Bombardier Now a ‘Pure-play’ Business Aviation Company

Bombardier emerged today as a pure-play business aviation company following the completion of the sale of its transportation unit to French rail giant Alstom. The sale, which had cleared all the necessary approvals by late last year, brought in $3.6 billion in net proceeds, including $600 million in Alstom shares.

This was less than the $4 billion anticipated last fall, leaving the remaining business aviation manufacturing and services-oriented company with $4.7 billion in debt. Bombardier had originally targeted a remaining $2.5 billion debt-load following the sale, but last fall had upped that estimate to $4.5 billion after the pandemic had taken a toll on the company’s business activities.

Bombardier cited transportation’s lower than expected fourth-quarter cash generation along with “disagreements between the parties as to certain adjustments which Bombardier intends to challenge” for the smaller proceeds.

“With this transaction now complete, Bombardier begins an exciting new chapter,” said Bombardier president and CEO Éric Martel. Considering the business aviation portfolio, customer service network, and employee base, he added, “We have a strong foundation to build upon as we use the proceeds from the transaction to begin addressing our balance sheet challenges through debt paydown.”

Addressing the anticipated remaining debt late last year, Martel said the company was planning to take aggressive steps, with details forthcoming following the sale of the transportation unit.

AINsight: Don’t Be Too Slow on the Draw during Takeoff

Recent incidents and accidents point to several common errors that relate to takeoff performance calculations, including data-entry errors, selecting the wrong thrust and/or flap setting, or taking off from an intersection that provides less takeoff distance than planned.

But an emerging threat identified through incident investigations and flight data analysis points to lower-than-prescribed rotation rates. After an incident in Bogota, Colombia, involving an A340 that cleared the runway end by just six feet, Airbus and EASA analyzed thousands of other flights and found that “under rotation” during takeoff is a common occurrence.

In the Bogota event, the crew rotated at 1 degree per second instead of the recommended 3 degrees per second. Airbus determined that a rotation rate of 2 degrees per second would equate to an additional 1,000 feet in takeoff distance, so a lower rotation rate would add more than 1,000 feet.

Anecdotally, in the business aviation community, there is a perception to rotate (takeoff) or brake (landing) for comfort. Airline crews tend to believe that “milking” or “easing” the aircraft into flight during hot, heavy, or high-altitude takeoffs will enhance safety margins. In all cases, this is not correct.

ASL Establishes Fractional Program with Vision Jet

Belgium-based ASL Group has taken delivery of a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet G2 that will be used to establish a fractional ownership program. ASL said it’s the first Belgian-registered Vision Jet and the first single-engine jet to be operated in Belgium.

Based at ASL’s headquarters in Antwerp, the jet will be operated under the company's recently restructured Blue Sky Club membership program and as its first fractional airplane with plans to add more.

“Over the last couple of years, ASL Group has either been the launch customer or the first operator of several new aircraft types, thanks to the incredible work, commitment, and dedication of our teams and to the high level of trust that we have been able to establish with our customers and with our partners within the aviation industry,” said ASL CEO Phillippe Bodson. “Not only do we welcome this aircraft as the latest and newest member of our fleet, but along with it, we are also very excited to be launching our new fractional ownership model, through our exclusive Blue Sky Club aircraft membership—and now fractional ownership—model.”

Established in 1997, ASL and its Dutch subsidiary JetNetherlands operates from nine airports in Antwerp, Brussels-Zaventem, Kortrijk-Wevelgem, Maastricht, Eindhoven, Amsterdam-Schiphol, Groningen, and Rotterdam, with plans to add a tenth at Liège-Bierset.

AINsight: Restoring Civility in the Workplace

Everywhere I go it seems like controversial topics quickly become front and center. As a nation, we’ve become extremely divided—and it’s negatively affecting our workforce culture.

In business aviation, we work incredibly closely, spending significant time together on the road and in the air. Whether on the airplane, in the hangar or over a meal, conversations turn personal. But when those conversations turn to tirades and deeply held opinions, it can reach a point where work begins to feel like a hostile, contentious environment. This undermines the communicative safety culture that we’ve all worked so hard to develop in business aviation.

There are some silver linings, however. As we begin a new year, many of us are cleaning the slate to find a better approach. So what can we do? For starters, let’s seek out ways to bring more civility, respectfulness, and understanding to the workplace. In spite of our challenges, I truly believe we can come together. It will take hard work, but we can and must re-establish that enviable sense of family-like camaraderie for which business aviation has always been regarded.

FreeFlight Unveils Radalts that Mitigate 5G Effects

FreeFlight Systems has unveiled a new series of radar altimeters with “redesigned RF circuitry built to withstand 5G interference.” The new Terrain Series RA 5500, RA 6500, and RA 7500 are optimized for heavy rotorcraft, turboprops, business jets, and military aircraft.

Radar altimeters are facing interference problems from 5G terrestrial broadband datalink systems, such as new 5G products. According to FreeFlight, “Decades ago, when the original specification was created for the radar altimetry, the radio frequency (RF) environment was protected.” That is no longer the case with new products such as 5G.

In November, an RTCA Special Committee issued a report about the frequency spectrum assigned to 5G applications and warned they could interfere with aircraft radar altimeters. According to the report, the frequency spectrum from 3.7- to 3.98-GHz, which the Federal Communications Commission has assigned to upcoming flexible 5G telecommunications applications, may “introduce harmful radio frequency interference to radar altimeters currently operating in the globally-allocated 4.2- to 4.4-GHz aeronautical band."

FreeFlight’s new radar altimeters are designed to withstand this 5G interference. The RA 6500 is designed for Part 29 heavy rotorcraft and features an Arinc 552 interface for integration with older analog indicators. It can also be paired with FreeFlight’s RAD45 standalone indicator. For most installations, the new radar altimeters can connect to existing antennas.

Atlantic To Expand Chicago-area FBO

Atlantic Aviation has embarked on a nearly $11 million FBO expansion project at Chicago Executive Airport, where it is one of three aircraft service providers.

The company has broken ground on a new 25,000-sq-ft hangar that will be capable of sheltering aircraft up to the latest flagship business jets such as the Bombardier Global 7500 and the Gulfstream G700. It will bring the location to 86,500 sq ft of aircraft storage space and will also include 3,000 sq ft of adjoining office and shop space.

Along with the new hangar, Atlantic will install two additional acres of ramp space and construct a new 72,000-gallon capacity fuel farm, which will replace the facility’s existing fuel storage. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

“This project will help Atlantic meet the growing demand for hangar space and aircraft parking in the Chicago market, and to continue to provide best-in-class service to the general aviation community there,” said Jay Hamby, the FBO chain’s senior v-p of regional operations.

Florida Capital Airport Suffers Minor Tornado Damage

Tallahassee International Airport (TLH), which serves Florida’s capital, closed briefly Wednesday to assess the damage and clean up after a minor tornado swept across the state's Panhandle region.  

The storm, the force of which is still being calculated, struck just before noon, damaging several hangars including one leased by the state, which was unoccupied at the time. The 25,000-sq-ft structure had temporary fabric doors in place of metal ones previously damaged by severe weather and were thus awaiting replacement. According to TLH deputy director of aviation Jim Durwin. “Wednesday’s storm kind of finished the job on them.” Other structures lost include siding and rain gutters as a result of the storm.

While the tornado caused no casualties at the airport, it flipped at least one light aircraft on its back, moved a Boeing 737 off its chocks, and pivoted a CRJ-900. According to Durwin, TLH reopened one of its runways two hours later, followed shortly by the other.

“We feel very fortunate,” Durwin told AIN, citing the overall minor damage. “We’re going to use this to debrief and then to try to make improvements to our [emergency] plan.”

2020 was a particularly destructive year for tornadoes at airports, with strikes in Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and South Carolina. According to insurance industry estimates, damages from those events could eventually cost between $75 million and $125 million.

Bye Starts Series Production of eFlyer 2 Electric Aircraft

Bye Aerospace has started building series production examples of its two-seat, all-electric eFlyer 2 aircraft. The U.S. company said that the first three production aircraft will be used to support the completion of the final stages of FAA Part 23 type certification.

On January 26, Colorado-based Bye Aerospace also announced that it has signed a contract with Composites Universal Group covering assembly of the eFlyer 2’s fuselage. In late 2020, Bye said it expected to complete type certification by the end of 2022, with approval for the four-seat eFlyer 4 aircraft to follow around 12 months later.

However, during this week’s Vertical Flight Society Electric VTOL Symposium, Jay Merkle, executive director of the FAA’s UAS Integration Office, indicated that some new electric aircraft might achieve certification before the end of 2021. The front runners are likely to include fixed-wing designs that can be certificated under existing rules, such as Part 23.

According to CEO George Bye, the company has completed the critical design review and is now completing agreements for system-specific certification plans with FAA officials. He said plans for high-rate production ramp-up will be announced later this year.

The eFlyer 2 is primarily intended for applications such as flight training. Bye has purchase agreements covering more than 700 of the aircraft, which will be powered by Safran’s ENGINeUS 100 electric motors, which will be certified under FAA's Part 33 rules.

Photo of the Week

This flight really cracked them up. Capt. Ted Naimer’s windscreen on his Bombardier Challenger 601 provided a stained-glass-like view near Gander, Newfoundland, at FL390 on a flight from Keflavik, Iceland, to Rochester, Minnesota. (Yes, he landed safely and had the windscreen repaired.) Thanks for sharing this photo with us, Ted!

If you'd like to submit an entry for Photo of the Week, email a high-resolution horizontal image (at least 2000 x 1200 pixels), along with your name, contact information, social media names, and info about it (including brief description, location, etc.) to photos@ainonline.com. Tail numbers can be removed upon request. Those submitting photos give AIN implied consent to publish them in its publications and social media channels.