First Embraer Praetor 600 Enters Service

Embraer has delivered the first of its new Praetor 600 super-midsize twinjets in a ceremony at its São José dos Campos facility in Brazil. The aircraft, handed over to an undisclosed European customer, rolled off the hybrid assembly line that also produces the Legacy 450 and Legacy 500.

The first super-mid with full fly-by-wire and turbulence-reduction technology, the Praetor 600, which made its debut at NBAA’s annual convention last year, received certification from ANAC, FAA, and EASA earlier this year, the first in its category to be certified since 2014.

With an intercontinental range of 4,018 nm (four passengers, NBAA IFR reserves), the Praetor 600 claims the longest legs in its class, able to link Dubai and London; Paris and New York; and São Paulo with Miami, non-stop.

The aircraft, which will be completed at the airframer’s Melbourne, Florida production facility, offers a 5,800-foot cabin altitude and a six-foot-high flat-floor cabin.

“We are thrilled to deliver the first Praetor 600 and we are confident that our customer will be fascinated with the most disruptive and technologically advanced super-midsize business jet to enter the market,” said Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, adding that “the aircraft is certain to create a new value experience for its customers and help them outperform in their business and personal endeavors.”

NetJets Takes 100th Citation Latitude

NetJets has taken delivery of its 100th Cessna Citation Latitude, a milestone reached in just three years since the fractional ownership provider first took delivery of the midsize jet in June 2016. The Latitude fleet has become one of the fastest growing in the NetJets livery, and Patrick Gallagher president of sales and marketing, said even more satisfying is every one has been sold to fractional customers.

In 2012 NetJets ordered an initial tranche of 25 Latitudes, with options for up to 125 more. The company has now dipped well into those options—exercising 110 of them with 35 more ordered and to join the fleet over the next year or so. “There’s no slowing down for this airplane,” he said.

The latest delivery increases NetJets’ current Cessna fleet to more than 250 aircraft. NetJets is preparing to add the next Citation model, the Longitude, later this year. The operator placed options for 175 of the super-midsize aircraft during the last NBAA and has exercised options for the first 15. Textron Aviation expects to certify the Longitude in the third quarter and NetJets anticipates taking the first seven by the end of the year.

FAA OKs Garmin G5000 Retrofit for Citation Excel/XLS

Garmin’s integrated flight deck upgrade for the Cessna Citation Excel/XLS is now FAA approved and available from Garmin dealers qualified to install the package, along with Textron Aviation service centers.

The upgrade replaces the original avionics with three landscape-oriented split-screen displays and touchscreen-control pilot interfaces, as well as a new digital automatic flight control system with standard emergency descent mode. Garmin’s underspeed protection is optional and it also enables fully coupled go-arounds. ADS-B Out is standard, as is PBN/RNP 0.3 and LPV/APV approach capability.

Controller-pilot datalink communication-departure clearance is available with additional optional equipment, enabling pilots to use wireless clearance delivery receipt at more than 60 airports in the U.S., along with automatic loading of the clearance into the G5000 avionics. Upcoming FAA Data Comm capabilities will allow pilots to communicate via text-like messaging with FAA air route traffic control centers by year-end. This option will also allow European operators to meet Link 2000+ requirements. 

Optional G5000 features for the Excel/XLS include synthetic vision, Garmin SurfaceWatch runway safety features, datalink weather via Iridium, Doppler weather radar, and Garmin’s Flight Stream 510 providing Connext wireless connectivity in the flight deck. Connext enables wireless flight plan transfer and sharing of traffic, weather, GPS, and other information among multiple mobile devices, as well as Database Concierge for wireless database updates from the Garmin Pilot app.

Aloha HondaJet: Honda Makes First Hawaiian Delivery

Honda Aircraft has delivered its first HondaJet Elites to a customer in Hawaii, the company announced on Friday. The delivery of two Elites to startup company Wing Spirit was marked at a formal event on Thursday evening at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu, Oahu. 

Wing Spirit plans to operate the light jets for inter-island charters, as well as exploring their use for air ambulance and aviation education opportunities throughout the Hawaiian islands. “We are looking forward to revolutionizing the business aviation industry in Hawaii with the HondaJet,” Wing Spirit executive v-p and COO Sal Miwa said. “We are confident the aircraft’s unrivaled performance and comfort will help us to provide our customers with exceptional experiences.”

Globally, the HondaJet fleet now totals more than 125 with these latest deliveries, which also mark the first light jets to enter commercial service in Hawaii. “The HondaJet’s superior performance and comfort are well suited to serve Hawaii’s population of 1.4 million residents and 10 million annual visitors by providing convenient transportation between heavily trafficked islands,” said Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino.

King Air Crash in Texas Claims 10

The NTSB is now on site investigating yesterday morning’s fatal crash of a Beechcraft King Air 350 at Dallas-Addison Airport in Texas. The 2017 turboprop twin went down on takeoff at 9:11 a.m. central time from Runway 15 and struck a privately-owned hangar, destroying the aircraft and killing all eight passengers and two crewmembers on board.  

While the accident airplane's FAA registration number was initially identified as N511EF by the NTSB, the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network, citing ATC recordings, and an FAA preliminary report issued this morning identify the King Air as N534FF. However, all three sources agree that the turboprop twin was owned by Addison-based EE Operations LLC. Aircraft tracking site FlightAware lists N534FF as scheduled for a flight from Addison to Florida's St. Petersburg-Albert Whitted Airport yesterday morning.

Weather around the time of the accident was VFR, with visibility reported as 10 statute miles and scattered clouds at 1,400 feet. Wind was from 100 degrees at six knots. The NTSB will conduct its second media briefing on the crash this afternoon at 4 p.m. CT.

Senator Suggests Implementing TFRs for Concerts

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell (Washington) is expressing interest in expanding the scope of temporary flight restrictions (TFR) to include major events such as concerts.

“It has been brought to my attention that FAA is unable to grant temporary flight restrictions for major events such as concerts, even when they are held in venues were TFRs are regularly granted for sporting events,” Cantwell said in questions to FAA administrator nominee Steve Dickson. “These concerts often draw a similar and sometimes larger crowd than the sporting events that take place in these venues.”

Sporting event organizations may rely upon TFRs to maintain the safety of attendees, she said, while organizers of concerts are not able to have TFRs as another tool in their “massive undertaking to keep their patrons safe during an event.”

A TFR would not necessarily stop a bad actor, she acknowledged, but, “A TFR does help ensure that the airspace is clear of legitimate aircraft, and makes identifying the bad actors easier.”

She asked Dickson whether, if confirmed, he would work with her to find a method to expand the ability to use TFRs over major events. Dickson responded that TFRs typically are put in place when a federal law enforcement partner identifies a security threat. In the case of sporting events, Congress has explicitly required them.

Universal Avionics Presents New Way To FMS

Universal Avionics is nearing the final stages of developing a new flight management system (FMS) that is embodied in software and can run on a variety of hardware types. Called i-FMS, it is designed to work closely with other Universal Avionics products such as the InSight integrated flight deck, SkyLens HUD, and i-SVS (interactive synthetic vision system). But it will also be available to aircraft OEMs that want to design their own avionics interfaces.

Under development for five years, i-FMS will provide a new and simpler pilot interface that reduces head-down time and typing on keypads. “This is a step in the roadmap to make avionics more simplified,” said Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav.

Universal’s approach is to marry the SkyLens wearable HUD with the new i-FMS, allowing pilots to manipulate the FMS by sight. For example, if a pilot wants to view and manipulate a waypoint that is somewhere off their left shoulder, they would just look to the left, position their head to line the cursor up with the waypoint, and then click a physical select button on the yoke.

“We call if flight by sight,” Yahav said. With the autopilot coupled to the i-FMS, “you can guide the airplane and fly without touching anything inside, by looking and clicking.” Universal Avionics expects to certify the first version of i-FMS next year.

Another AW109 Crashes in Bad Weather

Another Leonardo AW109 helicopter has crashed in bad weather in the U.S in almost as many weeks. N11NM, a 2008 model year A109, went down just before 1 a.m. local time on Friday at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport (KBRD) in Minnesota, killing the pilot and one nurse on board and leaving another crewmember with unknown injuries.

Visibility at the time of the crash was reported as two-tenths of a mile in fog. The helicopter crashed inside a fenced area at the Brainerd Airport, which is 111 nautical miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The helicopter was owned by North Memorial Air Care of Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and is believed to be one of nine EMS-configured AW109s operated by the company. North Memorial flies approximately 4,500 missions annually and has bases in Brainerd, Bemidji, Eveleth, Faribault, Princeton, and Redwood Falls, Minnesota, as well as Siren, Wisconsin.

North Memorial’s website advertises that its pilots are IFR-rated and its helicopters are IFR-equipped. The NTSB is investigating. The accident follows one of another AW109 in New York City June 10 during fog and rain that killed the sole-occupant, non-instrument-rated pilot when it crashed onto the roof of a 54-story high-rise.