Judge Allows JSX To Temporarily Continue SNA Flights

JSX won’t be shut out from one of its largest markets after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Orange County and John Wayne Airport (SNA) in California from preventing the jet service from operating at an FBO there effective January 1. New lease agreements approved in September by the Orange County board of supervisors and between the county-owned airport and its FBOs—ACI Jet and Clay Lacy Aviation—prohibited JSX from leasing space at ACI for its operations, a key element to the company providing its scheduled charter service there.

“JSX's award-winning hop-on service will continue to fly to and from John Wayne Airport in the interim and JSX will continue to work in good faith with all parties towards a mutually acceptable long-term accommodation,” said JSX CEO Alex Wilcox. “I am deeply grateful to the over 10,000 people who voiced their support for JSX in the past week, and to all JSX crewmembers for bravely continuing to make JSX such a valued service to so many in Orange County and beyond, in spite of the many challenges this year.”

The restraining order comes after JSX filed a lawsuit on December 14 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California-Southern Division seeking to continue operations at the airport. A spokeswoman told AIN that the airport will comply with the order.

Bombardier Captures Sale of 10 Challenger 350s

Bombardier is closing the year with a firm order valued at $267 million for 10 super-midsize Challenger 350s from an undisclosed customer. The commitment marks one of the larger orders in 2020 and signifies strengthening interest in the business aviation market during the pandemic, according to Bombardier.

“This order highlights the value customers place on the unmatched capabilities of our aircraft,” said Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel. “Bombardier’s newly refreshed portfolio and growing service network position the company well to respond to growing interest in private aviation and the enhanced safety it provides.”

The order also is a key win for Bombardier as it begins its transition into a pure-play business aviation company in the upcoming weeks. Once shed of its non-business aviation entities, Bombardier plans to focus on managing its existing portfolio of aircraft and growing its existing service network as it works to reduce capital and other costs and manage an anticipated residual $4.5 billion debt load.

In addition, the sale provides a key boost for Bombardier, which has had to realign production as complexities of working in the Covid environment hampered sales and deliveries. Through the first three quarters, Bombardier deliveries dropped by 20 business aircraft, to 70. Martel has further estimated Bombardier would hand over between 100 to 120 business jets next year, compared with 142 in 2019.

Flexjet Crews To Begin At-home Covid-19 Testing

Starting next month, Flexjet’s 830 crewmembers will begin medically supervised Covid-19 testing at home before each tour of duty using a saliva-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, the fractional operator announced. PCR tests are considered the most effective means for detecting the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, experts have told AIN.

“From the very beginning of the pandemic, we have taken every possible step to ensure the health and well-being of our owners and our flight crews,” said Flexjet CEO Michael Silvestro. “This announcement represents the next evolution of our overall strategy and will provide a key bridge while we wait for the large-scale rollout of the various vaccine programs.”

Flexjet noted that it has been aggressive in preventing the spread of coronavirus to its owners and crewmembers beginning in March by treating all its facilities and aircraft interiors with MicroShield 360, as well as launching Project Lift, an effort to ferry its flight crews internally instead of using commercial airlines.

The test was developed by Rutgers University laboratory RUCDR Infinite Biologics and is administered by Vault Health. Crewmembers will test themselves while on a video call with a medical provider to ensure they correctly collect the sample. Those who test positive will be paid their full salary while under quarantine and won’t have to use any paid time off they’ve accumulated.

Mexico AW109 Crash Now a Homicide Investigation

Mexican authorities detained four people on Friday in connection with the December 2018 fatal crash of a 2011 Leonardo AW109S (XA-BON) that killed all aboard, including National Action Party opposition party member and Puebla state governor Martha Alonso, her husband senator Rafael Moreno Valle, an aid to Valle, and both pilots. The helicopter crashed minutes after takeoff on a flight from Puebla to Mexico City.

The Puebla attorney general said the four detained—all employed by Toluca-based Rotor Flight Services (RFS) at the time of the accident—were being investigated for homicide and making false statements. Accident investigators, led by Mexico’s DGAC with assistance from both the NTSB and Canada TSB, concluded that a known, preexisting problem with the helicopter’s stability system should have grounded it from further flight before the accident. 

A final accident report from Mexico’s Agencia Federal de Aviacion Civil found the helicopter crashed due to a sudden left roll, causing loss of control that deteriorated into inverted flight and impact into terrain. It said the uncommanded roll could have been caused by loose actuator screws contacting the stability system’s electronic card.

Listed contributory factors included “ineffective maintenance practices” by RFS, inadequate safety culture at operator Altiplano Air Services, pressure on the operator to continue flight operations despite intermittent malfunction of the stability system during prior flights, and insufficient governmental maintenance and operations supervision.

ARC Notes Jump in SMS Form Use

ARC Safety Management saw a 130 percent increase in the use of safety management systems (SMS) forms between January and October. The company claims this illustrates an increase in SMS integration by business and other aviation operators since flight activity has decreased in the same period due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Although we saw a decrease of almost 70 percent in form submissions directly related to flight from its peak in January to April, there was a more than 130 percent increase in forms related to risk analysis, operational change, and training,” said ARC Safety Management CEO Mark Baier. “Operators have seen how data and digital management systems can help them make faster decisions and easily communicate changes to their teams.”

A sister company of AviationManuals, ARC offers custom web and mobile SMS software and apps for aircraft and commercial drone operators and FBOs. Its ARCreport can be used for recording incidents and hazards, safety and service, deviations, training, and change management. The system automatically organizes, communicates, stores, and digitally processes data for SMS analysis.

Aerocor Trains 27 New Eclipse Pilots in 2020

Aerocor—a Henderson, Nevada-based very light jet sales broker and pilot training provider—ended the year with 27 Eclipse 500/550 type ratings issued. The company plans to conduct three type ratings events per month going forward, and the training is available for Eclipse buyers or pilots who need an Eclipse type rating but don’t own one. Aerocor also offers recurrent training.

The flying portion of the Eclipse pilot training is all done in-aircraft and includes ground school, flight training, and the check-ride and mentor training before being allowed to fly alone. Pilots are also required to obtain upset prevention and recovery training, and this can be done by any qualified third-party. The upset training must be done before the pilot is signed off for completion of the mentor training.

Aerocor's type rating course typically takes 10 days, but can be shorter for experienced pilots or longer for pilots who aren’t well prepared ahead of time or lack jet experience. The type rating training is available as an add-on option when buying an Eclipse from Aerocor; thus, the cost of training can be included in financing. 

“We know how intimidating it can be to make the jump into flying jets,” said Gavin Woodman, who co-founded Aerocor with Justin Beitler. “That’s why we designed our program specifically with the first-time jet pilot in mind.”

EASA Proposes Modifications for Overwater Helo Ops

EASA is proposing equipment changes for Part 27 and 29 helicopters that are operated for extended periods over water. The changes are designed to help improve survivability during helicopter ditching or survivable water impact.

Proposed modifications for such aircraft include black/yellow markings for emergency controls used underwater for all helicopters; remote life raft deployment (cockpit, cabin, from water) for large Part 29 helicopters only (ditching approval only); substantiated sea conditions for capsize resistance in the rotorcraft flight manual; easy opening emergency exits, emergency illumination of underwater ditching exits, and one pair of exits for every four passengers; improved life raft attach lines and easy reach life preservers; and automatic deployment of emergency flotation systems.

EASA said the new requirements could take effect by 2023 and “will improve the safety of offshore helicopter operations and provide a pragmatic balance of the associated minimal economic impact, and with no environmental or social impact. “ 

“Previous studies and accident investigations into helicopter ditching and water-impact events had highlighted the need to enhance the certification specifications for helicopters (CS-27, CS-29) to improve the level of safety of future helicopter designs,” EASA noted. “As part of RMT.0120, changes were introduced to CS-27 and CS-29 at Amendment 5 to improve the probability of survival for occupants in the event of either a helicopter ditching or a survivable water impact.”

Duncan Amends STCs for Challenger, Legacy Models

Duncan Aviation’s Engineering & Certification Services has been busy amending STCs for a couple of Honeywell products on variants of Bombardier Challenger 600 series and Embraer Legacy 600s, the Lincoln, Nebraska-based MRO provider announced.

For the Challenger 601, 604, 605, and 650, the Duncan team amended STCs for the Honeywell flight management system (FMS) and future air navigation system (FANS) that enable owners and operators to upgrade their existing NZ-2010 FMS to version 6.1.1, which it said will solve the FANS latency issue.

“The new software includes a message-latency monitor to detect old controller-pilot datalink communication (CPDLC) messages that may no longer apply,” said Duncan certification coordinator Russ Kromberg. “Prior to the software fix, air traffic control could send a pilot a message, and it was possible for that message to get lost or delayed. With this updated software, pilots will now be notified if the message is out of date.”

Duncan also amended an STC for Honeywell Primus Elite avionics in the Legacy 600 that provides the option to add Primus Elite Advance features. These include upgrades to the Honeywell Integrated Avionics Computer and DU-875 displays for synthetic vision system functionality, as well as display of Metars and TAFs delivered via SiriusXM Weather on Primus Elite’s enhanced moving-map display.