Gulfstream Aerospace has reached a major milestone in the development of its G300 super-midsize jet, with the news that it has successfully completed its first flight. The twinjet—the successor to the company’s venerable G280—was first announced at a media event in September.

As with the previous, smaller-cabin-class entries to the airframer’s fleet, the G300 is manufactured in Israel by IAI under license for Gulfstream. It took off this morning from Ben Gurion International Airport at 8:05 a.m. local time, and flew for nearly 2.5 hours, reaching a speed of Mach 0.75 and an altitude of 30,000 feet. This came after more than 2,000 hours of ground tests. Two additional test aircraft are under construction.

According to the OEM, the G300 offers the largest cabin in its class, seating 10 passengers. It features two living areas, a well-equipped galley, a large baggage compartment, and the lowest cabin altitude in the super-mid segment. Its range is 3,600 nm at Mach 0.80 or 3,000 nm at Mach 0.84.

“With its combination of safety, technology, performance, and cabin comfort, the G300 is a game changer for the super-midsize category,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “This latest investment, designed to exceed our customers’ expectations for large-cabin features in a mid-cabin aircraft, brings another new category leader to our next-generation fleet.”

There is no doubt that there is a growing shortage of aircraft maintenance technicians (AMTs) worldwide, and it’s going to get worse. Not only are a significant number of AMTs entering retirement age, but their knowledge and experience are soon going to be lost forever. Artificial intelligence and robotic technology may help in some arenas, but they will never replace the hands-on work that only humans can perform.

There is a partial solution available, one that could free up a lot of time spent on maintenance and thus ease the shortage to some extent. The other solution is more radical: pay AMTs on par with pilots. Why does it make sense that a captain in a long-range business jet receives upwards of $300,000 a year, while the director of maintenance, who is responsible for the entire fleet, might make $150,000? The only way to bring more people into aviation is by paying them more and treating them better. But that’s another story.

Here is where the rubber hits the road: I call it the maintenance burden.

When someone or a company acquires an aircraft, it comes with a maintenance burden. Inspections, parts replacements, and repairs must be done, or not only does the aircraft become unsafe to fly, but its value can drop considerably. What if OEMs created a more reasonable inspection program that maintained the same level of safety without requiring redundant inspection items?

Taking the next key step forward on creating a “brand new” air traffic control system, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the FAA selected Peraton as the prime integrator in the ambitious modernization project. Announced yesterday, the selection of the integrator comes a little more than three months after the FAA issued a request for solutions for a prime integrator.

The prime integrator will oversee a new approach to modernization, providing central management, coordinating projects, and keeping them on track. Projects include replacing core infrastructure, including telecommunications networks, radar, software, and hardware. Peraton’s work begins immediately, focusing on the continued transition of copper infrastructure and establishing a new digital command center.

Peraton—which was spun out from Harris Corporation in 2017 and has been involved in a range of space, defense, cyber, intelligence, communications, and other missions—immediately has $12.5 billion to tap into for the project, provided to the effort in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford called the $12.5 billion a “strong down payment,” but added, “To finish the job—and deliver the safer, more efficient system travelers deserve—we’re going to need another $20 billion.”

Peraton brings expertise in integrating complex tech platforms and collaboration with federal government agencies, according to the FAA. It received a “first-of-its-kind” contract that is structured to reward good performance and incentivize smart usage of the taxpayer dollar, the agency added. 

European pilots can now comply with flight time logging requirements using ForeFlight’s logbook feature, with the release of new logbook region settings for the U.S. and Europe. The new feature delivers “a streamlined flight logging experience tailored to the needs of European pilots,” according to ForeFlight.

The Europe logbook meets EASA flight logging standards and guidelines by replacing U.S.-specific field names, recency tracking, and reporting formats. Other features include: prebuilt currency and recency templates aligned with EASA regulations; EASA-standard terminology for flight entry and aircraft profile fields; FCL.050 report for compliant flight time summaries; progress reports to track milestones toward EASA skill tests; and support for EASA licenses and qualifications, including ratings.

“ForeFlight Logbook is designed to make logging simpler, smarter, and more useful for every pilot,” said ForeFlight product manager Rachel Scarbrough. “With the new logbook addition, we’re extending that same ease of use to European pilots, helping them save time, track progress, and keep their records in line with the standards they follow every day.”

ForeFlight customers can switch to the European logbook, and it will automatically update field terminology, license and qualification tracking, and progress reports for skill tests such as PPL, LAPL, and night ratings. It also updates Europe-specific requirements such as flight entry field names (co-pilot, IFR, pilot in command under supervision), category/class designations, and support for European licenses, ratings, and qualifications.

The newly-released NTSB preliminary report on the fatal crash of a Beech King Air B100 that departed Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (KFXE) on November 10 for a planned relief supply flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica (MKJS), shows that cargo loading may have played a factor in the accident, which claimed the lives of the turboprop twin's two occupants. The airplane crashed minutes after takeoff, impacting a pond in a residential area 7 miles north-northwest of the airport.

The NTSB report documents that most of the relief supplies in the King Air’s cabin were not secured. According to the investigative summary, “The cargo was not weighed; however, the pilot checked the weight documented on each box as the airplane was loaded, and he finished the loading process once he determined that capacity had been reached.” A generator included among the cargo was restrained; the report notes it “was loaded in the aft baggage compartment and secured to the airframe with webbing.”

Preliminary ADS-B data indicated that the King Air climbed in a right turn toward the northwest, leveling at 4,000 feet msl. The pilot acknowledged an ATC instruction to turn right to a 120-degree heading. Twenty-five seconds later, the heading was amended, and the pilot again acknowledged. When ATC instructed a further turn back, the airplane had already descended to about 3,100 feet, and the pilot did not respond.

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