Textron Aviation and NetJets today announced a “record-breaking,” all-options fleet order for up to 1,500 Cessna Citation Ascend, Latitude, and Longitude twinjets over the next 15 years. This agreement—estimated by industry analyst Brian Foley to be worth approximately $32 billion—builds on an existing NetJets fleet agreement for Citation Longitudes. It also makes the Columbus, Ohio-based fractional aircraft provider the launch customer for the midsize Ascend, an upgraded Citation XLS+ variant unveiled in May at EBACE that is set to enter service in 2025.

“NetJets customers around the world continually select Citations as their aircraft of choice. We’re honored to be the largest provider of industry-leading aircraft to NetJets and look forward to continuing to work together to design and deliver the best aviation experience based on customer feedback,” said Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper.

Over the past 40 years, NetJets has taken delivery of more than 800 Citations, including exercising more than 300 options for Citation Latitudes and Longitudes during the last eight years. Through the years, NetJets has owned and operated the Citation SII, V, Excel/XLS, Sovereign, X, Latitude, and Longitude.

Labor issues are a continuing and, in some cases, growing concern across the entire aviation manufacturing spectrum, according to speakers at last week’s JetNet iQ Summit in New York City. “The same lingering issues that we’re facing in terms of bringing talent in and filling our staffing requirements, our suppliers are facing as well,” said David Rosenberg, Textron Aviation’s senior v-p and CFO.

The pandemic's effects on lower-tier manufacturers in the supply chain still cast a large shadow, Embraer Executive Jets president and CEO Michael Amalfitano told the conference attendees. As these companies either closed or laid off workers, that restricted the flow of parts as master craftsmen moved on to different employers. “The people shortage happened in months, the supply recovery is years,” he said. “It takes a long time to recover that skillset across the supply chain.”

With the strict part tolerances demanded by aviation manufacturers, quality control has been another casualty of the loss of skilled labor. “Even when something is built and shipped and it shows up, if it doesn’t meet the standards, it goes back,” noted Amalfitano. “That has happened in this timeframe much more than it ever has in the decades before.”

McCauley Propeller Systems today confirmed the first delivery and service entry of its newest C780 propeller for the Beechcraft King Air B300 series, following its installation at Textron Aviation’s Tampa Service Center in Florida. The propeller, which features four aluminum swept blades and a 105-inch diameter, gained FAA approval in July. 

“The new McCauley C780 offers King Air customers increased performance, a quieter cabin, and greater efficiency,” said Heidi McNary, v-p and general manager of Textron Aviation subsidiary McCauley Propeller Systems.

Textron Aviation's Tampa facility installed the C780 propeller on a Beechcraft King Air 350 owned by ExecuJet Charter Service. Located in Florida, ExecuJet provides private air charter services.

The C780 propeller offers King Air B300 owners and operators more than 50 pounds of weight savings, increased takeoff and climb performance, reduced cabin and cockpit noise, and an extended time between overhaul of 5,000 hours or 72 months.

King Air B300-series customers can get the propeller installed at a Textron Aviation Service Center or authorized McCauley service facility without the need for any additional modifications.

Women in Aviation International (WAI) is anticipating that its ninth-annual Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) will draw some 30,000 girls between the ages of eight and 18 to events held globally this coming Saturday. Hosted by WAI chapters and corporate members, GIAD will encompass more than 150 events at airports, FBOs, museums, and hangars in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

In addition, WAI will offer virtual resources, activities, information, and instructional videos through its free Aviation for Girls app.

GIAD attendees will learn about possible aviation and aerospace careers, meet with female role models, explore airplanes and airports, and participate in an array of hands-on, fun, and educational activities such as sectional chart scavenger hunts, Moon and Mars research sites exploration, and engines and avionics discovery with maintenance technicians. 

“We know Girls in Aviation Day has been instrumental in introducing opportunities in aviation and STEM to thousands of participants all around the world,” said WAI interim CEO Stephanie Kenyon. She added that the organization continues to build on these initiatives to expose young people to opportunities year-round through its Aviation for Girls program.

In addition, WAI has launched a free junior membership for youth to enable them to tap into the association's benefits and resources, including applying for up to three WAI scholarships.

Farnborough Airport is seeking to increase the number of annual aircraft movements permitted at the London-area business aviation gateway from 50,000 to 70,000. Today, the privately owned facility published detailed proposals to support its case as it seeks to win public support for an approval process that could take up to two years.

According to the airport, demand for flights will reach 70,000 movements by 2040, with the current 50,000 limit being particularly constraining as it includes movements over weekends. Its promise to the local community, with which it has just begun a series of public meetings, is that the expansion of flight activity will support around 1,100 new jobs and generate £470 million ($585 million) in gross added value to the economy. The airport said it already supports around 3,000 local jobs.

Besides seeking to increase movements, Farnborough intends to request changes to current aircraft weight categories to remove restrictions on models that slightly exceed the baseline of 50 metric tons. This change would allow more movements for aircraft weighing between 55 and 80 metric tons to ease limits on newer types such as the Bombardier Global 7500. 

The public consultation will run through October 18, at which point the airport is expected to submit a planning application for the movement increases to Rushmoor Borough Council. 

Bombardier has selected KGB Aviation Solutions’ Data Acquisition Ruggedized Tool (DART) for downloading data from aircraft flight data and cockpit voice recorders (FDR/CVR), including channels such as datalink messaging.

The DART unit will be used on the ground by the airframer’s service centers and mobile response teams, which will take advantage of its ability to rapidly process and provide needed flight information and aircraft monitoring to analysts and technical support staff.

For the past 14 years, West Seneca, New York-based KGB (named after company co-founder and v-p Kevin Balys) has specialized in the design, development, and construction of aircraft data recorder downloading devices, as well as datalink data analysis.

“We are honored to have Bombardier place the trust in our product and people to deliver process improvement through our innovation in technology,” said KGB co-founder and president Maria Balys.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) praised a bill introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators calling on the FAA to hire controllers at a maximum authorized rate to address a staffing shortfall.

The Air Traffic Controllers Hiring Act of 2023, S.2839, comes as NATCA has warned that the controller shortage could have repercussions on air traffic delays for years if steps aren’t taken to address it.  NATCA maintains that there are 1,200 fewer fully certified controllers than 10 years ago and, as a result, many work mandatory overtime. The association estimated that regular schedules for many controllers are 10 hours a day, six days a week.

S.2839 also comes as the FAA recently announced it is “rebuilding its training pipeline” with the hiring of 1,500 air traffic controllers in 2023 and plans to hire 1,800 controllers in the upcoming year.

Warning that training takes time, acting FAA Administrator Polly Trottenberg said last week that a government shutdown would disrupt that process and “the disruption is profound.” With the current fiscal year set to end on September 30, the path forward on government action on funding for FY2024 remains uncertain, raising the prospect of a shutdown.

Sponsoring S.2839 were Sens. Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico), and John Boozman (R-Arkansas).

Last week, the FAA issued Safety Alert For Operators (SAFO) 23007, warning against acquiring suspected unapproved parts from a Bell 206B helicopter. The FAA noted that “suspected unapproved parts represented as being removed from civil aircraft N536T...are actually from a foreign aircraft of unknown origin.”

The FAA began investigating the matter after its South Florida Flight Standards District Office received a hotline complaint alleging that an individual brought a foreign-registered 206B, believed to have been registered in Venezuela as YV2100, to Miami in 2017.

“The individual then installed a data plate, airworthiness certificate, and registration number from the destroyed N536T,” the remains of which he bought from a Texas salvage company in 2018, on the 206B of “unknown origin.”

According to the FAA, the wreckage of N536T remains stored in Texas. “The alleged violator re-registered the counterfeit N536T with the FAA under their name in 2018. As a result of the investigation, the alleged violator immediately and voluntarily surrendered the aircraft data plate, airworthiness certificate, and registration certificate. However, the aircraft maintenance records were not provided to the FAA.”

The FAA issued the SAFO related to the investigation after it “recently received information that the alleged violator may be selling off the parts (including life-limited parts) of the counterfeit N536T as if they were parts from the destroyed N536T.”