Praetor 500 Enters Brazilian Market

Embraer has delivered the first Praetor 500 going to a Brazilian customer, it announced today. The follow-on to the Legacy 450, the Praetor 500 received Brazilian ANAC certification in August 2019, followed by EASA and FAA nods in September 2019. Deliveries of the midsize jet began that year, including to fractional provider Flexjet.

The first Brazilian-bound copy was handed over to an undisclosed customer earlier this month. “We are proud to deliver the first Praetor 500 in Brazil, the leading business aviation market in Latin America.” said Gustavo Teixeira, Embraer sales v-p for Latin America. He added that the twinjet provides a “unique operational versatility, which will allow our new customer to reach farther distances while operating from small airfields.”

Embraer's fly-by-wire Praetor 500 has a 3,340-nm range, enabling it to fly from São Paulo to San Juan, Puerto Rico; Manaus, Brazil to New York; or Natal, Brazil to Lisbon. The aircraft also is able to fly out of challenging airports and destinations, the company noted, including from the Brazilian locations of Angra dos Reis (or Jacarepaguá) to Brasília with eight passengers at a 30 deg C takeoff temperature. The smaller of the two Praetors, the 500 offers a six-foot-high, flat-floor cabin and is capable of seating up to nine passengers.

Flex Flips Cert Burden for Custom Instrumentation

Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics has introduced the Flex MD23 Custom Function Display, a new series of forward-fit and retrofit displays that can be customized to fit hundreds of applications. The Flex display is a blank slate on which avionics and systems engineers and designers can create almost any kind of instrumentation display and control output. According to Mid-Continent, Flex is “a custom display, controller, and data converter, all-in-one.”

What is unique about the Flex is that Mid-Continent has already obtained FAA certification for the hardware and the software that runs inside the instrument. All that remains is for the customer to work with Mid-Continent on the design of what shows up on the Flex’s display and how it interacts with the aircraft, and the result is a quicker method of adding display functionality and system control into many aircraft types.

Flex comes in two basic hardware platforms—one with pitot-static inputs and one without. The display fits in a standard 2.25-inch instrument panel hole and features daylight-readable, high-definition graphics with a single push-and-turn control knob for the user interface. Hardware certification includes FAA Technical Standard Order (TSO) C113b, C2d, C10c, and C106, and RTCA environmental qualification DO-160G. The software is certified to DO-178C, Design Assurance Level A. Flex can receive and display Arinc 429, analog, discrete, frequency, temperature, and absolute and differential pressure data.

Foley: 2021 MRO Biz To Remain on Par with 2020

Aircraft MRO spending will remain dampened in 2021, remaining on par with 2020 at least through the first half of the year, according to industry analyst Brian Foley. However, Foley, who heads his own industry consultancy, added the latter half of the year should see some improvement. Business aviation MRO spending dropped roughly 15 to 25 percent in 2020, while the commercial sector experienced a 50 percent plunge, he estimated.

He pointed to a “tale of two aviation sectors” in 2020, where both private and commercial aviation suffered from the waves of cancellations and groundings but business aviation regained much more ground than the airlines. After the April-May timeframe, commercial flight activity remained off 60 to 70 percent from 2019. “Many of the planes parked were older and more maintenance-intensive, adding to the volume of MRO business,” Foley said.   

For business aviation MROs, however, “life has been far more forgiving” as private travelers continued flying. Summer leisure travel returned activity to within 20 percent of normal flight activity.

While activity remains flat going into 2021, Foley did offer some optimism: “There’s hope that the second half of 2021 will help both sectors claw back more lost ground, with business jet flight activity rising to well within 10 percent of normal and airlines improving to ‘just’ 25 to 50 percent off of normal levels.”

General Aviation/Part 135 Survey Underway at FAA

The FAA has kicked off the 43rd annual General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey, gathering information for calendar year 2020. Industry organizations urged operators to participate, stressing that the survey is the only source of information such as the number of hours flown and how general aviation aircraft are used.

“The FAA and industry need accurate data on a broad range of aircraft. Your participation is voluntary, but we need your help,” said a fact sheet that NATA sent to its members. Survey data is used to develop safety metrics such as fatal accident rates, the impact of general aviation on the economy, the success of safety initiatives and regulatory changes, and aviation infrastructure and services needs.

“The survey results are used to help determine funding needs, and to calculate the rates of accidents among GA aircraft. It is critical for NBAA members invited to participate in the survey to complete it so that the FAA has the most accurate data underpinning such funding and safety statistic calculations,” added Mark Larsen, NBAA's senior manager of safety and flight operations.

Taking about 10 to 15 minutes to complete, the survey samples more than 80,000 aircraft—about 30 percent of U.S.-registered aircraft, NBAA said. Research firm Tetra Tech is continuing to administer the survey. For more information, email.

SmartSky Lands $32M in Additional Funding

SmartSky Networks has closed on more than $32 million in additional equity and debt funding as it aims to launch its air-to-ground connectivity service for aircraft later this year, the company announced today. This adds to the $40 million in additional equity funding and $10 million in new debt secured by SmartSky in September.

“In a display of confidence in the future of SmartSky’s groundbreaking technology and services, we received new funds from our institutional investors,” said SmartSky CEO David Helfgott. SmartSky’s high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi service for business and commercial aviation uses the company’s scalable, single-beam-per-aircraft approach, which is backed by patents and years of flight testing, he added.

The company also continues to develop the Skytelligence digital platform that leverages its airborne connectivity solution. SmartSky’s Skytelligence provides a framework that enables app developers to access aviation, flight, weather data, and other related information to improve safety and efficiency.

GAO: Controversy Still Surrounds Flight Expense Sharing

Expense sharing by private pilots remains controversial and what's permitted is still unclear, even though the FAA issued guidance on this subject a year ago, according to findings released late last week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Last February, the FAA published Advisory Circular 61-142 explaining that “pilots may share operating expenses with passengers on a pro-rata basis when those expenses involve only fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental fees.” But private pilots who wish to share expenses may not “hold out” to the public or use the internet to offer transportation services, it added.

Nevertheless, after interviewing pilots, trade groups, and other stakeholders, the GAO found them split on the issue. For example, eight of 13 stakeholders said the FAA's 2020 guidance on expense-sharing is clear and provides sufficient information. However, some stakeholders said the guidance could provide more definitive examples of allowed expense-sharing flights, and others disagreed with how the FAA defined certain concepts such as how pilots can be compensated for flying passengers.

Also, seven of 15 stakeholders, including four representatives from companies with expense-sharing applications, said the FAA should allow pilots to use the internet to find these passengers. But eight stakeholders, including six of seven professional organizations, said the FAA should not. Organizations interviewed by the GAO include AIA, ALPA, AOPA, NATA, NBAA, and Angel Flight West.

Part 135 Operator All In Jets Up for Auction

Aircraft charter operator All In Jets, doing business as JetReady and which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August, will be hitting the auction block. It has filed a legal motion authorizing the sale of the company holding its Part 135 certificate (with no current aircraft management contracts) and other documentation to a qualified purchaser, noting the sale and bid procedures, along with a timeline for objection dates and bid placement.

According to Philadelphia law firm Ciardi, Ciardi & Astin, the company’s legal representation, those interested in placing a bid must strictly comply with the sale and bidding procedures, as only qualified bids will be considered by the debtor. By March 2, bidders must submit proof of funds and a deposit ahead of the March 4 auction which will be conducted online. Attorney Albert Ciardi told AIN that a stalking horse bid of $600,000 has already been placed by Aviate Jet Group.

The winning offer will be announced on March 8. March 11 is the deadline for the filing of any objections to the sale, which must be received in writing by the court and by the company’s law firm. A hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is scheduled for March 17 at 10 a.m. ET to consider, and if the judge so rules, to approve the sale.

Cracked Collective Prompts Bell 505 Emergency AD

Yesterday, Transport Canada (TC) issued an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) mandating immediate inspection of collective sticks in Bell 505 turbine light single helicopters. TC took the action after Bell reported an instance of a stick and grip assembly fracturing above the cabin floor at the junction with the collective jackshaft. The fracture was discovered before engine start during the preflight check of flight controls; its exact cause is under investigation.

Over the weekend, Bell published an Alert Service Bulletin (ASB) for a one-time inspection of the controls. TC’s emergency AD makes the inspection mandatory and is considered an interim action. Per Bell’s ASB, the inspection is expected to take two man-hours and requires removal, cleaning, and inspection of the collective stick and grip assembly with a 10X magnifying glass and strong light. If a crack is suspected or detected, a further fluorescent penetrant inspection in the area of the crack is required. Unserviceable sticks must be replaced before further flight.

Bell has delivered 300 of the five-seat Model 505s since 2017.