Tag Archives: HondaJet

675 NBAA-BACE

Highlights from NBAA-BACE, including the HondaJet 2600 Concept Light Jet, Cirrus Vision Jet, and Diamond all-electric trainer. Also, a KC-46 tanker update, airline ticket refunds, FA smuggling, a passenger who was not a terrorist, an Australia News Desk report, and a story from our Main(e) Man Micah.

NBAA-BACE

Highlights from the 2021 edition of the NBAA-BACE from the National Business Aviation Association.

NBAA-BACE news.

Aviation supply chain faces mounting strain as demand picks up

Global shipping, supply chain, and labor issues are affecting aviation with component delays and increasing raw material prices. Skilled worker shortages are also occurring.

HondaJet Launches New 2600 Concept Light Jet at NBAA BACE

Honda displayed a mockup of the HondaJet 2600 Concept that will feature a transcontinental range of 2,625 nm. Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino:

“New conditions in the business aviation industry have signaled the need for rapid cross-country travel and the ability to carry more passengers and payload and dire necessity of cutting carbon emissions. In response we developed the HondaJet 2600 Concept, which delivers a transcontinental range of 2,625 nautical miles, with seating for up to 11 occupants.”

Honda Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino

Cirrus Brings Latest Jet to NBAA-BACE

The Cirrus Aircraft SF50 G2+ Vision Jet is the successor of the G2. The G2+ adds new features including increased engine performance, Gogo Wi-Fi, and new color configurations. The Williams International FJ33-5A engine modifications produce a 20 percent improvement in takeoff performance in hot-and-high conditions.

Diamond Announces Plans to Create All-Electric Trainer

The Diamond Aircraft eDA40 will be targeted to flight school training fleets. First flight is planned for the second quarter of 2022 with certification following in 2023. The EDA40 is expected to have about a 90-minute flight time and a recharge turnaround time of about 20 minutes, said Heikenwälder.

Aviation News

AMC Green Lights KC-46 to Refuel F-15s, F-16s; 62 Percent of Receivers Now Cleared

The Air Mobility Command has cleared KC-46A tankers for air-to-air refueling using the boom. This is the third “interim capability release”

Battles are being waged over airline refunds. Passengers aren’t always winning.

The Department of Transportation recently reported that in the 18 months starting in January 2020, it received 124,918 consumer complaints related to air travel. Over 84 percent of them concerned ticket refunds. The Department of Transportation has launched investigations into 20 airlines but 18 of them are still pending.

American Airlines Flight Attendant Busted Allegedly Smuggling Gold Bars, Rolex Watches and Cash On Flight to Miami

The 57-year-old head purser was arrested in Argentina on suspicion of trying to smuggle the loot on a flight from Buenos Aires to Miami. Her luggage contained 2,204 grams of gold, Rolex watches, other jewelry, thousands of Pesos, and US$ 11,413.33. The flight attendant is accused of smuggling and money laundering.

Man who was pinned to ground as a terrorist at LaGuardia was held after fellow flyer mistook his vintage camera for a bomb

American Airlines Flight 4817, from Indianapolis to LaGuardia, made an emergency landing and emergency slide evacuation after a woman accused another passenger of having a bomb. The “terrorist” was simply watching vintage camera videos and handling his own old camera.

Australia News Desk

Steve and Grant bring news from Down Under:

More details around Defence’s proposed MH-60R buy

RAN MH-60R Seahawk helicopter ditches in the Philippine Sea

QANTAS Brings Forward International Flights to 1 November

Virgin Australia to return to international flights

Stereotypes on the Q400 – Reprise

A story from our Main(e) Man Micah.

580 Dubai Airshow 2019

News from the 2019 Dubai Airshow, Boeing’s 737 MAX 10, splitting up families who want to sit together on the airplane, NTSB findings on the fatal Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 accident, and a commercial aerial tanker company. Also, the application of structural batteries to aircraft, flying in formation down under, and romance in the air.

Dubai Airshow 2019

The 2019 Dubai Airshow ran November 17 – 21, reportedly with 1300 exhibitors, 100 aircraft on display, and around 90,000 in attendance over the five days. We talk about some of the aircraft orders placed and other topics from the airshow.

The Truth Is That Emirates Net Canceled $20 Billion Of Aircraft Orders At The Dubai Airshow—Contrary To Headlines

Dubai Air Show wraps up with $54.5b in deals

Honda Aircraft Reports Global Expansion

Video: Dubai Airshow 2019 – Watch the weeks highlights

Aviation News

Boeing Debuts 737 MAX 10

The largest Boeing 737 MAX is the MAX 10, and the company debuted the aircraft at its Renton, Washington facility. Boeing says they currently have more than 550 orders and commitments for the aircraft. With a range of 3,300 NM and maximum seating for 230 passengers, Boeing says it will offer the lowest seat-mile cost of any single-aisle airplane yet produced.

Boeing’s 737 Max shouldn’t be allowed to fly with a controversial flight-control system, an aviation regulator reportedly said in leaked emails

Reportedly, the Transport Canada Civil Aviation manager of aircraft integration and safety assessment sent an email saying the “only way I see moving forward at this point, is that MCAS has to go.” The manager’s email was sent to the FAA, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and the National Civil Aviation Agency in Brazil.

Sen. Schumer to airlines: Stop splitting up families on flights

The FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 directed the Department of Transportation to study guidelines that would keep families together on airlines. Carriers were to have policies that keep parents and children under 13 sitting together. But that hasn’t happened and Senator Chuck Schumer from New York isn’t happy. See Family Seating from the DOT for tips.

NTSB Issues 7 Safety Recommendations Based on Findings from Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 Investigation

As a result of the engine failure on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 on April 17, 2018, material pierced the fuselage and caused the cabin to depressurize, with one fatality. The NTSB explains:

“…portions of the fan cowl separated in flight after a fan blade, which had fractured due to a fatigue crack, impacted the engine fan case at a location that was critical to the structural integrity and performance of the fan cowl structure.  The NTSB found that the separated fan blade impacted the engine fan case and fractured into multiple fragments. Some of the fragments traveled forward of the engine and into the inlet. The impact of the separated fan blade with the fan case also imparted significant loads into the fan cowl through the radial restraint fitting, which is what caused the fan cowl to fail.”

It was the failed engine inlet and casing that impacted the fuselage. An abstract of the final report is available and includes the findings, probable cause, and safety recommendations.

Video: A380 Blade Off Test

The First Boom-Equipped Tanker For A Private Aerial Refueling Company Has Arrived

Omega Air operates a few hose and drogue aerial tankers and has now received the first of two surplus KDC-10 tankers with aerial refueling booms from the Royal Netherlands Air Force. That will allow Omega Air to provide contractor refueling support to the USAF and other allies.

Mentioned

Video: Expedition Overland S4 EP 1:The Great Pursuit – New Horizons

Carbon fibre can act as a structural battery component in vehicle bodies

Van's Aircraft RV-7

Kevin, Eddie, Monty, Mal, Mark, and Jorgo at the HARS museum at Wollongong. Eddie’s immaculate RV-7 is behind.

LifeFlight helicopter lands in Penobscot field following mechanical anomaly

Couple tie the knot 37,000 feet in the air between Australia and New Zealand

AirplaneGeeks 381 Ballistic Recovery Parachutes

Ballistic Recovery Systems

A conversation about aircraft parachute systems with the founder of Ballistic Recovery Systems, HondaJet certification, the Cirrus Vision SF50, British Airways displeasure with Heathrow expansion plans, abandoned 747 freighters, and efficient but not accurate airport firefighters. Also, the Millennium Falcon, the Handley Page Herald turboprop, ATC job opportunities, and WATS tables.

Guest

Boris Popov

Boris Popov

Boris Popov is the founder of Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS). In 1975, Boris survived a 400-foot fall in a collapsed hang glider and the incident led Boris to develop a whole-aircraft parachute system. Ballistic Recovery Systems was founded in 1980 and their first parachute for the ultralight aircraft market was introduced in 1982. In 1983 the system had its first save of an aircraft and crew and since then has saved hundreds of lives

In 1998 the company collaborated with Cirrus Aircraft to develop the first recovery parachute system used on a type-certified aircraft, the Cirrus SR20. Since then, there have been 56 Saves of Cirrus Aircraft with 114 survivors, resulting in a fatal accident rate that’s half that of typical GA aircraft. The company also offers parachutes for the Cessna 172, Cessna 182, and about a dozen light sport aircraft, including the new Icon A5 seaplane.

News

Honda Aircraft receives type certification for HondaJet

HondaJet earns type certificate

Achieving type-certification brings Honda Aircraft close to customer delivery of the HondaJet. The small, jet-powered airplane features an over-the-wing engine mount, natural laminar flow, a composite fuselage, and a Garmin® G3000 next-generation all-glass avionics system. Power comes from two GE Honda Aero Engines HF120 powerplants.

Cirrus Teases Vision SF50 Performance Numbers

Cirrus Aircraft has released flight profile details of the Vision SF50 single-engine light jet. With a maximum ramp weight of 6,040 pounds, and a fuel load of 296 gallons/1,983 pounds, takeoff ground roll is 2,036 feet. At FL280, maximum cruise at 300 ktas burns 69 gph/462 pph, for a range of 1,000 nm. Fuel burn drops to 47 gph/315 pph and speed to 242 ktas at best-economy cruise, with range up to 1,200 nm.

Heathrow expansion: British Airways threatens to move out of UK

International Airlines Group (IAG) CEO Willie Walsh isn’t happy with plans for Heathrow’s expansion. That plan includes a new runway, a new terminal, an underground train link, and a very expensive (£800m) car park. Walsh says all this would double the £40 fee they pay now for a return trip.

Be an Astronaut: NASA Accepting Applications for Future Explorers

NASA is looking for astronauts and the astronaut candidate application website is now live and accepting submissions through Feb. 18, 2016.

Malaysia hunts owners of Boeing 747s abandoned at airport

In an effort to remove three abandoned Boeing 747 freighters from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Malaysia, airport officials posted a notice in several newspapers giving the owners 14 days to pay the parking fees and remove the planes. Otherwise, the airport would dispose of the planes. The freighters have now been claimed by Swift Air Cargo, a Malaysian company.

Fire fighters spray foam on wrong plane during engine emergency

An Air China Boeing 737 had an engine fire while taxiing at an airport in China. This was reported by pilots of another plane who observed the fire. The firefighters arrived and dutifully covered the plane in foam – the reporting plane, not the one with the fire.

The Airplane of the Week

Can you feel it? There has been an awakening, the Dark and the Light. David’s Journey to the Force Awakens ends this episode with the ship that has been in more movies than any other:  the YT-1300 Freighter called the Millennium Falcon. “She’s the fastest hunk of junk in the Galaxy” and has some really cool #AVGeek connections.

If you want to know more check out these links:

Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith Easter Egg – Millenium Falcon

5 Things You Might Not Know About the Millennium Falcon

From World War to Star Wars: The B-17 and The Ghost

Fate of the Jedi, “Millennium Falcon” SpecPlate and Crucible–class

From World War to Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon

Across the Pond

Handley Page Herald copyright DestinWorld Publishing

An early production model Handley Page Herald in BEA livery demonstrating a single engine fly past – Copyright DestinWorld Publishing

Matt Falcus returns to Across The Pond and discusses his latest book The Handley Page Herald about the two-engined turbo-prop aircraft that proved reliable and useful in service, but failed to capture the volume of orders expected. Airline service lead to a later life as a cargo and freight carrier until it finished service in 1999.

From the Timeline series, Matt is looking for new authors and contributors to grow the series of aircraft, airport and airlines books.

Aviation photographer Paul Filmer wrote in: “What a great British aircraft. In the late 80s early 90s I worked for Channel Express in Guernsey, Channel Islands and flew jumpseat in many flights from Guernsey to Bournemouth and return. We flew boxed cut flowers out and mail and express freight (FedEx, DHL etc) inbound. The cargo capacity was 5 tonnes and it was very popular with the loaders as the large cargo door was low to the ground. I loved my time flying on these pax aircraft turned freighters.”

Paul sent in a photograph of a Page Herald in service, and one of a hand carved model he had custom made recently:

Handley Page Herald by Paul Filmer

Handley Page Herald by Paul Filmer

Handley Page Herald model

Mentioned

Credit

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at brotherloverocks.com.

 

AirplaneGeeks 312 – Managing a Privately Owned Airport

West Houston Airport

Running a privately owned/public use general aviation airport, flight instruction, FAA position on GA ride sharing, biometric technology at the airport, an airline passenger survey, the C-130, Exercise Black Pitch, and a HondaJet interview.

Guests

Shelly DeZevallos from West Houston Airport tells about running a general aviation airport. She grew up around the small, gravel strip airport where her father worked as a flight instructor. He bought the airport in the 1970’s, and now West Houston Airport is the family’s privately owned/public use airport with a dual taxiway, a 4000 foot runway. About 375 airplanes are based there.

Mike Camelin from SunState Aviation also joins in with Shelly to talk about flight training. The demand for pilots makes this a good time to get your license and we discuss paying for training, pacing the instruction, and what to look for in a flight school, such as maintenance of the aircraft, dedication of the flight instructors to your learning, and the professionalism of the entire staff, not just the CFIs.

The News

FAA Bans GA Ride Sharing Companies

Airpooler is a web-based system where private pilots with passenger space available on a planned flight, offer to take on passengers who only pay their pro-rata share of flight costs. The FAA has issued a legal interpretation against “peer-to-peer general aviation flight sharing.”

Biometric technology – the key enabler of a single passenger token and improved passenger tracking?

In early 2015 a biometric-based trial called “Happy Flow” could launch at Aruba Airport. A biometric scan at check-in would create a “passenger token” that would then be used at other checkpoints. No more boarding passes. This is a collaboration between Air France-KLM, the governments of Aruba and the Netherlands, and Aruba and Schiphol airports.

Survey: Nearly Two-thirds of Americans Do Not Have A Preferred Airline

The Street conducted a telephone survey with about 1,000 interviews, and 63% don’t have a preferred airline, while only 5% consider frequent flier miles important. What annoys Americans when traveling by airplane? 73% say high ticket prices.

HondaJet Interview

HondaJets in Formation

Rob Mark interviewed Andrew Broom, Division Director of Corporate Communications and marketing at HondaJet. Recorded at Airventure 2014.

David Vanderhoof’s Airplane of the Week

YC-130s formation

In Honour of the 60th anniversary of the aircraft that Kelly Johnson thought would, “destroy Lockheed,” David does a “Not a History Segment” on his all-time favorite aircraft: the Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

“The First Lady” resides peacefully at Eglin Air Force Base. Fulton Recovery System video.

The Australia News Desk

Operation Pitch Black

Grant’s back from a week in Cairns covering Exercise Pitch Black 2014 which brought together combat aircraft from Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Thanks to our contacts with the RAAF media department, Grant was airside at Darwin and Tindal RAAF bases getting photos and videos plus recording plenty of content for a future PCDU episode.

In amongst the many interviews Grant recorded, he spoke with Lt Col Scott Abogast, the detachment commander for the 12 US Air National Guard F16s.

Mentioned

American Association of Airport Executives

PaxEx Podcast Episode 16: Fierce Competition and Blind Recognition with Ryan Ghee, editor and event strategy manager at Future Travel Experience.

Credit

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Find his great music at brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 248 – ASTM Creates Aviation Standards

David Pavoni

Guest Christine M. DeJong is Manager, Technical Committee Operations with ASTM International, which creates industry standards, including aviation standards. Christine serves as the Staff Manager for three committees: F37 on Light Sport Aircraft, F44 on General Aviation Aircraft, and F39 on Aircraft Systems.

We talk about the history of ASTM, the makeup of the membership, the standards they are creating and maintaining, and who are they making them for. Also, how the Committee members work together to reach a concensus and why the standards change frequently.

Concensus for these standards requires a massive 90% agreement of Committee members, who meet frequently at airshows or events that otherwise bring many of the members together. The standards are constantly being revised based on lessons learned, accident investigations, and technology changes. Meetings are open to the public and private citizens can join the committees

The week’s aviation news:

Dornier Do 228

Dornier Do 228

David Vanderhoof gives us some aviation history in his This Month in Aviation segment. David mentions the Dornier Do 228 and Rob reminisces about flying that aircraft.

In this week’s Australia Desk:

Qantas CEO Allan Joyce finds his way back into the news the week indicating that the airline’s profits are nowhere near the levels his team had predicted earlier in the financial year, and major creditor Deutscher Bank took notice also slashed its forecast back to just over $80million.

Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson has been in Australia this week, talking up the newly branded Virgin Australia Regional Airlines as well as Virgin Galactic. He also indicated that he wasn’t above selling more of his stake in the group if he felt it prudent, and heaped praise on CEO John Borghetti and his team for their many successes.

Boeing opened a new Research & Development Centre in Port Melbourne during the week, securing it’s place as the largest such facility for the company outside of the United States.

Steve also extols the virtues of Yoo-Hoo chocolate drinks after finding them at a local US food importer in Melbourne. Grant is not so sure.

Links :

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Angela Waller joins Pieter this week. Angela was a Stewardess back in the fifties and sixties and is Author of the book Before There Were Trolly Dollies. We get to hear what it was like in those days to travel by air and what Angela feels about modern air travel. An intriguing segment that goes back to the glory days of flight. Follow @AngelaWaller on Twitter.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mentioned:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 222 – Sporty’s John Zimmerman

Frontier

Guest John Zimmerman is a Vice President at Sporty’s, one of the world’s oldest and largest pilot shops. They also offer gifts, memorabilia, apparel, models and other items for aviation enthusiasts through their Wright Brothers catalog. Sporty’s Flight Center includes Sporty’s Academy a Part 61 flight school that also provides a degree program in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati, Clermont College Professional Pilot Training Program.

We talk with John about last week’s National Business Aviation Association Annual Meeting & Convention, iPad and tablet apps for aviators, flying the Robinson and R-44 helicopter, Air Facts journal, and more.

Follow Sporty’s on Twitter as @Sportys, the Air Facts journal as @airfacts, and John’s personal Twitter account, @JTZim.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

Its QANTAS Annual General Meeting time again and its just the same news as the last three years…so we didn’t pay much attention to it! The big news of the week is that Virgin Australia have purchased 60% of Tiger Airways, giving them a low cost carrier of their own. This after Singapore Airlines bought 10% of Virgin Australia. The three way deal also sees Virgin looking to buy out regional carrier Sky West. In similar fashion, Air New Zealand have formed an alliance with Cathay Pacific which see the latter taking ANZ passenger to Europe beyond Hong Kong. This frees up ANZ aircraft to operate more flights into the USA instead.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Etienne Maillard calls from Geneva in Switzerland to give us an update on GA and his progress as an Air Traffic Controller. Etienne can be found on Twitter as @Flightlevel150.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

The Matterhorn by Etienne Maillard on his cross country flight.

The Matterhorn by Etienne Maillard on his cross country flight.

Mentions:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

This episode is sponsored by: the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Episode 198 – Kip Hawley on the TSA

Kip Hawley

Guest Kip Hawley was Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from July 2005 to January 2009. He’s also just written the book, “Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security” available through his website (KipHawley.com), Amazon.com, and many bookstores.

We talk with Kip about how he came to be the TSA Administrator, the risk that business aviation presents, and the Large Aircraft Security Program. Kip explains why the full TSA “body search” shouldn’t be necessary and he gives us some interesting details about the plot that led to the ban on liquids over 3 ounces. We consider calls to privatize the TSA, and discuss managing security and managing risk, the public perception of “the threat” and just how large it really is, security theater, the cost of technology, behavioral profiling, the effects of TSA security on the travelling public and thus on the commercial aviation industry, the history of Blogger Bob from The TSA Blog, and even a little peek inside the Bush oval office.

Kip observes that the risk in counter-terrorism is nonlinear, whereas in aviation safety it is linear. We have to be looking for nonlinear risk but a lot of the risk models used came out of the FAA safety regime and don’t apply well to security.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

Alligator Airways loses court bid to overturn CASA grounding, Army temporarily grounds Tiger Armed Recon Helicopters, Lockheed Martin ready to begin training RAAF pilots, Sydney Airport CEO claims the airport has plenty of spare space for expansion, Airservices Australia CEO steps down unexpectedly, China Southern to establish the “Canton Route” from Australia to the UK, Air Pacific announces a re-branding to Fiji Airways.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter Johnson asks our adopted Spanish correspondent Diego Lopez-Salazar from Aeropodcast.com to give us some feedback on his recent trip to Mexico. He gives us a summary of the airline structure there and the key carrifull service, low cost models.

Find Pieter Johnson on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, and also on Facebook at XTPMedia.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 120 – Molly McMillin

Aerion Corporation supersonic business jet

Molly McMillin, the Senior Aerospace/Aviation reporter for the Wichita Eagle, joins as guest. Molly blogs at Air Capital Insider and tweets as @mmcmillin. We talk about the week’s aviation news, and discuss the recent NBAA Convention, which Molly attended.

The week’s aviation news:

Mentions:

Also see Steve and Grant’s Australia Desk archive and their Flight Time Radio segments.

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 70 – A Trio of Pro Journalists

PiperJet

This week we’re joined by a trio of aviation journalists to talk about the recent NBAA Convention: Jon Ostrower, the Flightblogger from Flight Global, Randy Padfield, the Editor-in-Chief at Aviation International News, and Benet Wilson, Online Managing Editor for Business Aviation at Aviation Week.

Also, Airplane Geeks Historian David Vanderhoof provides This Week in Aviation, Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast have their Australia Desk report, and Court has another Wiskey Tango Foxtrot look at aviation.

Some NBAA news highlights:

Links from David’s This Week in Aviation:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave us voice mail at (361) GEEKS01.

This episode’s opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Visit his site at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.