Gulfstream Aerospace has delivered the 500th G650/650ER some 10 years since the first aircraft was handed over to a customer, the Savannah, Georgia-based business jet manufacturer announced today. The milestone G650ER was delivered from the company’s Appleton, Wisconsin completions facility.
“With an incredible 500 delivered, persistent demand, and a host of industry accolades, the G650 and G650ER are undeniably iconic,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “This milestone delivery is a strong testament to the tremendous work of our dedicated Gulfstream team. As with all aircraft programs, we continue to invest in the G650 and G650ER to ensure continuous improvement throughout the growing fleet for our customers.”
The 7,000-nm G650 received FAA and EASA approval in fourth-quarter 2012, while the extended-range (7,500-nm) G650ER was announced and certified in 2014. Both aircraft have amassed more than 120 city-pair world speed records, including both polar and westbound around-the-world records. Gulfstream also won the Robert J. Collier Trophy for the G650 program.
Thanks to a six-year head start over rival Bombardier Global 7500, the G650/650ER holds about an 80 percent market share of business jets that can fly more than 7,000 nm nonstop, according to the latest delivery data from both aircraft manufacturers. Gulfstream parent company General Dynamics said during its second-quarter investor call that demand for new-production G650ERs remains “robust.”
Developers of new eVTOLs said their plans to achieve type certification for aircraft remain on track in the wake of the FAA’s recent move to approve aircraft as a special class under FAR 21.17(b) instead of existing Part 23 rules. However, executives participating in a panel during Honeywell's Air Mobility Summit last week expressed concern that the U.S. agency still has to address associated operational and training aspects under a to-come special FAR (SFAR).
The FAA began AAM certification projects under Part 23 rules, which generally apply to light aircraft, with the use of special conditions. In recent months, however, it informed type certification applicants of the decision to use 21.17(b), which has applied to very light aircraft such as sailplanes and more recently UAS.
Max Fenkell, policy and government affairs lead for Joby Aviation, told attendees at the Honeywell summit in Washington, D.C., that from a certification standpoint, “the technical [requirement] has not changed.”
However, the move created a need for an SFAR encompassing commercial operations and training requirements. “The reason for this is under 135 today you have to be an airplane or a rotorcraft,” Fenkell said. The SFAR requires formal rulemaking, and industry is hoping a final SFAR would be implemented by year-end 2024 as the first AAM vehicles hit the market.
Honeywell has received its first aftermarket supplemental type certificate (STC) for installation of its Aspire 400 Inmarsat L-band SwiftBroadband satcom, in this case in a Bombardier Global Express. Further approvals by Transport Canada and EASA are expected in the coming months, according to Honeywell.
The Aspire 400 has the advantage of providing SwiftBroadband safety-service communications for secure satellite communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, as well as meeting FANS needs. The system is more compact and draws less power than high-speed broadband satcoms without safety service capability. Segregated channels are available for secure communications, leaving bandwidth available for non-safety voice and data service for passengers.
With a high-gain antenna, the Aspire 400 provides speeds up to 432 Kbps, but Honeywell’s high-data-rate software boosts that up to 650 Kbps. Products that can be used for communications with the Aspire 400 include electronic flight bags, telemedicine, and standard IT applications. It can also facilitate offloading of aircraft health and performance information.
“The approval of this STC is a significant achievement for Honeywell and Bombardier Global Express operators and owners,” said Mark Goodman, the senior director of cockpit communications at Honeywell Aerospace. “Aspire 400 provides pilots with a highly reliable and secure link to support enhanced cockpit applications to drive operational efficiency.”
Business aviation groups today released policy principles to guide long-term carbon emissions reductions in the lead-up to the 41st International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Triennial Assembly this week. ICAO convenes its 193 member states every three years to set worldwide aviation policy, with the next such meeting starting tomorrow in Montreal and running through October 7.
The business aviation industry has committed to achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 under a voluntary Business Aviation Commitment on Climate Change initiative. Sustainable aviation fuel, which can reduce aviation’s life cycle carbon emissions by up to 80 percent, is key to reaching this goal.
Industry groups, including the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), have thus developed four guiding principles for the assembly that provide a roadmap for ensuring safety, security, and sustainability. They include fostering investments to increase SAF production and availability; encouraging greater use of industry initiatives such as SAF book-and-claim; supporting innovations such as electric-powered aircraft and other technologies that can cut CO2 emissions; and encouraging cooperative programs to increase aviation sustainability.
“We know what our industry needs to accomplish to reach our goal of net-zero emissions, and we have the tools available to do so,” said IBAC director general Kurt Edwards. “Now is the time to put in place the appropriate policies for this vision to become a reality.”
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NBAA has rounded out its announced list of keynote speakers for the opening day of BACE next month in Orlando, Florida, with both acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Executive Director Patrick Ky joining the lineup. Also speaking during the opening session are acclaimed astrophysicist, author, and science commentator Neil deGrasse Tyson and famed Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen will accompany Nolen and Ky in a discussion on key business aviation issues including safety, security, sustainability, innovation, and workforce development.
“We are pleased to welcome Billy and Patrick to our convention this year and to have them as part of our keynote for what will be a compelling discussion about some of the most pressing issues facing business aviation, as well as the many exciting trends that are reshaping our industry,” Bolen said.
Nolen, a former commercial airline pilot who has held a number of industry safety roles, became acting FAA administrator after Steve Dickson left the agency at the end of March. He originally joined the agency in January as associate administrator for safety. Ky has led EASA since 2013 and has some 30 years of civil aviation experience.
The FAA has taken a key step in enabling advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft with the issuance today of new guidelines for vertiports, including design elements for eVTOL use and standards for electric and charging infrastructure.
Release of the final standards, contained within the FAA’s Engineering Brief No. 105, Vertiport Design, follows public feedback from the draft guidance issued earlier this year, the agency said. In the engineering brief, the agency added that the guidance is interim and would be updated as data, analysis, and VTOL aircraft and operations develop in the future.
“At this time, the FAA does not have enough validated VTOL aircraft performance data and necessarily is taking a prescriptive and conservative approach,” the engineering brief notes. “Vertiport guidance is expected to evolve into a performance-based design standard.”
With an expectation that VTOL operators will operate in rural, urban, and suburban areas, the design standards address requirements for vertiports on airports and atop buildings.
The standards and guidance provide information for designers and builders to follow to ensure safe takeoffs and landings, the agency said. These include safety-critical geometry and design elements, such as dimensions for vertiport touchdown and liftoff areas, the additional airspace needed for approach and departure paths, and load-bearing capacity, the FAA explained. In addition, the guidelines address lighting, marking, and visual aids to ensure the facility is visible as a vertiport.
The British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) is seeking to establish a national trade body for the UK’s “vast and invaluable” aviation services sector. It intends for this group to deliver a “strong single voice” at the government level and create opportunities for the industry post-Brexit.
Aviation services is described by BBGA chief executive Marc Bailey as the “delivery of services for the movement of people or goods in all its forms,” including commercial airlines and charter operators. He said it is distinct from the aerospace sector, which covers the manufacture of aircraft and the supply of parts.
According to Bailey, the aviation services market creates “billions” of British pounds in revenue each year and is a much larger sector in employment terms than its aerospace stablemate, which has been represented at the UK government level for many years through ADS Group.
“ADS is well established with all the mechanisms in place to ensure that their voice is properly heard,” Bailey acknowledged. “With a new Conservative administration in place [under Prime Minister Liz Truss], now is the right time for us to get the aviation services sector recognized as an industry partnership. It’s vital we do that so we can create a single strategic voice on subjects that matter to us all, such as the chronic skills shortage, aviation training, sustainability, and the emerging urban air mobility sector.”
A Leonardo AW139 registered as N811TA and operated by Bristow Helicopters made an emergency landing at Houma-Terrebonne (Louisiana) Airport on Saturday night at 6:14 p.m. local time. The helicopter was a reported medevac flight inbound from the Bootheville area with six aboard when the pilots reported both flight control issues and heavy smoke in the cockpit.
The local fire department responded and was in position when the aircraft landed on the airport runway and then skidded onto the adjacent turf, remaining upright. Some of the helicopter’s occupants were transported to a local hospital with unknown injuries, and the aircraft received substantial damage.
Various reports indicate the helicopter had an electrical fire, loss of essential bus, and flight control problems at 6,000 feet and 185 knots. The pilots maintained control by cycling between the idle and fly settings on the engine mode, orbiting the airport, and then landed after retarding the engines and performing a high-speed flare at low altitude. The impact collapsed the main landing gear. The helicopter was painted in the livery of Era Helicopters. Era and Bristow merged in 2020.
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In an aircraft stall event, the recovery technique for a full stall is different to the recovery technique for an impending stall. Is this statement true or false?
CALS—a senior-level and laser-focused peer-to-peer networking summit—will address the latest and most cutting-edge topics, strategies, and solutions in corporate aviation. The summit is attendee-centric and serves as an educational and social platform, connecting select corporate aviation professionals with colleagues, industry experts, and solution providers in a relaxed, informal environment. We invite U.S.-based flight department leaders, including directors of maintenance, to apply to attend this event as our guests, which will be hosted Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, 2022, in Bonita Springs, Florida. Seats are limited, so don’t wait to apply.
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