Bell V-280 Valor Tiltrotor Reaches 280 Knots

Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor achieved 280 ktas in forward flight on Wednesday at the company's Arlington, Texas Flight Research Center. Other milestones achieved by the V-280 during its first 13 months of in-air testing include 85 flight hours and 180 rotor turn hours, in-flight transitions between cruise mode and vertical takeoff and landing, 45-degree banked turns at 200 knots indicated airspeed, 4,500 feet-per-minute rate of climb sustained at an altitude of 11,500 feet, a single ferry flight of 370 miles, and demonstrated low- and high-speed agility with fly-by-wire controls. 

“It is a remarkable achievement to hit this airspeed for the V-280 Valor in just over a year of flight testing," said Keith Flail, Bell vice president for advanced vertical lift systems. "Beyond the exemplary speed and agility of this aircraft, this significant milestone is yet another proof point that the V-280 is mature technology, and the future is now for FVL [future vertical lift] capability set 3.”

The V-280 is Bell’s entry in the Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator Program (JMR-TD), part of its plan to develop a new generation of FVL aircraft to be fielded as early as 2030. During the remainder of the year, Bell plans to expand the V-280’s flight performance envelope highlighting low-speed agility maneuvers, angles of bank, and autonomous flight.

AINsight: ASAP Embraces Partnerships To Improve Safety

The aviation safety action program (ASAP) is by far the most widely embraced voluntary safety program. In fact, by sheer numbers, there are now more Part 91/135 operators participating in an ASAP than Part 121 airlines. This overwhelming success can be attributed, almost exclusively, to the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) and its organizational-based ASAP. Since the program's inception less than six years ago, ACSF has signed up nearly 120 business aviation operators into ASAP.

ACSF-ASAP was originally designed to ease ASAP implementation for Part 135 charter operators. In recent years, however, the program has exploded and now Part 91 operators make up just over half of all the participants.

The main objective of ASAP is to encourage employees to voluntarily report safety information that might be critical to identifying potential precursors to accidents. The FAA has determined that identifying these precursors is essential to further reducing the already low accident rate.

Under an ASAP, safety issues are resolved through corrective action rather than through punishment or discipline. ASAP concepts work—90 percent of the ACSF-ASAP reports are considered “sole source,” which means outside of ASAP no one would have ever been aware of these issues had there been no report filed.

ATC Delays Break U.S. Government Shutdown Impasse

The White House announcement Friday afternoon of an agreement to end the prolonged shutdown came as air traffic staffing shortages created lengthy delays in the New York area. 

President Donald Trump detailed an agreement to reopen the government until February 15 while negotiations over border security continued. Reports cited the air traffic delays Friday morning as playing a role in the decision to move forward with a compromise on the five-week-old shutdown.

A temporary ground stop was put in place at La Guardia Airport (LGA) and then ground delay programs at both LGA and at Newark Airport (EWR) in New Jersey Friday morning. With the delay programs the FAA warned of delays up to 245 minutes at LGA, averaging 86 minutes, while delays at Newark averaged 61 minutes, but could reach up to 166 minutes. The FAA released a statement on Friday saying, “We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two facilities. We’ve mitigated the impact by augmenting staffing, rerouting traffic, and increasing spacing between aircraft when needed.”

The delays came after leaders of a half-dozen labor unions this week gave a stark warning that the longer the shutdown continues the greater the risk that safety of the national airspace system will erode. “There is going to come a point when we are no longer able to maintain the levels of safety and security the aviation industry and the traveling public have come to know and rely upon,“ the unions said in a joint statement. “The longer the shutdown goes on, the greater that threat becomes.”

West Star Opens New Hangar at East Alton Location

West Star Aviation opened a new 60,000-sq-ft hangar at its East Alton, Illinois facility this week, allowing the company to expand existing business aircraft maintenance programs. Two-thirds of the recently completed structure is for hangar space, with the remainder containing back shops and offices. In addition, West Star will initially employ 28 technicians to support the expansion.

“With the new hangar completion, we occupy over 380,000 square feet of space at the St. Louis Regional Airport,” said West Star East Alton general manager Scott Sweeney. “Having a new hangar provides us the added capacity to continue offering world-class service to our customers and ensure we meet requested deadlines."

West Star specializes in the repair and maintenance of airframes, windows, and engines, as well as major modifications, avionics installation and repair, interior refurbishment, surplus avionics sales, accessory services, paint, and parts. Besides its primary MRO facilities in East Alton; Grand Junction, Colorado; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Perryville, Missouri, the company maintains eight satellite facilities throughout the U.S. Midwest and Southwest. It also offers FBO services at its newly remodeled East Alton and Grand Junction facilities.

Bizav Shines over Airlines in Euro Environmental Report

Business jet operations produce significantly less noise and harmful emissions compared to the jet and turboprop airline fleet, and this trend continues to improve  according to the second edition of the European Aviation Environmental Report.

The report notes that a major factor in the low environmental impact levels from business jets is because they account for just about 7 percent of Europe’s total air traffic. “The rapid expansion of business aviation up to 2008 was accompanied by the entry into service of new aircraft, but business aviation declined sharply with the economic downturn, which led to more frequent use of the existing aircraft and a gradual aging in the fleet.”

Nevertheless, after slight increases in measurements in 2011 and 2013, the overall trend for business jets has been down and in 2017 was at its lowest point over the past 17 years. General aviation turboprops were not included in the study. For some airline segments, such as regional turboprops, the trend is moving up for adding to noise or harmful emissions.

The report says that although aviation as a whole currently accounts for just 3 percent of global carbon emissions, their combined effect “has not kept pace with the recent strong growth in the demand for air travel, thereby leading to an overall increase in the environmental impact.”

JetSuiteX Adds Flights To Coachella Music Festival

JetSuiteX, the sister company of business jet charter firm JetSuite that flies 30-seat Embraer ERJ-135s on scheduled trips, is adding seasonal flights to Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (TRM) in Thermal, California, this April for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Following the success of last April’s seasonal service from Burbank (BUR) to Thermal, which is only 15 minutes from Coachella Valley, JetSuiteX is adding flight capacity from BUR to TRM and introducing flights from two new California markets: Oakland (OAK) and Orange County (SNA). Tickets start at $69 each way, JetSuiteX said.

“We believe getting there should be as enjoyable as the destination itself,” said JetSuiteX CEO Alex Wilcox. “By flying directly into Thermal, we are giving festival-goers from Burbank, Orange County, and Oakland the ultimate time-saving hack and making traveling to and from the desert fast and fun.”

At Bell, Civil Helos Carry the Quarter, Year

Bell delivered more civil helicopters in both the fourth quarter and all of 2018 than it did in the corresponding periods of the previous year, while its defense business weakened in the same time frame. “Execution remains strong despite lower revenues from military volumes in the quarter,” Scott Donnelly, president and CEO of parent company Textron, said yesterday during a quarterly investor conference call.

In the last three months of 2018, Bell delivered 46 civil helicopters, up from 45 in fourth-quarter 2017. For the full year, commercial deliveries totaled 192, compared with 132 in 2017.

Revenue in the fourth quarter was $827 million, down from $983 million a year earlier. Full-year revenue was $3.18 billion, down 4 percent from 2017. Backlog was $5.8 billion, up from $4.6 billion at the end of 2017.

Donnelly noted that Bell continues to see increased demand across its civil portfolio. “For 2019, we’ll continue to ramp up production of the 505 [Jet Ranger X], and we’re increasing production rates on other models based upon increased customer demand,” he said. Donnelly expects Bell to see strong deliveries of its 407, 429, and 412 civil helicopters this year.

MRO Insider Adds Specific Quote Capability to Website

MRO Insider continues to expand the capabilities of its website, adding the ability for users to send specific quote requests from selected providers. Under the upgrade, a user may opt to select the facility for a quote or use the previous platform on MRO Insider that would send out a request for a quote from all facilities that match the user's needs.

“We released this new update to assist the MRO Insider network in expanding their reach on the website,” said Andy Nixon, co-founder and v-p of sales. “Currently, facilities receive only requests that match their capabilities. After additional focus on our customers' needs, we realized there may be users looking for quotes from facilities that they believe may work on their aircraft but currently do not.”

The direct request feature enables the facility to provide a higher level of customer service by responding to a request that it may otherwise not have noticed, Nixon added.

MRO Insider was founded in 2016 to bring together users with MRO facilities by providing a web venue for maintenance quote requests for corporate aircraft, including rotorcraft. Registered owners or operators select their aircraft, choose the service, specify date, and can furnish documents such as equipment lists or status sheets. Once the request for quote is submitted the network is notified.