Zeusch Uses King Air for Live-broadcast Relay Flight
Amsterdam-based start-up operator Zeusch Aviation recently completed its first flight in support of broadcast coverage, acting as a signal-relay aircraft for live television coverage of a bicycle race in Holland. It used a specially-equipped Beechcraft King Air C90A for the mission.
Working with Dutch media technology company NEP, which has signed a five-year contract with Zeusch, it supported the live television coverage of this year’s Volta Limburg Classic single-day bicycle race. The aircraft flew above the route as live images were captured from the ground, relaying them to a base station, which immediately sent the footage to the outside broadcast vehicle.
Antennas on the underside of the fuselage and wings captured the images and relayed them to NEP’s ground station. An extra camera fitted to the belly of the aircraft allowed pilots to verify the two-meter aerial boom was retracted before landing.
Zeusch has also been booked by NEP for several other events, including 10 European sporting events this year. These will see Zeusch providing aerial relay support in the skies above Slovenia, Norway, Hungary, Croatia, and Germany. The next relay flight will be providing broadcast support for the Hammer race, a three-day cycling event in Norway later this month.
Today’s dynamic preowned business jet marketplace should be judged with dynamic markers. The old methods of judging a market might not be as relevant today. Simply, we can no longer just set an equal percentage fleet-wide to create what we all believe is balance. In the past, 10 percent of any given fleet for sale created what we believed was a balanced market.
But we owe it to our respective research of any market to now look at the total units produced by specific market, as well as the number of transactions within that specific group within a six-month period, and then decide if the percentage of units for sale against the entire production fleet really is balanced.
My team and I did exactly that exercise and still believe we are in a balanced market. Some markets have as few as 5 percent of the delivered airplanes for sale, while some have as many as 14 percent. A closer look will reveal that some airplanes with a higher number of units for sale might also have a corresponding higher number of transactions in the preceding six months.
Prices, buyers’ or sellers’ markets, residual loss rates are all dynamic considerations to a market. Sitting back and just relying on yesterday’s strategies will not serve you as a participant in a dynamic marketplace.
Following an April 23 executive order from Washington state’s King County executive Dow Constantine stating that Seattle King County International Airport/Boeing Field (BFI) “shall not support the transportation and deportation of immigration detainees in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” Modern Aviation, one of three FBOs on the field, said it will no longer service immigration flights operated by Swift Air. The company is believed to be the only charter provider used by ICE at the airport. According to the county, ground personnel at BFI have observed immigrant detainees boarding Swift aircraft.
The other FBOs at BFI—Kenmore Aero Services and Signature Flight Support—also indicated they will not contract with Swift Air for immigration flights at BFI.
Constantine’s executive order added that all future leases, operating permits and other authorizations for commercial activity at the airport contain a prohibition against providing aeronautical or non-aeronautical services to enterprises engaged in the business of deporting immigration detainees, with the exception of federal government aircraft.
“I was heartened to learn that [FBOs] at our airport have decided to accommodate the values of the people of King County,” said Constantine. “We are a welcoming community that respects the rights of all people. We do not want to see our publicly-owned airport used for the wholesale deportation of immigrant detainees.”
Swift had yet to answer AIN's inquiries at press time.
Dallas Metroplex Airport Adds New Community Hangar
Dallas-area McKinney National Airport has completed a new 40,000-sq-ft hangar, the largest on the field, which brings it to approximately 140,000 sq ft of aircraft storage space, capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets. The new structure, developed in partnership with Western LLC, features a 300-foot clearspan with 28-foot-high doors. It can store four Gulfstream G550s and also has available office space and eight fully-enclosed garage spaces.
“Everything you can measure at the airport is trending up, from operations to fuel sales,” said airport director Ken Carley. “The public-private partnership with Western LLC allowed the city to capitalize on their expertise and reputation as a well-respected developer in the aviation industry, while helping us meet the demands of new businesses pouring into Collin County and the larger Dallas area.”
The airport is home to approximately 30 turbine aircraft, ranging from a Bombardier Global Express to a Daher TBM turboprop single, and the new hangar, which Carley expects will soon be fully occupied, represents the first phase of a $16 million development project. A new 17,000-sq-ft terminal is currently under construction, with a targeted completion of this October. It will replace the existing terminal, which will be converted entirely into tenant offices.
Universal Avionics to STC Wearable HUD in A320
Universal Avionics and AerSale have partnered on a supplemental type certificate (STC) program to install the SkyLens Head-Wearable Display on the Airbus A320. The SkyLens wearable head-up display (HUD) was developed by Universal Avionics parent company Elbit Systems, which purchased Universal Avionics a year ago. According to Universal Avionics, the A320 STC should receive FAA certification by the end of the first quarter of 2020, followed by Chinese CAAC and EASA STC validation.
Installing the SkyLens HUD takes much less time than a traditional HUD, according to Universal Avionics—just a few days versus a few weeks—and requires far less disassembly of the flight deck. What makes SkyLens unique compared with traditional fixed-in-place HUDS is that SkyLens has an unlimited field of view because pilots can look in any direction and see high-resolution HUD symbology, as well as enhanced vision system (EVS), synthetic vision system (SVS), and combined vision system (CVS) imagery. The EVS, SVS, and CVS capability is part of the SkyLens HUD’s ClearVision enhanced flight vision system (EFVS) solution, which combines SkyLens with Elbit’s multi-spectral camera system.
The Universal Avionics ClearVision EFVS will allow operators to take advantage of lower instrument approach minimums, improved dispatch capability, and FAR 91.176 regulations that allow operators to seek approval for touchdown and rollout with no natural vision in visibility as low as 1,000-foot RVR.
With the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby tomorrow at Churchill Downs, Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field (SDF)—located just three miles from the famed racecourse—is preparing for the customary onslaught of private aircraft. While the airport generally sees less than 20 private departures a day, according to statistics from WingX, Derby Week accounts for 10 percent of the private traffic for the year, with as many as 500 operations a day.
Dubbed “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports,” the Derby draws tens of thousands of viewers. “We always see exceptionally high demand for private jets at the beginning of May to the race, which is the highest attended horse race in the U.S.” explained Richard Thompson, president of Air Charter Service Americas.
His company analyzed the WingX data from last year’s Derby Week and noted there were approximately 1,500 private jet movements into and out of Louisville. “Most of the flights were short hops of less than an hour and a half, with the two most popular routes being out of and back into the New York [area] airports of Teterboro and Westchester County,” Thompson said.
Atlantic Aviation, which operates the lone FBO on the field, recently renovated its facility and partnered with the airport and U.S. CBP to create a new general aviation facility for clearing international flights.
Aviation Destination App Expands Across the Pond
SocialFlight, the free web application that helps general aviation pilots find interesting events and places to fly, has created a European expansion for its platform. The app even includes its “Burger Flights” feature to identify airport-accessible restaurants with a single press of a button for those seeking the “€100 hamburger.”
The company’s weekly event planner feature sends a personalized email to members, notifying them of upcoming events in their local area, with links to more information. Its interactive map also includes aviation events, user-created recommendations for aerial tours, and information on destination areas. To populate the European database, the designers worked with local experts, including country AOPA chapters, and aided by Continental Aerospace Technologies.
“Our work with SocialFlight at Continental Aerospace Technologies has demonstrated how beneficial it is to provide general aviation pilots with a mission for their flying,” said Emmanuel Davidson, president of AOPA France and Continental’s director of global marketing and communications. He added that SocialFlight’s weekly event planner email provides pilots with more reasons to fly. “It’s a great tool for pilots everywhere and I am excited to see it expand throughout Europe."
Daher Selects Young Eagles for Summer Internship Program
Daher selected two natives of Wisconsin, home of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), for its 2019 internship program, which provides industry experience to two U.S. college or university students each year. Benjamin Van Handel and Jordan Paulson, both of whom have participated in the EAA Young Eagles Program, are the 2019 interns. EAA partners with Daher on the program.
Van Handel and Paulson will spend five weeks this summer working at Daher’s Tarbes facility in southwestern France. The internships further include a tour of the Airbus production facility at Toulouse, France, attendance at the Paris Air Show, and participation in EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
A student at Saint Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, Van Handel also has spent a semester at Bond University in Australia as part of his work towards a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He obtained a single-engine private pilot’s license with the help of a Phillips 66 aviation scholarship. Paulson, meanwhile, is studying business management and economics at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He was inspired to earn his FAA multi-engine private pilot license after taking an introductory flight through the EAA Young Eagles program.
Tell us about the product support you receive from business aviation OEMs. The 2019 AIN Product Support Survey is now online, ready for selected readers to rate aircraft, engine and avionics support. AIN readers who have been selected to participate in this year’s Product Support Survey should have received their account number and a link to the online survey by e-mail. Please complete the survey by midnight, June 7. Visit the Product Support Survey
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