Leonardo's AW609 civil tiltrotor is making its NBAA-BACE debut alongside a VIP interior mockup for the aircraft. The move comes as the first flight of the initial production aircraft is “imminent,” according to Leonardo. That aircraft, which will join the flight-test campaign in Philadelphia as AC5, is slated for eventual delivery to the Bristow Group, the aircraft’s launch customer.
Executive interest in the aircraft is growing and the flight-test campaign is nearing completion, according to AW609 marketing manager William Sunick. He said the test fleet has accumulated 1,800 flight hours to date and that plans are to continue the flight-test program into 2023.
In Philadelphia, Leonardo is gearing up for the AW609’s entry into service, installing a full-flight simulator and a virtual technology procedural trainer for pilots and maintenance trainers, including an engine.
While Leonardo has not finalized the values recorded in noise testing, Sunick said the company expects the AW609 will meet all existing standards and be a good neighbor by virtue of its design. “Noise travels in the plane of the rotor disk. That is why you can hear a helicopter coming well before you can see it. But when the 609 is flying in airplane mode, the sound is more vertical, you really only hear the aircraft when it is on top of you.”
The business aviation market could see as many as 8,500 new jet deliveries worth $274 billion over the next decade, according to the just-released results from Honeywell Aerospace’s 31st annual Global Business Aviation Outlook. It also calls for 700 business jet deliveries this year, and a 17 percent increase next year, along with a 20 percent boost over 2022 billings.
Based on the results of this year’s survey and airframer backlogs, that trend will continue through the next decade. “I would say the most surprising thing was the 15 percent jump in the 10-year forecast, not just in terms of units, but also in terms of expenditures,” said Javier Jimenez Serrano, strategy and market research manager at Honeywell Aerospace.
New jet deliveries and expenditures are projected to grow at a 2 percent annual average rate, keeping pace with worldwide economic growth. The forecast extrapolates direct results from the annual survey of operators chosen from the global pool based on market segment, geographic area, and type of aircraft used for the first half of the 10-year forecast window, and then distills econometric data for the remaining five years.
Operator five-year purchase plans are up by three percentage points compared with last year’s survey results, reaching pre-Covid 2019 levels and equaling a 17 percent replacement of the current fleet.
Honeywell will provide its Anthem integrated flight deck for Supernal’s five-seat eVTOL. On Monday, the advanced air mobility division of Korean car maker Hyundai confirmed it will use the always-on cloud-based avionics suite that Honeywell introduced in October 2021 as a versatile platform that can be adapted for multiple aircraft types.
Supernal expects the Anthem system to deliver the connectivity it needs to integrate an array of complex technology it will be using for the SA-1 eVTOL vehicle that it wants to get into commercial service in 2028. Anthem will also underpin the company’s efforts to achieve high degrees of autonomy in the way the aircraft is operated.
The SA-1 is the third application for the Anthem flight deck, which has already been selected by rival eVTOL aircraft developers Lilium and Vertical Aerospace. Honeywell said the system can be readily adapted to support a wide variety of business aircraft and airliners.
Anthem will allow pilots to share data via the internet and also to access software while online inflight. Before departure, pilots can plan flights and configure the avionics suite offline by accessing the Honeywell Forge platform on any smart device. A secure server stores information about the aircraft, and the flight crew can access this remotely.
Supernal expects to start the FAA’s type certification process for the SA-1 in 2024.
A decade after NBAA’s annual convention in Orlando weathered through the vestiges of Hurricane Sandy, the 2022 BACE is moving forward also in the Central Florida city on October 18 through 20 in the wake of the more recent Hurricane Ian that ripped through the state in late September. And like the 2012 event, NBAA-BACE 2022 is providing an opportunity for the business aviation community to respond and show its resiliency, the association said.
“Despite the storm’s impact on Florida’s Gulf Coast, the facilities for NBAA-BACE 2022 in Orlando remain ready for the show,” NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen said, shortly after confirming that the Orange County Convention Center and other facilities were not harmed by the storm.
NBAA also said its members were mobilizing to assist Floridians, including the activation of the NBAA Humanitarian Emergency Response Operator database and events planned during BACE to forward those efforts, including a YoPro Networking Reception and “Helpy Hour” on October 18, when business aviation professionals will work together on relief packages and assistance to local charities.
With the pandemic sidelining the planned 2020 BACE, the annual convention is returning to Florida for the first time since 2018. This year’s event has more than 800 exhibitors and 70 static display aircraft listed and as in the past is expected to draw thousands of attendees.
From email to streaming video, today’s business jet travelers demand the same connectivity experience in the cabin as they enjoy in their offices. The only way to meet that expectation is to use a network with the peak output capacity required to avoid data slowdowns.
Rolls-Royce plans to fly its first Pearl 10X engine for the ultra-long-range Dassault Falcon 10X in the second quarter of next year. Philipp Zeller, Rolls-Royce senior v-p for Dassault, said flight tests of the engine will be conducted on Roll-Royce’s Boeing 747-200 flying testbed in Tucson, Arizona. The tests will involve four engines that collectively will fly for approximately 100 hours. After successful flight testing, the engines will be shipped to Dassault.
Dassault unveiled plans for the 115,000-pound mtow Falcon 10X in May 2021. The French aircraft manufacturer expects the $75 million, 7,500-nm twinjet to enter service in 2025.
The Pearl 10X is the most powerful engine in the Pearl family, with more than 18,250 pounds of thrust and 5 percent lower specific fuel consumption compared with similar previous-generation business jet engines. It features an improved thrust-to-weight ratio while maintaining low noise and emissions performance.
In addition to Dassault, the Pearl family of engines has been selected for Bombardier and Gulfstream ultra-long-range jets. The Pearl 15 currently powers the Bombardier Global 5500 and 6500 large-cabin business jets, with 50 of those aircraft already in service. And the Pearl 700 has been selected for the Gulfstream G700 and G800, both of which are slated to enter service next year.
ForeFlight continues to add features for business aviation pilots and operators to its Dispatch software and ForeFlight Mobile electronic flight bag app. This week at NBAA-BACE 2022, the company is highlighting its mobile app, flight planning, runway analysis, integration with Dispatch and Jeppesen charts, and trip-planning services.
While ForeFlight has been widely adopted by business aviation pilots, there is “a misconception we’ve been fighting,” said company content marketing manager Sam Taylor, that some pilots think ForeFlight isn’t useful for filing flight plans all over the world. “People love ForeFlight for the map and flight planning, but then they don’t fully explore the app’s capabilities. They don’t realize it takes just half a dozen taps to have the flight plan filed.”
Pilots who are used to a certain method of filing flight plans might be reluctant to change. “Once they have a workflow with a given filing provider, it can be difficult to switch,” Taylor acknowledged. “But we have seen a very big uptick in flight plan filing in the last three to four years. This is just one example of how ForeFlight is making these sorts of workflows faster and easier.”
Robert Sumwalt—who spent 15 years on the National Transportation Safety Board, including nearly five as chairman—has settled into the role he took on in January as a distinguished fellow in aviation safety and executive director of the new Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety. According to Sumwalt, the center strives to bring “excellence in aviation safety” to education, training, and research, but is weighted toward the latter.
He is working out of a temporary office at the university’s Daytona Beach, Florida campus, but will soon move into the former student fitness center building, which is being remodeled as the aviation safety center’s new home. When renovations are completed in May, the facility will include offices for Sumwalt and his staff, as well as classrooms and conference rooms where aviation safety classes and seminars can be held.
The center he launched from the ground up is tackling a range of safety issues surrounding new technologies, from unmanned aerial systems and urban air mobility technologies to human-machine and machine-to-machine interfaces. It will also encompass areas such as automatic taxiing, the use of artificial intelligence, and streamlined or trajectory-based operations, and could even delve into alternative aviation fuels, new training systems—including virtual and augmented reality tools—and other technologies.
Online fuel marketplace provider FuelerLinx is debuting new capabilities to its fuel availability maps, as well as its popular FBOLinx software. The California-based company has introduced a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) search and purchasing option to its software.
SAF is a crucial component in the industry’s growing efforts to decarbonize, and the addition to the FuelerLinx system will help alleviate problems in sourcing and pricing the renewable fuel. On its online maps, sustainable options will be highlighted with green leaf icons.
“The addition of SAF is a key moment in the evolution of our software, and it underlines FuelerLinx’s commitment to helping our clients on their path to the industry’s net-zero goal,” said company president and CEO Kevin Moller. “Fuelerlinx transacts over 50,000 purchases each month, all of which will now have the ability to find and price sustainable options.”
In addition, the system will produce analytics so customers can track and see where further carbon offsets will be required, according to Jessica McClintock, v-p of global account management. “This level of insight makes Fuelerlinx’s customers better informed and able to manage their fuel purchases and tankering decisions,” she said.
FuelerLinx has also enhanced its FBOLinx subscription product. The improved portal will give its FBO customers the ability to analyze and target flight department demand through data derived from the company’s thousands of fuel transactions each month.
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