Historic Learjet 28 To Make Final Flight to Museum
The first Learjet 28 Longhorn (S/N 28-001)—which as a prototype was famously flown by Neil Armstrong and Learjet test pilot Pete Reynolds in 1979—will have a permanent home in its retirement. The twinjet, which has had several owners and registrations since it notched five FAI and NAA records with Armstrong in the cockpit, is being donated to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio (the late pioneering astronaut’s hometown) by Kevin Hayward, president and CEO of Ox Industries.
Registered as N128LR, the jet is scheduled to arrive at Neil Armstrong Airport in New Knoxville, Ohio, on Wednesday, August 5, which would have been the first man to walk on the Moon’s 90th birthday. Scheduled to copilot the twinjet on its last flight is former NASA astronaut and two-time space shuttle pilot Col. Gregory Johnson (USAF Ret.). Citing Armstrong as a personal hero, Johnson said it would be an honor to copilot the historic Lear 28 to its new home.
It will remain at the airport on display until ready to be transported to the nearby museum, capping a five-year effort by its board of directors to obtain the airplane. The Longhorn will be installed near a 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champion, the first aircraft Armstrong ever flew.
AINsight: When Will Bizav Flyers Get Back to Business?
While the post-Covid recovery in overall business aircraft utilization levels is indeed heartening, much of this flying is for personal/leisure purposes. A fuller recovery—with HNWIs and corporate executives traveling for the purposes of conducting business—so far seems to be elusive. This extends from people getting aboard a business aircraft to people boarding a commercial airliner.
With now-countless industry conferences, airshows, and face-to-face meetings relegated to Zoom, it will be quite some time before many people will again feel comfortable getting into a commercial airport environment and aboard an aluminum tube with 150 or more people in tight proximity. Recovery of the commercial air carrier industry will take longer than business aviation.
With phones ringing and turbines twirling, many Part 135 operators of business aircraft are well positioned to grow their businesses and experiment with new business models to broaden their appeal to a wider community of customers.
And while the Covid economic slump might have already ended after the second quarter, the potential for a double-dip U.S. recession is real. There is still a massive amount of uncertainty facing the U.S. economy in the second half of this year.
When the international borders to Europe, Canada, and now even the Bahamas are closed to U.S. travelers, you know that this is already a year to remember—or should I say forget?
A reported ransomware attack shut down several data services at Garmin over the past day, including those in its aviation portfolio. Affected aviation services are flight plan filing, account syncing, and database concierge capabilities in the Garmin Pilot app, as well as data from the Central Maintenance Computer (CMC). All of these services were down last night, a service outage page update from this morning indicates that some of them are back but with “degraded performance.”
“We are currently experiencing an outage that affects flyGarmin and as a result, the flyGarmin website and mobile app are down at this time,” the company wrote on the page. “This outage also affects our call centers, and we are currently unavailable to receive any emails or chats but do have limited availability for calls. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible..."
At press time, Garmin reported that the phone/SMS via Iridium functions of its Connext Services were functioning, while weather, CMC, and position reports were down. In Garmin Pilot, flight plan filing (unless connected to FltPlan), account syncing, and database concierge were still down this morning, while weather and other real-time aeronautical data were “largely functional.”
Airbus Eyes Hydrogen Power for Airliner in Next Decade
Airbus sees hydrogen as the pathway toward its goal of bringing a zero-emissions commercial airliner to market in the next decade, Glenn Llewellyn, v-p of zero-emissions technology for Airbus, said this week. He agreed with other panelists during an FIA Connect 2020 webinar, “Clean Flight – Path to Zero Emissions Aircraft,” that hydrogen ranks among multiple approaches that will be necessary to reach their ultimate sustainability goals.
“We’ve been very clear recently that we have the ambition to bring a zero-emissions commercial airliner to market in the early 2030s, and one of the most promising technologies to allow us to do that is hydrogen,” Llewellyn said. “We believe we need to position the aviation industry to be powered by renewable energy, and hydrogen is a very good surrogate for allowing us to do that.”
Hydrogen can be produced by solar or wind, he said, adding that energy can be carried onboard through fuel cells to drive gas turbines or a hybrid-electric combination of the two. That would enable a significant reduction in aviation’s effect on climate change, Llewellyn said.
“We are talking about making some significant decisions in the 2024 to 2025 timeframes in terms of the technology choices we need to make,” he said, adding that the technology development needs to progress fairly quickly over the next four to five years.
This story comes from AIN's extensive coverage this week of FIA Connect. Visit our show landing page to read other stories from the event.
FAA Grants Production Certification to Epic for E1000
Epic Aircraft received FAA production certification for the E1000, clearing the way for the Bend, Oregon company to ramp up manufacturing of its carbon-fiber, six-seat turboprop single. With the production certificate (PC), Epic may manufacture, flight test, and issue airworthiness certificates with reduced FAA presence, the company said.
Epic CEO Doug King called the PC a validation of the extensive efforts and investments made in its manufacturing and quality control systems. “Achieving FAA production certificate is a tremendous milestone,” King said. “It is a rigorous process involving the approval of a vast number of documents, processes, and systems, with composites adding additional complexity.” Approval was the culmination of a process that began years ago in tandem with the certification of the E1000. The company was awarded type certification in November.
The Covid-19 pandemic and associated travel restriction pushed off the production audit—a precursor to certification, Epic noted. But the FAA worked with the manufacturer to develop new processes, including the use of remote technologies, to complete as much advance review and audit work as possible before the final onsite assessment.
Daher announced this morning that it had received both FAA and EASA approval of its HomeSafe emergency autoland system on its TBM 940 turboprop single. The option is priced at $85,000 and can be retrofitted to TBM 940 aircraft already in service at TBM service centers. “This is a game-changing step that expands flight safety from pilots to the passengers themselves,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Daher aircraft division senior vice president. “Without a doubt, HomeSafe will become an aviation standard.”
Based on Garmin’s Emergency Autoland system and available part of the G3000 integrated flight deck, the system can be activated manually via an orange button atop the cockpit instrument panel, or semi-automatically if the emergency descent mode has been engaged. Software integrates weather and terrain information to select the best suitable nearby airport for landing.
When activated, the system provides inputs to the aircraft’s flight controls and adjusts engine power settings through the touchdown phase. On landing, HomeSafe will activate the brakes and then, after stopping, shut down the engine. The pilot can override the autoland function by disconnecting the autopilot.
Daher has been developing the system for the TBM since 2017 and the related test campaign included 200 automated landings. The TBM 940 is the latest aircraft to receive a variation of this Garmin-based technology. Piper previously announced its incorporation into its M600 turboprop single.
Hydrogen fuel cell propulsion pioneer ZeroAvia recently conducted the first flight with its latest powertrain in a six-seat Piper M600. The flight was made on June 23 from Cranfield University’s airfield in the UK where it is working on the government-backed HyFlyer program to advance zero-emissions aviation.
According to California-based ZeroAvia, the flight was the first made in the UK involving what it defined as a “commercial-scale” aircraft powered by hydrogen. The company says it intends to have a 10- to 20-seat aircraft certified with hydrogen propulsion within three years, and a 50- to 100-seat model by 2030. By 2040, it believes it could be possible for aircraft carrying 200 passengers to make flights of more than 3,000 nm.
For the HyFlyer flight trials, the Piper’s single piston engine has been replaced by a powertrain consisting of electric motors, hydrogen fuel cells, and gas storage. According to ZeroAvia, this combination offers a significantly more efficient energy-to-weight ratio than battery-based all-electric propulsion, as well as offer lower operating costs, in part because the technology does not require batteries to be replaced.
Later this summer, ZeroAvia intends to make a flight of almost 300 nm from Cranfield in southern England to the Orkney islands in the north of Scotland with the modified M600.
EmbraerX recently made the first flight in a simulator it is using to develop its planned new eVTOL. The advanced technologies division of the Brazilian business and regional aircraft manufacturer has also flown scale models of the new design and has conducted wind-tunnel testing but has yet to say when it expects the all-electric, four-seater to enter service.
According to Andre Stein, EmbraerX’s head of strategy and urban air mobility, the simulator trials use real flight control parameters and control laws to gather the information that will prepare the way for eventual type certification flight testing. Engineers have been testing the aircraft’s fifth-generation fly-by-wire controls that will initially support piloted operations while being compatible with later plans for autonomous flight.
Embraer has been quite secretive about its plans for an eVTOL, despite Uber's naming it as one of eight partners supporting the ride-hailing group’s plans to launch air-taxi services from 2023. Stein told AIN that it continues to work with Uber, while stressing that Embraer remains focused on supporting the wider “ecosystem” for urban air mobility, including air traffic management and ground infrastructure.
The new design shows eight propellers installed on four beams attached to two narrow, parallel wings protruding from the top of the fuselage to provide vertical lift, along with a pair of aft-mounted ducted fans for cruise flight.
Alan Perzigian had the good fortune of positioning himself perfectly to snap this shot of the Space Shuttle Enterprise atop NASA’s 747 transport aircraft in April 2012. Decommissioned, the shuttle was headed to John F. Kennedy International Airport, where it was then to be ferried over to the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Perzigian said he received a tip on the exact route of the flight, so he set up along the banks of the Hudson river in Englewood, New Jersey, and was able to capture amazing shots of the ferry. Thanks for sharing, Alan!
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