NBAA has released a publication to help business aircraft crews avoid runway excursions, meaning overrunning or veering off a runway during takeoff or landing. The 25-page document addresses psychological and physical factors that can cause excursions and explains how to address them in training programs and safety management systems.

Runway excursions are the leading cause of accidents in business aviation, according to the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). In fact, FSF said that business jets were involved in 79 runway excursions between 2017 and 2022, accounting for nearly 41 percent of accidents in this segment during this period. Six of the excursions were fatal, resulting in 18 deaths.

“The runway excursion guide…contains a series of practical steps that flight crews and operators can take to improve airport safety in a proactive manner. The guide is also designed to be a reference for a number of factors to consider, along with links to more in-depth reading from industry resources,” said NBAA manager of flight operations Noah Yarborough.

In addition to causing the loss of life, runway excursions substantially damage or destroy airplanes, leading to costly litigation, harming the reputation of operators and pilots, and fueling significant increases in insurance premiums, NBAA said.

To further call attention to runway safety, NBAA is hosting a free webinar, “Elevating Runway and Surface Safety in Business Aviation,” tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST.

Runway safety has been a hot topic this year. In fact, year-to-date data shows an increase in the most serious type of runway incursions: Category A incidents, where a collision between two aircraft was narrowly avoided. Aviation safety organizations, including the NTSB and FAA, are concerned with the increase in the number of near collisions, and many have feared the worst—an actual collision between two aircraft.

On October 24, these concerns were realized when two business jets collided at Houston Hobby Airport (KHOU). During this event, the crew of a Hawker 850XP on takeoff roll struck a Cessna Citation Mustang that was landing on a crossing runway. Alarmingly, the Hawker pilots did not follow ATC instructions to “line up and wait” (LUAW) and ignored two pleas by the local tower controller to abort the takeoff run before impact. Both aircraft were substantially damaged. Fortunately, none of the occupants were injured.

According to the NTSB preliminary accident report, the tower controller instructed the pilots of the Hawker to LUAW on Runway 22. In a post-accident interview, the Hawker pilots said they believed that they were cleared for takeoff when they took off.

A vast majority of new entrants to the business aviation market appear to be sticking with private flying, according to the just-released "2023 Jet Card Report" from Private Jet Card Comparisons (PJCC). Some 95 percent of new entrants—those who began private flying during the Covid period—told PJCC that they are continuing to fly privately, with 43.2 percent of these respondents saying they are flying privately on a regular basis.

PJCC tracks flying, pricing, and other trends surrounding the jet card, membership, fractional ownership, and charter markets through subscriber surveys. The data in the new 318-page report is derived from responses of more than 1,000 private flyers.

According to those responses, new flyers tend to fly privately exclusively for leisure purposes more frequently (54.9 percent), while existing flyers—those in the market pre-pandemic—are more likely to use private aviation for both business and personal travel (53 percent).

Surveys show that private flyers have expected to slightly increase the time in the air, from 41.3 hours in 2022 to 42.4 hours this year; 33.5 percent said they are flying privately more than before the pandemic.

“While some predicted the new wave of private flyers would quickly move back to the airlines, that hasn’t happened,” said PJCC founder and editor-in-chief Doug Gollan.

Bell has delivered its 505th Model 505 Jet Ranger X turbine single, handing over the milestone helcopter to North American operator Austin Claborn. The aircraft will be configured for corporate transportation. The delivery ceremony took place at the Bell Textron Canada facility in Mirabel, Quebec, where the company assembles its commercial helicopters. Calborn has operated Bell 505s since 2021.

Certified by Transport Canada in 2016 and now operating on six continents, the Bell 505 has accumulated more than 185,000 flight hours. The five-seat helicopter features the Garmin G1000H NXi digital avionics system and a dual-channel Fadec Safran Arrius 2R engine. The aircraft cruises at 125 knots and has a maximum useful load of 1,500 pounds.

“The technology in the cockpit makes the aircraft incredibly reliable and easy to fly,” said Claborn. “The team at Bell has been exemplary in their dedication to customer service.”

The 505th delivery comes one week after the delivery of the first five of 10 Bell 505s to the Royal Jordanian Air Force to support basic and advanced rotorcraft flight training at the King Hussein Air College in Mafraq, Jordan.

ICAO reaffirmed its commitment to industry-wide decarbonization and its long-term goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 last week at its Third Conference on Aviation and Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) in Dubai.

At the event, the organization adopted a new global framework on the acceptance of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), lower carbon aviation fuels (LCAF), and other greener energy sources as ICAO and its member states agreed to a goal of reducing CO2 emissions in international aviation by 5 percent by 2030, compared with non-use of these fuels.

“The role of the framework is to facilitate the scale-up of the development and deployment of SAF, LCAF, and other aviation cleaner energies on a global basis, and mainly by providing greater clarity, consistency, and predictability to all stakeholders, including those beyond the aviation sector,” explained ICAO council president Salvatore Sciacchitano. “Investors, governments, and others need greater certainty regarding the policies, regulations, implementation support, and investments required so that all countries will have an equal opportunity to contribute to and benefit from the expansion in the production and use of these fuels.”

The agreement—which was also hailed by the business aviation industry—recognizes the role accounting methodologies such as book-and-claim will play in stimulating the global marketplace.

“The CAAF/3 framework advances a key tool for the global business aviation community to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” noted IBAC director-general Kurt Edwards.

Brazilian airline Azul has agreed to work with Surf Air Mobility on plans to convert its fleet of Cessna Caravans to electric propulsion. Surf Air Mobility is partnered with electric motor developer MagniX and systems integrator AeroTec in seeking a supplemental type certificate to convert the turboprop single. With Azul’s support, Surf Air now aims to seek approval from Brazil air safety regulator ANAC.

Azul operates 27 Cessna Caravans through its Azul Conecta regional division. According to Surf Air, converting these would eliminate carbon emissions and reduce direct operating costs by up to 50 percent, potentially allowing operators to launch routes that are not economically viable with current aircraft.

Surf Air aims to receive FAA approval in 2026. It is one of several companies working to convert the Caravan to either all-electric or hybrid-electric propulsion. Others include Ampaire, aircraft OEM Textron Aviation, and hydrogen fuel cell developer ZeroAvia.

“It’s important for Surf Air Mobility to develop our technology with operators that will be the direct beneficiaries of the coming transition to electric aircraft,” said Surf Air Mobility CEO Stan Little. “We’re very excited to work with Azul to help us design our technology and define how our electric powertrains can best be deployed within an existing regional network for passengers to gain as much benefit from the technology as possible.”

Airbus Helicopters continues to take extraordinary measures to alleviate supply-chain difficulties that have disrupted the rotorcraft industry over the last three years. While acknowledging these difficulties in “meeting our customers’ spare parts and repair needs,” the company recently told AIN that it has employed a variety of curative measures.

They include a “massive” $438 million investment in inventories and support for critical suppliers that included the outright acquisition of certain suppliers, such as dynamic component manufacturer ZF Luftfahrttechnik (ZFL) in January. ZFL, now known as Airbus Helicopters Technik, has delivered more than 10,000 helicopter gearboxes worldwide, including those for the Airbus H135 light twin. It is also a partner on the H145 program.

Airbus Helicopters also is dual-sourcing parts and components, making improvements in its “internal setup,” facilitating TBO extensions, and conducting buy-backs of used aircraft to provide parts for out-of-production models. Over the last two years, Airbus has increased production by 60 percent, and its suppliers have boosted output by 35 percent.

In addition to these recovery measures, Airbus Helicopters has identified hundreds of critical parts that it is individually tracking as part of a continuing effort to restore normal supply as quickly as possible.

Dassault Aviation is serving as a major patron of Maubuisson forest in Val d’Oise, Paris Region, which saw the launch of its 2023-2024 planting campaign on Wednesday. 

Calling for the planting of a million trees of 30 species on an uncultivated plain, the Maubuisson project marks the first project of its kind in the Paris region. The 3,310-acre forest will not only benefit the 100,000 inhabitants of the seven neighboring towns, but also the 12 million people who live in the Paris area, said Dassault.

Historically present in Val d’Oise, in Argenteuil, and now in Cergy, Dassault Aviation added that it takes seriously its support of the project, launched a little more than a week before the start of the UN Climate Change Conference, better known as COP 28, in Dubai.

“As the One Forest Summit 2023 reminded us, forests play a very valuable role in preserving biodiversity and regulating the climate by sequestering large volumes of CO2,” explained Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier. “Being a major patron of Maubuisson forest is in line with our policy to reduce our environmental footprint. We are exploring several avenues to drastically reduce the CO2 emissions of our Falcon business jets, including the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), [which] we regard as a very promising solution.”