Textron is set to acquire European electric aircraft manufacturer Pipistrel in a foundational move for the new eAviation division it established last year to focus on the development of sustainable aircraft. Through a deal set to close by the end of June, the U.S. aerospace and defense group will pay around €218 million ($242 million) for an initial 90 percent stake in Slovenia-based Pipistrel. Founder and CEO Ivo Boscarol will remain a minority shareholder and emeritus professor for two years, at which point the remaining equity share will revert to Textron.
Announcing the transaction today, Textron indicated it will make further investments to support Pipistrel’s plans to bring various new electric and hybrid-electric aircraft to market, while also giving it access to the group’s technical and regulatory expertise, as well as its global sales and support network.
“What is exciting about Pipistrel is that they have such a strong foundation of technical expertise and experience and their products provide us with a pathway to incrementally develop electric aircraft, and it also gives easier steps for regulators,” Rob Scholl, senior v-p of Textron eAviation, told AIN. “A lot of people are talking about electrification, but Pipistrel is the only one that has done it.” When the acquisition closes, he is set to become CEO of the new Textron division.
Gulfstream Aerospace will be able to manage through the Russia sanctions, but sister company Jet Aviation could be slightly more affected, Phebe Novakovic, chairman and CEO of parent company General Dynamics, said yesterday at the 2022 J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference. She explained that aircraft maintenance, charter, and management firm Jet Aviation has more exposure to Russian clients than does Gulfstream.
Since Russia accounts for just 5 percent of Gulfstream’s backlog and with worldwide demand for business jets at record levels, she termed the situation “well manageable within the current demand environment.” However, Novakovic said Jet Aviation’s MRO business “is likely to be impacted as a result of the sanctions, primarily in Geneva, somewhat in Basel, and in Austria. We also expect some impact on the managed airplane business.”
Meanwhile, she maintained that the higher cost of oil—exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war, which led to Western countries imposing sanctions on Russia—is not having any noticeable effect on business aircraft demand, sales, or utilization. “We haven't seen any impact,” Novakovic said when asked about this.
A team of pilots, engineers, and technicians from Dassault Aviation and Pratt & Whitney Canada have completed cold-weather testing of the Falcon 6X in Iqaluit, a tundra town in the far north of Canada. Temperatures there reached as low as -37 degrees C (-35 degrees F) during testing of the aircraft’s PW812D engines, systems, and low-temperature maintainability, said Dassault Aviation executive v-p of civil aircraft Carlos Brana. “The aircraft operated flawlessly at the extreme temperatures an aircraft can be subjected to in the severest climate conditions,” he added.
The team conducted this most recent testing at the end of February, following an initial series of cold-weather tests in Iqaluit in December, when temperatures dipped as low as -25 degree C. February ground testing of the 6X included cold soaking of the aircraft for three nights, as well as subjecting it to various start sequences in the morning.
Engine ground runs and high-speed taxi tests were also part of the ground testing. A test flight followed checks of anti-icing and handling qualities and fuel stability and hydraulic fluid temperatures while the 6X operated in a 10,000-foot-high holding pattern.
All told, the 6X flight-test fleet has completed 50 hours of cold tests, as well as more than 220 flights and 650 flight hours. Certification of the large-cabin twinjet is expected later this year.
In the latest transaction in a heated FBO consolidation market, Hawthorne Global Aviation Services, which operates six FBOs in the eastern and central U.S., has changed hands. Moelis Capital Partners had owned the company—which traces its aviation industry roots back 90 years—since 2011 and it has now been purchased by a new joint venture between global investment manager Wafra and Nova Infrastructure in a move that will infuse new funding into the brand and could see it add more locations.
“Hawthorne has a history of strong operational performance and this investment represents an opportunity for organic and strategic growth in the fragmented market of FBOs,” explained Adel Alderbas, Wafra’s chief investment officer. “Together with Nova, we look forward to seeing Hawthorne expand its reach, realizing its potential as a leading platform of FBO assets.”
Hawthorne operates facilities at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, New York; Chicago Executive Airport; Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Regional Airport; Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Atlanta Cobb County International Airport; and Sioux (Iowa) Gateway Airport. At the latter three destinations, it is the lone aviation service provider.
“We believe Hawthorne’s existing locations form a leading, multi-region FBO network, and with Nova and Wafra’s support we look forward to expanding our footprint to serve a greater portion of the aviation industry,” said Hawthorne CEO Chuck Kegley.
Embraer today launched its first U.S.-centric educational partnership program to promote aviation career paths, offering scholarships, grants, and employee volunteer hours to students at select high schools, technical colleges, and universities in the U.S. This initiative will be led by the nonprofit Embraer Foundation and will implement an industry-focused scholarship and internship program to inspire and recruit students to pursue aviation careers. The first scholarships and grants will be for the fall 2022 term.
The program will initially focus on six schools with aviation training programs and will award approximately 20 scholarships and grants, each worth between $1,000 and $2,500, as well as internship opportunities. While not yet able to reveal the names of those schools, Embraer Foundation chief Monica Newman McCluney told AIN that the trial period will include three high schools, two technical schools, and one university—some in Florida, where Embraer has several facilities, but also in other states.
According to McCluney, the pilot program allows Embraer to hire entry-level talent and retain a more diverse workforce. Embraer plans to steadily increase the onboarding of talented students from partnership schools over the coming years.
Additionally, Embraer representatives will visit each school to provide academic support and serve in an advisory capacity related to the school’s aviation curriculum. Other benefits include hands-on training programs and on-site visits to Embraer’s Melbourne campus.
Leonardo has sold a pair of new AW139 intermediate twin helicopters to the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The helicopters will be delivered in 2024 and be used to conduct radiation sweeps at high-profile events, such as the Super Bowl, and will also conduct disaster relief missions.
The NNSA has two bases, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and Henderson Airport near Las Vegas. Its helicopters, which are equipped with a variety of sensors, aid the Federal Emergency Management Agency by performing search-and-rescue and disaster topography missions.
The seven-tonne AW139 has been ordered by more than 290 operators in 70 countries. More than 1,250 have been sold and the in-service fleet has accumulated more than three million flight hours since first delivery in 2004. The model is used for search and rescue, air ambulance services, law enforcement, firefighting, disaster relief, offshore energy support, and defense. More than 30 percent of the fleet has been assembled at Leonardo’s Philadelphia plant, which also manufactures the Boeing MH-139 variant for the U.S. Air Force.
Airport Management Solutions (AMS) will assume management of the sole FBO at Ohio’s Middletown Regional Airport at the end of the month. The facility had been managed on an interim basis by aircraft maintenance provider Safe Skies Aviation, and the city of Middletown selected AMS after undergoing an RFP process.
According to Erick Larson, AMS director of business development, the initial term is one year with multiple five-year renewals possible, and the FBO will be designated Middletown Aviation. “We like to keep the identity of the FBOs local to the community,” Larson told AIN. AMS currently operates FBOs in Tupelo and Greenville, Mississippi.
The facility consists of a 500-sq-ft terminal, which AMS plans to enlarge and renovate. Larson said his company will also provide the city with guidance for a long-term solution to the FBO, which could include the construction of a new facility. “In the meantime, we are going to bring a level of professionalism, safety, and training that hasn’t existed there,” Larson said. That includes bringing Middletown staff members to the existing AMS FBOs for training.
Middletown’s Avfuel-branded fuel farm consists of 20,000-gallon jet-A and avgas tanks, along with a self-serve avgas pump. The location has a 10,000-sq-ft hangar with a 29.5-foot door height. Tenants at the Cincinnati-area airport include an active flight school and a skydiving school, which boosts its operations numbers.
Helicopter Association International (HAI) has formed a partnership to offer its membership participation in the National Air Transportation Association’s (NATA) Air Transport Safety Manager certification program. Participants receive training from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Safety Institute (TSI) on the fundamentals of designing, developing, implementing, and sustaining effective and verifiable safety management systems.
“Our goal is to provide quality, cutting-edge training required to enhance safety for aviation operators and the traveling public. This alliance provides an extraordinary opportunity to do just that,” said TSI aviation safety division manager D. Smith.
NATA and HAI share a common global safety goal, added Keith DeBerry, NATA’s senior v-p of safety and education. “This collaboration is a new opportunity to foster a culture of safety that spans across the general aviation industry and the exchange of best practices and data—ensuring the safest possible airspace system for aviators, support professionals, and civilians across the globe.”
Keeping the litter basket from spinning during helicopter hoist rescues can be a challenge and it usually requires a hoist operator and another person to manage a rope attached to the litter. Vita Inclinata demonstrated a unique solution last week at Heli-Expo—a device mounted to the litter that uses four fans on each corner to stop the spinning.
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