The first Airbus ACJ TwoTwenty completed its first flight yesterday from Montreal Mirabel International Airport. Test pilots Christophe Marchand and Adam Mason were at the controls on the 1.5-hour flight, with Romuald Scheling supporting as the flight-test engineer. Airbus Corporate Jets launched the ACJ TwoTwenty in October 2020.
Delivery of the aircraft, a private version of the A220-100 single-aisle airliner, to launch customer Comlux is expected in the coming weeks; it will then be outfitted with a VIP cabin by Comlux Completions in Indianapolis, with service entry scheduled for early 2023. Comlux is Airbus’s exclusive outfitting partner for the first 15 ACJ TwoTwentys.
Airbus is billing the bizliner as “a new value proposition to business aviation buyers” because it offers a 5,650-nm range as well as three times the interior space, the same hangar footprint, and a similar price (about $72 million) as an ultra-long-range business jet. The TwoTwenty also features six living areas, compared with four on the Bombardier Global 7500 and five on the Gulfstream G700.
Nearly a year after acquiring The Maintenance Group, Elliott Aviation has completed its integration and rebranding of the Atlanta-based MRO provider, adding a fourth MRO facility for the Moline, Illinois-based aviation services company. Located at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (KPDK), the facility offers maintenance and avionics services for Gulfstream, Bombardier Challenger, Learjet, Dassault Falcon Jet, Cessna Citation, Beechcraft, and Hawker airframes.
“Our integration is complete and we’ve built a very strong team at our KPDK facility, positioned for continued growth and ready to support the needs of our customers at KPDK and in the Southeast region,” said Elliott president and CEO Greg Sahr.
From a 40,000-sq-ft facility, the 25 workers there can perform airframe inspections, structural repairs and modifications, wing corrosion repair, DAR import/export airworthiness approvals, STC installation and certification projects, and pre-purchase inspections.
Maintenance technicians at the site average 25 years of experience. “The staff here at KPDK have strong experience, and we look forward to continuing to build our relationships with local customers, as well as establishing new ones,” said Craig Oehring, Elliott's Atlanta site manager.
The company also operates aircraft sales under the Elliott Jets brand and has other MRO facilities in Moline; Des Moines, Iowa; and Minneapolis.
Though the combatants for the NFL’s Super Bowl LVI have yet to be determined, coordination for the cloud of private aircraft expected to descend on the Los Angeles area for the February 13 contest has already begun.
According to NBAA, a reservation program for ground services for Los Angeles-area airports will be in place from Wednesday, February 9 through Tuesday, February 15; and because slots are limited this year, operators are encouraged to make reservations as early as possible. Due to these constraints, drop-and-go reservations might become the only option if aircraft parking space fills up at some airports.
With air traffic volumes rising again, arriving crews should anticipate the institution of air traffic control management initiatives throughout the week, and a special-event TFR will be issued via notam in the week leading up to the game. That notam will outline any specific impacts resulting from the temporary flight restriction that will be imposed around SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on game day.
Operators should expect that primary airports in the area will have a prior permission required (PPR) system in place. NBAA is hosting a dedicated webpage for Super Bowl arrivals and departures and will update it with the latest TFR notams as they become available.
Bird Aerosystems has received Civil Aviation Authority of Israel supplemental type certificate (STC) approval for a special-mission variant of the Cessna Citation CJ3. The STC for the CJ3 Airborne Surveillance, Intelligence, and Observation (ASIO) platform enables dual use for special missions and VIP operations, the Israel-based company said. Under the STC, the cabin configurations could be changed without the need to dismantle ASIO sensors and systems.
Bird Aerosystems said the STC is the first of its kind for a Cessna Citation and followed the modification of the CJ3 into a special-mission configuration, including all structural and electrical changes supporting the installation of airborne surveillance sensors, communication equipment, operator workstations, and a pilot display.
The STC program involved installation design, analysis, and modifications conducted by Bird Aerosystems’ engineering department, as well as by its MRO in Cyprus. Plans call for seeking FAA and EASA approvals next year and offering the platform for multiple operations.
“Work invested by our internal platform engineering department and our MRO in Cyprus, together with our partners at the CAAI, enabled us to complete this STC certification successfully and fulfill our mission of delivering turnkey programs to our customers,” said Bird Aerosystems co-CEO and founder Ronen Factor. “We can now offer our customers a fully certified maritime and ground surveillance aircraft solution that is cost-effective and can be delivered under short schedules."
Looking to amplify its efforts to establish supply chains for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) across the U.S., the FAA last week awarded more than $1.4 million in research funds to five universities—Washington State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Tennessee, University of Hawaii, and Purdue University. Each university will concentrate its efforts in a specific area, ranging from understanding land-use impacts of SAF to the retrofitting of existing agri-business mills and petroleum refineries to use forest byproducts and other waste materials in producing SAF to evaluating supply chains.
The grants range from $100,000 to $450,000 and are part of an ongoing research project that has thus far awarded $14.4 million to 13 universities to undertake the research necessary to expand SAF production, as well as spur the nascent hydrogen fuel industry. They come following the Biden administration's unveiling of its Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge earlier this year, aimed at boosting the production of SAF to at least three billion gallons annually by 2030.
“Sustainable aviation fuels are a critical part of meeting our climate goals for aviation, and we want to help that industry grow and create jobs right here in the U.S.,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “These funds will help build regional supply chains so that communities across our country—many of them rural—feel the economic benefits of producing sustainable aviation fuel.”
Following up on West Star Aviation’s announcement last week that it will undertake a significant expansion of three of four of its primary MRO facilities, the company on Tuesday unveiled further details of its planned expansion at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (KCHA) in Tennessee.
The expansion plan calls for retrofitting one of its existing hangars there for a new design studio along with the construction of a 40,000-sq-ft hangar with an additional 17,000 sq ft for shops and other uses. It also will lease an existing 20,000-sq-ft hangar from the airport. In all, West Star will occupy 256,828 sq ft at the airport.
Cost of the expansion is $17 million, which will be funded in part by a grant from the state of Tennessee. In addition, West Star will create an additional 100 jobs as part of the expansion. The company currently employs more than 250 people at KCHA, where it acquired operations in 2015.
“We remain committed to the Chattanooga community and its residents,” said West Star CEO Jim Rankin. “We want to continue to be proactive in our approach to growth in the area. This would not be possible without the trust and confidence placed in West Star Aviation by the state of Tennessee and the surrounding community.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week swore in former Tucson, Arizona police chief Chris Magnus to serve as commissioner to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The swearing-in followed the confirmation in the Senate on December 7 by a 50-47 vote. Magnus is the fifth person to be confirmed as CBP commissioner since the agency was created in 2003.
In that role, he is responsible for a law enforcement agency of 64,727 employees who manage customs, immigration, border security, and agricultural protection. Magnus has a long career in law enforcement that also has included serving with the Lansing, Michigan Police Department and as police chief in Fargo, North Dakota, and Richmond, California, in addition to Tucson.
The White House characterized Magnus as a “progressive police leader who focused on relationship-building between the police and community, implementing evidence-based best practices, promoting reform, and insisting on police accountability.”
Atlanta Technical College (ATC) has recertified its Aviation Maintenance Airframe Certificate Program, following the FAA’s suspension of the program five years ago, and will begin classes for the 2022 spring semester.
According to the FAA, it suspended ATC’s Air Agency Certificate in December 2016, alleging “that ATC failed to maintain approved grade, attendance, and makeup reports for students in numerous courses in its Aviation Maintenance Technology (AVMT) program.” Further, the FAA said at the time that the college hadn’t enrolled or conducted any classes in the program since May 2014.
College officials credited the support of ATC president Victoria Seals—who joined the college in December 2016—and representatives from hometown airline Delta Air Lines for the program’s recertification. “Delta TechOps congratulates ATC on its hard work to achieve FAA recertification to offer the aviation program,” said Joseph McDermott, Delta Air Lines' managing director of people development and culture, technical operations. “Providing this curriculum not only enhances the opportunities available to students in our community but also supports our efforts to present a compelling career path at Delta TechOps while students are in aviation programs.” McDermott also sits on the college’s board of directors.
The program, which emphasizes a combination of aircraft airframe maintenance theory and practical application, can be completed in three semesters, ATC said.
Duncan Aviation Wins Top Flight Award for Diversity
Duncan Aviation is the winner of the AIN 2021 Top Flight Awards in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion category for its refugee assistance program. The company works with the Refugee Resettlement Program and other nonprofit organizations to ease the integration and assimilation of refugees into the community. Half of Nebraska’s refugee population resides in Duncan’s headquarters city of Lincoln, which is now home to Afghani, Bosnian, Chinese, Kurdish, Mexican, Russian, Sudanese, Tajik, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese refugees and immigrants. Duncan works with area nonprofits to provide these new residents with English language learning classes, as well as building maintenance, electrical, plumbing, painting, and food pantry assistance. The company has also hired two refugees.
Supersedes but retains requirements of AD 2021-04-21, which mandated an inspection of the attachment bolts of the main rotor hub scissors assembly for discrepancies and any necessary repair, part marking of the attachment bolts of the main rotor hub scissors assembly, and repetitive inspections of the part marking of the attachment bolts and any necessary repair. New AD also requires part marking of the washer, scissor branch, and mast ring of the corresponding nut side, and repetitive inspections of the additional part markings and any necessary repair. Prompted by a report of broken and bent attachment bolts of the main rotor hub scissors assembly and a determination that additional part markings and repetitive inspections of those part markings are necessary to detect any rotation.
Requires revising the airworthiness limitations section (ALS) to establish a life limit of 20,000 flight cycles for certain main landing gear trunnion pins. Prompted by the omission of a life limit in the ALS of the maintenance manual for certain trunnion pins.
Requires inspecting the aft and forward fitting assemblies of the outboard load system to determine the part number, re-identifying the part if necessary, inspecting each affected part for damage—which may be indicated by signs of corrosion, mechanical damage, loose rivets, or cracks—and any necessary corrective actions.
Requires repetitive inspections of each main landing gear strut assembly and, depending on the findings, replacement of the strut assembly with a serviceable assembly or application of corrosion preventive compound. Prompted by reports of main landing gear wheel assembly failure.
Requires replacing the ram air turbine (RAT) compartment door seal. Prompted by a finding that the RAT compartment door seal could potentially peel off and become tangled up on the RAT rotor. This condition could cause the loss of RAT function, which when associated with an electrical emergency event can result in loss of airplane controllability.
Requires inspecting the right forward tail rotor cableand,depending on the results, removing the cable assembly fromservice. AD also requiresmeasuring the clearance between theright forward tail rotor control cable and the roller bracket cut outand,depending on the results, adjusting the height of the roller bracketassembly position.Prompted by a report of chafing of the rightforward tail rotor control cable.
Requires visuallyinspecting the drive ring spline teeth andthe mating area spline teethon the oil cooler blower shaft for signs of deformation and fretting,and, depending on the results of the inspection, removing certain partsfrom service. AD also requiresreinstalling certain parts,applying torque, and aligning certain bolt holes. Prompted by reports of damage to the drive ringsplineteeth and the mating spline teeth.
Requiresdetermining the totalhours time-in-service of certain part-numbered tail rotor (TR) blades, establishing a life limit forcertainpart-numberedTR blades, removing from service any TR blade that has reached orexceeded its lifelimit, creating a component history card, re-identifying certain part-numbered TR blades, andremoving any TR bladefrom service before reaching its retirement life. AD alsoprohibitsinstalling certain TR blades. Prompted by reduced life limits beingestablished forcertain part-numbered TR blades.
Requires retorquing the baggage bay line fire extinguishing tube assembly. Prompted by a finding that the baggage bay line fire extinguishing tube assembly may not have beeninstalled in production with the correct torque.
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