Textron Aviation's second copy of the clean-sheet, single-engine turboprop Beechcraft Denali completed its first flight on Thursday morning from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (KICT), flying for two hours and one minute and reaching an altitude of 15,500 feet and a maximum speed of 240 knots. Designated as the Model 220, the new airplane is slated to gain FAA certification next year, according to the company.
“This flight is another vitally important step for the Beechcraft Denali program as the aircraft will be used primarily for testing aircraft systems like avionics, cabin environmental control, and ice protection,” said Textron Aviation senior v-p of engineering and programs Chris Hearne. “The team has made great progress, accomplishing key goals in the flight-test program, and the Denali team heads into the second half of 2022 with a great deal of momentum.”
So far, the Denali flight-test program that launched in November 2021 has accumulated more than 250 flight hours. Eventually, a third Denali will join the flight-test program along with three airframe ground-test articles.
AINsight: Marketing Aviation Safety
Safety management systems (SMS) promise to improve aviation safety and reduce the risk of accidents, while creating a safety culture that makes safety a top priority. In the U.S., both charter operators and airlines fly the public for hire, but when it comes to adopting an SMS there is a huge gap.
According to the FAA, less than 2 percent of the nearly 2,000 charter operators in the U.S. have an SMS in place and another 8 percent are working on it. This contrasts with 100 percent of all airlines. The main difference is that implementing an SMS is voluntary for charter operators, but the FAA has mandated it for airlines since 2015.
Safety practitioners often struggle to find a return-on-investment in safety. Looking beyond the fences, safety can enable business. Contracts within an industry (i.e. oil and gas) or government organization (U.S. Forest Service or DOD) often require companies to have a strong safety culture (SMS), proactive safety programs (flight data monitoring), and aircraft equipped with advanced safety equipment.
According to the NTSB, “SMS can improve safety and provide an effective means of ensuring a culture of safety.” An effective SMS highlights an organization’s ability to do safety well. These same attributes transcend to other parts of an organization—strong analytics, organizational structure, and attention to detail are all good business practices.
The FAA released proposed rulemaking this week to establish FAR Part 38, fuel-efficiency metric requirements for certain large subsonic jet and turboprop airplanes aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses. The rule would cover most civil subsonic jet airplanes with mtows greater than 12,566 pounds and turboprop airplanes with mtows great than 19,000 pounds.
“Emission standards in the proposed rule uses a metric that equates fuel efficiency and consumption with reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2),” the FAA said. “The proposed rule also accommodates a wide variety of fuel-efficient measures when manufacturing airplanes, including improvements to aerodynamics, engine propulsion efficiency, and reductions in an aircraft’s empty mass before loading.”
These proposed requirements would implement the emissions standards adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency on June 1, 2021. According to the FAA, aircraft such as those that would be covered in Part 38 were responsible for 10 percent of domestic transportation emissions and 3 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions before the pandemic.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) said its OEM members are “very pleased” with the FAA moving forward on these certification standards since this puts the U.S. in sync with ICAO’s CO2 standards and allows U.S. companies to better compete on a global basis.
The aviation community must collectively work together to change the belief that safety management systems (SMS) are overly burdensome for small operators, NTSB member Michael Graham told attendees yesterday at the National Air Transportation Association Aviation Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. Graham noted the agency has long pushed for SMS for Part 135 operations, with the initial recommendation released in 2016 and since has been reiterated seven times.
The most recent came out of the Board meeting last month on the December 2019 AS350B2 air-tour crash in Kekaha, Hawaii. This one, however, specifically targeted small operators, calling on the FAA to “develop guidance for small operators for scaling [an SMS] that includes methods and techniques for implementation and specific examples applicable to several operational sectors, including air tours.”
Graham said he has heard from industry leaders questioning how to get small operators on board with SMS. “There is a demonstrated hesitancy among small operators who mistakenly believe that SMS is overly burdensome and not worth the investment to improve safety. We must change that perception.”
He stressed that SMS is designed to be scalable but operators need to see how it can work for them and added they don’t all have to look alike. At a minimum, he said, operators must have a risk-management tool.
Tamarack Aerospace has wrapped up the flight evaluation phase of its active winglets for the Beechcraft King Air 350, the Sandpoint, Idaho-based company announced today. Called Performance Smartwing, the new winglet system showed increased endurance and payload, improved high/hot takeoff capabilities, extended loiter time, and safer and more stable flight, according to Tamarack.
Further, an early comparative analysis confirmed a 5 percent improved fuel efficiency in cruise, 10 percent better climb gradients, and a 500-pound high/hot weight, altitude, and temperature enhancement that altogether added nearly two hours of flight endurance. “The robust flight-testing program for the Tamarack Performance Smartwing King Air 350 focused on every aspect of safety and performance to ensure all modified aircraft will have been rigorously tested,” said Tamarack CEO and founder Nick Guida.
Performance Smartwing differs from Tamarack’s active winglets found on the more than 160 CitationJets in that it has features meant to address the specific needs of military King Air operators, though it also will be marketed to civil operators. Following approval for the King Air 350 winglets in the next 18 to 24 months, Tamarack also intends for the system to be certified for the King Air 200.
The school girls who attended the Girls in Aviation Day event on St. Maarten this morning received more than they expected when the event was interrupted by the arrival of a pair of U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys on a training mission. Coming after the conclusion of the Caribavia conference this week, the Women in Aviation International (WAI)-sponsored event at Grand Case Airport hosted 30 eleven-year-old students split equally between the Dutch and French sides of the island.
Held at the HeliRiviera hangar, it featured 11 stations including talk like a pilot (introducing the phonetic alphabet), understanding a sectional chart, and learning about air traffic control. A highlight of the event was the display of a St. Barth Executive Aviation Pilatus PC-12. For many attendees, it was their first time aboard an aircraft.
The event had been under discussion since last year’s Caribavia when conference attendees such as WAI director of communications Kelly Murphy met with Ludmila de Weever, St. Maarten's former minister of tourism, economic affairs, transportation, and telecommunications and current member of parliament.
“We hope to let girls know that any job is available to them, and they can see through this event that we have females that are in aviation-related jobs on the island already,” de Weever told AIN. “By having a WAI chapter locally, its aviation scholarship program is available to help fulfill their dreams.”
Cirrus Aircraft yesterday delivered the first of 25 SR-series Trac20 piston singles to United Aviate Academy, a Goodyear, Arizona-based flight training school established by United Airlines. The Trac20 will be used for initial pilot training at the ab-initio flight academy launched by United through its 2020 acquisition of the Westwind School of Aeronautics.
Its Trac20 aircraft are equipped with an integrated avionics suite that is optimized for situational awareness and hazard avoidance, including synthetic vision, ChartView, and active traffic. The fleet also will be equipped with a hot weather package for the Arizona environment.
“The Trac20 is one of the most technologically advanced aircraft on the market and we are excited to bring it to our academy and train our students to prepare them for United Airlines,” said United Aviate Academy CEO Dana Donati.
Over the next decade, United Airlines looks to hire more than 10,000 pilots and train 5,000 aspiring pilots through the academy.
Key U.S. government, wireless, and airline stakeholders have agreed to a partial extension of the 5G C-band mitigation by cellular companies Verizon and AT&T that was to expire July 5. The wireless companies agreed to continued mitigation in select markets while the airlines pledged to speed radar altimeter retrofits in potentially impacted aircraft to negate any potential C-band interference.
This morning, FAA acting administrator Billy Nolen said, “We believe we have identified a path that will continue to enable aviation and 5G C-band wireless to safely coexist. We appreciate the willingness of Verizon and AT&T to continue this important and productive collaboration with the aviation industry.”
Under a framework of continuing cooperation, operators of regional aircraft with radio altimeters most susceptible to interference will retrofit them with radio frequency filters by the end of 2022. The FAA said that this work has already begun and will continue on an expedited basis. Concurrently, the FAA will continue to work with the wireless carriers to identify airports where it is unlikely that nearby deployment of 5G C-band will disrupt flight operations.
The FAA noted that “filters and replacement units for the mainline commercial fleet should be available on a schedule that would permit the work to be largely completed by July 2023. After that time, the wireless companies expect to operate their networks in urban areas with minimal restrictions.”
Moon shot. Bombardier demonstration pilot Michael Goggins (Instagram mgoggins.aero) snapped this image of a Global 6500 demo airplane late last year while waiting under a full-moon-lit sky for passengers at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY). Bonus points for remembering to turn on the downwash exterior lighting before taking the nighttime photo. Thanks for sharing, Michael!
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.
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 2022. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
