Drastic cuts in scheduled airline services in response to the COVID-19 virus outbreak spurred a significant surge in demand for private jet charter flights beginning in late January. However, restrictions on travel to some countries and concerns about risks to passengers and crew have meant that operators have had limited opportunity to capitalize on the situation.
Some operators have experienced difficulties in getting spare parts for aircraft. Operators have also been implementing measures to protect passengers and crew, including increased disinfection procedures. In some cases, flight departments are canceling trips in response to business travel bans imposed by their companies.
Initially, flights out of China were most in demand. However, as the coronavirus has spread to other countries in Asia and beyond, flight requests have increased worldwide.
Charter marketplace Avinode reported increases in the volume of flight requests departing China of more than 150 percent compared with the same period in 2019. It said the most significant spike in requests came after January 24, after the Chinese government had belatedly acknowledged human-to-human transmission and once confirmed cases in China increased above 1,000.
We’ve all “fat-fingered” a text message. At worst, the outcome is a misspelled word, chuckle from the recipient, and an embarrassing moment for the sender. But beyond the smartphone, humans inputting erroneous information into an automated system can have a much more dire consequence.
In aviation, fat-fingered or other data input errors into a flight management system result in a takeoff-performance related incident at a rate of one in 100,000 flights, according to FAA studies. These events are rarely deadly—only two fatal accidents in the past 50 years—but almost always reduce regulatory safety margins, may result in major aircraft damage, and have the potential to be catastrophic. Aviation is a system built on checking and double-checking, verifying, and cross-verifying, yet these events continue to occur.
A recent Netherland’s National Aerospace Center-led study concluded that performance incidents and accidents are a serious threat to flight safety and are often under-reported. The scope of this project focused on performance-related takeoff events that resulted from flight crew data input errors and found that common factors included entering a value that was different from the actual value by a factor of 10.
Operators need to develop sound procedures to prevent and trap these errors, but aircraft manufacturers must also design aircraft systems to eliminate a scenario where a fat-fingered data entry error might result in an accident.
The FAA has begun soliciting responses to its 42nd Annual General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey. Opened on February 24, the survey will continue through July 10 as the agency seeks to gauge the size, primary use, and flight hours of the 2019 general aviation fleet in the U.S.
According to the FAA, this voluntary survey enables the agency to monitor the success of its safety initiatives and evaluate the services and equipment that are necessary for the general aviation community. The survey was distributed by mail to a representative sampling of general aviation and Part 135 owners and operators.
Independent research firm Tetra Tech is conducting the survey on behalf of the FAA and will process responses and analyze results. Responses will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law, the FAA said. The four-page survey, which can be completed either through mail or online, will take between 10 and 30 minutes, the agency estimated. Results are expected to be posted by January 2021.
Lilium eVTOL Prototype Damaged in Fire
The first prototype of the Lilium Jet eVTOL aircraft was badly damaged in a fire during maintenance work on February 27. The company confirmed that the aircraft was damaged beyond repair and will now be replaced in the flight-test program by a second prototype that was not damaged in the incident at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport in southern Germany.
A Lilium spokesman told AIN that it might take a few weeks to understand the root cause of the fire. He said that the company had, in any case, planned to start using the second prototype for flight testing and retire the first example. No one was injured in the fire.
The all-electric, five-seat Lilium Jet is being developed mainly for air-taxi services, with operations targeted to start in 2025. The vectored thrust design features 36 ducted fans in the wing and forward canard, with a projected range of up to 186 miles and speeds of 161 knots.
This is the second electric aircraft prototype to catch fire in a little over a month. On January 22, the first example of Eviation’s Alice fixed-wing aircraft was destroyed in a fire that started in a ground-based battery system.
JMI Branches Out Falcon Service to London Biggin Hill
Jet Maintenance International (JMI) is establishing line maintenance service for Dassault Falcon business jets at London Biggin Hill, airport officials announced on Thursday. JMI’s presence will “significantly” improve the airport’s service offerings for Dassault owners and operators.
“With more business aviation maintenance organizations based here than at any other airport in Europe, we’re delighted that JMI also has chosen London Biggin Hill to place its line station here,” said London Biggin Hill marketing manager Andy Patsalides. “The move will offer further support to our many Dassault operators and strengthen the airport’s position as the capital’s preeminent full-service business aviation and aerospace hub.”
Based at London Oxford Airport and operating from a new 18,000-sq-ft hangar there, JMI has more than 40 years of experience and specializes in European Union Aviation Safety Agency Part 145 base and line maintenance for Dassault Falcon and Cessna Citation aircraft.
Third Heathrow Runway Ruled Illegal over Climate Change
Heathrow Airport remained upbeat on plans to build a third runway despite the London Court of Appeal’s ruling on Thursday that the UK government's decision to give the £14 billion project the go-ahead was unlawful on environmental grounds. In their ruling, the judges considered that the former government failed to take account of its commitment to the 2016 Paris agreement on climate change when setting out its support for Heathrow’s expansion in its national policy statement on aviation.
Environmental groups, London mayor Sadiq Khan, and five councils in London affected by the expansion brought legal action over the government's approval of the proposed third runway on grounds of climate, noise, air pollution, and economic growth.
A Heathrow Airport spokesperson said the Court of Appeal dismissed all appeals against the government apart from one—namely climate change, which he described as “eminently fixable.” He added that the company will appeal to the Supreme Court on that one issue. “In the meantime, we are ready to work with the government to fix the issue that the court has raised,” he explained.
The UK government will not appeal the court's decision, according to transport secretary Grant Shapps. “Airport expansion is core to boosting global connectivity,” he tweeted. “We also take seriously our commitment to the environment. This government won't appeal today's judgment given our manifesto makes clear any Heathrow expansion will be industry-led.”
Drone services company Draganfly is evaluating a sensor package and artificial intelligence software that could be used to screen large area crowds for symptoms of dangerous contagions such as the coronavirus. The company already has received a “serious inquiry” from a potential, unidentified customer for this service package, according to CEO Cameron Chell.
Chell told AIN that the sensors would be effective at ranges up to 100 feet, flying drones indoors or outdoors at large venues including large sports stadiums, ports of entry, and refugee camps. Such a sensor package would include infrared, doppler radar, and high-resolution cameras to feed imagery to software that would be able to discern stress recognition, fevers, watery eyes, and muscle movement indicative of high blood pressure and present an initial analysis within 15 to 20 seconds of overflight.
Suitable hardware platforms include Draganfly’s Commander quadrotor or popular commercial, off-the-shelf models including the DJI M600. Indoor flights could be accomplished with ducted fan aircraft to allay safety concerns. The advantage of using drones for a public health application is the much larger area they can cover and the increased number of individuals who can be sampled in a small block of time, as opposed to using stationary sensors. Drones can also be more cost-effective.
Boise, Idaho-based MRO provider Western Aircraft announced yesterday that it recently completed its first 12-month maintenance, repair, and overhaul inspection on an Embraer Legacy 500. Another first for the Greenwich AeroGroup company was the completion of a 120-month inspection on an Embraer Phenom 100.
“Our team has been diligently training, and it feels good to have these two major Embraer inspections under our belts,” said Western director of sales and marketing Kerry Heiss. “Western Aircraft has been in this business for more than 60 years, but we continue to build upon our experience, develop new capabilities, and broaden our reach to new customers.”
In August 2018, Western was named an Embraer Executive Jets authorized service center with full maintenance support for Phenom 100 and 300 light jets and midsize Legacy 450s and 500s. The authorization extends to line maintenance for Legacy 600s and 650s. It operates from five hangars totaling 80,000 sq ft, along with 260,000 sq ft of ramp space, at Boise Airport (BOI).
How is your flight operation addressing sustainability concerns?
With carbon offsets, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and flight-shaming in the headlines, AIN is interested to hear how your flight operation is or is not adjusting practices to address business aviation sustainability concerns.
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