Aircraft float manufacturer Wipaire yesterday introduced the Aurora Collection of interiors for the Cessna 208 Caravan and Grand Caravan EX. The nine cabin designs, each inspired by a body of water, feature upgraded seating, tailored leather, and handcrafted cabinetry. They transform the turboprop singles “from ordinary to bespoke,” according to the Minnesota company.
The seats feature top-grain leather upholstery, adjustable inboard armrests, side tables with leather writing inserts, concealed under-seat storage, and full swivel and recline functions. The wood-veneer cabinetry is coordinated with lower sidewall fabric and wool carpet. Aurora cabins also include two stowable side tables with cupholders, a pair of refreshment cabinets with ice compartments, and passenger convenience panels with dual-port USBs and Bose headset jacks.
Celebrating locations such as Lake Como in Italy, Eden in Seychelles, and Egypt’s Magic Lake, the interiors capture “the essence of each location,” said Wipaire v-p of marketing and sales Clint Clouatre. Wipaire has already begun delivering the interiors and launch customers have been “very pleased with the designs,” he said. The company is also introducing custom interior design services and has invested in leather-cutting and pattern-quilting machines for creating bespoke interiors.
Approximately 40 protesters from environmental activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion interrupted the start of the European Business Aviation Association’s AIROPS23 Conference in Brussels on Monday.
The protesters, who included climate scientists expressing oppositon to the carbon emissions produced by aircraft, blocked the entrance to the ExecuJet FBO terminal at Brussels Airport. Some of them unfurled banners while others chained themselves to fences and gates. Several demonstrators even entered the AIROPS23 event itself through an emergency door and barged on stage, interrupting an educational session until they were peacefully escorted out by EBAA and venue staff.
The protesters were extolling a global “Make Them Pay” movement, which calls for substantial taxes on air transport and a ban on private flights. Similar protests took place yesterday at London Luton Airport, Italy’s Milan Malpensa Airport, Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and Bromma Airport in Stockholm.
EBAA responded that the business aviation industry is constantly looking for ways to reduce its carbon footprint and operate in a more environmentally friendly way, pointing to significant advancements in biofuels, electric/hybrid-electric aircraft, and other technologies that are helping the sector minimize its impact.
“Business aviation has a vital role to play in supporting the growth and competitiveness of companies across Europe, and we are determined to do so in a way that is safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible,” stated EBAA secretary-general Athar Husain Khan.
Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) president Jason Ambrosi today urged lawmakers to provide multi-year funding for improving the notam system and stressed that the system must be streamlined to ensure that the most critical information is effectively conveyed rather than “simply the volume of information.”
In a letter sent to the Senate Commerce Committee ahead of a hearing today on the notam system, Ambrosi added, “Much work is needed to improve the notam system and the information it disseminates.” He noted that the congressional method of providing funding on a single-year basis for multi-year modernization projects such as notam upgrades is a band-aid approach that presents “enormous challenges for the FAA."
Even with reliable infrastructure, Ambrosi added, “The quality and sheer volume of notams in the system alone can become a safety hazard.” A fairly short flight can result in 50 pages or more of notams, he noted.
FAA chief Billy Nolen, meanwhile, updated the committee on the modernization effort, estimating that “the bulk” of the work should be ready by mid-2025, but improvements, such as making them consistent with ICAO standards, would continue.
He also maintained that the improvements are not only infrastructure-related but also involve presentation, saying the goal is “to ensure that notams that are delivered to pilots are relevant, they're timely, they're prioritized, and they speak to the route of flight."
North Texas-based MRO AeroBrigham is expanding with 45,000 sq ft of additional hangar space at Decatur Municipal Airport (KLUD). The added space will be used exclusively to support helicopters.
The hangar will feature a new downdraft paint facility large enough to accommodate transport-category helicopters and will be operated by specially trained technicians. According to MRO AeroBrigham, the new paint capability will complement the overall efficiency of aircraft refurbishment, reconfiguration, and completions.
AeroBrigham will be exhibiting during the Helicopter Association International (HAI) Heli-Expo at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from March 7 to 9. The company's exhibit will feature a newly completed Bell 407 to be delivered to Florida’s Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
NetJets and the union that represents its pilots, the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP), voluntarily entered midterm bargaining last week to address the company “falling behind in pay” compared with low-cost and regional airlines, NJASAP v-p Paulette Gilbert told AIN. “This situation is hurting recruitment and retention—the labor force is taxed as everyone is competing for the same pilots,” she added.
While the fractional provider has thus far been able to attract quality pilot candidates, Gilbert is concerned about how long this can continue in the face of newly inked, more lucrative contracts at airlines. “First-year pay isn’t nearly as attractive now, and even 20-year NetJets pilots are leaving for higher pay and better schedules and benefits at the airlines.”
Meanwhile, “In the next five years, NetJets intends to double its fleet from 500 to 1,000 aircraft and pilot ranks from 3,000 to 6,000. We need to be more competitive to get there,” Gilbert stressed.
To emphasize these issues, NJASAP has started an informational picketing campaign. Over the weekend, the group held two such campaigns in Arizona—on Saturday at Scottsdale Airport (KSDL) to coincide with the Barrett Jackson auto auction and Waste Management golf tournament and on Sunday at Phoenix International (KPHX) in conjunction with the Super Bowl. NJASAP will also picket this holiday weekend at West Palm Beach International Airport (KPBI).
AviationManuals has launched an electronic manual recordkeeping system (EMRS) solution for Part 135 operators to satisfy FAA digital records requirements under Operations Specifications (OpSpec) A025. According to the business aviation compliance and safety solutions company, the EMRS provides everything needed to apply for OpSpec A025, which authorizes operators to use digital manuals or records without the need for backup paper copies.
The EMRS solution, which integrates with AviationManuals’ digital manuals and ARCdocs tool, includes a comprehensive and concise set of policies for using digital documents in a flight department. For example, it has procedures to address FAA requirements for an EMRS under Order 8900.1A and Advisory Circular AC 120-78A, in addition to security and data integrity measures. AviationManuals also provides an A025 application document with the EMRS procedures and will handle any FAA-required changes, it added.
"The EMRS solution is a small piece of a larger commitment to build the best safety and compliance solutions," said AviationManuals CEO Mark Baier.
FBO operator Modern Aviation has begun offering sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) distributed by Titan Fuels at its Mather Airport (KHHR) location in Sacramento, California. The move is part of the company’s commitment to achieving emissions reductions across all aspects of its business.
According to the service provider—which now operates at 13 locations across the country—it plans to provide SAF at all of its FBOs as soon as it is practical to do so. Also, it will institute a book-and-claim system to provide customers with an SAF option even where the fuel is not physically available.
Modern has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality for its Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect from purchased energy) emissions by 2050. Toward that goal, the company is working to convert its vehicles and ground service equipment to electrical power and just placed an order for its first electric refueler, a 5,000-gallon-capacity truck from Rampmaster expected to be delivered in first-quarter 2024. It is also pursuing other green options such as renewable energy sources, including the installation of solar panels on its buildings.
“Since we founded the company in 2018, we’ve continuously focused on implementing industry-leading standards to reach our sustainability goals, as well as enabling our customers to do the same, in the most economical way possible,” said Modern CEO Mark Carmen.
Georgetown, Texas-based cabin component specialist Enflite is celebrating 30 years in business. Since its 1993 founding, the company has designed, engineered, certified, and delivered more than 80,000 products, including sidewall tables, pedestal tables, pocket doors, monitor lifts, custom cabin mechanisms, and galley appliances. Enflite works with aircraft OEMs, MROs, and modification centers worldwide.
The company provides cabin mechanisms and galley appliances for a wide range of fixed- and rotor-wing aircraft. It supplies products for such brands as Boeing, Airbus, Gulfstream, Dassault Falcon, Bombardier, Learjet, Cessna, Embraer, Beechcraft, HondaJet, Pilatus, Piper, Bell, Agusta, and Sikorsky. The company serves markets that include commercial, private, military, medevac, and law enforcement.
Requires revising the airplane flight manual to prohibit steep approach landing and enhanced flight vision system operations. This AD also requires calibrating the HUD. Prompted by a report of a lateral offset observed on the head-up display of several airplanes between the synthetic vision system and actual runway due to mechanical misalignment of the HUD during manufacturing and assembly.
Requires revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate additional new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations.
Supersedes but partially retains the requirements of EASA AD 2021-0046, which mandates adding red line markings on the main rotor hub scissor nut, washer, scissor branch, and mast ring, and also to control the integrity of the pin to make sure that it is not sheared. Updated AD introduces an optional modification—replacing scissors links with carbide bushes with improved scissors links with AMPEP bushes—that constitutes a termination action for this AD.
Requires revising aircraft flight manual to include abnormal procedure “3A-NAA-17” for electrical-burning smell in cabin. This procedure aims to avoid unnecessary initiation of the emergency procedure “3-SMOKE-01,” which requires immediate use of supplemental oxygen and smoke goggles, if an electrical-burning smell is present without smoke.
Requires replacement of the compressor bleed-off valve assembly, replacement of the bleed-off valve orifice feed air tube assembly, and installation of a redesigned P3 probe snorkel. Prompted by reports of engines failing to achieve required power (torque) during high-power applications due to internal leaks in the bleed-off valves.
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