One year after Gulfstream Aerospace first flew its new G700 flagship, the flight-test program has now accumulated 1,100 flight hours and completed most of the development testing in preparation for certification flight trials, keeping the aircraft on track for market entry in late 2022. The first G700 flew on Feb. 14, 2020, and Colin Miller, Gulfstream senior v-p of innovation, engineering, and flight, said today that flight testing “has continued uninterrupted ever since.”
That first aircraft has been used for envelope expansion, reaching as high as 54,000 feet and Mach 0.999. In addition to high speed, the aircraft also has performed low-speed and stall tests, including with wing ice shapes. Throughout the flight regime the aircraft has “performed remarkably well, flying virtually squawk free” and is meeting performance expectations, Miller said.
Gulfstream has since added four more aircraft to the program, with the fifth and final test aircraft flying in October. Two more aircraft will be dedicated to interior testing and STC work, the first of which is in the late stages of outfitting.
Further, Gulfstream has flown a G700 to Van Nuys, San Jose, and Chicago to support sales and marketing. During those trips, Miller said the company tested the avionics in a variety of different conditions and approach procedures. With most development testing completed, Miller estimated certification testing would begin later this year.
Argus: North American Bizav Flying Looking Up in 2021
Argus International TraqPak analysts estimate that North American business aircraft flight activity will increase 25.4 percent year-over-year in the first six months of 2021, but will still be down 13.2 percent from 2019. “As we move into 2021, we see plenty of reasons for cautious optimism for our agile industry,” said Argus v-p of market intelligence Travis Kuhn.
Flying is expected to see year-over-year growth starting next month, following January’s 10.4 percent decline from a year ago (-10.8 percent from January 2019) and this month’s estimated fall of about 15 percent from both February 2020 and 2019. April activity is projected to climb a whopping 196 percent from a year earlier, when flight activity cratered as much of the U.S. was mired in pandemic lockdowns. However, that would still be off by 15.5 percent from April 2019, Argus said.
June could mark the industry’s return to a more normal (pre-pandemic) level, down by an estimated 6.5 percent from 2019. Kuhn is optimistic about the second half of the year, though Argus isn’t able to accurately forecast that far out. “As we closely monitor the vaccine rollout, we will be looking at how business aviation’s recovery will follow,” he noted.
Israeli eVTOL Aircraft Developer Turns to UAE for Help
Urban Aeronautics is working to establish a partnership with an undisclosed company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that could lead to manufacturing and financial support for the Israeli startup’s CityHawk hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft. The deal was outlined in a letter to prospective investors from the Besadno Group offering the opportunity to participate in a $3.95 million funding round as part of a wider $50 million Series A round for Urban Aeronautics, in which the Israeli-American investment group is already a leading shareholder.
The February 7 letter came from Isaac Koren, chief operating officer of the U.S. office for InvestiNation, which is Besadno’s crowd-funding platform for Israeli startups. It said that Urban Aeronautics is in late-stage negotiations with a UAE firm that makes parts for Airbus and Boeing, “to open a fully funded manufacturing complex in the UAE which will manufacture and finance the production of future Urban Aeronautics VTOL aircraft.”
The envisaged partnership would mark a historic breakthrough in business relations between Israel and the UAE. It would build on the so-called Abraham Accord, brokered by the Trump Administration, that in September 2020 saw the two countries establish diplomatic relations after decades of animosity.
Noting an increase in the purchase of flights with Bitcoin, European charter broker PrivateFly has developed a Bitcoin-based private jet membership program that will allow users to hold their Bitcoin in an account to pay for future flights. The UK-based company’s Bitcoin Jet Account comes after two consecutive months of double-digit growth—12 percent in December and 13 percent in January—in Bitcoin use for charters.
“While we have accepted Bitcoin payments for many years now, cryptocurrency transactions have really taken off in recent months,” said PrivateFly CEO Adam Twidell. He added that Bitcoin’s climb in value in recent months has led to its increased use by some fliers who want to cash out on their gains at PrivateFly, which began accepting Bitcoin as payment in 2014.
But “others want to hold onto their cryptocurrency in expectation of future increases,” Twidell said. “So, in addition to taking out a membership with us in Bitcoin and converting the account funds into traditional currency…we now offer a membership program that allows the account funds to stay in Bitcoin.”
Until December, Bitcoin payments for flights accounted for 1 to 2 percent of total flights through PrivateFly. With their increase in use since then, Bitcoin represented 19 percent of PrivateFly’s total sales.
Airbus Racer First Flight Pushed to 2022
Airbus Helicopters is pushing off the first flight of its compound Racer—which stands for rapid and cost-efficient rotorcraft—to 2022. A company spokesman said the delay was the result of “the slowdown of several production lines caused by the pandemic.”
When initially announced in 2017, Airbus said Racer would begin flights in 2020. Despite the delays, the program has already achieved significant milestones, including passing critical design review in 2019 and more recently the manufacturing of long-lead items in 2020, with major components such as the canopy, the composite side shells, and the tail boom already delivered. Assembly of major subassemblies also started last year, and the spokesman said Airbus Helicopters expected to launch final vehicle assembly in “the coming weeks.”
Racer is designed to cruise nearly twice as fast as a conventional helicopter, with cruise speeds up to 220 knots. The aircraft is derived from the European Commission's H2020 research program as part of the Clean Sky 2 initiative. It is powered by a pair of 2,500-shp Safran Aneto-1X engines that provide 25 percent more power the similar-sized engines. Up to a 15 percent reduction in fuel burn can be achieved when one of the two engines is placed in standby mode during cruise flight, a configuration Safran calls “Eco Mode."
F/List Joins Renewable Cabin Materials Effort
Business aircraft cabin interiors specialist F/List on Monday announced joining BioForS, a research consortium established in 2018 and focused on replacing conventional aviation cabin interior materials with renewable ones. The consortium includes more than half a dozen high-tech materials specialty companies and research agencies. F/LIST, a family-owned Austrian company with global facilities, adds its expertise in aircraft engineering, certification, and material development.
"We aim to make aviation more sustainable, bringing green and renewable structural materials into the aircraft cabin,” said F/List director of research and development Patrick Domnanich.
Members are researching the production of bio-based organic sheets for the visible parts in aircraft interiors. These so-called organo sheets are fiber composites with good mechanical properties that can be produced quickly and easily. But cabin interior materials must be able to withstand extreme loads, as light as possible, and fire retardant, along with having a look and feel that meets high-end customers’ approval. Therefore, the organo sheets the consortium is developing are equipped with a specially developed bio-based fire-retardant decorative layer that includes real wood veneer.
The materials are biodegradable vegetable oil-based polymers in the form of films, which incorporate flame retardant and natural flax fibers as a matrix. In addition to base material development, BioForS is involved in designing composite assemblies and setting up efficient manufacturing and molding processes for renewable interiors elements.
Duncan Aviation has entered into an agreement with Honeywell Aerospace in which the MRO provider manages the sales, exchange, and repair services for specified Honeywell avionics content, flight controls, electronic flight control instruments, air data, and attitude heading reference units on legacy platforms found on business jets, turboprops, rotorcraft, and regional and commercial aircraft. It builds on Duncan’s credentials as a Honeywell-authorized service center and channel partner, adding more than 2,000 part numbers on nearly 100 airplanes and rotorcraft.
“Our investment in the expansion of our component capabilities and product offerings is just the latest in a 50-plus-year relationship we have enjoyed with Honeywell,” said Duncan v-p of component services and satellites Mark Cote.
Duncan’s parts and rotables sales team is now managing the parts sales transactions for the new Honeywell inventory, including AOG. As a result, the team added six more parts sales and customer account representatives. In addition, Duncan built a 1,700-sq-ft parts warehouse for the new inventory.
Further investment from the agreement includes 50 additional test sets, 12 new avionics repair benches, and factory training for eight technicians with more on-site training performed at the Duncan Aviation avionics instruments repair facility in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company also expects to hire up to 12 new avionics technicians in the coming months.
Royal Flying Doctor Service Orders Four King Air 360s
Textron Aviation has taken an order for four Beechcraft King Air 360CHWs from the Queensland Section of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) in Australia, as well as an option for the purchase of two more of the aft-cargo-door-equipped, heavyweight turboprop twins. Deliveries are set to begin this year and continue through 2023.
“The Beechcraft King Air 360 aircraft forms a key part of our 10-year aircraft replacement strategy, which will ensure we can continue to deliver world-class aeromedical retrievals and healthcare to regional, rural, and remote Australians,” said RFDS-Queensland CEO Meredith Staib. “Our highly trained and skilled aviation staff are looking forward to experiencing the technology advances offered with the B360, including improved performance and efficiency, ultimately improving runway access.”
RFDS-Queensland operates 20 aircraft, including King Airs, from eight operational bases in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Charleville, Mount Isa, and Roma. Textron Aviation supports nearly 200 King Air variants in Australia.
In addition to the aft cargo door, the King Air 360CHW features two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-60A or optional factory-installed PT6A-67A turboprop engines with Hartzell four-blade propellers.
People in Aviation
James Hurley has joined Talon Air’s executive team. Hurley had served with Dassault Falcon Jet since 1988, most recently leading the U.S. sales force as senior v-p.
Pam Jets promoted Ben Harrow to president, Peter Westerberg to COO, and Emilio Lopez to v-p of global services. Most recently v-p of business development for Pam Jets, Harrow has more than a decade of leadership experience and has previously served as a U.S. Special Forces detachment commander supporting operations in Latin America, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Westerberg has served as a pilot and aviation manager with more than 9,000 hours of civilian flight time in Part 91 and 135 operations, including at some corporate Fortune 50 flight departments. Lopez previously was an aviation manager for several Fortune 500 companies.
Max Masterson was promoted to v-p of sales for AvAir. Most recently director of sales Masterson joined AvAir in 2017 as an account executive with nearly six years of sales and marketing experience.
Ducommun Incorporated named Christopher Wampler to CFO, controller, and treasurer. Previously acting as interim CFO and treasurer, Wampler has served with Ducommun since 2013 and before that held controller positions with Just Fabulous and A.O. Smith Electrical Products.
Derek Thomson, the commercial director and accountable manager for Air Charter Scotland, was appointed to the board of The Air Charter Association (ACA). Thomson brings 25 years of aviation experience to his role on the ACA board, including in both rotary- and fixed-wing operations and sales.
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