Global 7500 Sets Bizjet Range Record

Bombardier’s new Global 7500 this week achieved what the manufacturer is billing as the world’s longest flight by a purpose-built business jet. The aircraft logged 8,152 nm after taking off from Singapore at 7:12 a.m. local time on March 4 and landing in Tucson, Arizona, at 8:19 a.m.—setting a speed record for this sector in the process.

The aircraft landed with 4,300 pounds of fuel, falling well within NBAA requirements with nearly 90 additional minutes of flight time possible.

The Global 7500 entered service on December 20, 2018. Designed for long intercontinental flights, it boasts the industry’s largest business jet cabin and a maximum speed of Mach 0.925. This week’s flight exceeded the aircraft’s advertised range of 7,700 nm.

“The Global 7500 was built to break all the records,” commented Bombardier Business Aircraft president David Coleal. “It achieved the industry’s longest mission ever in business aviation after only two months in service. We’ve demonstrated its unequaled long-range and high-speed capabilities, but also its ability to break records confidently with healthy fuel reserves remaining, once again, confirming its unsurpassed performance to customers.”

After the aircraft completed type certification with Transport Canada in September 2018 and with FAA in November 2018, the European Aviation Safety Agency signed off on the new model in early February.

CityAirbus Demonstrator Approaches First Flight

Airbus Helicopters recently completed ground testing for its CityAirbus urban air mobility (UAM) technology demonstrator and is progressing toward first flight this spring. Developed at Airbus Helicopters’ factory in Donauwörth, Germany, the four-seat, electrically powered, eight-rotor aircraft that can take off and land vertically. It is designed to transport passengers in fully automated flight in large cities to major destinations via fixed routes, such as from the city center to the airport.

Ground run tests started last month. Following a first takeoff and short stationary flight in Donauwörth, the next step will be the first flight of the demonstrator, said Marius Bebesel, responsible for the CityAirbus project. Bebesel estimated that flight might be completed between next month and May in Manching, another Airbus facility in Germany.

The flight-test campaign will comprise automatic takeoff, acceleration, and flying at cruise speed. Engineers will start at a 50 km/h speed and steadily increase to 80 km/h. “The final commercial vehicle will have a cruise speed of 120 km/h, with a 30 km range,” said Bebesel.

Takeoff weight of the demonstrator is around 2.2 metric tons, while the final vehicle will weight around 1.8 to 1.9 metric tons. Price target is less than €1 million ($1.129 million U.S.) per vehicle.

Canada To Decommission Hundreds of VORs, NDBs

Nav Canada, the country’s provider of civil air navigation services, has finished a study of navigation aids and concluded that “given the comprehensive radar surveillance coverage, and the propensity of area navigation (Rnav) with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) equipped aircraft, many VOR and NDB navigation aids (navaids) are no longer required and should be decommissioned.” 

The decommissioning process will be accomplished in 15 phases over the next seven years. Where a current navaid identified in the study serves as an instrument approach aid or anchors an airway segment, Nav Canada said it will “ensure that a Rnav/GNSS instrument approach procedures or Rnav airway segments are published, where required, before removal of the identified navaid.”

Aeronautical information circulars (AICs) will be published for each upcoming phase, Nav Canada said. The first phase, consisting of decommissioning some 20 navaids deemed nonessential, will start on April 25. Corresponding aeronautical charts will also be amended.

Nav Canada’s action follows the FAA’s decommissioning of legacy navaids that started in 2012. Under the U.S. agency’s planned schedule, a minimum operational network of VORs and an “optimized network” of DMEs would be retained, and this drawdown would be complete by January 1 next year.

Avflight Tapped for New FBO in Michigan

FBO chain operator Avflight has been selected to establish the second FBO at Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford International Airport. The company has agreed to a capital investment between $6 million and $7 million on a five-acre site on the east side of the Grand Rapids airport, which is currently served by Signature Flight Support. Avflight expects to break ground on the new facility later this year.

“We look forward to serving as a premier gateway to the Grand Rapids community for general and business aviation, welcoming traffic to the metro area, and helping the economy thrive,” said Garrett Hain, the company’s v-p of finance. “The planned facility will include all the comfortable amenities to which the modern traveler is accustomed in a high-end FBO, including a pilot lounge, spacious modern lobby, conference room, kitchenette, maintenance area, catering kitchen, and office space.”

Avflight, which is affiliated with aviation fuel distributor Avfuel, operates facilities at 21 other airports across North America and Europe, including six in its home state of Michigan.

Luxaviation Launches Global Helo Charter Alliance

Luxemburg-based Luxaviation Helicopters today launched a network of charter operators offering global access to more than 70 VIP-outfitted rotorcraft. Members of the Luxaviation Helicopters Charter Alliance include U.S.-based HeliFlite; Azur Hélicoptère of France; UK-based Starspeed; and ExecuJet, with rotor fleets based in Mexico and South Africa. Starspeed, a Luxaviation Helicopters subsidiary, operates a fleet of some 25 helicopters primarily dedicated to serving superyachts around the globe.

According to Luxaviation CEO Charlotte Pedersen, more than 5,000 helicopter companies are in business worldwide, “but when you want to charter one in a local area, on Google you can find 50 companies, but you don’t know if they’re an operator or a broker or their safety record. So I sensed there was a need to establish a global network of [vetted] operators.”

Luxaviation is currently working with Wyvern to create an auditing and approval process for prospective members. The alliance prefers that members have at least one twin-engine helicopter, but operators who otherwise meet the alliance standards could be members in regions where no twins are available, said Pedersen. There are also plans for the alliance to partner with airlines to offer premium customers first- and last-mile service, she said.

The alliance has been in development for the past 18 months and tested last summer in a trial with HeliFlite in the New York market.

FAA Proposal Would Ease Foreign TC Approvals

An FAA notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) would revise a regulation that currently imposes a duplicative paperwork requirement on foreign applicants for type certificates of import products.

Since 2009, the FAA has required an applicant for a type certificate, including an amended or supplemental type certificate, to show and certify compliance with all applicable requirements by submitting to the FAA two different compliance documents: A “compliance listing” to document the means of compliance with applicable standards and a corresponding “statement of compliance” from the applicant certifying that all the requirements in the certification basis have been complied with.

In both cases, these documents certify that the import product meets applicable FAA requirements for “aircraft noise, fuel venting, exhaust emissions, and airworthiness.” Therefore, the agency has determined, “These compliance documents are duplicative and redundant to the certifying statement that the FAA already requires from the foreign civil aviation authority of the country or jurisdiction having responsibility for the design approval holder of the product.”

Under the NPRM, the agency would no longer require both the compliance listing or the accompanying statement of compliance from the foreign applicant. Comments are due by April 23.

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Ainstein Radar To Fly On NASA’s BVLOS UAS Demonstration

Ainstein will provide the collision-avoidance sensor for NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) Technical Capability Level (TCL) 4 operation led by the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS). The NASA UTM TCL 4 program has partnered with leading unmanned aerial systems (UAS) providers to enable flying in higher-density urban areas for tasks such as newsgathering, package delivery, and large-scale contingency mitigation.

Over several months in downtown Reno, Nevada, NASA will demonstrate UAS flight in a metropolitan area under beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) conditions. Ainstein’s credit-card-size uSharp patch collision avoidance radar is compact enough to be mounted onto small UAVs. The technology features ultra-low power consumption, provides sensing and algorithms, and can detect objects in all weather and light conditions, including dust, heavy rain and fog, and night flying, the company said.

“The potential for autonomous drone applications will never be realized without using the best collision avoidance sensors,” said Chris Walach, executive director of NIAS and the FAA-designated Nevada UAS test site. “Ainstein brings a deep scientific mathematical and engineering expertise, as well as some of the top innovations in radar technology for collision avoidance.”

Bristow Promotes Miller To CEO

Helicopter services company Bristow Group promoted L. Don Miller to president and CEO and appointed him as a member of the board of directors late last week. Miller, who previously served as the company's senior v-p and CFO, replaces Thomas Amonett, executive vice chairman of Bristow Group's board of directors, who served as interim president following the announced retirement of previous president and CEO Jonathan Baliff late last year. Baliff officially left the company Thursday, but will remain a paid consultant for the next four months. 

Miller joined Bristow Group in 2010 and has held several leadership positions within the company's finance and strategy functions, including vice president of mergers, acquisitions, and integration. “As we continue to navigate through challenging times, Don's steady hand will provide important and needed continuity,” said Tom Knudson, director and chairman of Bristow Group's board of directors. 

Miller is being replaced as CFO and senior v-p by Brian Allman, who was previously vice president and chief accounting officer for Bristow, and will continue as Bristow's chief accounting officer. Allman joined Bristow in 2006 as director of financial reporting. "While leading our global accounting and tax team, Brian played an important role in our recent financings and is fully integrated with our investor relations, internal audit, and financial forecasting and modeling functions,” said Miller.

AIN Webinar: Safe and Efficient Single-pilot Operations

Technology and a shortage of pilots to fill the flight decks of tomorrow’s business jets and airliners are creating pressure to facilitate more single-pilot operations. Avionics manufacturers are developing technology for safe single-pilot operations, but pilots have been flying alone safely in light aircraft through Part 23 jets for many years. Learn about factors that are causing the flying landscape to shift toward more single-pilot operations, what kind of automation avionics manufacturers are developing for single-pilot operations and what we can learn from experienced pilots flying in single-pilot operations.

Join AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber on April 24 at 1:30 p.m. EDT as he moderates the discussion with Tal Golan, manager, rotorcraft business development for Universal Avionics, and Charlie Precourt, former NASA astronaut, safety expert, and Citation owner. Sponsored by Universal Avionics

Register for the free webinar.