Flight International 130409-15

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

OVERHAUL VIEWWE GET A FIX ON NORTH AMERICA’S MRO OUTLOOKMAINTENANCE P40

PARIS PROPOSALBA ponders possibility of displaying its first A380 at Le Bourget, but A350 and CSeries not expected 20

ABC NOT SO EASYFormer navy chief urges Pentagon to consider cutting F-35 variants from three to two 21

FSTA

REACHINGFUEL SPEEDNext stage for the Voyagers as the UK transforms its tanker/transport fleet

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FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

VOLUME 183 NUMBER 5385 9-15 APRIL 2013

US

Air F

orc

e, E

mbra

erEmbraer’s Phenom 300 speeds to trio of records P26.

F-15s fitted with fly-by-wire to require recertification campaign P23

FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL

OVERHAUL VIEWWE GET A FIX ON NORTH AMERICA’S MRO OUTLOOKMAINTENANCE P40

PARIS PROPOSALBA ponders possibility of displaying its first A380 at Le Bourget, but A350 and CSeries not expected 20

ABC NOT SO EASYFormer navy chief urges Pentagon to consider cutting F-35 variants from three to two 21

FSTA

REACHINGFUEL SPEEDNext stage for the Voyagers as the UK transforms its tanker/transport fleet

£3.30

9-15 APRIL 2013

NEWS THIS WEEK 8 Bristow prepares for UK SAR duties

9 South Korea weighs up rival fighters

10 SpaceX ramps up bid for reusability

12 Toulouse move brings EADS together

AIR TRANSPORT 14 Crew ‘could have avoided’ Eva 747’s

urgent descent. Rescue fiasco followed turboprop crash at Rome

16 Storm scrambled Etihad A340 airspeed data

18 PAL’s plan to pit A350 against 777X. Gol 737’s go-around and diversion depletes tanks

19 Probe opens after Boeing 737-800 nearly stalls

20 British A380 could top Paris billing if new types miss out. Samoa passengers to pay by weight

NEWS FOCUS 21 Logic of F-35A questioned

DEFENCE 22 Jakarta deals flow for Airbus Military.

MBDA looks to go the distance with Marte

23 Four bidders to do battle in Polish AJT competition. Bedek replaces centre wing box on Israeli C-130

BUSINESS AVIATION 25 Eclipse 550 clear for assembly, test.

CRJ700s next test for Flying Colours

26 Worn-out gearbox grounded EC225s. EBACE visitors to get first look at Pilatus PC-24

GENERAL AVIATION 29 Tecnam tags Aero Friedrichshafen for

Astore reveal

SPACEFLIGHT 31 NASA tightens security after lapses

BUSINESS 32 Mil and Kamov look to Africa

REGULARS7 Comment 46 Straight & Level48 Classified 51 Jobs 55 Working Week 52 JOB OF THE WEEK DELTA, aircraft

technicians, London Heathrow

COVER STORY34 Fuel change A new role for the Voyager

as the UK proceeds with fleet renewal

FEATURES36 ABACE PREVIEW Wealth of

opportunities Show’s popularity highlights a sharpening appetite for business jets in Asia

40 MRO Seeking synergies American Airlines and US Airways must decide how to join up maintenance operations

43 Out of the ashes The demise of a Canadian institution, and what came next

PIC OF THE WEEK YOUR PHOTOGRAPH HEREAirSpace user Lloyd Horgan posted this shot of an AgustaWestland WAH-64D Apache “whipping up a storm on Salisbury Plain”. Our latest World Air Forces directory lists 66 Apaches in the British Army’s fleet. Open a gallery in Flightglobal.com’s AirSpace community for a chance to feature here

Lloyd

H g

alle

ry o

n fl

ightg

lobal.co

m/AirS

pace

flightglobal.com/imageoftheday

Ric

k In

gham

COVER IMAGERick Ingham photographed Royal Air Force Voyager ZZ330 on approach to the service’s Brize Norton air transport base during 2012. The type is nearing service approval for air-to-air refuelling.See Cover Story P34

NEXT WEEK UAVS SPECIALWe assess what the future might hold for Europe’s unmanned sector, and bring programme updates on the Watchkeeper and Neuron. Plus: a look at IAI’s Butterfly

IAI

flightglobal.com

CONTENTS

THE WEEK ON THE WEBflightglobal.com

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BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Vote at flightglobal.com/poll

Find all these items at flightglobal.com/wotw

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

53% 21% 26%

Total votes: 1,478

This week, we ask: What should the Pentagon’s F-35 strategy be? Stay the course Cancel the A Cancel the B or C Cancel

the entire programme

Expensive orbital white elephant

Some uses as a scientific lab

Technological wonder that unites mankind

Last week, we asked for your thoughts on the International Space Station was: You said:

HIGH FLIERSThe top five stories for the week just gone:1 Boeing ‘confident’ of returning 787 to service soon

2 Boeing looks beyond batteries on latest 787 test flight

3 Storm ice suspected in Etihad A340 cruise incident

4 A350 and CSeries unlikely to feature at Paris air show

5 Former USN chief suggests DoD should cancel F-35A

Our Image of the Day blog marked the 80th anniversary of

first flight over Mount Everest. Lord Clydesdale and David

McIntyre rose above the world’s highest peak in two

Westland Wallace biplanes

(left). The pioneers would go

on to found Scottish Aviation,

bequeathing the strong

aviation hub that still exists

at Prestwick. The DEW Line carried video from the

Lockheed Martin F-35B’s first weapons-separation test for the Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile at NAS

Patuxent River, Maryland. The sortie was flown by US Navy

test pilot Lt Cdr Michael Burks on 26 March. And the Airline Business blog noted that Aer Lingus chief Christoph Mueller

has so impressed the Irish government with his turn-

around skills that he has been appointed as chair of

state-owned postal service An Post – at what has been

termed, ominously, “a critical time” for the organisation.

Political chaos may reign in

Rome, but respite could be

found in the astonishing, pano-

ramic view of the city’s roofs and

monuments from a hotel on via

Vittorio Veneto, where MBDA

(P22) hosted an annual results

briefing attended by Luca Peruzzi (below). The conference

“provided an interesting over-

view on the industrial, govern-

mental and marketing

challenges laying ahead for the

international group, with a focus on Italy and the programmes

which see the current and future

involvement of the Italian arm of

the group”, says Peruzzi.

IN THIS ISSUECompanies listedAero Vodochody ...........................................23Airbus ....................... 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20Airbus Military ..............................................22Air France ..............................................16, 19Alenia Aermacchi .........................................23Alitalia .........................................................14Armavia .......................................................33Aspen Avionics.............................................29ATR ..............................................................14Avcorp ...................................................25, 33BAE Systems .........................................23, 25Bharat Electronics ..........................................8Bigelow Aerospace .......................................31Boeing ................ 8, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 32Bombardier .....................................20, 25, 26Bristow Helicopters ..................................8, 26British Airways ..............................................20Britten-Norman ............................................20Cambodia Airlines ........................................18Cambodia Angkor Air ....................................18Cessna ..................................................25, 33CHC Helicopter ............................................26Cobham.......................................................29Dirgantara Indonesia ...................................22EADS .....................................................12, 33Eclipse Aerospace ........................................25EDAC Technologies .......................................33Elbit Systems ...............................................33Embraer .................................................25, 26Etihad Airways ..............................................16Eurocopter .........................................8, 26, 29Eva Air .........................................................14 Evektor ........................................................29Evergreen Apple Nigeria ...............................26Finnair ...........................................................8Flying Colours ..............................................25General Electric .....................................18, 20Gol ..............................................................18Grob Aircraft.................................................33Hartzell ........................................................25Hawaiian Airlines ...........................................8Hawker Beechcraft .......................................25Hindustan Aeronautics .................................33Honeywell ..............................................26, 33Israel Aerospace Industries ..........................23Jet Aviation ..................................................26Korean Air ....................................................20Lockheed Martin ................................9, 21, 23Logicalis ......................................................33London Executive Aviation ............................25Lufthansa ....................................................20Malaysia Airlines ..........................................20MBDA ..........................................................22NATS............................................................33Norwegian ...................................................19Philippine Airlines ........................................18Pilatus ...................................................26, 32Piper Aircraft ................................................29Pipistrel .......................................................29Pratt & Whitney ......................................25, 26Qatar Airways ...............................................20Raisbeck......................................................25Rizon Jet ......................................................26Robinson Helicopter ....................................29Rolls-Royce ......................................18, 29, 33Russian Helicopters .....................................23Safran .........................................................33Samoa Air ....................................................20Selex ES ......................................................22SpaceX ........................................................10StandardAero ..............................................33Tawazun Precision Industries ........................22Tecnam ........................................................29Travira Air .....................................................18Williams International ..................................26

4 | Flight International | 9-15 April 2013

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COMMENT


For analysis of the latest F-35 programme news, consult our defence blog The DEW Line: flightglobal.com/dewline See This Week P12

Steady as she goes, EADS

At the risk of understating the significance of the transformative governance overhaul that has been

formally instituted at EADS, now is a good time to ask: what next?

As in any turnover of rules or leadership – and EADS has both, with a new board of directors, relatively new chief executive and head of Airbus and, soon, new head of Eurocopter – the first order of business has got to be continuity. Even seasoned executives need to learn the ropes in a new role.

Second, watch the A350. Heaven knows cadres of management are living this programme day and night, but the same was, and is, true for Boeing’s 787 project. As A380 veterans know all too well, big programmes

have a way of smashing even best-laid plans. Third, watch Eurocopter. Now is the time to rethink

all the assumptions, to make sure rivals are not quietly threatening to outflank this global market leader.

Fourth, wheel out the big brains and devise, within, say, a year, a serious defence business strategy. The Cassidian unit is not in crisis, but neither does it seem good use of capital, which makes it sound rather like a zombie division. Getting out may be an option.

EADS has a lot going for it. Tom Enders and his sen-ior management are in control, profitability is rising, market trends are good and the technological under-pinnings are solid. No disruptions, please.

See News Focus P21

Three’s a crowd?

Power of suggestionA former US Navy chief’s proposal that the Pentagon consider culling the F-35A was one from left field. But for reasons both practical and philosophical, it cannot be dismissed out of hand

The Lockheed Martin F-35 is set to become the main-stay fighter for not only the US Department of

Defense, but also many US allies. However, costs are pro-jected to be far greater than expected, at $1.1 trillion.

Former US Navy chief of naval operations Adm Gary Roughead suggests that the Pentagon seriously consider cancelling the US Air Force’s F-35A model aircraft in favour of the navy’s carrier-capable F-35C.

While on the surface such a plan might sound like it borders on the insane, it should not be ruled out with-out serious consideration.

The idea was briefly examined by the DoD during the Bush administration, but it never gained any serious traction. Though there are some indications that analysis is again under way, the DoD officially denies this.

The USAF and some foreign allies would fight to their dying breath to save the F-35A. However, the fact is that land-based forces can operate a naval aircraft without any real difficulty. A good precedent for this was set by the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, which ably served with the navy, USAF and US Ma-rine Corps, as well as numerous foreign allies.

Potentially, consolidating variants to the C model could help reduce the F-35’s life-cycle costs by sim-plifying logistics and pilot and maintainer training. Operationally, the F-35C, despite its comparatively lower kinematic performance, has much better range than other variants of the Joint Strike Fighter – in-

Adopting the F-35A mightmean refuelling a four-shipof fighters much faster

creasingly important for operations in the Pacific. While a USAF tanker can only refuel one fighter at a

time using the flying-boom system, the F-35C’s hose-and-drogue apparatus would enable the same tanker to transfer fuel to multiple aircraft simultaneously.

Some will argue the boom system can offload fuel at a rate of about 6,000lb (2,722kg) per minute, but fight-ers cannot accept fuel at a rate of more than 3,000lb per minute. Usually the actual rates are far slower. The na-vy’s hose-and-drogue system, which is also used around the world, can transfer fuel at rates of between 1,500lb and 2,000lb per minute. Thus, adopting the F-35C might mean refuelling a four-ship of fighters much faster than would be possible with the F-35A.

Moreover, USAF squadrons could potentially be trained to operate from on board the navy’s carriers to increase their basing flexibility or to augment carrier air wings as needed – furthering the concept of seamless integration that the Pentagon’s much-vaunted “Air-Sea Battle” concept espouses.

THIS WEEK

flightglobal.com8 | Flight International | 9-15 April 2013

For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multimedia content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

Bristow prepares for UK SAR dutiesContest winner confident preparation for imminent interim stint will ensure smooth transition to comprehensive role

Sikorsky S-92s will be used alongside AgustaWestland AW189s

AIRBUS TAKES EARLY LEAD IN DELIVERIES RACEAIRCRAFT Airbus has taken an early lead in its bid to reclaim top

spot in the annual deliveries race, handing over 144 aircraft in the

first quarter to edge out Boeing, which reached the end of March at

137. For the full year 2012, Boeing took top spot after nearly a dec-

ade in second place, with 601 handovers to Airbus’s 588. On the

orders front, Boeing is yet to report Q1 figures, but Airbus has surged

to a net 410 thanks to Lion Air’s huge deal for 169 A320s and

A320neos, as well as 65 A321neos. Airbus figures also list

Hawaiian Airlines’ order for 16 A321neos, and reveal the cancella-

tion of a single A350-900 destined for a private customer.

EUROCOPTER, TURBOMECA TO BUILD IN POLANDTENDER In a bid to secure a zlotych 10 billion ($3.1 billion) contract

from Poland for 70 new multi-role helicopters, Eurocopter has signed

an industrial co-operation agreement with Turbomeca and Wojskowe

Zaklady Lotnicze No 1 (WZL-1) to establish two full assembly lines in

the country for the EC725 Caracal and its Makila 2 turboshaft en-

gines, along with “a comprehensive in-country industrial work pack-

age” including training and maintenance.

FOLLOW-ON FIGHTER WORK TO BHARAT ELECTRONICSELECTRONICS India’s state-owned Bharat Electronics has signed a

follow-on contact with Boeing to make subassemblies for the F/A-

18E/F Super Hornet including the ground power panel, helmet vehi-

cle interface stowage and switch assembly and cockpit power

console panels. Bharat also provides the identification friend-or-foe

integrators and Data Link II communications system for P-81 mari-

time surveillance aircraft acquired by the Indian navy.

USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN COMING IN FOR FUELNAVAL AVIATION The US Navy is awarding Huntington Ingalls a

$2.6 billion contract to refuel and overhaul the nuclear-powered air-

craft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Each of the service’s 100,000t

Nimitz-class carriers needs to be refuelled once every 25 years. The

work, which will be carried out at the USA’s only nuclear-capable ship-

yard, in Newport News, Virginia, and completed by November 2016,

had been delayed by Congressional budget battles. It is not yet

known if the navy’s budget will allow it to award Ingalls a contract to

begin building the new Gerald Ford-class carrier USS John F Kennedy.

FINNAIR PICKS CARGOTEC EXECUTIVE AS NEW CHIEFAIRLINES Finnair has named Pekka Vauramo, an executive from

handling company Cargotec, as its new chief, just after outgoing

boss Mika Vehvilainen moved to head the same firm. Vauramo is the

chief operating officer of Cargotec division MacGregor, but has also

headed its Kalmarbusiness and served as Cargotec’s deputy chief.

BAHRAIN APPEARS TO WIND DOWN MRO VENTUREBUSINESS Bahrain’s maintenance, repair and overhaul venture Gulf

Technics appears to have been suspended after three turbulent

years of ambitious expansion plans that only led to a single support

contract with state carrier Gulf Air. Government sources have not

responded to calls for clarification, but a source familiar with the

project tells Flight International that Gulf Technics has “collapsed”.

The Bahraini government’s Tamkeen funding programme says it is

placing a priority on the aviation sector training programmes it offers

as a result of graduates failing to find employment “due to the liqui-

dation of Gulf Technics”.

BRIEFING

Bristow Helicopters is now beginning a two-year “work-

up period” ahead of its gradual transition to performing all the UK’s search and rescue activity from 2015 following its victory in the country’s Long SAR con-test last month.

The company was awarded the £1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) deal on 26 March by the UK Department for Transport and will run the SAR operation for up to 10 years.

Crew training will take place at a number of locations across the country as the operator installs simulators for the AgustaWest-land AW189 and Sikorsky S-92 in Aberdeen. Training aircraft will be located in Stornoway and In-verness. Additional lessons will be delivered at its Bristow Acad-emy in Gloucestershire, says Simon Tye, UK SAR project man-ager at Bristow.

Tye points out its work ahead of the interim Gap SAR contract – due to commence this summer from Sumburgh and Stornoway –

will ensure it has the building blocks in place to make a smooth transition to the new contract.

“One of the things we have had to demonstrate is resilience in the system – we can’t afford to go off-line at any of the bases,” he says.

Bristow picked the develop-mental AW189 for the shorter-range operations, says Tye, based on successful experience with the smaller AW139 in the SAR role. “The AW139 is a proven SAR machine and we see the benefits of the lessons learned from that being transferred to the new air-craft,” he says.

Additionally, it is the launch customer for the type and will re-ceive its first example, configured for oil and gas operations, in Sep-tember this year allowing it to gain valuable experience with the new super-medium rotorcraft. The first SAR-roled AW189s will follow in the first half of 2014.

Its crewmen are working with the airframer, which will produce the helicopters at its Yeovil, UK fac-tory, to develop a bespoke mission management system for the rear of the aircraft, designed to maximise the available space.

Visit our dedicated section for helicopter news and analysis at flightglobal.com/helicopters

“The AW139 is a proven SAR machine”SIMON TYE SAR project manager, Bristow

THIS WEEK


SpaceX ramps up bid for reusabilityTHIS WEEK P10

POLITICS

Raptors’ arrival ‘not to deter North’

Boeing and Lockheed Martin look to be locked into battle

over a 60-fighter export sale to South Korea, as the US Depart-ment of Defense has formally no-tified the US Congress of poten-tial sales of the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is also up for the F-X III fighter com-petition, but is regarded by ana-lysts as an outside contender.

For the potential F-35 sale, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) says that South Korea could order 60 convention-al A-model aircraft and associat-ed support equipment for $10.8 billion. There would also be pro-visions for spares, including nine additional Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofans. The pack-age would also encompass train-ing – including simulators.

Lockheed Martin says it is pleased the Congressional notifica-tion process is under way, but notes that competing bids are still being evaluated by South Korea and price discussions are “ongoing”.

Boeing’s F-15SE Silent Eagle offering is a somewhat more com-

EXPORTS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

South Korea weighs up rival fightersEurofighter Typhoon an outsider as US DoD notifies Congress of potential sales of Boeing F-15SE and Lockheed F-35

Seoul is looking to buy 60 new jets to add to its existing fleet of F-15K Slam Eagles

tion of their bid would cost. In a written statement, Boeing adds: “We are confident our Silent Eagle offering is best suited to ad-dress F-X requirements.”

While he does not rule out the possibility that South Korea will opt for the Typhoon, Raymond Jaworowski, an analyst with Fore-cast International, says the con-test will most like come down to a battle between the F-35 and the Silent Eagle.

“The F-15 and the F-35 are the frontrunners,” he says. “South Korea has previously bought US fighter aircraft, and it seems likely that’s the way they’ll go for this buy.” In the Silent Eagle’s favour is the fact that South Korea al-ready has the older F-15K Slam Eagle in service. “The commonal-ity factor will come into play,” Jaworowski says. “On the other hand, the F-35 is more and more becoming the dominant fighter on the market.”

Other factors that play in the F-35’s favour are the fact that Japan has already ordered the stealthy fifth-generation jet, and growing threats in the region.

But given the state of the South Korean tender, “I think at this point it’s too early to predict between the F-35 and the F-15,” Jaworowski says. See Defence P21

plicated bid, because it is a hybrid of a direct commercial sale and government-to-government US foreign military sale (FMS). As such, the DSCA notification to Congress is only for certain equip-ment that would have to be sold to South Korea to support the Silent Eagle sale.

Equipment that would be sold under the auspices of the US government FMS programme in-clude 60 Raytheon-built active electronically scanned array radar radars – but it is not speci-fied if those are APG-63 (V)3 or

APG-82 sets. Additionally, the F-15SE sale

would include 60 digital electron-ic warfare systems, 60 Lockheed AN/AAQ-33 Sniper targeting pods, 60 Lockheed AN/AAS-42 infrared search and track systems and other ancillary hardware. The estimated cost of the FMS portion of the sale would be $2.41 billion, according to the DSCA.

“We do feel we have the lower-cost, better-value bid here,” a Boeing official says – but the company did not say how much the direct commercial sale por-

For commentary on defence aviation news from Asia, visit flightglobal.com/asianskies

Boein

g

Rex

Featu

res

A flyover by B-2 stealth bombers

enraged North Korea

The US Air Force has deployed a pair

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors to

South Korea as part of the bilateral

Foal Eagle exercise.

However, says the US Department

of Defense, the stealthy fifth-genera-

tion air superiority fighters are sitting

on static display at a US air base

and are not present in South Korea

in order to deter North Korea as has

been widely reported but, rather, “to

provide South Korean senior leaders

with an orientation to the aircraft”.

The two Raptors, of the Viriginia-

based 94th Fighter Squadron, which

is on a regularly scheduled rotation

to Kadena air base in Japan, arrived

in Korea on 31 March.

Even by its standards, the nucle-

ar-armed North’s rhetorical re-

sponse to the annual joint exercises

has been extraordinarily bellicose.

Of the F-22 deployment, the North’s

Korean Central News agency said

“US imperialist warmongers [are]

ceaselessly introducing lots of nu-

clear war hardware into south

Korea”. A flyover by B-2 stealth

bombers (pictured) brought this re-

ponse: “A nuclear war has turned

out to be an established one on the

Korean Peninsula.”

Though outside observers ques-

tion North Korea’s ability to deliver

nuclear weapons, KCNA added:

“The US nuclear umbrella will never

help protect the puppet group as

it will prove ineffective in face of

the powerful nuclear strikes of

the DPRK.”

THIS WEEK



Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief ex-ecutive and chief technolo-

gist, has detailed the next steps in his bid to open an age of “full and frequent” rocket reusability, start-ing with an effort to recover the used Falcon 9 core stage on its next flight. He also released de-tails on a new, reusable version of the crewed Dragon capsule.

The next launch of Falcon 9 is the first flight of a substantial up-grade to the rocket, called version 1.1 (v1.1), which incorporates major changes to the engines and fuel tanks.

“The first stage will continue in a ballistic arc and execute a velocity-reduction burn before hitting the atmosphere just to lessen the impact,” says Musk. “And then right before splash-down of the stage it’s going to light the engine again.”

Musk stressed that he does not expect success on the first few at-tempts, but that in “the middle of next year” the company hopes to

land the core stage back at its launch pad. SpaceX is currently testing the Grasshopper, a Falcon 9 engine and tank assembly that takes off and lands vertically, but testing has not advanced to the point where it resembles a real-world launch.

In addition, Musk announced a “substantial upgrade” of the Dragon crew capsule, dubbed the Dragon v.2, especially outfitted for propulsive landings.

The new Dragon, which Musk says he hopes to formally unveil later in 2013, will relocate Dragon’s thrusters from the bottom of the capsule to the sides, and have re-tractable landing struts.

All capsules built to date, in-cluding current versions of Dragon, have landed using parachutes to slow their velocities. A propulsive-landing capsule could greatly less-

en the structural stresses of land-ing, making reusability easier.

Musk acknowledges the chal-lenge of reusability: just 2-3% of a rocket’s mass reaches orbit, and adding structural robustness and landing gear will add another 2-3%, so he will need every weight-saving “trick in the book” to orbit a useful payload.

The US Army is soliciting tech-nology concepts for a “cargo

pocket” unmanned air vehicle (UAV) capable of providing “around the corner” tactical intel-ligence. The solicitation requires only that concepts fit within cer-tain size, weight and power re-quirements, and be capable of station-keeping – hovering – in-doors and outside.

The US Army currently has no such technology deployed among

field troops. British soldiers in Afghanistan have recently been issued with the Prox Dynamics Black Hornet, a pocket-sized rota-ry-wing UAV, which they have operated with rave reviews.

Similar concepts from US com-panies have included everything from a miniature quadrotor to a live beetle controlled via electric brain stimulation.

The army did not immediately respond to inquiries.

FACILITIES

New Boeing delivery centre opensBoeing has expanded its Everett handover facilities with the opening of

a new delivery centre, which it describes as “the home of deliveries for

the 747-8, 767, 777 and 787”.

The 180,000ft2 (16,700m2) facility has three times the office, confer-

ence and delivery operations space as the old delivery centre and is

designed to increase operational efficiency.

Boein

g

UNMANNED SYSTEMS ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

US Army sends out call for nano-UAV concepts

ROCKETS ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

SpaceX ramps up bid for reusabilityMusk also reveals Dragon capsule concept as he details plans to soften Falcon 9 core stage’s return to terra firma

The Grasshopper test vehicle is built around a Falcon 9 core

Access analysis of the latest news from the space sector at flightglobal.com/hyperbola

The Prox Dynamics Black Hornet is being used by UK soldiers

Angu

s B

ate

y

“The first stage will execute a velocity-reduction burn before hitting the atmosphere”ELON MUSK Chief executive and technologist, SpaceX

Space

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THIS WEEK



EADS chief executive Tom Enders has consolidated his

grip on the Airbus parent with the formal creation of a single opera-tional headquarters in Toulouse, at the expense of Munich, as part of a new governance structure that dramatically reduces the share-holdings, and influence, of the French and German governments.

Enders, who took over last summer on Louis Gallois’s retire-ment, has long eyed Toulouse as a single corporate headquarters. In doing so he sought to sweep away the last vestiges of a system of equally shared management dic-tated by the Franco-German po-litical deal that created EADS a decade ago from national aero-space champions. The company had already ended the practice of appointing French and German co-management; Enders had been co-chief executive with Gallois until 2007, when he stepped down to lead only Airbus.

When the headquarters is fully operational on 1 September, some 116 jobs currently based in Paris

and 75 in Munich will have been transferred to Toulouse, which will host some 500 positions, in-cluding the integrated functions of EADS and Airbus human re-sources and finance, as well as other key steering functions. The group will keep around 250 serv-ice and support functions in Paris and more than 300 in Munich.

Enders has had a tumultuous nine months at the helm of EADS. His preference for Toulouse was made clear early on in his tenure.

Apart from the obvious opera-tional efficiencies of focusing sen-ior management in the main loca-tion of the dominant Airbus division, Toulouse was seen as a politic choice to ensure Paris re-mained comfortable with the company being led by two Ger-mans, himself and chief finance officer Harald Wilhelm. Previ-ously, as with Gallois and his fi-nance chief Hans Peter Ring, those roles were been split be-tween the two nationalities.

But a bold proposal to resolve EADS’s weak position in military aerospace by merging with the UK’s BAE Systems was rebuffed by Berlin. German chancellor Angela Merkel is believed to have personally shot down the idea.

Far from being weakened by the failure of a major initiative, Enders turned the situation to advantage by driving for a new governance deal, agreed in December and for-mally approved, along with a new board, on 27 March. Now, the di-rect and proxy shareholdings of the French, German and Spanish states are being cut from nearly half to less than 30%, and no shareholder can overrule management.

EADS’s new board has ap-proved a €3.75 billion ($4.8 bil-lion) buy-back and retirement of 15% of the group’s shares. That move, supported by a cash pile that at end-2012 stood at €12.3 bil-lion, should help to maintain a steady share price as German proxy holder Daimler and French counterpart Lagardère sell, possi-bly on the open market.

STRATEGY DAN THISDELL LONDON

Toulouse move brings EADS togetherFrance embraces consolidated headquarters as German chiefs clear away remnants of shared management structure

Dominant division Airbus is already based in Toulouse

Airbus

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AIR TRANSPORT


Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

Eva Air has reinforced training to enhance its flight crew’s

awareness and understanding of cabin altitude anomalies after one of its aircraft made an emergency landing last year when the cabin failed to pressurise properly.

The Boeing 747-400 (B-16411) was operating on the Taipei Taoy-uan-Shanghai Pudong route when the incident happened on 25 March 2012.

The aircraft had taken off at 10:44 and during the climb, it en-countered a left outlet valve mal-function and abnormal cabin alti-tude, Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council says.

The council’s findings show that the cabin pressure control system’s left outlet valve had failed, result-ing in it being partially closed at a nine o’clock position. The position of the valve prevented the aircraft from pressurising normally and re-sulted in high cabin altitude.

The continuous leaking of cabin pressure led the cabin alti-tude warning to sound when the aircraft was at 20,800ft (6,340m).

Statements from the flight crew and data from the cockpit voice re-corder showed the crew did not recognise any abnormality until the cabin altitude was at 8,600ft.

When they found out, the cap-tain requested for the aircraft to level to 20,000ft. The pilots per-formed an outflow valve proce-dure, but the cabin altitude con-tinued to rise above 10,000ft, causing a warning to sound.

The captain then declared a Mayday and initiated an emer-gency descent, taking over as the flying pilot. Oxygen masks were also deployed.

However, an inquiry showed that the cabin altitude was actu-ally recovering after the first of-ficer manually closed the outflow valve, and that the crew failed to recognise that the cabin altitude was controllable.

Simulation flights conducted by the Civil Aeronautics Admin-istration showed that “emergency descent could be avoided if the flight crew had applied the [quick-reference handbook] pro-cedure correctly”.

The safety council reviewed the carrier’s training syllabus and found that most of its training for emergency descent involved “rapid decompression”. It has since asked Eva to adjust the syl-labus to enhance its crew’s aware-ness and understanding of cabin altitude anomalies.

Italian investigators have dis-closed that emergency vehicles

did not arrive at the scene of an accident involving an Alitalia ATR 72 landing in Rome until 10min after the crash alarm.

The aircraft, operated by Ro-mania’s Carpatair, landed on Rome Fiumicino’s runway 16L but veered off, sustaining sub-stantial damage.

It touched down 567m (1,860ft) from the threshold but bounced three times before the nose-gear as well as the main gear col-lapsed, says Italian investigation authority ANSV.

The aircraft slid on its fuselage for another 500m and spun nearly 180˚, coming to rest 1,780m from the threshold and 30m from the right-hand edge of the runway.

ANSV says the crash site was almost directly opposite the fire station just 400m away. While the accident occurred at night, visibility at the time was more than 10km.

But although the control tower activated an alarm less than 50s after the accident, emergency ve-hicles followed a circuitous route to the site, arriving almost 10min later – by which time all the oc-cupants had evacuated them-selves from the wreckage.

After emerging from the fire station, emergency personnel had queried the location of the air-craft, and the tower responded that the crash site was near link taxiway DE.

But the vehicles drove along the main taxiway D, parallel to the runway, almost to the far end,

before backtracking along the runway itself.

Ground-track surveillance in-dicates that the vehicles then drove past the crash site, travel-ling 700m beyond, before turning around and arriving.

ANSV says the evidence sug-gests the fire brigade “did not seem to have full knowledge” of the position of the taxiway.

But it also points out that the tower did not transmit a grid-map reference, which would have positively identified the crash location.

There was no fire but 24 of the 50 on board flight AZ1670 from Pisa were transported to medical facilities outside the airport after the 2 February accident.

ANSV is still investigating the cause of the crash. But it has is-sued safety recommendations pointing out that fire and rescue response times should be 2min for the runway and no more than 3min for any other area.

It had previously identified, and highlighted, similar prob-lems with the time to locate air-craft wreckage, after the crash of an Airbus A319 at Palermo in September 2010.

ROME FIUMICINO CRASH RESPONSE

Flightglobal

19:32:33 Flight AZ1670 comes to rest

19:33:22 Tower activates crash alarm

19:35:22 Rescue vehicles deploy from fire station

19:43:02 Rescue teams arrive at crash site

1234

Runway 16L

Taxiway D

1

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INVESTIGATION MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

Crew ‘could have avoided’ Eva 747’s urgent descentTaiwanese inquiry finds failure to recognise cabin altitude’s recovery from pressure problem led to unnecessary Mayday

Oxygen masks were deployed on board the Shanghai-bound jet

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OPERATIONS DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Rescue fiasco followed turboprop crash at Rome

ANSV points out the tower did not transmit a grid-map reference, which would have positively identified the crash location

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AIR TRANSPORT



Pilots of an Etihad Airways Airbus A340-600 diverted to

Singapore after a sudden en-counter with turbulent weather during cruise generated unrelia-ble airspeed data and left the jet unable to maintain altitude sepa-ration requirements.

While en route to Melbourne at 35,000ft, and approaching the PIPOV waypoint over the Indian Ocean, the returns from the air-craft’s weather radar – which had no auto-tilt function – suddenly intensified to indicate surround-ing convective weather.

Airspeed on the captain’s pri-mary flight display rapidly dropped from 283kt (524km/h) to 77kt before fluctuating, and the standby instrument recorded a fall from 280kt to 142kt. The first

officer’s reading stayed stable.United Arab Emirates investi-

gators from the General Civil Avi-ation Authority determined that the autopilot and autothrottle, as well as the flight directors, disen-gaged and the A340 switched to alternate flight-control law – a mode in which angle-of-attack protection is lost.

The preliminary inquiry says that the aircraft had started to de-part from its altitude after the au-topilot disengaged, performing an “inadvertent climb” which took it 832ft above its assigned 35,000ft cruise level.

Within about 20s, the airspeed indications recovered and the jet reverted to normal law. But about a minute after the initial distur-bance began, the airspeed began

fluctuating again. This second disturbance, lasting about 44s, again caused the A340 to drop into alternate law and discon-

nected the autothrust.Since the first officer’s instru-

ments appeared to be functioning correctly, the captain designated him as the flying pilot. The first officer returned the aircraft to its assigned altitude.

Although the airspeed indica-tions stabilised, and the auto-thrust was re-engaged, the crew could not bring the autopilot back online, and the first officer con-tinued to fly the jet manually. The A340 remained in alternate law for the rest of the flight.

The crew transmitted that the aircraft (A6-EHF) could not main-tain altitude owing to the jet’s performance and the turbulence, and that it had lost the capability to operate in reduced vertical separation minima airspace.

It subsequently descended to conventional airspace at 29,000ft and diverted to Singapore. None of the 295 occupants was injured.

While the inquiry into the Etihad

A340-600 incident highlights that

icing is notably a cause of unreliable

airspeed indications at high altitude,

it has yet to establish conclusions

about the event.

But the circumstances bear a

similarity to those preceding the Air

France flight AF447 accident in June

2009, when an A330 cruising at

35,000ft (10,700m) flew into a

storm cell, resulting in the icing of its

pitot system.

The General Civil Aviation

Authority says that dispatch docu-

mentation provided to the Etihad

crew included charts indicating an

isolated embedded cumulonimbus

cloud up to 45,000ft in the area of

the incident.

Analysis showed that the A340’s

weather radar, set on manual tilt,

showed “almost no” reflectivity be-

fore the turbulence started to in-

crease. The radar returns then

sharply intensified.

“An incorrect tilt may lead [the

radar] to only scan the upper, less

reflective, part of a cell,” the inquiry

notes. “As a consequence, a cell

may not be detected or may be

underestimated.”

Use of weather radar to avoid

storm-cell penetration emerged as

an issue in the AF447 investigation.

Icing led to airspeed fluctuations

and switching to alternate control

law, and the crew’s response result-

ed in an advertent climb and high-

altitude stall.

As in the case of the Air France

incident, three pilots – one of whom

had returned to the cockpit after a

rest period – worked to resolve the

Etihad situation.

Despite resetting all the flight-

control and flight-guidance computers,

as well as other systems, by using

quick-reference handbook procedures,

the pilots were not able to re-engage

either of the two autopilots.

OPERATIONS

Icing suspected as circumstances parallel AF447 event

SAFETY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Storm scrambled A340 airspeed dataInvestigators examine use of weather radar after unreliable indications and control-law changes led to Singapore diversion

Pilots of the Etihad aircraft were unable to restore the autopilot

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AIR TRANSPORT



Philippine Airlines is studying the proposed Boeing 777X as

well as the Airbus A350 as part of its refleeting plans, with the car-rier looking at 10-20 of either air-craft type.

Last year the flag carrier inked orders with Airbus for 34 A321s, 10 A321neos and 20 heavier-weight A330-300s. It had previ-

ously said that it aimed to pur-chase 100 new aircraft and retire its older and uneconomical wide-bodies to compete more effective-ly in the long-haul market.

“PAL is evaluating the 777X versus the A350,” president Ramon Ang confirms to Flight In-ternational, but declines to give further details.

Boeing is still refining the de-sign and business case for the 777X before requesting authority from the company’s board to launch the programme.

Judging by the development schedule of the General Electric GE9X, the exclusive powerplant Boeing has chosen for the 777X, the aircraft will probably enter

service only after mid-2019.PAL has not indicated which

variant of the A350 is being con-sidered but Boeing views the A350-1000 as competition to fu-ture 777 developments. The A350-1000, powered exclusively by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB en-gines, is intended to enter service in 2017.

FLEET MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

PAL’s plan to pit A350 against 777XFilipino carrier to examine new widebodies from both Airbus and Boeing as focus switches from short to long haul

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Ageing A340-300s ply some of the Asia-Pacific carrier’s routes

START-UP

Pact to create Cambodian operatorPhilippine Airlines has agreed to set

up a Cambodian joint-venture carrier

with Cambodian conglomerate The

Royal Group.

The agreement was signed by

Philippine Airlines president

Ramon Ang and Royal Group chair-

man Kith Meng in Phnom Penh on

2 April.

A source close to the discus-

sions says PAL will likely take a

49% stake in the new carrier,

Cambodia Airlines, while its partner

will hold 51%. It will operate both

domestic and regional routes, prob-

ably with Cambodian-registered

Airbus A321s, although it is unclear

when it will begin operations.

San Miguel, which holds a 49%

stake in PAL, declines to comment.

Cambodia Airlines will compete

with flag carrier and A321 operator

Cambodia Angkor Air, which is ma-

jority owned by the local govern-

ment. Vietnam Airlines holds 49%.

Several airlines have started up

in Cambodia over the years, only to

cease due to mounting losses.

Brazilian investigators are prob-ing an emergency landing by

a Gol Boeing 737-700 after which the aircraft was found to have less than 600kg (1,320lb) of fuel left.

The budget airline’s crew de-clared an emergency following two go-arounds while attempting to land at Imperatriz, in darkness, on 5 February.

In a report citing information from Brazilian investigation au-thority CENIPA, the US National Transportation Safety Board says the crew had executed a go-around during the initial attempt to land as a result of an “unstabi-lised approach”.

The crew then performed an-other go-around on the second ap-proach because fog was obscuring the runway, the NTSB says. Weather data appears to indicate

the presence of thunderstorm ac-tivity but good visibility.

This second missed approach was followed by the declaration of an emergency due to low fuel.

Following a diversion to Sao

Luis, some 260nm (480km) to the north, the aircraft (PR-VBI) land-ed uneventfully. The NTSB states that after the aircraft’s CFM Inter-national CFM56 engines were shut down inspectors discovered

just 550kg of fuel remaining. The US agency is assisting in the CENIPA-led investigation.

None of the 52 passengers was injured, and the aircraft was not damaged, says the NTSB.

Gol 737’s go-around and diversion depletes tanksINVESTIGATION GHIM-LAY YEO WASHINGTON DC

Joe G

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After two missed landings at Imperatriz, the Brazilian carrier’s crew opted to fly instead to Sao Luis

flightglobal.com

AIR TRANSPORT

SAFETY

Protection activated on Marseille A320French investigators have said the

stall-protection system activated on an

Air France Airbus A320 during the final

stages of an approach to Marseille.

The aircraft had been operating a

domestic service from Paris Charles

de Gaulle on 11 March, says the

French investigation authority BEA.

Surveillance data indicates that

the aircraft (F-HBNE) started de-

scending towards Marseille from the

northwest as it passed Clermont-

Ferrand at about 14:00 local time.

BEA says it was performing a visual

approach to runway 31L – requiring

the aircraft to pass the airport and

turn back – and that the incident oc-

curred as it made its final turn.

“High angle-of-attack protection

activated,” says the BEA in a bulletin,

without further detail on the circum-

stances. The aircraft descended to a

minimum height of 700ft (210m).

Meteorological data from the time

of the incident, around 14:30, con-

firms good visibility and winds of 9kt

(17km/h) from the west.

BEA says the crew executed a go-

around before performing another

visual approach and landing. None of

the A320’s occupants was injured.

Marseille has two parallel run-

ways, of which 31L is the shorter at

2,370m (7,776ft).

Norwegian investigators have opened an inquiry into a

near-stall incident involving a Boeing 737-800 on approach.

The aircraft, operated by low-cost carrier Norwegian, had been conducting a domestic Finnish service from Helsinki to Kittila.

Norway’s investigation author-ity SHT says flight DY5630 had been established on the instru-ment landing system approach to runway 34.

But as the aircraft descended through 3,250ft (990m), with its autopilot engaged, it began an “unintentional steep climb” under full engine power, SHT says.

The aircraft’s trailing-edge de-vices had been configured in the “flaps 5” position.

SHT says the aircraft climbed

1,500ft but adds that the airspeed bled away. “The aircraft came close to a stall,” it says, although it does not indicate whether any alarms or protections activated. “However, the pilots managed to regain control of the aircraft.”

It landed safety at Kittila and subsequent test flights of the twin-jet (LN-DYM), which had been de-livered new to Norwegian in 2011, did not indicate any problems.

Weather conditions at Kittila on the day indicate good visibility and temperatures around -20˚C.

SHT has classified the 26 De-cember 2012 incident as a “seri-ous event”. It has obtained flight-data recordings and opened a probe, in co-operation with Boe-ing and the US National Trans-portation Safety Board.

INQUIRY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Probe opens after 737 nearly stallsInvestigators examine sudden climb and loss of airspeed as Norwegian-operated twinjet was descending towards Kittila

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AIR TRANSPORT



Pacific regional carrier Samoa Air is introducing a fare

structure based on the individual weight of its passengers and their baggage.

Serving a network that in-cludes Tonga and American Samoa, the carrier uses a fleet of small aircraft, including the Brit-

ten-Norman BN2 Islander. This means the weight of passengers is a critical factor in its operations.

Passengers booking with the carrier are asked to provide an es-timated weight, although Samoa Air says that they will be re-weighed at the airport. The fare is then calculated on this basis and

guarantees the individual a pre-paid personal weight allocation for the flight. “You travel happy knowing full well that you are only paying for exactly what you weigh – nothing more,” says the carrier. “You are the master of how much, or little, your air ticket will cost.”

British Airways is considering a proposal to display its first

Airbus A380 at the 50th Paris air show, lifting the air transport side of a event from which other high- profile aircraft appear destined to be absent.

The Airbus A350 and Bombar-dier CSeries are unlikely to make an appearance, while the Boeing 787 will need to be cleared to fly before participating.

Paris air show managing direc-tor Gilles Fournier says the A350 and CSeries “could not be ready” for Paris. “They will probably go to Farnborough or Berlin,” he says. Both shows will be held in 2014. The A350 is due to make its maiden flight this summer, while the first CSeries prototype, FTV-1, is scheduled for first flight by late June. Two 787s – one from Qatar

Airways and one from Boeing – are planned to feature in the show’s static display. Fournier says, however, that the 787’s pres-ence at the show is contingent on whether US regulators clear the aircraft to fly to Paris.

“If it’s ready, it will fly,” he says. The Paris air show will be held from 17 to 21 June.

British Airways is due to take delivery of its first Rolls-Royce Trent 900-powered aircraft in July – a month after the Paris show.

One of Korean Air’s A380s was recruited as a stand-in demonstra-tor during the last Paris event in 2011, after the regular Airbus test aircraft was slightly damaged in a taxiing accident. The display flight proved popular and Airbus subse-quently showed off a Malaysia Airlines A380 at last year’s Farn-

borough show. BA says it has re-ceived a similar proposition. “We’re looking at it,” says a source at the carrier familiar with the situ-ation, but adds that the carrier has yet to make a final decision.

Once delivered, the BA aircraft – configured with 469 seats – will be deployed on short-haul routes for training. The carrier has already disclosed that Los Angeles and Hong Kong will be among the first long-haul destinations for the jet, with A380 services starting to these cities in October-November. Three of the flag-carrier’s A380s have been flown to the Airbus facility at Ham-burg Finkenwerder – the latest on 25 March – to be finished and painted in the airline’s livery.

Lufthansa expects to place a major order for long-range air-

craft to replace its Airbus A340s and Boeing 747-400s in the fourth quarter.

The carrier is still waiting for information from the airframers, says Jurgen Weber, the chairman of the carrier’s supervisory board.

“We will make the decision on long-range aircraft in the last quarter of this year,” he said dur-ing a briefing in Washington DC at the end of March. Weber de-clined to specify the number of aircraft the airline would order but said two-thirds will be re-placement jets for its A340s and 747-400s, while the remaining third will be for growth.

“It will be a major order,” says Weber. He adds that the airline would have placed an order for long-range aircraft earlier, but it did not have the necessary data on future long-haul types such as the Boeing 777X and Airbus A350. Boeing has not said when the 777X will enter service, but the General Electric GE9X power-ing the type is not scheduled to be certificated until May 2018.

Airbus plans first deliveries of the A350-900 to take place in the second half of 2014.

The longest-range variant of the A350, the -1000, will enter into service in 2017.

Lufthansa operates 48 A340s – equally split between -300s and -600s – plus 18 747-400s. The air-line’s newly-released 2012 annu-al report shows it is due to take delivery of 15 Boeing 747-8s, seven A380s, three A330s and five 777Fs in 2013-2016.

AIRFRAMES DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

British A380 could top Paris billing if new types miss outUK carrier considers displaying at 50th show amid probable absence of A350 and CSeries

FLEET MICHAEL GUBISCH LONDON

Lufthansa gears up to decide on long-range order

BA is set to take delivery of the 469-seat aircraft in July and open Los Angeles flights in October

Samoa passengers to pay by weightOPERATIONS

“We will make the decision in the last quarter of this year”JURGEN WEBER Chairman, Lufthansa supervisory board

The Airline Business blog offers commentary on airline news, atflightglobal.com/abblog


Jakarta deals flow for Airbus MilitaryDEFENCE P22

NEWS FOCUS

Former US Navy chief of naval operations Adm Gary Roug-

head says the US Department of Defense (DoD) should consider eliminating the F-35A version of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in favour of the carrier-based F-35C.

In recent weeks the idea has gathered momentum, with cur-rent and former defence officials saying the Pentagon’s office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) is studying the idea – although the DoD offi-cially denies these claims.

Roughead says the question must be asked as to whether it is better to reduce the number of F-35 variants to two – a short take-off and vertical landing vari-ant and one version that can take-off and land conventionally. “My simple logic says it probably is, but there are a lot of factors that go into it,” he says.

Roughead says it makes sense to have the US Air Force adopt the C-model jet because it can operate from land bases as well as from the US Navy’s 11 “big deck” aircraft carriers, whereas the A model cannot. “The reason that I said to go with the C is because you will still want to be able to use the JSF from aircraft carriers,” he says.

REDUCED COSTSWhile a lot of analytical work would have to be carried out, Roughead says it is possible that reducing the number of variants could reduce the F-35’s consider-able life-cycle costs – currently estimated to top $1.1 trillion.

Roughead says he has not talked to anyone at the DoD about his suggestion, but a number of current and former defence officials say CAPE is ex-amining the idea. “I’m sure CAPE is looking at this,” says one senior government official, although he adds that he does

not know “how serious a look”. Another senior official also says CAPE is looking at eliminating the A-model. “During the latest se-questration drill, CAPE took an-other run on cutting out one of the variants of the JSF,” he says. “The argument is the air force should do it and buy the C version.”

The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), however, insists CAPE is not looking at cancelling the F-35A.

Meanwhile, after spending 12 years fronting the F-35 pro-gramme, retiring Lockheed ex-ecutive vice-president Tom Bur-bage is now able to look back in hindsight on a few key lessons that could have spared the pro-gramme a costly redesign and a troubled relationship with

international partners. Leading the first globalised defence pro-gramme, the F-35 team initially did not fully understand the challenges of sharing information between hundreds of suppliers spanning across multiple countries. “I don’t think anybody really understood, because it had never been done be-fore, what it means to have nine countries all competing for work,” Burbage says.

On previous programmes most foreign involvement was handled through the US government through the foreign military sales system. “On this programme, up-front, we had to figure out how you go involve industry early on and how does the system work,” he says.

One of the lessons Burbage says he learned is that all of the companies involved in a project the size and scope of the F-35 need to be on the same informa-tion technology systems to share data seamlessly. “You want to have them all on the same set of tools when you start,” he says.

Discoveries happen during every aircraft developmental ef-fort, but the F-35 encountered several unanticipated problems

that Burbage says could not have been foreseen. “Certainly there are some things looking back that we would have changed to avoid the weight issue and things like that, had we known it was lurk-ing in the models,” Burbage says.

UNFORESEEN DIFFICULTIESDuring the early years of the programme between 2004 and 2005, company and government parametric engineering models began to show that the weight of the F-35B short take-off vertical landing version of the aircraft was getting too high.

“Somewhere along the way we made an error in our parametric weight models,” Burbage says. “Turned out we were predicting the things that we knew about pretty well, the structural parts were pretty close, the small detail parts were pretty close.

“What wasn’t predicted well by the model was stealth and internal weapons bays because the airplane that had those capabilities weren’t part of the database.”

Logic of F-35A questioned FIGHTERS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

Ex-US Navy admiral proposes eliminating conventional take-off JSF variant to focus on carrier-based alternative

US

Air F

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The Office of the Secretary of Defense insists that CAPE is not looking at cancelling the F-35A

“I said to go with theC because you willstill want to be able touse the JSF fromaircraft carriers”GARY ROUGHEAD Former USN chief of naval operations

For commentary on defence aviation news, visit our blog at flightglobal.com/dewline


For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter

DEFENCE

Airbus Military and PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI)

have signed a comprehensive agreement for the development of the NC212i, an upgraded version of the C212 light transport.

“Under the terms of the agree-ment, the companies will be long-term, risk-sharing partners with engineering and manufac-turing being led by PTDI, sup-ported by Airbus Military, and certification being an Airbus Military responsibility,” says the European company. “The air-craft will be delivered from Bandung in Indonesia and will be promoted and supported by PTDI and Airbus Military teams worldwide,” it adds.

The deal was signed at the Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace exhibition in Malaysia in late March.

The two companies first an-nounced plans for the NC212i in November 2012. The aircraft will feature new digital avionics and a new autopilot, and have capacity for up to 28 passengers in its ci-vilian version, compared with 25 for the earlier C212.

Airbus Military forecasts a market for 400-450 aircraft of this size in the next decade.

Meanwhile, Indonesia could obtain up to seven additional Airbus Military C295 tactical transport aircraft, which would bring its eventual total of the type to 16 examples.

“The air force requires an ad-ditional seven aircraft,” says Arie Wibowo, vice-president marketing and sales for PTDI. “Having 16 will allow them to form a full squadron.”

Jakarta entered a deal for nine C295s at the Singapore air show in February 2012.

In addition to Jakarta’s air force requirements, PTDI is pitching two C295s to the Indonesian Na-tional Police. The police would use them to transport special counter-terrorism teams.

PTDI is also working with Airbus Military to promote the twin-engined turboprop to Ma-laysia and the Philippines.

Jakarta has already received two completed aircraft (designat-ed as the CN295 in Indonesian service) from Airbus Military’s Seville factory.

The next five aircraft will be delivered in a green condition, with PTDI to customise the air-craft at a new delivery centre in Bandung that it has set up for the C295 programme.

The last two aircraft of the origi-nal nine will be produced at a Bandung final assembly line, using kits sent from Airbus Mili-tary. The final assembly line would be used for the potential follow-on order for seven aircraft.

Wibowo says PTDI also acts as a tier-one supplier in the pro-gramme, producing the rear fuse-lage and the tail empennage.

MBDA may pursue a Middle Eastern partnership as it con-

tinues its efforts to expand the ca-pabilities of its anti-ship missiles.

“The growth potential of [the] Marte anti-ship missile family has attracted the interest of an Arabian Gulf industrial partner, looking to jointly develop the new extended-range version of the family,” said Antonio Perfetti, managing director of the MBDA’s Italian branch and executive group director sales and business development, during the Europe-an consortium’s 2012 results con-ference in Rome on 22 March,

While he declined to provide further detail, Flight International understands that the United Arab Emirates is the nation interested in a joint development of the new version, and that subsidiaries of state-owned investment company Tawazun Holding are to be in-volved in the programme.

Tawazun Precision Industries entered into an agreement with MBDA during the 2011 IDEX ex-hibition in Abu Dhabi to manufac-ture various components for the Marte family. The company pro-duces the newly developed canis-ter for the Mk2/N ship-launched version of the missile. This is part of the equipment of the UAE naval forces’ Ghannatha fast boat, the first of which has been delivered.

Tawazun Precision Industries also inked a supply agreement with Selex ES at the 2013 IDEX exhibition in February to manu-

facture various components for the Finmeccanica subsidiary’s RF seekers, a key component in the MBDA Italy Marte/Otomat anti-ship missile family.

The Marte ER is planned to op-erate at ranges in excess of 100km (54nm) and be capable of being carried by medium-to-heavy heli-copters. But it should also be pos-sible to launch the equipment from fixed-wing combat and mar-itime patrol aircraft, have compa-rable life cycle costs to the current version and offer growth poten-tial, including a man-in-the-loop and land attack strike with a heavier warhead.

MBDA Italy has already com-pleted ground fitting-out trials of a Marte ER maquette with the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Aside from the extended range and naval (Mk2/N) versions, the Marte missile family includes the helicopter-based (Mk2/S) and aircraft-launched (Mk2/A) models. A dummy version of the latter has been dropped from an Airbus Military C295 maritime patrol aircraft.

DEVELOPMENT GREG WALDRON SINGAPORE

Jakarta deals flow for Airbus MilitaryAgreement with Indonesia to develop upgraded C212 light transport may be followed by order for up to seven C295s

The C212, seen here in Argentinean service, will gain new avionics

A dummy version of the Mk2/A has been dropped from a C295

WEAPONS LUCA PERUZZI ROME

MBDA looks to go the distance with Marte

MB

DA

For the latest news and analysis from the defence aviation sector, go to flightglobal.com/defence

The Marte ER is planned to operate at ranges in excess of 100km (54nm)

Airbus M

ilita

ry

DEFENCE


CRJ700s next test for Flying ColoursBUSINESS AVIATION P25

Boeing and the US Air Force will have to recertificate the

new F-15SA’s performance over the entire flight envelope be-cause of its new fly-by-wire flight-control systems.

“The flight test to certify air-worthiness will take approxi-mately a year and a half to accom-plish,” says the USAF.

Fly-by-wire represents a depar-ture from the traditional F-15 hybrid electronic/mechanical flight-control system. Previous in-carnations of the jet were equipped with a dual-channel, high-author-ity, three-axis control augmenta-tion system superimposed on top of a hydro-mechanical system.

However, Saudi Arabia’s 84 F-15SAs will have two outer wing weapons stations activated, making a fly-by-wire flight-con-trol system necessary. “The main benefit for the fly-by-wire system is to compensate for the stability differences induced by carrying weapons in the one and nine sta-tions – not used to date on any F-15 platform,” the USAF says.

It adds it is not yet known how the redesigned flight control sys-tem will affect the pilot: “It is too

early in the flight test programme to appropriately characterise [the] ‘feel’ of the flight controls.”

The first F-15SA, an advanced derivative of the F-15E, flew a lim-ited flight envelope on 20 Febru-ary. Other upgrades for the F-15SA include an active electronically scanned array radar and a digital electronic warfare system.

The USAF will not activate the outer wing weapons stations on its own F-15Es, it says. Nor will the fly-by-wire controls be retrofitted to existing USAF Strike Eagles.

Raymond Jaworowski, an ana-lyst with Forecast International, says there are two reasons for

Boeing and the USAF to undertake the difficult task of redesigning the F-15’s flight-control systems this late into the aircraft’s life-cycle.

The first is that Saudi Arabia might have asked for certain capa-bilities. “It is fairly sizeable order,” Jaworowski says. “So whatever they can do to satisfy the customer would be in their best interests.”

A second possible reason for the extensive modification, he says, is that Boeing wants to keep the F-15 in production for as long as possible, helping the company compete on the world market be-fore Lockheed Martin’s F-35 be-comes dominant.

Four contractors met the 2 April deadline to submit bids

in Poland’s advanced jet trainer (AJT) contest, the nation’s de-fence ministry has revealed.

They are: Czech Aero Vodo-chody, which is offering the L-159T1; Alenia Aermacchi, with the M-346 Master; BAE Systems, with the Hawk AJT; and Lockheed Martin UK, probably pitching the T-50 Golden Eagle, developed jointly with Korea Aerospace Industries.

Ministry spokesman Jacek Sonta says the inspectorate of

armaments will now start evalu-ating whether the bidders fulfil conditions of participation.

Of the four, only BAE Systems has publicly commented on its in-

volvement in the competition. “BAE Systems confirms it has sub-mitted a response to the tender an-nouncement for the Poland AJT requirement and looks forward to

continued discussions regarding this opportunity. Our offering will be based upon the proven Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer,” says Paul Dawkins, head of the Hawk AJT campaign for Poland.

Warsaw is interested in acquir-ing eight newly manufactured AJT aircraft. Unofficially, techni-cal negotiations are to start in mid-July, and final offers should be submitted in November. The win-ner will be chosen by year-end, with the subsequent agreement to span the period from 15 January 2014 to 30 November 2017.

Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Aviation Group has com-

pleted centre wing box (CWB) re-placement and rewiring on an Is-raeli air force Lockheed Martin C-130 transport.

Bedek has also received an order from the air force to per-form complete CWB replace-ments and rewiring on four addi-tional aircraft.

The C-130 is cleared for 45,000 flight hours but, to reach that limit, may require a service-life extension programme. To this end, Bedek offers operators a package including CWB replace-ment, cockpit upgrades, rewiring and quick conversion to special-mission configurations.

IAI says only a handful of maintenance, repair and overhaul centres can perform C-130 serv-ice-life extension programmes.

The Israeli air force is to re-ceive its first Lockheed Martin C-130J “Samson” in late 2013 or early 2014. The first contract signed in 2010 covers three C-130Js, but the air force has asked for a formal proposal for three ad-ditional aircraft.

The air force is currently oper-ating 18 C-130E/H transports. The E-model aircraft are due to be phased out.

The F-15SA is an advanced derivative of the F-15E, shown here

DEVELOPMENT DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

Fly-by-wire F-15s require recertification campaignFlight tests following installation of new flight-control systems will take 18 months

UPGRADES ARIE EGOZI TEL AVIV

Bedek replaces centre wing box on Israeli C-130

Four bidders to do battle in Polish AJT competitionCONTEST BARTOSZ GLOWACKI WARSAW

BAE Systems will offer a version of its Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer

BAE S

yste

ms

US

Air F

orc

e

BUSINESS AVIATION


Phenom 300 speeds to trio of recordsBUSINESS AVIATION P26

JETTECH GETS US STCAftermarket aircraft modifica-

tions provider Jettech has re-

ceived US supplemental type

certification to install the up-

dated Garmin G600 glass cock-

pit on legacy Cessna Citation V

business jets. Jettech founder

Rob Irwin says the new modifi-

cation will increase situational

awareness through traffic colli-

sion avoidance systems, digital

weather radar and satellite

weather radar for pilots of the

light-cabin aircraft.

PROPELLERS TAKE OFFRaisbeck’s and Hartzell’s swept-

blade “turbofan propellers”

have entered service this

month on a privately owned

Beechcraft King Air B200. The

project – completed by

Landmark Aviation in Norfolk,

Virginia – marks the first instal-

lation of the Epic Platinum

Performance Package, says

Raisbeck, and features dual

aft-body strakes, enhanced-per-

formance leading edges, wing

lockers, ram-air recovery sys-

tem, high-float gear doors and

the swept-blade propellers. The

upgrade boosts the twin-en-

gined turborop’s cruise speed

and take-off performance.

Similar applications for other

King Air models are now under

development, adds Raisbeck.

LEA LEGACY IN TALLINNUK charter and management

company London Executive

Aviation has taken delivery of

an Embraer Legacy 650 large-

cabin business jet, which will

be based in Tallinn, Estonia.

The aircraft – tail number

G-RBND – is the ninth Legacy

on LEA’s air operator’s certifi-

cate. LEA managing director

George Galanopoulos says:

“By basing the new Legacy

650 in Tallinn, it is well placed

to cater for the increasing de-

mand for private air travel in

the Baltic region and comple-

ments the operation of our oth-

er Legacys – including G-SYNA,

which has been based in

London since last year.”

IN BRIEF

Eclipse Aerospace has received an amended production cer-

tificate from the US Federal Avia-tion Administration, paving the way for the company to perform final assembly, testing and certifi-cation of the Eclipse 550 very light jet.

The original production certifi-cate granted to EAI last year al-lowed Eclipse to manufacture the EA550 and requisite parts in compliance with FAA-approved type design, but required direct FAA oversight of the flight-test and certification phases.

“The amended PC now allows EAI to not only manufacture the EA550, but also to flight-test and grant airworthiness certificates for the aircraft under EAI’s FAA-approved quality system,” says the company, based in Albu-querque, New Mexico.

“Manufacturers are typically required to build their first group of aircraft under the supervision of the FAA,” says Eclipse chief exec-utive Mason Holland. “We have 550s moving down the production line, and armed with our full green light from the FAA for final assem-bly and test, we are on our way to delivering jets this year.”

The first of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-powered twin-jets will be handed over in the third quarter.

The five-seat EA550 is a mod-ernised and upgraded version of the legacy Eclipse 500, complete with a dual Avio integrated flight management system, synthetic vision, enhanced vision, auto-throttles and anti-skid brakes.

The EA550 is pitched against the Embraer Phenom 100 and Cessna Citation Mustang.

Seven Bombardier CRJ700 NextGen regional jets sold as

VIP/special-mission aircraft to an undisclosed Chinese customer in December are to be outfitted by Canadian completions company Flying Colours.

They will the first CRJ700s to be completed by the Ontario-based refurbishment specialist, which has until now focused on the smaller CRJ200.

During 2013, Flying Colours will deliver five Challenger 850s – Bom-bardier’s name for corporate CRJ200s – and has converted 12 used CRJ200s into its own VIP con-figuration, which it markets as the Execliner. It is also carrying out its first completion on a CRJ900, for an undisclosed US customer, al-though China is its main market.

The CRJ700s will be completed over two years, with the first ar-

riving at Flying Colours’ Peterbor-ough site in the fourth quarter of this year, and the final aircraft due for delivery in the first quar-ter of 2015.

Flying Colours will source sup-

plemental type certificates for the conversion and final certification will be carried out by the Chinese civil aviation authority, with which Flying Colours has worked for a number of years.

RESULTS

Cessna award puts Avcorp well into the black

APPROVAL KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Eclipse 550 clear for assembly, testFAA grants amended production certificate, green-lighting development of very light jet, with deliveries set for this year

Components manufacturer Av-corp reported a net profit of

$20 million for the fiscal year, fol-lowing a $27 million award from Cessna to settle a dispute.

The dispute came about when Cessna charged that unsatisfac-tory parts had been received from Avcorp.

While Avcorp was signed to be the sole supplier of crucial parts for Cessna’s business jet lineup, Cessna set up its own manufacturing line for the same parts and purchased others from other suppliers, citing poor per-formance from Avcorp.

An arbitration panel found Cessna liable for $27.3 million of lost revenues for Avcorp.

The award was disputed by Cessna, but the airframer’s con-cerns were overruled.

Avcorp cited renewed deliver-ies to Boeing and BAE Systems as crucial to its profitability after Cessna’s abrupt termination of its business relationship.

CRJ700s next test for Flying ColoursCOMPLETIONS MURDO MORRISON LONDON

The seven regional jets are destined for a Chinese customer

Flyi

ng

Colo

urs

BUSINESS AVIATION


Keep up to date with all the latest business and general aviation news at flightglobal.com/bizav

INDONESIA S-76D SALESIndonesian operator Travira Air

has ordered two Sikorsky S-76D

helicopters for offshore trans-

portation. The sale marks the

launch of the medium twin-en-

gined type in Southeast Asia

and will bring Travira Air’s fleet

to 10 S-76s when the aircraft

are handed over in 2015.

EVERGREEN SELECTIONAfrican business aviation serv-

ices provider Evergreen Apple

Nigeria has been selected by

Avjet Routing, based in Sharjah,

United Arab Emirates, as its pre-

ferred ground handler in Nigeria.

EAN opened the first business jet

fixed base operation and mainte-

nance facility in Lagos in July

2011 and plans to have FBOs in

18 cities throughout Africa.

WARRANTY EXTENSIONAs of 1 April, Bombardier has

extended the basic warranty of

its newly delivered large-cabin

Challenger 605 business jets

from three years or 3,000h to

five years or 5,000h.

ETS SUPPORT SERVICESwitzerland-headquartered

business aviation services com-

pany Jet Aviation has expanded

its management support serv-

ice offerings to help aircraft

owners and operators comply

with the 30 April deadline for

emissions allowances under

the European Union’s

Emissions Trading System. All

operators that are required to

surrender emission allowances

must open a “union registry

account” in their appointed

member state and submit the

allowances by the deadline or

face penalties.

RIZON APPROVALSRizon Jet’s Doha facility has

received maintenance organisa-

tion approval from the Pakistan

Civil Aviation Authority, paving

the way for the facility to provide

maintenance, repairs and in-

spections on Bombardier and

Hawker business jets registered

in the country.

IN BRIEF

Eurocopter has pinpointed “corrosion, fatigue and

stress” as the causes behind the failure of a key gearbox compo-nent that has left the EC225 fleet grounded in large parts of the world since last October.

Two Super Pumas were forced to ditch in the North Sea last year after the bevel gear vertical shaft in each helicopter sheared in two, cutting off the lubrication to its main gearbox.

The airframer had recently con-ducted a third round of bench and flight tests on the component as it carried out an increasingly frantic search for the cause in the face of mounting operator frustration.

Eurocopter says it has “repli-cated the crack initiation under test in scenarios identical to those of the actual events”.

It is proposing a two-step solu-tion it hopes will lead to the lifting of the overwater flight restriction put in place by civil aviation regu-lators in the UK and Norway.

As a short-term measure it pro-

poses increasing the frequency of downloads from its HUMS vibra-tion monitoring system and other non-destructive testing of in-serv-ice shafts to allow early warning of the initiation of any cracks.

In the longer term it will rede-sign the component for retrofit on all affected models.

The results of its tests are being evaluated by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the Civil Aviation Authority, alongside Eu-ropean safety regulator EASA.

Although the effective grounding only applies to the UK and Norway, operators have taken a cautious ap-proach. Bristow Helicopters, for in-stance, has taken a total of 16 ro-torcraft out of service – 12 in the UK, one in Norway and a further three in Australia. Other operators have acted in a similar manner.

CHC Helicopter, whose EC225 was involved in the October ditch-ing, has taken around 30 aircraft out of service globally. Bristow es-timates that 80 helicopters have been affected in total, globally.

ROTORCRAFT DOMINIC PERRY LONDON

Worn-out gearbox grounded EC225sEurocopter proposes increased monitoring of vibrations as a stopgap measure, pending redesign of component for retrofit

Pilatus is planning to take the wraps off its PC-24 twin-en-

gined business jet on 21 May at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition. The announcement comes less than a year after the company’s board of directors gave the go-ahead to de-velop what it calls “the biggest, fastest and most complex aircraft that Pilatus has ever built”.

Although the Switzerland-based airframer has kept a tight lid on the programme, Flight International understands it will seat up to eight passengers, be powered by Williams FJ44 en-gines and feature a cargo door.

The PC-24 is Pilatus’s only jet aircraft offering and will join the PC-12NG in its business aircraft stable. The single-engined turbo-prop was introduced in 2008 as the latest incarnation of the 19-year-old PC-12 and features Honeywell’s Primus Apex avionics and the more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67P engine. Accord-ing to Flightglobal’s Ascend Online database, the global PC-12 fleet to-tals over 1,150 aircraft, more than 80% of which are used for business or owner-flyer operations.

DEVELOPMENT

EBACE visitors to get first look at Pilatus PC-24

Phenom 300 speeds to trio of recordsMILESTONES KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

An Embraer Phenom 300 set three speed records for its

business-jet class when it flew from the Brazilian airframer’s US manufacturing facility in Mel-bourne, Florida, to Daugherty Field in Long Beach, California on 28 March with only one fuel stop.

For the initial leg, the light jet – the first Phenom 300 to roll off the Melbourne assembly line – flew the 1,380nm (2,550km) route to El Paso, Texas in 4h 16min 33s. After a 27min fuel stop, the twinjet com-pleted its 607nm journey to Long Beach in 1h 55min 20s. It also se-

cured the Melbourne-El Paso-Long Beach record of 6h 11min 53s.

All three records are awaiting certification by the US National Aeronautic Association.

Access our Phenom 300 flight-test report and cutaway drawing at flightglobal.com/phenom300

Phenom 300s are built at Embraer’s Florida site, from which the flight to Long Beach originated

Em

bra

er

Engineeringthe future

The Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award recognizes the outstanding talent of tomorrow – both at graduate and undergraduate level. Presented at the Flightglobal Achievement Awards at the Paris Air Show in June and now in its eighth year, the Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award is the world’s leading competition to recognize students whose work shows the greatest

aeronautical or space technology. As well as the overall award, a special prize will be given to the best undergraduate submission, giving global recognition to those working on their The competition is open to any engineering student currently enrolled in a programme leading to a recognized academic degree.

The submission deadline is April 19 2013. Don’t miss your chance to engineer the future. For more information or to enter now go to:

ENGINEERING STUDENTS. YOU COULD BE THIS YEAR’S BOEING ENGINEERING STUDENT OF THE YEAR

GENERAL AVIATION


NASA tightens security after lapsesSPACEFLIGHT P31

FIREFIGHTING DAUPHINJapan’s Fire and Disaster

Management Agency has taken

delivery of a Eurocopter AS365

N3 Dauphin equipped with a

Helicopter Satellite

Communication System (HSA).

The medium twin-engined air-

craft is expected to enter serv-

ice in April, joining 55 AS365s

in service throughout Japan.

SOCCER SURVEILLANCECobham’s Brazilian subsidiary

has secured a contract to equip

state police helicopters with

high-definition video surveil-

lance downlinks, which will be

used on helicopters in 12 cities

during the 2013 Confederations

Cup and the 2014 World Cup

soccer tournaments. The sys-

tem transmits HD-quality video

that is sharper and clearer than

ordinary standard definition,

over long distances, ensuring

critical live operational informa-

tion is available to keep cities

safe, says Cobham.

RUSSIA APPROVES R66Robinson has received Russian

approval for its R66 turbine heli-

copter. The US airframer has

secured 47 orders for the five-

seat type from Russian custom-

ers, of which 22 are awaiting

export. Eighteen of the Rolls-

Royce RR300-powered aircraft

are in production and sched-

uled for delivery later this year.

SENECA IMPROVEMENTPiper has selected Aspen

Avionics’ Evolution back-up dis-

play system for its Seneca V

piston twin series. Evolution is

a fully digital, independent flight-

display system designed to re-

place mechanical back-up in-

struments used in FAA Part 23

glass panel installations.

MORE FLY OSHKOSHThe Experimental Aircraft

Association has added a sec-

ond twilight flying display to the

line-up at this year’s AirVenture

show in Oshkosh. The concept

“was introduced in 2010 and

was an instant hit”, it says.

IN BRIEF

Slovenian airframer Pipistrel rolled out the first prototype

Panthera light general aviation aircraft on 28 March at its factory in Ajdovscina.

The company says its engineers and technician started up the air-craft’s 210hp (157kW) Lycoming engine and conducted ground runs. Pipistrel will continue work on functional ground tests in prep-aration for first flight, it says.

“It is very exciting to witness the tests and see the aeroplane come to life for the very first time,” Ivo Boscarol, Pipistrel’s chief executive officer says. “This is definitely a very important milestone in the de-velopment of Panthera. We look forward to the continuation of tests

and the first flight soon.”Pipistrel says the Panthera is a

four-seat aircraft capable of flying 1,000nm (1,852km), cruising at 200kt (370km/h), while burning 10gal (37.9l) per hour. It can be

equipped with a conventional, hybrid, or an all-electric propul-sion system, Pipistrel says.

Pipistrel announced the Pan-thera last year. The aircraft is sched-uled for certification in 2015.

Italian light aircraft manufactur-er Tecnam is marking its 65th

anniversary with the unveiling later this month of the Astore light sport aircraft. The latest of-fering – named after Tecnam’s first production aircraft – will be unwrapped on 24 April at the Aero Friedrichshafen general aviation show in Germany.

Tecnam – already the largest manufacturer of LSAs globally – is keeping a tight lid on the design and performance specifications of the two-seat aircraft.

However, it has revealed that the Astore will feature a low wing and a new enhanced interior “with improved ergonomics and better visibility”.

Tecnam’s latest family member will be offered with a choice of three Rotax engines – the 100hp

912ULS, fuel-injected 912iS or 115hp turbocharged 914. The As-tore will also feature an Apple iPad mini pre-installed with weight and balance information, checklists and a full pilot’s oper-ating handbook, says Tecnam.

The 27-year-old Capua-head-quartered company produces air-craft models including the P92 LSA/ultralight family, the four-seat P Twenty-Ten, the twin- engined Multi Mission Aircraft series and the in-development P2012 Traveller.

Europe accounts for the largest concentration of the 3,500-plus Tecnam fleet with France, Spain, Germany and Italy home to the largest installed base.

Read about Tecnam’s product line and development strategy at flightglobal.com/tecnam

Czech general aviation aircraft manufacturer Evektor flew its

SportStar EPOS (Electric Pow-ered Small Aircraft) prototype for the first time on 28 March.

The two-seat aircraft took off at 08:25 local time from the airfram-er’s Kunovice base. The flight last-ed around 10min and was followed by a second, 20min sortie.

The flights were designed to test the SportStar EPOS’s 50kW Rotex Electric RE X90-7 electric motor, and its operational characteristics.

The SportStar EPOS is a deriva-tive of the certificated SportStar RTC piston single and has been de-veloped in collaboration with the Czech Light Aircraft Association.

“The objective is to develop an aircraft which can be used both by private customers and aviation schools as a suitable aircraft for initial pilot training,” says Evek-tor, which will not certificate the aircraft until it is “feasible”.

The SportStar EPOS will make its debut at the Aero Friedrich-shafen general aviation show in Germany from 24 to 27 April.

DEVELOPMENT KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Tecnam tags Aero Friedrichshafen for Astore revealLight sport aircraft takes name of first production aircraft as Italian company celebrates 65 years of manufacturing

TESTING

Evektor electric SportStar EPOS makes debut

MILESTONE DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

Panthera ‘comes to life’ as Pipistrel rolls out first prototype of four-seater

Certification of the aircraft is scheduled for 2015

Pip

istr

el

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Mil, Kamov look to AfricaBUSINESS P32

SPACEFLIGHT

NASA has taken down the NASA Technical Reports

Server (NTRS), a publicly availa-ble resource for technical data written by the space organisation, following the FBI’s arrest of a Chi-nese national accused of lying to investigators.

Representative Frank Wolf, the chairman of the House of Repre-sentatives subcommittee control-ling both NASA and the FBI’s budget, requested that NASA re-move technical information from public view pending a review for sensitive information.

In an 18 March press confer-ence, Representative Frank Wolf cited the 16 March arrest of Bo Jiang, a Chinese research scientist employed at NASA’s Langley re-search center, as reason enough for a broad review of public data. Bo was boarding a flight to China, and was arrested for lying to fed-eral agents about his possession of a laptop, external hard drive and memory stick.

Suspicion fell on Bo on 7 March, when Wolf announced that concerned NASA employees had informed him of lapses in se-curity regarding Bo, a scientist studying imagery enhancements for contractor the National Insti-tute of Aerospace.

At the press conference, Wolf called on NASA to take down technical information so it could be reviewed for potential viola-tions of export control laws, which tightly regulate spacecraft and sat-ellite components. Wolf also called for “an immediate review” of foreign nationals with NASA credentials, and an audit of NASA contractors that employ foreign nationals on NASA property.

SENSITIVE ISSUESThe occurrences have stirred up a hornet’s nest of sensitive issues within the space community: ex-port controls, intellectual proper-ty and the role of China.

In the 1990s, two American-built satellites flying atop Chinese rockets were destroyed during

launch. During the subsequent fault reviews it became evident that the Chinese government was using the investigation to gather information on US satellite tech-nology and manufacturing. Con-cerns arose that China, already in-famous for lax intellectual property enforcement in other realms, could seek to copy proprietary and even secret US technologies.

The result was a modification of the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR) law, placing satellites, spacecraft and related components solidly on the United States Munitions List (USML) and removing authority to reclassify from the president. Placement on the USML means long and arduous reviews by the government to even discuss rele-vant plans with foreign nationals.

The change was a disaster for the US space manufacturing in-dustry. The space industry is both highly competitive and highly in-ternational, and the new demands added costs and complications that many foreign companies sim-ply declined to bear. The US share of satellite manufacturing plunged from 100% of world-wide market share in the 1970s to around 16% today. Export con-trols do not explain all of that de-

cline, but they have certainly been a major factor. Foreign man-ufacturers began to advertise sat-ellites as “ITAR-free” – that is, free of US-built components.

US businessmen returned from abroad with horror stories about requiring armed guards for sim-ple structural components and restrictions on discussing certain kinds of tape. To cite one of the more outrageous examples: “We had what was called the Genesis stand, and the purpose of this hunk of metal was to keep Genesis [a Bigelow spacecraft] from being on the ground. It was round, it had four legs, if you flipped it upside down it was indistinguishable from a coffee table,” says Mike Gold, a lawyer for Bigelow Aero-space. “As a legal requirement we had two guards to watch the coffee table at all times, and monitors to watch the guards.

“I can only imagine the conse-quences if this technology were to leak to the Chinese or Iranians. They could gain technology to serve coffee,” he adds. Gold eventually obtained a waiver for that particular structure on his second attempt.

Finally, language in the 2013 Department of Defense funding reauthorisation gave authority to

remove satellites back to the pres-ident, who has ordered a system-atic review of export policies with an eye to removing burden-some restrictions. There is one clearly-stated exception in the language: China.

China maintains a very active and ambitious spaceflight pro-gramme, and there is no doubt the government would love to get its hands on more advanced US tech-nology. The nation is charged with state-sponsored computer hacking on a massive scale against targets that include NASA facilities. SpaceX, citing competition from national governments, does not file patents for its impressive col-lection of intellectual property; al-though the governments are un-named, it seems clear from the context that China leads the pack. Regardless, the Chinese govern-ment is surely able both to launch rockets and to serve coffee.

OPEN QUESTIONSAlthough Wolf and others are surely right to fear Chinese intel-lectual property theft, there are open questions to be answered regarding the level of information disclosure that should be accept-able. Vetting NTRS-accessible documents carefully under the still-in-place coffee table-restrict-ing rules will undoubtedly find some export control violations – NASA is not known for its fanati-cal secrecy – but how useful the information may be to China and others in copying US designs re-mains to be seen.

Raising the issue of China’s growing power causes some dis-comfort in Washington, and while some may condemn it, few deny the need to co-operate and co-or-dinate in some respects. If the USA and China cannot sit down for coffee together, space policies of the two nations will increasing-ly diverge, potentially leading to larger problems down the road.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

NASA tightens security after lapsesArrest of Chinese research scientist prompts agency to reconsider its policies on sharing of technical information

Any foreign objects in there?

Cut through the orbital debris with Flightglobal’s space team: flightglobal.com/hyperbola

Rex

Featu

res

BUSINESS


Good week

Bad week

Aircraft finance is among the sectors covered by our premium news and data service Flightglobal Pro: flightglobal.com/pro

Good week

Bad week

LABOUR RELATIONS

The rather spiky relation-

ship between Boeing

and the Society of

Professional Engineering

Employees in Aerospace

(SPEEA) union took a

turn for the worse when

the US National Labor

Relations Board decided

the airframer has to an-

swer SPEEA complaints

of threats to members

and of withholding of

information relevant to

contract negotiations.

Boeing has until 12 April

to respond, and a hear-

ing has been scheduled

for 6 August.

PILATUS After a record

2011, the Swiss turbo-

prop maker was not sur-

prised to see sales dip

by a quarter to Swfr 593

million ($626 million)

and EBIT lose nearly two-

thirds to total Swfr 38

million, but order intake

soared as Saudi and

Omani trainer demand

helped add almost Swfr

2.7 billion – more than

the total of the previous

four years. Chairman

Oscar Schwenk said con-

tracts won last year will

see Pilatus and its Swiss

jobs through “the next

few years”.

ROTORCRAFT DAN THISDELL LONDON

Mil, Kamov look to AfricaRussian Helicopters is seeking to leverage its traditional sub-Saharan strength

For Russian Helicopters, the Moscow-headquartered hold-

ing company behind the Mil and Kamov brands, 2012 was a year of steady progress, both financial-ly and in its ongoing drive to transform its part of a Russian aerospace industry that suffered greatly in the chaotic years fol-lowing the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The raw numbers tell much of the story. Revenue rose by 21% to Rb125.7 billion ($4.04 billion), EBITDA was up 16% at Rb20.8 billion and net profit jumped more than 35%, to Rb9.44 billion. Deliveries were up by nearly 11%, to 290 helicopters – of nine types, to clients in 19 countries, and second only to Eurocopter. The backlog, although down 5% by volume at 817 aircraft, stood at Rb350 billion, up from Rb330 bil-lion at the end of 2011.

Orders in 2011 included more than 600 helicopters for delivery to the Russian defence ministry by 2020, a deal that arguably put firm ground under the company created to consolidate the nation’s rotorcraft industry between 2007 and 2010. But further substantial growth last year suggests that Russian Helicopters is on track to show steady progress.

As chief executive Dmitry Petrov puts it: “We continued to increase deliveries to our custom-ers, which demonstrates the growing global demand for our helicopters.”

Indeed, in 2012, some 78% of revenue came from helicopter sales, and sales accounted for 74% of EBITDA. Services and support accounted for less than 15% of revenue and less than 5% of EBITDA, suggesting a great deal of headroom for growth. The company has readily admitted that its service offering has been weak – a legacy of both Soviet practice and the chaotic 1990s.

The Soviet practice of separat-ing design bureaux – Mil and Kamov in the case of helicopters – from manufacturing plants may

Plenty more where that came from

Russia

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have been satisfactory when cen-tral control of the economy held, but following the USSR’s demise left the rotorcraft industry in dis-array; for example, the design bu-reaux were not responsible for warranties, and the popular Mi-8/17 range continued in man-ufacture by two plants operating as, effectively, rival businesses.

In addition, the Soviet belief in producing and distributing vast quantities of spare parts left an atomised scatter of workshops trading in unverifiable spares, particularly in what became the Confederation of Independent States and in Africa.

To Russian Helicopters it is clear that it is almost unique among ex-Soviet companies in

having to offer global service. Thus a great deal of its attention has gone to creating an official, verified maintenance and repair network offering a proper war-ranty, and independent shops have been encouraged to join.

AFRICA CALLSEmphasising that point, Petrov says: “During 2013 we will con-tinue to focus on key strategic areas: we will continue to mod-ernise and diversify our model range, to develop our aftermarket service network and to increase operational efficiency.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, this af-termarket effort is becoming high-ly visible. At a March BRICS countries summit in Johannes-burg, Russian Helicopters and South Africa’s Denel Aviation for-mally opened a maintenance, repair and overhaul centre for Russian-built machines. Noting that there are some 600 such helicopters in Africa, mainly from the Mi-8/17 series and Kamov Ka-32s, Petrov stressed the need for “advanced support” to maintain such a fleet, and de-scribed the advent of the Denel operation as “a serious step in this process”.

The timing may be ideal. Econ-omists are widely forecasting a period of dramatic African eco-nomic growth, but, as our table (left) suggests, the civil rotorcraft market is an almost blank order-book waiting to be filled.

SUB-SAHARAN CIVIL FLEET*

Manufacturer In service (on order)

Eurocopter 405 (6)

Robinson 346 (2)

Bell 301 (7)

AgustaWestland 67 (15)

Mil 59

Schweizer 52

Sikorsky 43

MD Helicopters 33

Enstrom 32

Agusta-Bell 15

Hindustan Aeronautics 5Kamov 3

Others 8

Total 1,399NOTE: *Africa excluding Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia. SOURCE: Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets

BUSINESS


Fuel changeFEATURE P34

HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS POSTS RECORD YEARMANUFACTURING India’s state-owned prime contractor Hindustan

Aeronautics posted a record turnover of Indian Rupee (Rs) 143.2

billion ($2.63 billion) in its financial year to end-March, up by 1% on

2011-2012. Pre-tax profit was up by 4% at Rs34.7 billion. The com-

pany has a focus on military aviation, but plans to find foreign and

domestic partners for a “foray into [the] civil segment, which is fore-

cast to have promising growth”.

RIVALS PURSUE JET ENGINE PARTS PRODUCERTAKEOVER Jet engine components maker EDAC Technologies is

considering a pair of takeover proposals valuing the Connecticut-

headquartered company at up to $97 million. The EDAC board had

recommended a $17.75 per share ($94 million) offer from transpor-

tation industry-focused private equity investor Greenbriar, only to re-

ceive what it deemed a potentially “superior” $18.25 per share offer

from MidOcean Associates and a large North American pensions

investment manager. Greenbriar’s offer expires on 23 April.

EADS FREEDOM BOOSTS DAIMLER BOTTOM LINEFINANCE Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and longtime

proxy holder of the German government’s stake in EADS, will see a

second quarter earnings before interest and taxes boost of some

€2.7 billion ($3.5 billion) from the revaluation to current market val-

ue of €38 per share of its remaining stake in the Airbus parent,

which it intends to sell. The formal adoption of a new governance

pact for EADS – which reduces the combined French, German and

Spanish government stakes to below 30%, and removes their veto

power over management – has freed Daimler and its French counter-

part Lagardere to sell out and focus on their core businesses.

WORLD SPACE ECONOMY GREW LAST YEARSPACEFLIGHT The worldwide space economy grew by 6.7% in 2012

to $304 billion, according to industry consultancy The Space

Foundation. The the largest percentage increase – 11% – came in

commercial space infrastructure and support. Government funding

increased only 1.3%. Worldwide launch attempts fell to 78 in 2012

from 84 the year before, led by Russia with 24. Personnel numbers

at NASA and in the US space industry as a whole declined slightly,

although headcounts increased in Japan and Europe.

ELBIT SYSTEMS JOINS GOOD CONDUCT CLUBETHICS Israeli defence electronics maker Elbit Systems has been

selected as the 24th member of the International Forum on

Business Ethical Conduct. The Forum’s principles have been en-

dorsed by the main US and European aerospace industry bodies.

AMERICAN CHAPTER 11 EXIT PLAN DUE THIS MONTHBANKRUPTCY American Airlines will file its reorganisation plan for

emerging from bankruptcy protection in April, says chief executive

Tom Horton. Under US law, parent AMR should have issued a plan

within 120 days of its November 2011 Chapter 11 filing but has

been granted several extensions. Horton added that AA’s proposed

merger with US Airways should close at the end of the third quarter.

ARMENIAN FLAG CARRIER SLIPS TO HALF MASTAIRLINES Debt repayment trouble has forced Armenian flag carrier

Armavia to declare bankruptcy. The privately owned carrier based in

Yerevan, the country’s capital, was reportedly unable to pay debt it

owed to Yerevan International airport.

BUSINESS BRIEFSPEOPLE MOVESA4A, Grob Aircraft, NATS, Safran, StandardAero, QuEST

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We need more engineers, not more lawyers”

Hiebeler: Grob chief executive

Williams: A4A local

commander, will succeed him. The two other deputy chiefs, Ross McInnes – in charge of Finance – and Marc Ventre, in charge of Operations, remain in place. Ian Stone is now head of QuEST Global Engineering’s UK operations; he has led the build-up of the company’s support relationship with Rolls-Royce. StandardAero has appointed director Firoz Tarapore as interim chief executive to replace Rob Mionis, who left to pursue other opportunities. Connecticut state representative Sean Williams has joined Airlines for America (A4A) as VP, state and local government affairs.

Andre Hiebeler is now chief executive of Grob Aircraft; as chief sales officer, he had shared the top job with Johann Heitzmann, who has left the company. Simon Daykin will join NATS at the end of April as chief architect; he is currently chief technology officer for IT company Logicalis. Deputy chief executive Dominique-Jean Chertier will leave Safran on 30 June to start his own consulting company. Former French air force chief of staff Gen (retd) Stéphane Abrial, who joined Safran in January following a military career that saw him serve as a NATO strategic

Gro

b A

ircr

aft

Airlin

es for Am

erica

Honeyw

ell

Honeywell chief DAVE COTE told the

Executives Club of Chicago that better

maths and science education must

feature as prominently as debt

reduction and tax reform

in any new American

competitiveness agenda

flightglobal.com

COVER STORY


CRAIG HOYLE RAF BRIZE NORTON

The UK Royal Air Force’s ability to de-liver air transport and in-flight refuel-ling services ventured into a new era on 10 April 2012, when a military-

adapted version of the Airbus A330 took off from Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire to perform its first operational flight.

Twelve months on, and a three-strong fleet of renamed Voyagers have transported more than 30,000 passengers and around 2,300t of freight, as the RAF’s 10 Sqn and the AirTanker Services company responsible for introducing an eventual 14 of the type continue to expand their capabilities.

Comprising two aircraft placed on the UK military register as ZZ330 and ZZ331, and commercially registered G-VYGG, the trio had flown almost a combined 1,900h and 543 sec-tors by late March, AirTanker says. Typical duties have included flying military person-nel to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and Al Minhad air base in the United Arab Emirates in sup-port of the UK’s involvement in Afghanistan, as well as deployments linked to British exer-cises conducted in Canada and Kenya.

“Now the aircraft are here we are into the usual drumbeat of tasking, and the level of tasking is increasing all the time,” says James Scott, AirTanker’s director of flight operations. With the Voyagers expected to log around 520 flight hours during April, he adds: “We are starting to take our rightful place in the deliv-ery of air transport capability for the air force.”

NEW ROLEThe active fleet is due to double in size soon, with three more aircraft scheduled to arrive at Brize Norton by the middle of 2013. This number will increase to total seven or eight by the end of the year, while the programme’s ninth A330 is already on Airbus’s final assem-bly line in Toulouse, France.

All flights to date have been made in the pas-senger transport role, either under AirTanker’s air operating certificate with civilian pilots, or flown by the air force’s 10 Sqn under military regulations. But in what will be a major mile-stone, the Ministry of Defence is expected soon to also give release to service approval for the type to begin supporting air-to-air refuelling (AAR) training tasks, leading to its delivery of a critical operational service.

Being introduced via the UK’s Future Stra-tegic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme using a private finance initiative funding model, the Voyagers are to replace the Vickers VC10 and Lockheed TriStar in RAF service.

Now used in a tanker-only role by 101 Sqn, the UK’s VC10 force is less than five months away from its final retirement in late September. The 1960s-era fleet was in mid-March reduced to four aircraft, with the withdrawal of two air-

FUEL CHANGEWith the RAF’s aged fleets of VC10 and TriStar tanker/transports to be retired within months, 2013 marks a crucial period for the AirTanker-delivered Voyagers which are assuming their duties

frames. A mixed fleet of TriStar transports and tankers flown by 216 Sqn are due to follow the VC10s into retirement by March 2014.

At full strength, the Voyager fleet will in-clude a core inventory of nine tanker/trans-ports, with these to be declared fully in-serv-ice with the operational provision of air-to-air

refuelling services by May 2014. A second op-erational unit will follow 10 Sqn in flying the type, with a decision yet to be announced on whether it will take its number from either the current VC10 or TriStar-equipped squadrons.

Also to be supplied by AirTanker is a so-called “surge fleet” to comprise five addi-


The modified A330s will represent the RAF’s only tanker capability from early next year, after a recent MoD study concluded that “Voyager will meet all requirements”. This re-moved any consideration of a secondary role for the service’s 22 Airbus Military A400M tac-tical transports, the first of which will be deliv-ered in September 2014.

Three RAF crews have already passed through instruction in tanker operations for the Voyager at a dedicated training school at Brize Norton, with their ground-based train-ing having culminated with the use of a Thales RealitySeven full-flight simulator. These first crews will begin supporting RAF fast jets – initially Panavia Tornado GR4s, but later Eurofighter Typhoons and also from late this decade Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighters – soon after the expected re-ceipt of a remaining clearance for the Voyager to transfer fuel in flight. “We are hungry to get on with delivering AAR,” Scott says.

As air-to-air training tasks commence, a modification programme will also be launched during May to enable Voyagers to play an im-portant part in assisting with the UK’s troop drawdown process in Afghanistan ahead of it ending its combat involvement by late 2014. AirTanker’s engineering team at Brize Norton will make the required defensive aid system enhancements to enable the transport to be flown into the country, with the MoD’s theatre entry standard having grown beyond the equipment fit included in the FSTA contract.

“Who else gets to start an airline that’s prop-erly funded, and with widebody aircraft?” Scott asks. “But the other piece is our ability to facili-tate the RAF’s delivery of military effect.”

“We are starting to take our rightful place in the delivery of air transport capability for the Royal Air Force”JAMES SCOTT Director of flight operations, AirTanker

Keep up to speed on the Voyager’s service introduction by visiting our dedicated defence news channel at flightglobal.com/defence

several business scenarios on how we can use that capability.”

The tanker/transports will be operated by 30 RAF and seven sponsored reservist crews of two pilots each, plus 37 mission system op-erators, who will specialise in tasks including air-to-air refuelling provision.

Scott says AirTanker has been “hugely im-pressed” by the standard of the candidates who have applied to become sponsored reservist pi-lots. Around 10 have been recruited so far, in-cluding five as instructors, and the first two graduated from officer training at RAF Cranwell in December 2012 as Flight Lieutenants.

“We have been able to pick people who fit in with our values, and with those of the RAF,” he says. “If I’m going to move crews between op-erations then it’s imperative they are as close together as possible. I’ve not seen any challeng-es with the people I’ve got with moving into each environment,” he adds, referring to a structure where AirTanker pilots could fly a commercial Voyager one week, and then report in RAF uniform as sponsored reservists for an-other task.

POSITIONS SOUGHTAnother successful aspect of AirTanker’s air-line operation, meanwhile, has been the level of interest received to work as cabin crew. Some 800 applications were received for the first 30 available positions, which increased to 1,400 for the total 48 jobs available.

“We are getting great feedback from pas-sengers on the quality of our service. Part of our strategy is to make ourselves so attractive that the customer wants to fly the aircraft.”

While noting that a joint military and civil-ian operations team is demonstrating “a slick dispatch service”, Scott says AirTanker is using all the information at its disposal to analyse the cause of any delays during its operations. “If an aircraft is 1min late I want to know why,” he says. Similar attention is being paid to the Voy-ager’s fuel consumption statistics in the air transport role, in which its under-wing hose-and-drogue refuelling pods are removed, to re-duce drag. “We are learning to fly as efficiently as possible. As a tanker, all the fuel we save can be given to receiver aircraft,” he notes.

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tional aircraft, including the current G-VYGG. These will be kept at short-notice readiness to support UK military operations if required, but ordinarily made available for third-party use.

“Those aircraft are going to be there for us to use,” says Scott. “We are exploring actively

Tanker training with the Tornado GR4 will build on the Voyager’s airline-style operations

flightglobal.com

Business aviation


siva govindasamy singApore

The popularity of the Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition highlights a sharpening appetite for business jets among the nation’s rising high-net-worth individuals

Buoyant demand for business jets, coupled with growth potential in the lucrative large-cabin, long-range market, ensures China remains one

of the most important markets in the world.This is reflected in the growing popularity

of the Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE), which takes place this year from 16-18 April at the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Centre. About 150 exhibitors, including the major western manufacturers and a growing number of Asian suppliers, will be present.

Honeywell says about 34% of the Asian air-craft operators are interested in new purchases. Fleets have been growing at double-digit rates throughout the past five years, adds the com-pany in its latest annual report and forecast.

Southeast Asia, Australia and Hong Kong are traditionally strong business aviation mar-kets in the region, and while India continues to lag behind because of regulatory restric-tions and ongoing infrastructure woes, corpo-rate aircraft have caught on far more quickly in China.

This is driven by corporations and the fast-growing number of high-net-worth individu-als, with both groups wanting the conven-ience provided by business jets. Tracking the number of aircraft in China has not been easy but Asian Sky Group, a Hong Kong-based con-sultancy which provides a range of business aviation services to clients in Asia, has pro-duced a survey it will publish at ABACE.

It estimates 336 business jets were based in Greater China at the end of 2012, with 57% in China and 33% in Hong Kong. This was an in-crease of 40%, or 96 aircraft, from 2011, with 91% of that in the large, super-large, ultra-long-range and corporate airliner categories.

Mainland China itself added 60 aircraft in 2012, up 40%, although the growth rate is lower than the 45% in 2011. While growth rate has been slowly declining, this is only be-cause the market is maturing.

“There is still great potential in China – ab-solutely – and the growth rate is the highest for Asia,” says Jeff Lowe, general manager of Asian Sky Group.

“China is a large-cabin-and-up market, where Gulfstream and Bombardier are the dominant players. Falcon and Embraer’s mar-

WEaLTH oF oPPoRTUniTiEs

ket share is growing faster at the expense of Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft.”

Chris Buchholz, chief executive of Hong-kong Jet, points out the impressive growth comes from a low base. And while “several hundred more aircraft” will be added to the region by the end of the decade, the size of the market will still be “significantly smaller” than that in the USA.

Buchholz, whose company provides air-craft management, maintenance and charter services, says there are several reasons be-hind the demand for larger aircraft: “Firstly, the handling costs are high compared with other parts of the world. Therefore, using a small jet will not give the customers the full benefit of lower cost since landing fees, han-dling fees and other user fees are very high in the region.

gREaT EXPECTaTions“Secondly, the expectation of cabin comfort is very different in China. The new customers expect a stand-up cabin with five-star service as they are new to business aviation. A full white-linen, silverware, three-course dining experience is expected. To accommodate the

FIN_090413_036-038 36 5/4/13 10:56:20


Abace

catering choices, it can only be done with a sufficiently large galley, which is in a super-midsize or ultra-long-haul aircraft.”

Aircraft sales, while buoyant, could be hit by the Chinese political leadership’s attempt to introduce a measure of austerity among high-profile individuals amid a growing in-

come gap in the country. There is also uncer-tainty about import taxes and value added taxes on business jets, with some speculating they could be doubled. Restrictions on Chi-na’s airspace leads to delays at all airports and more secondary airports capable of handling business jets are needed.

A relaxation of access to low-altitude air-space would also enable flight schools to ad-dress a pilot shortage. Various regulatory is-

sues also hinder operations. “If China were to reduce time for permit applications and re-duce some of the handling costs, such as gov-ernment fees, it would result in a lot more ac-tivity in China,” says Buchholz.

“If a level playing field can be applied to foreign-registered aircraft in terms of lower handling cost and better access to remote air-ports, more investment and trade will be seen, since business-jet users exert very sig-nificant investment and trade influence,” he adds. “Regarding mainland-registered air-craft, speeding up the time taken for main-land registration will greatly help address the ongoing growth.”

Some airframers are setting up assembly plants in China to overcome high import costs. Embraer is converting its ERJ-145 man-ufacturing facility at Harbin in the northeast-ern Heilongjiang province into a Legacy 650 plant that will initially produce six aircraft – eventually 20 – per year.

Just before ABACE 2012, Cessna signed a joint-venture agreement with China’s state-owned airframer AVIC to manufacture and certificate a range of business jets, utility sin-gle-engined turboprops and single-engined

piston aircraft in the country. They will also jointly develop new models for the market. Other companies, however, do not believe it is necessary to go down that road.

Market leader Gulfstream, which says its customers operate 106 aircraft in China and Hong Kong, believes in its focus on “having the right people, parts and service facilities in place”.

OPERATOR SUPPORT“Where the aircraft is manufactured isn’t near-ly as important as where the aircraft goes after it’s manufactured. Our primary focus contin-ues to be ensuring we have the best support available to our operators,” says the company.

Bombardier, which has more than 92 aircraft registered in Greater China, says its “alliances on the commercial aircraft side of the business” help. “Traditionally we’ve been selling larger aircraft in China, such as our Global aircraft. However, in the past few years there has been increasing demand for small and medium jets as well, such as our Challenger and Learjet air-craft,” says the company. “Our edge in China stems from our strong sales team and our large product portfolio of aircraft.”

“The new customers expect a stand-up cabin with five-star service as they are new to business aviation”CHRIS BUCHHOLZ Chief executive, Hongkong Jet

About 150 exhibitors will be at ABACE

this year

ABACE PREVIEW

flightglobal.com

BUSINESS AVIATION


For more analysis of China’s burgeoning business aviation market, go to flightglobal.com/bizavchina

China wants to get in on the act itself. AVIC wants to produce a range of aircraft, ini-tially in partnership with the likes of Cessna and Embraer and eventually on its own. This will initially go to domestic demand and, gradually, international markets – just like its military and commercial aircraft.

“We can’t only allow Western companies to sell aircraft in China. We want this business too,” Wang Yawei, president of AVIC’s busi-ness aviation division, AVIC Aviation Tech-niques, told Flight International in November 2012. He added that “AVIC has the mandate to manufacture several types of business jets” and “establish its presence” as China has in the automobile business. “The rapid develop-ment of China’s economy has resulted in a boom in business aviation here, and we want to be competitive in the global market too.”

The greater availability of business aircraft maintenance and repair shops has boosted this demand, with more facilities opening in bigger cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. More spare parts are being placed in Asia, with Gulfstream saying it has parts worth more than $56 million in distribution hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. With more field service representatives in the region, operators get help much faster. Costs, however, remain an issue.

“Considering a heavy check can take sever-al weeks, the client may not be able to get a spot that long because of the limited space in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Even if space is available, the daily rate will be very high, so the maintenance costs for a heavy check will be prohibitive. Therefore, the mar-ket needs more maintenance MROs at low-cost airports with maintenance-dedicated hangars,” says Buchholz.

Operating fees remain high and approval processes still take a long time, which is un-likely to change in the near term, says Lowe: “For China, the compensation fees for foreign operators and the flight permit application

Dassault and Embraer are eating into the market share of Cessna and its Citation series

process is certainly curtailing business. Like-wise, the importation and AOC approval processes are curtailing business.”

GROWTH LEVERSHe adds that none of this will change in the immediate future as these items “remain le-vers” with which the Civil Aviation Adminis-tration of China “can control the growth of business aviation” in the country.

Despite the challenges and restrictions, the growing demand for aircraft means there is greater demand for better management and charter services.

“One interesting trend in China is that high-net-worth individuals are rapidly be-coming more sophisticated. It is very impor-tant for aircraft operators in China to be aware of this and make sure their operational excellence and service excellence can keep up with the VIP clienteles’ discerning needs,” says Buchholz.

Lowe believes the market is opening up to established western firms such as VistaJet in the charter segment and Comlux for manage-ment. More will come, given the buoyant de-mand. “There is such a rich vein of emerging wealth in China that if one buyer pauses, a new one pops up someplace else,” he says.

“We can’t only allow Western companies to sell aircraft in China. We want this business too”WANG YAWEI President, AVIC Aviation Techniques

Gulfstream is targeting spare parts shops in Asian cities for aircraft such as the G650 (top); Embraer is converting its ERJ145 facility at Harbin, China into a Legacy 650 plant

AirTe

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Cessna

flightglobal.com

MRO


KRISTIN MAJCHER WASHINGTON DC

Having embarked on a merger due to complete in the third quarter, American Airlines and US Airways must tackle the thorny issue of how to join up maintenance operations

SEEKING SYNERGIES

With approval from a bankruptcy court to proceed with a merger, American Airlines and US Air-ways have taken the first steps

towards becoming the world’s largest airline. The carriers received the go-ahead on 27

March, allowing American to incorporate the transaction into its reorganisation plan. The deal still awaits regulatory approval, but with court approval in place, the carriers will work towards eventually receiving a single operat-ing certificate for a combined fleet of more than 900 aircraft. Many details of how mainte-nance operations will be brought together are still to be confirmed, but the complementary capabilities of the carriers’ maintenance shops suggest that the merged carrier will have a comprehensive MRO offering.

The two carriers intend to seek a single oper-ating certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This could take up to two years to implement after the transaction is completed. During that process, the carriers’ un-ions will work out which group will represent the new carrier, and the airline will eventually adopt a single maintenance programme. The

merger is expected to complete in the third quar-ter this year, two years after AMR filed for bank-ruptcy in November 2011. The carrier has until 29 May to submit its reorganisation plan.

American has traditionally been more of a heavy maintenance shop, but last year negoti-ated a contract with its Transport Workers Union (TWU)-represented mechanics that al-lowed it to outsource some maintenance of its own fleet, on specific aircraft types. US Air-ways, on the other hand, keeps two primarily heavy-maintenance facilities full and then outsources maintenance to cover its peaks.

COMPLEMENTARY CHOICESAmerican Airlines has generally chosen Boe-ing models in the past, while US Airways has opted for Airbus models. American flies 608 aircraft, while US Airways has about 346.

Data from Flightglobal’s ACAS database shows that American’s checks usually stay close to 500 per year, while US Airways’ C-checks are expected to peak at 263 in 2018 after a low point just shy of 200 in 2013.

As for the heaviest checks, data shows that American should expect a 2014 peak that will taper off by 2017. US Airways’ heavy checks will start diminishing in 2015 and 2016.

The ACAS data is compiled from fleet growth, orders and retirements, accounting for the maintenance intervals of each aircraft.

The carriers operate vastly different fleets, with several engine types. “It’s going to be a long, huge difficult job to put these fleets and maintenance programmes together,” acknowl-edges Subodh Karnik, vice-president at consul-tancy ICF SH&E and former chief executive of Global Aero Logistics, parent of World Air-ways, North American Airlines and ATA. However, he says that as most of the fleets within the merged carrier will be isolated with-in either American or US Airways and all of the subtypes are relatively large, the transition overall will be “absolutely manageable”.

There will be costs associated with convert-ing the fleets to a common interior scheme, re-ceiving a single certificate and merging the maintenance planning and operations, notes Karnik. Those can be offset by pooling invento-ry, managing irregular operations, optimising the supply chain and availing of spare capacity at American’s maintenance facility at Tulsa.

“As long as they don’t take unnecessary eco-nomic risks, chase the revenue-generating pri-orities quickly – such as configuration commo-nality – and keep a look out for low-hanging fruit opportunities, such as maximising utilisa-tion and Tulsa and the rest of their facilities... they will be in good shape,” says Karnik.

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At least 500 employees represented by the TWU still work at Texas Aero Engine Services (TAESL), a joint venture with Rolls-Royce. There, work is performed on the Rolls-Royce RB211s, which power the Boeing 757 fleet, and Trent 800s powering American’s Boeing 777s. That facility will continue to operate de-spite the shutdown of the heavy-maintenance facility at Alliance. American also has 77 line maintenance stations throughout the world.

The carrier has said its decision to pursue contract maintenance agreements for its 757, 777, and 767 fleets allows it to be competitive in the future. A majority of its contract main-tenance work is performed within the USA.

US Airways, on the other hand, has two heavy-maintenance facilities in Pittsburgh and Charlotte that can provide six to eight heavy maintenance lines, depending on needs. It fills those facilities with work for its own aircraft, and outsources to fill peaks in heavy maintenance. The carrier performs all of its scheduled line maintenance in house.

Under agreements ratified with its TWU-represented mechanics and related employees that came into effect in September 2012, American must perform at least 65% of its own maintenance work in-house.

Therefore, a majority of maintenance work on the Fort Worth-based carrier’s fleet will continue to be performed at its 3.3 million ft2 (310,000m2) flagship maintenance base at Tulsa International. The facility specialises in heavy maintenance for American’s Boeing MD-80, 757, 777 and 737 aircraft, as well as the Pratt & Whitney JT8 and General Electric CF6-80 and CFMI CFM56 engines. It also has several specialised capabilities, such as interi-or modifications, composites and engineering. American has also performed heavy mainte-nance work for third parties at the facility.

AMERICAN OUTSOURCINGAs part of its business plan to emerge from bank-ruptcy, American chose to outsource some of its heavy maintenance work and close its mainte-nance base at Fort Worth Alliance airport. That facility specialised in Boeing 737 maintenance and had room for six widebody aircraft. In De-cember, the last aircraft left the 781,000ft2 facility after a maintenance check. Maintenance crews are still performing minimal work at the facility, but that work is on track to be moved complete-ly within the next few months.

“As long as they don’t take unnecessary economic risks… they will be in good shape”SUBODH KARNIK Vice-president, ICF SH&E consultancy

US Airways performs most of its engine maintenance under contracts with OEM part-ners, including General Electric, Rolls-Royce, International Aero Engines and Pratt & Whit-ney, vice-president David Seymour told Flightglobal in September 2012. These con-tracts include classic power-by-the-hour (PBH) contracts and hybrid PBH contracts, which involves paying the engine overhauler on an accumulated hours basis.

Seymour said last year that US Airways’ Airbus A330-300 fleet of nine aircraft had just finished a major maintenance cycle, and that its older Boeing 737s will be phased out of the fleet by 2014, reducing the need for contract maintenance in the coming months and years. The carrier was at a peak in its maintenance cycle during the third quarter of last year, but Seymour expects that towards the end of 2013 requirements will die down and that there will be significantly less outsourcing needed for the US Airways fleet.

US Airways has been focused on improving its efficiency. In the past four years, the carrier has reduced its maintenance cancellations by half, and deferred maintenance items are down by more than 50% on average, says Seymour.

Illinois-based MRO AAR says it expects the merger to create some opportunities for the North American MRO market, especially in the area of cabin reconfiguration work.

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American Airlines has generally chosen Boeing models in the past, while US Airways has opted for Airbus models

flightglobal.com

US-AMERICAN MERGER


For commentary on breaking news from the airline sector, visit our sister magazine’s blog at flightglobal.com/abblog

“There’s going to be more work on the supply side of the industry post American merger and integration than there is right now,” says Jack Arehart, co-chief commercial officer at AAR. US Airways is one of the MRO’s existing maintenance customers.

Labour issues must also be addressed, in the wake of the court approval.

In February, Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey sent a letter to US Airways and Ameri-can requesting that the airlines maintain 1,900 jobs in Pennsylvania, many of them at US Air-ways’ aircraft maintenance facility in Pitts-burgh. The senator requested that the two car-riers extend the current lease on the building beyond its current term, which ends in 2015.

CUTTING REDUNDANCIESWhen American first announced its bankrupt-cy reorganisation plan in February 2012, the outlook was not bright for maintenance person-nel. At the time, the carrier was projecting ini-tial cuts of around 8,800 TWU positions. About 4,850 were in the mechanics (and related) and material logistics specialist groups.

However, negotiations with the TWU re-duced that number by nearly 90%, cutting forced redundancies to just 300 mechanics. More than 1,600 mechanics and related work-ers took an early-retirement option, and more than 1,000 remained in other positions.

The TWU represents about 11,000 mechan-ics and related workers at American, includ-ing 1,700 workers at the soon-to-be-closed Al-liance overhaul shop, some 5,400 in Tulsa and another 4,600 stationed at other facilities.

In January, the union said it had worked out a memorandum of understanding to pro-vide a wage increase of 4.3% above TWU’s previous contract for its members, which would come into effect when American final-ises its reorganisation plan. This has already been approved by the bankruptcy court.

US Airways’ maintenance employees are represented by the International Association of Machinists (IAM), which says it is focusing on completing current labour negotiations be-fore supporting the merger of the two main-line carriers.

On 20 March, the carrier’s mechanic-and-re-lated group requested that the National Media-tion Board release the carrier from arbitration. IAM’s mechanic-and-related members have been in contract negotiations with US Airways for more than two years, and began mediation in July 2011. US Airways employed 3,200 me-chanics, stock clerks and related employees at the end of 2012, based on regulatory filings.

Until American’s reorganisation plan is ap-proved in court, labour unions will remain separated, just as the two carriers will remain competitive entities. After that happens, the two groups may start to work towards a joint collective bargaining agreement by submitting a “single carrier application” for their work groups to the National Mediation Board, even-tually permitting the unions to work out a sin-gle agreement and integrate their respective seniority lists.

It is unclear which union will represent maintenance workers at the merged carrier, especially since two other unions are now vying to represent the workers. The Interna-tional Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Air-craft Mechanics Fraternal Organization (AMFA) have each started a campaign to gar-ner interest among American’s mechanics.

The two carriers have said that the merger will lead to 6,700 daily flights, only overlap-ping on 12 of 900 nonstop routes. There is also little overlap between the fleets of Ameri-can and US Airways, meaning maintenance facilities have complementary maintenance capabilities. However, as the carriers receive new deliveries, the fleets will look very differ-ent in the next five years.

American and US Airways will operate a combined fleet of 944 aircraft upon the com-pletion of the merger, which only overlaps on Boeing 767-200ERs and 757-200s. US Air-ways operates 10 767-200s and American op-erates 12 of the type. American operates 103 757-200s and US Airways operates 24.

Over the next four years, more types will be shared across the two operators as American receives more Airbus aircraft. The two carriers are scheduled to take delivery of 607 new aircraft in that period, comprising 517 narrowbodies and 90 widebodies. Those in-clude 130 current-generation Airbus A320 family aircraft and 130 A320neo aircraft at American.

American says that it plans to receive 130 A319s and A321s between 2013 and 2022, with CFM International CFM56-5B engines on the A319s and International Aero Engines V2500-A5 engines on the A321 aircraft. It also has 42 orders for the Boeing 787-9, 100 orders for the Boeing 737 Max 8 and 107 orders for the Boeing 737-800 with CFM engines.

US Airways will also be re-fleeting with new Airbus narrowbodies. The carrier has 35 Airbus A321 aircraft on order, four with CFM engines and 31 with IAE engines. It also has 10 Airbus A320s on order, four with CFM en-gines and six with IAE engines. And it has one A319 to be delivered with an IAE engine.

On the widebody side, there will be a clear split between aircraft types. American will re-ceive 12 new Boeing 777-300ERs with General Electric engines, and five 777-200ERs aircraft with Rolls-Royce engines. US Airways, on the other hand, has gone with Airbus models. It awaits eight Airbus A330-200s, 18 A350-800s and four A350-900s.

As the new aircraft types come in, the carri-ers have plans to retire older models. In 2013 alone, American plans to remove 12 757-200s, six 767-200ERs and 39 MD-80s.

Further down the road the carriers may standardise the number of seats on their Boe-ing 737-800s and Airbus A320-family narrow-bodies so they can be substituted, but the air-lines have not discussed that decision yet.

“A good thing you want to have [is] a consist-ent brand and product to the customer,” says Karnik. “Money is made by having the same number of seats and the same fleet type.”

“There’s going to be more work on the supply side of the industry post-merger”JACK AREHART Co-chief commercial officer, AAR

The merged airline must make best use of spare capacity at American’s Tulsa facility

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KRISTIN MAJCHER MONTREAL

The demise of Air Canada’s former maintenance division has created opportunities for local and international players to tap its workforce and diversify into new areas

OUT OF THE ASHES

Premier is strengthening large regional jet capabilities

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The maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) landscape in Canada has changed significantly within the past year since Montreal-based Aveos Fleet

Performance filed for bankruptcy and immedi-ately shut its doors on 18 March 2012.

Following the closure, Aveos’s assets and capacity were distributed among several maintenance organisations with diverse capa-bilities and business models.

Aveos, formerly known as Air Canada Technical Services, was formed after being spun off from Air Canada parent group ACE Aviation Holdings in 2007. Along with heavy maintenance services, it had an extensive en-gine and component capability. But in the wake of its departure from the industry, no MRO company will be restarting a mainte-nance operation with all those capabilities.

Instead, the capabilities have been absorbed by several players – some local, some interna-tional – that say diversifying operations is the

key to success in the North American MRO mar-ket, while standing up to global competition.

These players want to leverage the exper-tise of the workforce while maintaining their own brand. In Montreal alone, about 1,800 Aveos staff were left without work. Several companies, including Avianor, Kelly Aviation Center and A J Walter Aviation, have hired ex-Aveos employees.

As Aveos’s main customer, Air Canada was faced with transferring its maintenance work to other MRO companies immediately and the flag carrier blamed the shutdown for a C$55 million ($54 million) loss in net income for 2012.

COST IMPACTJetBlue Airways also felt the impact, telling investors in October that it expected a cost im-pact of $8 million from Aveos’s bankruptcy, brought down from a previous estimate of $10 million. The low-cost carrier had a parts agreement with Aveos for its Airbus A320s.

Cost-conscious Air Canada stated in a regu-

latory filing in August 2012 that new, more competitive maintenance contracts will help it improve turnaround times and realise “mean-ingful cost savings”. Many of the companies that have purchased assets after the group went bankrupt have absorbed that work or already had previous relationships with the carrier.

After Aveos shut down, its specialities were divided into three maintenance divisions: air-frame, components and engine. Engine and component maintenance facilities were pur-chased by two international companies – Lockheed Martin Canada and AJ Walter Avia-tion – while the heavy maintenance division was split between a liquidation firm and five maintenance companies – US-based AAR Aircraft Services; global company Premier Aviation; and Canadian groups Avianor, Dis-covery Air Technical Services (DATS) and Avmax Aviation Services – for C$10.8 million after the court passed a motion to uphold the transaction in June.

Interested bidders felt there was a “limited role in a global context” for Aveos’s heavy


MRO

maintenance model. It said the structure of the business was not “globally competi-tive”. However, while no company wanted to restart Aveos as a large company, several wanted portions to add to their own opera-tions, which often include services beyond commercial heavy maintenance.

DATS says diversification is the key to suc-cess for maintenance organisations in the North American market. The Quebec City-based firm is using assets from the Aveos bankruptcy to expand into the MRO market for Embraer E-175 and E-190 models.

DATS’s maintenance certificate now covers Transport Canada and European Aviation Safety Agency approvals for the Embraer E-135 and E-145 models and Bombardier CRJ100/200 jets. It also covers ATRs, the Dash-8, SAAB 340 and Boeing 737, as well as Chal-lenger 600s and Learjets. The Aveos assets will allow the company to expand into main-tenance for larger regional aircraft, which will become more prominent in regional airline fleets in the next few years as US-based major airlines shed their 50-seat aircraft.

DATS had been planning to make this move, says Cavin Tuitt, vice-president sales and mar-keting, but the Aveos closure allowed it to add the capability faster than it expected. “It did create some opportunities for us,” says Tuitt. DATS has capacity for six lines of regional jets at its Quebec City facility and focuses largely on maintaining its own fleet in Calgary.

Along with its heavy maintenance arm,

parent company Discovery Air has seven sub-sidiaries, including a fleet of 160 aircraft in-cluding military aircraft and helicopters. It also provides charter services, logistics sup-port and engineering.

DATS says being part of a larger company differentiates it from other maintenance pro-viders. “Right now, our vision is to grow and become a world-class MRO company, to grow globally and to provide MRO services not only to airline companies, commercial air-lines, but maybe do some military business, some corporate business,” says Tuitt.

Trois-Rivières, Quebec-based Premier Avia-tion has also used the Air Canada transaction to its advantage by gaining more work for large regional jets.

Premier has been strengthening its large re-gional jet maintenance capabilities for Bombar-dier and Embraer aircraft and intends to add the Bombardier Q400 to the list of aircraft on its heavy maintenance capability list, says Ronnie Di Bartolo, president and chief executive.

Q400 TALKSPremier began training staff several months ago for the Q400 and is in negotiations with clients for maintenance work, Di Bartolo says. While there is no firm timetable for adding the capability, he says there is a “very good pos-sibility” it will add the capability in 2013. The maintenance centre already has capabilities for older DHC-8-series turboprops.

Premier also started performing ATR 72 maintenance in January to add to its existing ATR 42 capability, and added E-175 and E-190 capabilities following the Aveos bank-ruptcy, when it bought up about 2,000 pieces of heavy tooling and equipment. Premier also added Boeing 767, 777 and 747 tooling to ex-pand its services for those aircraft types.

Premier has since performed more than 16 heavy maintenance visits on E-175s and E-190s

at Trois-Rivieres, including work under a long-term agreement for maintenance on part of Air Canada’s fleet, which operates 45 E-190s and is in the process of transferring 15 E-175s to Sky Regional under a flying agreement.

Premier has roughly 679,000ft² (63,000m²) hangar space across three facilities, including a 379,000ft² overhaul centre in Rome in New York State, acquired in 2010. The mainte-nance centre opened its largest location in Windsor, Ontario in September 2012.

The three facilities have total capacity to maintain 18 narrowbody aircraft simultane-ously. Di Bartolo says the Trois-Rivieres facil-ity is booked for 2013, with capacity in Wind-sor for one or two more lines of heavy maintenance and three to four narrowbody lines in Rome, New York.

Diversification in the case of Avianor, based at Quebec’s Mirabel airport, derives from a unique business model of managing cabin reconfiguration projects for airlines as well as doing heavy maintenance checks.

In addition to C-checks, Avianor tries to maximise out-of-service time for aircraft by installing interiors and in-flight entertain-ment. But going a step further, the firm has found a speciality in taking care of the whole process, including procuring seats and interi-or components, designing the layout and cer-tificating the project.

“We have engineering, we have value added, and it’s our value-added proposition that makes us competitive and puts us in demand,”

“Our vision is to growand become a world-class MRO company”CAVIN TUITTVice-president, sales and marketing, DATS

The Aveos closure has allowed DATS to grow more quickly than expected

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Some groups have expanded by buying up Aveos tooling and equipment…


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says Earl Diamond, co-owner of Avianor.He says the company does not measure its

work in available man hours like some MRO groups, but sees itself as more of a project man-ager, offering an airline “a turnkey solution to their aircraft reconfiguration problem”.

Avianor procured more than C$1 million in assets as part of the Aveos restructuring proc-ess, says Diamond, including tools from its wheel shop in Toronto, brake shop in Mon-treal and non-destructive testing equipment. Avianor performed substantial wheel and brake work for Air Canada immediately fol-lowing the Aveos closure, and says the shut-down led to an influx of immediate growth in its business for 2012. “We were projecting our business to grow by 5%; our business grew by 30%,” says Diamond.

For the next year, Avianor plans to grow by

another 30%, which will be a combination of commercial heavy maintenance work and an arrangement it has with neighbouring L3-MAS to perform heavy maintenance as a subcontractor for the Canadian Department of National Defence. Avianor is exclusively a commercial operator otherwise, but is able to use the contract to diversify its offerings.

The two companies taking on the compo-nent and engine side of the Aveos business are also operations with several different facets.

Lockheed Martin Canada has a strong hand in the defence sector but will enhance its com-mercial maintenance offering by opening Kelly Aviation Centre Montreal in Aveos’s former facility at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International airport.

Lockheed opened the 525,000ft² MRO cen-tre to complement its commercial repair cen-tre in San Antonio, Texas.

The second Montreal-based arm of Kelly Aviation Services is in the process of ramping up its operation and expects to induct its first engine by April.

It will seek contracts from global customers for commercial engine work, specialising ini-tially on CFM International CFM56 and Gen-eral Electric CF34 engines. However, it is also positioning to move into the realm of military maintenance by 2014, says Amy Gowder, vice-president and general manager of Kelly Aviation Center.

On the component side, AJ Walter Group is moving into the MRO sector for the first time by setting up its AJW Technique business in Ave-os’s former component facility, also near Montreal- Pierre Elliott Trudeau International airport. The maintenance provider has scaled down Aveos’s facility but says it will not shed capabilities as it is cutting costs.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKSOwning a facility with technological advance-ments such as the Aveos shop was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity that allowed AJ Wal-ter to expand its brand into MRO services, says Gavin Simmonds, general manager of the new component maintenance centre.

AJW Technique will support UK-based AJ Walter Aviation’s 800 customers and is in seri-ous talks with at least 12 airline and MRO cus-tomers for work, with interest coming from South America, the Middle East, Russia and Australia, says Simmonds. “We will support AJ Walter Aviation, but we’re also an MRO shop in our own right,” he adds.

Illinois-based AAR says it has used the re-sources it purchased from the Aveos bank-ruptcy more for general growth and expansion than for adding specific capabilities. However, it did sign a letter of intent with Air Canada to take on airframe maintenance work for the carrier’s A320s in December.

Opening the 188,000ft² facility in Duluth, Minnesota formerly operated by Northwest Airlines, will add 400,000 man hours and four to five additional hangar slots to AAR’s opera-tion, including three lines of nose-to-tail work and modifications by the end of 2013. AAR operates five main MRO facilities and expects capacity to reach about five million man hours with the added capacity.

Kristin Majcher tweets as @KristinInFlight and writes news stories for our MRO channel at flightglobal.com/news/mro

“We were projecting ourbusiness to grow by 5%; ourbusiness grew by 30%EARL DIAMOND Co-owner, Avianor

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…while others capitalised on the expertise of former Aveos staff

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NORTH & SOUTH AMERICA Vice-President, North & South America Rob Hancock +1 703 836 7444 [email protected] Regional Sales Director Warren McEwan +1 703 836 3719 [email protected] Sales ExecutiveRachel Sunderland +1 703 836 7445 [email protected] Sales ManagerSteven Kulikowski +1 630 288 8034 [email protected] Reed Business Information, 333 N.Fairfax Street, Suite 301, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA

ITALY Sales Manager Riccardo Laureri +39 (02) 236 2500 [email protected] Laureri Associates SRL, Via Vallazze 43, 20131 Milano, Italy

ISRAEL Sales Executive Asa Talbar +972 77 562 1900 Fax: +972 77 562 1903 [email protected] Talbar Media, 41 HaGiva’a St, PO Box 3184, Givat Ada 37808, Israel

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA Sales Manager Michael Tang +65 6780 4301 [email protected] Fax: +65 6789 7575 1 Changi Business Park Crescent,#06-01 Plaza 8 @ CBPSingapore 486025

RUSSIA & CIS Director Arkady Komarov [email protected]/Fax: +7 (495) 987 3800 World Business Media, Leningradsky Prospekt, 80, Korpus G, Office 807, Moscow 125190, Russia

CLASSIFIED & RECRUITMENT +44 20 8652 4900; +44 20 8652 4897Group Sales Manager Lucinda Chia +44 20 8652 [email protected] Account Manager Edward Longmate+44 20 8652 4900 [email protected] Key Account Manager Michael Tang +65 6780 4301 Sales Executives Oliver Kingston, Katie Mann

ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Production Manager Sean Behan +44 20 8652 8232 [email protected] Manager Classified Alan Blagrove +44 20 8652 4406 [email protected]

MARKETING Marketing Director Fiona Benharoosh+44 20 8564 6711 [email protected] Marketing Manager Ben Colclough+44 20 8564 6722 [email protected] Head of Marketing Georgina Rushworth+44 20 8652 8138 [email protected]

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CLASSIFIEDTEL +44 (0) 20 8652 4897 FAX +44 (0) 20 8652 3779 EMAIL [email protected] may be monitored for training purposes

We are pleased to announce that Tim Leacock Aircraft Sales is now the UK Independent Authorised Sales Representative for Gulfstream Aerospace.

See Gulfstream’s full model range at the European Business

Aviation Convention & Exhibition, Geneva, May 21-23.

Telephone +44 (0) 1258 818181

[email protected] timleacockaircraft.com

A new partnership...

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+44 1865 841234 [email protected]

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flightglobal.com/jobsEMAIL [email protected] CALL +44 (20) 8652 4900 FAX +44 (20) 8652 4877

Getting careers off the ground


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RESERVES

The Royal Air Force Reserves are currently recruiting

to fill the following Full Time Reserve Service

vacancies within No3 Flying Training School:

We are currently looking for:

Head of Multi-Crew Pilot TrainingTo manage our Simulator Department to ensure the highest

standard of syllabus design/development and the delivery of training for MCC, JOC and MPL courses.

The successful candidate will be a current or recently retired pilot with extensive training experience in an airline

environment and will hold a TRI or SFI qualification.

For details and applications please visit

http://www.ftejerez.com/job

We offer an attractive remuneration package, including a pension scheme, as well as relocation assistance to an

unbeatable location in Jerez, Southern Spain.

Choose training excellence; choose FTEJerez.

MACH AVIATION SERVICES LIMITED

As part of our on-going expansion Mach Avia�on Services Limited require

a high achieving, dynamic and ambi�ous aircra� sales professional for the

U.K. and Channel Islands to promote and sell our por�olio of aircra� which

includes the highly pres�gious Beechcra� range.

Candidates will need to prove an outstanding sales record in a similar role

and demonstrate the ability to network, plan and manage a large territory.

Excellent communica�on/interpersonal skills are essen�al with experience

of influencing/nego�a�ng at high levels. Very compe��ve remunera�on

with excellent rewards for successful candidate.

Applica�ons in wri�ng from high achievers

only with an up to date C.V. to:

Mr. Joe McCarthy,

Mach Avia�on Services Limited, E: [email protected]

www.flightglobal.com/jobs

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AVIATION RECRUITMENT WORLDWIDE

T: +44 (0)1483 748252E: [email protected]: www.wynnwith.com

wynnwith

www.ryanaviation.net

Email: recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.comwww.sigmaaviationservices.com

Tel: +353 1 669 8224Fax: +353 1 669 8201

Email: recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.comwww.sigmaaviationservices.com

www.aircraft-commerce.com

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Recruitment Support to the Aviation Industry

T: +44(0)1483 [email protected]

aviation recruitment

www.ctcaviation.com/ctcflexicrew

CTC FlexiCrewHigh flyers, on demand

Seeks Type Rated PilotsLocations UK & Worldwide

Flexible & Permanent Positions

Global Aviation Recruitment SolutionsRebecca Anderson, Kelly Biggart, HollySawkins, Billy McDougall, Lee Walker

Tel: +44(0)141 270 5007E-mail:

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Contract and Permanent recruitmentfor the Aviation industry

David Rowe, Alastair Millar, Jodie Green, Ian Chapman

Tel: +44 (0)1737 821011Email: [email protected]

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RECRUITMENT FOR AVIATIONEASA E-LEARNING COURSES

Tel: +44 (0) 1284 700676Email: [email protected]

www.e-techs.co

Looking for on contract basis consultants withworking experience gained from aircra�

manufacturers’ customer services business,incl. maintenance & engineering, supplychain management, aircra� parts service,technical publica�ons, training, opera�on

support and supplier contract management.

Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 20 8643 3981www.3oac.com

Three Oaks Avia�on Consultancy Ltd.

Global Aerospace contractpersonnel and work packagese: [email protected]

t: +44(0)20 8799 8916w: www.strongfield.com

The preferred company for Stress (Fatigue & DT), GFEM,Composites), Aeronautical Research. Business units:Contract staff, Workpackages, Innovation and New

Concepts, Aeronautical Research.www.bishop-gmbh.comContact [email protected]

Tel 0049-(0)40-866-258-10 Fax 0049-(0)40-866-258-20

GCT GroupWorldwide specialist for Aerospace Engineering, Certification & Management Servicese: [email protected]: +49 (0) 8153 93130w: www.garner.de

Recruiting Stress, Design and Fatigue & DT engineers for our offices in:

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FIND THE RIGHT MATCHAVIATION RECRUITMENT SERVICES

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Flight crew, maintenance staff and

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WORKING WEEK


How did you get started in aviation?My father owned and operated Cape Central Airways in Cape Gir-ardeau, Missouri. We flew every-where and I was always allowed to handle the controls. I have worked in aviation all my life. Growing up at the airport we learned how to ride our bikes and skate on the big ramps and hang-ars. We had a maintenance shop where I helped dope wings, over-haul engines and perform mainte-nance. Cape Girardeau held an aircraft auction for many years, with 50 to 200 aircraft arriving once a month to be auctioned. I was involved in all aspects and even ferried quite a few aircraft to and from the auction. We offered crop-dusting, charter, flight in-struction and aircraft sales. I worked every weekend on the line or in the office selling fuel, renting aircraft, handling charters, book-ing crop-spraying, renting cars, or-dering catering and maintenance. It was a blast. My father had a Ces-sna and Mooney dealership, plus we bought and sold used aircraft. When did you leave?Some of the more interesting and demanding flying I have carried out was for the US Forest Service as an air attack pilot on fires in Idaho and Montana. In October 1974, I went to work for Ty Cobb Aircraft Sales in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In October 1975, I started selling aircraft for Avcor

Industries in Waco, Texas, where I met the owners of RAM Aircraft. In June 1976, RAM started busi-ness and leased space in Avcor’s hangar. In October 1976, I accept-ed a sales position with Seven Bar Flying Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I moved back to Waco in January 1978 and took a sales/pilot position with RAM.What is RAM’s mission?RAM specialises in the overhaul of Continental Motors IO-520, IO-550, TSIO-520, TSIOL-550 and GTSIO-520-series engines. It holds 113 FAA approved supple-mental type certificates for airframe, engine and propeller horsepower upgrades to these powerplants and the aircraft they

are installed in. RAM holds more than 800 parts manufacturing authorisation approvals for these engines and airframes.What are your duties?I am manager of engine sales. I also perform test flights for returning aircraft to service and give famil-iarisation flights to the owner on delivery. I perform pick-up and delivery, once to Cannes, France, and STC certification flight testing. I take calls from prospective cus-tomers and work with them through the signing of the pur-chase order to invoicing and delivery test flights. We also ship engines so we arrange invoicing, payment, shipping and core engine return. RAM can ship

complete upgrade engine packag-es to any installing repair station around the globe. We also install or ship our winglet performance package and vortex generators, and we have a large catalogue of parts and accessories for sale. What is your favourite part of the job?I enjoy it all. Interacting with cus-tomers, working with fellow em-ployees, completing a quality in-stallation and the test flights. Satisfied customers are my goal. Other than having an opportunity to be in such a great industry, I re-ally enjoy flying and the wonder-ful feeling it gives me. One memo-ry is at Oshkosh a few years back, when Gene Cernan the astronaut was in our booth talking about his Cessna 421B and Chuck Yeager came by to discuss some operating techniques on a Cessna 421C he was flying. Bob Hoover was walk-ing by and saw the crowd and stopped to say hello and, a couple of minutes later, Burt and Dick Rutan appeared. There I was, standing among the greatest avia-tion legends of our generation. ■

WORK EXPERIENCE DAVID SEESING

From firefights to customer careLifelong multitasker David Seesing is a senior sales consultant, project manager, international sales centre representative and test pilot for RAM Aircraft in Waco, Texas, working on Cessna, Beechcraft and Cirrus aircraft

For more employee work experiences, pay a visit to flightglobal.com/workingweek

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Seesing has flown for the US Forest Service and sold aircraft for Avcor

Opportunities for Lean Expertswww.jobs.eads.com

Y O U R F L I G H T I S O U R M I S S I O N ™

Chronospace

Selfwinding chronograph

Offi cially chronometer-certifi ed

Slide-rule

Water-resistant to 200 m/660 ft

Documents

Flight International 130409-15