TAC Air Expands Network with Buffalo FBO Purchase

TAC Air has enlarged its FBO network with the purchase of Prior Aviation, the lone service provider at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, which has been in business for nearly six decades. While TAC Air will assume the FBO duties, Prior will retain its aircraft charter and flight training businesses. The 24/7 facility provides all fueling at the upstate New York airport for both commercial and general aviation, as well as all deicing services.

The 16-acre complex includes an 8,000-sq-ft terminal with pilot lounge, conference room, crew cars, car rental, on-site U.S. Customs, and 50,000 sq ft of office space. Its 70,000-sq-ft heated hangar, which can accommodate aircraft up to a Bombardier Global 6000, is currently home to 10 private jets, two turboprops, and 14 piston-powered aircraft.

For Tac Air, which operates at a string of mainly central U.S. airports, this will be its northernmost location, and TAC Air plans to retain its 120 employees.

“We are excited to have the Buffalo team join the TAC Air family as our 16th FBO location,” Joe Gibney, the company’s COO, told AIN, “and look forward to great work from the line service, customer service, aircraft and GSE maintenance, commercial fueling, cargo and sports charter management teams, delivering on the promise of being a full-service FBO to western New York private aircraft visitors.”

Garmin Unveils D2 Air Aviation Smartwatch

The D2 Air smartwatch that Garmin unveiled yesterday is the company's first touchscreen aviation watch and, at $499, is substantially less expensive than earlier Garmin watches for pilots. Garmin's D2 Air has most of the features of the company's more expensive watches, except for the moving map. It offers a pulse oximeter, aviation weather, navigation using direct-to and nearest functions, flight plan transfer from the Garmin Pilot app, flight logging, Garmin activity features, Garmin Pay contactless payments, music, and notifications.

In addition to Metars and TAFs, airport information includes runway orientation with wind components, runway lengths, airport frequencies, and traffic pattern altitudes. Included with the D2 Air is a worldwide navigation database with navaids and intersections. Pilots can view a three-axis compass and horizontal situation indicator and altimeter with adjustable baro setting; set alerts for altitude, speed, time, and distance; and use a fuel timer. The Garmin Pilot app logbook can be synched with postflight information from the watch. 

Battery time on the D2 Air is up to five days or 10 hours when using GPS and the pulse oximeter. The bezel size is 42.2 mm and the damage-resistant Amoled screen is made of Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Bell Continues European Mx Network Build Out

Bell Textron is continuing its European expansion with the appointment of a third MRO provider to support its customers there, this one in Germany. The Fort Worth, Texas-based rotorcraft manufacturer today named Intercopter in Taufkirchen, Germany, as an authorized maintenance center (AMC) in the region. Intercopter joins AMCs in Poland and Denmark—its first two centers in the region.

“We are looking to grow our footprint in Europe and as I’m from the Netherlands, I recognize very much that Germany is a very important player here,” Bell managing director for Europe and Russia Duncan Van De Velde told AIN. “We have quite a support network…but that customer base is so spread out over Europe we constantly look for where we need to be.”

AMCs serve as line maintenance stations and augment Bell’s 12 customer service facilities and one company-owned service center in Prague, the latter two of which provide heavy maintenance as well as parts and component overhaul. 

The addition of AMCs in Europe is due in part to supporting the 505 Jet Ranger X, he said. So far, Bell has delivered 53 of the light single helicopter to European customers. He added that the AMCs also serve to build brand awareness in a region that competitors Airbus and Leonardo call home.

Skytrac To Make Iridium Certus Terminals

Skytrac Systems has become a value-added manufacturer for Iridium’s Certus 9810 modem. Iridium’s Certus network runs on the satellite operator’s Next network, which provides much faster speeds than the classic Iridium constellation. The new Certus modem enables manufacturers to build satcom terminals capable of streaming video and other bandwidth-intensive communications. 

In 2021, Skytrac will introduce the SDL-350, a 2-MCU system capable of upload and download speeds up to 352 kbps. According to Skytrac, in addition to live video streaming, the SDL-350 will be able to offer customers EO/IR imaging, telemedicine, timely recovery of flight data, large file transfers, credit card processing, Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System, and other critical communications services.

A lower-cost midband option will also be available, the Skytrac ISAT-200A-08 using Iridium’s Certus 9770 modem, with speeds of 22 kbps (upload) and 88 kbps (download). This unit will be capable of satcom voice and messaging, push-to-talk, flight data acquisition and monitoring, electronic flight bag automation, and real-time health and usage monitoring.

Skytrac is also an Iridium service provider, so customers can purchase hardware and service from the same source, as well as provide Iridium service for other satcom manufacturers that are not also service providers. The company will also help with the development and manufacturing of supplemental type certification and installation kits for the new systems.

FAA Gets Reprieve with Stopgap Bill

A stopgap funding bill that cleared the House of Representatives last week and the Senate yesterday will keep government agencies operating, including the FAA, through December 11. Signed by the president immediately after Senate passage, the bill was enacted hours before Fiscal Year 2020 expired, averting another government-wide shutdown. The bill was a relatively straightforward extension of government funding at levels that had been established in FY2020 appropriations.

Passage of the continuing resolution enables Congress to push off debate on most of the funding until after the November elections. The House already has approved its version of the full-year FY2021 transportation funding bill. That measure, included in a larger “minibus” that involved several other agencies, cleared the House in late July, shortly before it took an August break.

That bill would provide $18.1 billion for the FAA in the 2021 budget, marking a $522 million boost over 2020. It included additional funds for the agency’s safety efforts and airports. The Senate has not yet acted on transportation funding for the FY2021 budget.

C&L Named Distributor for Thomas Global EFIS Displays

C&L Aviation Group will become a distributor of Thomas Global Systems’ TFD-8601 upgrade for legacy EFD-86 cathode ray tube (CRT) displays under a new agreement. The TFD-8601 serves as an analog-to-digital upgrade using a liquid crystal display for a number of regional and business jet types, including the Saab 340, Embraer Brasilia, Challenger 600 series, Dassault Falcon 10/50/20/100, Gulfstream/Astra 1125, and Hawker 800.

A plug-and-play system for existing CRTs, the TFD-8601 electronic flight instrument system enables operators to make an instant conversion without changing an aircraft’s cockpit panels or wiring.

“Thomas Global is a premier manufacturer of aviation electronic systems and we are excited to provide CRT display solutions and long-term value to our customers on both the regional and corporate side of aviation,” said C&L Aerospace senior v-p of sales Martin Cooper. “We are honored that Thomas Global has selected us as a valued partner ensuring that airlines, MROs, and corporate operators worldwide have access to their products.”

House Panel OKs Bill To Bolster Cert Oversight

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) yesterday approved by voice vote a comprehensive bill designed to address many of the issues that were raised over the past 18 months in the myriad reviews, reports, and investigations surrounding the Boeing 737 Max crashes.

Unveiled on Monday in a bipartisan fashion by the leadership of the House T&I Committee and the aviation subcommittee, the bill, H.R.8408, the Aircraft Certification Reform and Accountability Act, includes more than two dozen recommendations to strengthen FAA oversight of certification and Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) activities involving transport-category (Part 25) aircraft.

H.R.8408 includes many of the safety goals of legislation introduced last summer by Senate Commerce Committee chairman Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) to address some of the recommendations resulting from the Max crashes investigations and to improve management of the ODA program. Both bills would mandate that manufacturers adopt safety management systems, a requirement largely welcomed within the industry. Neither bill prohibits the use of ODAs, but both seek to strengthen oversight of them. 

The House bill calls for comprehensive periodic reviews of each manufacturing ODA capability and would step up oversight of certain individuals involved in ODA activity. It would also set aside $27 million each year through Fiscal Year 2023 to enable the FAA to strengthen its certification oversight staff and add layers of oversight.

UAS Groups Prod DOT on Remote ID Rule

A trio of UAS industry groups is urging the FAA not to delay the intended December release of rulemaking covering remote identification requirements (ID) for unmanned aerial systems. In a letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the Consumer Technology Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Engagement Center encouraged the Department of Transportation and the FAA to proceed without delay and “support a final rule that sets performance requirements, rather than specifying particular solutions for remote ID compliance.”

The groups noted that they all had provided substantial input regarding “minor changes” sought to the prospective rule to DOT during the notice of proposed rulemaking public comment period and hoped “these changes have been considered.” 

The industry groups noted that remote ID standards will be “the linchpin needed for future rulemaking to pave the way for transformative uses of UAS with significant benefits for our economy and society.” They also pointed out other benefits of the technology, including real-time UAS identification, safer and more secure airspace, the role the technology is likely to have in developing UAS traffic management, and “driving public acceptance of UAS.”

Webinar: Making Bizav Environmentally Sustainable

Making aviation environmentally sustainable is now a business opportunity, as much as an unavoidable imperative. Social, political, and market pressures are converging to provide fresh impetus for business aviation to reduce its environmental footprint. Our webinar will consider the key paths to cutting carbon emissions, including new fuels, as well as other efficiencies within the industry’s operations. Join us on October 15 at 1:30 p.m. EDT as AIN senior editor Charles Alcock moderates this discussion with Keith R. Sawyer, manager of alternative fuels at Avfuel.

Opening a New FBO Is a Challenge

To build a modern FBO takes a great deal of time and resources. Airports will typically issue a request for proposals when an existing service provider’s lease ends or if the airport wishes to add another FBO. Once selected, a company will have to invest significantly in the design and construction of a new facility.