Lilium Unveils Plans for Florida Air Mobility Network

The new Orlando-area Lake Nona development is set to be the site of the first vertiport in a planned air mobility network for Florida. German eVTOL aircraft manufacturer Lilium announced today that it will partner with Tavistock Development Company and the city of Orlando to build a vertiport at the heart of the new residential community as part of the wider Aerotropolis business park, which is adjacent to Orlando International Airport.

According to Lilium, the Lake Nona vertiport will be the first hub for a network that will provide flight connections for more than 20 million Floridians living within a 185-mile radius. The company said its five-seat, all-electric Lilium Jet eVTOL will be ready to begin commercial operations in 2025.

Tavistock’s plans for the Lake Nona community call for between 20,000 and 30,000 new homes. According to Lilium chief operating officer Remo Gerber, the company will offer flights operating at up to 185 mph that can be booked via its app, providing connections to other Florida cities such potentially Tampa (85 miles) and West Palm Beach (160 miles). 

This story comes from FutureFlight, a new resource from AIN that provides objective, independent coverage and analysis of new aviation technology, including electric aircraft developments and advanced air mobility. Sign up for a free trial subscription at FutureFlight.aero.

RFDS Upgrading PC-12s with Five-blade Hartzell Props

Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) in Western Australia is upgrading its fleet of Pilatus PC-12 turboprop singles with Hartzell 105-inch-diameter, five-blade composite propellers. The new propellers will replace the existing Hartzell four-blade aluminum propellers on the utility aircraft that the RFDS uses for medical emergencies and patient transfers. Last year the RFDS fleet transported 9,012 patients over 8 million kilometers (4.97 million miles) across Western Australia, reaching some of its most remote corners.

RFDS already has three PC-12s in service with the five-blade propellers installed at the Pilatus factory and two more are undergoing installation at RFDS’s maintenance base in Jandakot. The operator further has three more on order, and RFDS Western Operations managing engineer Andy Lewis said plans call to upgrade its entire fleet of 16 PC-12s. West Coast Propeller, Hartzell’s recommended service facility in Western Australia, is supporting the conversion.

"The new Hartzell propellers are lighter, stronger, require less maintenance, and provide more torque, which enables the aircraft to fly better and ultimately save on fuel,” Lewis said, adding they will also reduce vibration, increasing patient comfort.  

"The five-blade composite swept-tip props chosen by the RFDS are specially designed to maximize performance for the Pilatus PC-12,” added Hartzell Propeller president JJ Frigge. “The prop is a product of Hartzell's multimillion-dollar investment in structural composites, advanced aerodynamics, and modern manufacturing processes."

Gulfstream Displaces Embraer in Q3 Jet Output

With the Covid-19 pandemic eroding airliner orders and deliveries, Gulfstream has displaced Embraer as the world’s third-largest manufacturer in terms of jet aircraft output. In the third quarter, Embraer delivered 28 jets, seven of which were regional airliners. Gulfstream, meanwhile, handed over 32 business jets.

Richard Aboulafia, v-p of analysis at the Teal Group, noted the switch but believes this turn is not a permanent one: “Embraer will be back, particularly since they’re now the world’s only provider of regional jets, and that market, along with the commercial transport market, will recover in time.” He also noted Embraer had a softer third quarter last year and believes its military work will ramp up as well.

Meanwhile, Aboulafia believes Gulfstream is facing a down year next year with the transition between the G650ER and G700.

But for the time being, he said, airliner manufacturers are facing a “U” recovery—“a deep drop, a relatively long floor, and a steep recovery”—while commercial air travel might have an even worse “L” recovery. Conversely, business jet travel has made a stronger recovery and, as a result, Aboulafia said, “Our business jet forecast now just shows a relatively shallow dip, while our jetliner numbers are tanking.”

This marks a reversal from 2008 when airliner production kept growing and business jet output collapsed, he noted.

Goodyear Aviation Tires Appoints Canadian Distributor

Goodyear Aviation Tires has appointed Kadex Aero Supply as a Canadian distributor. “Kadex is proud to be one of the only distributors in the past 10 years to be appointed a Goodyear distributorship,” said Kadex director of business development Jordan Lavery.

Lavery said the Goodyear aircraft tires will be available from the company’s three locations in Canada: Peterborough, Winnipeg, and Calgary. Products such as engine cylinders, trim tab actuators, and shimmy dampeners from more than 50 different OEMs are distributed by the family-owned aircraft parts and services company. Founded in 1994, Kadex also provides MRO services such as landing gear repair and overhaul as well as specializes in legacy Beechcraft airplanes. It offers around-the-clock AOG service.

Goodyear has manufactured aircraft tires for more than 100 years and supports all three segments of aviation: commercial, military, and general.  

HondaJet Pilot Training Begins in Europe at FSI F’boro

FlightSafety International is now offering factory-authorized training for the HondaJet HA-420 in Europe at its Farnborough learning center, the company announced today. For the HondaJet, the UK facility provides initial and recurrent pilot training, as well as other courses.

“As our fleet continues to increase in size, it is necessary for the HondaJet service, support, and training network to expand,” said Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino. “We are pleased to announce that we have completed the installation of the second HondaJet flight simulator at Farnborough, which started its operations this week.”

For now, training for maintenance technicians is offered only at the FlightSafety HondaJet learning center in Greensboro, North Carolina. This training meets EASA (B1 and B2) and FAA requirements with courses covering initial, update, and practical needs, along with avionics, taxi movements, and engines. Supplemental training on the GE Honda HF120 engine and the Garmin G3000 avionics is also offered.

FlightSafety also provides courses for pilots and maintenance technicians online through its instructor-led LiveLearning and eLearning training systems.

Otonomy To Offer Low-cost PED-to-IFE Solution

Mérignac, France-based Otonomy Aviation's new in-flight entertainment (IFE) connector box will provide a simple, low-cost solution for bringing video and audio from personal devices to legacy cabin IFE systems lacking PED input capability, the company said. Expected to be available in the first quarter, Easi Connect VCB (video control box) converts inputs from USB-C sources—including iPads, cellphones, tablets, and PCs—to HDSDI/PAL/NTSC and audio analog/digital outputs, to present on installed IFEs. An Easi Connect HCB (HDMI control box) for converting PED inputs to HDMI outputs will also be available.

Pricing is undisclosed but will be “a fraction of the cost” of current solutions, and require less than 10 hours for installation, according to Otonomy COO Maxime Danielli. The compact, lightweight boxes—about half a pound—simultaneously charge the PED.

Initially aimed at the retrofit market, MROs have expressed interest in these control boxes. According to Danielli, business aircraft OEMs are also eyeing them for both in-house retrofit programs and as potential line-fit items that provide a lower-cost option to standard IFE packages.

Easi Connect retrofits will work on “all range of aircraft,” with the Gulfstream G450/550, Bombardier Global Express, and pre-2010 Dassault Falcon 900s and 2000s among likely platforms to benefit, said Danielli.

Cessna CJ Landing Gear Repair To Extend to More Models

Nearly three decades into the Cessna Citation CJ-series program, Textron Aviation has come up with a method to repair the model 525’s main landing gear (MLG), and in November first introduced that option on the CJ3. Previously, if there was a defect found on a CJ3’s MLG, the owner/operator had no choice but to replace it. The repair solution is expected to be extended next year to the CJ1/1+ and M2, followed by the CJ2/2+.

When the first CJ was introduced, there wasn’t enough data for the company to come in and have the margins to repair the MLG, according to a video Textron Aviation produced on the new capability. But through customer feedback and collaboration between engineers at Textron Aviation’s Wichita factory, its aftermarket unit, and Mesa, Arizona-based subsidiary Able Aerospace, CJ3 customers now have an option that saves them between 40 and 45 percent of the cost of new landing gear, and also means less downtime for their airplane through an MLG rental program. 

The engineering team came up with a repair solution for the CJ3 using Able’s machining and tooling capabilities. After finding a solution for the CJ3, engineers performed static and cyclic testing of the repair with up to five lifetimes—or 75,000 landings—of the gear’s life limit at its Wichita facilities.

ExecuJet Australia Approaches Full Falcon Mx Capability

ExecuJet MRO Services Australia will have full capability on all in-production and most out-of-production Dassault Falcons by the end of this year, it said this week. The milestone comes as the maintenance, repair, and overhaul group marks 20 years in operation this year.

“We look forward to seeing the company continuing to grow and evolve, maintaining its strong service culture in the years ahead to meet the needs and challenges of our customers and market,” said ExecuJet MRO Services Australasia regional vice president Grant Ingall. The operation, which Dassault Aviation acquired from Luxaviation in March 2019, includes maintenance facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, as well as Wellington, New Zealand. It is also an authorized service center for Embraer, Honeywell, Rolls-Royce, and GE Aviation, and is certified to work on certain Beechcraft, Cessna, and Hawker aircraft.

Nearly half of its business comes from Asia, with the remainder coming from New Zealand, the Pacific, and Australia, where around 200 business aircraft are based. “The fact that we have several heavy maintenance facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth that are all internationally certified across multiple OEMs means we have a depth and breadth of capability that is highly competitive in the Asia-Pacific region,” Ingall said.