Sheltair Opens New Facility at Its First Western U.S. FBO
With the grand opening on Tuesday of its new FBO at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, Florida-based Sheltair has debuted the permanent facility for its first location west of the Mississippi. The company began operations last year from a temporary building, which made it the second service provider on the field.
The approximately $20 million, 11-acre facility includes a 10,400-sq-ft terminal with a land-side porte-cochere for passenger drop off and pick up and an airside 162-foot-span aircraft arrivals canopy with direct access to the terminal, which features pine, stone, and exposed raw steel as well as a radiant-heat floor for customer comfort. Amenities include a large conference room, pilot lounge with snooze rooms, concierge, crew cars, onsite car rental, and complementary aircraft cabin cleaning.
The 31,050-sq-ft heated hangar can accommodate the latest business jets and has 4,500 sq ft of adjoining office space.
“Every detail-from access points and tenant offices to lounges and restrooms was designed with the customer’s comfort, privacy, and safety in mind,” said Sheltair president Lisa Holland, adding the company is looking forward to welcoming guests during the upcoming ski season. “Our new complex and the related services we provide the general aviation community ensure that we can not only meet, but exceed the needs of this important and growing market.”
FAA Announces Grants To Build Ranks of AMTs
As a means to fill the pipeline of future aircraft maintenance technicians (AMT), the FAA has announced the Aviation Maintenance Technical Workforce Development Grant Program. In Fiscal Year 2020, Congress appropriated $5 million to fund projects intended to stem the shortage of AMTs.
Eligible projects include new educational programs that teach technical skills in aviation maintenance; scholarships or apprenticeships in aviation maintenance; AMT career outreach programs that target primary, secondary, and post-secondary students; and support for military personnel moving to civilian AMT jobs.
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 set aside the funding and made grants available annually through 2023. Grants from $25,000 to $500,000 are available through the program for eligible groups, which would include academic institutions, Part 145 repair stations, labor unions, and state and local governments.
Honda Aircraft Brings Airshow Experience Online
Honda Aircraft has launched an online airshow that allows visitors to see and experience the HondaJet much in the same way they might at a real live event in the pre-Covid-19 era. The aircraft manufacturer’s online airshow includes a 360-degree virtual tour, walkaround and city-pair videos, and a virtual photo booth that allows users to take a selfie in the HondaJet Elite cabin or next to the very light jet.
“While most airshows were canceled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we're excited to offer our customers and fans around the world the opportunity to take a look at the technologically advanced HondaJet Elite,” said Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino. “In addition, we hope our online airshow will open up the business aviation industry to more people around the world and allow them to explore the benefits of flying private.”
The virtual reality tour allows the user to peruse the twinjet’s cabin, flight deck, and exterior, with clickable touchpoints that provide more in-depth information about certain features. For those preferring a guided tour of the HondaJet, the walkaround video offers a narrated view of the interior and exterior. Meanwhile, the city-pair video demonstrates how the jet might be used in a typical day at work.
Eagle Creek Takes On Aerial Firefighting Upgrades
Three Twin Commander 690s used in Conair’s aerial firefighting fleet now operate with new Garmin G950 flight decks and tactical radios following an extensive modification project by Eagle Creek Aviation. Integrating all primary flight, navigation, communication, terrain, traffic, weather, and engine instrumentation, the Garmin G950 panel includes a 12.4-inch multifunction display and two 10.4-inch primary flight displays.
“The Garmin G950 glass flight deck in our Twin Commander fleet improves the pilot and air attack officer’s ability to assess multiple environmental hazards simultaneously,” said Canada-based Conair’s Jeff Berry. “The innovative tool offers greater simplicity in the cockpit, providing more data on demand to the Air Attack team, within a clean, integrated display.”
Also included in the installations was the Genesys digital autopilot DFCS2100. Eagle Creek’s experience with the Twin Commander includes the development of the Dash 10T engine upgrade program and collaboration on Twin Commander’s Factory Grand Renaissance program.
Indiana FBO Changes Hands, Rebrands
Aviation services provider Aero Management Group (AMG) is now the lone full-service FBO at Indiana’s Columbus Municipal Airport (BAK). The Indianapolis-based company—which operates four other FBOs in the state as well as locations in Dallas and Nashville—acquired the assets of Jeff Air Pilot Services and retained its staff as it secured a new 30-year lease on the property from the airport, with a 10-year option.
The facility, which now carries the name Columbus Jet—mirroring the company’s Indy Jet, Dallas Jet, and Nashville Jet location branding—occupies 1,500 sq ft of space in the airport’s terminal with a passenger lobby, recently refurbished pilots lounge with snooze room and showers, 12-seat conference room, flight planning room, and flight training area. The complex offers approximately 35,000 sq ft of heated hangar space capable of housing a Gulfstream G650 and more than two acres of ramp.
“BAK is a large airport property with multiple runways capable of supporting aircraft from TBMs to Boeing 737s, and they get everything in between,” Ryan Maxfield, AMG’s co-founder and chief revenue officer, told AIN. “AMG is mostly interested in locations where we can roll out our supporting aviation businesses, so the Columbus acquisition isn’t just about pumping fuel—it’s about offering managed aircraft solutions, on-demand jet and turbine charter, and a collegiate-backed flight training program, all while raising the bar on service."
SD Marks 2,000th FlightDeck Freedom Install
Satcom Direct has achieved activation on the 2,000th aircraft of its FlightDeck Freedom datalink service since its launch in 2007. The service consolidates flight deck communications, including integrating with third-party trip planning services and helping manage flight operations. The latest activation involved a head-of-state aircraft.
Operators can use FlightDeck Freedom for real-time worldwide flight tracking and to receive automated flight notifications such as hazardous weather, route, and security alerts, according to Satcom Direct. Datalink features include flight plan and flight plan wind uploads, digital ATIS, pre-departure and oceanic clearances, text weather, en route winds, graphical weather, email messaging, CPLDC via FANS, and Link 2000+/ATN. When the aircraft is nearing a defined geographic area, FlightDeck Freedom’s GeoNotification feature provides a warning, for example, in areas of reduced connectivity or in proximity to sensitive airspace boundaries.
While in flight, crews can use FlightDeck Freedom to manage airborne connectivity systems, including monitoring and troubleshooting problems. FlightDeck Freedom also integrates with Satcom Direct’s SD Pro flight operations management system, and this helps with budgeting and maintenance scheduling.
The FAA lacks processes to verify compliance with the BasicMed program and does not have sufficient data to fully assess the ramifications on safety, the Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found. In a recent report prepared for Congress, it recommended the FAA improve its processes surrounding pilot verification and safety monitoring.
At the behest of Congress, the agency released the BasicMed program in 2017, providing an alternative for FAA medicals for certain pilots who fly recreationally. Participants are required to get a physical exam with a state-licensed physician and complete an online medical course. About 55,000 pilots are now enrolled in the program.
The OIG is concerned that the FAA does not have processes to confirm the pilots meet eligibility requirements, including whether or not they carry a valid U.S. driver’s license. In addition, OIG questioned a lack of ability to verify that state-licensed physicians are conducting the medical examinations.
The watchdog agency acknowledged that the FAA plans to monitor the program's safety implications. “However, FAA told us that it may take several more years until there is sufficient data to identify trends and evaluate the rule’s safety impacts, due in part to the lengthy process for accident investigations,” the OIG said. “FAA’s ability to accurately and fully assess whether BasicMed has impacted safety may be limited.”
GPMS has received FAA supplemental type certification (STC) for its Foresight MX health monitoring system on the Airbus AS350 AStar helicopter platform. The initial certification is on the H125 (AS350B3), but the company plans to pursue approvals with Transport Canada, EASA, and FAA to include B2 variants.
Foresight provides predictive engine and component monitoring, rotor track and balance, and flight data monitoring with exceedance alerting. Cloud-based system data moves automatically via Wi-Fi or cellular connections and allows access via any browser-equipped device.
The Foresight system for the AS350 weighs less than six pounds and is sold as a service to “ensure affordability,” according to the company. "The industry is talking about the role connected fleets and predictive analytics can play in asset optimization and the ROI for Foresight is fairly immediate,” said GPMS CEO Eric Bechhoefer.
East West Helicopter and its associate company, Panterra Heli Support, will serve as a sales agent and installer for the system. East West completed the initial installation. Last year, GPMS received STC approval for Foresight MX on the Bell 407.
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Requires replacing the fuel control unit with a part eligible for installation. Prompted by a report of contamination from galvanic corrosion between the fuel control unit aluminum body and the steel union fitting, causing the loss of engine control that resulted in an engine over-speed condition and subsequent in-flight shutdown.
Requires an inspection for chafing or interference of some hydraulic pipes and certain rib passage holes and, depending on findings, modification or repair. Prompted by a report of hydraulic fluid on the ground near the main landing gear brake assembly. The hydraulic leakage started in a cracked hydraulic pipe, with the crack likely due to chafing between two hydraulic pipes or between hydraulic pipes and the structure.
Supersedes but retains the requirements of Emergency AD 2020-01-01, which mandated cleaning and inspection of the control surface mass-balance weights for corrosion and replacement as necessary, and incorporates more aircraft S/Ns and new criteria for the replacement of affected weights.
Requires an inspection of the electrical power system cable assembly for wire chafing and any necessary repairs or replacement. Prompted by the failure of both inverters in flight, leading to autopilot disconnection, and a subsequent inspection that identified chafing of a wire in the AC power system cable assembly due to a protective grommet not correctly installed in the emergency bus interlock compartment.
Supersedes but retains the requirements of AD 2014-12-07, which requires inspecting the rotor brake pinion for a crack and, if necessary, replacement. Updated AD also mandates removing certain serial-numbered pinions from service. Prompted by a report of an additional cracked pinion.
Requires a one-time inspection for missing washers and loose nuts on engine attachment hardware and, depending on findings, accomplishment of applicable corrective action(s). Prompted by engine attachment hardware of a PC-24 that during a scheduled maintenance inspection was found not to conform to the approved design. That included a washer missing beneath each of the four mating bolt heads on the rear engine beam and loose nuts on some of the keeper fitting attachment bolts on the left- and right-hand middle inner nacelle.
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