According to Daher and GAMA, four students, two from North America and two from Europe, will be selected. The interns will spend eight weeks exploring their areas of interest at the facilities of Daher’s aircraft division outside their home countries.

The North American interns will be assigned to the division’s Tarbes, France, headquarters and production facility for TBM aircraft. The interns coming from Europe will be based at the division’s Sandpoint, Idaho, operation, where Kodiak aircraft are produced. The company noted that the internship covers travel and living expenses, and lodging costs.

• READ MORE: GAMA, Daher International Internship Aims to Build Aerospace Workforce

“These internships provide students with an invaluable educational experience that will further their knowledge of the incredible opportunities in our robust and global industry,” said Pete Bunce, GAMA president and CEO, adding that he was particularly impressed after spending time with last year’s interns in Tarbes and Sandpoint.”[It was] inspiring to see these extraordinary experiences spark their enthusiasm toward future opportunities in the industry.”

Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s aircraft division, echoed Bunce’s enthusiasm.

“More than ever, the general aviation sector must motivate those who will lead the industry of tomorrow, facing challenges that range from reducing its environmental impact and finding new global supply chain solutions to strengthening the talent pipeline for all types of jobs,” Chabbert said.

All four interns will be part of Daher’s team at EAA AirVenture at the end of July. During the annual gathering in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, they will have the chance to explore the aviation world and potential careers.

Who Is Eligible?

The internship is open to ages 21 to 24  who are citizens of the United States, Canada, or Europe. They must be enrolled as full-time students pursuing associate, undergraduate, or graduate degrees. Applicants should be able to demonstrate an interest in an aeronautical career, such as engineering, flying, aircraft maintenance, manufacturing, marketing, or related areas.

Candidates need to submit a résumé and cover letter that explains why they are the optimum candidate for the experience and provide supporting examples of interests and achievements. They must also submit a 40-second video introducing themselves and describing expectations for the internship.

North American students can apply here.

European students should apply at the GAMA-Daher U.S. internship experience or via email at w.ferreira@daher.com.

The deadline for submissions is March 30. The selections for this year’s internships will be announced by Daher and GAMA at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo on April 9 in Lakeland, Florida.

The post Daher, GAMA International Internship Program Looking for Candidates appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Daher’s position demonstrates well the state of the global aerospace market.

“We are in a paradox situation—some are happy; some are not happy,” said Patrick Daher, board chair for the Daher group, in kicking off the company’s performance review for 2023 in Paris on February 7. “We are feeling the impact of the international situation, and then we are still recovering from COVID, but the COVID crisis is over for us…But some international threats—for example the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, the future elections, the situation in China—all these events have created a political instability that is really worrying for the future.”

Yet industry events such as the 2023 Paris Air Show indicate where the future lies—with caution as to the expense of making change. “As chairman [of] the Salon de Bourget in 2023 and chairman of Daher…I have the chance to see that energy transition is coming with a really high price,” said Daher. “Speaking about industry, we have really good news in terms of an increase in production.”

In 2023, Daher recorded strong deliveries of both its TBM and Kodiak series turboprops, with a total of 56 TBMs and 18 Kodiaks, for a total of 76 units. In addition, it counts more than 100 turboprops in its order book, taking it well into 2025.

READ MORE: Daher Delivers 100th TBM 960

An Industry Overview

At the same time, major Daher client and partner Airbus has never manufactured so many aircraft—a record number went out the door in December, as Daher noted in the report. That is in spite of the constant pressures brought on by inflation, provisioning difficulties, recruitment challenges, rise in wages, and lowering margins. Collectively these have led to soft pricing models that have persisted through the past couple of years.

“We have forgotten how to deal with such problems of inflation that we experienced 20 years ago,” said Daher. “It was really hard to find raw materials, and this was linked to geopolitical problems, [such] as the war in Ukraine. We were missing material. This lack of raw materials is linked to the mismanagement of the supply chain—the suppliers failed to ship what we needed to manufacture our aircraft—and to produce what our clients asked us to do.”

Another problem Daher noted has been the lack of employee candidates. “It is not easy to recruit the right profiles…The COVID crisis changed behaviors in terms of wages and employees, so it is really hard for us to hire and find talents.” This has driven companies like Daher to invest heavily in training—because like never before they have had to recruit from outside the aviation industry.

“All these factors in 2023—after COVID, we were expecting 2021 and 2022 to be difficult—but these problems arrived in 2023,” Daher said. “All of these factors resulted in our weakened profitability. We need to consider the energy transition and the decrease in carbon intensity…2023 highlighted the emergency but also the [convergence], vis-à-vis the problem of decarbonization.”

The Daher group considers government support crucial—specifically CORAC, the French council for civil aviation research—and 300 million euros per year have been earmarked by CORAC to help fund the energy transition. “Aviation industry, all research efforts, have converged, because in the past each company focused on a specific research field, but right now there is a really clear target: low-carbon, low-emission aircraft,” Daher said.

Eco-Pulse Update

For the French OEM, the convergence flies today via its hybrid-electric Eco-Pulse technology demonstrator, which uses a TBM airframe, electric motors and powertrain components form Saran, and electric power storage by Airbus in a distributed lift model (simply put) to test various components and how they interact in actual flight operations. The Eco-Pulse retains a Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprop engine, but in December made its first flight segments completely powered by the six electric motors.

“It is a major step towards decarbonization,” said Daher. “Because high voltage electricity can be a good solution…we are continuing with some hybrid tests. This is the first step…People thought I was crazy [last year] when I spoke about this target [to have a marketable product by 2027], but we are headed in that direction.” It will be a TBM or Kodiak because those are the models Daher has in its portfolio, but the company has yet to determine which will be chosen and exactly what that will look like.

FLYING asked if the OEM could share any feedback—including any performance data, if possible—from those first flights. Christophe Robin, vice president of engineering for Daher’s aircraft division, provided this insight: “EcoPulse is a technology demonstrator, therefore, aircraft performance is not the goal. The EcoPulse configuration has been chosen with the strategy of increasing the level of complexity in hybridization to develop a ‘maturity picture’ for all of the technologies involved—including examining side effects such as weight penalties, as well as issues induced by HIRF (high-intensity radiated field) and lightning.”

READ MORE: We Fly: Daher TBM 960

Log’in, Shap’in, Fly’in

To support innovation efforts, Daher launched its second tech center, Log’in, in Toulouse, also geared toward decarbonization. “Out of 7 million tonnes [of carbon emissions] we realized that a big quantity is related to our clients, and we want to work on these figures [as well] in order to work on decarbonization,” said Daher.

Fly’in will be the third tech center Daher launches, in Tarbes, focused on aircraft development, “stepping up” in both technology and the drive towards net-zero emissions.

FLYING also asked Daher to expand on the current projects that have already been realized from the new technology centers and Eco-Pulse. Robin shared a portion of what the group has learned thus far, and what it expects to benefit from. 

“In addition to the aspects of EcoPulse that are linked to aircraft hybridization, another important focus is demonstrating the application of advanced composites on aircraft,” said Robin. “Under the guidance of Daher’s research and technology teams, EcoPulse is using composites for the aircraft’s winglets, engine pylons, Karman and battery fairings, as well as the air inlet—which were produced primarily with an infusion-based carbon/cork micro-sandwich. A goal of EcoPulse is to make it possible to evolve the performance and feasibility of integrating these technologies on secondary parts/components of Daher-built aircraft, while developing rapid prototyping skills used within the aviation framework.”

This is complementary to other developments underway at Daher—including projects in cooperation with partners such as CORAC (the French Council for Civil Aeronautical Research).

Pascal Laguerre, chief technology officer for Daher, provided significant insight beyond the Eco-Pulse demonstrator. “Taking a wider view for activities outside the framework of EcoPulse, Daher devotes a significant part of its overall R&D budget to thermoplastics,” said Laguerre. “This material is particularly promising in the world of aerostructures for future applications on production aircraft. It lends itself more easily to the automation of production (issue of throughput), and it is recyclable, repairable and weldable. Its mechanical properties make it possible to use less material and, overall, make structures lighter—all of which are key qualities with a view toward reducing carbon emissions. This is focused on accelerating the development of real applications in the future for the benefit of its customers, including [several more widely focused] projects.”

For example, as part of CORAC, Daher leads the largest French research project on thermoplastics in current execution, called TRAMPOLINE 2 (TheRmoplAstic coMPosites for hOrizontaL tail plaNE), as well as utilizing induction welding instead of riveting—with a weight savings of 15 percent.

Also, the investment has already borne fruit in components that will be found on the company’s current TBM product lines.

“After more than three years of R&D work, Daher succeeded in manufacturing rudder pedals in recycled high-performance thermoplastic composites from production scraps to equip the TBM, which have been certified for flight on production TBMs,” said Laguerre. “In addition to being lightweight, thermoplastics have low thermal conduction, as well as equal or better physicochemical and mechanical properties: It’s a win-win for Daher customers. And beyond the environmental benefits, the cost of these parts is significantly reduced compared to metal machining.

“In addition, Daher has obtained the first results of an R&D project called CARAC TP, carried out in collaboration with a set of academic laboratories competent in composite materials. The objective [is] to identify and characterize the thermoplastic composites best suited to aeronautical applications and compare them to thermoset materials. The project makes it possible to study materials in depth through multiple tests that go beyond the scope of qualification programs carried out in the industry: impact resistance, fire resistance, environmental aging (ozone, UV, fluids), impact of manufacturing processes on physicochemical properties, material performance, etc.”

Daher looks also outside its walls to new small businesses to help drive this innovation charge. Encouragingly, more than 300 aerospace-relevant startups took part in the Paris Air Show.

“We had 25 of these startups at the Daher stand at Le Bourget,” said Daher, noting that the company looks forward to engaging with these innovators, perhaps through acquisition or collaboration, on various projects.

WATCH: We Fly the Kodiak 900, Ready for Grand Adventures

The Takeoff 2027 Strategy

Daher reported a strengthening bottom line but noted there is room for improvement. At the press conference, Daher CEO Didier Kayat indicated the belief that Daher would become profitable based on its strategic realignment to better serve four sectors: aircraft, industry, industrial services, and logistics. The company also plans a transformation of the organizational structure by 2025, to help align and draw down any existing silos between the business functions.

To this end, Daher made a quartet of additions to its executive committee in the later part of 2023. On October 1, Alain-Jory Barthe joined Daher’s Industry division as senior vice president. Then, on January 1, Cédric Eloy became the head of the Industrial Services division as senior vice president of manufacturing services, and Julie de Cevins became the group’s chief sustainability officer—a key appointment, given the group’s charge to attain net-zero goals by 2050. Finally, on February 1, Aymeric Daher became senior vice president of the Logistics division.

Daher is adapting its organization to support the four business units, with the following actions:

• To create a managerial culture that is based in what it calls the “Daher Leadership Model”—effectively empowering a cadre of 1,500 leaders within the company to act with an entrepreneurial spirit
• To anticipate challenges and innovate toward decarbonisation solutions, with Eco-Pulse among other projects
• To support the acquisitions needed for growth across the four sectors.

Acquisitions have already borne fruit for the company, including the Stuart, Florida, facility.

“The acquisition of AAA strengthened the Industrial Services division, for example,” Daher said. “We are now the leader of industrial services…We can support aircraft manufacturers in peak periods.”

If Daher can make its way through the concurrent challenges of acquisition-driven growth, corporate restructuring, price pressures, and order fulfillment, its plan for the years ahead puts it on track to form part of the global solution to decarbonization—as well as providing the aircraft the customer demands for the future.

The post Daher’s Decarbonization Plans Drive Towards Hybrid-Electric Aircraft, Composites appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

How ironic that the Gulfstream G800 one pair handcuffed themselves to had indeed flown across the Atlantic from Savannah, Georgia, on a blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as a regular part of its flight testing—not as a publicity stunt?

In fact, it’s easier to count those OEMs that haven’t implemented SAF and other short- and mid-term measures than those who have—because it’s a straightforward, here-and-now step most are happy to take. Many OEMs, from Embraer to Textron Aviation, fueled at their headquarters with SAF for the journey, and topped off with more on arrival. SAF is for the moment normally blended with regular jet-A, with testing toward blends up to 100 percent SAF in various stages depending on the airframe and powerplant manufacturers.

Getting to a 100-percent blend aside, SAF is not without its challenges—particularly in its boutique pricing and distribution to FBOs and other airport service providers that can deliver it to those operators wishing to use it.

A Case Study

At EBACE this week, Daher presented its experiences in covering that “last mile” between the delivery of SAF and distribution to its fleet. The company began the project to use SAF at its Aircraft Division facilities in Tarbes, France, in its operations, which include production, testing, training, and ferrying/delivery flights. Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of the division, related that, though the company is eager to set an example, availability of the fuel has been sporadic. 

“Therefore,” said Chabbert, “we took the initiative of going a step further by joining with the Spanish airline Volotea—a carrier that connects small and mid-sized cities in Europe which flies from Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport (LFBT) as part of its route network—to convince the fuel provider World Fuel Services to supply SAF on the platform. We expect our example will bring other operators to use renewable energy on (their) airplanes.”

The SAF in question is a blend with 30 percent of Neste MY SAF delivered to the airport by World Fuel Services, provider of jet fuel and other FBO/airport solutions in France, Germany, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. Neste’s MY SAF is produced from sustainably sourced renewable waste and residue raw materials and, in its pure form, is calculated to reduce emissions by up to 30 percent over the fuel’s life cycle.

“With Daher’s adoption of SAF for its needs at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport, all users at this facility can now benefit from our supply of Neste-blended jet-A fuel,” said James Hardacre, World Fuel Services’ vice president of sales for business aviation in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 

This collaboration with commercial aviation at an airport made the sourcing and reliable delivery possible—but other business aviation operators in both Europe and North America have not been as successful in connecting the dots. It looks simple on paper, but it takes persistence and commitment to bring the fuel to the pump.

The post The ‘Last Mile’ for SAF Presents an Achievable Challenge appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Just three years after the Wright brothers’ Flyer took a trip over the sands of the Kill Devil Hills, Alberto Santos-Dumont made his longest public flight stretching more than 700 feet from a field near Paris, France, in 1906. Just five years later, the precursor to Daher—the company that would one day build the TBM 960/910 single-engine turboprops capable of deftly spanning an ocean—was born.

A Tradition of Flexibility

Daher’s roots go back to 1911, when pilot Léon Morane, his brother Robert, and engineer Raymond Saulnier founded its predecessor company, Morane-Saulnier, in northern France. What would become Daher started under the shadows of both the Pyrénées mountains and the darkening skies of German aggression in 1938, at the plant situated between Tarbes and Lourdes. Tarbes was home to roughly 35,000 people around the start of World War II, much like today. The provincial capital of the Bigorre region in the Haute-Pyrénées department, it lies close to the current aerospace hub of Toulouse.

• READ MORE: We Fly: Daher TBM 960

Perhaps Tarbes was not an obvious candidate for an aircraft factory in the late 1930s, but its location—distant from Paris and tucked into a quiet corner of the country—made it an ideal place for the company to survive the war to come. Philippe De Segovia speaks of documents unearthed in the last 10 years pointing to the involvement of Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operatives who helped the company hold up a facade of cooperation—and kept it fabricating aircraft (such as the M.S.406 fighter) through the war. “This is entirely based on the testimonials of those who survived,” de Segovia says, “since very little written record was left.”

On January 7, 1962, Potez purchased the company, designating it SEEMS (Société d’Exploitation des Etablissements Morane-Saulnier). The main company ultimately split off its civilian models, which took the SOCATA marque (Société de Construction d’Avions de Tourisme et Affaires). In 1966, Aérospatiale (formerly Sud Aviation) purchased the company, and then EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) acquired it in 2000.

Daher Enters, Then the Kodiak

The current era began when EADS sold a controlling interest in EADS SOCATA to Daher, a transaction completed in January 2009 that created Daher-SOCATA. Daher, an industrial conglomerate based in Marseille, France, had accumulated expertise in industrial production through previous acquisitions that dovetailed with its growing experience in the aerospace sector. Daher will mark its 160th anniversary in 2023.

In 2019, Daher announced it would expand its line of single-engine turboprops—the TBM line that had its heritage starting with the Mooney 301—with the acquisition of Quest Aircraft Company’s assets. The target? The Kodiak 100, built in Sandpoint, Idaho. Daher now spans the Atlantic with a footprint in both the U.S. and France. In early 2022, Daher took on another U.S.-based manufacturing facility with the purchase of Triumph Group’s aerostructures and assembly business based in Stuart, Florida. Daher also operates a structures plant in Nogales, Mexico, and a sales and maintenance center in Pompano Beach, Florida.

• READ MORE: Daher Makes a Play to Expand Footprint in North American Market

Entrepreneurial Spirit

The current parent company has turned the previous top-down management style around 180 degrees. CEO Didier Kayat oversees Daher in total, with Nicolas Chabbert serving as managing director of the aircraft business unit overall, as well as CEO of Daher Aircraft and Kodiak Aircraft. It is Daher’s corporate philosophy that each business unit leader embrace an entrepreneurial spirit—and take risks and responsibility accordingly. “[The] entrepreneur style is a part of Daher culture,” de Segovia says. “It was brought when SOCATA was merged in 2009, by Mr. Daher and his team; now, the captain in [this] function is Didier Kayat.”

The esprit de corps (and the drive to secure production line talent) flows throughout the workforce. Processes have evolved significantly over the past 85 years. Though some assemblies must still be welded, such as the joining of the exhaust stack halves—and the fuselage sees rows of rivets like its legacy predecessors—other processes transform entire blocks of aluminum to shining spar sections. Machines use a water process to precisely cut detailed parts, according to the drawing programmed into the unit’s computer. That capability—to turn a wide variety of data into aircraft parts—forms the foundation of the Daher business plan.

Following the Line

The construction of the TBM 910/960 follows an integrated pathway through the plant, picking up in-house parts and those from suppliers along the way. The production line segments begin as a collection of airframe parts, starting with formers for the fuselage and carrying on with those for the nose section and accessories.

The wing spars form the central backbone of an airplane highly resistant to failure. To this end, Daher mills those on the TBMs from solid blocks of aluminum alloy and adds carry-through spars to provide additional torsional strength and rigidity.

• READ MORE: Ferry Flight: Daher TBM 940

Teams form and match the aluminum skins for the wings while others produce ribs and stringers. Meanwhile, technicians align and check the fuselage formers in smaller jigs, then transition them to a vertical jig, optimizing its location for the task at hand. Across the aisle, the nose section comes into a recognizable shape, and both sections take on their skins before coming together.

Then, the fuselage is turned back to a horizontal position for joining. The interior structure goes in to form the instrument panel: the avionics bays, the environmental and pressurization systems elements, as well as the runs for the wiring harnesses. One evolution Daher has made to its production flow is having accessories come in earlier, so that their installation doesn’t consume valuable space, time, and effort later on the line.

Final Assembly

Next? Attaching the engine mount to the pristine titanium firewall. All of the work needed to get ready for the Pratt & Whitney PT6 variants—the PT6A-66D on the 910 and the PT6E-66XT on the 960—including pass-throughs for the power controls and accessories, comes in here. The empennage is metal bonded in the composites department. This process sees the aluminum skins stiffened by aluminum honeycomb, bonded together in an atmospherically controlled room and cured in the autoclave. The wings return on a truck to the Daher plant “green and empty,” painted with sage-colored anti-corrosion material and “empty” of any flight controls. They go to the paint booth for base paint, then return to the assembly line. Technicians attach the flight controls and other key items. Then the fuselage, empennage, cowlings, and fairings go into the paint booth for two coats of gray base paint, before the final scheme is applied.

At the same time, a separate team builds the interior, finishing the seats with the chosen leather. Once the paint is shot, the airplane comes to life with the final mating of the wings and empennage inside the completion hangar. There, technicians hang the PT6 and attach the propeller. Besides the engine, the other difference between the two models lies in the instrument panel, with either the Garmin G1000 or G3000 with touch screens going into the flight deck. After flight testing, it returns to the delivery hangar for its unveiling to a fortunate customer.

This article was first published in the Q3 2022 edition of FLYING Magazine.

The post Building It: Daher TBM 960 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The company announced this week it has handed over a TBM 960 to serial owner Bruce McCollum, who makes this his third TBM. McCollum, an active private pilot, has owned a TBM 850 and a TBM 900. He met the airplane at Daher’s manufacturing complex in Tarbes, France, in order to fly the airplane back across the Atlantic where he would formally take possession at a ceremony at the company’s service center in Pompano Beach.

“I had a great tour of the factory in Tarbes, which was very impressive: you can feel the dedication of the Daher teams who design, build and constantly fine-tune the TBM,” McCollum said. “Additionally, the breadth of aerostructures that Daher makes for such leading aircraft producers as Airbus, Dassault, and Gulfstream also is impressive. Having this diversity contributes to Daher’s strength as a company and its ability for future development of the TBM.”

The TBM 960 and 910

The TBM line’s latest expressions are in the TBM 960—reviewed in FLYING’s Q3 2022 print edition—and the TBM 910. The 960 is powered by the Pratt & Whitney PT6E-66XT powerplant and features the Garmin G3000 integrated flight deck up front, while the 910 utilizes the PT6A-66D engine and hosts the Garmin G1000 Nxi avionics suite in the cockpit.

The TBM series launched with the TBM 700 in 1990—the first single-engine, pressurized turboprop made for the civilian market—and continued with the higher-horsepower TBM 850 in 2006. The 900 series débuted in 2014.

Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s Aircraft Division, said in a statement that “the TBM airplane family has distinguished itself through constant improvements in environmental efficiency and operational safety—delivering speed at much lower fuel consumption than competing jets, and incorporating enhancements in flight envelope protection and situational awareness.

“The 1,100th delivery is an achievement that we owe to our faithful customers for their continued confidence, and which is built on the dedication of our Daher teams in engineering, flight test, production and support,” Chabbert said.

The post Daher Marks 1,100th Delivery of TBM Series appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

After a hiatus since 2019, Daher is offering an internship fund for two college juniors or seniors, aged 18 to 24, who intend to pursue a career in aviation. The students must be U.S. or Canadian citizens with the ability to obtain a passport.

The experience will provide an opportunity for each young person to visit France for an internship of five weeks duration from June 13 to July 15, where they will work at the Daher facility in Tarbes in southwestern France, within the Aircraft Division, home of TBM turboprop aircraft manufacturing. The students will be exposed to a variety of aviation disciplines within the division.

French language skills are not required prior to the internship, but having them would add a lot to the experience. Roundtrip transportation will be provided from the U.S. to France, as well as local transportation in France and accommodations in a student-focused residence setting.

H2: From LFBT to KOSH

The Daher facility in Tarbes complements the company’s expanding reach in the U.S., with the Kodiak utility turboprop division in Sandpoint, Idaho, and recently acquired footprint in Stuart, Florida. The Tarbes Lourdes Pyrénées Airport (LFBT) is a towered field in view of the mountain ranges, and it serves a community of roughly 43,000 people. Toulouse and Bordeaux can be reached in less than two hours and three hours, respectively, by car or train.

This internship will include an opportunity to visit and experience EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the end of July, completing the journey in the U.S. Roundtrip transportation to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, is included in the scholarship, along with local transportation and accommodations there. 

The deadline to register interest and supply all materials is April 18, 2022, by visiting the Daher careers site.

The post Daher Offers Internship Opportunity in France for U.S. or Canadian Students appeared first on FLYING Magazine.