As the west coast of Florida braces for the arrival of Hurricane Ian on Wednesday, local aviation businesses are giving notifications of shutdowns ahead of landfall. The storm is currently classified as a Category 3 in strength and forecasters are expecting it to be at least a Category 1 hurricane when it comes ashore.
As of 5 p.m. tonight, Tampa International Airport will suspend operations. The airport authority noted that it will begin damage assessments as soon as it is deemed safe to do so, and will coordinate its reopening based on roadway safety, facility readiness, and staffing.
Sheltair, which operates an FBO on the field, will close it at that time as well to prepare for the safety of its employees, customers, and aircraft. The Florida-based service provider announced earlier today that it shuttered its St. Petersburg locations including St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (KPIE) and Albert Whitted Airport (KSPG) and added that its locations in Orlando and Melbourne will close on Wednesday at noon and 2 p.m. respectively.
In Fort Myers, Page Field (KFMY) will close its runway at 8 p.m. tonight, at least until Thursday morning. Vincent Wolanin, CEO of Private Sky Aviation Services at Southwest Florida International Airport (KRSW) also in Fort Myers, told AIN that as long as air traffic control is routing aircraft to the airport the FBO will be open.
Eviation has achieved a long-awaited first flight with its all-electric Alice aircraft, which it is developing for both commuter airline and private aviation applications. The battery-powered, fixed-wing prototype took off at 7:10 a.m. local time today from Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, and landed eight minutes later after flying two circuits at 3,500 feet.
The September 27 flight, with test pilot Steven Crane at the controls, marks a significant milestone in the development of the Alice aircraft, which is designed to carry up to nine passengers and two pilots up to about 500 miles (800 kilometers). In addition to the commuter model, Eviation plans to offer a cargo-carrying Alice with a payload capacity of 2,500 pounds (1,100 kilograms), as well as an executive version that seats six passengers. Two MagniX Magni650 electric propulsion units power the aircraft.
"The flight was exactly as planned,” Eviation CEO Gregory Davis said. “The pilot executed the entire flight on the numbers. I was watching from just outside the telemetry room and as he hit every single point, it was just such a thrill,” he said. “We couldn't be happier."
Eviation, which is based in Arlington, Washington, first unveiled a full-scale prototype of the Alice aircraft at the Paris Air Show in June 2019.
Want more? You can find a longer version of this article at FutureFlight.aero, a news and information resource developed by AIN to provide objective coverage and analysis of cutting-edge aviation technology.
In a ruling published yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued a memorandum opinion and orders denying motions by both Gogo Business Aviation and SmartSky Networks. The two companies have disputed each other’s plans for the implementation of their 5G air-to-ground connectivity networks.
The ruling denied Gogo’s motion to strike improper reply arguments. Yesterday’s motion also denied SmartSky’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented Gogo from “making, using, offering to sell, or selling the Gogo 5G system pending the resolution of the patent infringement suit brought by SmartSky against Gogo,” according to a Gogo statement.
The memorandum option is not available as it was filed under seal, and the two parties are now required to “meet and confer and, no later than Oct. 3, 2022, submit a joint proposed redacted version, accompanied by a supporting memorandum, detailing how, under applicable law, the court may approve any requested redactions,” according to the ruling. If the two parties can’t agree on this, the entire opinion will be unsealed.
“This ruling supports our frequently stated position that Gogo is not infringing any valid SmartSky patent,” said Oakleigh Thorne, Gogo chairman and CEO. “We will continue to vigorously defend Gogo against SmartSky’s meritless patent infringement claims."
SmartSky filed the patent infringement complaint against Gogo in February.
Atlantic Aviation has expanded its footprint in its home state of Texas with the acquisition of Textar Aviation, an FBO at Dallas Love Field (KDAL). With this addition, Atlantic now operates at 106 airports in the U.S. and Caribbean, including at eight airports in Texas. After securing a foothold at KDAL, Atlantic is now positioned at 15 of the top 20 business aviation airports in the U.S.
“Love Field is one of our nation’s top three business aviation airports and having a major presence there has been a goal of our company for some time,” explained Lou Pepper, the chain’s CEO. “However we waited until we could acquire the amount of property necessary to establish a major presence on the airport and build the type of first-class facility customers have come to expect from Atlantic Aviation.”
The newly-purchased location, Atlantic’s largest single addition in a decade, includes a 51-acre leasehold with 697,000 sq ft of terminal, office space, and hangars capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets. It also offers eight acres of undeveloped property. While the terminal undergoes a refurbishment, the Plano-based company is currently in the design phase for the construction of additional hangars as well as a new flagship FBO there.
The Goal: 100 Percent Aircraft Availability
The only way to keep 100 percent of your customers happy is to have their aircraft available 100 percent of the time.
Safran opened a new electrical engineering center of excellence in Créteil, France, that will coalesce its aircraft electrical and power design and engineering expertise that was spread across several facilities. Spanning 6,400-sq-m (69,000-sq-ft), the center will house functions concentrated on electric and hybrid propulsion, power electronics, electrical distribution, and electrical conversion.
The facility will house research and technology activities, development and production engineering, program and customer support, and an electrical systems test bench. With 430 employees based at the site, Safran said the facility is designed to foster collaboration between the different teams and is at the “heart of the design” of its electrical systems.
Safran’s ePower product line is designed at the Créteil site as the company seeks to offer a line of products for future electric and hybrid aircraft. The products cover the entire electrical system, including GeneusPack batteries, EngineUS electric motors, GeneusGrid primary and secondary distribution systems, and GeneusGrid propulsion power management systems.
“We are proud to unveil this new center of expertise where we develop the electric propulsion systems that will soon equip small planes for tourism and for pilot training before being extended to regional commercial aircraft and ultimately to hybridize the new generation of thermal engines,” said Safran Electrical and Power CEO Stéphane Cueille. “Our teams are highly motivated by the idea of decarbonizing aviation through breakthrough electric technologies.”
Aviation consulting firm ZenithJet has signed on its first three sustainability clients—Jetcraft, Axis Flight Training Systems, and Elit’Avia—that are contracting with the Montreal-based adviser to understand their climate impact through the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
ZenithJet measures clients’ GHGs according to international standards—the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064. GHG accounting quantifies direct and indirect emissions across the entire supply chain and corporate departments.
“We operate a global network of more than 70 aviation professionals across 20 offices worldwide,” said Jetcraft president Peter Antonenko. “In addition to our operations, our team travels extensively to meet the needs of our clients. Working with ZenithJet has allowed us to examine the totality of our operations and activities, providing us with a data-based understanding of our impact on the planet and a baseline for change.”
Nick Houseman, president of ZenithJet and co-owner of its sister company, Elit’Avia, explained that through GHG accounting, Elit’Avia found that 69 percent of its emissions came directly from operating its fleet while the remaining 31 percent came from related activities, such as aircraft maintenance, electrical power, and employee business travel. “With these numbers as a baseline, it is possible to break down operations and seek reductions on a line-by-line basis.”
The delivery of the 500th G650/G650ER marked a key milestone for engine-maker Rolls-Royce, which in tandem has handed over more than 1,000 BR725 engines to power the ultra-long-range aircraft.
Announced yesterday, the 500th delivery comes 10 years since the G650 received FAA and EASA approval in late 2012. The G650ER followed in 2014 and the models have collectively accrued 120 city-pair world speed records.
Built at Rolls-Royce’s business aviation headquarters in Dahlewitz, Germany, the BR725 is the successor of the BR710 developed to power the first breed of ultra-long-range aircraft, the Gulfstream V and the Global Express. Producing up to 16,900 pounds of thrust, the BR725 is more than 4 dB cumulative quieter and has 4 percent better specific fuel consumption. It also shows a 21 percent improvement in NOx emissions compared with its predecessor, Rolls-Royce said, noting the engine also has set new benchmarks in reliability with increased maintenance intervals and lower lifecycle costs.
Rolls-Royce obtained certification for the engine in 2009. The engines have since accumulated nearly 1.5 million flying hours.
“Our partnership with Gulfstream, that started some 60 years ago, is a real success story and it will continue into the future with the Pearl 700, which powers the Gulfstream G700 and the Gulfstream G800,” said Dirk Geisinger, director of business aviation for Rolls-Royce
Baldwin Safety & Compliance has become the first accepted vendor for the Rotorcraft Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (R-ASIAS) program. The platform was created by General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) for the FAA and is a rotorcraft-specific version of the ASIAS program developed for the airline industry in 2007 and later business aviation.
ASIAS is an anonymous safety-reporting program designed to proactively discover and mitigate safety concerns. GDIT developed the centralized data repository and operational infrastructure to enable operators to securely share de-identified safety data within the rotor community.
A data-sharing agreement with GDIT will allow Baldwin to automatically feed data to R-ASIAS on behalf of its rotorcraft clients. Baldwin clients will identify which reports they want to share in the R-ASIAS portal. Baldwin will also have the authorization to analyze specific de-identified aggregated safety information on behalf of the client. Baldwin began to share relevant safety information with ASIAS in a similar agreement for the fixed-wing business aircraft community in 2016.
Baldwin president Don Baldwin said, “We have been working with ASIAS for our fixed-wing clients for many years. Our client, Global Medical Response, has been one of many operators pushing for this rotor-specific platform and we are excited to work with them as well as other rotor-wing clients that are anxious to participate in this highly sought-after data-share initiative.”
People in Aviation
JetHQ has appointed Mauro Rosso to serve as v-p of sales—Europe. Rosso has decades of aviation industry knowledge having previously worked for major airlines including Alitalia and Swiss International Air Lines. He has also held sales management positions at Jet Aviation and most recently served as sales manager for Textron Aviation in Zurich, Switzerland.
Tara DiJulio has been named chief communications officer for GE Aerospace. DiJulio has served in a number of roles at GE, including head of external communications and as a senior director of global public affairs. Before joining GE in 2016, she spent nearly a decade in the U.S. Senate where she was a chief media strategist and national spokesperson for five U.S. senators, including serving as the communications director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Avidyne Corporation has promoted Bill Thompson to director of business aviation. Thompson joined Avidyne in 2020 with more than 25 years of experience in avionics integration and certification, including with Textron Aviation and Signature TechnicAir. He also holds an A&P certification and inspection authorization, with a focus on avionics.
Jet Linx has hired Colby Creger and Matthew St. Clair to serve as vice presidents of regional aircraft management sales. Creger will have a primary focus on the Midwest region, and St. Clair will focus on western base locations such as Denver, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Creger has more than six years of experience in the industry, having previously served as a regional sales director for Textron Aviation. St. Clair previously worked at Textron and Clay Lacy Aviation and has experience in service sales, technical marketing, aircraft maintenance, and business operations.
West Star Aviation has promoted Dan Milholland to senior project manager at its Grand Junction, Colorado facility. Milholland has worked for West Star for more than 24 years, starting as a technician for Learjet, then moving to Citation, and eventually to a senior team lead position in aircraft services. He obtained his A&P from Colorado Northwestern Community College and has previously worked on B-1 bombers and the space shuttle.
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