Florida’s Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (KFLL) partially reopened this morning at 9 a.m. after storms deluged the area with “historic” amounts of rain over the past several days. According to the National Weather Service, the region received nearly 26 inches of rain on Wednesday, which reduced visibility to blizzard-like conditions and spurred the city and Broward County to declare a state of emergency. KFLL was forced to close Wednesday evening as its runways and local roads were inundated with water and remained closed on Thursday as Fort Lauderdale received another three inches of rain.
As of this morning, the northern 9,000-foot Runway 10L/28R remained flooded but operations resumed on 8,000-foot Runway 10R/28L and Taxiway J. The National Weather Service stated up to two inches of rain is further expected for the area this afternoon.
Sheltair, which occupies the largest leasehold among FBOs at KFLL, told AIN it experienced excessive flooding on its aprons, while some of its older hangars in its northside complex had water intrusion on the ground level office spaces. However, its FBO terminal was not impacted and no aircraft damage was reported.
Nearby Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport did not close during the storm, and Banyan Air Service—which sits on 120 acres at the airfield—noted no water in its buildings. A spokesperson said the FBO was extremely busy receiving private aircraft diverted from KFLL.
AINsight: Waiting for an FAA Letter?
Pilots awaiting FAA letters regarding medical condition reviews need to have some significant patience these days. This is not always an easy task, as in many such cases the FAA letter must be received before an AME can issue that pilot a new medical certificate. I have spent more than 30 years as an AME hoping this waiting game situation would improve, and sadly I am still knocking my head against the wall in frustration.
Before I get into some of the nitty-gritty of why there are seemingly undue delays in receiving FAA letters, I do want to give credit where credit is due. When an AME can get in contact with the FAA to discuss the urgency of a pilot receiving a review and subsequent authorization letter, they are “all ears” to help out. FAA staff members and physicians are actually eager to help out when they can.
In fact, they enjoy nothing more than assisting in getting a pilot approved, whenever it is aeromedically safe to do so. I sense genuine satisfaction when the FAA is able to help out on a case that has some compelling urgency to it.
As wonderful as this is, however, getting help with a specific urgent individual case is not by any means a fix for the ongoing systemic problem at the FAA with extensive delays in reviews and the issuance of disposition letters.
Gulfstream Aerospace has launched a G400 Experience Tour across the U.S. that will showcase the 4,200-nm twinjet’s “class-leading” cabin as the airplane nears first flight. The G400, introduced in October 2021, is a truncated version of the company’s fly-by-wire G500/G600 family slated for service entry in 2025.
According to Gulfstream, the initial G400 has been rolled out and delivered to the flight-test team, and preparations are underway for the first flight later this year. Two G400s are currently listed on the FAA registry as N400G and N402GA.
The tour will include stops of a full-size G400 cabin mockup in Miami, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., over the coming months. Customers will be able to choose from three floorplans with seating for nine, 11, or 12 passengers. The G400 also provides occupants with 100 percent fresh air, low cabin altitude, quieter noise levels, and plenty of natural light from 10 panoramic oval windows.
“As we prepare to fly the G400, the latest next-generation aircraft in the Gulfstream fleet, we are giving customers the opportunity to experience its spacious interior firsthand,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “We developed the G400 based on direct feedback from our customers, who told us they wanted cabin comfort and technology…We look forward to introducing the aircraft to our customers across the U.S. with this tour.”
Finally, WiFi that actually works. Customers are experiencing sustained connection that is as effortless at 41,000 ft as connectivity on the ground
SmartSky is wowing customers across the country. It’s time to get on board. Availability of the newest, state-of-the-art solution for the entire aircraft makes connecting to what’s most important as effortless in the air as it is on the ground.
Just over six years after EASA’s 2017 approval for single-engine turbine aircraft to fly commercially at night and in instrument meteorological conditions (CAT-SET-IMC), there has been limited growth in these operations in Europe. So the Single Engine Turboprop Operations (SETOps) Conference on April 21 as part of the Aero Friedrichshafen show in Germany will focus on what it will take for the industry to more fully exploit these liberalized rules.
During the event, Bruno Budim, the former executive director and accountable director of Cessna Caravan operator BenAir Norway, will present the finding of a new survey conducted jointly by GAMA and EBAA to assess market conditions in the CAT-SET-IMC environment. “Over the past few years concern has been growing over regulations that continue to restrict the growth of commercial general aviation operations, which are also adversely impacted by threats to small airfield closures,” said GAMA v-p of European affairs Kyle Martin. “SETOps can be a trailblazer for the sector to set the regulatory framework and get the access right for Europe.”
The SETOps conference will include sessions covering maintenance, repair and overhaul, pilot recruitment and training, and collaboration with small airports. Darrell Swanson from advanced air mobility consultancy EAMaven will highlight how new eVTOL and eSTOL aircraft could help to re-energize the SETOps sector.
Business aircraft flight operations are continuing to ebb from the feverish pace of 2022, down 4.8 percent year-over-year globally in March with projected further declines this month, according to Argus International. Releasing its latest TraqPak report, Argus noted that activity dropped by 5.8 percent in North America and by 13.6 percent in Europe in March. These trends are anticipated to slide into April’s traffic, with North American and European operations forecast to be down by 8.9 percent and 16.9 percent year-over-year, respectively.
In North America, however, activity improved by 14.6 percent month-over-month, Argus noted, crediting the three additional days on the calendar along with stronger demand. However, compared with March 2022, fractional activity marked the only positive gain, up 6.4 percent. Part 135 activity finished down 12 percent from March 2022 and Part 91 flights were off 4.3 percent. All categories of aircraft were down in the month year-over-year, led by midsize cabins at an 8.5 percent drop and small cabins at 7.1 percent.
In Europe, large-cabin jet activity plummeted 32.7 percent from a year ago, while midsize cabins showed the next steepest decline at 8.6 percent. Light jet and turboprop operations were down only slightly in comparison, at -3 percent and -1.1 percent, respectively. As for the rest of the world, activity was up 17.7 percent year-over-year, with large-cabin jets rebounding by 27.9 percent.
Kotaro Chiba, co-founder and managing partner of venture-capital group Drone Fund, yesterday became the first private individual to preorder a SkyDrive SD-05 two-seat eVTOL. The Japanese company started accepting preorders this week from private individuals, but has been securing preorders from business customers since unveiling a new vehicle design in September. Chiba also was the first investor in the company back in November 2018.
SkyDrive did not disclose the terms of the personal-use preorder agreements, including if they are backed by a down payment. The company has also not revealed the purchase price for the SD-05, which it aims to start delivering in 2025.
Chiba, who owns a HondaJet, holds a pilot’s license. However, SkyDrive said personal-use customers for the SD-05 will not be required to be licensed pilots.
In other news, SkyDrive reported earlier this week that it has raised ¥10 billion ($75.1 million) in further capital via its Series C funding round. Since its launch in 2018, the company has raised more than ¥15 billion in funding, it said.
Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.
Blade Air Mobility is offering a $37,500 seasonal “180” pass for flights between New York City and the Hamptons this summer in a Sikorsky S-76C+ (or newer) helicopter for a flat rate of $4,750 per flight plus 7.5 percent federal excise tax.
The deal runs from May 25 to September 4 for service to/from the Southhampton Heliport (K87N), East Hampton Airport (KHTO), Montauk Airport (KMTP), Quogue/Westhampton Airport (KFOK), and New York City heliports, where customers will have access to Blade lounges. An extra charge applies for flights into and out of Montauk. There are no peak or blackout dates.
Passengers can book flights with as little as 20 minutes' notice and callout service is available 24/7 with three hours’ notice. The deal applies to charter flights only. The passholder must be aboard and rowdsourcing is not permitted. Assuming eight passengers, the per-seat cost is $593.
Passholders also will qualify for preferred rates on any of Blade’s non-Hamptons destinations. Blade operates all helicopters with two pilots and the company reserves the right to substitute a comparable cabin-class twin helicopter in the case of mechanical or other covered condition. Blade’s non-pass service to the Hamptons—using Cessna 208s on amphibious floats or Bell 407 single-engine helicopters—typically runs $1,025 per seat plus taxes and fees.
Sikorsky continues to investigate new markets for its X2 compound coaxial helicopter technology following the loss of its appeal last week to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) award to Bell. In February, Sikorsky unveiled plans to potentially offer an aircraft positioned between the Raider-X, its ongoing efforts to compete in the Army’s Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, and the Defiant-X design it was proposing for FLRAA in partnership with Boeing.
The Army awarded that contract late last year to Bell based on its V-280 tiltrotor technology. The FLRAA program seeks to augment and eventually replace the H‑60 Black Hawk utility helicopter fleet in a program that could ultimately be worth north of $80 billion.
Sikorsky quickly appealed the award on the grounds that the Army erred when it classified the Defiant-X as “unacceptable” under the “engineering design and development evaluation factor, architecture subfactor," which ultimately rendered it ineligible. Sikorsky further maintained that Defiant-X offered better value in terms of price and supportability.
The GAO concluded, “The Army reasonably evaluated Sikorsky’s proposal as technically unacceptable because Sikorsky failed to provide the level of architectural detail required by the request for proposal. The GAO also rejected Sikorsky’s assertion that the agency’s evaluation violated the terms of the solicitation or applicable procurement law or regulation.”
Obstacles in vicinity. Pilatus PC-24/PC-12NG captain Giovanni Dameno snapped this image shortly after landing his company’s PC-12 at Courchevel Airport (LFLJ) in the French Alps. Not only did he capture the mountains and a hot-air balloon in this photo, but also the airport’s short 537-meter (1,762-foot) runway with a slope gradient of 18.6 percent. It’s definitely a great place to show off the PC-12’s short-field performance! Thanks for sharing, Giovanni.
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