As flight testing of the new Anthem avionics suite in Honeywell’s Pilatus PC-12 continues, the turboprop single is taking a short break this week in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where EAA AirVenture attendees can check out the revamped instrument panel up close.

Honeywell test pilot Ed Manning made the first flight earlier this year of the PC-12 fully equipped with the Anthem suite. Earlier flight testing, which began in the PC-12 more than a year ago, was with a partial Anthem system mounted on one side of the instrument panel, supported by original Honeywell Primus Apex avionics on the other side.

While the Apex pilot interface is a cursor-control device and multifunction controller, Anthem’s displays are all touch display units (TDUs), or touchscreens, enabling many more ways of activating all of its features.

“It’s completely different architecture-wise,” Manning said. Areas on the TDUs—for example, the flight mode annunciators—can even replace all the functions of a typical hardware guidance panel, and aircraft manufacturers will be able to choose whether the panel is needed or if the space can be put to other uses.

The main interface for Anthem is the pilot interface display unit, which can be on its own display or can be included in a section of one or more of the TDUs.

A visual approach is an effective tool that ATC utilizes to maximize aircraft traffic flow and reduce controller workload. For pilots, the greatest benefit of flying a visual approach is that it allows for tighter sequencing between aircraft, which equates to less time in the air and a reduction in fuel burn.

According to a recent issue of NASA’s ASRS Callback newsletter, “Many pilots consider a visual approach to be less demanding than instrument approaches flown in poor weather conditions…But visual approaches can present a number of hazards, particularly when localizer and glideslope indications are not used to backup visual impressions.”

For many reasons, a visual approach is much more complex than perceived by pilots. According to another NASA report, there is a dark side to the visual approach. In this study, “Problems with Visual Approaches: The Visual Trap,” it states, “The visual approach is intended to benefit everyone, but frequently results in the pilots experiencing the opposite effect. NASA ASRS reports frequently cite confusion with added stress to the flight crews (when flying a visual approach).”

Originally planned for launch in 2022, Gogo Business Aviation’s high-speed 5G air-to-ground connectivity network has been delayed again. Chip shortages prompted the first delay, leading to revised launch plans in 2023, but now the network is expected “in approximately mid-year 2024,” according to Gogo.

The recent delay is “due to a design error in a non-5G component of its chip, which was designed by a third-party subcontractor of its 5G solution provider,” the company said in a statement released last night.

The 5G antenna network covering the U.S. was completed last year and comprises 150 sites. The average system speed is expected to be around 25 Mbps, with peak speeds of 75 to 80 Mbps.

Gogo is still taking orders for 5G systems, and customers can have their aircraft pre-provisioned with antennas and wiring harnesses so the system can be installed quickly once the equipment is ready. Installation centers are developing multiple STCs for Gogo 5G systems, and Gogo is working with aircraft manufacturers to make 5G a production line-fit option.

Because of the delay, Gogo anticipates a reduction in 2023 revenue of $7 million and plans to defer about $13 million in operating capital expense from 2023 to 2024.

Bighorn Airways, one of Wyoming’s largest aviation services providers, is being acquired by Montana-based Bridger Aerospace, which specializes in aerial firefighting.

Bighorn, which was established in 1947 and owns 12 special-mission aircraft, operates the lone full-service FBO and MRO at Sheridan County Airport (KSHR) at the base of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. It offers charter service on its fleet of turboprops, including the Dash 8 and the Beechcraft King Air 350.

KSHR features an 8,300-foot main runway and the Bighorn FBO, a Corporate Aircraft Association-preferred location that is open daily from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. and features hangar space that can shelter aircraft up to the size of a Gulfstream G550. It is also home to the company’s FAA Part 145 repair station.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of September, pending regulatory approval.

Emerging advanced air mobility companies continue to face significant financial headwinds as witnessed by the decidedly cool market reaction to Surf Air Mobility’s direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday. Its initial sale price was trading at $5 per share—well below the $20 reference price set by the exchange.

As the day went on, the price then tumbled to $2.75 before trading in the company was briefly halted due to stock price volatility as it continued falling. Surf Air stock opened at $2.64 per share this morning.

The current share price gives the company a market capitalization of less than $500 million, substantially below a $1.2 billion valuation reported just two months ago during a fundraising round, but still an enterprise value of 25 times its annual revenue. Surf Air Mobility said it will receive no direct proceeds from the offering.

Surf Air Mobility plans to operate a fleet of hybrid-electric and all-electric Cessna Caravans to provide regional passenger service, and the company is developing supplemental type certificates for this conversion with companies including AeroTEC, MagniX, and TAI. The day before its stock listing, it merged with Southern Airways Express, an operator with 39 Cessna Caravans in passenger service mainly serving 37 airports with FAA Essential Air Service contracts.

Continuing supply-chain disruptions proved a drag on first-half 2023 financial results for Airbus Helicopters, parent company Airbus said this week in its second-quarter financial result. Still, the rotorcraft manufacturer managed to post solid revenue gains year-over-year on the strength of its services business.

Compared with the same six-month period in 2022, revenues jumped 16 percent, to $3.54 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes increased to $303.5 million from $238.15 million. But while second-quarter revenues rose by 8 percent, to $1.77 billion, EBIT fell by 6 percent, to $130.7 million, from the year-ago period.

New net helicopter orders for the first half of this year fell by 20 percent year-over-year, to 131 aircraft, and the overall unit backlog declined by 6 percent, to 743. One bright spot included an order for 19 H160 intermediate twins during in the first half of the year.

Piaggio Aerospace has entered the next phase in the long quest to find a buyer, with the company’s extraordinary commissions narrowing the field of potential bidders who may enter due diligence to 13. Some 18 potential bidders had expressed interest in acquiring Piaggio Aero Industries and Piaggio Aviation, the two companies that operate collectively as Piaggio Aerospace.

Officials handling the bankruptcy proceedings reopened bidding in early May after a previous effort to close a deal failed last year. The expressions of interest were due by June 19.

Piaggio commissioners Carmelo Cosentino, Vincenzo Nicastro, and Gianpaolo Davide Rossetti did not detail the names of the latest round of bidders but characterized them as “first-level companies or consortia mainly with an industrial background, with an interest in buying the company in its entirety and mostly based in Italy or Europe.”

Potential bidders were given until the end of August to review data on Piaggio. Following due diligence, the commissioners will ask for binding offers.

“We’ll proceed expeditiously and without exceptions of any kind, aiming at identifying a new owner who, in addition to recognizing the fair value of the Group, will be able to propose a long-term strategy, safeguarding the company’s brand, competencies, and employment,” the commissioners said.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) will celebrate its 85th anniversary and honor the history of general aviation through a commemorative aircraft display and flyover in May 2024 at the National Mall, the association announced this week at EAA AirVenture.

With the support of Congress and in coordination with 15 interagency partners such as the FAA, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Secret Service, the flyover will broadcast live on YouTube, with long-time AOPA Live This Week host Tom Haines providing commentary with other guests.

AOPA said it will span more than 20 different chapters of the general aviation story beginning with the Golden Age with AOPA president Mark Baker’s Beechcraft Staggerwing. Other aircraft flown during and after World War II will participate, as well as those representing training, vertical flight, backcountry flying, seaplanes, corporate and business aviation, technically advanced aircraft, experimental homebuilts, airshow performers, and public-service use.

“It’s going to be a special time for AOPA in May 2024,” Baker said. “What a sight it will be to see the history of general aviation flying over the National Mall as GA has given this nation so much over the past many decades. AOPA is uniquely positioned to be able to plan this complex event and execute it safely and professionally.”

The pilots for the flyover have been identified as planning for the event continues.