Textron Aviation today unveiled the Beechcraft King Air 260, the latest King Air to receive a refresh with nearly all the same new features as the King Air 360, which the Wichita-based airframer announced in August. “We are bringing the latest technological advancements to the King Air 260 cockpit that not only bring greater ease of operation for pilots, they bring a whole new era of flying for this renowned aircraft,” Textron Aviation senior v-p of sales and flight operations Rob Scholl said today at NBAA-VBACE.
Like the 360, the 260’s cockpit will be equipped with Innovative Solutions & Support’s (IS&S) ThrustSense Autothrottle, digital pressurization controller, and Collins Aerospace’s Multi-Scan RTA-4112 weather radar. Newly designed seats created originally for the 360 through a pressure-mapping process complete the 260’s upgrades. Production of the 260 has begun, and certification and initial deliveries are expected in early 2021. List price is $6.7 million.
The company also announced that it has obtained STCs for the IS&S ThrustSense Autothrottle on King Air 200s equipped with Pro Line Fusion avionics. It expects similar STC approval soon for King Air 300-series turboprops equipped with Pro Line 21 avionics.
On the Cessna side of the house, Scholl noted that production line flow on the newest airplane, the SkyCourier turboprop twin, will begin in early 2021 with type certification anticipated later that year.
Collins Aerospace Systems has developed a new environmentally-friendly lumber alternative, PrecisionPlank, that is designed to accurately color-match to business jet wood veneers. Unveiled on the opening day of NBAA-VBACE, PrecisionPlank uses patent-pending technology to customize boards from existing veneers.
“Today’s methods of matching lumber materials to existing aircraft veneers is time-consuming, expensive and, at times, wasteful,” said Ian Webb, v-p of business development for Collins Aerospace. “With PrecisionPlank, we are able to provide the exact board required to match the chosen veneer.”
The PrecisionPlank technology replicates the wood grain spacing of the chosen veneer, providing for a more accurate match. And unlike raw lumber, the board is free from knots, defects, and color variance, Collins said, adding this provides for better sizing of the board for veneers.
“Typically, cabinet shops spend an incredible amount of time milling down raw lumber in the hopes of finding an exact board match. The amount of wasted lumber and man-hours is enormous,” Webb said. “We’re thrilled to eliminate that guesswork and give our customers a more environmentally sustainable alternative.”
Collins further noted that the lumber alternative can be available in as little as one week, compared with the nine- to 12-week lead time often necessary for composite lumber.
JetNet iQ Survey Shows Industry Optimism
The business aviation industry remains optimistic despite the Covid-19 pandemic, industry data provider JetNet said today in releasing results from its third-quarter JetNet iQ survey at NBAA-VBACE.
Rolland Vincent, creator and managing director of JetNet iQ and president of consultancy Rolland Vincent Associates, noted that the survey’s market sentiment response scored a -43 percent from the more than 500 respondents worldwide in the second quarter—the lowest score ever recorded in the survey’s decade-long existence. But that number had risen to 4.8 percent by the third quarter and, with the company’s fourth-quarter survey still ongoing, jumped after the recent Covid-19 vaccine announcements.
With estimates of a 3.8 percent decrease in the U.S. GDP for 2020, Vincent explained that while Part 91K and Part 135 flight cycles have held their own year-over-year, Part 91 corporate operations have been off by 32 percent. Thus, he expects a 25 percent overall decline in business aircraft flying for 2020, reaching a total of 3.6 million cycles. That drop represents the lowest level of utilization since the global economic recession of 2008, following more than a decade of steady growth.
Meanwhile, JetNet is forecasting 511 business jets to be delivered this year—a year-over-year decrease of 29 percent. Subsequently, it has revised its 10-year industry forecast downward accordingly.
EAP Sees Double-digit Enrollment, Engine Growth
Engine Assurance Program (EAP) has seen enrollments in its hourly engine maintenance program increase 40 percent this year while it has also added engines to its program and expanded its capabilities, the Dallas-based company announced today at NBAA-VBACE. Of its recent enrollment growth, 30 percent are first-time aircraft owners.
“People who have never owned an aircraft before are going straight into a Falcon 900B, which is unprecedented,” said EAP program coordinator Sean Lynch. “Covid has impacted their decisions to buy aircraft because they want to avoid commercial flights for themselves or their employees. They see the benefit of engine maintenance plans to protect and maintain the value of the asset, and they are enrolling with us.”
EAP has added the Rolls-Royce AE3007C/C1 and AE3007A1E engines to its coverage. Those engines are found on the Cessna Citation X and Embraer Legacy 600 business jets, respectively.
In addition, EAP has added four variants to its Honeywell TFE731 turbofan engine coverage. They include the -4 (Dassault Falcon 50-4, Citation VII), -20 (Bombardier Learjet 40/40XR and 45/45XR), -40 (Astra SPX, Falcon 50EX, and Gulfstream G100/G150), and -60 (Falcon 900EX/LX). “We’re delighted to have more clients and more engine models to focus on,” added Lynch.
Honeywell Bullish on Bizav Post-Covid
As the Covid-19 vaccine begins to be distributed next year, business aviation travel will recover, boosted by new customers who have replaced first-class airline trips with charter and fractional-share flights, according to Honeywell Aerospace president and CEO Mike Madsen. During an NBAA-VBACE press conference today, Madsen said Honeywell is continuing technology development in key areas that will play a role in the post-Covid economic recovery.
“When we spoke to operators [during Honeywell’s annual survey], buyers of super-midsize and large-cabin jets continue to rate direct operating costs and cabin size as either first or second or vice versa,” Madsen said. Also important are performance and city-pair capability, and what Honeywell sees is a trend that buyers want the range of large-cabin jets but in a super-midsize cabin. This trend highlights the importance of engines that can power this new type of airplane, and Honeywell is already working on its next engine family, which will be larger than the current HTF series.
In avionics, Madsen said Honeywell is shifting to a more open-architecture environment, which will allow airframers to design customized avionics interfaces and add flexibility for modifications and upgrades, as well as more flexibility in interconnectivity. This means business aviation pilots could see functionality like being able to upload a flight plan from an iPad and easier ways to bring weather information into the aircraft.
Jet Aviation Geneva Receives Russian Part 145 Approval
The Russian Federation Civil Aviation Administration has approved Jet Aviation Geneva for line and base maintenance of Bombardier Global Express series, Gulfstream, and BBJ aircraft registered in Russia, the company announced today at NBAA-VBACE.
“Russia has a significant fleet of private aircraft and we are delighted to receive this important approval from the Russian civil aviation authority,” said Edgar Guerreiro, Jet Aviation Geneva general manager and senior director of MRO and FBO. “This authorization provides Russian owners and operators the comfort and security of knowing our team of dedicated maintenance professionals is here for them when they fly through the region. We look forward to welcoming them to our facility in Geneva.”
Jet Aviation Geneva was established in 1969—just two years after the company’s founding—from the acquisition of ground-handling and maintenance operations from Swiss airframer Pilatus. Today, the subsidiary of General Dynamics employs 4,000 people and operates FBOs and MROs from 50 facilities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, North America, and the Caribbean.
IS&S Advances Autothrottle Approvals, Features
Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S) announced new features to its ThrustSense autothrottle system today at NBAA-VBACE, in addition to the news that Textron Aviation selected the IS&S autothrottle for the new King Air 260. The ThrustSense autothrottle for Pratt & Whitney PT6-powered airplanes is now a standard feature on the King Air 360, and retrofittable to the King Air 300 and 200 series. Other approvals include the Pilatus PC-12 (legacy and NG), and IS&S’s autothrottle and avionics suite are also installed in Eclipse Aerospace’s 550 very light jet, which IS&S continues to support.
The new autothrottle features will be optional for PC-12 and King Air installations and available next year in the first or second quarter, added via software upgrade. “We’re finding as time goes on and we’re flying with the autothrottle, [there are] additional features that further enhance it,” said IS&S founder and CEO Geoffrey Hedrick.
A new VNAV mode will allow vertical navigation using the autothrottle based on waypoint speed constraints in the Collins flight management system. If there is a speed restriction at a waypoint, the autothrottle will automatically reduce power to meet that speed when crossing that waypoint.
It has also added guard mode, which protects against exceedances when flying with the autothrottle switched off, and several other new features.
Tamarack Adds Third Installation Site in South Carolina
Sandpoint, Idaho-based Tamarack Aerospace Group is expanding its capacity to handle increasing demand for winglet installations with the addition of a “transformation center” in Aiken, South Carolina.
Based at Aiken Regional Airport in South Carolina in conjunction with Carolina Turbine Support, the center will be capable of performing active winglet installations in 10 days or less. An East Coast regional sales manager and a team of installation specialists are based at the center, which will serve as an option for customers in the eastern U.S. and South America.
“We are planning to be able to install three active winglet kits per month at all locations,” said Tamarack COO Danny Hiner.
The new center, announced this morning during NBAA-VBACE, is the third installation facility for its Atlas active winglets, joining the center at London-Oxford Airport in the UK that was announced in the third quarter, as well as its Sandpoint, Idaho headquarters facility. In Sandpoint, Tamarack also recently tripled its office space and acquired a third hangar.
The addition of the center comes as Tamarack has modified more than 100 CitationJets over the last five years. “Tamarack continues to grow…The new East Coast transformation center’s location and capabilities fit perfectly with our expansion plans,” said Tamarack founder and CEO Nick Guida.
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Requires revision of the rotorcraft flight manual to limit the use of Map-Mode to the center display only for models equipped with Rogerson Kratos DUs and Garmin GTN 750/650 main software version 6.21 or later. The use of Map-Mode is prohibited on both the right- and left-hand-side display units, if installed. It also introduces a new emergency and malfunction procedure in the event of center display unit failure. Prompted by in-service reports of the loss of display and subsequent recovery of the Rogerson Kratos display unit.
Supersedes AD 2017-09-05, which requires repetitively checking screws in the emergency flotation gear. New AD retains these requirements but also adds installing a modification that is a terminating action for the repetitive checks.
Requires a one-time inspection of the left- and right-hand main landing gear side stay actuator assembly pin nut to check if lockwire is installed. If the lockwire is missing, it must be installed. Prompted by a review of manufacturing drawings that found no instructions to install lockwire on the main landing gear side stay actuator pin nut, where lockwire would normally be required to be installed. A sampling of production aircraft found lockwire installed in this location, but Transport Canada said this is no guarantee that all aircraft had the lockwire installed. Installation of lockwire in this location is a double locking feature, intended to mitigate incorrect or improper torquing of the nut, preventing a loose nut from departing the assembly. The loss of the nut, if undetected, could lead to the collapse of the affected main landing gear.
Model(s): AS350B/BA/B1/B2, AS350D, AS355E, and AS355F/F1/F2
Published: December 1, 2020
Effective: December 16, 2020
Requires testing the UP/DOWN switches of certain part-numbered Dunlop cyclic stick grip, installing a placard, and revising the existing rotorcraft flight manual or removing the Dunlop cyclic stick grip. Prompted by an inadvertent activation of the rescue hoist cable cutter.
Supersedes but retains the requirements of EASA AD 2020-0079, which calls for repetitive inspections of the main rotor mast swashplate assembly for swashplate bearing manufacturing deficiencies and, depending on findings, replacement of the ceramic ball bearings. Updated AD expands the affected part numbers to include main rotor mast assemblies having P/N 332A31-3001-03M.
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