Dassault’s FalconEye head-up display (HUD) is now approved for installation at both pilot stations in the Falcon 8X trijet. Approved by both the FAA and EASA, FalconEye is the first HUD certified with combined vision, which places synthetic vision and infrared and low-light camera imagery on the HUD at the same time.
Pilots can fly non-precision approaches to 100 feet agl in FalconEye-equipped Falcons, but according to Dassault, “The dual-HUD configuration will ultimately permit an EFVS-to-land capability in near zero-zero conditions, pending new EASA regulations.”
The second HUD is available as a retrofit for 8Xs, and Dassault said the dual-HUD FalconEye option will be certified on the forthcoming Falcon 6X and 10X. In the 10X, the dual HUD will be certified as the “primary means of pilot operation” so the primary flight display can be configured for other uses.
Benefits of the dual HUD are that it simplifies FalconEye pilot training and also enhances situational awareness for both pilots. Sharing “the same synthetic and enhanced vision view,” according to Dassault, enables “one to act as ‘pilot flying’ while the other monitors flight conditions.”
“The bottom line is that this approval results in enhanced safety and more capability for Falcons equipped with Dassault’s industry-first FalconEye technology,” said Carlos Brana, executive v-p of civil aircraft at Dassault Aviation.
Blog: Are View-limiting Devices Necessary for IFR Training?
Join me in a thought experiment. Go back to when you began training for your instrument rating. Do you remember wearing a view-limiting device (VLD) of some sort? A hood, Foggles, something that fit over your glasses or otherwise restricted your view so you could (theoretically) only see the instrument panel and not the outside world?
I’d like to raise some questions: what is a VLD exactly and is it truly necessary? And has anyone ever done any research to prove that VLDs are beneficial?
Presumably, a VLD fulfills the requirement that some training, especially recurrency, be done “solely by reference to instruments,” but the FAA doesn’t define either what a VLD is nor what is meant by “solely by reference to instruments.”
In the regulations for the instrument rating, the FAA requires 40 hours of “actual or simulated instrument time.” The FAA instrument rating airman certification standards refer to “skills associated with…[operations] solely by reference to instruments.” Even the FAA Instrument Flying Handbook doesn’t get more specific, saying only: “You may log instrument flight time during the time for which you control the aircraft solely by reference to instruments. This can be accomplished by wearing a view-limiting device, such as a hood, flying an approved flight-training device, or flying in actual IMC.”
NBAA has just released an updated version of its Personal Use of Business Aircraft Handbook, which provides tax and regulatory compliance strategies for non-business use of corporate aircraft. “Employee security concerns and ongoing pandemic-related travel changes may lead companies to occasionally make business aircraft available to employees for non-business use,” noted NBAA senior director for public policy and advocacy Scott O’Brien.
According to O’Brien, personal use of business aircraft is a complex policy area, governed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and FAA. The association’s handbook summarizes these tax rules for company reporting purposes, as well as deduction-disallowance rules for commuting and business entertainment flights under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It also covers tax deduction rules for sole proprietors and employee-provided flights.
“The handbook helps companies, chief financial officers, advisors, and legal representatives to navigate this challenging regulatory environment,” said O’Brien. “This is an important resource for flight department personnel who often work with their company’s tax department and outside counsel to assist in the recordkeeping and classification of flights.”
The FAA has postponed the activation date for the final phase of its multi-year Northeast Corridor Atlantic Coast Routes (ACR) project from the previously scheduled Nov. 3, 2022, to April 20, 2023. According to the FAA, the delay is to avoid making numerous route changes during the busy summer and winter peaks.
International aviation information provider OpsGroup reports the new procedures will still be published in September but will not be authorized for use until the new activation date. The changes will affect routes over 15 major airports along the Atlantic East Coast from Baltimore-Washington to Raleigh-Durham.
The main change of the ACR project is that 150 new or modified routes are replacing the existing high-altitude route structure. Says OpsGroup: “J Routes are out, new or amended Q and Y Routes are in.” Some amended SIDs and STARs are included. Also affected are “super high” sector routes—FL400 and above. However, OpsGroup said, “The full details of the super high sector routes are not yet known.”
According to the FAA, the transition to performance-based navigation (PBN) decreases the reliance on ground-based navaids. Updates started in 2019 but implementation was delayed due to the pandemic, resulting in the inability to conduct controller training.
Bell commercial helicopter deliveries dropped by almost 28 percent, to 34 aircraft, in the second quarter as the supply chain delayed several shipments, Scott Donnelly, chairman and CEO of the helicopter manufacturer's parent, Textron, told analysts yesterday.
Deliveries of the Model 505 slid by nine units, to 15, while Bell 407 shipments decreased by six units, to nine, in the quarter. Meanwhile, Bell 429 deliveries edged up two units, to eight, and deliveries of the Model 412 intermediate remained flat at two. As a result of the dip in deliveries, commercial revenues decreased by $34 million.
The biggest decrease, however, came on the military side, with H-1 deliveries cut in half to four and aftermarket slowing. V-22 deliveries were also down by a pair, to three. The combination led to a $170 million decline in military revenues. In total, Bell brought in $687 million in the second quarter, a $204 million drop from a year ago.
However, Donnelly was encouraged by the strength in Bell's commercial demand, which helped buoy the backlog by $500 million, to $5.3 billion. “We are starting to see really strong performance on the commercial side. The demand environment is good. We'll certainly have a lot more deliveries in the back half of the year but they are fighting through supply chain issues and inefficiencies,” he said.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a final rule amending its Part 830 definition of “unmanned aircraft accident” by removing the previously used weight-based requirement—300 pounds or greater. It is replacing that with an airworthiness certificate requirement, the same definition as with manned aircraft accident/incident investigations.
When the 300-pound definition was adopted in 2010, the NTSB said the weight-based requirement was necessary because defining an accident solely on “substantial damage” to the aircraft would have required investigations of numerous small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) crashes “with no significant safety issues.” Further, the agency said, “UASs less than 300 pounds are operating in high-risk environments, such as beyond line-of-sight and over populated areas.”
The Safety Board’s investigative responsibilities do not extend to UAS operated by public or government services, such as police or fire departments. “Increasing the scope of this rulemaking to capture public safety operators would create complexity, confusion, and an excessive burden on the agency’s resources with little benefit to safety,” the NTSB said. Additionally, a UAS that has been “crashed intentionally for safety purposes (as opposed to a nefarious act) does not meet the definition of ‘accident.’”
In-flight catering specialist Air Culinaire has relocated its Teterboro, New Jersey preparation kitchen into a newly-built 17,000-sq-ft facility just minutes from business aviation hub Teterboro Airport (KTEB). The kitchen, now one of the largest in the company’s network, is nearly three times the size of the previous KTEB location, which the company had occupied since it began operations in New Jersey in 2005.
Air Culinaire's new kitchen features six-point ranges, high-thermal BTU grills, a new pastry rolling machine, blast chillers, and pass-through refrigeration portals to maintain cold compliance. It is also equipped with anti-bacterial floors and walls, retractable spray-down systems for sanitation, a Telematics system for delivery tracking and accuracy, energy-efficient LED lighting, and a custom ventilation system. The expanded facility will allow the Universal Weather and Aviation subsidiary to continue on its path of more efficient service while increasing product quality.
“The next chapter is here, and as we reinvest in the future, this facility reflects our commitment to creating a promising future for our team members and customers,” said Steven Roberts, the company’s senior v-p of global operations.
Bell has received a signed purchase agreement to deliver two new Subaru Bell 412EPX helicopters configured for search and rescue to the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) aviation unit. Subaru and Bell partnered on the upgraded helicopter as part of a successful campaign to win the Japan Defense Force’s UH-X helicopter competition for up to 150 aircraft.
Certified in 2018, the 412EPX possesses an increased maximum internal weight of 12,200 pounds, external weight of 13,000 pounds, and can sling up to 5,000 pounds of goods with a cargo hook. The maximum useful internal load is 5,385 pounds. The aircraft features a new main rotor gearbox with run dry capability and mast torque output of plus 11 percent at speeds below 60 knots.
Bell and the NYPD share a long history dating back to 1948, when a Bell 47—the first Bell helicopter to be used as part of an airborne law enforcement team—joined the NYPD aviation unit. The NYPD currently operates two Bell 412EPs, a Bell 407, and four Bell 429s for a variety of missions ranging from search and rescue at sea to gathering intelligence. NYPD’s aviation unit also relies on a Cessna Caravan 208EX to perform counterterrorism missions.
Photo of the Week
Aviation is booming. Martin Fessele, a Gulfstream G650 captain for Jet Aviation Flight Services at Teterboro, snapped this image on Wednesday during the night airshow at EAA AirVenture. “I try to attend AirVenture every year with a group of friends. I would encourage anyone with a passion for airplanes to attend at least once,” he said. We agree, Martin! And thanks for sharing, too.
Keep them coming. 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.
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