Dassault Aviation's Falcon 8X is returning to the Middle East and North Africa Business Aviation show next week as the French plane-maker prepares for a growing market for its long-range, large-cabin models in the region. Dassault noted that its large-cabin models such as its 6,450 nm Falcon 8X comprise a third of the 75 Falcons in the region and anticipate that to grow higher once its Falcon 6X and 10X reach the market in the coming years.
Dassault further has received strong interest, including a “significant number of orders” from the Middle East for its 6X that is slated to enter service in mid-2023. Several deliveries are lined up to the region shortly after the wide-cabin model enters service, the French airframer said, adding the 6X is in its final stages of flight testing.
Its upcoming ultra-long-range Falcon 10X will build on that once it hits the market in late 2025, according to the company.
As the Falcon fleet continues to multiply, Dassault Aviation is expanding on its services capabilities, including the planned opening of an ExecuJet MRO Services 15,000-sq-m (163,000-sq-ft) center in early 2023 at Dubai World Central. Serving operators in the Gulf region, the facility will be able to accommodate between 18 and 24 aircraft simultaneously and will be qualified to handle a full range of MRO activities.
It is not a change in the season I am contemplating, though it may seem a bit cooler. Rather, a change in the preowned business aircraft market environment of late. I am not here to declare a large swing in our market, but I am going to lay out the areas of change that I see and feel. I am always careful about shouting that change is here until it is.
The obvious and often discussed headwinds of recession, interest rate hikes, and geopolitical challenges are all reasons that many of the prognosticators are guessing about our future. I want to talk about the effects of these indicators.
I looked at Amstat for 11 months of retail-to-retail business jet sales for the period between January 2020 and November 2020, and there were 1,795 aircraft sold. In fact, that was up from the same period one year earlier.
As we all remember, this was the beginning of the Covid pandemic and none of us as industry professionals or our clients knew what the effect of this would be on our industry. But 2020 turned out to be one of the very best transaction years in our history.
The FAA has certified the PW812D turbofan engine that will power Dassault’s Falcon 6X, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) announced today. It’s the third aviation regulator to approve the P&WC engine variant.
“The engine has also been certified by Transport Canada and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency,” said P&WC president Maria Della Posta. “We successfully achieved this critical step by working closely with Dassault since the launch of the 6X program.”
FAA certification comes after P&WC completed some 6,100 hours of engine testing. That includes more than 1,150 hours of flight testing and 20,000 hours on the PW812D core, which is shared with the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine that has flown more than 15 million hours since its 2016 launch.
In terms of environmental impact, the PW800 engine family offers double-digit improvement in fuel burn, emissions, and noise, according to P&WC. It also can fly on a 50 percent sustainable aviation fuel blend and requires 40 percent less scheduled maintenance and 20 percent fewer inspections than other engines in its class.
Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier noted that the milestone certification keeps the 6X on track for service entry in mid-2023. “Together, the PW812D engine and Falcon 6X aircraft are a winning combination, designed to set the bar in fuel efficiency, performance, and comfort,” he said.
FBO operator Jet Access has begun construction on an 80,000-sq-ft FBO complex and MRO facility on the southwestern side of Dallas Executive Airport through a partnership with developer Burchfield & Partners and the city of Dallas.
The 14-month-long project calls for two buildings that will feature a terminal and hangars, as well as Class A offices, conference rooms, a pilot lounge and theater room, sleep rooms, and a kitchenette. MRO services include scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, avionics installation and repair, pre-purchase inspections, AOG, engineering and supplemental type certificate development, and paint and composite repairs.
“Expanding our maintenance and FBO operations in Dallas will bring high-paying jobs for skilled maintenance technicians and provide support for aircraft owners and corporations who rely on business aviation,” said Jet Access CEO Quinn Ricker.
Based in Indianapolis, Jet Access has operations in Indiana, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas. The company employs nearly 400 people.
Aircraft charter-management provider Prime Jet has integrated its continuing analysis and surveillance system (CASS) with the Wyvern safety management system (SMS) software. CASS helps operators “monitor, analyze, and optimize the performance and effectiveness of their aircraft maintenance programs,” according to Wyvern.
Prime Jet’s FAA Flight Standards District Office has given “the nod” to the CASS-SMS integration, and the company is one of the first to have accomplished this. The company also became a Wyvern Wingman Pro operator as part of Wyvern’s Flight Leader Program.
By integrating Wyvern’s QSMS with CASS, Prime Jet gains the ability to share real-time aircraft disposition via an aircraft maintenance dashboard with any employee, including preflight minimum equipment list (MEL) and flight-risk assessment tool information; deliver maintenance discrepancy writeups as part of the post-flight briefing review and track and clear discrepancies; integrate MEL support, route surveillance, and associated findings into SMS processes; automate data collection, collation, and reporting for FAA requirements; and view detailed and customized reporting and trend analysis information.
"CASS and SMS are a natural fit because they both require processes to identify safety issues, apply corrective actions, and assure the corrections are effective,” said Wyvern CEO Sonnie Bates. “By integrating the two solutions, Wyvern improved Prime Jets' efficiency and effectiveness in identifying and managing risk in aircraft maintenance."
NBAA has lined up U.S. Air Force combat veteran and former Thunderbird lead solo Michelle “Mace” Curran as the keynote speaker at the 2023 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC2023) scheduled for January 24 to 26 at Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We are honored to have Michelle join us at SDC2023 as keynote speaker. She is an inspiration to all of us and epitomizes the courage, skill, and values of our industry’s most illustrious aviators,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “I know attendees to SDC2023 will appreciate hearing Michelle’s perspectives and insights.”
An F-16 combat fighter pilot who flew missions in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, Curran served as the only female pilot for the Thunderbirds demonstration squadron from 2019 to 2021. During her USAF career, she also was an F-16 instructor pilot and flight commander at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas.
Following her retirement from the military, Curran founded Upside Down Dreams to inspire and empower people of all ages to overcome obstacles and fear of failure. She further volunteers at the Veterans’ Outdoor Advocacy Group.
Cabin accessories designer Primadonna announced its PrimaLux FlexFrame bed, an entirely new-design system for in-flight sleep, has garnered “many orders” since its debut at NBAA-BACE. Weighing just six pounds, the carbon fiber FlexFrame system is customized to fit securely between two single club or conference seats and is topped by a multilayer memory foam mattress available in three comfort levels, “allowing a sleep experience personalized to passenger preference,” according to the Tucson, Arizona-based company.
“As the latest aircraft benefit from longer and longer range, sleep solutions become a more important aspect of private flight,” said Primadonna CEO Seth Newman.
Named FlexFrame for its adaptability to most large and midsize business jets, the system combines design with high-quality materials and can be easily set up or stowed “in seconds” by a cabin attendant, Newman added. When not in use, components are kept in compression storage bags with custom embroidery for easy identification. The list of compatible aircraft the PrimaLux bed system is designed for includes most Gulfstreams; Bombardier Challengers and Globals; Dassault Falcons; and Embraer Legacy, Lineage, and Praetor models.
The Bell Training Academy (BTA) said it has exceeded 230,000 flight training hours provided to customers from more than 135 countries. Founded in 1947, some 130,000 pilots have completed commercial, military, or technical pilot training at BTA.
The company employs more than 30 former U.S. military flight instructors to support the U.S. and foreign military training provided by Bell. In addition to the BTA at Bell’s Fort Worth, Texas headquarters, the company operates specialized training facilities in Valencia, Spain, and Singapore. The Valencia facility provides training for the Bell 429 light twin, including a level-D flight simulator, while the Singapore Seletar Aerospace Park location focuses on maintenance training.
Current customers receive customizable, interactive classroom instruction with 3D courseware and train on advanced simulators. Outside of the classroom, pilots receive one-on-one mechanical and flight training on Bell-owned aircraft, including the Bell 505 light turbine single.
Bell maintenance instructor Rena Smith calls the 505 “an exceptional aircraft with advanced training capabilities [that] continues to be the chosen aircraft for military and commercial training worldwide.”
Photo of the Week
Doing the wave. Corporate pilot Jim Wherry visually captured these mountain waves while flying east of Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado. “I’ve been flying many years and have been in many levels of mountain waves, but this is the first time I’ve actually been able to see it,” he said. Thanks for sharing, Jim!
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