Honda Aircraft Unveils Upgraded HondaJet Elite S

In a virtual ceremony today, Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino launched the new HondaJet Elite S, which has an increased mtow, flight deck improvements, enhanced nosewheel steering, and new paint colors. The Elite S will be available starting next month and has a base price of $5.4 million, up from the Elite’s $5.25 million price tag (2018 dollars).

The Elite S mtow is 200 pounds heavier, which allows carriage of an extra passenger or flying an additional 120 nm with one pilot and five passengers. On the flight deck, new features include a Com 3 datalink radio and FAA Data Comm and ACARS capabilities added to the Garmin G3000 avionics suite.

Meanwhile, a nosewheel advanced steering augmentation system (ASAS) “helps reduces pilot workload during landing, expands operational limits, and enhances safety for missions in specific weather conditions,” according to Honda Aircraft. Three new paint schemes are available with the Elite S: gunmetal, luxe gold, and deep sea blue.

Introducing the new model, Fujino said, “We are firm believers that you should never stand still and [we are] always seeking to push the limits and evolve our design.” There currently is no upgrade package to bring HondaJet Elite models to the Elite S configuration, but the company is seeking customer input on the desirability of such an option.

FAA Final PRD Rule Includes Corporate Operators

The FAA released its final electronic Pilot Records Database (PRD) rule today, scaling back some of the reporting requirements but—despite an outpouring of opposition—maintaining corporate flight departments in the applicability.

Released a little more than a year after first proposed, the final rule requires air carriers, public operators, air tour operators, fractional ownerships, and corporate flight departments to enter “relevant” data on pilot employees into the PRD and calls on air carriers, fractional, and air tour operators to access pilot records for hiring candidates. The rule provides a year for operators to load current pilot records into the database, two years for historical records dating back to 2015, and three years for all historical records. Meanwhile, affected hiring operators must begin reviewing records within six months. 

In recognition of NBAA’s concerns, the final rule eliminated a formal definition of  “corporate flight department,” but still included parameters in a footnote (“operators of two or more aircraft”) and in the applicability. It also addressed some concerns that the rule posed a burden: “In light of the information and data provided by commenters, some requirements of the proposed rule were overly burdensome for certain types of operators,” the agency said. Specifically, the rule exempts corporate flight departments, air tour operators, and public operators from requirements to upload training, most disciplinary, and separation from employment records to the PRD unless requested by a hiring operator.

Bluetail Launches Digital Record Search Engine

Aircraft data storage and access provider Bluetail has introduced a digital document search engine called Mach Search. Founded a year ago with the goal to offer a simple, cost-effective platform to digitize aircraft records, the company developed this latest product based on input from its customer base, including corporate flight departments, charter operators, aircraft owners, brokers, and flight schools.

“With the introduction of our Mach Search capability, we are taking a step forward in bringing optical character recognition (OCR) machine-learning capabilities into the world of business and private aviation,” said Bluetail co-founder Roberto Guerrieri. “Building on our cloud-native Amazon Web Services platform, Mach Search enables true 'rocket science’ level business process automation, storing, and searching."

According to the company, the system uses OCR to streamline the ingestion, organization, and search of operations and maintenance documents. It can even recognize handwriting to search by A&P technician signature or inspector signoffs, Blutail said. Records can be uploaded via computer, tablet, or smartphone, and searched by numbers, text, or form.

To ensure the system would be live for customers at launch, Guerrieri said the records were run in parallel to the development of the technology. “To date, we’ve run more than one million client records through the Mach machine learning code,” he said.

Pratt & Whitney Canada Reaches PT6E Century Mark

Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) has turned out its 100th PT6E-series turboprop engine from its Lethbridge PT6 Center of Excellence in Alberta, Canada, the company announced yesterday. Swiss airframer Pilatus Aircraft was the launch customer for the engine, which powers its PC-12 NGX turboprop single that was unveiled at NBAA-BACE 2019 in Las Vegas.

The PT6E features a dual-channel integrated electronic propeller- and engine-control system that provides full digital envelope protection, precise engine control, reduced pilot workload, and optimized power. Controlled by a single power lever, the engine produces 1,825 shp and is flat rated to 1,100 shp in cruise flight, a 10 percent increase from the PC-12’s PT6A-67P. It allows the NGX to reach a maximum cruise speed of 290 knots.

“The immediate success of the PT6E-series engine is the direct result of our belief in research and development,” said P&WC v-p of general aviation Nick Kanellias. “In January, we were named the top investor in Canada’s Aerospace Research and Development sector and the fourth-largest R&D investor overall in the country. We continued our 2020 R&D investment program during the pandemic with the same determination that guided our employees as they safely produced the 100 PT6E-series engines while observing strict health guidelines in our plants.”

Dassault’s 6X EIS Prep Includes Product Support Effort

As Dassault Aviation continues its Falcon 6X flight test campaign, the French airframer is also preparing to support the business jet’s 2022 entry into service—preparations that began long before the type’s March 10 first flight.

Key among those preparations is ensuring the reliability of the 6X’s systems and components, according to Jean Kayanakis, senior v-p of Dassault’s worldwide Falcon customer service and service center network. To do that, Kayanakis said, Dassault’s teams and partners are going through intensive equipment testing and screening, including a process in which components are exposed to extreme conditions such as vibration, temperature, and humidity.

Product support staff also are involved in the 6X test program. The company has assigned seven experienced engineers and technicians to the flight test aircraft. Their duties vary and include providing line service on the ramp, acquiring and analyzing data, and validating the FalconScan onboard diagnostic system and maintenance documents. Additional staff at Dassault’s Falcon Command Center (FCC) in Mérignac, France are conducting evaluations of raw data from the test aircraft’s FalconScan advanced diagnostic system downloads. Last November, Dassault moved FCC and product support to Mérignac to bring those operations closer to its engineering, production, flight test, and service center there. In early April, the company began running failure simulations with FalconScan on the test bench to simulate as many fault configurations as possible.

Metroliner-Cirrus Midair Occurred on Parallel Approach

An NTSB preliminary report released yesterday notes that the May 12 midair collision between a Cirrus SR22 and Swearingen Metroliner occurred while both aircraft were approaching to land on parallel runways at Denver Centennial Airport. The SR22 piston single was turning from base to final for Runway 17R at the time of the accident, while the Metroliner twin turboprop was lined up on final for Runway 17L, the NTSB said.

An illustration in the report indicates that the SR22 might have overshot the extended centerline of Runway 17R as it was turning from right base to final when the collision happened. Day VMC prevailed at the time of the accident. The report said that both pilots were in communication with ATC during their respective approaches.

There were no injuries to the two aboard the SR22 or the sole-occupant pilot in the Metroliner. After the impact, the Metroliner pilot declared an emergency and landed on Runway 17L, while the SR22 pilot reported that the airplane was not controllable and deployed the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). The SR22 crash-landed about 3 nm north of the airport. Both airplanes were substantially damaged.

GE Aviation Extends CF34 Engine Mx Agreement with MTU

MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg, a subsidiary of Germany’s MTU Aero Engines, has signed a branded service agreement extension with GE Aviation to continue as an authorized service provider through 2030 for OEM maintenance, overhaul work scoping, and component repairs on CF34-3, CF34-8C, CF34-8E, and CF34-10E engines. Variants of the CF34 engine family power Bombardier and Embraer regional and business jets such as the Bombardier Challenger 605 and Embraer Lineage 1000 bizliner.

André Sinanian, MTU Maintenance managing director and senior v-p, said the company recently marked the redelivery of the 500th CF34-10E engine. MTU Maintenance has carried out 1,400 shop visits and several hundred on-site events for the CF34 engine family since 2003, Sinanian explained.

“MTU has been a close partner with GE in the CF34 MRO network,” added Cristina Seda-Hoelle, GE Aviation general manager of regional and business aviation engines and services. “With more than 4,000 CF34 engines in service, GE is very pleased to extend this critical partnership for the long-term strength of the program.”

FlightSafety Joins IBAC as Industry Partner

Aviation training provider FlightSafety International (FSI) has joined the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) as an industry partner. Participation in IBAC previously was limited to national and regional business associations, but now business aviation manufacturers, service providers, corporate flight departments, and charter operators can join as an industry partner or operator affiliate, provided they also are a member of one of the 15 IBAC member associations.

This builds on a decade-long alliance between FSI and IBAC to co-develop e-learning courses on IS-BAO and safety management systems. “We are honored to have FlightSafety International join us as an industry partner and excited to expand our working relationship with them,” said IBAC director general Kurt Edwards. “We welcome their support in our endeavors to further advocate for business aviation and promote safety at the global level.”

The co-developed e-learning courses hosted by FlightSafety consist of a custom IS-BAO library that includes more than 15 safety subjects. The library is designed for operations that are IS-BAO-registered or working toward IS-BAO registration, providing a tool to help reinforce an organization’s safety culture.

AIN Product Support Survey Now Open

Tell us about the product support you receive from business aviation OEMs. The 2021 AIN Product Support Survey is now open, ready for selected readers to rate aircraft, engine, and avionics support. AIN readers who have been picked to participate in this year’s Product Support Survey should have received their password and link to the online survey by e-mail. The survey needs to be completed by midnight on June 11.