For many years the Kodiak 100 has carved out a niche in the single-engine turboprop utility market, starting as an airplane dedicated to missionary flying, hauling skydivers, float flying, and moving people and stuff in and out of rough airstrips. With the acquisition of former Kodiak manufacturer Quest Aircraft by Daher in 2019, the Kodiak line has grown, resulting in the unveiling of the longer, more powerful, and faster Kodiak 900 on July 25.
The new version doesn’t replace the original Kodiak 100—now in Series III configuration—but offers buyers a new option in the utility turboprop lineup. Those who want to be able to mount large wheels and tires for the roughest airstrips or floats will want to stick with the 100 model, while buyers who want to go faster and carry more while retaining the ability to land on fairly rough strips might find the model 900 most attractive. The 900 is priced at $3.487 million, and soon after the order book opened at the unveiling, Daher sold out production of the 900 through the end of next year. Although the 900’s certification was in hand in July, the first customer delivery won’t happen until January 2023.
The business aviation world has grown accustomed to the bonus depreciation provided by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). This is the sixth year in a row in which buyers of corporate and private jets have been able to write off 100 percent of the purchase price in the year the aircraft is acquired and placed in service.
Yet lurking in the background since the TCJA’s enactment has been the knowledge that beginning in 2023, the tax gift of bonus depreciation would begin to gradually fade away. Accordingly, worries about bonus depreciation being eliminated following the 2020 election have been replaced by fears that Congress will not move to keep this tax break alive.
Airbus’s multi-path approach to decarbonization took a new direction last week as the company highlighted recent work on superconductivity technology. During its two-day Sustainability Summit held in Toulouse and Munich, the airframer said it has joined with the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in a demonstrator program aimed at promoting the adoption of superconductivity and cryogenics in airborne electrical distribution systems.
The Swiss laboratory, which operates under its French acronym CERN, bases most of its research on its subterranean Large Hadron Collider, which is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle collider. Its new project with Airbus, called the Superconductor for Aviation with Low Emissions (SCALE), will evaluate how engineers can deploy superconductors to achieve greater energy efficiency for future aircraft systems.
On Oct. 21, 2008, Eclipse Aviation formally placed defunct charter operator DayJet’s 28 Eclipse 500s on the used airplane market. According to the manufacturer, the airplanes will be sold in “as is” condition. At last month’s NBAA Convention, Eclipse chairman and CEO Roel Pieper told AIN, “We have the responsibility to refurbish the aircraft and bring them back into the market.” Although a group of buyers led by Houston-based JetsAmerica was planning to offer $500,000 each for the DayJet Eclipses, Pieper believes that prices should trend higher and that fleet buyers waiting for Eclipse 500 deliveries might want to buy some of the former DayJet airplanes so they can launch their businesses earlier.
JetsAmerica had planned to make its low-bid offer directly to UT Finance, the United Technologies subsidiary that holds equity in the DayJet airplanes, but Pieper said that Eclipse must approve any sale of those airplanes. The 28 airplanes are still outfitted in DayJet livery, including leather seats, and have accumulated between 150 and 450 cycles. Some have remaining time on the original Eclipse warranty, and none of the 28 jets has Avio 1.5 avionics upgrades or flight-into-known-icing capability.
FutureFlight: Joby, High School Team on eVTOL Workforce
California-based eVTOL developer Joby Aviation has partnered with New York City’s Aviation High School to help prepare the next generation of aircraft engineers for “the electric age of flight,” the company announced this week.
With Joby and several competing firms planning to operate thousands of eVTOL air taxis before the end of this decade, there will be an increasing need for engineers, maintenance technicians, and other types of aviation professionals. Through this new partnership with Joby, students at Aviation High School will have the chance to get a head start in the burgeoning eVTOL industry.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has launched the first major phase of a collaborative program between Italy, Japan, and the UK that will develop the next generation of fighter jets for the three nations. Known as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), the project builds on the development work already performed by the Anglo-Italian Team Tempest, and Japan’s F-X program.
“The security of the United Kingdom, both today and for future generations, will always be of paramount importance to this government,” said Sunak. “That’s why we need to stay at the cutting-edge of advancements in defense technology—outpacing and out-maneuvering those who seek to do us harm. The international partnership we have announced today with Italy and Japan aims to do just that, underlining that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are indivisible.”
As the business aviation industry moves into a new year, one trend in the maintenance sector that is unlikely to ease in 2023 or beyond is the mechanic shortage. That’s why some of the country’s biggest, independent MROs are addressing the issue directly by starting their own paid airframe and power plant (A&P) apprenticeships.
The positives of such programs for MROs are security in knowing that they have a pipeline from which to draw and engendering employee loyalty. It’s also an effective recruitment tool. For apprentices, it’s an opportunity to make a living wage while learning a technical trade that would otherwise cost them tens of thousands of dollars. According to Southern Utah University (SUU), aviation maintenance technician (AMT) schools can cost anywhere from $8,000 to $30,000 for an associate degree and $20,000 to $80,000 for a bachelor’s program. And the cost to train at a non-university AMT school can range from $20,000 to $50,000, according to SUU.
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