Daher’s 940 Wins FAA Approval

Daher’s newest member of the TBM single-turboprop family, the 940, now has U.S. FAA validation. The nod follows EASA certification last spring and comes nearly seven months after the French airframer unveiled the model at the TBM Owners and Pilots Association Safety Seminar in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Succeeding the TBM 930 on the production line, the $4.13 million TBM 940 is equipped with Garmin G3000 avionics, an intuitive single smart engine gauge, and a Daher/Garmin autothrottle, the first single-engine turboprop weighing less than 12,500 introduced with that feature on the production line.

Additionally, the TBM 940 has new functionality through its Garmin GWX 70 radar, including turbulence detection, and along with its sibling TBM 910, comes with a new automatic icing-detection system.

The TBM 940’s cabin also received a refresh with redesigned seats, additional thermal insulation in the cabin sidewalls, a central shelf with side storage, an additional 115-volt electric outlet, and a total of six passenger and three pilot ports.

Deliveries began in June with the first nine shipped in that month, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. But underscoring the importance of U.S. approval, Nicolas Chabbert, senior v-p of the OEM’s airplane business unit, said during EBACE that the majority of orders to that point had come from customers in North America.

AINsight: The State of the Business Aviation Market

As leaders gather in Las Vegas for the annual NBAA-BACE event, many will be keen to get their first glimpse of the newest technologies and services on offer, while gathering market and competitive intelligence. With near-ideal sunny weather forecasted next week, more than 25,000 attendees are expected to crowd the Las Vegas Convention Center and Henderson Executive Airport static display.

With just 74 days until the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, 2019, organizations race to meet the U.S. ADS-B Out mandate. Thousands of business jets and turboprops will not be compliant on Jan. 1, 2020. It is hard to imagine that there won’t be an uptick in aircraft retirements and removals from service in 2020 and beyond.

Meanwhile, business aircraft OEMs and their key suppliers will be basking in the glory of the lights and glitter of Las Vegas, buoyed by a long-awaited rebound in order activity.

With some 35 business jet models currently in production, just a handful are produced in volumes likely to bring smiles to even the sternest CFO’s face—including the Challenger 350, Phenom 300, Citation Latitude, Gulfstream G650, and Cirrus Vision Jet. Promising new models—including the Pilatus PC-24, Global 7500, Gulfstream G500/G600, and Citation Longitude—are in production ramp-up. Combined, we forecast that these models will account for about six out of every ten new business jet deliveries in the next several years.

Flexjet Opens London Office To Support Euro Expansion

Flexjet opened a new office and customer hospitality space this week in London as part of the private aviation group’s plans to expand its presence in the European market. The U.S.-based group said the new facility, located in the upmarket Mayfair district of the UK capital, will provide fractional owners with benefits similar to those available through the Flexjet Red Label program with the Flexjet-Exclusive Private Terminals at airports.

The London office was opened by Marine Eugène, the former NetJets executive who became Flexjet’s European managing director in January. “In the coming year, we expect to make further announcements about our European expansion, including the acquisition of new aircraft, and new programs to expand access for Europe-based customers who surely will gravitate to the Flexjet Red Label experience.”

Flexjet, which is part of the Directional Aviation group of companies, is not yet offering its Flexjet Red Label fractional ownership or 25-hour charter card program from sister company Sentient Jet to customers in Europe. However, Directional does offer ad hoc charter flights in Europe through its Private Fly subsidiary.

To support expansion plans in Europe, the group has opened a European Tactical Control Center at London Luton Airport. In 2016, Flexjet acquired UK-based operator Flairjet and then in 2018 added Italian operator Sirio. 

Kremlin Invites Gulf Monarchs Aboard SSBJ

During Vladimir Putin’s official visits to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi earlier this week, Moscow officials made efforts to interest their Arab hosts in Russia's ambitious aviation projects, most notably the next-gen supersonic jet (SSBJ). The Russian president touched on the theme when talking to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed and ministers discussed the matter during inter-government commissions.

“Russia is interested in cooperation with the Gulf monarchies on the supersonic passenger jet…since they are prepositioned to be customers for such an aircraft,” said Denis Manturov, the Russian minister for industry and trade, after a Russo-Emirati inter-government commission session held this week in Abu Dhabi.

Manturov later noted that investments "can help us materialize such a project. As far as the potential market, this [geographic area] looks like among the main ones that we are interested in.” Earlier, Russian officials outlined plans to market such a project to potential customers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, because in those two regions, “time, distances, and traffic intensity allow for supersonic travel."

Manturov said an SSBJ “demonstrator” will be ready in 2023, paving the way for “the real aircraft” in 2027. He confirmed that the Russian government had provided funds for SSBJ technology demonstrator research and development work between 2019- 2022 to create a base for a draft and detailed design in 2022-2026. 

Ford Patents ‘Vehicle-integrated Drone’

Automaker Ford has patented a “vehicle-integrated drone” that is programmable and can automatically deploy from cars and trucks in emergencies and fly either autonomously or under pilot control to illuminate accident scenes with lights and sirens, stream photos and video, boost emergency communication, and enhance navigation. The law enforcement applications are obvious, but so are those aimed at rural users of unimproved roadways who need to see the road ahead or who travel in areas of spotty/nonexistent cell service. 

The integrated drone is just one of several drone-related technologies Ford is working on, according to a recent company publication. It is also looking at using a drone’s anti-collision lights as an I.D. and tracking solution. This patent-pending idea uses the lights to “broadcast a drone’s 10-digit code in an ASCII-encoded binary signal at a baud rate ” that could be synced for consistency across the system to ensure universal compatibility.

These lights also could be used to communicate system status “with a combination of color and blinks.” The light patterns would be captured and decoded by a camera-based software app that can run on a smartphone, which would allow anyone to identify and report illegal drone operations.

Ford also is developing onboard subsystems to take the place of traditional radio and ADS-B transmitters, saving expense and weight.

Gulfstream Downsizes Administrative Roles

Gulfstream Aerospace has cut 446 positions, or 3.5 percent of its workforce, a move the company said was part of “disciplined business practices” to keep down costs. “Sometimes, when we expand in one area, we have an offsetting contraction in another,” the company said, adding that it has more than doubled its workforce over the past 10 years.

“To ensure Gulfstream’s continued long-term success, we must consistently evaluate the size and structure of the business and adjust accordingly,” it added. “We will continue to hire and add resources in areas aligned with our strategic growth plan, while judiciously consolidating, integrating, and streamlining resources that no longer align with that plan.”

The reductions primarily involved business support and administrative functions across its 11 U.S. locations. “We regret the impact these decisions have on our employees. Depending on individual eligibility criteria, employees may receive benefits that include severance and benefits extensions,” Gulfstream said.

Meanwhile, the company is adding manufacturing and maintenance roles, including technicians for its newly opened service centers in Appleton, Wisconsin, and Savannah, Georgia. Further hirings are ahead for the planned service center openings in Palm Beach, Florida, and Van Nuys, California.

Air Air Culinaire New Menu Fete Benefits No Kid Hungry

In-flight caterer Air Culinaire Worldwide introduced a regionally focused “New York Lifestyle” menu that includes fresh ingredients from local tri-state area farms and notable gourmet brands such as Petrossian Caviar and Leonidas Belgian Chocolate. To celebrate the occasion, the company partnered with Premiere Plate to throw a charitable black-tie event in New York City on October 3 benefiting No Kid Hungry. 

Guests and clients sipped champagne and enjoyed gourmet nibbles such as black Angus and foie sliders, forage mushroom salad, and red velvet pancakes at the bash held at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. Several of Air Culinaire's top chefs worked alongside celebrity chefs John Doherty, owner of Black Barn Restaurant, and Todd English, the James Beard-winning chef/owner of more than 20 restaurants. 

Along with tasting the culinary delights, guests at the event were able to bid on works of post-modern and modern art via a silent-auction benefiting Heavenly Harvest and the Wendy English Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Additional sponsors of the event included aviation services company Gama Aviation Signature and the Aviation Hall of Fame, which provided a variety of historical aviation artifacts for guests to browse.

Vertical Says Seraph eVTOL Tops the Pack for Payload

Vertical Aerospace is claiming that its second electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) prototype, which has conducted around a dozen full-power test flights since achieving first flight on August 22, has become the first eVTOL aircraft to be capable of carrying a payload of 250 kg (551 pounds). The UK start-up company named the prototype Seraph, while explaining that this model will serve purely as a technology integration platform for a third, passenger-carrying, version that it intends to start flying in 2020.

The as-yet-unnamed, all-electric, passenger eVTOL aircraft is expected to achieve type certification in 2023. It will feature a fly-by-wire control system provided by Honeywell Aerospace and flight testing of the second prototype is intended to be used for systems integration work.

Vertical Aerospace also announced the creation of a new Oxford-based business unit called Vertical Advanced Engineering. This has been created following the July 2019 acquisition of automotive engineering company MGI, led by Formula 1 motorsport veteran Mike Gascoyne. This adds 20 engineers to the Vertical payroll, which now totals 70 people, including numerous aerospace engineers, such as COO Michael Cervenka, who is a former Rolls-Royce executive.

Test flights with the Seraph have confirmed the aircraft can operate at speeds of up to 50 mph (80 km/h). Vertical Aerospace is targeting range with a pilot and two passengers of approximately 100 miles.

An Introduction to Gulfstream’s G600 Touchscreen Symmetry Flight Deck

The G600 and G500 are a major leap forward for Gulfstream in terms of the flight deck design, while also launching a new family of long-range jets that take advantage of the latest technology. From the active-sidestick fly-by-wire flight controls to the touchscreen-controlled avionics, Gulfstream has leapfrogged its competitors in the technology race and at the same time produced a large modern business jet that is easy and actually fun to fly.