New State Aviation Holdings is increasing its aviation services reach with the acquisition of Finnoff Aviation Products. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Broomfield, Colorado-based Finnoff becomes the third business under the New State Aviation Holdings umbrella and expands its foothold in the light business turbine market. Private equity firm New State Capital Partners launched New State Aviation Holdings in December 2021 with the acquisition of Avex—a Daher TBM sales and maintenance provider—and followed that with the acquisition of aircraft performance specialist Blackhawk Aerospace at the beginning of the year. Chad Cundiff, a long-time Honeywell executive who led Astronautics for eight years as president, joined New State Aviation Holdings in early 2022 to serve as CEO.
Under the most recent acquisition, founder Chris Finnoff and the company's management team will remain in place. Finnoff provides proprietary engine and propeller upgrades for the Pilatus PC-12, including holding a supplemental type certificate for Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67P engines for the aircraft. Finnoff is also a distributor of MT Propeller five-blade and seven-blade propellers for the PC-12, as well as five-blade propellers for King Air 90s, 200s, and 350s.
“The combination of Finnoff’s engine and propeller upgrade capabilities with our existing Blackhawk operation will provide additional value to the Pilatus operator community,” Cundiff said. “It also expands our core product offerings and generates unique cross-selling opportunities with the Blackhawk team."
The concept of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is now fully integrated into all aspects of the aviation industry, according to Steve Czonka, the executive director of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI). Assessing the state of the SAF industry this morning during the organization’s virtual two-day SAF event, he explained that all Airlines for America (A4A) member airlines—including United, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, Alaska, and Hawaiian along with cargo carriers FedEx, UPS, and Atlas Air—now have offtake agreements for SAF. Further, most have full teams associated with the valuation of suppliers “and unprecedently, investments.” He noted that some airlines have even joined forces to fund technology development in the space.
The business aviation community is also heavily engaged with producers and suppliers arranging to have SAF deliveries at nearly 30 airports in the U.S.
Yet, it is acknowledged that SAF alone is not a silver bullet for the industry’s decarbonization aspirations. “The bottom line is we are all working on SAF [and other approaches]," said Czonka. “We’re not exactly sure how the other pillars will unfold, but we recognize that we can’t achieve aviation sustainability goals without significant SAF production.”
Norwegian startup Elfly Group yesterday announced plans for an all-electric seaplane it said will be ready to enter commercial passenger-carrying service in 2030, with a cargo version ready by 2028. At an unveiling event in Oslo, the company said early versions of the Noemi aircraft will have between six and 13 seats and will fly up to around 200 kilometers (109 nm) at speeds of up to 250 knots.
The Noemi (which stands for “no emissions") will be powered by a pair of unspecified electric motors with a combined power output of one megawatt. Elfly plans to certify the aircraft under EASA’s CS23 Level 4 rules to give it scope to scale up the design to carry as many as 19 passengers. It also intends to offer cargo and emergency medical support versions.
According to Elfly, it will be ready to fly a prototype of the Noemi in 2025. The company intends to be the launch operator for the aircraft and will apply for an air operator certificate to begin services along the west coast of Norway with an initial fleet of 15 seaplanes flying between fjords. “Thereafter, we could expand to other short-hop markets, considering that 80 percent of the world’s population live by the sea,” said Elfly CEO Eric Lithun, the IT entrepreneur who founded the company in 2018.
China has made its first sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)-powered helicopter flight. The 40 percent SAF blend from China National Aviation Fuel (CNAF) was used in an Airbus Helicopters H125 belonging to State Grid Space Technology Co. (SGST).
The flight was made a few weeks after Airbus and the CNAF signed a memorandum of understanding to intensify Chinese-European cooperation on the production, application, and common standards formulation for SAF during the French state visit to China in April. This agreement between Airbus and CNAF aims to optimize the SAF supply chain by diversifying sources for the fuel and enhancing SAF production with a stated goal of using 10 percent SAF in China by 2030.
All Airbus helicopters can fly with up to 50 percent SAF blend and Airbus’s goal is to have all its aircraft capable of flying with 100 percent SAF by 2030. “I am proud that our customer, SGST, launched this noteworthy SAF flight with the H125, marking Airbus Helicopters as the first helicopter manufacturer to perform an SAF flight in China,” said Colin James, Airbus Helicopters’s managing director in China. “In an effort to reduce carbon emissions and set a standard within the industry, we are working with our partners to use locally produced SAF.”
Your Dream Plane’s Maintenance Journey: What’s Next?
Now that you’ve got your wings, you might be wondering, “What’s next?”
A well-informed and "engaged" facility should be reaching out to you several weeks prior to input to discuss and verify several things - and here are just a few..."
The National Gay Pilots Association (NGPA) is holding its annual convention, entitled “Wings Over Florida,” in the Sunshine State over the upcoming weekend. The event in Fort Lauderdale aims to maximize the visibility of the aviation community’s diverse LGBTQ+ population and this year will be raising funds and awareness for TransSocial, a nonprofit organization aimed at expanding safe and affirming resources for the trans and LGBQIA+ community, the NGPA said.
Such support was particularly timely and critically important as Florida’s government continued its “hateful and unjustifiable attacks” on the human rights of fellow Floridians and Americans, an NGPA spokesperson said.
The association expects the event to bring together more than 150 aviation professionals that identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community or advocate as allies on its behalf. “Florida is becoming an epicenter of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, which is part of the reason we chose to hold our summer event in the state,” a senior NGPA official told AIN.
Beginning with the June 15 chart cycle, limited foreign information will be shown on all en-route U.S., Alaska, and Pacific High/Low IFR aeronautical charts. The aim of the change is to provide improved situational awareness by emphasizing the transition point beyond U.S.-controlled airspace, after which pilots will have to consult charts and publications of other nations.
In further explaining the need for the change, the FAA said, “It does not receive foreign data with sufficient lead times to produce the foreign areas of FAA charts with the same robust, for navigation, content as within U.S. airspace. This change will make clear that the intent of U.S. charts is for navigation within domestic airspace and that charts of other countries should be used within their respective airspace.” Additionally, foreign aeronautical information is not supported by the U.S. notam system.
The FAA assured subscribers that the new information published on paper charts is also included in digital versions available for viewing on the agency’s IFR chart website. The agency also reminds subscribers that “should you discover or encounter an error in any of our products, you are encouraged to contact us immediately. Before you do, however, please check the alerts/notices webpage to see if the error has been previously discovered or resolved.”
Private jet charter broker and membership card provider Paramount Business Jets has introduced a supplemental lift program called Corporate Wing Solutions. Paramount noted that crew shortages, supply chain issues, and multi-year new aircraft delivery delays have all contributed to an increased need for supplemental lift.
"We see corporate operators facing increasing challenges meeting their lift needs, and we believe there is a need for an honest and old-fashioned jet charter broker to represent and negotiate on their behalf in the marketplace,” said Paramount founder and CEO Richard Zaher. “Today, outsourcing lift for times of maximum demand is often the most economical and reliable option."
The corporate lift program blends elements of Paramount’s tiered jet card membership with benefits and rates tailored to each flight department's requirements, routes, usage, and budget. Supplemental lift is sourced from a fleet of 4,000 aircraft in the company’s vetted global operator network, with all operators being Argus Gold, which entails crew vetting and a safety analysis but no on-site audit, or the equivalent. Paramount provides clients with a copy of the invoice from operators for each flight, detailing the wholesale cost, line-item charges, and commission.
An Erickson S-64E Skycrane heli-logging in Port Douglas, British Columbia, Canada, earlier this month used the bed of a pickup truck for support after its right main landing gear detached while entering a hover. According to the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the right main landing gear oleo and strut assembly “decoupled from the helicopter (N172AC).” The gear fell to the ground in the service landing area without damage to equipment or personnel.
The helicopter’s two-man crew then performed a light landing using the nose and left main gear to onboard more fuel while keeping the right main gear housing off the ground. Flight and ground crews communicated and coordinated their actions via radio and hand signals. A pickup truck was then maneuvered into the place of the decoupled landing gear and the pilot landed the right gear housing structure into the bed of the vehicle. The maintenance crew inspected and replaced the right landing gear with a complete oleo, strut, and housing assembly.
In an e-mail to AIN, Erickson said a "Canadian Air-Crane recently made a non-standard landing after an oleo separated from their aircraft. Due to the quick thinking of their experienced crew, the aircraft was able to land safely. We are continuing to review the cause of this incident, and out of an abundance of caution we have issued a service bulletin advising operators to take appropriate actions to prevent similar occurrences."
Sustainability Question of the Week
Sponsored by
What is an example of Scope 2 emissions?
A. Business travel on an airline.
B. Employees commuting to/from work at the hangar.
C. The vehicle emissions generated by delivering the catering order for the flight.
D. A facility’s use of electricity.
Bombardier Global Aircraft Upgrades Webinar
Join us on July 19th to learn about the Collins Aerospace Tech Insert 5.8 for retrofitting Global 5000, 5500, 6000, and 6500 aircraft. We'll break down all the upgrades within these Bombardier service bulletins that include enhanced vision systems, real-time weather services, and upgraded traffic information.
AINalerts News Tips/Feedback: News tips may be sent anonymously, but feedback must include name and contact info (we will withhold name on request). We reserve the right to edit correspondence for length, clarity and grammar. Send feedback or news tips to AINalerts editor Chad Trautvetter.
AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
