The first customer Dassault Falcon 6X destined to get a production interior lifted off today from France’s Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport at 9:09 a.m. Central European Time en route to the French airframer’s Little Rock, Arkansas aircraft completion center (view FlightAware track). At press time, the green twinjet, S/N 5 and registered as F-WZOC, was expected to arrive in Little Rock around 1 p.m. local time, a Dassault FalconJet spokesman told AIN.
Dassault announced the widebody 6X in 2018 and rolled out the airplane in December 2020. In March 2021, the first test 6X, S/N 1, completed its initial flight. Since then, two other 6Xs have joined the flight-test fleet.
According to Dassault, S/N 4 is currently being fitted with a full interior in Bordeaux-Mérignac and will demonstrate the operational maturity of its systems. It is expected to begin a world tour in the middle of this year. Type certification of the 6X is anticipated by year-end. Once in customer production, the 6X will boast the largest cross-section dimensions of any purpose-built business jet.
AINsight: Managing Risk in Single-pilot Ops
Light business jets offer unmatched capabilities and economics for their owners but are routinely operated single pilot. But having just one pilot at the controls creates some challenges, with managing risk topping this list.
The NBAA Safety Committee has identified improving the single-pilot accident rate as a top safety focus area, noting that “single-pilot aircraft are 30 percent more likely to be involved in an accident than aircraft with dual-pilot crews. Single-pilot operations are more susceptible to task saturation; when task saturation increases, so too does the number of errors.”
NBAA’s “Risk Management Guide for Single-Pilot Light Business Aircraft” suggests that the true root cause of an accident is not available from conventional data. As an example, loss of control in flight (LOC-I) is cited as the top cause of general aviation and light business aircraft accidents, “yet loss of control is typically the last event in the accident chain.” It answers the how, but not the why—the accident chain often begins with poor risk management.
To counter this issue, formal training in risk management—as a part of a single-pilot resource management course—is necessary for any pilot operating a complex light business aircraft. Likewise, using simple tools such as the NBAA flight risk assessment tool or other equivalents provide a practical approach to identify, assess, and mitigate risk.
Boom Supersonic is taking the next step to bring its Overture airliner to market with the selection of Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, as the site for its manufacturing plant. Plans call for breaking ground on the plant this year, beginning production on the Mach 2.2 Overture in 2024, and employing some 2,400 workers there by 2032.
The company called Greensboro an optimal location for its aerospace workforce base, noting that it includes a large pool of military veterans. In the Piedmont Triad area, Greensboro is home to several aerospace companies, including Honda Aircraft and Haeco Americas. Another advantage to the location, Boom said, is its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, which will facilitate supersonic flight testing.
According to Boom, its program will involve 200 internships through 2032 for students attending publicly funded North Carolina universities, community colleges, and technical schools.
Located on a 65-acre campus, the 400,000-sq-ft Overture “Superfactory” will house the final assembly line, test facility, and customer delivery center. Boom’s headquarters will remain in Denver, the company said.
Boom rolled out its one-third scale XB-1 demonstrator in October 2020 as a testbed for Overture technologies, and initial plans call for an airliner that could carry between 65 and 88 passengers. Expected to roll out in 2025 and fly in 2026, the Overture is anticipated to begin revenue passenger flights by 2029.
Bell saw revenue and profits slip in the fourth quarter despite slightly higher deliveries of commercial and military helicopters and tiltrotors, parent company Textron reported yesterday. The Fort Worth, Texas-based OEM recorded profits of $88 million on revenue of $858 million in the quarter, which represented a decrease of $22 million and $13 million, respectively, from the same period in 2020.
During the quarter, Bell delivered 59 commercial and 13 military helicopters and tiltrotors. That compares with deliveries of 57 commercial and 12 military aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2020. Textron attributed the lower revenue and profit to lower military revenue, volume, and mix.
For 2021, profit at Bell fell from $462 million in the prior year to $408 million on revenue of $3.36 billion, which was slightly higher than the $3.30 billion it earned in 2020. Bell ended the fourth quarter with a $3.9 billion backlog, down from $4.1 billion at the end of September. Deliveries for the full year totaled 156 commercial and 48 military helicopters and tiltrotors, compared with 140 and 45, respectively, in 2020.
On a conference call with analysts yesterday, Scott Donnelly, the CEO of parent company Textron, said he believes Bell will have a good 2022 for commercial helicopter deliveries.
With the competitors in Super Bowl LVI to be determined in the NFL’s two conference championship games this weekend, the FAA has released its plans for the big game which will take place in Los Angeles on February 13. The days bracketing the game typically represent the busiest period of the year on the private aviation calendar, with hundreds of flights descending on the host city and Las Vegas, which also receives a big boost in traffic.
To ensure ground parking availability in those areas during Super Bowl LVI week, 13 airports have instituted a ramp reservation program for all arrivals and departures from February 10 through 15, including drop-and-goes. Operators are requested to contact their preferred FBO at their intended airport to make reservations.
On gameday, the FAA will also institute a TFR enforced by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) beginning at about 2:30 p.m. PST, which will cover a ring extending 30 nm from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood to FL180. It is scheduled to terminate at 8:30 p.m. but may be extended if necessary. Drones and other ROVs are also excluded from entering the TFR, and any pilots or operators who enter the TFR without permission can face criminal prosecution and heavy fines.
Universal Aviation has expanded its European ground handling network through a partnership with Andalucia Aviation. The move will add six locations in Spain, including Almeria, Ciudad Real, Granada, Jerez, Malaga, and Sevilla, all of which will remain branded under the Andalucia name. Those destinations join Universal’s existing Spanish locations in Madrid, Barcelona, and Girona, giving it a total of nine in Spain and 23 across the EMEA region.
“We’ve experienced increased demand from our clients to leisure destinations throughout Southern Spain,” noted Gonzalo Barona, Jr., the general manager of Universal’s business in the country. “Even with the current Covid restrictions, many of these locations are experiencing traffic levels exceeding their pre-pandemic numbers. We expect this to increase as restrictions hopefully ease in the coming months.”
Barona explained that the two companies have forged a longstanding relationship over the years. “Rather than starting from scratch, we decided Andalucia Aviation was the right company to partner with to expand our presence.” He added that the Spain-based customers will now benefit from access to Universal’s worldwide coverage.
Arizona-based Viavi Solutions claims it has devised a method to identify interference between 5G C-band communications networks and radar altimeters. The company, which has experience testing wireless and avionics equipment for communication service providers, airlines, militaries, and equipment manufacturers, has developed a testbed to identify interference that consists of three of its products.
They include the Alt-900, which provides altitude simulations with true RF time delay and path loss models to test any format of radar altimeter system, including low probability of intercept (LPI), combined altitude radar altimeter (CARA), and next-generation variants. The Alt-9000 enables testing to assess, evaluate, and monitor the radar altimeter vulnerability to any potential 5G interference.
Other applicable Viavi technologies include the OneAdvisor 800, which monitors and detects channel leakage and frequency bleeding, as well as spurious emissions that potentially can impact radar altimeters, and the Ranger, which records real-world 5G signals and plays them back into radar altimeters to simulate 5G C-band interference. When used in conjunction with the Alt-9000 and OneAdvisor 800, the Ranger enables advanced testing under real-world conditions.
“We aim to help the industry and government regulators tackle any issues comprehensively, to enable communication service providers and aviation to operate harmoniously,” said Sameh Yamany, Viavi's chief technology officer.
Winding down its CV-22 Osprey deliveries under contract with the U.S. Air Force, Bell is turning to improving the maintainability of the fleet with a nacelle upgrade program. Work on the initial Osprey was completed at Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center facility last month and returned to the 20th Special Operations Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base. Upgrades, meanwhile, have begun on a second aircraft.
These nacelles house the power components for the Osprey’s vertical takeoff and landing capability, as well as transition to forward flight. Bell said its program, which essentially involves the replacement of the nacelle, is designed to improve the wiring and components to reduce maintenance time and cost and improve flying readiness. “The incorporated nacelle improvements help ensure the Osprey continues to outpace adversaries both operationally and sustainably,” said Kurt Fuller, V-22 program director and Bell v-p.
As of this month, Bell had delivered 54 of the 56 Ospreys it has been under contract with the USAF. Once the USAF nacelle upgrades are completed, Fuller said the company plans to look at similar work for the U.S. Marine Corps’ fleet of MV-22s, which now numbers 342. Additionally, Bell said the U.S. Navy has also expressed interest in the program for its CMV-22B variants. Bell is in the throes of deliveries to the U.S. Navy, handing over 14 thus far of 48 under contract.
Truly a Golden Gate. Douglas Wilson, the president and senior partner of consulting firm FBO Partners, snapped this photo of San Francisco Bay as a passenger on an Embraer E175. He nicely captured the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset at FL340 while the aircraft was flying northbound from California’s Bob Hope Airport (KBUR) in Burbank to Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport (KSTS). Thanks for sharing, Doug!
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