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Gulfstream Aerospace continues to pursue technologies that would enable building a supersonic business jet (SSBJ). The company has logged two new patents for sonic-boom mitigation technologies in the past two months alone. Queried about the new patents, a company spokeswoman told AIN, “Gulfstream has a small team committed to researching sonic-boom mitigation. We also continue to work to remove the ban on flying supersonically over land.” The Savannah, Georgia-based aircraft manufacturer’s most prominent research in this field is its Quiet Spike, a telescoping nose meant to greatly reduce or possibly eliminate the sonic boom. It has previously tested the Quiet Spike on a NASA F-15. Gulfstream Aerospace hosted a NASA F-15 in Savannah, Ga., on February 14 for an aerial demonstration of its Quite Spike telescopic nose spike installation. If Gulfstream were ever to decide to launch a supersonic business jet, it would have to employ some means of suppressing the sonic boom while flying over land. Instead of building an airplane that could exceed Mach 1 only away from land, Gulfstream envisions a design with a retractable spike on the nose that extends to change the shape of the nose and alter the impact of the sonic boom. Lab testing has shown that the spike can reduce the sound of the boom, resulting in a boom that is quieter than that of the Concorde supersonic airliner by a factor of 10,000. The spike testing on the F-15 was done to verify the structural integrity of the system, not its sonic boom suppression capability. There was some testing of the shock wave created by the spike, said a Gulfstream spokesman, but the F-15 installation won’t have much of an effect on its sonic boom. Funds

Bombardier’s flagship Global 7000 felt the wind beneath its wings for the first time on November 4, completing a two-hour, 27-minute maiden flight from the company’s facility in Toronto. Under the control of captain Ed Grabman, copilot Jeff Karnes and flight-test engineer Jason Nickel, the aircraft departed at 10:25 a.m. local time on November 4, climbed to 20,000 feet and reached the planned test speed of 240 knots. During the flight the crew tested basic system functionality and assessed the handling and flying qualities. The first Global 7000 flight nearly coincided with the 20th anniversary of the first flight of the original Global Express on Oct. 13, 1996. Michel Ouellette, senior v-p of the Global 7000/8000 program, called that anniversary “a huge milestone” that reflects on the successful path the original Global program established. “We’re walking into the next success with the Global 7000 and 8000,” he added. “The first Global 7000 flight is the culmination of an incredible amount of knowledge and experience from our dedicated employees, partners and suppliers,” said Bombardier Business Aircraft president David Coleal. “This is a proud moment for Bombardier and confirms the Global 7000 aircraft program development is on schedule.” Global 7000 The Global 7000/8000 program is to become the crown jewel of the manufacturer’s business aircraft fleets. Bombardier has been taking an “all hands on deck” approach to getting the Global 7000, the first of the program, to market by the second half of 2018. Unveiled in 2010, the Global 7000 has suffered delays as Bombardier struggled to manage cash flow among several research and development programs in recent years. The 8000, meanwhile, is waiting in the wings while Bombardier works to get the Global 7000

Royal Jet, the Abu Dhabi-headquartered, award-winning international luxury flight service provider, has taken delivery of a striking new BBJ 34 seat Boeing Business Jet – the world's first BBJ equipped with KA-band satellite broadband Internet technology. The fully-customised, VVIP aircraft will be followed by a sister corporate airliner due to arrive in Abu Dhabi in a month. The new BBJ, which boasts a front-end bedroom, eight VIP, eight business class and 18 standard seats, arrives in the UAE capital as Royal Jet announced a leadership shake-up with its first managing director appointment going to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan. He will join forces with recently-appointed President and CEO Rob DiCastri who says the award-winning carrier is entering a “new era” where “change is in the air.” With bespoke interiors by noted New York designer Edese Doret and fitted out by Lufthansa Technik, the new BBJ also features Enhanced Vision System cockpit technology. Royal Jet is the first UAE charter operator to receive GCAA regulatory approval to use the thermal imaging camera capability that helps pilots better navigate poor weather conditions. DiCastri says Royal Jet management is now reviewing the company’s strategic fleet plan announced two years ago to bring it up to date with today’s commercial realities. “We are actively looking at the overall size and mix of our fleet and are constantly consulting with our wide range of customers to ensure we have a product and a service which satisfies their diverse needs,” he said.

Customer interest for business jets rose in North and South America, Asia and the Middle East, according to the latest business jet index from UBS Equities. Pricing and inventories of pre-owned aircraft are still a drag on industry growth, however. The latest business jet market index from UBS Equities has taken a positive turn since flatlining for two months at the lowest level seen since 2009. This month the index came in at 31, up two points from the firm’s previous survey but still below 50, indicating a continued weak market. Results showed improved scores for customer interest, up 11 percent; 12-month outlook, up 14 percent; and willingness of dealers to increase inventory, up 19 percent. However, the index scores (which measure respondents' level of market optimism) were worse for aircraft pricing, down 8 percent, and inventory levels, which fell 11 percent as the actual inventory of aircraft for sale has increased. Regarding the latter, the survey found that inventory of young pre-owned aircraft (10 years old or less) is at its highest level in several years. Customer interest climbed in North America, rising 3 percent to an index score of 48; Latin America, +2 percent to 36; Middle East, +7 percent to 39; and Asia, +14 percent to 42. Meanwhile, customer interest in Europe declined 21 percent, to an index score of 33, “as some respondents noted customer concerns around the recentUK vote to leave the EU,” UBS aerospace analysts David Strauss and Darryl Genovesi noted. The financing score, which is not a component of the UBS index, increased 9 percent, to 54, indicating financing conditions have improved. UBS “regularly surveys” a group of U.S. domestic and international broker/dealers, manufacturers, fractional providers, financiers and other industry experts to come up with the

Phenom 100EV Today at EAA AirVenture 2016, Embraer Executive Jets announced an updated version of its Phenom 100E light jet with new avionics, slightly faster top cruise speed, substantially faster climb to altitude times, 43 pounds of more full fuel payload and better high/hot performance. The latter includes substantially shorter takeoff distances that shrink by nearly 1,000 feet. The $4.495 million Phenom 100EV will feature Prodigy Touch avionics built on the Garmin G3000 system and Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617F1-E engines that each deliver 1,730 pounds of thrust, 35 pounds more per side more than the PW617-Es on the 100E. Embraer Executive Jets president Marco Tulio Pellegrini announced that deliveries would begin in the first half of 2017 and that Mexican charter operator Across and the Emirates Academy would be the launch customers. He also held open the possibility that the engine upgrade could eventually be made available to existing Phenom 100 customers as an aftermarket option, though an avionics upgrade to the Prodigy Touch system would not be practical due to its high costs. Phenom 100EV Pellegrini also said that Embraer is contemplating an interior block change on the Phenom 100 at a later date, much like the one recently unveiled in the larger Phenom 300 on display this week at AirVenture. He said the Phenom 100E will likely be discontinued once the 100EV is introduced. “Once you have a better product, customers will go with a better product. We want to provide the best of everything.” Pelligrini said thePhenom 100EV achieved its increased performance through a combination of increased engine thrust and airframe weight reduction. He acknowledged that the market for entry-level light jets remains “upside down” but said that in the “medium term we are confident that

For the last few years, deliveries of large cabin long-range jets have remained stable while the rest of the market has suffered. However, I have to wonder – intercontinental range may be nice, but do owners really need it? And how do they actually use their aircraft? Business jets such as the Gulfstreams, Globals and Falcons have phenomenal capabilities. Bombardier’s Global 6000 has a 6,000 nm range – sufficient to fly from Moscow to Los Angeles – and the forthcoming Global 7000 will take you up to 7,300 nm from New York to Shanghai. Gulfstream’s G650ER goes even further at 7,500 nm, while Dassault’s upcoming Falcon 8X has enough range to go from Paris to Singapore or Sao Paulo. Don’t get me wrong, this is all just fine if you’re happy to ride in business jet comfort for up to 14 hours. But, perhaps surprisingly, it seems owners of these aircraft aren’t, with most using them for more mundane missions. A sample of around 100 business jets recently offered for sale shows that large cabin jets fly sectors averaging just one hour and 57 minutes – or around 1,000 nm. This is essentially flying from Washington, DC to Dallas, Texas. Not exactly the long-range missions these jets brag about on the brochures… Obviously, they do fly long-range missions, and it should be noted that the average for Bombardier Globals is higher – at around three hours. But there was only one aircraft (a G450) posting an average flight sector of more than five hours, and only two more with more than four hours. So the general evidence appears to be that the range capability of big jets is not fully used. Just in case Why do customers want more

Three weeks after the Citation Longitude’s wings were joined with the aircraft’s fuselage, Cessna powered the electrical distribution system on its super-midsize jet. Both steps are significant milestones in the aircraft’s path to accomplish first flight this summer. “The power on stage allows our team to begin verifying the aircraft’s electrical power system and paves the way for functional tests and engine runs that will get us to first flight in the coming months,” comments Textron Aviation President & CEO Scott Ernest. At the 2016 EBACE convention in Geneva, Switzerland, Textron Aviation’s Cessna announced that it has successfully completed the wing and fuselage mate of the first Cessna Citation Longitude. The milestone occurred only six months after revealing the new aircraft, which is on track for first flight this summer and entry into service in 2017. “The team has been working diligently to meet a development schedule unmatched in the industry, and it’s rewarding to see the aircraft taking shape,” comments Textron Aviation President & CEO Scott Ernest. “The market is asking for this aircraft.” The Citation Longitude is designed to seat 12 passengers, while featuring a stand-up, flat-floor cabin with a standard double-club configuration and a walk-in baggage compartment fully accessible in flight. The aircraft’s cockpit features Garmin’s G5000 flight deck and is powered by FADEC-equipped Honeywell HTF7700L turbofan engines with fully integrated auto throttles. Honeywell’s family of HTF7000 engines powers the Bombardier Challenger 300, the Gulfstream G280, and Embraer’s Legacy 500 and 450.  Rockwell Collins has been selected to provide several flight control systems for the Longitude as well. The company’s horizontal stabilizer trim and flap actuation systems will enable the aircraft to maneuver while in flight. “Cessna needed a flight controls provider that could deliver on the Longitude’s relatively short development schedule, and

Indianapolis-based Comlux America has completed an expansion of its VIP hangar. The hangar now has the capability to house wide-body and narrow-body aircraft simultaneously. Comlux America’s first wide body completion, an ACJ330 aircraft, was inside the hangar for an event that celebrated construction of the hangar. During the event, the hangar also housed two BBJs (one in completion and one in maintenance) and one SBJ in completion. The new hangar expansion increased the total size of the hangar from 128,000 square feet to 157,000 square feet. Also read: One-on-one with Scott Meyer “This is a major milestone in the development of Comlux America and the Comlux Group,” says Comlux America CEO Scott Meyer. “This event is a testament of our continued growing list of capabilities, and it further demonstrates our ability to adapt for future market opportunities.” The celebration of the facility expansion took place on April 27th, 2016, one year from the ground breaking ceremony. Guests flew in from all around the world to celebrate the unveiling, including customers, OEMs, authorities, designers, suppliers, business partners, and local political and airport officials.   Source: Fly Corporate

A Dassault Falcon 2000LXS has become the first business jet to fly an instrument approach with a published localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) minima of 200ft (LPV200), using the European geostationary navigation overlay service. The trial took place at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on 3 May, with an ATR 42-600 twin-turboprop and an Airbus A350 widebody airliner also taking part. Dassault Aviation LPV permits aircraft-guided approaches, operationally equivalent to a Category 1 instrument landing system, but without the need for ground-based navigation aid infrastructure. The system is reliant on global positioning system and space based augmentation capabilities like EGNOS and the USA’s wide area augmentation system. France was the first European country to publish approach procedures permitting EGNOS LPV200, says Dassault. Austria’s Vienna Internationalwill be the next airport to receive an LPV200 approach capability, although a trial date has not been disclosed. Dassault Aviation “The accuracy and stability of LPV guidance is really amazing; much better than with ILS,” says Dassault test pilot Jean-Louis Dumas, who was at the controls, alongside fellow crew member Olivier Perriaud. “Lowering the minima to 200ft will be a great boon for European business aviation operations.” Source: Flight Global

The first production Cirrus Vision SF50 recently completed its inaugural flight in Duluth, Minn. The flight moves the single-engine jet one step closer to FAA certification. Coined P1, the aircraft had a large and captive audience for the big moment. “Pilot feedback on P1 is simple,” says test pilot Terry LeSage. “The aircraft handled just great. It was unnoticeably different from C2 (the third of our conforming test-article jets), with handling qualities matching those of its predecessors and all systems working as intended.” Also read: GAMA report shows Q1 deliveries down Cirrus first welcomed the cabin of P1 to Duluth last April, fresh off the truck from the company’s Grand Forks facility. Since then, the aircraft has been trimmed, drilled, assembled and bonded, as well as received hardware and systems installation. The aircraft was built in tandem with the certification testing process. The structural components led the way, enduring a long and rigorous testing process before P1’s structures could be built out. Next, the plane moved into testing of the lamination and bonding processes, then systems testing with subsequent installation and addition of components within that area. The first flight of P1 signifies a shift of focus from engineering and production over to flight testing. The aircraft is currently fulfilling approximately 10 days of flying before heading into the paint booth. After that it will return to flight test for another week before its final interior and exterior detailing is completed.   Source: Fly-Corporate