Now on Flying Testbed, GE Catalyst Nears Ground Testing

GE Aviation’s clean-sheet Catalyst turboprop engine is expected to begin its ground testing on a flying testbed early next month followed by delivery of the safety-of-flight engine to Textron Aviation before year-end, according to a spokesman for the engine manufacturer. He also told AIN that the engine has already been installed on a Beechcraft King Air 350 that is serving as the flying testbed.

So far, GE Aviation’s Czech Republic facility has manufactured 10 Catalyst test engines, three of which have been torn down and reassembled as part of its testing program. “We’ve rebuilt three of them already: taken them apart, checked all the parts, make sure everything…looks great, and then put them back together,” the spokesman said.

Combined, the test engines have accumulated nearly 2,000 hours of run time, he added. Textron Aviation’s clean-sheet Denali turboprop single is the launch platform for the engine, which includes a number of 3D-printed parts, and its first flight has been delayed as a result of hold-ups at GE Aviation. Last fall, GE Aviation executives explained at the 2019 NBAA-BACE that newer testing standards and engine preparations for the flying testbed were behind the program’s delays.

Wichita-based Textron Aviation, which will have three flight-test and three ground-test articles for its Denali certification program, continues to decline to put a timeline on the airplane’s development milestones.

NBAA Moves Flight Operations, Leadership Events Online

As NBAA’s first Virtual Busines Aviation Convention and Exhibition (VBACE) approaches next week, the association has begun planning its next round of virtual events for the first quarter of 2021, including a Flight Operations Conference and a Leadership Summit.

To be held February 23 to 25, the Flight Operations Conference will bring together schedulers, dispatchers, and pilots, among others, with a focus on mission planning, including international operations. The virtual event—fashioned after NBAA’s Schedulers & Dispatchers conference that was to be held during the same week in Fort Worth, Texas, but is now canceled—will address in-depth weather planning, tax compliance, charter operations, and new protocols as the industry emerges from the pandemic. In addition, the conference will feature a dynamic exhibit hall with virtual exhibitors showcasing products and technologies and sharing information.

The Leadership Summit, meanwhile, is set for March 24 to 25 and designed to bring together business aviation innovators, the association said. NBAA had canceled its in-person Leadership Conference that was scheduled for February 8 to 10 in Palm Springs, California. The virtual event will cover strategies for leading through challenging circumstances with scheduled speakers who are experts on change leadership strategies, emotional intelligence, health and well-being, and connectivity and accountability.

Aerion Teams with Spire Global on Boomless Cruise

Aerion Supersonic has partnered with space-to-cloud global data and analytics provider Spire Global on weather information that will play an integral role in the former company’s “Boomless Cruise” technology for its Mach 1.4 AS2 business jet.

Aerion is designing the AS2 to be capable of flying at supersonic speeds over land without delivering a perceived sonic boom to the ground. To achieve that objective, Aerion will use Spire’s weather data and forecasting capabilities to optimize AS2 flight plans to limit the extent of the sonic boom. In addition, the Spire technology will facilitate a reduction in unwanted high-altitude contrails, Aerion said.

Spire, which uses a proprietary constellation of satellites to develop high-fidelity weather tracking and prediction, will provide vertical weather model support services, including short- and medium-range forecasting capabilities, along with historical weather forecasts. These forecasts will provide a basis for Aerion’s Boomless Cruise system that will calculate optimized en route flight planning to establish Mach cutoff thresholds for eliminating sonic boom noise heard on the ground.

“Our partnership with Spire Global brings together the power of our two innovative companies to truly transform global mobility,” said Aerion chairman, president, and CEO Tom Vice. “We are deeply committed to our beliefs that new innovations must be kind to our planet and responsibly address the issues of noise and the impact of emissions on climate change.”

Brazil Heli Show Joins Forces with Yachts Event

Heli Show, Brazil’s first in-person aviation fair this year, was held through Saturday as part of the São Paulo Boat Show. The three-day event was moved from the indoor convention center to the open air around the University of São Paulo’s rowing canal and held in strict compliance with sanitation protocols.

Exhibitors included LABACE stalwarts Helibras, Airbus Helicopters’s local arm; logistics firm AGS; reseller Gualter Helicopters; Helipark; insurance broker Vokan; and foreign trade specialist Razak. Organizer Gledson Castro of G2C Events held the first edition of Heli XP in May 2019, but the pandemic forced postponement and finally cancellation of the 2020 event. He was also the organizational manager behind the scenes at LABACE for many years.

Following Thursday’s opening, Castro said, “This will be the year’s only aviation event, and even on the first day we’ve been surprised by the number of visitors. Business aviation is in a very positive moment, with an increase in demand because of the reduction in airline service.”

Heli Show also maintained LABACE’s afternoon and evening hours, starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday, then continuing through 10 p.m. all three days.

Lemmo To Succeed Retiring Sikorsky Prez Schultz

Lockheed Martin announced that Sikorsky Aircraft president Dan Schultz will retire early next year and be replaced by Paul Lemmo, currently Lockheed Martin’s v-p of integrated warfare systems and sensors. Schultz, a former U.S. Marine helicopter pilot, assumed Sikorsky’s top spot shortly after it was acquired by Lockheed Martin in 2014. He previously served as v-p of Lockheed Martin’s ship and aviation systems business line.

Under Schultz’s tenure, Sikorsky advanced military compound helicopter designs that became semi-finalists for the Army’s Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programs, finished development and delivered the first CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter to the Marines, won the Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program, and launched the S-92A+ and S-92B civil heavy helicopter upgrade programs.  

However, largely under the weight of the collapse of offshore energy prices, sales of Sikorsky civil helicopters evaporated—it delivered only five for all of 2019 and just one through the first three quarters of 2020—and the company’s Coatesville, Pennsylvania production facility was kept open only after the intervention of President Trump and the state’s congressional delegation last year.

Metrojet Completes Major Mx Checks on G650ERs

Metrojet has completed two Gulfstream G650ER 4C inspections in the past six months, the only Hong Kong-based MRO to do so. The first one was completed in May while the second one was wrapped up in October.

Included in the checks were fuel tank inspections, ram air turbine ground functional tests, landing gear modifications, and shock servicing. Metrojet also rectified all defect findings on the twinjets within the 30-day planned downtime.

In a related development, Metrojet appointed Dave Yip as the new general manager of its Hong Kong MRO effective November 1. “Our MRO operation has a very solid foundation with cooperative team members capable of performing comprehensive and complex maintenance tasks,” Yip said. “Special thanks go to the planning, stores, procurement, and engineering teams for achieving their second G650ER 4C inspection smoothly and on time.”

Av Orgs Urge Lawmakers To Shield Aeronautical Spectrum

Fourteen aviation organizations urged lawmakers to protect frequencies used for aeronautical purposes from potential interference from 5G telecommunications applications. The organizations wrote key House and Senate leaders expressing concern about the FCC’s decision to make the frequency spectrum from 3.7 to 3.98 GHz available for flexible use, including for 5G telecommunications applications. This move came despite aviation industry warnings that 5G application in the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz frequency band could interfere with radar altimeters operating in the globally-allocated 4.2 to 4.4 GHz aeronautical band.

An RTCA study found “a major risk” that the 5G telecommunications systems would cause harmful interference to radar altimeters on all types of civil aircraft, they said.

“The results of the study performed clearly indicate that this risk is widespread and has the potential for broad impacts to aviation operations in the U.S., including the possibility of catastrophic failures leading to multiple fatalities, in the absence of appropriate mitigations,” the organizations said in the November 17 letter. The peer-reviewed RTCA report has been the most comprehensive analysis to date, they said.

“We are concerned that without congressional intervention…decisions will be made with a frightening lack of understanding of aviation requirements,” said the groups, representing airlines, business and general aviation, manufacturers, controllers, and other aspects of the industry.

Los Angeles Drone Pilot Faces Year in Prison

During National Drone Safety Awareness Week, the FBI arrested the pilot of an sUAS drone that hit a Los Angeles police (LAPD) helicopter in September. In what is believed to be a U.S. law enforcement first, federal agents arrested Andrew Rene Hernandez, 22, on November 19 for criminal “unsafe operation of an unmanned aircraft.”

In an October interview with the FBI, Hernandez admitted to launching the drone shortly after midnight on September 18 because he was curious about the LAPD response to a break-in at a nearby Hollywood pharmacy. While an LAPD Airbus Helicopters AStar was flying above the pharmacy at approximately 12:35 a.m., the pilot saw and unsuccessfully attempted to avoid the drone, which struck the helicopter, damaging its nose, antenna, and bottom cowling. The helicopter then proceeded direct to the LAPD Hooper Heliport (4CAO) and made a precautionary landing. LAPD flight safety officer J. Coley Maddigan told investigators that had the drone struck the aircraft’s main rotor it would have brought the helicopter down.

Following the collision, pieces of the DJI Mavic Pro drone, s/n 08Q3G9KP01W033, fell through the rear window of a nearby unoccupied Toyota Corolla car. LAPD recovered the wreckage and used its serial number, onboard video, and witness tips to trace it back to Hernandez. If convicted, he faces up to one year in federal prison.