Fargo Jet Center (FJC), the lone FBO at Hector International Airport (KFAR) in North Dakota, has broken ground on a 112,000-sq-ft hangar and office complex. The $22 million project will consist of a 27,000-sq-ft maintenance hangar to house the company’s growing Part 145 repair station, and a 23,000-sq-ft hangar dedicated to FJC’s aircraft special-mission modification business and aerospace engineering department. Both hangars will feature 30-foot-high doors to accommodate ultra-long-range aircraft.
The expansion will also provide a headquarters for sister company Weather Modification International, FJC’s flight school, and free up space in its existing 126,000 sq ft of hangars for based and transient aircraft. Construction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of next year.
“This expansion will help accommodate the growing aviation needs of the Fargo region and better serve clients that bring their aircraft to us from all over the world,” said Fargo Jet Center president Jim Sweeney. “The investment in facilities and equipment is a commitment to supporting our team members, fostering new opportunities, and improving our customer experience.”
AINsight: CBD Still Risky Business for Pilots
In multiple prior blogs, I have discussed the risks that pilots take by consuming products that contain CBD (cannabidiol). As you probably already know, CBD products are, for the most part, “legal” (with variations on their acceptance on a state-by-state basis). This substance is manufactured from the cannabis plant (marijuana) with low quantities of the active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), made legal per the Farm Bill of 2018.
Not all states have legalized the use of CBD or marijuana itself, but more and more are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon. Other than the very low quantities of THC permitted by the Farm Bill, overall marijuana and THC consumption remain illegal under federal law.
CBD is promoted to have many potential benefits, which I have discussed previously. These can include treatments for anxiety, musculoskeletal pain, improvements in sleep, and jet lag, for example. For these reasons, the use of CBD products continues to increase, including in the pilot population. I make no claims about the effectiveness of CBD for any of its purported uses, but many people do report anecdotally of its beneficial effects.
My point today is to reiterate and expand on comments that I’ve made in prior blogs, based on recent clarifications made by the FAA.
A few months ago, the FAA put out guidance explaining that while it cannot restrict a pilot from taking a legal substance, there may be consequences to their FAA medical and airman certification status as a result.
Following denial on September 26 of SmartSky Networks’ motion for a preliminary injunction against Gogo Business Aviation’s 5G air-to-ground connectivity network, SmartSky has appealed that decision. Gogo’s 5G network is expected to go live later this year, and the company is working with partners on 5G upgrade programs for aircraft already equipped with its Avance L5 system.
In its appeal filed today, SmartSky is asking the Federal Circuit to reconsider the preliminary injunction decision. SmartSky had asked the court to prevent Gogo from selling 5G services because it believes that Gogo is infringing SmartSky patents.
“SmartSky contends that multiple material legal and factual errors in last month’s opinion from the Delaware District Court merit further review by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,” the company said in a release issued today.
“A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary measure, and this is an extraordinary case of infringement,” said SmartSky CEO Dave Helfgott. “Patent holder rights must be respected, or else big monopolies will continue to try and strangle innovation out of their marketplace.”
The case continues with SmartSky planning to file appeal briefs later this year. The company expects a ruling by the Court of Appeals in the second or third quarter of 2023, but it also expects the underlying infringement case to proceed in Delaware District Court.
Two weeks after Central Florida was ravaged by Hurricane Ian, Naples Municipal Airport (KAPF) will resume regular operating hours today.
The dedicated business and general aviation airport was inundated by storm surge and suffered damage to its lighting system, which limited operations to daylight hours once the runways and taxiways were cleaned up.
Full service to 5,000-foot Runway 14/32 has been restored for all flights through the assistance of Southwest Florida Regional Airport, Martin County Airport, Lake Charles Regional Airport, Orlando International Airport, Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, and the Southeast Airports Disaster Operations Group, which provided materials and technical staff to restore the damaged lighting.
Repairs continue on KAPF’s 6,600-foot Runway 5/23, which remains open only from 7 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
Naples Aviation, the airport-operated FBO, resumed its normal operating hours today, mirroring that of the airport's of 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. The FBO ends fueling at 9:30 p.m.
The Relationship of Technology and Corporate Flight Departments - Q&A
Join myairops for a question and answers session focused on US Corporate Flight Departments. Tim Ford, President of myairops, provides market insights in addition to providing a view on the challenges that corporate flight departments face and how a transition to a new platform could drive greater efficiencies.
The available inventory of preowned business aircraft crept up in the third quarter, but so too did the overall asking price, according to the latest report from Asset Insight.
Demand remained strong and the quality rating of the for-sale fleet fell into Asset Insight’s “excellent range.” A further encouraging sign in the preowned market was that the maintenance exposure—the cost of embedded or accrued maintenance needs for available aircraft—remained stable, Asset Insight reported.
The percent of the active fleet listed for sale has inched up from the trough earlier this year to 4 percent. While inventory has increased monthly since March, this is still below the total percentage of 5.6 percent of the September 2021 available fleet that Asset Insight tracks. Turboprops and large aircraft are in the shortest supply at 3.2 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. Young, low-time inventory remains scarce, the aircraft valuation specialist added.
Pricing, meanwhile, is up 8.9 percent on average in the third quarter and up 53.8 percent from September of a year ago. Light and midsize jets are leading the year-over-year gains, up 67.6 percent and 60.2 percent, respectively. Since the beginning of the year, midsize jet asking prices have soared by 140.3 percent.
California-based Archer Aviation is planning to reveal the initial production version of “Midnight” during a special event at its new San Jose headquarters on November 16.
Midnight is a fully electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi designed to carry four passengers plus one pilot to a range of 100 miles on a single charge. However, Archer says it’s mostly intended for shorter, successive flights of around 20 miles, with about 10 minutes of charging time required between each trip.
The company announced in August that it had completed the preliminary design review for the new aircraft, which it says is on track to enter service in the U.S. in 2025. Also in August, United Airlines placed a $10 million down payment for 100 of Archer’s eVTOL air taxis, which the airline plans to use to transport passengers to and from its main hubs.
Archer revealed its first eVTOL prototype, Maker, in June 2021. Maker is a two-seat technology demonstrator that the company has flown more than 1,000 times since its test flight campaign began in December. Although Archer is now focused on developing Midnight, the company isn’t ready to wrap up Maker’s flight campaign just yet.
“Maker’s flight test program continues to provide vital data to support the development and design of Midnight,” Archer co-founder and CEO Adam Goldstein said.
Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.
Textron Aviation Defense’s Beechcraft division in Wichita has handed over the 1,000th T-6 Texan II, the company announced this week. This achievement followed soon after the global fleet had surpassed the five million flight-hour milestone. The 1,000th aircraft is a T-6C, one of five for the Colombian air force’s Escuadrón de Combate 116 at Palanquero.
With the internal designation of Model 3000, the T-6 is an Americanized version of the Pilatus PC-9. Beechcraft—at the time owned by Raytheon—modified the aircraft as the PC-9 Mk II to meet the requirements for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System competition. It was declared the winner in 1995, leading to a large-scale purchase to replace the Cessna T-37s of the U.S. Air Force and the Beech T-34C Turbo-Mentors of the U.S. Navy. The T-6A Texan II first flew on July 15, 1998, and the aircraft entered service with the U.S. Air Force in late 2000.
Beechcraft has produced five trainer versions. The initial T-6A was followed by the T-6B for the Navy with a digital “glass” cockpit, which was further enhanced as the T-6C, primarily for export. A small number of the T-6D—a hybrid of the T-6B and C—was procured by the U.S. Army. The CT-156 Harvard II is a version similar to the T-6A for the NATO Flying Training in Canada. A number of armed versions have also been produced.
Western Aircraft and Gogo Business Aviation are partnering on the development of a supplemental type certificate (STC) for Gogo’s 5G inflight connectivity system on the Pilatus PC-24 twinjet. The STC will be available for PC-24 owners who install the Gogo Avance L5 air-to-ground system along with the full Gogo 5G provisional kit that will accelerate installation once the STC is approved.
Boise, Idaho-based Western Aircraft, a Greenwich AeroGroup company, completed the first aftermarket STC installation of the Gogo Avance L3 system on a Pilatus PC-12 turboprop in late 2020. Kerry Heiss, Western Aircraft director of sales and marketing, noted the company has serviced Pilatus aircraft for a quarter of a century.
“The Western Aircraft team is a long-standing, valued partner with Gogo,” said Gogo v-p of aftermarket sales David Salvador. “We’re excited to see their continued investments that will bring Pilatus PC-24 aircraft owners and operators this quality certification for the Gogo 5G system. Meeting future data demands in flight starts with a Gogo 5G investment today.”
In late July, Gogo announced its U.S. 5G network was on schedule for launch by the end of the year. The 5G service is expected to deliver an average of 25 Mbps, with peak speeds of up to 80 Mbps.
Flying Aboard Xwing's Self-flying Grand Caravan
Autonomous flight pioneer Xwing brought Hanneke Weitering, a reporter for AIN affiliate FutureFlight, along for a demonstration ride on the company’s modified Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. She is one of a small number of passengers to have flown in the experimental aircraft, which is mainly intended for cargo operations. For now, Xwing’s autonomous flights always have a safety pilot on board, but the company plans to operate a fleet of pilotless cargo airplanes after it receives supplemental type certification from the FAA, which it expects to achieve in 2024.
Photo of the Week
Back to BACE(s). AIN photographer David McIntosh snapped this photo at the 2018 NBAA-BACE static display, the last time the event was held in Orlando. NBAA called that event a “huge success” with more than 23,000 attendees, 1,000 exhibitors, and 100 aircraft on static display. After the pandemic-related hiatus in 2020, BACE returns to Orlando this year and is expected to resume its bustling pace. Thanks for sharing David!
Keep them coming. If you’d like to submit an entry for Photo of the Week, email a high-resolution horizontal image (at least 2000 x 1200 pixels), along with your name, contact information, social media names, and info about it (including brief description, location, etc.) to photos@ainonline.com. Tail numbers can be removed upon request. Those submitting photos give AIN implied consent to publish them in its publications and social media channels.
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