The final Learjet 75 rolled out of a Bombardier Wichita hangar Monday afternoon headed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for delivery to a customer of Northern Jet Management. Just a few hours earlier, the light jet’s departure followed a 30-minute-long ceremony marking the delivery and the end of 60 years of Learjet production.
“There’s no doubt that today is an emotional day for many of us as it marks the end of the production era of Learjet,” said Tonya Sudduth, v-p of Learjet operations. “However, the emotion that I’ve seen most prominent in all of my conversations with [employees] over the past several days and months is pride. Pride for being part of this amazing legacy. And pride in making a lasting mark on aviation history.”
Bombardier announced plans to shutter Learjet production in February 2021 citing a “challenging market dynamic” and competition from new entrants in the light jet category.
More than 3,000 Learjet aircraft have been delivered since the company, under the helm of founder Bill Lear, delivered the first Learjet 23 from Wichita in 1964. Bombardier expects to hold a larger ceremony led by CEO Eric Martel marking the legacy of the Learjet and the future of the Wichita site in mid-April. In addition to Learjet production, the Wichita site’s operations include a service center, engineering, and special mission aircraft.
NBAA’s Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference (SDC) will make its return as a live event next week. To be held at the San Diego Convention Center starting on Tuesday, it will be the first time the annual event will be held in person since the March 2020 conference ended prematurely as the nation experienced a wave of event cancellations due to the spread of the Covid pandemic.
Initially scheduled to take place from January 18 to 21, SDC2022 was postponed due to the surge in the Omicron variant of the virus. While that iteration was originally planned as the normal four-day conference format, the event next week was shortened to three days and will incorporate some scheduling changes as its organizers look to provide the same amount of education content.
While SDC normally kicks off on Tuesday evening with a reception on the display floor, this year, the show’s education programming will begin on Tuesday morning, running all day until the opening reception. The professional development courses that usually take place on Tuesday will be held instead on Saturday and Sunday preceding the show. The opening welcome session will still take place as usual on Wednesday morning.
According to NBAA, more than 350 exhibitors are set to display on the exhibition floor and the organization is planning on upwards of 80 percent of its normal attendance.
At the Aircraft Electronics Association convention yesterday, Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics introduced five two-inch digital instruments in its Flex lineup. The certified two-inch instruments include a digital counter drum encoding altimeter, airspeed indicator, GPS clock, battery annunciation control unit (ACU), and attitude indicator, and they feature daylight-readable LCD graphics and built-in controls.
The altimeter, certified to 55,000 feet, is priced at $5,500 and lets users select functions including vertical speed indication, six-second vertical trend, target altitude, approach minimums alerts, and baro setting (which can be in inches of mercury, millibars, or hectopascals).
Also selling for $5,500, the airspeed indicator has a hybrid readout with configurable range markings, display of groundspeed and true airspeed, user-selectable Mach number, and configurable dynamic MMO barber pole indicator.
Among the $3,990 digital GPS clock’s features are local/UTC time; flight, run, and countdown timer; stopwatch; time to waypoint; Hobbs time; and date. The clock can be synched to a GPS source to provide an estimated time to the next waypoint.
The battery ACU is designed to monitor and display health information for True Blue Power Gen5 lithium-ion batteries, including battery status, state of charge and health, volts, amps, temperature, remaining life, and fault information. The ACU price is $2,500.
The above instruments are available now, while the attitude indicator begins shipping in the fourth quarter. It can also display heading via the optional Mid-Continent MD32 magnetometer.
Global Medical Response (GMR), the parent of AirMed International, has acquired the assets of charter operator GrandView Aviation including its fleet of Embraer Phenom 300 light jets. As a result of the acquisition, GrandView COO Jessie Naor will become the company’s president. GrandView, which will operate under AirMed, also will expand its human organ transport operations as well as traditional charter.
Since GrandView’s inception, it has carried more than 2,200 organ transplant teams. GrandView’s organ transport business will complement AirMed’s in the western U.S., according to president Denise Treadwell. “AirMed International and GMR…look forward to working with GrandView as we expand our capabilities,” she said.
Headquartered in Maryland, GrandView has grown from 65 employees to more than 130 over the past year and plans to add 100 more this year, including pilots, flight dispatchers, and mechanics. The company operates bases in Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, and Denver.
Gogo promoted Sergio Aguirre to president and COO and is preparing for the succession of executive v-p and general counsel Margee Elias and executive v-p and CFO Barry Rowan following their upcoming retirements.
Aguirre had been president of the company’s Business Aviation division but moves into the role for Gogo Inc. as it has transitioned into a pure-play business aviation entity. He continues to report to Gogo chairman and CEO Oakleigh Thorne.
“Sergio’s promotion reflects the leadership role he plays within Gogo’s new operating structure as a pure-play business aviation company,” Thorne said. “With more than 30 years of aviation industry experience, including 15 years with Gogo, Sergio’s unique expertise and leadership are critical in advancing our strategic initiatives and building shareholder value.”
In addition, Elias announced plans to retire by the end of 2022 after 15 years with Gogo. The company said it has retained an executive search firm as it seeks a successor.
Separately, Rowan also announced his intention to retire in 2023 after Gogo announces its full-year 2022 results. Plans call for Jessica Betjemann—currently Gogo’s senior v-p, chief accounting officer, and treasurer—to assume Rowan's former role.
“Margee and Barry’s leadership and guidance have been integral to every facet of Gogo’s transformation,” Thorne said. “We are fortunate to have a highly qualified successor for Barry in Jessi and I have no doubt we will identify a similarly highly qualified successor for Margee.”
Certain operators of turbine business aircraft in Europe will be able to reduce the amount of contingency fuel required under newly published EASA rules, with the intent to boost operational efficiency and thus reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
While the rules recognize that extra fuel needs to be carried to account for unexpected situations that can delay or prevent landing at the originally planned destination, “The amount of additional fuel required can be optimized, while continuing to ensure high safety levels, due to improved risk-assessment calculations based on better data and better decision making,” EASA said.
Scheduled to go into effect on October 31, the rules will allow operators of commercial and turbine business airplanes with a mtow of more than 12,500 pounds to reduce their contingency fuel load below what is normally required if they meet a specific set of special conditions and requirements. The regulation also clarifies and simplifies the requirements for helicopter fuel/energy planning and management.
Included are acceptable means of compliance (AMC) and guidance material (GM) to support implementation and approval. “The new AMC and GM on fuel schemes consider the robustness of the operators’ management system and are structured around three levels of performance, allowing operators to increase operational efficiency, with both cost efficiency and environmental benefits,” said EASA.
NBAA honored Leo Knaapen, Bombardier’s chief of industry affairs, with the association’s Silk Scarf Award, recognizing his decades of leadership and commitment to safety, sustainability, international operations, and other industry priorities. NBAA presents Silk Scarf Awards to individuals for special contributions to the business aviation community during their careers. Knaapen is retiring from Bombardier this week after a nearly 37-year aerospace career.
“For more than three decades, Leo has been a constant, tireless, and effective champion for business aviation throughout the world,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “As a result, we are a better, stronger, safer, more sustainable, and more cohesive industry.”
Knaapen’s aerospace career began in 1985 with Pratt & Whitney Canada and he moved over to Bombardier in 1989. There, he served as spokesman for the company's Canadair division and then became responsible for media relations for Bombardier Business Aircraft.
In 2007, he stepped into a newly created industry affairs position, representing the company throughout the global aviation community. In this role, he helped establish the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainability and further has supported business aviation initiatives through the International Business Aviation Council and in coordination with the International Civil Aviation Organization.
On the safety front, he has served as an advisory council member of the Bombardier Safety Standdown. He also has served as the chair of the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Business Aviation Association.
International Yachting Co. (IYC) has entered an exclusive partnership with Jet Edge International that will provide benefits to IYC clients who join the Jet Edge Reserve membership charter program, which provides access to its fleet of 95 Bombardier Challenger and Gulfstream super-midsize and large-cabin business jets.
Under the partnership, dedicated teams from both companies will arrange round-trip travel between eligible customers’ homes and their chartered yachts. Jet Edge Reserve members also will receive preferred yacht charter pricing through Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based IYC.
The partnership comes after IYC increased its global charter fleet over the past five years by 167 percent. Last year, the company booked $98 million in charter fees. Van Nuys Airport-based Jet Edge has been on a recent growth spurt after receiving $265 million in credit and equity investments from KKR in the past year, including the addition of 27 Challengers and Gulfstreams last year, with another 20 expected to be added in the first half of this year.
People in Aviation
Rhiannon Silvashy joined Bluetail as v-p of sales. Silvashy has nearly a decade of aviation software experience, previously serving as v-p of sales for Flightdocs.
Todd Young was appointed as a non-executive member of the advisory board of Marsh Brothers Aviation. Young brings more than 35 years of experience in aviation, serving with Bombardier, De Havilland Canada, and most recently his own firm, Young Aerospace Group.
Pro Star Aviation promoted Kristi Auclair to production planning manager. Auclair, who has more than 10 years of experience in program management, joined Pro Star in 2018 as a special missions program assistant, responsible for processes and procedures involved in all stages of a project life cycle.
West Star Aviation promoted Andy Pitstick to program manager at its MRO in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Pitstick has served with West Star for six years, holding positions at its Grand Junction, Colorado facility in addition to Chattanooga.
Vita Inclinata named Shane Arnott as a senior advisor. Arnott is currently chief engineer at Anduril Industries, has spent 23 years with Boeing, and has been an adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology.
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