Helicopter lessor LCI has signed a framework agreement to acquire up to 21 new Leonardo AW139, AW169, and AW189 twins to address fleet renewal requirements. The deal covers 10 firm orders plus 11 options with deliveries through 2028.  

The helicopters will be allocated between LCI and SMFL LCI Helicopters, LCI’s joint venture with Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company, Limited (SMFL) and used for missions including air ambulance, search and rescue, and offshore energy including wind. SMFL acquired a 35 percent stake in LCI last year, part of a strategy to grow LCI’s business by $1.5 billion over the next three to five years.

LCI owns a mixed fleet of 150 helicopters, which includes 77 Leonardo helicopters that are operating in 20 countries. It has taken delivery of 50 of those over the last decade.

“We are extremely pleased to extend our deep and long-standing relationship with Leonardo,” said LCI CEO Jaspal Jandu. “The helicopter market is seeking to review, renew, and replenish capacity in a disciplined and pragmatic way. We want to help customers, operators, and end-users to grow sustainably whilst using some of the most modern, efficient, and technologically innovative helicopters in the skies.” 

The joy of flying is something that few get to experience. Throughout a professional pilot’s career, they’ll travel to some incredible places, see beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and other scenery, all while flying some amazing aircraft. As exciting as this may be to the outsider, sometimes a pilot may simply need a little “pick me up” to break the routine. For those pilots, they may turn to a bucket list for more excitement, an adventure, or to experience a new challenge. These are exciting opportunities to rediscover the joy of aviation, have some fun, and learn some new skills along the way.

Professional pilots “wired” to be lifelong learners typically will embrace these new opportunities. 

Traditionally, a bucket list is a list of things that a person wants to accomplish or achieve before they die. For a pilot, this is a list of things to do while they can still hold a medical (or at least remember the experience).

Our bucket list will focus on opportunities that will not only improve your stick-and-rudder skills but, when taken out of the comfort zone of flying an all-weather transport category aircraft, will provide a fresh look at the way you personally view safety risk assessments and manage those risks.

The IRS is planning to launch “dozens” of audits on business aircraft use to ensure tax compliance in high-income categories, the agency announced this week. Audits will focus on whether large corporations, partnerships, and high-income taxpayers are properly allocating between personal and business use for tax purposes.

Using additional funding received from the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS said it plans to “closely examine this area, which has not been closely scrutinized during the past decade as agency resources fell sharply.” The agency further stated that the number of audits in this area could increase, depending on initial results and as it spools up on hiring additional examiners.

“Personal use of corporate jets and other aircraft by executives and others have tax implications, and it’s a complex area where IRS work has been stretched thin,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “With expanded resources, IRS work in this area will take off. These aircraft audits will help ensure high-income groups aren’t flying under the radar with their tax responsibilities.”

However, NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen protested the approach, saying the announcement “amounts to nothing more than an audit in search of a problem, and an attempt to broadly paint with a negative brush the thousands of U.S. companies of all sizes that rely on business aircraft to effectively compete in a global marketplace.”

Some business jets and large turboprop airplanes are included in new FAA final rules that enact Environmental Protection Agency-prescribed fuel efficiency certification requirements. The rules take effect on April 16 and apply to certain subsonic jet airplanes with a maximum takeoff weight greater than 5,700 kilograms (12,500 pounds) and to certain turboprop airplanes with a mtow greater than 8,618 kilograms (19,000 pounds).

Under this final rule, an airplane is subject to these certification requirements: (1) at new (original) type certification; (2) upon manufacture of any covered airplane after Jan. 1, 2028; or (3) when a modification to a covered airplane meets fuel efficiency change criteria specified in the regulations. Exempted are piston airplanes, airplanes used for firefighting, amphibious airplanes, non-pressurized airplanes, certain specialized operations airplanes, and out-of-production airplanes currently in service.

The new FAR Part 38, Appendix A, rule contains the certification testing methods that OEMs or modifiers must perform to determine the fuel metric value that a specific airframe design must comply with to obtain fuel efficiency certification. See also Advisory Circular 38-1. According to the FAA, the airplanes covered by the new regulations are responsible for 9 percent of domestic transportation emissions and 2 percent of total U.S. carbon pollution.

Sixty comments were submitted and 14 generally supported the rules as proposed. Nine, including ALPA, Boeing, Gulfstream, NBAA, GAMA, and Embraer supported the rule but offered suggested changes.

Of the more than 100 substantive comments submitted to the FAA on its proposal to increase the minimum cockpit voice recorder (CVR) time from the current two hours to 25 hours on new production aircraft, some 66 responses generally supported the proposal, while 38 were clearly against it. The comment period closed on February 2.

Airline passengers comprised the majority of responses in support of the rule change. Four business jet manufacturers and two GA associations also supported the proposed increase, but only if more installation lead time is provided, additional legal safeguards are incorporated to prevent the use of CVR data beyond safety purposes, and limiting it to aircraft weighing more than 27,000 kilograms (59,500 pounds).

The NTSB urged the FAA to mandate retrofitting the 25-hour CVR on all aircraft in the fleet required to have a CVR, in addition to newly manufactured aircraft. In its response, the Safety Board identified accidents in which a longer CVR recording may have helped investigators determine the cause and said a retrofit would apply to about 13,500 aircraft—fewer than half of the 29,561 the FAA estimated in its cost/benefit analysis.

Several pilot trade groups and union organizations strongly rejected the proposal, citing concerns of data being misused, invasion of privacy, and concerns that the extended recording time could create safety issues because some pilots commented that they would “self-censorship” themselves.