General aviation manufacturers continued their strong rebound from the Covid pandemic slump in the third quarter, with aircraft builders posting a 13 percent increase in billings year-over-year for a total of $13.4 billion, according to statistics released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.
For business jet makers, deliveries rose by nearly 16 percent, moving from 378 aircraft in the first three quarters of 2020 to 438 in the same period this year.
The turboprop market improved by more than 40 percent year-over-year, with all airframers posting gains.
Rotorcraft saw an improvement of more than 100 deliveries between the first nine months of 2020 and the same span in 2021, along with a 30 percent increase in billings to $2.42 billion. Turbine helicopter deliveries specifically rose from 333 to 410, a more than 23 percent increase.
Business aviation flight departments have never been busier, but that tremendous surge in demand isn’t occurring without its share of challenges. For one, I’ve had a few meetings and telephone calls with aviation directors who’ve lost staff due to their company’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Or they tell me that they anticipate a need to replace employees who inevitably don’t plan to comply with these mandates.
I’m afraid that this is yet another perfect storm in the making. On the one hand, we have 18-plus months of pent-up demand for private air travel looming. And on the other, we’re facing a potential talent and supply chain shortage.
An informal survey of 24 aviation directors depicts the issue: nearly 55 percent said their departments must comply with a company vaccine mandate and another 25 percent said they expect to have one soon. Fifteen percent said some of their aviation staff have already left due to a vaccine mandate, and respondents said they may lose up to 33 percent of their pilots because of government- and/or company-mandated vaccine mandates. Thus, pilots are indicating a willingness to walk away from their current job if they're required to get a vaccine.
Unfortunately, Covid has created a complex issue, layered upon an already constrained workforce. There’s no easy answer to these deeply personal, value-based issues.
Fatalities from general aviation aircraft accidents decreased overall last year amid broad pandemic-induced reductions in flight activity, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s release this week of preliminary 2020 U.S. civil aviation accident rates. These statistics include 15 accidents involving U.S.-registered general aviation aircraft that occurred outside of the U.S.
Most accident deaths last year occurred during non-commercial general aviation operations, in which 332 people were killed, compared with 414 in 2019. The fatal GA accident rate fell last year to 1.049 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, down from 1.064 in 2019.
Accidents in on-demand Part 135 operations, including one involving a turboprop, claimed 21 lives last year, down from 32 in 2019. Notably, data shows there were no Part 135 on-demand fatal accidents involving U.S.-registered turboprops or turbofans in 2020 and 2019. However, Part 135 commuter operations suffered one fatal accident—involving a Piper PA32-300 piston single—that claimed five people.
The 2020 statistics include NTSB investigations that are still ongoing because the probable causes for all the accidents and fatalities last year have yet to be determined.
Dubai-based real estate, hospitality, investment, and philanthropy group Five has purchased what will be the first-ever VIP-configured A220, more commonly known as the ACJ TwoTwenty. The aircraft will be completed by Comlux Group, which was chosen by Airbus Corporate Jets as the exclusive outfitter for the first 15 TwoTwenty airframes.
At a ceremony announcing the deal on Tuesday at the Five Palm Jumeirah hotel, Five chairman Kabir Mulchandani said this marks “a key milestone in the development of Five’s bouquet of offerings.” Five has selected Comlux Aviation to operate the ACJ TwoTwenty commercially through an exclusive charter agreement under Comlux’s air operator certificate in Malta.
Expected to enter into service in 2023, the aircraft—registered 9H-FIVE—will enter Comlux’s completions unit in Indianapolis in January for outfitting.
Comlux chairman and CEO Richard Gaona predicts that his company will be operating up to of 15 of the type in the future. Five’s ACJ TwoTwenty will be based at Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai World Central and available starting in early 2023 for Five’s guests, charters, and demo flights, he noted.
“We are proud to extend the ACJ TwoTwenty customer base to the Middle East. Our new extra-large bizjet will become the new flagship in luxury travel with Five hotel,” said Airbus Corporate Jets president Benoit Defforge.
Lausanne, Switzerland-based Fly 7 Training received approval from the Swiss FOCA aviation authority for its Frasca-built flight simulation training device for the Pilatus PC-12 NGX. Beginning in January, Fly 7 and Pilatus will offer initial PC-12 NGX training using the simulator, which will also be available for European commercial carrier lease.
Incorporating Frasca’s three-channel 220-degree visual system, the flight simulation training device has been programmed with various European custom visual databases, as well as the original Honeywell Advanced Cockpit Environment system.
"This is the first PC-12 NGX simulator in Europe and another milestone for the future of the PC-12,” said Matthias Luder, director of sales and marketing for Pilatus Aircraft.
Fly 7, which was founded in 2011 and joined the Jetfly Group in 2019, provides PC-12 management and operations. The Fly 7 training organization has qualified PC-12 pilots for more than 10 years. In addition to the PC-12 NGX flight simulation training device, Fly 7 has a PC-12 NG flight deck trainer.
Saab’s GlobalEye, also known as the Swing-Role Surveillance System, came to the Dubai Airshow this week as an operational asset of the UAE Air Force and Air Defence. In addition to one example on static display at the show, another took part in the opening day’s flypast.
Based on the Bombardier Global 6000 airframe, the system carries an Erieye ER S-band electronically scanned array radar on top of the fuselage, as well as under-fuselage surface search radar and electro-optic/infrared sensor turret. In the AEW role, the GlobalEye can track difficult-to-detect targets ranging from hypersonic missiles to low- and slow-flying UAVs and hovering helicopters. Overwater detection reaches at least 80 nm against small targets such as jet skis and submarine periscopes, while the system offers wide-area ground moving target detection of objects as small as 4x4 vehicles.
Saab handed over the first aircraft in April 2020, followed by the second last September. In February, the third aircraft arrived in the UAE, which has since announced an order for two more to bring its eventual fleet to five. Two more aircraft now are undergoing the conversion process at Saab, having been delivered as green airframes from Bombardier.
In October, the Swedish government approved the start of the acquisition process to acquire GlobalEyes for the Swedish air force. GlobalEye is also part of the evaluation for South Korea’s AEW-II competition.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is proposing to add a Subpart F (Commercial Space Investigations) to its Part 831 regulations to set this “unique mode of transportation” apart from other modes, such as Subpart B (Aviation Investigations). The agency anticipates that Subpart F will “enhance safety by enabling it to conduct accident/incident investigations, identify necessary corrective actions, and prevent future space transportation mishaps.”
Under its current regulations, the Safety Board has actually been involved in spacecraft investigations for more than 20 years, including the 2014 SpaceShip Two in-flight breakup. “When the NTSB conducted its first commercial space investigation in the early 1990s, that sector was in its infancy,” said NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy. “As commercial space operations have expanded exponentially since then, it’s become increasingly important that when there is an accident or incident, it’s crystal clear to commercial space operators and industry stakeholders what procedures are in place to ensure the integrity of our safety investigation.”
Included in the proposed Subpart F are the requirements for notifying the NTSB following a spacecraft accident or incident, preservation of wreckage and records, relationships with other federal agencies, and the treatment of investigative information. Comments on the proposal are due January 18.
Russian Helicopters demonstrated its newest commercial version of the Mil Mi-18/17 ‘Hip’ family this week at the Dubai Airshow. The Mi-171A2 represents a culmination of six decades of development following the first flight of the Mi-8 prototype in 1961. While the shape remains broadly the same, the latest aircraft incorporates major improvements in all areas.
Compared with earlier versions, the Mi-171A2 is powered by two uprated and Fadec VK-2500PS-03 engines—the civil version of the powerplant in the Mi-28NE attack helicopter—as well as having new composite main rotor blades and an X-shaped tail rotor. Combined with a strengthened transmission and a redesigned fuselage, this increases maximum speed to 151 knots while permitting the carriage of a four-tonne internal load or up to five tonnes slung underneath.
A new KBO-17 glass cockpit and navigation suite is installed that reduces the required flight crew to two, while a range of diagnostic functions is embedded in the aircraft’s systems. The helicopter is designed to be rapidly reconfigurable between cargo, rescue, and passenger transport roles.
Built at the Ulan Ude Aviation Plant, the Mi-171A2 received initial certification by Russia’s Rosaviatsiya (Federal Air Transport Agency) under AP-29 Aviation Rules in August 2017. A partnership of Rosaviatsiya, Russian Helicopters, and the Rostec State Corp. has resulted in certification of the Mi-171A2 in Colombia, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Vietnam.
Photo of the Week
Age is just a number. Dieter “D.J.” Ortmann, a captain for a Greytown, South Africa-based aircraft operator, snapped this image of his company’s 32-year-old Beechcraft King Air B200 as it was being prepped for another day of flying. The turboprop twin, which he said “is still performing and looking like new,” is one of the company’s three King Airs—the others being C90GTx and 250 models—that cover the southern African region from Nairobi, Kenya, to Cape Town, South Africa. Thanks for sharing, D.J.!
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