Textron Aviation To Launch CJ Main Landing Gear Repair

Textron Aviation will offer a new, standard repair process for Cessna Citation CJ-series aircraft main landing gear (MLG) that is more cost-effective for owners and operators, the Wichita-based airframer announced. The project is being led by Textron Aviation along with its Mesa, Arizona-based Able Aerospace Services subsidiary.

“The desire to have the option to repair instead of replacing CJ landing gear is something we’ve been hearing from our customers, so we are excited about this solution in response to their feedback,” said Textron Aviation senior v-p of customer support Brian Rohloff. “Currently, any amount of significant damage to landing gear requires replacement, which is a costly and time-consuming process. We are pleased to be able to solve this pain point and ultimately reduce operating costs for our customers while minimizing downtime by providing them with a rental asset while we repair their gear.”

Textron Aviation noted the MLG repair project is in the final stages of certification. Initial testing—involving up to five lifetimes, or 75,000 landings, of the MLG’s life limit—took place on a CJ3, and the program is expected to be expanded across all CJ series aircraft beginning in 2021. “The lessons we have learned from this project will pave the way for future innovations,” said Textron Aviation senior v-p of parts and programs Kriya Shortt.

AINsight: Pilot’s Guide To Avoiding Unstable Approaches

Unstable approaches are a popular topic with aviation safety professionals. For nearly 20 years, the industry has largely tried to either explain the issue away, academically, or manage it through policies and procedures. Rarely do we talk about flying the aircraft.

Academic discussions focus on the human frailties and limitations, while others focus on managing the issue by establishing policies and procedures. Missing from these conversations are meaningful discussions about the common pitfalls of an unstable approach such as environmental factors and approach design elements. Likewise, the ability to recognize and recover from a high energy state before initiating the approach and understanding the appropriate use of automation will help contribute to a stable approach.

Flying a stable approach begins with the approach briefing, often hundreds of miles from the destination, preferably before top of descent. This is where the crew—both the pilot flying and pilot monitoring—can identify some of the common traps (threats and hazards).

If any of these “gotchas” are identified, brief it, have a plan to mitigate that threat, and recap it. This threat-forward approach helps pilots build a shared mental model.

Preowned Bizjet Sales Boomed in 3Q

Aviation valuation specialist Asset Insight tracked a “dramatic flurry” of preowned business aircraft sales in the third quarter, with transactions jumping 71 percent year-over-year. As a result, prices strengthened an average of 2.1 percent across the fleet, with midsize jets improving the most at 10.1 percent.

However, the Asset Insight AI2 Market Report found that although the market reached a peak in transaction volume, other data points still lagged from third-quarter 2019. Prices for large jets were down 4.3 percent in the quarter and available inventory of higher-quality jets for sale declined. Turboprops, meanwhile, have improved in quality rating and maintenance exposure.

“While activity in the preowned business aircraft market is at its peak for the year, we still have a lot of ground to make up in these Covid-19 times,” said Asset Insight president Tony Kioussis. “Logically, buyers prefer lower-time and higher-quality aircraft, which is…worsening the average maintenance exposure for the remaining jet inventory. The remaining aircraft are also spending significantly more days on market available for sale.”

Some of the older models have averages of one to two years on the market. The Hawker 1000A outpaced that timeframe, reaching 965 days on market. In contrast, the newer Learjet 75 is seeing 157 days on market.

Asset Insight also recently rolled out a new podcast series covering the Aircraft Ownership Lifecycle.

WingX: Bizav Activity Slides in Europe, Gains in U.S.

The uneven and somewhat unpredictable nature of the global pandemic was evident in the latest WingX Global Market Tracker, which found modest improvements in U.S. business aviation activity even as it weakens in Europe. Globally, business aviation traffic was down 16 percent in the first three weeks of October when compared with the same period last year, WingX said in this week’s report.

That is still proving far more resilient than the airlines, which experienced 57 percent year-over-year declines in October, or a drop of 933,000 sectors over October 2019. Year-to-date, business activity is down 24 percent and airlines by 52 percent versus the same period in 2019.

In Europe, business aviation activity weakened as virus concerns had grown in the region. Leisure demand has softened while corporate travel has not yet returned, leading to average trends in sectors flown dipping 5 percent in the first three weeks of the month. Flight hours, meanwhile, dropped 17 percent.

North America has stabilized at the 16 percent year-over-year decline that the region has experienced in recent months. The U.S. was down just 14 percent.  

“Increasing efforts to suppress a winter virus wave are blunting flight recovery in Europe,” said WingX managing director Richard Koe. “In the U.S., trends are improving modestly, and Florida continues to be the ballast, with charter demand pretty robust throughout the country.”

Aereos Offers Antimicrobial Parts for Aircraft Interiors

MRO provider Aereos and its interior solutions division have partnered with the UK’s BioCote to create parts for business aircraft and airliner cabins, cockpits, and lavatories with built-in antimicrobial properties. Incorporating BioCote’s silver-ion antimicrobial technology, the germicide can be impregnated within leathers, most plastics, and some metal and aluminum parts, according to David Baker, an Aereos partner.

“We’re not spraying something onto a leather seat, it’s actually integrated,” he said. “If the surface is scratched or wears over time, [the antimicrobial] doesn’t wear off.” The process is certified by Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point International, approved as food contact safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and certified as more than 99.8 percent effective against microbes by an independent laboratory.

Seat coverings and armrests in the cabin and toilet shroud covers, seats, and vanities in the lavatory are among the “high touch” parts that make good candidates for going antimicrobial, Baker said. Dallas-based Aereos said it can create protected parts for business aviation aircraft, working with any MRO or aftermarket outfitter. Aereos promises “concept to delivery in as little as eight weeks.”

Baker said interest in the products “has increased significantly” since their recent introduction. “We weren't working on antimicrobials before Covid,” he said. “We’re a solutions company, and our goal was to find a way to get customers to feel comfortable flying again.”

ICAO Task Force Set To Issue Covid Testing Protocols

ICAO expects to issue a second-phase Council on Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) report within the coming weeks that will address uniform practices for Covid-19 testing for passengers, ICAO officials revealed this week at the Flight Safety Foundation’s annual International Air Safety Summit. Aviation groups hope new guidelines established by ICAO will act as a catalyst to harmonize testing protocols around the globe, answering calls to do away with demand-sapping quarantine requirements.

It took about a month for the task force to publish its first set of guidelines and, although some raised questions about when and under what authority airlines and airports would adhere to the CART recommendations, all three panelists at the safety summit's first session expressed satisfaction with the eventual outcome.

ICAO’s plan to release its phase-two set of guidelines for testing came just a week after IATA, ACI Europe, and Airlines for Europe complained of what they called a failure by the EU to pursue a uniform standard of testing to replace quarantines. Last Tuesday, European affairs ministers from EU states adopted a European Council recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement. But the industry groups said the move falls “far short” of what they consider its mandate: “encouraging a restart of travel through effective coordination and proportionate, predictable, and non-discriminatory measures.”

Pandemic Hits UK Bizav Most Among European Countries

Of the major European countries, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit business aviation operations the most in the UK. According to a new report from the European Business Aviation Association, business aircraft operations in the UK from January through August of this year were 37 percent below those levels in the same period last year.

Italy closely followed the UK with a 35 percent decrease in operations in the first eight months versus the same time span in 2019. The Iberian Peninsula states and France each were down 33 percent, while the Benelux countries experienced a 31 percent drop. The Scandinavian nations and Switzerland each suffered a 27 percent fall, and Austria had a 26 percent tumble. Germany recorded the least business aviation disruptions with just a 25 percent reduction in operations year-over-year.

These statistics notwithstanding, “More than seven months after the beginning of the crisis and the grounding of almost all European aircraft until April, it is still difficult to have an overview of the impact of the pandemic on business aviation,” said report author Arthur Thomas, who is the market and business intelligence senior manager at EBAA.

Omni Handling Debuts New Portuguese FBO

European aviation services provider Omni Handling has opened a new FBO at Faro Airport in southern Portugal. The 150-square-meter (1,614-sq-ft) terminal, which was completed on time by the country’s Mood 4 Wood design team despite Covid restrictions, features a passenger lounge, crew rest area, fully-equipped kitchen, ensuite private bathroom, outdoor terrace, and a virtual golf simulator in a dedicated area that can double as a movie theater. Movart Gallery, which specializes in contemporary African art, was selected to decorate the facility.

“Faro is where our activity has been growing most these past two years, and it was only logical to invest here in a luxurious new FBO to the benefit of our trusted clients,” said company CEO Ricardo Pereira.

The debut of this location, ahead of this week’s Formula 1 Portuguese Grand Prix, follows the company’s opening of two other lounges in Cascais and Madeira earlier this year.

Photo of the Week

All-weather operation. Corporate pilot Richard Depinay took this photo of his colleague walking ahead of him in a snowstorm before they started preflighting their aircraft on the ramp at Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Airport. It makes us cold just looking at it! Thanks for sharing, Richard.

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.