Swiss airframer Pilatus Aircraft had one of its best years in terms of financial results in 2022 even though deliveries slipped to 133 units. Despite headwinds from the Ukraine war and lingering supply chain disruptions, the manufacturer posted 2022 revenues of CHF 1.3 billion and orders worth CHF 1.6 billion, which swelled its backlog to CHF 2.4 billion. Earnings rose by 7.6 percent to CHF 226 million. Those financials were an improvement over its 2021 totals when the company set a new production record as it delivered 152 aircraft.
Last year, the OEM handed over 40 PC-24 light jets, 80 PC-12 NGX turboprop singles, 10 PC-21 military trainers, and three PC-6 utility airplanes. By region, 42 percent of Pilatus's output last year went to clients in the U.S., followed by 35 percent to Europe and 12 percent to Asian customers.
“Rarely has the company had to operate in such a geopolitically unpredictable period. Never before have we encountered such serious supply-chain difficulties,” said CEO Markus Bucher. “Pilatus has achieved a lot whilst also benefitting from exceptionally high demand for our unique aircraft.” Company chairman Hansueli Loosli added: “Our PC-12 NGXs and PC-24s were, and are, absolute bestsellers—our order books are full.”
Among the milestones it expects to reach this year are deliveries of the 2,000th PC-12 and 200th PC-24.
The preowned business aircraft market is changing, no doubt about it. The frenzy of the last 2.5 years is dying down. Buyers are worried that if they buy now, they will miss even better pricing as the headwinds of our economy and the sobering effects of more supply and longer days on the market create uncertainty.
This dilemma is no easier for the sellers, who must grapple with negotiating again with buyers for the final acceptance price and terms of the plane they have for sale. The days of an aircraft hitting the market in the morning and having 10 full-price offers at lunch with bidding wars are over.
Don’t get me wrong, and this is a powerful point: the market has not and will not fall off a cliff. The pendulum is swinging from its pegged position of being a solid sellers’ market to landing in the middle and being a balanced market.
It is a market that will still yield higher-than-pre-pandemic prices but no longer increase by the month to unheard-of prices. Sellers will still sell for better prices than in 2020 but will not get the peak 2022 pricing. Buyers will not be forced to overpay or lose out altogether if they do not get the offer in and accept terms that do not allow for a prebuy inspection.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) yesterday issued three safety recommendations related to an uncommanded and unarrested flap extension above the maximum flaps extension speed while Bombardier Challenger 604 D-AAAY was on climbout from Farnborough Airport on August 10. Two of the recommendations in the AAIB’s follow-on Special Bulletin are for life limits on the aircraft’s four flap extend and retract relays, while the third calls for the UK Civil Aviation Authority to “reassess the safety case for the flap operating system.”
According to the AAIB, a failure in the System 1 retract relay prevented the system from arresting the uncommanded flaps extension. This failure also caused the flaps on D-AAAY to retract at half speed during the previous 64 flights recorded on the flight data recorder—without the pilots being aware. Bombardier has since issued five service bulletins addressing this issue and Transport Canada published a related airworthiness directive on February 10.
The cause of the failure was damage to the D contacts in the flap extend relay, which resulted from an unsuppressed back-EMF generated when the flap brake detector unit was de-energized, the AAIB said. The four flap extend and retract relays form part of the system to arrest an uncommanded flap movement, it added.
The AAIB continues its investigation into the incident and will issue a final report “in due course.”
Daher joined the United Aerial Firefighters Association (UAFA), helping to strengthen the voice of the newly formed specialized advocacy group as its first airframer member. The move comes as Daher builds on its Kodiak family of single-turboprop utility aircraft used in wildfire-suppression missions. This includes its Kodiak 100 Series II and the larger 900 introduced last year.
“UAFA’s goals are fully aligned with those of Daher: enhancing the safety, operability, and effectiveness of aircraft, especially in such challenging and unforgiving missions as combatting wildfires,” said Paul Carelli, director of Kodiak flight operations and special missions. “We intend to be an active UAFA member, bringing our expertise as a multi-role aircraft manufacturer, while also benefitting from the feedback of those who are on the front lines of aerial firefighting.”
Kodiak aircraft have been used in missions including spotting for firefighting crews and directing aerial tanker drops. Daher noted that the Kodiak, which is known for its ruggedness and ability to operate in difficult conditions and backcountry strips, is suited for the “air attack” function, guiding air tankers on the drop runs.
The general and business aviation industry must be more outspoken and confident about its environmental achievements and goals if it is to successfully combat the growing hostility from the influential and media-savvy environmental lobby. That was the main message conveyed yesterday at the British Business and General Aviation Association's (BBGA) annual conference in London.
The conference, held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London St Paul's, was briefly interrupted by a handful of climate activists from the group Fossil-free London. That activist group claimed in an Instagram post that the event was targeted to assert its belief that “aviation is totally unsustainable [and] no technology currently exists to turn it green.”
Rana Walker, co-founder and principal consultant for business development and crisis management firm GR&AT, told delegates that social media platforms are essential tools for the industry to combat misinformation from opponents of business aviation and to communicate its “positive story.”
Clickbait and misinformation sharing can be pervasive, Walker lamented. “We know that business aviation is responsible for only 0.04 percent of global carbon output, but you are often targeted [as heavy polluters].”
She added, “You want to be net-zero by 2050? Make sure the policymakers and the public know the progress you are making towards that decarbonized future using social media, online, and offline marketing…It’s something that we can’t ignore, so we have to engage.”
Republican leaders are stepping up their opposition to Phil Washington to be the next FAA Administrator, urging President Joe Biden to withdraw the nomination on the grounds that it fails to meet “both the letter and spirit of the law” regarding qualifications.
In a joint letter to the President yesterday, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair Sam Graves (R-Missouri) wrote that the statute requires the administrator to be a civilian and that Congress has interpreted that stipulation “with exceptional rigidity.” Washington is a retired member of the Army and therefore is not considered a civilian under the law, they maintained, requiring a waiver.
They added that in granting waivers, Congress must consider whether the qualifications outweigh the civilian requirement and added, “Unfortunately in the case of Mr. Washington’s, record, it is very clear that it does not.”
At the same time, Democrats have continued their strong endorsement for Washington, with Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) highlighting a number of statements of support from the hearing this week on the Washington nomination. “You represent a great career that we much appreciate,” she told Washington.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), who introduced Washington during the hearing, further said, “I will just say that the past 20 years have left me only with the highest regard for Phil's integrity and leadership.”
ST Engineering signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week with Pensacola State College to explore the joint creation of an FAA Part 147 Aircraft Maintenance Technician Training Academy in Pensacola, Florida. The collaboration is part of ST Engineering’s continued growth and expansion plans for its Pensacola-based MRO facility.
The MoU signing ceremony was held during the official opening of the airframe MRO complex’s 177,000-sq-ft hangar. It is the second facility to be completed out of the company’s planned four-hangar complex at Pensacola International Airport (KPNS).
Under the agreement, ST Engineering and Pensacola State College will use their expertise and experience to establish the apprenticeship program and provide direct-to-industry job opportunities for the academy’s apprentices. At the same time, Pensacola State College will seek FAA approval for the academy partnership certification and work with ST Engineering to strengthen public awareness of career opportunities in the aviation sector.
Targeting to welcome its first class in 2024, the academy will help support the talent needs of ST Engineering’s airframe MRO complex in Pensacola and help meet the hiring needs of the region’s growing aviation industry.
According to rotorcraft lessor LCI CEO Jaspal Jandu, the tight helicopter market requires OEMs, suppliers, owners, and operators to plan well in advance, significantly changing how the industry does business. “Operators are speaking to us one, two, even two-and-a-half years in advance” of when they need a helicopter, he told AIN.
In addition, competition for helicopters coming off lease can be intense. “We're seeing multiple operators and end-users bidding for the same aircraft. There is competition out there for relatively scarce resources,” Jandu said.
He believes a fundamental demand pattern shift could subject the market to continuing supply scarcity for some time. During the oil price collapse and the pandemic “new orders and deliveries decreased and operators and end users started using the existing equipment a little bit harder and a little bit longer,” Jandu noted. As a result, he said the replacement cycle got pushed out three or four years.
“The replacement cycle is upon us and the mathematics are against us,” Jandu said, noting that historic market demand forecasts peg 60 percent on growth and 40 percent on replacement. Those numbers are now inverted, he said. “You can delay the purchase cycle, but at some point the hull gets too old [or] you start reaching service limits…So I feel like there's an entire bow wave that has yet to happen on the replacement side.”
Snooping in the fog. Jet Aviation Flight Services captain Martin Fessele snapped this photo of his Gulfstream G650 a few months ago on the ramp during a foggy morning at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport (KSTS) in Santa Rosa, California. He also has a message for others who have shared their images in AINalerts: “I enjoy seeing the variety of photos every week. There are some very artistically inclined readers in our midst!” We can now count you among that esteemed group, Martin. Thanks for sharing, too!
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.
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