G650ER Notches Another City-pair Speed Record

On the way to this week's MEBAA show, Gulfstream’s flagship G650ER set a speed record, flying nonstop from Teterboro, New Jersey, to Dubai in 11 hours two minutes. That eclipses the previous city-pair record by one hour 48 minutes.

The flight covered 6,142 nm (11,375 km) at an average speed of Mach 0.90 and 558.3-knots groundspeed. Pending confirmation and approval by the National Aeronautic Association, the Teterboro-to-Dubai city-pair speed record will be the G650/650ER’s 79th.

“No other aircraft offers the high-speed range utility that the G650ER does out of high-demand airports like Teterboro,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “This proves once again that the G650ER remains in a class by itself.” There are more than 30 G650/650ERs in the Middle East, according to Gulfstream, and 325 in service worldwide.

The largest and fastest Gulfstream was announced in 2008 and certified in 2012. In 2014, the aircraft won the U.S. Collier Trophy, and that year, Gulfstream announced the extended-range ER version. The 650ER has a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90 and a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.925. Long-range cruise speed is Mach 0.85, at which it can fly up to 7,500 nm. In March 2014, a test G650ER flew from Hong Kong to Teterboro, a distance of 7,494 nm.

Robinson Helicopter Foresees Market Weakness in 2019

Robinson Helicopter CEO Kurt Robinson sees a troubled 2019 for the light helicopter market. Torrance, California-based Robinson, the world’s largest producer of light civil helicopters, has held production steady at an average annual rate of close to 300 units since 2014, including 305 in 2017.

This year, Kurt Robinson thinks that number may be a little bit better. In early December he predicted the company would manufacture approximately 35 R22 two-seat piston singles, 200 R44 four-seat piston singles, and 74 R66 turbine singles in 2018. “It’s going to be a little bit more than 300 aircraft,” he said.

But he believes his company will be hard-pressed to match those numbers next year. “I see weakness ahead,” he told AIN. “Seventy percent of our sales are exports. You take higher interest rates, a stronger dollar, and more tariffs on China and Russia and I’m not as optimistic as I have been in the last couple of years.”

Operators Concerned about New Seletar Restrictions

Business aviation ground handlers at Singapore’s Seletar airport are concerned about the new flight restrictions imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), worrying that it will eventually affect flight operations. The CAAS has notified operators that a noise-abatement night curfew will begin on January 1, restricting operations into Seletar from 14:00 to 23:00 UTC (10 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time), with an exception for medical and emergency flights.

The CAAS declared Seletar a scheduled facilitated airport effective October 28 and also allocated four slots daily for training flights, each lasting an hour long. CAAS said the number of non-training aircraft movements has increased by 10 percent over the past five years. 

“At the same time, there are daily training flights taking place at Seletar Airport. As such, we are reviewing plans to segregate training and non-training flights for more efficient use of capacity by all airport users,” said a CAAS spokesperson.

“Minus the curfew and training hours, that will leave us less than 12 hours for business aviation traffic. Once Firefly begins flying commercial service from Seletar, they will also take up 10 movements daily, further limiting the number of business aviation movements,” said Universal Aviation Singapore managing director Yvonne Chan. “We might see Seletar become a slots airport.”

Spike Looks At Self-cleaning Tech for Aircraft De-icing

Under an agreement inked yesterday, supersonic business jet (SSBJ) developer Spike Aerospace is exploring the use of Innovasonic’s self-cleaning technology for aircraft de-icing and wiperless windshields, as well as cleaning aircraft touch screens. California-based Innovasonic is developing PiezoWipe, which it said is an active cleaning using ultrasonic energy produced from a transparent micro-transducer array in glass or film.

“Working with Spike Aerospace gives us an opportunity to develop and deploy our technology in one of the most innovative products on the aerospace market: the supersonic jet,” said Dr. Boris Kobrin, founder and CEO of Innovasonic. PiezoWipe technology has the potential to remove contamination and deposits such as fog and ice on glass components, sensors, and displays, according to Innovasonic.

“The product we develop—quiet supersonic jet—requires innovative solutions in a number of areas of aircraft systems,” said Spike president and CEO Vik Kachoria. “This agreement demonstrates our interest in Innovasonic’s technology and capability to move forward with commercialization efforts.”

Boston-based Spike is developing the 18-passenger S-512 SSBJ, which it expects to meet stringent Stage 5 noise and emissions regulations. It intends to have the S-512 flying by early 2021, with customer deliveries starting in 2023.

AirMap Provides Real-time Geofencing UAS Mobile App

AirMap is now providing real-time geofencing alerts in its drones mobile app for iOS and Android. The free feature alerts pilots of their DJI drone's in-flight positioning and offers a visual and/or verbal alert when their aircraft approaches unsafe airspace.

The app offers digital services for drone operators that cover airspace, regulations, and provide awareness of nearby aircraft worldwide, while its real-time geofencing alerts inform pilots when they are approaching, on the edge of, or intersecting airspace areas in which drone flight is regulated (orange), restricted or prohibited (red). If the drone’s position is less than 30 seconds from entering a new airspace boundary, AirMap displays a warning message onscreen and verbally announces the warning with the appropriate message.

In releasing the new feature, the company noted a recent Embry-Riddle study that found more than 20 percent of drone flights posed a risk to manned flight. “[UAS] pilots need easy-to-use and smart flight conformance monitoring tools that are configurable to their unique airspace environment, aircraft, and operations. Authorities need to be able to monitor conformance of all flights, and ensure that drones and other aircraft steer clear of airspace advisories, TFRs, and restricted airspace,” AirMap said. 

The alerts are also available to developer partners and OEMs via a mobile software development kit for iOS and Android. 

FSI Recognizes 4,000th Master Technician

FlightSafety International recently awarded its 4,000th Master Technician certificate recognizing the completion of a comprehensive multi-year maintenance training program. Joe Ping, manager of aircraft maintenance for Cummins’ Global Integrated Services-Aviation, achieved the milestone certificate for his technician training on the Gulfstream G280.

Developed in collaboration with aircraft, component, and system manufacturers, the Master Technician program entails in-depth instruction and real-world practical training. To achieve the recognition, participants must complete five advanced aircraft type- and path-specific maintenance courses. Path options include airframe, avionics, composites, engines, and management. FlightSafety estimates that the average technician takes four to five years to complete the program and typically earns a certificate in several paths.

The program began in the 1990s covering a few aircraft models but has expanded over the years to nearly every commonly used business aircraft model. Courses are available for engines and other components from suppliers such as Pratt & Whitney Canada and Honeywell, along with business aircraft manufactured by Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Embraer, Gulfstream, Leonardo, Piaggio, Sikorsky, and Textron.

Gama Aviation Targets 2020 For Sharjah BAC Opening

Farnborough, UK-based Gama Aviation, which has long had a presence in the Middle East, has been “a little ambitious in terms of the timeline” for getting its new Business Aviation Centre in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, finished, said company chief marketing officer Duncan Daines. “Realistically it will now be 2020” before it opens.

Gama opened its existing FBO and MRO facility at Sharjah in 2012 but is keen to move to the new facility. “Space is being cleared to get the apron [laid] down,” he said. Last year, the company signed commercial agreements with the Sharjah Airport Authority to build and operate a $30 million, 430,600-sq-ft (40,000-sq-m) private jet terminal as the sole provider of ground services to the general aviation sector at Sharjah International Airport.

Daines acknowledged there are several “temporary” factors that are suppressing Gama's growth in the Middle East, but he expects long-term prospects in the region to be very good. In terms of its hoped-for Saudi FBO, this is clearly on the back burner at present. “We are standing off at the moment, though there are lots of opportunities and flight hours there,” he said. “It’s all about timing, but it’s not all doom and gloom.”

On Air Dining Expands Options with New Partnership

Members of On Air Dining’s Horizon program will see preferred pricing on crew hotels, hired cars, and repositioning flights anywhere in the world through a new partnership with Travelworx, a UK-based provider of travel agent services to business aviation.

“We invested in the development of Horizon after recognizing the need for a compelling suite of services that allows fleets of all budgets and sizes to enjoy the high-quality cuisine we are known for throughout the industry,” On Air Dining CEO Daniel Hume said yesterday. “By leveraging our relationships throughout the industry, we are able to extend additional savings to our customers.”

On Air Dining, a business aviation caterer with operations at Farnborough and Stansted airports in the UK, unveiled its Horizon program at EBACE in May. A monthly membership in Horizon costs £198 ($249) plus VAT.

Benefits of a Horizon membership include unlimited free delivery to 12 airports in London and the south of England; 10 percent off of any On Air Interiors orders; complementary, bespoke menu design; and free, tailored culinary training.

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