Embraer Completes Praetor 600 Cert Flight Tests

Embraer wrapped up certification flight tests of its new 3,900-nm super midsize Praetor 600 model on Monday as it remains on track for approval and deliveries beginning in mid-year, company executives said today. Meanwhile, the 3,250-nm midsize Praetor 500 sibling is expected to follow this year. The company is now turning to a flight maturity campaign as it preps the models for market entry. The certification flight test campaign had accrued 339 flight hours and 472 flight cycles, with the maturity campaign so far collecting another 32.2 flight hours and 14 flight cycles.

Releasing 2018 results today, company executives were pleased by market reception of the new variants with backlog sold out in 2019, extending into 2020. However, a shift to the Praetor lines factored into lower deliveries of Embraer’s Executive Jets division in 2018.

The company delivered 91 business jets in 2018, down from 109 a year earlier reflecting a dip in both the light jet and large jet lines. With the lower deliveries, the Executive Jets unit’s net revenues slid from $1.28 billion in 2017 to $1.104 billion last year. In the fourth quarter alone, Executive Jets revenues fell 35 percent on 24.6 percent fewer deliveries.

In addition, the Executive Jets division incurred a $61.3 million impairment charge, related to lower than expected cash flow. These results contributed to an adjusted income loss of $54.2 million for the company.

NBAA’s Bolen Asks Industry To Be Bizav Ambassadors

NBAA chief executive Ed Bolen thinks the organization’s recent battle to stave off ATC privatization efforts and FAA reauthorization are lessons its members can use to address the business aviation industry’s next big test: the pilot and maintenance technician shortage. Some of those lessons, Bolen told attendees at the opening session of the NBAA Regional Forum today in Houston, can be applied at the member level to drive interest among high school and college students to consider careers in business aviation. 

“It’s a serious challenge,” Bolen said of the shortages. “It’s a significant challenge. But what a great challenge for an industry that has spent the better part of the last several years learning how to coordinate and communicate at a local level [and] learning how to articulate who we are and what makes business aviation special.”

Bolen said such an effort will involve all 70 business aviation regional, state, and local groups, as well as airports and companies. “We’re…asking everyone to be an ambassador,” he said. “Talk about who we are. Celebrate who we are. Bring the people in.”

The forum, held at Million Air’s FBO at Hobby Airport (HOU), was expected to attract 1,700 attendees, NBAA said. More than 170 companies are exhibiting inside Million Air’s hangar and 23 aircraft are on static display on the ramp outside. 

Leonardo Trekker Gets FAA Nod

The FAA has granted type certification approval for Leonardo’s AW109 Trekker light twin. The aircraft shares the airframe and Fadec Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207C engines of the AW109 Grand but substitutes fixed landing skids and a Genesys Aerosystems glass cockpit.

The Trekker’s cabin can accommodate up to six passengers or one stretcher with three to four medical attendants or two stretchers and two medical attendants. The helicopter can be configured for a variety of missions from single-pilot VFR to dual-pilot IFR operations and features a crash-resistant fuel system, Category A/Class 1 performance, and a 30-minute run-dry main gearbox. Optional equipment includes cargo hook, external rescue hoist, searchlight, external loudspeakers, forward-looking infrared (FLIR), video downlink, snow skis, emergency floats, and a wide variety of interior layouts.

Leonardo said it holds orders for more than 60 Trekkers from customers in Europe, North and Latin America, and Asia and that the helicopter is suitable for law enforcement, emergency medical, utility, and passenger service operators. FAA certification followed EASA approval in late 2017.

FlightAware Tracking ADS-B Out Compliance

As of last month, 11,455, or 68 percent, of the 17,031 in-service turbine aircraft registered in the U.S. were ADS-B Out-compliant, according to FlightAware's new monthly report on ADS-B Out compliance levels. That's up sharply from October 2016, when just 24 percent of the fleet was compliant. The U.S. ADS-B Out deadline is January 1—less than nine months away. Data for the report comes from FlightAware’s own terrestrial ADS-B receiver network.

Among the lowest compliance rates, as expected, are older business turbines, but even some relatively modern business aircraft are seeing slow rates of ADS-B Out adoption—for example, only 120, or 57 percent of Eclipse 500s are equipped. Likewise, Hawker 800s and 4000s are seeing low ADS-B Out uptake rates—57 percent/304 aircraft and 41 percent/20, respectively.

Compliance rates for later-model aircraft are all trending high, and this leads to questions about what is going to happen to older business turbines after January 1. The cost to upgrade some older aircraft is considered prohibitive when compared to the aircrafts’ value, and there is plenty of speculation that the mandate could result in some aircraft being relegated to the scrapyard. Yet there are ADS-B Out solutions available for almost all aircraft types, and there might be a rush to equip as the deadline approaches and owners realize that their aircraft are far less valuable without ADS-B Out.

BBD Completes Sale of Bizjet Training Business to CAE

Bombardier completed the sale of its flight and technical training business to CAE in a deal valued at $645 million, the Canadian airframer announced today. Net proceeds from the sale are expected to tally $500 million, after the assumption of certain liabilities, fees, and closing adjustments, Bombardier added. The conclusion of the agreement comes four months after the companies announced the proposed transaction in November.

The acquisition expands CAE’s portfolio of business aircraft training capabilities, with the addition of 12 full-flight simulators and several training devices covering Learjet, Challenger, and Global lines. This boosts CAE’s fleet of Bombardier business aircraft full-flight simulators to 29 worldwide, with plans for further growth both in the near and mid-term, the training specialist said. It also provides CAE with an increased pool of skilled training specialists.

The two companies extended their authorized training provider relationship until 2038. 

Jean-Christophe Gallagher, v-p and general manager, customer experience for Bombardier Business Aircraft, said the combination of Bombardier’s training resources with CAE’s network “will elevate the customer experience. As CAE expands its core training business, Bombardier continues to expand its service offerings and dedicated support, each to the benefit of Bombardier Business Aircraft customers around the world.”

Helicopters Lift Leonardo’s Annual Results

Leonardo's annual financial results for 2018 were markedly improved from the previous year, led by the dramatic success of its helicopter division, according to results the company released on Wednesday. Overall, new order intake increased by 32 percent, to $17.34 billion; revenues were up by 5 percent, to $14.05 billion year over year; and net profit increased by 83 percent to $578 million. The company’s overall order backlog increased to $41 billion. 

Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo said the company is well on its intended trajectory to achieve “double-digit profitability” and “sustainable growth.” 

The company’s results were bolstered by the success of its electronics, defense and security systems, and helicopter divisions, it said, citing accomplishments that included a $3.4 billion order for NH90 helicopters from Qatar and higher production and deliveries of AW139s and AW101s. Within the helicopter division, compared with 2017 results, new orders nearly doubled, to $7.03 billion from $3.57 billion; the order backlog increased to $13.77 billion from $11.77 billion; revenues increased to $4.32 billion from $3.89 billion; and profitability improved to 9.4 percent from 8.2 percent. Overall helicopter deliveries increased from 149 in 2017 to 177 in 2018. The company noted its strategy to concentrate on the “intermediate segment of civil/dual-use helicopters” had paid handsome dividends.  

Jet Aviation Jeddah Certified for Ground Handling

Jet Aviation’s FBO in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has received a Part 151 certificate for ground handling from the kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) and expects similar certifications to follow for its FBOs in Riyadh, Yanbu, and Medina, the company announced on Tuesday. The certification comes after a document review and on-site audit of its Jeddah facility.

GACA mandated the ground-handling certification beginning in March 2016. “We have submitted applications to demonstrate compliance for all of our locations in Saudi Arabia and expect the audits of our facilities in Riyadh and Yanbu to take place this year, with Medina following in 2020,” said Jet Aviation Saudi Arabia general manager Khaled Al-Ghamdi. 

In addition to the new certification, Jet Aviation Jeddah holds GACA-145 and U.S. FAA Part 145 repair station approvals for business aircraft line maintenance and AOG services.

In a related announcement, Jet Aviation is marking 40 years this year in Saudi Arabia, which came through the 1979 establishment of the Jeddah facility, a joint venture between Switzerland-based Jet Aviation and Saudi Arabian partners.

FAA Moving To Make ASAP More Flexible

The FAA is updating the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) conducted in concert with the Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) to encourage even greater participation of Part 135 and 91 operators, said Randy McDonald, who is the ASAP program manager for the FAA’s Air Carrier Training System and Voluntary Safety Programs branch. The program provides a mechanism for voluntarily reporting and mitigating safety issues in a “non-threatening” environment.

These changes are designed to make the partnership agreements less restrictive for participants, McDonald told attendees at this week’s Air Charter Safety Foundation meeting. Currently, companies must sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the FAA to participate, but this will change to a less restrictive partnership agreement. He characterized the current MoU as a nine- to 10-page document “filled with dos and don’ts.” This will now be streamlined to a smaller document that focuses on about a handful of aspects of the partnership: roles and responsibilities, how it will function; how decisions will be made, guidance on managing data, and how the partnership could be terminated.

In addition, the FAA is committing to remove administration actions—meaning no letters of warning or correction—as long as a report is accepted into the program. He stressed that employees must be “incentivized” to come forward.

A Deep Dive into Bell’s Nexus eVTOL Air Taxi

Bell unveiled its Nexus eVTOL/air-taxi concept earlier this year at CES, but we had the chance to catch up with Bell’s VP of innovation Scott Drennan at Heli-Expo 2019, where he told us all there is to know about the project at this point.

This is a long-form video for those of you who want to drill deep into the future of eVTOL and air-taxis from Bell’s perspective.