths) in the first nine months of this year than in the same period last year. The corporate/executive category halved its number of accidents year-over-year from six to three and saw one fewer fatal accident, while the private/business cate-gory saw its number of accidents decline from 11 in the first three quarters of last year to seven through September this year. The number of fatal accidents in the segment remained the same at two, but the first three quarters of this year had one fewer casualty. The public/government sector experienced two nonfatal crashes during the first nine months of this year compared with none in the same period last year. –C.E.

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

Business jets Total Corp/exec Comm/air taxi Pvt/biz Public/Gov’t Frax Mfr. 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009Nonfatal accidents 5 6 1 4 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0Fatal accidents 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Total accidents 6 6 1 4 2 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0Fatalities 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Business t’props Total Corp/exec Comm/air taxi Pvt/biz Public/Gov’t Frax Mfr. 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009 2010 2009Nonfatal accidents 24 21 2 4 15 7 5 9 2 0 0 1 0 0Fatal accidents 4 4 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0Total accidents 28 25 3 6 16 7 7 11 2 0 0 1 0 0Fatalities 12 23 5 17 2 0 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 0

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

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

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com40aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com

BUSINESS AVIATION SAfETy REMAINS NEARLy LEVELNational aviation training center opens in Wichita

World-class aviation and aerospace training joined world-class research, design, testing and manufacturing in a ceremony Tuesday at the Wich-ita State University National Institute for Aviation Research booth (No. 1107).

The event marked the official opening of the National Center for Aviation Training (NCAT) in Wichita, the city that bills itself as the “Air Capital of the World.” NCAT’s 130,000-sq-ft facility on Wichita’s Jabara Air-port will be offering “cutting-edge technology in customized training for companies and tra-ditional technical training for students, along with a unique partnership between training and research.”

NCAT is a partnership of Wichita’s aircraft manufactur-ers and suppliers, Sedgwick

County, the City of Wichita, the State of Kansas, the uni-versity’s National Institute for Aviation Research and Wichita Area Technical College. Sedg-wick County is the funding partner for the center, working with industry leaders and pub-lic partners.

NCAT has already opened its doors and offers 37 certi-fications and degrees. It con-tains 21 classrooms and 25 labs to provide hands-on, real-world training for up to 1,500 students. Construction for the $52-million center began in 2008.

“This training campus is a commitment from the Wich-ita community to the aviation industry,” said Vicki Pratt Ger-bino, president of the Greater Wichita Economic Develop-ment Coalition. –K.J.H.

Federal court decision could affect mx liensby David A. Lombardo

Members of the Florida Aviation Trades Association learned recently that the Third District Court (Miami) has issued a ruling that will signifi-cantly affect the recourse avail-able to the maintenance industry when faced with a non-paying customer.

Previously, a repair facility could put a lien on the aircraft when it perceived the customer would not pay the bill regardless of who was in possession of the aircraft.

According to Commercial Jet versus U.S. Bank, Commer-cial Jet filed an action to fore-close a purported mechanic’s lien on a Boeing 767 for which

it had provided maintenance and repairs. Despite an out-standing balance, Commercial Jet returned the aircraft to Sil-ver Jet, its operator, which put it back into service.

After it relinquished posses-sion of the aircraft, Commer-cial Jet recorded a claim of lien for the unpaid balance against Silver Jet and U.S. Bank, the aircraft’s owner. Since the pur-ported lien is by legal definition a possessory lien and Commer-cial Jet was no longer in posses-sion of the aircraft at the time it filed the lien, the trial court granted U.S. Bank’s motion for summary judgment.

The Third District court

affirmed the trial court’s order and rejected Commercial Jet’s argument to eliminate the requirement that one must have possession of the property in order to claim a lien.

Therefore, it will now be nec-essary to file a lien while the repair facility (lien holder) is in possession of the aircraft. If the facility releases the aircraft and then tries to file a lien, the lien will not be enforceable.

The problem is that aircraft owners frequently pick up their aircraft but don’t receive the final bill, sometimes not until several months later. Worse, there may be a significant chargeback for component core charges that causes customer dissatisfaction, resulting in reluctance to pay the bill. According to the recent decision, repair shops must obtain full payment, or at least a deposit, before releasing the aircraft, otherwise any lien they record might be worthless. o

The National Center for Aviation Training opened Tuesday at

Wichita State University.

BAE MovEs Into AIrcrAft rEMArkEtIng

BAE (Booth No. 8237) is moving heavier into aircraft remarketing, according to Stewart Cordner, vice president of the company’s Avro Business Jet (ABJ) unit.

BAE Asset Management recently signed a deal to place eight Air-bus A340-200s and -300s for GMT Global Republic. GMT had leased the aircraft to major airlines, including Virgin Atlantic. Cordner said these aircraft, although older, are ideal for low-utilization custom-ers, such as governments looking for cost-effective VVIP lift. BAE has moved both single-aisle and wide-body airliners in the past. It recently placed a Boeing 767-300ER from Presidential Flight and also has repre-sented several Airbus A318s on behalf of funds and banks.

BAE also has successfully repackaged and marketed several of its Avro 85 and Avro 100 commuter jets under its ABJ program. Cordner said ABJs are particularly popular in the Middle East, where eight are based. Currently, 24 ABJs are in service. Cordner said the cost of con-verting an Avro to an ABJ, including the acquisition of the aircraft, is equivalent to a price of a new midsize business jet.

BAE announced that it recently placed two more ABJs into service. The first is being operated by Casino Rodos and used to shuttle cus-tomers from mainland Europe to the company’s casino on the Greek Island of Rhodes. The aircraft was converted from its airline layout to a 34-seat executive configuration by Inflite Engineering Services at Lon-don-Stansted. It is operated on behalf of the casino and its corporate parent, Queenco, by Alfa Air of Bucharest.

A second aircraft will be operated as a mining shuttle in Bolivia in a remote area south of La Paz. n

Colt offers aviation insurance

Contract fueler and trip sup-port specialist Colt Internation-al (Booth No. 6237) has made its initial entry into the avia-tion insurance business with the launch of Colt Risk Manage-ment Services (CRMS). Based on its experi-ence working with more than 4,000 flight de-partments and operators, the company plans to provide cus-tom coverage solutions for any avi ation company. The company has named John Springrose, pre-viously with Chartis Insurance, to head the division.

“Risk management is about much more than placing insur-ance companies” said Malcolm Hawkins, Colt International’s president. “It requires a com-plete understanding of the challenges unique to aviation.” CRMS is partnering with insur-ance broker the SilverStone Group to provide coverage for its customers.

In addition, the company will offer a full range of risk manage-ment products, including SMS gap analysis and implementa-tion, IS-BAO auditing and regis-tration, general liability, foreign coverage, loss of license and employee benefits.

“Through Colt Risk Man-agement Services, it’s now easier for aviation companies to obtain the breadth of cover-age, exceptional customer sup-port and superior value that will enable them to more effectively safeguard their investments,” said Springrose. –C.E.

Avionic shows power generatorsAvionic Instruments is at

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

ical techniques. The design pro-vides overall device isolation, excellent overload and non-lin-ear load handling capability. It is reliable even in extreme thermal and high-level vibration instal-lations, the Avenel, N.J.-based company said. It is available in

output configurations of 115 or 230 VAC and 50, 60 and 400 Hz, single phase.

The 50/60 Hz static inverters are designed for cabin entertain-ment systems, galley accessories, personal computers and telecom-munications. They also provide

power for special purpose mil-itary and medical aircraft. The 400 Hz units can provide emer-gency backup power or AC loads on strictly DC-based aircraft.

The Avionic Instruments DC-to-DC dimming controller is available in fixed voltage, rheo-stat-controlled, poten tiometer and voltage control configura-tions. All contain a protection

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


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Solar Impulse preps for int’l flight Design work has begun on a

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

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

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


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

Missionary fellowship expands fleet

In the largest deployment of aircraft in its 65-year history, Mis-sion Aviation Fellowship (MAF ) added three aircraft to its mission-ary relief programs in September.

A Cessna Caravan 208B–leased for two years from MAF’s missionary partner, Samari-tan’s Purse–is employed in the rebuilding efforts that MAF is providing in Haiti. Since the earthquake hit the area earlier this year, MAF has coordinated more than 1,200 flights trans-porting passengers and relief supplies such as water, food, tents, tarps and medical supplies between Florida and Haiti and within the distressed country.

Since 1986, MAF has served the people of Haiti by providing missionaries, medical staff and community development work-ers with air transport, commu-nications networks and distance education. The organization is the sole provider of medical and dental air transport in the cen-tral plateau, serving more than 250,000 Haitians.

MAF also deployed two Quest Kodiak singles to Papua, New Guinea, continuing its nearly 60-year history of providing transportation to Christian and humanitarian workers there. o

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

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

Where an Airbus autothrottle stays in one position for the entire flight, the Legacy 450/500 autothrottle moves as engine power changes. “By looking at the thrust lever position, you know what the engine’s N1 is,” he said. “We think that’s positive feedback, that the pilot knows what the thrust on the engine is by put-ting his hand on the thrust lever.”

Another feedback feature is the tac-tile warning in the sidestick, which tells both pilots that they are providing input to both sticks at the same time. There are also audio (“dual input”) and visual warnings. When this happens, say, during a high workload situation when the pilots might not notice the audible or visual warning but will feel the stick vibrate, the pilot who should be flying presses the priority button and takes control.

When both pilots are pushing on their sidesticks, their inputs are summed but that sum is limited to the maximum pos-sible input. The last person to press the priority button has control. Pressing and holding the priority button for 20 sec-onds gives control to that sidestick.

“The main reason for the priority,” said Caldeira, “is, for example, if you have a jam on one sidestick. It’s very rare but we have to show that it could happen.”

Rudder pedals are mechanically linked to each other, but send electronic signals to the flight control computers. Like the sidestick, the pedals don’t provide posi-tional feedback. To help pilots in an engine-out situation, the rudder is auto-matically programmed to kick in with 80 percent of the needed control for opti-mum sideslip. This helps the pilot easily maintain control, but also by not going

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

Flying the FBWIf the Legacy 500 flight test simula-

tor is any indication, flying the jet will be easy, requiring just a light touch on the sidestick. Changing the flight path angle is just a matter of a finger-push fore and aft or side to side. The stick is spring-loaded to the center position.

Whatever flight path vector the pilot selects, the airplane automatically stays there, as long as it is within the flight envelope. There is no trim, and in turns, pitch and adverse yaw compensation are

automatic, too. “Instead of having constant input to the sidestick,” said Camelier, “you’re flying the sidestick almost as if you were a trim button. So what you do is make small inputs for the minor corrections you want, but never continuously input-ting to the sidestick.”

The normal envelope boundaries are 33 degrees bank angle, 1.1 times stall speed, VMO and +30/-15 degrees pitch angle. The limit flight envelope is larger, but the pilot

must keep pushing on the sidestick to get into the limit envelope region. To do a 45-degree bank, for example, the pilot simply has to hold the sidestick away from neutral. If the sidestick is released and allowed to go back to neutral, the airplane will return to the boundary or 33 degrees bank angle and stay there.

The edges of the limit envelope are defined as maximum structural load fac-tor, maximum design speed, stickshaker maximum and AOA that doesn’t allow the airplane to stall. There are no hard limits for bank and pitch, and a pilot could roll the 450/500, as long as it is done without jeopardizing controllability or structural integrity. If the jet was in a high-speed condition where it’s not safe to roll, the pilot could not roll.

The real benefits of the 450/500’s FBW system are not just weight sav-ings and easier pilot workload but also performance and comfort. By limiting AOA, for example, the stall speed can be lower because the system does not allow the airplane to stall, but also it doesn’t need a stick pusher, which forces the nose down before stalling and extracts a performance penalty.

The AOA limiter also could help pre-vent accidents like the Colgan Air Q400 crash in Clarence Center, N.Y., where the pilot reacted by pulling the yoke aft when the pusher fired. “Instead of having some-thing commanding the airplane to go down, the nose of the airplane just stays there. The maximum AOA that can pro-vide a good lift and also good controllabil-ity,” said Caldeira.

For windshear or a CFIT-avoidance maneuver, the pilot simply has to pull


Test pilot Eduardo Camelier demonstrates the fly-by-wire controls of the Legacy 450 and 500 with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion cockpit.

Latest technology for Legacy jetsuContinued from page 12

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

Workload ReductionPilot workload is generally

lower in the FBW 450/500 because the system automati-cally compensates for configura-tion changes like power changes or flaps and landing gear move-ment. At different weights, the flight characteristics of ordinary airplanes change, but the FBW system compensates so it feels the same no matter what the controls need to do to deliver the requested performance.

FBW responds more quickly to control inputs, according to Caldeira, because there is no delay as in mechanical con-trols, especially when an autopi-lot servo is involved. “By having a faster response with the actu-ation system,” he said, “you get a more damped response of the airplane to gust or turbulence.”

The 450/500 will be able to fly faster because it can fly closer to the structural limits without compromising safety, Calde-ira explained. If speed gets too high, the FBW system moves the elevator to slow the airplane down to Vmo.

“Even if you try to hold full sidestick to the front,” said Cam-elier, “it won’t let you go above a certain speed above maximum design speed.”

Another benefit of the closed-loop FBW system is that it helps prevent excessive sideslip from heavy rudder use. “When the pilot gets desperate,” Cal-deira explained, “he can apply the pedals from one side to the other. Normally these airplanes are not designed to take this type of load.

“With the fly-by-wire sys-tem we are in much better shape because even if the pilot applies pedals from one side to the other, it doesn’t mean that [the rudder] is going to move from

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

“Even if the pilot tries to break off his vertical fin, he can’t,” said Camelier. “If he tried to go from one sideslip to another as fast as possible, he would never be able to break that tail off because the closed loop drives the sideslip.”

The digital electronic nature of the 450/500 allows engineers to tap into rich sources of data

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

message will say whether or not further inspection might be necessary after a hard landing or turbulence encounter, saving lots of back-and-forth analysis with the factory. o

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NAA honors Harrison Ford with Wright Brothers Trophy

The National Aeronautic Association has announced the winners of the 2010 Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman Awards and the Wright Brothers Memo-rial Trophy. Ceremonies for the Elder Statesman Awards take place on Novem-ber 8 in Arlington, Va., to honor recipi-ents Gene Kranz; Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, USAF (Ret.); Robert L. Taylor

and Barry Valentine. This year’s winner of the Wright Brothers Memorial Tro-phy is Harrison Ford, who will receive the award at a banquet held December 17 at the Wright Memorial Dinner in Wash-ington, D.C.

Ford was chosen for the Wright Tro-phy for “outstanding and significant contributions,” which include serving as

chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program from 2004 to 2009; flying relief missions to Haiti in his Cessna Caravan; his work as honorary chairman of the Special Olympics Airlift this year and flying Special Olym-pics competitors in his Cessna Citation; educating the public about the benefits of general aviation through the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s GA Serves Amer-ica campaign; and his many years of assisting the Teton County and Lincoln

County (Wyoming) search-and-rescue units by flying mis-sions in his Bell helicopter, including two that resulted in rescues. “All of us at NAA are very grateful for the work that Mr. Ford has done to advance the cause of aviation and aero-space in our nation,” said Jon-athan Gaffney, President and CEO of NAA and the Chair-

man of the Selection Committee.Winners of the Wesley L. McDonald

Elder Statesman of Aviation Awards were:Gene Kranz, NASA director of mis-

sion operations and author of the book, Failure is Not an Option. Since retiring from NASA in 1994, Kranz has been fly-ing his aerobatic biplane, which he built, and serving as flight engineer on the B-17 Thunderbird at airshow performances.

Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, USAF (Ret.), is being honored for “his dedi-cation and outstanding leadership” as director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Robert L. Taylor is founder of the Antique Airplane Association, inductee in the Iowa Aviation Hall of Fame and recipient of the Iowa Department of Transportation Education Award and Experimental Aircraft Association Founders Award. Taylor served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and the Korean War.

Former Air Force fighter pilot Barry Valentine served many years in senior positions in government and industry, including acting FAA Administrator. According to the awards committee, “his long-standing dedication as a public ser-vant demonstrates his commitment to ensuring a strong future for the aviation/aerospace industry.” o


Heritage to sell BLR winglets

BLR Aerospace chose Heritage Avi-ation (Booth No. 2433) of Burlington, Vt., as an authorized dealer for its King Air winglets. The winglets reduce time to climb and lower fuel burn by 3 to 5 per-cent. The company said they also improve climb and cruise speeds, enhance aero-dynamic performance and stability and deliver safer low-speed handling qualities.

BLR (Booth No. 8637) is displaying the winglets on a King Air C90 at the NBAA static display. Heritage Aviation has already installed the devices on its four charter King Air 90s, and mechanic Zlatan Valjevac said, “The instructions and drawings were very detailed, and BLR provided great customer support at our facility. Everything was in ready-to-paint condition, and the end result is a very modern-looking aircraft.”

BLR has delivered more than 250 sets of King Air winglets, which are stan-dard on the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 90 GTx. o

Harrison Ford

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AVIATION PROGRAMS*

Managing the Corporate Aviation FunctionApril 10–15, 2011

Developing Leadership Capability in the Corporate Aviation FunctionSeptember 20–23, 2011

www.darden.virginia.edu/exedPHONE: 877.833.3974 U.S./Canada

434.924.3000 WorldwideEMAIL: [email protected]

Financial Management for Non-Financial ManagersMarch 20–25, 2011

Power and Leadership:Getting Below the SurfaceMay 1–6, 2011

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CHART A NEW COURSE.IMPROVE THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS.

Among turbofan manufacturers, Williams International remains tops with AIN readers for

the support it provides to operators. RollsRoyce, combined into one listing this year for the first time instead of being separated into RR and RR Deutschland, takes second place and, by barely a gnat’s whisker, bumps Pratt & Whitney Canada to third place. Honeywell takes fourth place, fol

lowed by GE, CFE and CFM, but the score spread from first to last place is not great, suggesting that the efforts of all the manufacturers are succeeding to levels that do not vary wildly.

Among turboprop/turboshaft manufacturers, RollsRoyce takes the top spot for product support, followed by Pratt & Whitney Canada (again just barely a gnat’s whisker behind Rolls), Honeywell and Turbomeca, with scores ranging from RR’s 7.87

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

Williams InternationalWilliams has a relatively

narrow product line for business aviation, but the company earns top honors among AIN readers for how capably it supports the more than 3,500 FJ44s that power 11 different models of business aircraft. Applications of the smaller FJ33 remain under development, and for now the FJ44 is Williams’s sole bizjet engine.

Product support director Steve Shettler told AIN that Williams has expanded its capabilities for onwing maintenance by increasing the number of technicians in its repair station who are able to travel and perform maintenance while the engines are still on wing, reducing

operator downtime and expenses. “This is especially im portant to our customers out side the U.S. since shipping engines can take time and is expensive. These services are also included at no additional costs to our TAP [Total Assurance Program] customers,” he said.

For better service with daytoday issues or administration, Williams has improved its Web site by posting answers to “numerous” questions and allowing customers to ask questions directly to the product support team. “The Web site will also keep a record of all questions and answers for customers’ future reference, and customers can schedule and track engine maintenance online, pay invoices and run various reports,” simplifying the administrative and businessrelated tasks of operating their engines.

“Since our fleet continues to expand globally we have made it easier for service centers to become factoryauthorized. This helps customers in regions where there are only a few aircraft to support to have a local service center do their maintenance,” Shettler said.

Rolls-RoyceRollsRoyce has opened an

office at Hong Kong International Airport to support busi ness aircraft exclusively; expanded BR710 shop capa city by adding its facility at East Kilbride, UK; and opened its North America onwing care headquarters just over a year ago.

The company reported it has also “added several customer service managers in both Asia and Europe [numbers and locations undisclosed]...taken steps to increase parts availability by equipping each site across the globe with key part components and by expanding parts distribution centers in North America and Europe [locations undisclosed]…made CorporateCare coverage for business jet engines available to new



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Inadequate Poor Average Good Excellent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rating Scale:

Model

Overall Average

2010

Overall Average

2009

Ratings Change from 2009 to 2010

Percentage Change

Auth Service Centers

Factory Service Centers

Parts Availability

Cost of Parts

AOG Response

Warranty Fulfillment

Technical Manuals

Technicals Reps

Cost Per Hour Programs

Overall Engine

Reliability

TuRbOFANS

P&WC PW300 series 8.23 7.56 0.67 8.89% 8.25 8.09 8.19 7.09 8.55 8.44 8.25 8.56 7.76 8.89

Rolls-Royce Tay 8.12 8.02 0.10 1.28% 8.16 8.32 8.29 6.51 8.36 8.20 7.76 8.53 7.35 9.33

Williams FJ44 8.09 8.12 -0.03 -0.41% 8.39 8.06 8.31 7.49 7.98 8.18 8.05 7.81 7.92 8.65

P&WC PW600 series 8.03 8.10 -0.07 -0.88% 8.16 7.75 8.27 7.05 8.19 8.41 8.00 8.19 7.43 8.63

Rolls-Royce BR700 series 7.93 7.53 0.40 5.31% 8.43 8.24 8.02 6.41 8.08 7.92 7.05 8.38 7.26 9.15

Rolls-Royce AE3007 7.87 7.87 0.00 0.01% 7.93 7.70 7.92 7.17 7.95 8.06 7.39 7.92 7.45 8.90

GE CF34 7.85 7.26 0.59 8.08% 8.11 7.94 7.98 6.67 7.92 7.64 7.87 7.68 7.55 8.97

P&WC PW500 series 7.82 7.64 0.18 2.32% 8.09 8.19 7.72 6.26 7.86 7.91 7.96 8.09 7.16 8.64

Honeywell TFE731 7.81 7.54 0.27 3.57% 7.89 8.23 7.86 6.53 7.93 7.97 7.58 8.06 7.29 8.67

Honeywell HTF7000 7.75 7.69 0.06 0.83% 8.41 8.20 7.24 6.50 7.81 7.47 7.53 7.75 7.43 8.83

P&WC JT15D 7.45 7.40 0.05 0.61% 7.37 7.45 7.75 6.34 7.43 7.18 7.35 7.52 6.97 8.65

CFE CFE738 7.36 7.56 -0.20 -2.68% 7.17 7.89 7.13 6.46 7.38 7.57 7.21 7.89 6.46 8.19

CFM CFM56 7.32 N/A* N/A* N/A* 6.33 7.33 7.57 6.00 7.57 7.92 7.50 7.00 6.67 8.67

Rolls-Royce Spey 7.26 7.39 -0.13 -1.79% 6.73 7.55 7.43 6.00 7.50 7.33 7.38 7.65 5.79 8.42

TuRbOPROP/TuRbOSHAFT ENGINES

P&WC PT6A turboprop 7.84 7.41 0.43 5.84% 7.65 7.93 7.94 6.60 7.86 7.88 7.95 8.05 6.85 9.08

Honeywell TPE331 turboprop 7.84 8.02 -0.18 -2.25% 8.11 8.37 7.88 6.50 8.00 7.72 7.77 8.00 7.37 8.57

Rolls-Royce 250 turboshaft 7.83 6.98 0.85 12.13% 7.73 8.19 7.50 6.05 7.94 8.07 8.26 8.45 7.25 8.57

Turbomeca (all models) 6.74 6.71 0.03 0.40% 6.74 7.07 6.54 5.46 6.76 6.32 6.52 7.65 6.38 7.70

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

* Data for the CFM56 engine was not included in AIN’s report of the 2009 Product Support Survey, because the model did not receive the requisite number of ratings.

Compiled by Jane Campbell with data provided by Forecast International of Newtown, Conn.

Bold indicates highest number in each category.

2010 Product support survey E N G I N E S

Williams International

All the reader comments about product support

are available at www.ainonline.com/resource-center/

If the engine OEM does ‘carry the can,’ how well?

Williams keeps the top spot with AIN readers for turbofan support, and Rolls-Royce is the leader in supporting turboprops/turboshafts.

“I ORIGINALLY CALLED MY AIRPLANE INDEFENSIBLE.

– Warren Buffett“TODAY I CALL IT INDISPENSABLE..

More than 20 years ago, I thought my first airplane would be the perfect way to reward myself for a lot of work and the success that came with it. Before long,

however, the airplane proved itself to be an incomparable tool for accomplishing a great deal more work and achieving levels of success that would have been

impossible without it. I changed the airplane’s name for those reasons. The airplane changed my mind forever. noplanenogain.org

Paid for by the National Business Aviation Association

and in-service engine operators, wherever they are located.”

Pratt & Whitney CanadaBasing its strategy on the prem -

ise that, above all, custom-ers want product performance, speedy response and ease of working with the manufacturer, P&WC has made “good prog-ress” in the area of “ease of working with us,” according to Raffaele Virgili, v-p of custom-er service. “Over the past year we have been working hard to raise our services to the next level.”

Phase One of the company’s new customer Web portal offers a fresh look and enhanced nav-igation for existing apps, with more content, functionality and apps to come. P&WC is currently benchmarking E-por-tal leaders in all industries and plans to launch Phase Two late this year by introducing new features such as Pubs Online and tools to report hours and cycles for the company’s Eagle service plan.

“Pubs Online will be a leap in service for our customers,” said Virgili. “It will allow them to purchase manuals, manage their subscriptions, provide feedback and view content through the customer portal. They will also receive alerts when new content is available and be able to download con-tent at their convenience.” This service could be available “in the coming months.”

P&WC also says it is working “to implement powerful Web publishing and guided trouble-shooting capability. This will en-able more intuitive navigation or advanced search for general and specialized users alike. The lon-ger-term goal is to complement the standard ATA manuals with work instructions customized for the task at hand.”

Over the past year P&WC has been “building on the suc-cess of its Customer First Center,” launched in 2007 to make significant gains in AOG return-to-service time. The CFirst center assembles

“the best expertise from across key P&WC front-line services, including technical support, logistics, service engineering, engine maintenance programs and warranty.” This team fol-lows a “total event manage-ment approach, taking full ownership and closely tracking each request until an aircraft is back in the air or every question is answered.” CFirst has “signifi-cantly” reduced return-to-service times, according to P&WC.

The company has opened new parts centers in Amsterdam and Singapore, and its stated goal in product support “is to be number one in our customers’ eyes every year, across all our markets,” according to Virgili.

Honeywell (including CFE)Since Honeywell has cen-

tralized its customer call center to a single 24/7 team answer-ing a single phone number, the company provided a similar response to AIN’s questions for both avionics and engines, including Honeywell-branded and CFE powerplants.

The response team “is pro-vided with enhanced customer management tools that have reduced call handling times to minutes and allow agents to field tens of thousands of inqui-ries from across Honeywell’s broad service and product port-folio.” Customer-friendly pro-cesses include the acceptance of verbal purchase orders, and follow-up calls to the customer within 24 hours to ensure that AOGs have been satisfied and the customer received a positive experience, the company said.

“Significant resources” have been invested to enhance Hon-eywell’s aerospace customer por tal e-commerce site at myaerospace.com, which now provides pricing and parts availability information, online order placement and track-ing, access to publications and auto matic generation of e-mail order status. Later this year, additional features will include credit-card processing, access to invoices and online issuance of

return authorizations.Honeywell says that for im-

proved global support it has expanded its Spex program, which handles more than 25,000 transactions annually “with 97 percent of all shipments (includ-ing mechanical line-replace-able units) shipping within 24 hours.” Expansion includes the staging of parts in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and India, with delivery of more than 90 percent of the stocked parts or exchanges coming from within the region where they are re-quired. “Because of the recent growth in emerging business air-craft regions, we’ve also added international authorized service centers in Latin America, the Middle East, China and India.”

General Electric (including CFM)

GE’s business and general aviation fleet comprises some 5,000 engines dispersed among 75 countries. They include the CF34 turbofan, CFM56-7B turbofan, CFM56-5B turbo-fan, CJ610 turbojet, CF700 turbofan, CFE738 turbofan and M601 turboprop.

Karl Kasparian, customer support program manager for Cincinnati-based GE Avia-tion Aircraft Engines, said his company has “invested heavily in its product support and ser-vices for business and general aviation in the last few years.”

In 2008 GE took the best practices from its aviation oper-ations center and added “special support offerings tailored specif-ically to business jet customers,” Kasparian said, creating the GE business jet operations center. One call connects customers di-rectly with “a trained expert who can often answer their questions on the spot.” If an answer isn’t immediately available, custom-

ers receive a specific time when a response will be given. In the last year, GE has begun closely monitoring the team’s respon-siveness to ensure these response commitments are met, and in June this year the team achieved a 98-percent response rate to customer requests.

For AOG part delivery per-formance, said Kasparian, “we are now averaging 4.5 hours from the initial call to part ship-ment, and mobile repair parties can be dispatched at a moment’s notice. Other enhancements to the business jet operations cen-ter in the last year were giving all cases AOG priority level, the addition of more field service engineers and streamlining the warranty fulfillment process.”

In January GE launched the Customer Connect initiative to focus on five key areas: person-alized customer touch; rapid re-sponse resolution; comprehen-sive train ing (en suring customers have access to the latest engine man uals and maintenance train-

ing support); predictive diag-nosis (providing customers with databased diagnostics ser-vices on performance issues before they become significant problems); and long-term ser-vice agreements.

TurbomecaIn the past year, Turbomeca

said it has expanded its main-tenance center network and in-creased the TBO and MTBF of several Arriel, Arrius and Makila engines. The Arrius 2B2 TBO, for example, has been increased to 4,000 hours from 3,000 and its MTBF to 7,300 hours from 6,200. At the end of last year the company launched Turbomeca IETP (in teractive electronic tech-nical publications), which “com-bines efficiency with user-friend-liness and interactivity.” o

This year’s survey was devised by AIN’s editors and designed and administered by Newtown, Conn.-based Forecast International in full collaboration with AIN.


Overall Average

2010

Overall Average

2009

Ratings Change from

2009 to 2010Percentage

Change

TuRbOfAns

Williams 8.09 8.12 -0.03 -0.41%

Rolls-Royce 7.91 N/A* N/A* N/A*

P&WC 7.90 7.58 0.32 4.20%

Honeywell 7.78 7.50 0.28 3.79%

GE 7.77 7.14 0.63 8.81%

CFE 7.36 7.49 -0.13 -1.79%

CFM 7.32 N/A N/A N/A

TuRbOPROP/TuRbOshAfT engines

Rolls-Royce 7.87 6.97 0.90 12.95%

P&WC 7.86 7.39 0.47 6.39%

Honeywell 7.79 7.76 0.03 0.42%

Turbomeca 6.74 6.71 0.03 0.40% Sour

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2010 ENGINE MANUFACTURER RATINGS

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

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

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Honeywell HTF7000

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2010 Product Support Survey E N G I N E S

uContinued from page 48

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

00aaNBAA Convention News • October 21, 2010 • www.ainonline.com www.ainonline.com • October 21, 2010 • NBAA Convention Newsaa51

FlightSafety offers level 7 FTDs to helo operatorsby Mark Huber

FlightSafety International (Booth No. 1227) is offering a variety of level-7-approved flight-training device solu-tions for operators of small turbine helicopters. According to the company, these devices provide virtually all the training benefits of a full-motion simu-lator, include a vibrating base, and are a cost-effective alternative for in-air-craft training.

FlightSafety offers two basic types of training in the level-7 FTDs: type-spe-cific training and mission-specific or sce-nario-based training, during which an operator’s unique missions are simu-lated. These include EMS, off-shore, elec-tronic news gathering, law enforcement and paramilitary operations. The com-pany also touts level-7’s value for training for inadvertent encounter with instru-ment meteorological conditions (IMC), instrument refresher training and night vision goggle instruction. The FTDs are fully NVG-compatible and offer Part 135 operators the opportunity to meet initial and recurrent training and checks with minimal in-aircraft time.

The level-7 devices are equipped with FlightSafety’s Vital X Visual System, which provides 220-degree by 100-degree (60 degrees down and 40 degrees up) wraparound visual capability and highly detailed and textured scenes that are real-istic in all phases of flight and optimized for low level training operations. Detailed scenes that can be created by the sys-tem include freeway crash scenes, hospi-tal landing pads, oil platforms (including dynamic sea states) and a highly detailed model of Manhattan.

FlightSafety is expanding its surviving inadvertent IMC training to help heli-copter operators avoid, prepare for or recover from inadvertent flight into IMC. The training program is non-aircraft spe-cific, customizable and can be conducted in any of the company’s full-motion sim-ulators or FTDs. o

Duncan Aviation green team looks to environmental future

Duncan Aviation (Booth No. 6763) has formed a “green team dedicated to improving business practices and edu-cating team members with the goal of reducing the company’s impact on the environment.”

“The benefits of making ‘green’ deci-sions are good for us and for those who will follow us,” said Jeannine Falter,

Duncan vice-president of business devel-opment and green team facilitator.

Among the accomplishments already realized by the green team are:• a reduction in the amount of hazard-

ous chemicals purchased and stored by Duncan and use of chemicals that have a low environmental impact.

• creation of an eco-friendly interior

refurbishment materials collection for business aircraft, including a range of natural, rapidly renewable and Lead-ership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified materials.

• replacement of incandescent and fluo-rescent bulbs with more energy-efficient alternatives.

• recycling of 350 tires, 5,000 pounds of metal, 40 tons of paper and cardboard and 4,000 pounds of aluminum cans last year.

“These things were all accomplished by having small groups of people throughout the company question cur-rent practices,” said Falter. “We view this as an ongoing process that will make a difference for future generations.”

Also part of the accomplishments is a green initiative that introduces a new “chrome-free” paint process, to be phased in later this year at Duncan’s Lincoln, Neb., and Battle Creek, Mich., paint facilities. The process eliminates use of hexavalent chromium (a known carcinogen).

While the industry refers to the new paint systems as “green paint” or “chrome-free,” the paint may contain trace amounts of chromium, though low enough to meet the tolerances set by EPA, OSHA and local state and federal disposal programs.

Partnering with Sherwin-Williams Coatings and Pantheon Enterprises over the past several years, Duncan developed the chrome-free process and products it describes as “better for the environment, better for the paint technicians and better for the aircraft.” And working closely with the FAA, Duncan recently amended its proprietary FAA-approved paint process to include these new processes and products.

Duncan expects to phase the chrome-free paint process into its current aircraft paint work by next year, and all aircraft subsequently painted at its centers will use the process. o

embraer TaPS aerocardal

aS eXec JeT reP IN cHIle

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

GulfSTream TroPHy for ouTSTaNdING flyING

Gulfstream Aerospace president Joe Lombardo presented its annual Alber-Rowley Tro-phy to the Phoenix Air Group of Carterville, Ga., and the U.S. Navy’s Executive Transport Detachment Pacific, located at Hickam AFB Hawaii. The award is named for Carl Alber and Fred Rowley who, in 1958, made the first flight of a Gulfstream aircraft, and recognizes flights involving superior airmanship and operational achievements performed in Gulfstreams.

Phoenix Air won the award for a year-long series of flights in a Gulfstream III in support of the U.S. Africa Command. The aircraft flew nearly 400,000 nm over 900 hours visiting 45 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

The Navy won the award for 54 hours of flying to four countries over a 10-day period. Transport Detachment Pacific provides airlift in support of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander and flies mostly long-range, oceanic and international flights. –M.H.

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

AT THE BOOTHS

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

Duncan busy with new initiatives

Duncan Aviation (Booth No. 6763), appears to be weathering the recession and is launching new initiatives on a vari-ety of fronts.

As the company’s rapid response team celebrates its 10th anniversary, Duncan is opening a new location in Seattle, the company’s eighth. The team is located at Boeing Field but performs all engine maintenance and repair work at customer locations, “whether in their hangar or home base.”

Duncan has also marked the installation

of its 100th high-speed data (HSD) sys-tem installation this year, and has devel-oped an HSD selection tool to assist operators with system options. In addi-tion to the large volume of HSD installa-tions, Duncan holds STCs for installation of Aircell Gogo Biz with Wi-Fi capability in the Challenger 300, Citation 750, Cita-tion 680 and Falcon 900EX EASy.

Also in the electronic outfitting arena, Duncan recently completed two more STC approvals for installation of Aircell’s cabin telecommunications router. The router provides Wi-Fi access in the cabin for the Gogo Biz in-flight Internet service.

The company’s authorized service cen-ter agreement with Bombardier has been officially extended to include Duncan’s newest maintenance facility in Provo, Utah. The Provo location joins Bom-bardier-approved centers at Duncan’s Lincoln, Neb., and Battle Creek, Mich.

locations.Duncan published several white

papers this year that are now available on the company’s Web site. The papers, writ-ten by Duncan industry experts, serve as field guides to questions and pressing issues regarding business aircraft opera-tors and address a variety of topics. They include subjects such as Waas, Hawker RVSM certification, paint, maintenance and turbine aircraft values.

Finally, according to Duncan, the company now leads the industry in Fal-con 2000 winglet installations and dry bay modifications at its Lincoln and Bat-tle Creek facilities. Duncan was the first service provider to install and certify Avi-ation Partners’ high-mach blended wing-lets for the Falcon 2000 series. To date, Duncan has completed 16 of the 19 total aftermarket installations on Falcon 2000 and 2000EX jets. –K.J.H.

Flight OptiOns signs $15 MilliOn deal With cae

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

New EAA boss meeting bizav

The Experimental Aircraft Associa-tion (EAA) introduced Rod Hightower, its new president and CEO, to the busi-ness aviation community at a ceremony at the sport aviation organization’s booth (No. 3246) at NBAA.

Hightower was named to the posi-tion this July at EAA AirVenture in Osh-kosh, Wis., following an extensive search for a successor to long-time organization leader Tom Poberezny.

At his NBAA introduction, Hight-ower said his plans were to continue serv-ing the organization’s base of aircraft homebuilders while expanding offerings to members who fly certified aircraft. He also said the organization would continue and expand the outreach to youngsters that began with the Young Eagles pro-gram. Underscoring that commitment, Hightower was joined at the ceremony by “Miracle on the Hudson” first officer Jeff Skiles, current chairman of the Young Eagles program, which is aimed at intro-ducing youngsters to general aviation.

Also joining Hightower were EAA board members Dan Schwinn, founder, president and CEO of Avidyne; Jack Har-rington of Eclipse Aerospace, and Kermit Weeks, aircraft collector and creator of Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Fla.

Schwinn, a member of the EAA exec-utive search committee, noted that Hight-ower’s passion for aviation, manifested in his restoration of a Stearman biplane and ownership of a T-6 warbird, qualified him as having the EAA DNA. o

aMsaFe partners With

B/e aerOspace FOr Bizjet airBags

AmSafe Industries (Booth No. 5133) announced at the NBAA Convention that it has partnered with B/E Aerospace (Booth No. 3327) to offer side-fac-ing divans for business jets that are equipped with AmSafe’s seatbelt air-bags. The airbags allow all positions on a divan to be occupied for takeoff and landing and will minimize injuries in the event of a survivable accident.

Two business jet aircraft manu-facturers have already committed to equipping three models with the prod-uct, but AmSafe and B/E would not reveal the OEMs’ names.

The seatbelt airbag, which AmSafe introduced in 2001, is already installed on approximately 50,000 seats on gen-eral aviation airplanes and airliners. According to the company, it has saved 18 lives and never been inadvertently deployed. Why has it taken so long for the product to come to business jets? “This is a more customized environment than general aviation and airliners,” said AmSafe sales v-p Chris Muklevicz. n


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Liberty King Air shows odd mods at staticby Evan Sweetman

We spend all week walking around the NBAA Convention thinking about busi-ness aviation, and at times it feels like there’s more King Airs here than scantily clad models at a car show. But there’s one King Air that stands out from the rest, the one Sierra Nevada Corp. has on static display at NBAA this week.

This is Sierra Nevada’s second year at the show, according to company v-p

Joe Fucci. The company does retrofit work for Defense Department customers plus a few international groups. Its most well known product may be the U.S. Air Force’s MC-12W Liberty, AKA the King Air 350ERs that the Air Force is flying in Afghanistan.

When Sierra Nevada mechanics and engineers get their hands on a 350ER for the conversion, they zero out the mainte-nance and load it with computers, cam-eras and radars.

Immediately noticeable on the exterior of the King Air at NBAA’s static display is the hump on top of the fuselage and the cameras and storage box below. “We pushed the nose out by three feet to fit the camera in the nose,” a company represen-tative told AIN. “That can retract into the nose if you’re not using it.”

The cameras on Sierra Nevada’s

display aircraft more specifically are L-3-subsidiary Wescam-built MX-15s. Depending on which model of cameras are installed, they have a whole host of capabilities, including gyro-stabilization, geo-pointing (the camera will give you the GPS coordinates of what it’s looking at), infrared and night vision, and it can all be done in HD, if needed.

“The hump on the back holds the Ku-Band and other antennas,” the source said. “For as big as it is, it only cuts three knots off the top speed of the aircraft.”

Sierra Nevada’s Joe Fucci said the company also took its services to help with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mex-ico. The company footed the bill for that program. “We were based out of Lakefront Airport in New Orleans,” he said, speaking in the mobile command center the company also brought to the show. “We were able to spot oil and talk to ships directly using the [automated identification system]. We could call them direct from the aircraft and tell them where to go.”

Four people could work from the command center, directing imagery and information downloaded from the air-craft. From the center, it would be sent to wherever it could best serve, according to Fucci. The information was sent to an Internet media host so anyone with the IP address could access the video. “We could even view it on smartphones,” Fucci said.

Another King Air 350 modified for aerial surveillance is at the static display, too, the Aerial Surveillance Systems Sky-Eye 350, which recently earned FAA cer-tification in the normal category. o

Key Air lights 25 cAndles

Key Air (Booth No. 7651) is celebrating 25 years of charter/management and FBO operations. The company started with one facility in Oxford, Conn., and has expanded to include three FBOs at airports in Oxford, Conn., Minneapolis-St. Paul and Fort Pierce, Fla. Recent service improvements include a new client support system and company-wide par-ticipation in the ServiceElements customer service training program.

Key Air has also added Industry Audit Standard registration from the Air Charter Safety Foundation, continued platinum operator status by Argus and successful completion of an IS-BAO audit plus Wyvern-approved status and participation in the FAA safety manage-ment system pilot program. � o

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

Today at

NBAA 2010

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

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

Watch AINtv at www.aintv.com. +1 (321) 439-8581 ● Room B203

e-mail: [email protected]

NBAA RegistrationGeorgia World Congress Center

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

DeKalb Peachtree Airport

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

Exhibit Hall HoursThursday 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.


NBAA Convention NewsRoom B203 • 404-222-5317

E-mail: [email protected]

Today’s Program | 10.21.10All events held at Georgia World Congress Center.

8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.NBAA 11th Annual Friends/Partners in Aviation Weather (FPAW) Meeting | Room B401

9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Careers in Business Aviation Day, Explore the Possibilities [Registration 9:00-10:00; Keynote, 10:00-11:00; Tour of Exhibit Halls, 11:00-3:00] | Hall B1, Exhibit Floor

9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) Help Desk Room B304

9:00 a.m.-noonBombardier Regional M&O Breakout Sessions | Rooms C105-C110

9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m. NBAA Meet the Regulators | Room B305

10:00 a.m.-noonOperation of the Eclipse 500 in Corporate 91 and Part 135 Service| Room B403

11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m.NBAA/UAA Reaching Future Business Aviation Professionals: Career Seminar for College Students | Room B101

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

Static Display HoursThursday 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

The NBAA 63rd Annual Meeting & Convention offers an expansive schedule of education sessions, maintenance & operations sessions and special events in addition to a multitude of exhibits at the Georgia World Congress Center. In addition, dozens of business aircraft are dotting the static display at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.

Parking at the convention center, including that for handicapped-accessible, is available in seven locations on a first-come, first-served basis. The fee is $10 per entry for cars and $15 per entry for oversized vehicles (for example, buses).

Parking permits can be purchased online at www.gwcc.com; Look for “Parking” at the bottom of the page and then follow the prompts.

Shuttle buses are operating between the convention center and the static display. Check the posted signage at both locations for times, or the NBAA Pocket Agenda. For those who prefer to drive, detailed instructions for the route are online at NBAA.org. There is limited parking at DeKalb Peachtree Airport, but there is abundant parking at the Fiesta Mall parking lot–look for signs.

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