Million Air Debuts New FBO at HPN

The bar for FBOs at New York’s Westchester County Airport has been raised after Million Air held the grand opening of its new facility last night at the New York-area business aviation hub. The event—which featured a concert by singer Chris Isaak, as well as a static display with a Cessna Citation M2 and Longitude, Embraer Legacy 450, and Bell 429, along with several luxury automobiles—culminated 20 months of construction on the 29,000-sq-ft, two-story Adirondack-inspired building. Notably, it is the first new FBO terminal to be built at the airport in decades.

It includes a 7,000-sq-ft, four-lane, enclosed and heated porte-cochere, a staffed complimentary Starbucks coffee bar, three conference rooms, six fireplaces, pilot lounge with en suite showers and two snooze rooms, flight-planning area, a room-sized golf simulator, and 22 tenant offices, including a 4,000 sq ft suite occupied by flight training provider Performance Flight. Of those offices, only two remain vacant, according to company president and CEO Roger Woolsey.

The $80 million investment also included a new 52,000-sq-ft hangar, which was completed last May, and 100,000 sq ft of additional ramp space. The facility’s former 10,000-sq-ft terminal will be retained and converted into additional tenant space.

AINsight: You Can’t Pay This for That

I liken the process of how some preowned business aircraft buyers decide what they want to pay for an aircraft to blindfolding the buyer, spinning them around, stopping their circular momentum, handing them a dart, and having them throw it against the wall. They then take the blindfold off and say to their broker, “Offer them that.” Very seldom does the dart hit the bullseye.

More often than not, however, one typically misses the opportunity due to a complete lack of reality mixed into the equation. This is why many of us in the aircraft brokering business take great pains to distill markets for our clients. In fact, much of a broker’s value proposition is identifying the bullseye.

This is not the market of yesteryear—it is now a more balanced and predictable space. We do not always get to enjoy balance. Often, given the dynamic nature of the market, we are watching a pendulum swinging wildly and rapidly from one side to the other. Regardless, a broker can help to find the bullseye.

So, when approaching the market as a buyer or a seller, remember you probably can’t just pay this for that, and you cannot get that much for this. It’s complicated and not a game of darts.

Dassault Chief Modestly Upbeat on Bizav Market

Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier has seen a slight recovery in the business aviation market, he said yesterday during a media briefing highlighting the company’s 2018 results. “It’s not a boom in this market because the world economy is uncertain, but the U.S., Europe, and Russia remain quite dynamic. And Asia, too, except China,” he explained.

The company plans to deliver 45 Falcons this year, compared with 41 in 2018 and 49 in 2017. Falcon net sales last year were €2.6 billion ($2.96 billion), compared with €3 billion ($3.42 billion) in 2017. Net Falcon order intake amounted to 42 aircraft last year versus 38 in 2017.

Trappier also gave some indications of where the company is going with its planned future Falcon program. “We carry on with the studies. We don’t want to go to the small business aviation segment, less than 3,000-nm range; it’s not for us. We have consolidated the 5,000- to 6,500-nm segment with the Falcon 6X, 7X, and 8X. Now, we have to modernize our offer below those segments of range.” In its 2019 outlook, the group said, “We confirm the future Falcon launch.”

Meanwhile, the Falcon 6X is on track for service entry in 2022, with the primary development stage completed and first structural parts being manufactured.

Paragon Partners in Fundraiser for Veterans

Paragon Aviation Group and the Houston, Texas-based company’s network of independent FBOs are joining with Houston Regional Aviation Professionals (HRAP) to raise money for Camp Hope, which provides interim housing for veterans who were wounded or are suffering from combat-related PTSD, as well as their families. Through March 31, Paragon Network FBOs in the U.S. and Bahamas will have custom wristbands available for a donation.

Paragon said many of its FBOs also plan to match the donations. HRAP’s fundraising for Camp Hope will also come from a clay shoot it holds each year for charities. Last year, HRAP raised $20,000 for Lighthouse Charity to provide meals for victims of Hurricane Harvey.

“Paragon Aviation Group and our network FBOs are delighted to be a part of this campaign to give back to those who serve our country,” said Megan Barnes, president of Paragon Aviation Group. “Our FBO members are incredibly giving and we are all honored to help HRAP in their efforts to assist Camp Hope. Supporting the charitable goals of the Houston Regional Aviation Professionals, a truly generous group, has and will continue to be a priority of ours.”

Paragon's U.S. and Bahamas members comprise 28 FBOs.

Embraer Shareholders Approve Joint Venture with Boeing

Embraer received shareholder approval to proceed with its proposed strategic partnership with Boeing during a Tuesday morning general shareholders' meeting at its headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil, passing with 96.8 percent votes cast in favor. The transaction values Embraer’s commercial aircraft operations at $5.26 billion, with Boeing’s 80 percent share to cost $4.2 billion.

A joint statement announcing the deal indicated that Boeing would take full operational and management control of the new company, but that a Brazil-based management team, including a president and CEO, will lead the joint venture and report to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg.

Embraer shareholders also agreed to a joint venture to promote and develop new markets for the multi-mission medium KC-390 airlifter. Under the terms of that proposed partnership, Embraer will own a 51 percent stake in the joint venture and Boeing the balance. Embraer’s defense and executive jet business and services operations associated with those products would remain a standalone, publicly traded company.

The timing of transaction now stands subject to regulatory approvals and agreement of certain “customary” closing conditions, all of which the companies said they hope to meet by the end of this year.

ERAU Prof: Urban Air Vehicles To Transform Travel

Urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles will “transform what airplanes look like” within the next five to 10 years, according to Dr. Richard Anderson, the director of the Eagle Flight Research Center at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “Airplanes are not going to look like they’ve looked for the past 115 years,” he predicted, noting that these new-generation vehicles would replace cars and vans in an urban environment.  

Anderson likened the flood of capital into UAM development to the commercial space race. He sees hybrid-electric propulsion as the most promising power solution for UAMs in the near-term due to their safety and weight advantages over pure battery technology, while artificial intelligence or machine could provide vehicle stability solutions. He said in-city UAM service should be a reality within the decade while city-to-city UAM travel remains a more distant goal. Further, Anderson predicts the vehicles initially would be used for cargo delivery until passengers become more comfortable with the concept of autonomous vehicles and regulations are more flexible and less prescriptive.

Anderson was the advisor for the world’s first piston-gas electric-hybrid aircraft, the Eco Eagle, which was designed by Embry-Riddle students. The university’s Eagle Flight Research Center was established in 1998 and focuses on propulsion, unmanned autonomous vehicles, manned flight control, and certification.

EASA Plans New Rules on CVRs, ETOPS, Performance

Rules to require lightweight cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) on light commercial aircraft (19 passenger seats or less) certified in Europe is one of several proposed amendments planned in the near future by EASA. The CVR mandate, one of several regulatory changes discussed in EASA Opinion 02/2019, would address at least a dozen recommendations submitted to EASA over the last several years and meet recently adopted ICAO standards.

Other proposed rule changes will remove the current mass threshold for non-ETOPS operations, the type design requirement for the 120- to 180-minute non-ETOPS operations with jets, and increase the mass limit requiring a reinforced cockpit door for certain airplane categories. It also includes requiring an alternate power supply of the CVRs and associated cockpit-mounted area microphones, and introduces standards for runway surface condition reporting and landing performance at the time of arrival, as well as incorporating a reduced required landing distance for airline operations.

According to EASA, the amendments are expected to “ensure alignment with ICAO with regard to in-flight recording; maintain the current level of safety for non-ETOPS operations, while allowing Europe to achieve harmonization with other regulatory systems; increase the current level of safety in relation to airplane performance; and ensure alignment with ICAO and better harmonization with the FAA.” No timetable was given when these amendments would actually be proposed.

Garmin D2 Watch Adds Pulse Oximeter

Garmin’s D2 series of aviator watches give pilots a powerful alternative to smartwatches from Apple, Samsung, and other manufacturers. The newest version, the D2 Delta PX, adds a useful new feature that pilots will love, a built-in pulse oximeter (hence “PX”) for measuring blood oxygen saturation levels. The D2 PX is the largest of the series, with a case size of 51 mm, and also the most expensive at $1,249. D2 Deltas are also available in 42- and 47-mm sizes, but don’t include the PX sensor.

During testing, AIN editor in chief Matt Thurber wore the watch during several flights and compared its readings to a low-cost Clinical Guardian pulse oximeter. Generally, the watch was more pessimistic than the finger pulse oximeter. For example, in a Hawker 800 at 2,800 feet cabin altitude, the watch read 86 and the pulse oximeter 95. But in the Hawker at 2,000-foot cabin altitude, both read 92 percent.

Because the D2 series watches are based on Garmin’s Fenix multisport watch, the D2 offers a full range of sporting activity functions, as well as wrist-based heart rate, activity profiles, and fitness tracking. It also features Garmin Pay and can store up to 500 songs. Onboard aviation-centric sensors include GPS, Glonass, and Galileo, in addition to a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and thermometer.

AIN’s Tales from the Flight Deck: Emergency Response

When an aircraft emergency situation strikes, as a pilot, how prepared will you be to deal with it? For both an experienced aviator with thousands of hours of stick time and a novice on the first solo flight, proper training, a level head, and the ability to focus on the task can carry the day.