Aviation service provider Sheltair has partnered with animal rescue charity Pilots N Paws to assist with the costs associated with rescue flights. The announcement was made in recognition of International Dog Day last week. Sheltair is based in Florida, one of five states that together account for 50 percent of all animal euthanasias in the U.S.
Since its founding in 2008, Pilots N Paws members have saved the lives of more than 200,000 animals by flying them to areas with no-kill shelters. The charity has more than 6,000 aviation-related volunteers, and through the agreement with Sheltair, its registered volunteer pilots will be assigned digital cards to present at the FBO customer service desks to receive fuel discounts when flying rescue missions.
“As a family-owned company, we recognize the significance of pets as beloved members of our homes,” said Sheltair president Lisa Holland, adding that saving animals has been important to her ever since she adopted her own rescue dog. “Sheltair looks forward to contributing animal saving efforts in our communities and across the country.”
Among the charity’s other supporters is Cirrus Aircraft, which lists several active volunteers among its staff, in addition to some of its aircraft-owning customers. The Minnesota-based airframer has also provided financial support to the organization.
Honeywell Aerospace is marking a major milestone with its first purpose-built business jet engine, the TFE731, which turned 50 years old this month. The turbofan engine, 13,000 of which have been produced to date, continues to power jet types such as the Dassault Falcon 900, Bombardier Learjet 70/75, and Gulfstream G150.
According to Honeywell, 9,400 of the engines remain in service today and in total have accumulated 108 million flight hours. The engine was designed to meet the specific needs of business jets while other engines from the era were adapted from existing military jet engines. Honeywell predecessor Garrett (AlliedSignal) developed the TFE731 in the late 1960s to provide the nascent business jet market with an engine that would fly coast-to-coast without refueling and that was reliable. The engine also lead to the development of Honeywell's HTF7000 family that powers some current-production super-midsize jets.
Besides being the company's first turbofan, the TFE731 also was the first geared turbofan engine with a dual-spool design to improve fuel efficiency and range. Dassault and Learjet were the engine’s launch customers, later to be followed by other OEMs such as Cessna, Lockheed, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Raytheon Aircraft/Hawker Beechcraft. Later adopted in military training aircraft such as the CASA 101 and AIDC AT-3, the TFE731 has received 34 type certifications and was produced in 80 configurations.
Autonomous aircraft systems developer Reliable Robotics said the FAA has accepted the certification basis for its navigation and autoflight system. This paves the way for the system’s supplemental type certification (STC) on the Cessna 208 Caravan, providing continuous autopilot engagement through all phases of aircraft operation—taxi, takeoff, cruise, landing, braking, and rollout—with a single pilot on board to handle abnormal procedures.
“We are very appreciative of the FAA’s noteworthy attention to detail and ongoing support,” said Reliable Robotics certification director Mark Mondt. “This certification basis is the culmination of years of work with the FAA and represents a key step towards bringing advanced navigation and autoflight systems to normal-category aircraft. We look forward to continuing our work together as we move into the next phase of the certification process.”
According to Reliable Robotics, the FAA uses these issue papers “to provide a structured means of describing and tracking the resolution of significant technical and regulatory issues that occur during a certification project.” The company added that the system will help to reduce controlled flight into terrain and loss of control in flight accidents, which are the top two causes of fatal accidents in small aircraft.
In a partnership with Satcom Direct, satellite network and airborne connectivity company Viasat has strengthened its services to the business jet market in Brazil. This is part of Viasat’s regional plan to support the Brazil market, which covers a huge territory with many areas that lack ground infrastructure. The country is also one of the largest aviation markets in the world, according to Viasat.
“Satcom Direct has been a reseller for Viasat for many years, and they set up that division to support customers that are based or registered in Brazil,” said Scott Hamilton, director of strategy for business aviation at Viasat. “There are unique licensing requirements in Brazil, and services such as satellite communications have to come through a local entity.”
Viasat partnered with government-owned Telebras to operate the ViaSat SGDC-1 Ka-band satellite, which covers all of Brazil. “The ability to add aviation connectivity is a logical extension of that,” the company said. But later this year, Viasat is launching the first of its more capable ViaSat-3 satellites, which will cover North and South America. “So that gives expanded coverage, added performance, and resilience since you’ve got multiple layers you can rely upon,” said Claudio D’Amico, business area director for business aviation at Viasat.
AviationManuals will be able to leverage its safety management system (SMS) software to serve more FBOs after the Maryland-based company received International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) Program Support Affiliate (PSA) recognition.
“IS-BAH PSA endorsement allows AviationManuals to bring our 26 years of operational procedures and SMS experience to the FBO audience, helping to improve operational professionalism and safety,” said AviationManuals senior operations adviser Kevin Honan. “We can now provide services that assist FBOs in understanding, complying with, and maintaining the standards of the IS-BAH program.”
CEO Mark Baier noted that IS-BAH registration has become a popular means for FBOs to promote their quality and professionalism. “We want to support our clients looking to achieve this endorsement by providing them with our years of extensive operational support and SMS experience,” he added.
In addition to providing SMS software to business aviation flight departments, aircraft management companies, and owner/operators, AviationManuals offers procedure development services, supporting more than 4,500 operators worldwide.
Mirai Flights—an online service for booking private jets in the UK, Europe, and Central Asia—has expanded its reach to include the Middle East. The company signed three new charter brokers in the region to extend its services: Aeon Luxe, AirJets, and Jet Summit. A well-established business aviation market with an “unprecedented luxury segment” prompted the startup company to pursue additional business in the region.
“Adding Middle Eastern brokers to the service is a crucial step in achieving our main aim to automate the business aviation booking process,” said Irakli Litanishvili, co-founder and CEO of Mirai Flights. “There are plenty of investment and partnership opportunities. We of course don’t plan to stop there. Our goals regionally are to develop Mirai’s B2B and B2C offerings through partnerships with local companies and FBO partners.”
Mirai’s Middle East presence might also be helpful in securing regional investment in the company, which plans to begin Series A fundraising shortly, Litanishvili added. The company is backed by UK-based capital venture fund Xploration and United Arab Emirates-based private investors. Mirai currently operates in 63 countries.
The NTSB has released the factual report for the Feb. 6, 2020, crash of Yute Commuter Service Flight 1002, which killed all five on board. While the NTSB has yet to issue a probable cause, the factual report implies that poor visibility played a role in the single-engine Piper PA-32R hitting terrain 12 miles west of Tuntutuliak, Alaska.
Yute is a VFR-only Part 135 commuter airline based in Bethel, Alaska. According to the report, which was accompanied by a docket including 264 pages of interviews with company personnel and a detailed weather study, Flight 1002 departed Bethel at 10:40 a.m. under special VFR for the villages of Kipnuk and Chefornak. The forecast cited IFR conditions “with occasional visibility below three miles in light snow and mist.”
The accident occurred at about 11:10 a.m.—30 minutes after departure. At 10:43 a.m., Bethel, about 50 miles from the crash site, reported 600 feet overcast, 1.25 miles visibility, unknown precipitation, and mist. At 11:05 a.m., it was 500 feet overcast with three miles visibility.
Kipnuk, about 39 miles from the accident site, reported 600 feet overcast with light snow with nine miles visibility at 10:56 a.m. Within an hour of the crash, conditions deteriorated at both airports, with ceilings down to 400 feet and visibility as low as a half mile with light snow, mist, and freezing fog.
Aviation Safety Question of the Week
Provided by
With respect to effective flight path monitoring, what is an area of vulnerability (AOV)?
A. Areas of bad weather in the cruise phase where it is more difficult to monitor the aircraft's flight path.
B. Periods of high workload and where the potentially increased likelihood of a flight path deviation occurs or where there is an increased severity of potential consequences if such a deviation occurs.
C. When climbing and descending in IMC and VMC conditions in congested areas.
Leonardo’s AW249 attack helicopter made its first flight on August 12 at the company’s Vergiate facility in Italy. Production aircraft will be powered by a pair of 2,500-shp GE CT700 engines, equipped with AW149 dynamic components and have an mtow in the 15,600 to 17,600-pound range.
Designed as a replacement for the AW129 Mangusta, the helicopter will be capable of conducting net-centric operations, including unmanned aerial vehicle pairing and advanced battlespace management. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2025.
Features include a run-dry drive system, ballistic-tolerant fuel tanks, armored seats, crashworthy airframe, and a weapons suite. The weapons suite features six wing stations for air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles, unguided/guided rockets, and external fuel tanks, along with wing stores capable of carrying mixed/asymmetric weapon loads. The AW249 also is equipped with a 20-mm nose-mounted turreted gun.
Leonardo said the AW249 has more offensive power, is more survivable, and will have lower life-cycle costs than previous-generation helicopters. The Italian Army is expected to take 48 AW249s to replace its fleet of Mangustas. In 2018, Leonardo agreed to collaborate with the Polish Armaments Group to offer the AW249 in the competition for Poland’s Kruk combat helicopter. Part of that offer involved producing components for the helicopter at Leonardo’s PZL-Swidnik subsidiary in Poland. However, earlier this year the Polish military shortlisted the Boeing AH-64 Apache and Bell AH-1Z Viper.
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