Bell has reached a milestone in sustainability, logging more than 700 flight hours burning blended sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on one of its light-single Bell 505 helicopters. In 2021, the rotorcraft manufacturer stated it would incorporate the use of SAF in its demonstration fleet and at its helicopter training academy.

A year later, Bell announced a partnership with Safran Helicopter Engines to explore technical performance and economic impacts of SAF on the Safran Arrius 2R-powered Model 505. The 505 made its first flight on unblended, 100% SAF in early 2023, making it the first single-engine helicopter to do so.

“We are particularly pleased with these SAF flights in partnership with Bell,” said Jean-François Sauer, executive v-p of programs with Safran Helicopter Engines, adding SAF is key to more sustainable helicopter use.

SAF is approved for commercial use in blends of up to 50% with jet-A. “Very soon, our engines will be capable of 100% drop-in SAF, paving the way for wider use of this type of fuel for increased sustainability of helicopter operations,” Sauer noted.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told attendees at a Honeywell aviation leadership summit last week that he doesn’t have the additional $20 billion needed to build a common ATC automation platform yet, but he thinks he will get it. The reconciliation budget bill passed in July allocated $12.5 billion for ATC modernization to start the program for a “brand new” ATC system, and officials have referred to that funding as a down payment.

Duffy told AIN that the initial phase for new equipment, including fiber-optic cable and radar, should be completed in three years. New concepts of operation will come later, as will the common automation platform that takes more time to develop. He said how much time “depends on when we get the money and how fast our corporate partners can provide us options for the new common operating platform. I feel pretty good that we’re going to get the rest of the money…This is bipartisan; it is not a Republican or a Democratic issue.

“I just need a vehicle to get the money, and when you look at what an extra $20 billion will do for the economy and for safety and for the next generation of travelers, it is a cheap investment.” The DOT is in the final stages of selecting a contractor to integrate the new system, Duffy added.

Aircraft management and charter group Luxaviation One has launched a cargo charter department to arrange flights for urgent freight and logistics missions. The Europe-based company announced the initiative today, appointing Alexandra Gobalraja to lead the new business unit.

Luxaviation aims to specialize in supporting clients with time-sensitive deliveries, including humanitarian aid, as well as sourcing aircraft that can carry heavy and outsized cargo. Anticipated flight bookings could include carrying spare parts for grounded aircraft, pharmaceutical and medical supplies, oil and gas equipment, and live animals.

According to the company, its staff will manage each mission from start to finish. The service includes arranging landing and overflight permits, cargo and passenger handling, loading supervision, and cargo inspections.

“Our goal is simple: to provide clients with absolute confidence when moving their most valuable or urgent cargo,” commented Gobalraja, who has over two decades of experience in air transport, freight operations, and logistics. “Every mission is handled with precision, care, and the highest safety standards because in aviation every detail matters.”

Luxaviation One already arranges passenger charter flights. The group manages a network of FBOs with more than 110 facilities worldwide.

Jet Excellence is expanding its wholesale charter model around a growing fleet of Cessna Citation Xs, a direction CEO McQueen Campbell said is rooted in operating economics and scale. He emphasized the importance of matching cost structure to aircraft type and noted that rising operating expenses have altered the economics of light and midsize jets.

The air charter provider already had several Citation Xs in service before the opportunity arose to acquire additional aircraft linked to Vista-associated operations, according to Campbell. “We were already growing. We had seven Citation Xs already. This just gave us a chance to grow faster.” The larger fleet has also helped the company gain the scale it needs, he added.

Much of Jet Excellence’s expansion has centered on wholesale relationships, which Campbell described as involving strong ties with brokers and jet card providers. At the same time, he said the company is not aiming for rapid expansion at the expense of quality. “We’re not trying to be the biggest. We’re trying to be the best.”

Looking ahead, Campbell emphasized building out operations internally. “We’ve got to continue to build our team…to work the size of the fleet that we’ve got now,” he said.

How automation is helping cut a GTF assembly process time in half.

A Raytheon Hawker 800XP that crashed on October 16 is at least the fourth reported accident or incident in the U.S. involving required post-maintenance stall testing in a business jet, according to the NTSB preliminary report. The aircraft was destroyed and both pilots and the passenger were killed in the accident.

Accident investigators found that the crew had opted to perform the stall tests without using a test pilot after the twinjet had undergone months of routine maintenance at Duncan Aviation’s Battle Creek, Michigan facility. The Mexican-registered aircraft, XA-JMR, operated by Aerolíneas del Centro, departed Battle Creek Executive Airport (KBTL) at 5:08 p.m. local time for a local flight required by maintenance updates. 

Duncan personnel told the NTSB that they had provided the captain “with a list of experienced test pilots, for hire, to perform the post-maintenance stall test flight.” However, because the Aerolíneas del Centro crew could not coordinate schedules with a qualified test pilot, they “elected to perform the post-maintenance stall test themselves.”

A strong caution in the pilot operator’s manual warns that a “tendency to roll the stall” is a frequent source of unacceptable stall behavior, and that aileron snatch “may be strong enough to affect recovery using aileron input.”

European Heli Centre (EHC) has begun construction of its new helicopter training facility at Lelystad Airport, the Netherlands. Opening is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

A central element of the site will be the Reiser-built full-flight simulator, supporting students on the Airbus Helicopters H135 and H145. An agreement for this training aid was signed in March, preceding a joint project kick-off meeting at Reiser’s Bavarian headquarters in June. “We are proud to see this project advancing exactly as planned,” said Reiser simulation and training CEO Johannes Hain.

The Lelystad center “marks a major step in establishing EHC’s new European headquarters,” the company said. Augmenting existing sites in the Netherlands and Norway, it is designed to support multi-mission training for EMS, offshore, police, military, and commercial helicopter operators.

EHC is already working with operators and pilots to begin planning their future training requirements, including “planning customized training paths and logistical coordination to ensure a smooth transition once training begins in 2027,” it noted.

Florida aims to become the top user of advanced air mobility (AAM) anywhere, Florida Department of Transportation secretary Jared Perdue told aviation executives last week at the Honeywell American Aviation Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. He described an ambitious initiative to create the aerial network, digital infrastructure, technology, workforce, and policies needed to attract and retain AAM operators.

Perdue said Florida is moving ahead rapidly with drone operations for law enforcement, emergency response, deliveries, and infrastructure inspection. When a hurricane hits, drones can assess the damage immediately for rapid response. EVTOLs are also seen as a major benefit for inner- and intra-city traffic and for relieving road congestion.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently plowed $4 billion in state surplus into transportation infrastructure. The Florida DOT is involving the AAM industry, local government, airports, universities, and other partners in creating a handbook for operations, setting policy and standards, and passing multiple bills in the state legislature.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is using its Daytona Beach research park for AAM to help support the state’s drive to have AAM make a difference in Florida, according to Rodney Cruise, senior v-p and COO at ERAU. Florida DOT also has an air/ground test center. In a Florida DOT promotional video, a vertiport company leader said the state is “light-years ahead” of others on AAM.

The chairman of the House Artificial Intelligence task force believes AI will be useful in aviation, but cautioned that trusting it is another matter. Some believe AI is here now for aviation, and some think it is a decade or more out, AI task force chair Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-California) told attendees at Honeywell's American Aviation Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. last week.

"We need to do everything we can to put ourselves in a place where we can keep pace and deploy AI safely and intelligently,” he said.

General Aviation Manufacturers Association director of global innovation and policy David Dunning shared the stage with Obernolte during the session. He asked if AI needs to be challenged. “Sure,” replied Obernolte, “Never, never, ever assume that AI is correct if for no other reason than it is trained on broad information that is fallible.”

The task force wants domains like aviation to regulate the use of AI through existing agencies such as the FAA. There needs to be guardrails, Obernolte said.

Obernolte has a masters in AI from UCLA and is a CFI and commercial helicopter pilot. He said if he were flying into an uncontrolled airport, AI could tell him that a student pilot would be on downwind when he is. He wouldn’t trust the position prediction, but the heads-up would be useful.