Several times a year, I am asked to join with other speakers to address aviation professionals, normally in the setting of an annual safety standdown or safety day. Inevitably, during these engagements, I am asked to comment on how the rapid pace of developing technology, specifically in aircraft automation and autonomy, will impact the future of cockpit crews and flight departments.

It’s an interesting question and deserves a thoughtful answer since it gets to the very core of the flying profession: what’s required of pilots when it comes to contemporary airmanship?

The Citation M2 Gen2 can trace its roots back to 1957—the year Cessna initially delivered the two-seat, twin-engine T-37 “Tweet” jet trainer to the U.S. Air Force. Over a 20-year production run, the airframer manufactured 1,269 Tweets. Another 557 were armed versions, designated the A-37. 

Importantly, the Tweet became the foundation for Cessna’s wildly successful line of Citation business jets, beginning with the original Citation 500 Fanjet in 1971. The aircraft had come under fire for its thirsty fuel burn and relatively slow (357-knot) top speed that bled off quickly at higher altitudes, as well as insufficient cabin headroom. Airport wags were quick to label it the “Slowtation.” Cessna designed the CitationJet to correct these deficiencies, and the M2 Gen2 is the latest variant of the original CitationJet.

Today it’s hard to believe but in 2001 when the new European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) was launched not everyone was convinced it would be a success. Now, EBACE has established itself as the undisputed gathering place for Europe’s business aviation community and indeed for the wider global industry. AIN reflects on the first four years of EBACE conventions:

Before EBACE was born, the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) had held its annual conferences on a far more modest scale, generally in a hotel close to its Brussels headquarters. It took a joint venture with a far more seasoned show organizer, the U.S. National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), to get EBACE up and running and the partners haven’t looked back since.

Darren Harrison of Lakeland, Florida, was relaxing in the cabin of a single-engine Cessna 208 Grand Caravan with his bare feet up on a table, heading home in May 2022 after a fishing trip in the Bahamas. Suddenly, the 64-year-old pilot, Ken Allen, announced, "Guys, I gotta tell you, I don't feel right. I've got a headache, and everything is fuzzy." A moment later, he passed out and the airplane was in a descent, heading toward the water. 

Having flown before in small jets while asking the pilots lots of questions, Harrison, 39, knew he had only minutes to level out the aircraft.

It was nine years ago when South Carolina’s Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (KGSP) decided it would take over the operation of its lone FBO, which had had just one operator since the airport’s founding in 1962. When the previous operator’s lease expired at the end of 2016, the airport rebranded the facility as Cerulean General Aviation. Despite the intervening pandemic, the decision has been a beneficial one for the airport.

“Taking it over allowed us to have a little bit more control over the customer experience across all touchpoints of the airport,” said Tiffany Cherry, communications manager for the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District, adding that financial concerns were at play as well in the decision.

As Airbus presses ahead with ambitious plans to bring hydrogen-powered airliners into commercial service through its ZeroE program, the aircraft manufacturer is eyeing several major airports in North America as locations for potential “hydrogen hubs.”

On Tuesday the company announced it is launching three studies into the feasibility of establishing hydrogen hubs at some of the biggest airports in the U.S. and Canada, including Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (KIAH) and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International airport (KATL).

Hermeus continues its march toward hypersonic development with the testing of its precooler technology on the Pratt & Whitney F100. The precooler lowers the temperature of incoming air, enabling an increase in the maximum speed of the turbine engine. Hermeus called the launch of such testing the first major propulsion milestone for what will be its second Quarterhorse flying prototype, Mk 2.

The company rolled out Quarterhorse Mk 1 in March with plans to begin flight trials later this year to test high-speed takeoff and landing at Edwards Air Force Base. That aircraft, an uncrewed, remotely piloted demonstrator, uses the GE J85 for its engine base.

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