The first medevac configuration for the HondaJet Elite is now being installed in the field by Hawaiian charter operator Wing Spirit, which purchased 15 HondaJet Elites this year, Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino announced on Monday at NBAA-BACE. Honda Aircraft is showcasing a mockup with the medevac interior at its NBAA-BACE booth, complementing the HondaJet Elite showcased at Henderson Executive Airport.
Fujino also said the company is establishing a seventh U.S. service facility that will better support operators in the Northeast through an association with Part 145 facility and aircraft management company flyAdvanced in Wilmington, Delaware. Also, in partnership with FlightSafety International, Honda Aircraft is adding a second flight simulator and training center to support European customers at the UK’s Farnborough Airport, expected to be operational in April 2020.
Transport Canada certified the HondaJet earlier this year and four deliveries to Canadian customers have followed. Meanwhile, the first delivery to Japan, a country with little business aviation activity, occurred last year, and with China granting certification this August, growing global sales are anticipated.
This activity reflects the jet’s growing acceptance worldwide, Fujino said, noting the Elite has been the most-delivered very light jet for the past two years, with some 140 now in operation globally. The fleet has accumulated more than 40,000 flight hours and boasts a dispatch reliability of 99.7 percent.
A new Bombardier service partnership with GE Aviation is expected to result in a free health monitoring unit (HMU) for certain Challenger and Global customers, the companies announced yesterday on the opening day of NBAA-BACE. A preferred service provider agreement between the two companies calls for GE to offer new curated service bundles that are intended to simplify the selection of flight deck and cabin services for new and in-service Bombardier jets.
It’s the first step in Bombardier’s plans to launch the Smart Link Plus connected aircraft program in the second half of 2020. That program is expected to collect fleet-wide operational and maintenance data from the HMUs, or Smart Link Plus boxes, which will be downloaded to Bombardier’s digital platform for analysis and service recommendations for Challenger and Global operators. The technology behind the smart box was original to the 7500. “Our new Smart Link Plus connected aircraft program will create fully connected aircraft, enabling customers to access key data and insights to help with decision-making and flight operations,” Bombardier v-p and general manager of customer experience Jean-Christophe Gallagher said.
GE Aviation’s Digital Works is key to the development of Smart Link Plus, which is expected to provide operators future features such as predictive maintenance.
Rolls-Royce unveiled the new Pearl 700 engine this week at NBAA-BACE 2019. The 18,250-pound-thrust engine will power the just-announced Gulfstream G700 ultra-long-range business jet. The Pearl 700 combines the company’s Advance2 engine core technology, a new low-pressure system, and various design and material changes to deliver 8 percent more takeoff thrust, a 12 percent better thrust to weight ratio (8 percent more thrust and 4 percent less weight), 3.5 percent less fuel burn, and 5 percent greater efficiency compared to the company’s BR725 engine on the current-production G650.
The new engine will meet or exceed Stage 5 noise standards and have nitrous oxide emissions that are projected to be 35 percent below the CAEP/6 standard. It is being developed at Rolls-Royce’s Center for Business Aviation Engines in Dahlewitz, Germany.
The Pearl 700 features a 10-stage, high-pressure axial compressor; improved gearbox breather exhaust; new Safran-Aircelle nacelle; 24-blade, 51.8-inch blisked fan; bypass ratio in the 5:1 range; high-pressure compression ratio of 24:1 (compared to 16:1 on the BR725); six blisked stages; low-emission combustor; two-stage shroudless high-pressure turbine; and an enhanced four-stage low pressure turbine.
The Pearl 700 is backed by the Rolls-Royce CorporateCare Enhanced hourly maintenance program and features a new engine health monitoring unit with advanced vibration monitoring, bidirectional communications, and the ability to remotely reconfigure engine-monitoring features from the ground. It feeds data into a system of cloud-based analytics, smart algorithms, and artificial intelligence.
StandardAero is poised to double its business this year, reaching $4 billion in revenue, Marc Drobny, president of the company's Business Aviation unit, said at NBAA-BACE 2019. “Our biggest news of 2019 was our acquisition by Carlyle Group [completed in April], which makes us part of the world’s largest private-equity ownership group, and that’s the next catalyst for growth,” said Drobny. “We had just achieved a doubling of the company and we’re on track to double the company yet again. We’ll probably see $4 billion in revenue this year. There are not many privately-held aerospace companies that hit a $4 billion revenue target for the year.”
Operating 40 facilities globally with around 7,000 employees, StandardAero provides MRO services on a variety of engines, airframes, and avionics. In 2018, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company completed the acquisition of Vector Aerospace, which is based in Gosport, UK, a 100-building facility south of London that previously served as the Fleetlands Royal Navy Air Yard. The Fleetlands facility is now StandardAero's major European location and the sole location for performing heavy maintenance on the Honeywell TFE731 turbofan engine in Europe.
“We completed the first TFE731 inspection [at the Fleetlands facility] within four months of starting up in Europe,” said Drobny. “Our 20,000th overhaul of the TFE731 was also done at Fleetlands. There are 12,000 TFE731 engines still flying, so it’s a very important piece of our portfolio.”
Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Michael Amalfitano gave a preview of what the company will look like after its commercial aircraft joint venture with Boeing receives EU anti-trust approval. At the Brazilian airframer’s press conference at NBAA-BACE, Amalfitano said the company’s site at São Jose dos Campos, Brazil—where the production line for its Legacy and Praetor midsize and super-midsize jets are located—will be going to the commercial joint venture.
So Embraer Executive Jets is relocating the work to Gavião Peixoto, Brazil, where it manufactures the KC-390 military transport twinjet.
“We’re currently in the process of moving the tooling and production to Gavião Peixoto,” Amalfitano said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity [with] one of the longest runways in the world. So that’s where we will start the process for bringing the product to Melbourne (Florida) for final assembly and delivery to our customers.”
Flightdocs Partners With Cirrus
Flightdocs is partnering with Cirrus Aircraft to use the Flightdocs Enterprise maintenance platform, including Fd I Operations, to support all Cirrus SF50 Vision single-engine jets enrolled in the OEM’s Jetstream warranty and ownership program. Flightdocs launched Fd I Operations in August after a four-month beta-test program with 15 flight departments, including Cirrus Aircraft Flight Operations. Cirrus went live with the program in August and is currently using it with more than 100 aircraft, 200 pilots, and several flight simulators.
“As the worldwide fleet of Vision Jets continues to grow, we needed a platform that would give us real-time insight into the maintenance status of the entire fleet,” said Travis Klumb, Cirrus executive director of customer support. “Our customer service and engineering teams are able to utilize the intuitive dashboards and detailed reporting within Flightdocs to better support our customers and enhance the overall ownership experience.”
Flightdocs’ Software as a Service Enterprise platform provides maintenance tracking, flight operations, and inventory management for diverse aircraft owners and operators, including corporate flight departments, charter operators, air ambulance services, fractional operators, and government agencies.
Collins Amps Ups Brakes, Gear Business Investment
Collins Aerospace is pouring millions into expanding facilities, machinery, and its employee bases at its Landing Systems businesses as it works to keep up with growth across its markets. This has included an $80 million expansion at its carbon brake center in Pueblo, Colorado, and increased personnel and machinery at landing gear sites in Poland and Canada.
“It's a very good time to be in aerospace these days,” said Ajay Mahajan, vice president of the Landing Systems unit. “We continue to feel pretty good about our conditions going forward and we will continue to strive to maintain that advantage by our investments.”
Collins has engaged in a multi-year expansion of the facilities at Collins Aerospace’s plant in Pueblo. That expansion, which began in 2015 and is expected to be completed late next year, has resulted in a footprint spanning 325,000 sq ft, provided additional furnace and machinery capabilities, and increased employment by some 25 percent to 250. The net result is a 50 percent increase in production capacity. A similar expansion is planned for its Spokane, Washington facility.
On the landing gear side, Collins has grown in Poland and in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. “We are growing quite a bit, both in terms of people, as well as investing in new equipment,” he said, estimating that more than 100 employees have been added to the site in the past nine months.
STC Puts Gogo Avance L5 in More Cessna Citation Models
Gogo Business Aviation’s Avance L5 air-to-ground connectivity system will be available as an upgrade to owners of Cessna Citation X+, Sovereign+, and Latitude business jets following receipt by Textron Aviation of a new STC, the manufacturer announced this week at NBAA-BACE. Avance L5 offers faster inflight connectivity speeds and enhanced network capacity.
“Optimizing connectivity across a range of Textron Aviation products is one more way we can enhance the ownership experience,” said Textron Aviation senior v-p of global customer support Kriya Shortt. “For many of our customers, the ability to connect twice as many devices and join a video conference call in flight turns travel time into productive office hours.”
The STC expands the Wichita airframer’s approved model list STC to include eight Citation models. Earlier this year, it announced STCs for Avance L5 for the Citation X, Sovereign, and XL/XLS/XLS+. The company has since done nearly 150 Avance system upgrades for Citation customers.
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Adopts changes to the aviation maintenance program to include certain maintenance checks, more restrictive maintenance procedures, and removal of certain parts before new life limits.
Requires a one-time inspection of Ti-bolts installed on the aft connection of the ball bearing control and, depending on findings, the accomplishment of applicable corrective action(s), and a prohibition of installation of affected parts. The AD stems from a reports of a broken Ti-bolt found on the affected helicopter. Subsequent investigation determined that an improper heat treatment process was accomplished on a certain batch of Ti-bolts, which can lead to hydrogen embrittlement of the affected parts.
Requires determining the total hours time-in-service (TIS) of the freewheel shafts of certain main rotor gearboxes (MGBs), replacing the MGB or right-hand (RH) side freewheel shaft, installing placard(s), and revising the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) for your helicopter. This AD was prompted by a report of wear of the ramps of the RH freewheel shaft.
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