A newly released collaborative in-flight study using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) showed a reduction in soot particles and formation of contrail ice crystals compared to using conventional jet A-1 fuel. The Emission and Climate Impact of Alternative Fuels (ECLIF3) study included the participation of Airbus, Rolls-Royce, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and SAF producer Neste.

According to the study, the number of ice crystals per mass of unblended SAF consumed was reduced by 56 compared to jet-A fuel, which could significantly reduce the climate-warming effect of contrails.

“SAF is widely recognized as a crucial solution to mitigate the climate impact of the aviation sector, both in the short term as well as the longer term. The results from the ECLIF3 study confirm a significantly lower climate impact when using 100% SAF due to the lack of aromatics in Neste’s SAF used, and provide additional scientific data to support the use of SAF at higher concentrations than the currently approved 50%,” said Alexander Kueper, v-p of renewable aviation business at Neste.

”The results from the ECLIF3 flight experiments show how the use of 100% SAF can help us to significantly reduce the climate-warming effect of contrails, in addition to lowering the carbon footprint of flying—a clear sign of the effectiveness of SAF towards climate-compatible aviation,” said Markus Fischer, DLR's divisional board member for aeronautics.

In a perfect world, every approach would be stable, all unstable approaches would end in a go-around, and pilots would comply with every written rule. In that perfect world, fewer airplanes would run off the runway, land short, or have a tailstrike. Unfortunately, our world is anything but perfect.

Stabilized approach criteria, “no-fault” go-around policies, and adherence to standard operating procedures are solid defenses against approach and landing accidents (ALA). Yet these accidents continue to occur at an alarming rate. In fact, the most common phase of flight for accidents is the approach and landing phase.

What’s most perplexing is that after 20 years of industry focus on reducing ALA accidents, we’re still having this conversation. About half of these accidents begin with an unstable approach. So it makes perfect sense to abandon the approach when everything is not lining up as planned. Right? No harm, no foul, just go-around.

According to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Go-Around Decision-Making and Execution Project report, “Flight discipline during the final approach is key to eliminating—or at least reducing—approach and landing accidents.” The report suggests that, across all segments, only 3% of all unstable approaches result in a go-around.

Improvement of this go-around rate would be significant in improving flight safety, FSF said, adding, “The problem of go-around policy noncompliance is real and arguably the largest threat to flight safety today.”

NetJets filed a complaint for defamation and violations of the Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act in the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County, Ohio, against the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP). The lawsuit seeks relief because of the union’s “repeated and false publications” calling into question NetJets pilots’ experience and capabilities, its pilot training and safety programs, safety culture, a new flight planning system and processes, and the company’s “longstanding commitment to safety.”

The central issue of the complaint is that NJASAP’s public outreach contains “materially false statements of fact.” This outreach includes contact with “existing and potential customers, via website postings, social media, press releases, and even advertisements in the Wall Street Journal,” according to the complaint. NetJets explained that its pilot hiring, training, safety culture, and new flight planning system are industry-leading, unrivaled, and beneficial for safety.

For its part, NJASAP, which recently voted to ratify a new tentative agreement with NetJets that included significant pay increases and other improvements, believes that safety, maintenance, and pilot training issues are escalating. “NJASAP stands by the concerns we have raised about pilot training and the safety and maintenance cultures—concerns that have only increased in intensity in recent months," NJASAP president Pedro Leroux said in response to the complaint.

The regulations for private jet travel from the U.S. to Israel have become more stringent following the issuance of new regulations from Israel’s Aviation Security Operations Center (ASOC), which is responsible for aircraft traveling into the country’s airspace. According to the regulations, there are no longer any U.S. airports approved for direct flights to Israel, and there are now only three authorized options for operators looking to fly to the country.

According to the regulations, the options are to hire one of two ASOC-approved security companies in the U.S. to meet the aircraft at the departure airport and conduct pre-departure screening; land at a pre-approved European airport en route for a security check before continuing to Israel; or, for Part 91 flights only, enroll in the preferred carrier/aircraft program, which entails paying for ASOC to come visit them, conduct interviews, and provide crew training. OpsGroup noted that the latter solution can take months and is basically applicable only to those who have frequent flights to Israel.

This is on top of the still-existing permitting requirements, including the need for a local Israeli sponsor who is personally acquainted with all arriving passengers. Israel is also rolling out an electronic travel authorization system for visitors from visa-exempt countries.

Honeywell is expanding its roster of FMS-guided visual (FGV) approaches and has completed testing of the latest such approach for the Westchester County Airport (KHPN) Sound Visual Runway 34. The FGV approach at KHPN will give lateral and vertical guidance to Runway 34, which can be hand-flown or coupled to the aircraft’s autopilot.

Honeywell’s FGV approaches provide a safer path to runway ends that offer some additional challenge and risk to business jet pilots. “The intent is to improve the likelihood of a stable approach by providing a precise, repeatable, lateral and vertical flight path that can be fully coupled to the autopilot or hand flown,” according to Honeywell.

Eligible Honeywell FMS-equipped aircraft can use these RNAV H approaches, but operators must subscribe to an additional database to access the FGV approaches. Current aircraft types include the Bombardier Global Express; Cessna Citation Sovereign X; Dassault Falcon 6X, 7X, 8X, 2000EX EASy, 900EX EASy, and 900C/EX; Gulfstream GV and G450 through G700; Hawker 4000; and Pilatus PC-12 and PC-24.

Nearly a dozen FGV approaches are already available, but Honeywell is developing additional approaches, including the recently tested KHPN approach, San Francisco (KSFO, Quiet Bridge Visual), Singapore Seletar (WSSL Runway 03/23), Burbank, California (KBUR Runway 15/33), Napa, California (KAPC Runway 24), and Truckee-Tahoe, California (KTRK Runway 29/11).