Three of the people on board the privately owned aircraft were members of the Atlanta-based gospel group The Nelons. 

• READ MORE: PC-12 Crash Claims Members of Prominent Gospel Singing Group

According to USA Today, those who died in the crash have been identified as singers Jason and Kelly Nelon Clark, Nathan and Amber Kistler, and group assistant Melody Hodges.

The aircraft, a 2010 PC-12/47E single-engine turboprop, was registered to Haynie Enterprises Inc. It was piloted by its owner, Larry Haynie, who along with his wife, Melissa, was also killed in the accident.

According to a statement from the Gaither Management Group, the family was en route to Seattle to join the Gaither Homecoming Cruise in Alaska. It was noted that Autumn, the youngest daughter of the Kellys, and her husband, Jamie Streetman, arrived in Seattle by other means and are safe.

Flight History 

The PC-12 departed from West Georgia Regional Airport (KCTJ) around 9:30 a.m. EST Friday, stopping at Nebraska City Municipal Airport (KAFK) to refuel. The aircraft lifted off around noon, heading for Billings Logan International Airport (KBIL) in Montana.

Approximately two hours into the flight while cruising at an altitude of 26,000 feet, Haynie notified controllers there was a problem with the autopilot and he was losing control of the aircraft. The ADS-B data as recorded by FlightAware.com shows multiple turns and pitch changes. The ground speed varied from 173 to 319 mph, and at one point the aircraft was descending at 5,545 feet per minute. 

The ADS-B readout shows a series of descending turns before data is lost.

According to the Gillette News Record, the aircraft crashed near the town of Recluse, Wyoming, near the Montana state line, causing a small wildfire that was contained to about 38 acres. There were no injuries on the ground, although witnesses reported seeing the airplane circling and flying low before the crash.

Debris from the aircraft was found away from the main impact. One of the theories that NTSB investigators will be looking at is the possibility of an in-flight breakup, as the aircraft was not designed for such rapid and extreme altitude and airspeed changes.

• READ MORE: Authorities ID 2 Killed in Lancair ES Crash Near EAA AirVenture

According to NTSB spokesperson Keith Holloway, the investigation begins with the identification of the so-called “four corners” of the aircraft: the nose, tail and wing tips

“Part of the investigation will be to locate those sections,” Holloway told FLYING. “NTSB investigators have the experience and expertise to locate aircraft parts even from aircraft that are not quite intact. They have the knowledge of being able to locate aircrafts parts that may be unidentifiable to the average person. Unfortunately, it is not rare that NTSB investigators have situations involving scattered wreckage from a plane crash.”

When the wreckage is scattered over a wide area in a remote location, gathering it up takes time and is a painstaking but necessary process as each piece is considered evidence and part of a puzzle.

“With the use of the NTSB metallurgical lab and review of navigational devices and equipment, NTSB investigators are still able to put together the scenario of what probably happened and determine a cause of the crash,” Holloway said.

According to Holloway, the NTSB investigations involve three basic review areas: the pilot—notably their actions in the 72 hours prior to flight, as well as ratings and recency of experience—aircraft maintenance records, and the operating environment.

The agency will also listen to recordings of any ATC communications and review radar data and weather reports. If there are any witnesses to the event, they will be interviewed as well, Holloway said, adding that the NTSB will “look for electronic devices that could contain information relevant to the investigation and any available surveillance video, including from doorbell cameras.”

The NTSB preliminary report is expected to be available in a few weeks. The final report with the probable cause of the accident is several months out from being released.

The post NTSB to Focus on ‘Four Corners’ of PC-12 in Fatal Crash Probe appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The company said its fleet leader, a PC-12 based in Canada, has flown more than 35,000 hours, while 71 PC-12s have logged more than 20,000 hours of flight time each. Altogether, the PC-12 fleet has logged more than 9.3 million landings, with four aircraft reporting more than 50,000 landings. The aircraft was certified in 1994.

• READ MORE: We Fly: Pilatus PC-12 NGX

“When the PC-12 was launched, this milestone seemed light-years away in the future,” said Ignaz Gretener, vice president of Pilatus’ Business Aviation division. “You must give credit to the engineers who designed this incredibly robust airframe, the production team that builds outstanding quality into each unit, the sales team that found so many markets eager to adopt this versatile aircraft, and the support team so dedicated to keeping them in the air.”

Pilatus said it delivered 80 new PC-12s during 2022, and plans to increase production to meet higher demand this year. The latest model, the PC-12 NGX, is the third major variant and it of the type and has benefitted from a number of improvements over the original PC-12. These include more power, speed, gross weight and payload capacity and upgraded interiors. In 2019 the aircraft received Pratt & Whitney’s electronic propeller and engine control system, or EPECS.

• READ MORE: Blackhawk to Offer Pilatus PC-12 Upgrade

“The PC-12s past, present, and future success boils down to its appeal to a wide range of operations, its solid reliability, and its proven outstanding safety record,” said Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher. “As an additional benefit, these attributes have resulted in PC-12 owners enjoying one of the highest levels of value retention among all business aircraft,” he added.

The post Pilatus PC-12 Fleet Logs 10 Million Flight Hours appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Kyle Martin, vice president, European affairs for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), opened the conference by setting the scene. “I’m surprised to believe the rulemaking for what we’re going to discuss…started 30 years ago.”

“We’ve gone through a journey to where we are today—we have our regulatory regime in place, we have operations happening, but there’s definitely a massive untapped potential.”

The history of the rule—known as COM-SET IMC—began in 1993 with a meeting in Rome, Italy, and ICAO published the  initial standards and recommended practices—SARPs—in 2005. EASA and QinetiQ conducted a study that had an outcome supporting SET commercial operations with the appropriate safety mitigations in 2007, further paving the way. The rulemaking itself was launched in 2012, and the official proposed rulemaking was published in 2014.

In March 2017, GAMA celebrated at AERO Friedrichshafen the codification of the brand-new regulation—2017-363—and operators could ostensibly move forward, utilizing it to guide single-engine turboprop flying for commercial purposes, unlocking that potential. Six years on, that’s only very partially true.

Defining COM-SET IMC

The U.S. has allowed for the operation of single-engine turboprop aircraft—such as the Pilatus PC-12, TBM series, and Cessna Caravan—in instrument meteorological conditions since the publication in August 1997 of a simple and clear update to FAR 135.163 (62 FR 42374) stating the equipment requirements for single-engine turbine aircraft operating under IFR on a Part 135 air operator’s certificate (AOC). Canada secured its approval even earlier, under Policy Letter 80 in 1993. Until 2017, there was no correlating approval under EASA regulatory framework. 

However, that final rule contains requirements beyond what has been required by the U.S. and Canadian aviation authorities. It includes:

• the requirement to use routes or operate within areas “where surfaces are available that permit a safe forced landing to be exceuted”
• the need for proof that “an acceptable level of turbine engine reliability [has been] achieved in service by the world fleet for the particular airframe-engine combination”
• specific maintenance instructions included in the operator’s maintenance program, plus the need for an engine monitoring program or automatic trend monitoring, and “a propulsion and associated systems reliability program”
• flight crew composition and training/recurrent check program
• special operating procedures, including in-flight shutdown (IFSD)
• a “safety risk assessment” 
• a list of required equipment significantly longer than that in FAR 135.163

While these requirements may sound generally reasonable, in practice it has been a different story with operators who might seek compliance, but instead find alternate means to conduct business.

According to the folks at GAMA, with the EU’s larger population (739 million) and aggregate economy ($16.6 trillion) larger than the U.S. (314 million and $15.7 trillion, respectively), the disconnect is striking. At the time of the publication of the EASA rule, there were only 12 single-engine turboprops operating under EASA exemption, versus a fleet of 673 in the U.S.—many of those Cessna Caravans delivering cargo for FedEx, DHL, and other entities. Following EU implementation, that number has risen—to a mere 60 aircraft.

Yet the single-engine turboprop market has been a strong driver of growth in the industry overall, selling well with updated, more efficient models entering the mix, in high demand. Innovation surges throughout the turboprop segment as well, with advancements such as autothrottles, digital data management, and safety protocols like Garmin’s Autoland. So there appears to be a discrepancy between the fleet numbers and those on commercial operating certificates: “Only a small fraction of that [fleet] is actually working in the commercial IMC market,” said Martin, where their efficiency, reliability, and improvements to safety can benefit the public. One example: JetFly, represented at the SETOps conference, has 40 PC-12s in its fleet, yet not on an AOC. Contrast this with Tradewind Aviation, based in Connecticut, which just took delivery of the first of 20 more PC-12s to bring its fleet to 38 of the turboprops. All of those Tradewind aircraft have flown safely across the north Atlantic Ocean from the OEM’s production facilities in Switzerland.

As it turns out, the restrictions placed within the regulation are archaic and constrain the true potential of the modern single-engine turboprop fleet. “Operators are essentially not able to take full advantage of the high efficiency and reliability of the PC-12, and other single-engine turbine aircraft,” said Martin. “ They have to do strange routings to keep within a distance of landing sites, they have to go through an extensive bureaucratic process with their national authorities to get those routes approved, reviewed, questioned—it’s taking a lot of extra effort for no added [value].”

Performance-based rules should allow the operator to follow the intent of the rule and gain some ease of compliance. “But the inspector level at authorities,” added Martin, “they like to ask for paperwork, documentation, and justification—and re-justification. So there’s a mass of uncertainty out there.” Small operators feel that burden acutely, as they don’t have the staff to deal with the extra workload.

Some within EASA recognize that the industry suffers from over-regulation, a feeling that representatives from the agency revealed on Thursday at AERO during a report-out. The timing provided an opportunity for the assembled members of the SETOps conference to come up with specific, actionable recommendations to take to EASA to help streamline the current regulations and make them more workable.

In-Flight Shutdowns and Safe Landing Sites

Ralph Menzel spent 33 years flying as an operator and pilot prior to joining EASA in 2005. He served as the PCM for Pilatus, among other contacts with the segment. Menzel pointed out several pain points that he’d observed, including the difficulty in identifying landing fields outside of aerodromes and “getting them discussed with the national authorities.” These landing spots are significant, as, per the rule, an operator must be generally within gliding distance of a previously-deemed-suitable spot to land at all times along the route.

But achieving the needed improvements through another rulemaking Menzel feared would take “another 30 years. The easiest task is to [make the updates] through a safety promotion, interpretive material—things that we can put together right now.”

In-flight shutdown procedures form another critical area of needed clarification and work, along with safe forced landing site selection. A working group centered around the Luxembourg civil aviation authority, DAC-LU, has begun, with “good discussions already,” according to Menzel. 

For example, some countries are imposing operating weather minima on safe forced landing sites, regardless of the fact that when the engine-out approach is to an airport or aerodrome, the standard approach minima cannot be used because the aircraft is not following the published approach path. Conversely, if the safe forced landing site is not an aerodrome, no weather minima exist in the first place—and there’s typically no observation provided.

To counter this, DAC-LU conducted a study putting flight crews through a series of 50 IFSD approaches while wearing view-limiting goggles simulating IFR conditions and determined that with proper training, pilots could make the approaches safely in all weather conditions. The plan is to produce special guidance materials and an NPA for the next update to the rule.

Another problem surrounds the availability and suitability of the flight simulators for use in the required initial and recurrent training for COM-SET IMC approval, with only one available previously—a Cessna Caravan sim in Wichita, Kansas. “To take an aircraft out of revenue service, first to do a class rating course and the ACC, I probably need the aircraft out of service for six days, seven days—versus the simulator. Look, I’d love a full flight simulator based in [London] Gatwick—brilliant—but we need to be realistic,” said Edwin Brenninkmeyer, CEO of Oriens Aviation, Pilatus, and Tecnam sales and service for the British Isles.

What’s Really Happening Here

But we all know what happens when excessive regulation strangles business—the clever ones create workarounds. Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of the Aviation Division at Daher, has been involved in the process heavily for at least the last 15 years, and Daher has supported those operators seeking AOCs under the 2017 rule. Chabbert pointed out this “elephant in the room” during the technical discussion of the rule in practice: Operators may be using aircraft to provide shared “rides” outside of the AOC to avoid the onerous burden of the rule, or while waiting for mitigations to take place.

“The reality of the [reported] numbers that we are talking about, it’s a very small fraction of people that are using the TBM in commercial operations,” said Chabbert. “We see that we have a lot of other types of activity that are coming from—[flight sharing] apps, you know, fractional [operations]—we can have some type of usage, that is shared between people, and separation between the aircraft they are renting, and the rental.”

The complex regs have done nothing to advance safety—which should have been the point—in Chabbert’s view. “Today, there’s no safety objective that has been achieved. This is a lie in Europe. We have a roadmap, we have the safety analysis, we have the technology, we have the motivation from the operators. We just need to make sure that what we are going to apply makes sense and is not going to destroy what we think is an addition to the wealth of those in the nation, of the [transportation] choices that we have in Europe.

“I was involved for those 30 years, and in fact, for real for the last 15 years, [and hoped] that I would see, as we speak today, a large majority of operations under SET. This is not the case. What can we do to make it a real goal, and how long are we going to give ourselves so that instead of looking at the facts today where it’s a minority that is under SET, it becomes a majority? Do we need two years? Five years? Fifteen years? What we need is to basically set objectives so that we can have a very simple way to operate, and make sure that the market will then grow, and that operators can make money.”

The Takeaway

With the right correction—implemented in a timely fashion—there’s much to gain as the GA industry sits at a unique tipping point, able to provide an answer to sustainable, efficient transportation solutions while maintaining a high degree of safety. At the same time, there can be clarification between private and commercial operations instead of the shades of gray prevalent today.

The industry has demonstrated its ability to drive towards greater efficiency—with a 2 percent gain as targeted since 2009—and a commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The broader acceptance and distribution of sustainable aviation fuel to more and smaller GA airports underscores this promise, along with the early implementation of alternative energy sources. Add to this a commercially viable program, and it’s clear the potential this market segment has for growth in the future as well as today. GAMA plans to consolidate the outcomes from the meeting into recommendations to EASA, and it will publish the results.

The post Single-Engine Turboprop Commercial Ops in the EU Still in a Tangled Web appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Sales in 2022 totaled $1.38 billion, with operating income of about $240 million and orders totaling $1.7 billion. The company said it improved on its 2021 performance with deliveries of 40 PC-24s, 80 PC-12 NGXs, 10 PC-21s, and 3 PC-6s in 2022, as reported also in the General Aviation Manufacturers Association annual deliveries report released last week.

• READ MORE: Pilatus Delivers First PC-12 NGX to Tradewind Aviation

Pilatus said its general aviation business unit entered a purchase agreement with U.S. charter airline and aircraft service company Tradewind Aviation for more than 20 PC-12 NGXs. The transaction nearly doubles the Tradewind fleet.

While successful overall, last year presented difficulties for the company including supply chain disruptions that had a negative effect on its production operations.

“Rarely has the company had to operate in such a geopolitically unpredictable period. Never before have we encountered such serious supply chain difficulties,” said Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher. “Pilatus has achieved a lot whilst also benefiting from exceptionally high demand for our unique aircraft.”

While aircraft deliveries account for a large share of the company’s results, its customer service business also grew by about 10 percent during the past year. Pilatus also grew through the acquisition of U.S. Pilatus dealer Skytech Inc. and its 93 full-time employees. Pilatus said Skytech will continue to sell and service PC-24s and PC-12s independently on the East Coast.

• READ MORE: Pilatus Aircraft Reports 2021 Sales Record of 152 Aircraft

“Our PC-12 NGXs and PC-24s were, and are, absolute bestsellers, our order books are full,” said board chairman Hansueli Loosli. He said he also felt there is more potential for trainer sales despite receiving no new orders in that segment during 2022. 

“I’m very confident that we will reel in an order soon,” Loosli said.

The post Pilatus Reports Improved Sales, Financial Performance for 2022 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

While the rest of the party was out shooting, the private pilot, 48, and one companion got some isopropyl alcohol de-icing fluid from a hardware store, borrowed a ladder from the hunting lodge at which they had stayed, and spent three hours chipping snow and ice from the wings. The ladder was not tall enough to allow them to reach the upper surface of the T-tail, but the pilot was satisfied that the rest of the airplane was sufficiently clean.

Video of the Pilatus taxiing out showed snow falling heavily and white clumps adhering to parts of the fuselage and vertical tail. A couple of inches of snow (and presumably some ice) lay on the top of the horizontal stabilizer. The takeoff was recorded as well. The Pilatus roared down Runway 31, lifted off, banked to the left, and faded from sight in the snow and mist.

No one at the airport knew it at the time, but it crashed less than a mile from the runway. Of the 12 people aboard, three survived with serious injuries. The pilot was among the nine dead.

Thirty years ago, it would have looked like an open and shut case. Whatever residue of ice remained on the wings must obviously have triggered a premature stall. But we live in a different era now, with flight data and cockpit voice recorders in wide use. They tell accident investigators not what must have happened, but what really did.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s probable cause finding made no mention of snow and ice. It attributed the loss of control after takeoff and the ensuing stall to “the pilot’s improper loading of the airplane, which resulted in reduced static longitudinal stability.” Another contributing factor was “his decision to depart into low instrument meteorological conditions”—although that seems unfair, since the whole point of having an instrument rating and a powerful airplane equipped for flight in known icing is to be able to do exactly that.

The cockpit voice recorder picked up the sounds of passengers boarding the airplane, stomping snow from their shoes, clicking their seat belts. One passenger commented on how many pheasants they had bagged. Another recited a prayer of gratitude for various blessings—it was Thanksgiving weekend—and went on, with eerie prescience, “Father in Heaven, we ask for a special blessing now that we take off in this not-so-great weather and that [Thou wilt] watch over and protect us. Impress upon the mind of [the pilot] that he might know how best to travel this course that we are about to do, and we are thankful for this airplane and ask that You will watch over and protect us.” A collective “Amen” followed.

The pilot and the right-seat occupant radioed the airport manager, who was plowing the runway, to ascertain its condition. Their exchange was somewhat acerbic. The manager frankly told the pilot he must be crazy. The pilot good-naturedly replied that the snow berms on either side of the plowed portion of the strip were not a concern. As it turned out, he was right.

The pilot back-taxied to the approach end of Runway 31 and succeeded in turning the airplane around. The power came up, the Pilatus accelerated, and after 30 seconds it rotated. The pitch angle increased to almost 20 degrees, then eased back to about 10. Practically from the moment of liftoff, the stall warning sounded and an automated voice intoned the word “stall” over and over, no fewer than 19 times. Eleven seconds after rotation, a porpoising motion began, increasing in magnitude and rapidity. The bank angle increased to 64 degrees; the stick pusher actuated and, at a height of 380 feet, the Pilatus stalled.

With granular information from the flight data recorder, the NTSB conducted simulations to ascertain whether the airplane had been controllable and whether the accumulations of snow and ice remaining on it could have been a factor in the accident. The conclusion was that the airplane should have been controllable, and that the snow and ice had not significantly degraded its performance, though they may have affected the elevator control forces.

READ MORE: Classic Aftermath

The data recorder stored a number of previous flights, and the NTSB noted that the pilot, who had 1,260 hours in type, habitually rotated somewhat abruptly, tending to slightly overshoot the desired pitch attitude and then correct. Another pilot who regularly flew the airplane used a gentler, more gradual rotation, which the board found made speed control easier.

The board compared the accident flight with the previous day’s trip from Idaho Falls to Chamberlain. The cabin loading had been similar, and there were pitch oscillations after takeoff on that flight as well. The crux of the matter, in the NTSB’s view, was the combination of heavy weight—the airplane was 107 pounds over gross—and the CG location, several inches behind the aft limit, that resulted from 12 people, none of them lap children, and a great many dead pheasants occupying a 10-passenger airplane. An aft CG is associated with diminished stick forces and weak speed stability, conditions that may be difficult to manage on instruments.

The stall warnings that were heard practically from the moment the airplane rotated were due to the design of the Pilatus’s ice protection system. When ice protection is on, the triggering speeds for both the stall warning and the stick pusher increase considerably. According to the flight manual, the target rotation speed at max gross in icing conditions was 92 knots. The pilot rotated at 88, possibly because he wanted to get clear of snow build-up on the partially plowed runway. When the actual stall occurred, however, the indicated airspeed was only 80 knots. 

One can speculate about what passed through the pilot’s mind during the few seconds between the liftoff and the stall. The aural stall warning must have taken him by surprise. Since he had just spent hours removing snow and ice, his first thought may have been that it was caused by some lingering contamination on the wings. But now he was in near-whiteout conditions, and too low to risk pushing the nose down decisively. The airplane may not have responded to a gentle push on the yoke. Pitch oscillations made speed control difficult. There was little time to analyze or adapt—only enough for an exclaimed “Oh no!”

The pilot was the kind of person whom you would expect to follow rules. Yet he ignored the CG limits. Did he feel undue pressure to get his passengers back home? Probably not. There is no indication that he hesitated or considered the takeoff dangerous; in fact, he seemed less concerned than his prayerful passengers were. Did he understand how the extreme aft loading could affect the airplane’s flying qualities? He had made a similar flight the day before. Did he begin this one thinking it would be exactly the same? 

Sometimes you don’t know how near the edge you are until you go over it.

This article is based on the National Transportation Safety Board’s report of the accident and is intended to bring the issues raised to our readers’ attention. It is not intended to judge or to reach any definitive conclusions about the ability or capacity of any person, living or dead, or any aircraft or accessory.

The post A Wing and a Prayer appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Today, Paris-based Moove announced its next foray, which takes it to the U.S. market with use cases for flight departments in North America. In addition, it is expanding its capabilities to encompass empty-leg scheduling and on-demand fulfillment for European customers.

The web-based platform features a clean user interface designed to flex with the company’s future iterations. Right now, it provides real-time planning and dynamic pricing for operators to show to prospective clients, along with a soft pitch on the benefits of using personal and business aviation.

Growing the Market for Turboprops

FLYING spoke with founder Arthur Ingles regarding the company’s unique offering for business operators, as well as personal transportation. Ingles started the project following six years with Daher, finishing his tenure there leading strategy, marketing, communication, and TBM program direction in September 2021.

Ingles was motivated by the opportunity to not only support the current EU-based fleet of TBMs, Pilatus PC-12s, Beechcraft King Airs, and similar aircraft, but to grow the market by demonstrating to small and medium-sized businesses the utility of this class of aircraft for short-distance flights.

“We offer a platform in order for commercial operators to sell their flights, or manage their bookings, and we are targeting especially professional [flight departments]. We have developed the technology to help us better target managers and their teams so that we can fly efficiently with a private aircraft—specifically smaller ones, because particularly TBMs and PC-12s are a great asset to fly more economically than jets, reducing the environmental footprint of the business aviation. It’s a key topic in France and in Europe in general.”

Ingles recognized the disconnect between the products he strategized to bring to customers, and the utility they could provide beyond their traditional customer base: “I realized when I was at Daher,” he said, “that we [were] serving pilots mostly, owners. When you discuss with any CEOs of small or medium companies in France and Europe, 90 percent of them…don’t even know that general aviation exists, and they don’t even know that it’s a valuable economic option for them—especially when they want to develop their business somewhere where you don’t have a commercial [airline] schedule.”

Moove has focused on illuminating these efficiencies. “We developed a real-time benchmark technology,” said Ingles, “so you can calculate the time and productivity savings you can get out of a private flight versus your three-hour drive to Paris-CDG then the two connections to go into the north of Italy, whereas if you have chosen business aviation, it will have been just a one-hour flight with 10 minutes [drive.]”

Empty-Leg Genius

“We do both the SaaS solutions which enables corporate flight departments and commercial [on-demand] operators to sell and manage their flights,” said Ingles. “And also we’ve tried where there are no commercial operators, to develop shared ownership of TBM aircraft. Because, as you know, if you want to increase your market and be more competitive, repositioning flights are a big issue. Having aircraft based in regions where you don’t have any commercial operators is important.” 

As Ingles mentioned, one key area where the efficiency breaks down lies in repositioning flights—the segments where the aircraft flies without passengers in order to pick up or drop off a primary user. If those segments can be monetized, they turn the wasted time, cost, and effort into an opportunity. On-demand and corporate operators globally are working to tap into selling these “empty-leg flights.”

Moove specifically targets the selling of empty-leg segments with a powerful, proprietary algorithm that captures segments flying nearby a route. This enables operators to offer a refined price for similar one-way flights to prospects, based on matching scores, and thereby increasing drastically the chance of selling their empty legs.

“We are starting in the U.S. with our SaaS offering,” for flight departments, said Ingles, with plans to expand into the on-demand markets.

The post Moove Makes Its Play Into U.S. Corporate Aviation Market appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The Miami-based leasing company is the largest global owner of Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft and associated spares and engines, and has a sprawling portfolio of more than 150 aircraft, including Cessna Caravans, Embraer EMB-120s, and Pilatus PC-12s used for passenger and cargo. Jetstream will support Surf Air through an operating lease and sale agreement that allows the regional carrier to grow its fleet.

• READ MORE: Surf Air Mobility Inc. Announces Two Mergers and an Agreement

Over the next six years, the funding will allow SAM, based in Los Angeles, to grow its fleet by purchasing new and used Caravans and PC-12s. Additionally, the agreement enables Surf Air to enter the sale and purchase agreements for each aircraft, as well as a separate binding lease agreement for each one.

Jetstream has also expressed interest in purchasing up to 250 hybrid- and fully-electric powertrains from SAM over five years, subject to various terms. SAM has positioned itself to grow as a regional carrier that leverages electric aircraft. Through Jetstream’s support, SAM will be able to grow its fleet to meet route expansion plans and customer demand as it seeks to expand its regional air travel footprint and sustainable flying solution.

“We believe the customized aircraft leasing structure from Jetstream will provide us a capital efficient way to more rapidly expand our operations at the scale necessary for a future when electrified aircraft,” Sudhin Shahani, founder of SAM, said in a statement. “Jetstream’s proven record of leasing aircraft in this asset class at scale, especially for the Cessna Grand Caravan, will help strengthen Surf Air Mobility’s position in the regional mobility and turboprop category.”

Focused on Hybrid Electric-Regional Mobility

Surf Air plans to build a regional air mobility ecosystem by developing a hybrid electric powertrain that will offer OEMs and third-party operators the ability to order new or upgrade existing aircraft with hybrid electric powertrains.

If things go as planned, SAM says it will deploy the world’s largest fleet of hybrid-electric aircraft on existing and new regional airline routes. As evident with this deal, its immediate focus is to grow its operations using the Grand Caravan. The Caravan will be the first aircraft that Surf Air plans to electrify with its hybrid-electric powertrains, which it hopes to be certified for commercial operations by 2025.

Meanwhile, Stuart Klaskin, CEO of Jetstream Aviation Capital, said, “with electrified commercial aviation around the corner, we’re looking forward to lending our expertise in this growth segment of the aircraft market. We believe the regional turboprop asset category is positioned for significant growth over the next decade as electrified aircraft enter into operations.”

Already, Jetstream has relationships with Southern Airways Express and Mokulele Airlines, two of the companies that recently agreed to be acquired by SAM.

The post Surf Air Mobility Inks $450 Million Deal With Jetstream Aviation Capital appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

To understand what’s going on with the performance improvements from the more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6 engines involved, you need to know that there are two fundamental measures of power. The most basic measure of power—and the one listed in the airplane specifications—is the maximum shaft horsepower (shp) of the engine. The other element in the power equation is how much power the engine can potentially produce at sea level on a standard 15 degree Celsius day, which are the international standard atmosphere (ISA) conditions.

SHP Delivered to the Prop

The TBM 850, for example, has a limit of 850 shp. That means the airplane is approved for 850 shp to be delivered to the propeller. A shaft horsepower is essentially the same as horsepower developed by a piston engine, or an electric motor, for that matter. Horsepower is a measure of power, or torque, over a unit of time. We could accurately call the power delivered by an aircraft piston engine shp because the power is being delivered to the shaft that drives the prop. But because there are other measures of power output for a turbine engine, we specify for turboprop engines that shp is power delivered to the prop.

The shp of a turboprop engine is restricted by the strength of the gearbox that drives the propeller, and by the ability of the airframe and other components to handle the thrust developed by the prop. So the maximum amount of power—thrust, actually—that a turboprop engine is approved to produce at any time on a specific airplane is stated in shp and is a certified limitation.

Okay, that’s the same as in a piston-powered airplane where engine power is a certified limit. But in the case of turboprop engines the actual turbine engine can produce more power than the maximum certified under many atmospheric conditions. And thus the confusion.

Power Output Limited by Temperature

The power output of a turbine engine, jet, or turboprop is limited by internal temperature, pressure, and the rpm of its rotating components. If the temperature is too hot the crucial engine parts will break, or melt. If the pressure is too great the parts can break, or the entire engine case can even fail. And if the rotating components spin too fast they will at some point fly apart with explosive force.

As pilots we monitor these parameters to operate a turbine engine. The temperatures inside a turboprop vary from one section of the engine to another, but in the PT6 we monitor, and limit, the interstage turbine temperature (ITT). The rpm is also monitored, but instead of a gross number of revolutions—which is typically more than 30,000—we see a percentage of allowable rpm. There is no direct measure of engine pressure on a PT6 as there is on many large jet engines that use engine pressure ratio (EPR) as a measure of power output, but if the rpm and ITT are within limits the internal pressure of the PT6 will be, too.

There is another turboprop value—torque—that is also measured and reported to the pilot, and that is really just another way of measuring shp. The engine actually twists against the resistance of the propeller and the twisting force is measured and shown as a torque value. Torque is the limit of power the airplane can actually use, while temperature and rpm are limits on how much more or less power is available from the engine.

The PT6’s Free Turbine

The PT6 is a free turbine engine, meaning the components of the turbine engine that actually generate the power are not physically linked to the propeller. The part of the engine that burns the fuel and makes the energy is called the gas generator, and the section that transforms that energy into shp is called the power section.

Air in the PT6 flows from rear to front. A compressor section in the aft part of the engine draws in air and compresses it through several stages. The hot compressed air enters the burner section where fuel is injected and ignited. The rapid expansion of the burning fuel-air mixture generates a powerful gas that forces its way forward over a turbine wheel. The turbine is connected directly to the compressor wheels to spin them and thus sustain the process. This rotating section is called N1.

As the expanding gases continue their rush forward toward the exhaust they force their way past another turbine, and this one is connected to the gearbox that turns the propeller. The gearbox is both complex and sturdy because it must reduce the many thousands of revolutions of the power turbine down to the 1,500 to 2,500 rpm that a propeller can effectively use. The rpm of this section is called N2 or prop rpm.

The power potential of the gas-producing section of the engine is totally dependent on the density of the air it is operating in. When air is dense—on a cool day at sea level, for example—the turbine section loafs along. The compressor has plenty of air to work with, so it feeds the burner section its maximum charge of air using only low rpm and relatively low compression ratios. But when the air is less dense, at high altitude, or when air temperature is above ISA, the compressor struggles to ram the same air charge into the burner. The air is hotter exiting the compressor and burns hotter. The compressor must spin faster to do its work. And at some point the density of the air available to the compressor just isn’t enough for it to deliver the full charge of air into the burner before reaching the rpm limits, or the temperature limits, or both.

Reaching the Thermodynamic Limit

When the engine reaches its limits of temperature or rpm it is at its thermodynamic limit. Thermo, obviously, being temperature, while dynamic refers to the rotating speed of the components. That’s why you’ll see that a PT6 will have a limit of, say, 850 shp in the TBM, but have the thermodynamic rating of about twice that. The difference between the low and high power ratings is called flat rating, or de-rating. I like the term flat rating best because it accurately describes what is happening. The airplane and engine gearbox can only take so much shp, so the engine is capped at that value. Its power is held flat.

But the magic of flat rating is that you can use the extra thermodynamic power to increase climb and cruise speed. As the airplane climbs into less dense air there is plenty of margin in the compressor section to keep packing a full charge of air into the burner before rpm and temperature limits are reached. Just as a turbocharged piston engine continues to make full power as it climbs, the flat-rated PT6 delivers full-rated power at altitude by having the margin to increase rpm and ITT. The result is higher climb rates and true airspeed.

It wasn’t always this way with the PT6. An early version of the engine in the Beechcraft King Air 90, for example, couldn’t make full-rated power on the runway if the air temperature was hot, or the airport elevation high. Gradually Pratt & Whitney improved the design and materials of the engine to make it ever more powerful, even though certified shp remained the same. And over the past several years, versions of the PT6 are almost twice as powerful even though the external size and shape is about the same.

Flat-Rating Wins

This available increase in thermodynamic power is what makes the engine conversions of existing airplanes so attractive. The new engines fit right in the space of the originals, are limited to the same maximum power to the propeller, but produce that power to a much higher altitude or air temperature. The results are many, many knots of increased cruise speed, much higher climb rate, and often a fuel flow increase that essentially matches the speed increase so range remains about the same. It is not a free lunch because the new engines are more expensive, but it is as close to a free speed increase as there is in aviation.

The reason newer PT6 engines can produce more power is better materials to withstand higher temperatures and pressures, and much improved aerodynamics that make the compressor and turbine more efficient. The same improvements have taken place in all turbine engines, but it’s so remarkable in the PT6 because the engine has been used on the same airframes for more than 40 years.

I hope this explains flat rating, shp, thermodynamic power, and why turboprop airplanes continue to gain in climb and cruise speed. Flat rating puts power in the bank that you can draw on when conditions are less favorable. I think that’s something we can all appreciate these days.

The post Rating a Turboprop’s Power appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In March, the company—an on-demand private charter and scheduled shuttle operator headquartered in Connecticut that operates predominantly in North America and the Caribbean—announced it was adding 20 new PC-12 NGX turboprops to its fleet in a deal that would make the company one of the largest Pilatus aircraft operators in the world. 

This expansion represents the growth the U.S. charter market has experienced in the last year. Many people expanded, then seemingly shifted their flying preference to private travel altogether. More airplanes also mean that operators have been hiring pilots amid a pilot shortage. 

The pandemic seemed to have made it worse. More broadly, sustainability has come more sharply into focus. Companies have had to take tangible steps to reduce their carbon footprint to please regulators and consumers. On top of that, the business aviation environment has never been more competitive as new players face a low barrier to entry. 

Putting all this together, it turns out that running an air transport business is no small task and requires relentless execution.

To make sense of all this, FLYING spoke with Tradewind’s co-founder and president, Eric Zipkin, about his company’s recent announcement and his perspective on how they’re preparing for what looks to be a busy summer season.

Fleet Expansion with Pilatus

“The last few years have been very good for us,” Zipkin shared over a Zoom call from his office in Connecticut. “This Pilatus order that we just announced was in the making well before COVID.”

Zipkin said the deal was first on the table for November 2019, but, sensing no pressure at the time, the company decided to wait until after that holiday season and planned to do it in the first quarter of 2020 instead.

“Lo and behold,” Zipkin said, “COVID hit.” With the Northeastern states being some of the ones hit the hardest at the initial stages of the pandemic, which came with immovable travel restrictions, it would seem that this could’ve been the beginning of the end for charter companies, especially with lighter aircraft types. 

“Fortunately, the world improved significantly,” Zipkin said.

Zipkin couldn’t predict the shift in customer demand that would take place and that, to get away, people would increasingly tap the charter market for options. The shift in work culture, from office-based to remote, also changed the way people used the service.

“We found that people, instead of traveling Friday and Monday, they’re going out on Thursday afternoon and coming back on Mondays,” Zipkin said.

For Tradewind, the company has spread out demand, whereas pre-pandemic travel consolidated around the weekend. So, instead of a simple fleet update, Zipkin said it was also time to expand.

“Originally, it was a fleet refresh deal. As we’ve seen the popularity of our services grow, it’s gone well beyond that,” Zipkin said. “It’s now a fleet growth deal.”

Dealing With The Pilot Shortage

With growth came the other challenge that no one company has completely figured out—a lack of pilots in “high demand.” Moreover, it’s the gap in the ability of small operators with outsourced training departments to get their pilots up to speed.

“It’s actually our biggest challenge right now—qualifying pilots. Due to the pandemic, there’s still a very big backlog in training pipelines and largely training simulators,” Zipkin explained. “We can’t put enough people through our training provider’s sim, FlightSafety, because FlightSafety is limited.”

Fortunately, the Tradewind’s partnership with JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) came in the nick of time. In February 2022, Tradewind announced it joined JetBlue Gateways as a partner airline. The mutually beneficial partnership allows the following:

• Qualified pilot applicants from JetBlue’s career development program could fly with Tradewind to gain valuable experience preparing for careers as line pilots with the major mainline carrier.

• Existing Tradewind pilots now also had a clear path to JetBlue. 

• With the growth of private aviation, Tradewind could now stay on top of the heightened demand, with the average tenure of its pilots expected to increase by 20 percent and the number of new pilots in its pipeline expected to increase by 30 percent.

Zipkin spoke passionately about the need for the industry to address the pilot shortage to ease some of the burdens pilots have to carry. Otherwise, people might not find the career appealing. To do this, Zipkin suggested more effective local outreach programs, more straightforward training-to-jobs pipelines, and significant industry-wide investments in training.

“In the past, as an industry, we were relying on chance, that sooner or later, in roughly 5,000 hours, as a pilot, you would’ve seen multiple things”—like wind shear, air traffic delays, mechanical problems, or even interpersonal challenges in the flight deck. Now, he explained, “pilots don’t have the time,” presumably because of the pilot shortage, which has actually made it easier for pilots to make progress in their careers. So how do you ensure that pilots still have enough experience?

“We as an industry have to make much greater investments in training by building that sort of learning into more formalized processes.”

An Eye on Sustainability

Finally, with sustainability in focus, Tradewind announced an elevated carbon offset program in January of this year. For one, the PC-12 is already one of the most fuel-efficient aircraft on the market. However, the new program is actually an upgrade from its initial format. 

This new version sees the company automatically adding carbon offsets to all Tradewind-operated flights throughout North America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, the company said that all funds raised through the offset would continue to go to TerraPass, a social enterprise based in San Francisco that uses proceeds from partner companies to fund various greenhouse gas reduction projects.

“It’s part of our commitment and realization that alternative energy sources need to be part of our world going forward. It will allow us to give back specifically to communities that we serve in the Northeast and the Caribbean.”

He also said the company wants to be targeted in its approach to ensure that the funding goes to projects that have a tangible impact.

“What we’re working towards is going beyond is buying faceless carbon credits, but funding a specific project.”

The post Northeastern Charter Company Combines Forethought and Good Fortune to Achieve Growth appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Sales totaled 1.3 billion Swiss francs—or $1.4 billion—up 19 percent from the previous year, and its operating income was 210 million Swiss francs—or about $226 million—a 35 percent increase from 2020. The company also said it has incoming orders of 1.7 billion Swiss francs or about $1.8 billion.

Pilatus said its aircraft sales included:

• 45 PC-24 business jets
• 88 PC-12 NGX turboprop singles
• 17 PC-21 military trainers
• Two PC-6 utility aircraft 

The company said highlights from the year included an order from France for nine PC-21s and the “successful presentation” of the PC-7 MKX military basic trainer. A boom in the general aviation market helped sales of its PC-12 NGX and PC-24, Pilatus says.

The company noted it also “had to contend with some turbulence” in the form of supply difficulties that hurt production and resulted in higher costs. “Demand for our products and services has rarely been so high,” said Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher. “Meeting customer expectations despite unreliable supply chains and continuing globalization will, however, ensure our work remains challenging,”

The post Pilatus Aircraft Reports 2021 Sales Record of 152 Aircraft appeared first on FLYING Magazine.