Wheels Up has tapped Delta Air Lines for another $15 million in short-term capital infusion, bringing its total indebtedness to the U.S. carrier to $60 million from funds received since August 8. The cash-strapped private aviation group revealed the transaction late Friday in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The need to seek additional cash from Delta suggests that Wheels Up continues to record large monthly operating losses.

On August 15, Wheels Up announced that Delta and investment firms Certares and Knighthood would receive 95 percent of the company’s stock in exchange for a loan of $400 million plus a $100 million “liquidity facility” from Delta. In its latest quarterly financial statement, Wheels Up reported $161 million in losses and $335 million in revenue during the second quarter of this year while seeing its available cash erode from $363 million to $152 million—close to a $125 million minimum required by loan covenants.

Wheels Up shares have surged 50 percent in the last week, giving the company a market capitalization of $67 million. Over the last year, Wheels Up shares have shed 85 percent of their value, adjusted for a reverse stock split enacted by the company in June.

UAE official news agency WAM today confirmed that both crewmembers of a Bell 212 had perished in a crash off Umm Al Quwain on Thursday night and that parts of the wreckage had been discovered. The AeroGulf Services helicopter was conducting a night training flight to an oil rig from its base at Al Maktoum International Airport when it went down in the sea off the coast northeast of Dubai.

AeroGulf said the helicopter was carrying two crewmembers and no passengers onboard. “Sadly, we can confirm that both crew members have perished,” it added. The body of the second pilot was recovered over the weekend.

The two pilots, foreign nationals from Egypt and South Africa, were the only persons on board the helicopter, according to the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). The accident occurred at 8:07 p.m. local time.

GCAA has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, and AeroGulf said it is cooperating with the investigation and recovering the wreckage. In a statement issued last night, the company said “specially trained personnel have been provided to offer support and assistance to the families and friends of the crewmembers.”

AeroGulf was established in 1976 and operates a mixed fleet of Leonardo and Bell helicopters on medevac, personnel and material transport, and helitourism missions.

SmartSky’s predictive weather data suite is adding weather information from Meandair, which will allow dispatchers, FBOs, airports, and ground operations to access rapidly updated forecast information worldwide via SmartSky’s Skytelligence data exchange. Meandair’s weather products will receive near-real-time data from flying aircraft, which includes aircraft equipped with SmartSky’s air-to-ground connectivity system.

The Meandair Nowcasting Weather Engine combines information from flying aircraft, satellites, ground stations, and radar to develop “a comprehensive snapshot of the atmospheric column.” Using its meteorology expertise, artificial intelligence, and algorithms, Meandair creates 4D datasets, spot forecasts, and graphical weather information every 15 minutes. The resulting weather information includes cloud structure at altitudes, synthetic precipitation radar, active thunderstorm detection, turbulence predictions, and aviation METAR and TAF reports. 

“Meandair provides invaluable flight condition awareness for aviation," said Sean Reilly, SmartSky v-p of digital solutions and air transport. "SmartSky’s next-generation network enables [flight crew] to have real-time access to predictive weather and adjust their flight path, potentially avoiding turbulence and the required AOG time following a turbulence event. Adding Meandair’s global capabilities also allows us to provide extended predictive services to our predictive weather customers as they prepare to leave [the continental U.S.] and cross into international destinations. This can mean increased safety and sustainability with reduced costs.”

Bristow Helicopters has agreed to purchase up to 80 VoloCity eVTOLs from Volocopter. Under the agreement announced on Thurday, the helicopter operator will work with Volocopter to develop an urban air mobility ecosystem for passengers and cargo in the U.S. and UK.

According to Volocopter, Bristow placed a firm order for two VoloCity aircraft with the option to purchase an additional 78. Volocopter expects to have the two-seat VoloCity certified for commercial use in Europe by June 2024 and it intends to conduct flight demonstrations during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The FAA has agreed to concurrently validate Volocopter’s EASA type certification, and the company said it aims to launch air taxi services in major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and New York.

In the meantime, Bristow and Volocopter will work together to ensure a smooth launch of eVTOL services in the U.S. and UK, where Bristow intends to operate the VoloCity aircraft. The joint development agreement includes discussions on regulatory affairs, infrastructure, and aircraft maintenance services, as well as Volocopter’s VoloIQ operating system.

Bristow operates a fleet of more than 240 helicopters around the world. It has been proactively signing sales agreements with several eVTOL aircraft developers over the past two years as it prepares to electrify its fleet.

International tennis power couple Stefanie Graf and Andre Agassi are the first-day headline keynotes at NBAA-BACE 2023, which will run from October 17 to 19 in Las Vegas.

NBAA said both Graf and Agassi are revered as among the greatest tennis players of all time, as well as for their entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors, including leading multiple charitable, humanitarian, and educational initiatives. They have relied on business aviation to help support those efforts.

“Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf are more than tennis icons,” said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. “They lead by example as models of professional responsibility, social involvement, and a commitment to giving back to their communities and our world.”

Graf counts 107 titles overall to her list of achievements and is the only woman player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same year. Agassi accrued 60 men’s singles titles and is the only male player ever to win all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal.

In 1994, he established the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education to promote educational access and reform. Graf, meanwhile, founded Children for Tomorrow in 1998 to provide psychological help for children and families who have suffered trauma from war, abuse, or loss of their family.

Private aircraft lift provider Volato has selected SmartSky in-flight connectivity for 20 new-production HondaJets that Volato will induct into its fractional fleet. The agreement between the two companies includes the installation of SmartSky Lite systems on these new HondaJets and an option to upgrade existing aircraft.

“Outstanding customer experience is a critical point of differentiation for Volato, and in-flight Wi-Fi with streaming-level performance is a very important part of that overall experience," said Volato COO Mike Prachar. “After evaluating the available options for Wi-Fi for our fleet, SmartSky demonstrated the capability to deliver the high-quality connected experience our customers expect. We were also attracted to the fact that its software-defined features will allow us to keep up with new technology developments without requiring new hardware so we can keep our customers flying with no disruptions to service or the latest in-flight Wi-Fi speeds.”

SmartSky’s air-to-ground (ATG) network uses 60 MHz of spectrum, which is significantly more than the 4 MHz used by legacy ATG networks. According to SmartSky, this ensures consistent, responsive, and secure data flow to and from the aircraft. So far, SmartSky has acquired more than a dozen FAA supplemental type certificate approvals covering Cessna Citation Excels and Xs; Gulfstream IVs through G550s; Bombardier Challenger 601s through 650s; Embraer EMB-135s and -145s; Dassault Falcon 900 series; and Beechcraft King Airs.

Léman Aviation is acquiring a stake in Alpes Hélicoptères and taking over its management. Based in Annecy (Haute-Savoie) in France, Alpes operates three turbine helicopters—a Robinson R66 and two Bell 407s—in the Côte d'Azur region.

With Alpes under its wing, Léman plans to offer aircraft management, co-ownership programs, and initiation flights, as well as transfer, business, and sightseeing flights in the Alps, Monaco, and the Mediterranean including in the areas of Lake Annecy, the Aravis range, and Mont-Blanc.

Nicolas Miras and Vincent Pollet founded Léman. Miras formerly held senior executive positions at Airbus, Sabena Technics, and Bombardier. Pollet began his career as an engineer with Safran and Air France/KLM and was a bid management manager, v-p of sales, and aircraft program director at Sabena Technics; he also served as v-p of sales and marketing at HBG Hélicoptères.

“As part of Léman Aviation's global project, Alpes Hélicoptères provides a complementary solution to regional air mobility, offering innovative, high-quality services to our customers, and we strongly believe in the co-ownership model,” said Miras and Pollet. “Alpes Hélicoptères adds a new dimension to air mobility services.” 

The FAA has revised its national policy order that manages applicants’ requests to operate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and how safety risk management (SRM) assessments are performed. It also defines the roles of agency personnel responsible for UAS safety management and includes an outline for documenting the steps in the SRM program. Additionally, the order describes the duties of the FAA’s air traffic organization (ATO) when handling waivers.

In explaining the need for an SRM, the order notes that the UAS industry has “experienced exponential growth” as demonstrated by the number of drone registrations, airspace authorizations, waivers, and remote pilot certificates. “The regulatory system is striving to keep up with the pace of UAS technology. Thus, this order establishes the SRM process for UAS requests and provides a generalized list of common hazards and possible mitigations that should be considered with each assessment.”

Specific updates include the cancellation of the previous national policy order published in October 2019. The revision also adds and clarifies general terms and definitions; updates recommended training required before an FAA official is permitted to be on a UAS safety panel; modifies descriptions for the severity level of UAS safety occurrences; adds a safety matrix focused on quantitative assessments; clarifies safety action triggers, governance, and triage steps; and updated roles and responsibilities between the FAA’s aviation safety office and ATO.