With its Passport turbofan entering service late last year and two other engines—the Catalyst turboprop and Affinity turbofan—in development, it might seem like GE Aviation’s plan to expand into the business aviation market beginning a decade ago is now well under way. But GE Aviation v-p and general manager of business, general aviation, and integrated systems Brad Mottier said, “We are on a journey, and we are really at the start of that journey.”
Concurrent with the entry into service of Passport, GE is well into the development of the Catalyst, which will power Textron Aviation’s Cessna Denali turboprop single. The company has done more than 1,000 hours of testing on three engines and 300 hours in an iron bird on the engine's Fadec. By the fourth quarter, GE expects to be evaluating the 1,600-shp Catalyst on a King Air flying testbed.
Still early in development at GE is its most recently announced new engine, the Affinity, which will power Aerion’s AS2 supersonic business jet. Affinity’s configuration, engine architecture, size, and preliminary design is complete and calls for two fan blisks, a low-pressure system wrapped around GE’s most popular narrowbody engine core, and a proprietary exhaust system.
Mottier insists this is just the beginning: “We’re on the path, and I think you will see even more engines in the future.”
The FAA has grounded all Cessna Citation Model 525, 525A, and 525B (CJ1, CJ2, and CJ3) light jets equipped with Tamarack Aerospace active load alleviation (Atlas) winglets. The action follows last month’s issuance of an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and while a reciprocal directive from U.S. regulators was expected, a Tamarack representative expressed “disappointment” to AIN at the timing and wording of the FAA action.
Similar to the EASA AD, the FAA’s May 24 directive requires Atlas to be disabled; however, the agency was not satisfied with the proposed mitigation in the EASA AD—use of “speed tape” to secure the Tamarack Active Camber Surfaces (TACS) in neutral position—and will not allow operation of the 76 Atlas-equipped CJs in the U.S. outside of approved ferry flights until a better alternative is identified.
“Use of speed tape was never a Tamarack solution, and in the course of harmonizing to the EASA directive the FAA noted its use wasn’t acceptable,” said Paul Hathaway, Tamarack’s vice president of marketing. “However, we have over the past year issued two service bulletins at company expense to address potential TACS asymmetry, and those modifications have been submitted to both aviation authorities as an alternate means of compliance (AMOC) to resolve the directives.”
Lufthansa Technik Develops Robot for Avionics Testing
MRO and completions specialist Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is to increase automation to ease the burden on its workers, including the recent development of a robot to help with avionics components checks. Its Robot Controlled Cockpit Electronics Testing (Roccet) was the culmination of two years of in-house development, the company said. In the implementation phase, Roccet will be able to check all LED light and switch functionality similar to a human, as well as perform defined functional tests.
According to LHT, the system takes the “subjective feel” of the mechanic out of the testing equation, helping to improve quality of the results. It takes an objective view of when bright has become too bright or a switch is worn, it added.
The robot is embedded with sensors that can measure forces that occur when switches are activated, and industrial cameras provide a picture of display instruments and search for outer damage. Another camera can measure the brightness of displays from different angles.
Roccet is part of several possibilities LHT is looking at in different disciplines, from automated robots to collaborative robots that work alongside humans. “One of the driving factors in this endeavor is not to replace our human workers with robots, but to relieve them from many ‘dull’ and repetitive tasks and allow them to focus on the core elements of their jobs,” it said.
Basel, Switzerland-based completions and MRO facility AMAC Aerospace has finalized plans for a fifth hangar, having experienced considerable growth as well as interest from Canadian OEM Bombardier in having a hangar that is dedicated to its Challenger and Global families. AMAC Aerospace CEO Bernd Schramm said the investment will be about €18 million.
"The AMAC upper management and Basel Airport started construction last month and it will take one year. The new hangar will allow us to cater to the 800 or so Bombardier business jets flying around the region,” said AMAC director of business development and marketing Waleed Muhiddin. It also means AMAC will add around 100 new high-skilled jobs at Basel over the next 12 to 18 months, he added.
The new hangar will be 450,000 sq m and there will be 22,000 sq m of additional apron at the front, taking the current 41,000 sq m up to 63,000 sq m total apron space for parking in front of the AMAC hangar line. There will also be a new taxiway link from the main runway “within 300 to 400 meters of our facility,” said Muhiddin.
Muhiddin noted AMAC has around 750 employees at Basel and as a group has around 1,000 employees over a total of six locations with seven hangars.
What do rhinoceroses and jet fuel have in common? Plenty, if you are Switzerland-based aviation fuel provider Valcora.
The company has proven its environmental leanings with its direct contributions to several wildlife conservation projects. Over the past year, Valcora has supported two South African rhinoceros orphanages committed to the intensive care required for the vulnerable, endangered creatures through their first two years of life. The company has also given its support to chimpanzee and orangutan refuges in Africa and Indonesia.
Over the past several years, the industry’s environmental push has been on the adoption and usage of sustainable alternative jet fuel, but supplies remain frustratingly constrained. “Obviously, we are a big supporter of that, if we could just find the product to sell,” lamented CEO Daniel Coetzer. “If we could have it at each and every airport, we will sell it at each and every airport, but there are only a few drops available at one or two airports in the world.”
The company, which provides fuel to operators worldwide and is the preferred supplier for the Luxaviation Group, will soon branch into funding reforestation projects. It also will open up its environmental projects to customers, if they wish to donate.
World Fuel Services (WFS) has expanded its European presence with the announcement that it has been selected as the fuel supplier for two French airports. After signing a contract with Aéroport La Rochelle-Ile de Ré to become its exclusive fuel provider six months ago, WFS has designed, installed, and commissioned new jet-A1 and Avgas fuel farms, which are fully compliant with the EU sustainability criteria that will take effect in 2020. The jet-A tanks come equipped with an innovative bridger delivery process.
At Aéroport Strasbourg, the Miami, Florida-based fuel company recently won the tender that was released at the end of 2018, to develop a dedicated business aviation fueling infrastructure that will operate alongside its existing commercial airline service. The new fuel farm will consist of two 50-cu-m jet-A1 tanks with self-serve capability and a 20-cu-m jet-A1 truck.
WFS will provide repair and maintenance support for the equipment, as well as into-plane fueling training for the FlyingGroup staff that won the tender to operate a new FBO, which will be known as Strasbourg Executive SAS. Construction will begin shortly, with targeted completion by May 2020.
The company also noted that its sponsored Air Elite FBO network has gained two new members in the Las Vegas, Nevada area: Henderson Executive Airport and North Las Vegas. These two additions bring the Air Elite Network to 73 locations worldwide.
Gogo Provides Foreflight Users with Airborne GPS Data
Chicago-based Gogo Business Aviation and ForeFlight, which is now a Boeing company, have teamed up to bring GPS-derived information to the ForeFlight Mobile Apple iOS app.
All that is required in the flight deck is a Gogo Avance or its ATG 4000/5000 system to access the Gogo air-to-ground network (in North America)—which offers the added advantage of providing the information “throughout the cockpit and cabin” via Wi-Fi. Anyone in the aircraft that has ForeFlight installed on an iOS device can access information such as location (lat/long) and altitude, as well as use the app’s various flight planning and visualization functions.
The new combination also negates the need for a separate GPS system with the hardware and antennas that go with it.
Lisa Peterson, senior v-p marketing and digital for Gogo Business Aviation, noted, “Our goal with this initiative was to simplify the overall on-aircraft systems configuration and reduce the number of onboard systems that passengers and crew are required to interact with and use on a regular basis. It not only makes operating the aircraft more efficient, but it also saves a significant amount of time and money for the owner or operator because the aircraft doesn’t need to be taken out of service for installation of new antennas or equipment that GPS systems require.”
Aviation Safety Question of the Week
Provided by
Which of the following is correct regarding passenger safety information briefing and briefing cards for FAA Part 135 operators?
A. Passenger briefings can be delivered orally or through video presentations.
B. The PIC or a crewmember is not required to brief passengers on the location and use of fire extinguishers.
C. Passengers using air carrier- or passenger-supplied therapeutic oxygen may continue in the event of decompression as the operational altitude for portable oxygen concentrators is up to 30,000 feet.
D. All of the above.
Rolls-Royce Delivering Pearl 15s for Bombardier’s New Globals
Rolls-Royce is ramping up production of its new Pearl 15 engine and the first sets of production-standard powerplants have been delivered to Bombardier for installation on the launch platforms, the Bombardier Global 5500 and 6500, the engine OEM announced on May 20. The Pearl 15, first in a new line of powerplants from the UK-based engine manufacturer, was designed and optimized in partnership with Bombardier to power both of the new Global models, which were unveiled at last year’s EBACE show. The two large-cabin, long-range jets share the same type certificate.
Manufactured at the Rolls-Royce site in Dahlewitz, Germany, Pearl 15s have already been fitted to the first Global 6500, which is now undergoing completion at the Bombardier Global Completion Center in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. “We are excited to have successfully taken this important step in our journey to develop and produce the first member of the Pearl engine family,” said Rolls-Royce director of business aviation Dr. Dirk Geisinger. “We are now looking forward to supporting Bombardier as they prepare the aircraft to enter service.” Global 5500/6500 flight testing is on track to support the jets’ certification and entry into service later this year.
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