May 10, 2023 - No. 019


In This Issue 

: FAA addresses Boeing 737 MAX engine compressor stalls with a directive

: Beechcraft Denali to get Garmin Emergency Autoland; certification now pushed to 2025 

: Aviation Company Building $13M Facility at McKinney Airport

: Pratt And Whitney Issues Statement, Claims It Will Comply On Go First Arbitration Award 

: T-7 Trainer’s IOC Slips Again, This Time to Spring 2027

: WHAT MODERN CERTIFICATION MAY LEAD TO SLOVENIAN AIRFRAMER ADDS WEIGHT, POWER TO GOGETAIR G750

: PC-12 Fleet Passes Ten Million Flight Hour Milestone

: NASA aims to end a 50-year old ban on supersonic civilian aircraft in the US



FAA addresses Boeing 737 MAX engine compressor stalls with a directive
BY RYTIS BERESNEVICIUS
2023-05-10

The United States (US) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a final rule Airworthiness Directive (AD) to address compressor stalls on the CFM LEAP 1-B engine, used exclusively on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. 

The FAA was prompted to issue the AD due to “multiple aborted takeoffs and air turn-backs (ATBs) caused by high-pressure compressor (HPC) stall, which was induced by high levels of non-synchronous vibration (NSV)”.  

After an investigation by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric (GE) Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines, the manufacturer of the LEAP-1B engine concluded that “wear on the No. 3 bearing spring finger housing can lead to high levels of NSV”. 

To comply with the directive, airlines that have equipped their Boeing 737 MAXs with certain version of the LEAP-1B engine will have to conduct “repetitive calculations of the oil filter delta pressure (OFDP) data and, depending on the results of the calculation, replacement of the No. 3 bearing spring finger housing”. The AD also prohibits operators from installing engines with an affected No. 3 bearing spring finger housing on aircraft that already have defective housing. 

Loss of power at a critical phase 
“The unsafe condition, if not addressed, could result in engine power loss at a critical phase of flight such as takeoff or climb, loss of thrust control, reduced controllability of the airplane, and loss of the airplane,” the FAA argued.  

The directive is effective June 13, 2023, and notes that airlines will have to calculate the OFDP data before an engine reaches 125 flight cycles (FC) since new, “but not before accumulating 75 FCs since new, or within 50 FCs after the effective date of this AD, whichever occurs later”. Afterwards, and “at intervals not to exceed 100 FCs from the last calculation of the OFDP data, and until the affected No. 3 bearing spring finger housing accumulates 1,000 FCs since new”, operators are mandated to calculate the OFDP data once again. 

If during the data calculations the OFDP data exceeds limits, an operator will have to replace the No 3. bearing spring finger housing within 25 FCs. 

According to the FAA’s estimates, eight engines that are currently installed on aircraft registered in the US will be affected, with the OFDP data calculation costing $85 for a single work hour. If a No 3. Bearing spring finger housing must be replaced, however, the parts will cost $64,590, while labor is estimated to be at least $1,445 for a total of $66,035 per aircraft engine. 

Four parties commented on the AD, including American Airlines, Lynx Air, an anonymous commentator, and Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA). ALPA and the anonymous commentator agreed with the AD without any comments, while American Airlines and Lynx Air provided some feedback. 

The comments from the two airlines, even though Lynx Air has an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) in Canada, included but were not exclusive to requests to remove the installation prohibition of an engine with an affected housing, revision of estimated costs, and Lynx Air asking the FAA to mandate CFM international to monitor and calculate the OFDP data. 

“Except for minor editorial changes, and any other changes described previously, this AD is adopted as proposed in the NPRM. None of the changes will increase the economic burden on any operator,” the FAA concluded.  

FAA addresses Boeing 737 MAX engine compressor stalls with a directive

 


 

 


Beechcraft Denali to get Garmin Emergency Autoland; certification now pushed to 2025
Aviation News
Posted By: Josh Coffman, GlobalAir.com
Published: May. 9, 2023 at 10:32 AM EST
Updated: May. 9, 2023 at 10:34 AM EST

While its production timeline has been delayed, those considering buying a Beechcraft Denali and wanting an extra layer of safety learned this week that good things come to those who wait. Now we ask, if waiting is the hardest part, how much longer must we wait? 

Textron Aviation announced on Monday that the Denali single-engine turboprop will be equipped with the Garmin Emergency Autoland system as a standard feature when it enters into service.

“The autoland system is an excellent addition to the Beechcraft Denali and the G3000 avionics suite, and we’ve included it in the program as a direct response to continued conversations with our customers,” said Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice president, of sales & flight operations for the company. “The feature makes the Denali even more desirable to a wider audience as it adds yet another element of assurance and peace of mind for pilots and passengers.”

The Garmin Emergency Autoland system adds the ability for an aircraft to land automatically in emergencies such as pilot incapacitation. A passenger can activate it by pressing a dedicated button in the cockpit.

It then allows the system to take command of the aircraft, notifies air traffic control of the emergency and then calculates a flight path to the most suitable airport or runway while avoiding terrain and bad weather.

Along with the announcement, Textron provided more details about the development of the Beechcraft Denali.

The company now expects certification in 2025, with the company “aligning … certification timing for the new Catalyst engine, a product of Avio Aero – part of GE Aerospace.”

 The Denali will be the first aircraft to be powered by the engine.

“We continue to experience great progress with the Denali development program, and we believe the aircraft will be a game changer in the single-engine, high-performance turboprop segment,” said Chris Hearne, senior vice president of engineering. “Our customers are excited for the emergency autoland feature on the Denali and, while our goal is to achieve type certification as quickly as possible, it is of greatest importance to assure that every detail is completed with the highest quality.”

At NBAA-BACE last October, Textron President and CEO Ron Draper announced that certification for the Denali would be delayed one year to 2024, blaming pandemic-related supply constraints and the push for the company to focus on delivery of the Cessna SkyCourier, of which FedEx had ordered dozens.

“There is no issue with the Catalyst engine,” Draper said then. “The airplane is flying great; there aren’t any issues. It is a lot of work to certify an airplane and an engine at the same time and we are bold enough to do that.”

PREVIOUS STORIES: 
Beechcraft Denali propeller system completes wind tunnel testing 
Beechcraft Denali takes to the sky for first flight

Test flights of the Beechcraft Denali began in June and there are now three prototypes flying. An update from Textron this week noted that the three planes have now accumulated more than 1,300 flight hours.

Seen by many as a potential competitor to the Pilatus PC-12, the Beechcraft Denali is expected to be able to hit cruise speeds of 285 knots with a full fuel payload of 1,100 pounds, able to cover a range of 1,600 miles at high-speed cruise with a pilot and four passengers – able to connect Los Angeles to Chicago, New York to Miami or London to Athens.

The Catalyst turboprop engine is a SAF-capable, FADEC-equipped, 1,300 shaft horsepower (SHP)-rated engine that offers single-lever power and control of its McCauley 105-inch composite, 5-blade, constant speed propeller, which is full feathering with reversible pitch and ice protection.

Beechcraft Denali to get Garmin Emergency Autoland; certification now pushed to 2025

 


Aviation Company Building $13M Facility at McKinney Airport

Cirrus Aircraft broke ground last week on a new facility at McKinney National Airport. Community Impact reports the personal aviation company is investing $13 million into the new facility. The 45,000-square-foot facility will include a 15,000-square-foot service hangar and a storage hangar of the same size. The facility will also feature a flight simulation space, a retail store, a customer lounge with a viewing balcony and more.

Cirrus began operations in McKinney in 2019 before opening a facility at the airport in late 2021.

The new facility will expand upon operations the company currently conducts at the airport, including aircraft sales, flight training, factory service and aircraft management. The company currently employees over 50 people in the McKinney area and plans to add more positions.

Aviation Company Building $13M Facility at McKinney Airport

 


Pratt And Whitney Issues Statement, Claims It Will Comply On Go First Arbitration Award

Within hours of mounting pressure from Indian quarters, American engine makers Pratt and Whitney issued a statement.

Megha Rawat

Within hours of mounting pressure from the Indian quarters, American engine makers Pratt and Whitney issued a statement that they are ready to comply with the Arbitration award issued by a Singapore court which had asked P&W to deliver at least 10 engines to GoFirst by April 27 to help them stay afloat.

"Pratt & Whitney is committed to the success of our airline customers, and we continue to prioritize delivery schedules for all customers. Pratt & Whitney is complying with the March 2023 arbitration ruling related to Go First. As this is now a matter of litigation, we will not… pic.twitter.com/emokTR20ts — ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2023

On Tuesday, Go First said that it has been forced to seek voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings due to serial failure of Pratt & Whitney engines resulting in the grounding of 50 per cent of the fleet, and is no longer in a position to continue to meet its financial obligations.

The latest move by the Wadia group-owned carrier, which has been flying for more than 17 years, came after arbitration proceedings in Singapore and a suit filed in a US court seeking enforcement of the arbitration award last month.

‘Totally Deceived By Pratt And Whitney’ Says GoFirst CEO
In an exclusive interview on Republic TV, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Go First, the airline which has been forced to shut down due to a lack of engine supply by American manufacturers Pratt & Whitney stated, they have been “completely deceived” by the American company.

“Our repeated appeals have not been heard by the company, we have been totally deceived by Pratt & Whitney,” Kaushik Khona, CEO, GoFirst said.

Khona said that the company has been forced to shut down operations because they are now left with only 55 engines and with almost half their aircraft down, it is impossible for them to operate a pan-India service.

“We will fight the battle in the US. We are advised to enforce our rights and we are evaluating every possible option,” he added.

Cash-strapped Go First Cancels Operations For 3 Days, Passengers Fumed Over Its Service
As Cash-strapped Indian airline Go First Airways grounded flights amid bankruptcy, passengers who booked their tickets with the airlines are left in the middle of nowhere. On Tuesday, Go First Airlines announced that its flight operations will remain cancelled from May 3 to May 5 adding that a full refund will be issued to the passengers. 

Pratt And Whitney Issues Statement, Claims It Will Comply On Go First Arbitration Award

 


T-7 Trainer’s IOC Slips Again, This Time to Spring 2027

April 21, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer won’t achieve initial operational capability until early 2027, having slipped from its original goal of 2024 and a more recent timeline of 2026, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter said April 21. The delay stems from postponement of the Milestone C low-rate production decision, resulting from issues discovered in testing related to the ejection seat and more.

In an email transmitted through an Air Force spokesperson, Hunter told Air & Space Forces Magazine that “due to issues discovered in the early development and test phase of the program, the Air Force is delaying its Milestone C decision to initiate the buy of T-7A production aircraft. By extension, this will shift the T-7A program’s initial operational capability (IOC) into the spring of 2027. We are pursuing risk reduction activities to mitigate some of these schedule challenges.”

The Air Force and Boeing team completed a sled test of the ejection seat in February and are set to conduct a taxi test “within the next several weeks,” Hunter said. Those tests will hopefully provide a path to resolving the ejection seat problems, he added.

The escape system ran into trouble when testing showed that for persons at the low end of the height/weight range, ejection from the T-7 posed a risk of serious injury. Industry sources have said, however, that the manikins used to test ejection forces may have been improperly instrumented. 

The T-7A program used new techniques like digital engineering and digital design to dramatically shorten the traditional time to go from initial drawings to first flight.

“As a result, we have identified and mitigated issues earlier in the development phase, prior to formal flight testing” and before a production decision, Hunter said. “This significantly reduces concurrency on the program and avoids more costly delays from discovery later in development, after a production decision.”

However, the problems discovered—including a “wing rock” issue—have pushed back the Air Force’s ambitious timeline to get the trainer in service.

The Air Force acknowledged last week the T-7A likely won’t get the green light for low-rate initial production until February 2026, but it could not at that time estimate what effect the delay would have on IOC. The production decision marked a 14-month slip from the update to the program schedule in late 2022.

The first production aircraft now will not be delivered until December 2025. Three of the five production-representative aircraft necessary for flight test are complete, and both Boeing and the Air Force anticipate formal flight testing of those airplanes will begin in the coming months.

The T-7A has also been afflicted by supply and labor shortage issues.

Boeing and USAF are “confident improvements and recent testing are yielding a safe and effective escape system,” an Air Force spokesperson said April 14.

The Air Force removed all T-7 production funds from its fiscal year 2024 budget request, saying the slip in the low-rate initial production meant production funds are not needed in the coming fiscal year.

The slip in the T-7A’s IOC date will now almost surely require the Air Force to further extend the service of some of its 60-plus-year-old T-38 advanced jet trainers, which continue to receive structural modifications and cockpit improvements.

The Air Force plans to buy 351 T-7As and has options to buy as many as 475.
In recent days, members of Congress have expressed concerns to the Air Force about trainer shortages causing delays in pilot production and deficits in pilot manning levels, particularly in fighters.  

T-7 Trainer’s IOC Slips Again, This Time to Spring 2027

 


WHAT MODERN CERTIFICATION MAY LEAD TO
SLOVENIAN AIRFRAMER ADDS WEIGHT, POWER TO GOGETAIR G750

April 24, 2023
By Thomas A. Horne

The sleek, Slovenian-built Gogetair G750 made its first appearance at Aero Friedrichshafen, giving us a chance to delve into its place in the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s aircraft certification modernization, and what that might look like under the FAA.

The Gogetair G750 stands to take advantage of modernized regulations in Europe, which the FAA may one day adopt. Photo by Josh Cochran.

Though now in the experimental category and factory-built, Gogetair Aviation expects to earn approval under EASA’s CS-VLA (very light aircraft) rules, which allow a max takeoff weight of 1,653 pounds, which is higher than the EASA limit of 1,320 pounds for CS-LSA and ultralight aircraft, as well as light sport aircraft operated under FAA regulations. This means more useful load for the Gogetair (772 pounds). Plus, the VLA category retains the same 45-knot stall speed that applies to LSAs and ultralights.

The airplane can be ordered with the 100-horsepower Rotax 912 iS, a 115-hp Rotax 914 UL, or a 141-hp Rotax 915 iS engine; the max cruise speed of 138 knots is the same for all engines, but takeoff performance and initial climb rates are more robust with the higher horsepower engines. The biggest advantage of CS-VLA rules? 

Permission to fly under instrument flight rules, and at night—something not allowed in LSAs and ultralights.

For avionics, it’s your choice of a Dynon SkyView or Garmin G3X Touch glass cockpit, with Garmin’s GTN 750 navigator. The standard equipment list also includes a constant-speed propeller, a two-axis digital autopilot, a ballistic recovery parachute system, a two-day training package, and a two-year or 500-flight-hour, spinner-to-tail cone warranty. The base price is just under $260,000 at current exchange rates.

WHAT MODERN CERTIFICATION MAY LEAD TO SLOVENIAN AIRFRAMER ADDS WEIGHT, POWER TO GOGETAIR G750

 


PC-12 Fleet Passes Ten Million Flight Hour Milestone

By Kate O'Connor 
Published: May 1, 2023

The Pilatus PC-12 single-engine utility turboprop has now logged more than ten million flight hours since the first examples of the model were delivered in 1994. According to Pilatus, 71 PC-12s have flown for more than 20,000 hours each with the fleet leader logging over 35,000 hours. The company says it has delivered almost 2,000 PC-12s to date, noting that the fleet has currently recorded more than 9.3 million landings.

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

The PC-12 has seen regular use by corporate flight departments, individual owner-operators, fractional and charter companies, air ambulance service providers and special missions units. The most recent version, the PC-12 NGX, was introduced in 2019. 

Powered by the Pratt & Whitney PT6E-67XP, the PC-12 NGX offers a top cruise speed of 290 knots, 1,803-NM range and full-fuel payload of 988 pounds.

PC-12 Fleet Passes Ten Million Flight Hour Milestone

 


NASA aims to end a 50-year old ban on supersonic civilian aircraft in the US
The agency's Quesst mission aims to develop a quieter Mach+ experience, devoid of supersonic booms.

Jijo Malayil
Created: Apr 28, 2023 03:56 AM EST

NASA is inching close to a solution that could help end the ban on all civilian supersonic flights over land in the United States. The agency's Quesst mission, which intends to develop a more silent supersonic airplane for commercial operations, is nearing its final developmental stages, the results of which will be submitted to regulators to reconsider the prohibition order. 

“It’s a rule that many people today aren’t aware of, yet it’s at the heart of what our Quesst mission with its quiet supersonic X-59 airplane is all about,” said Peter Coen, mission integration manager, said in a blog post. The aircraft is designed to fly Mach 1.4 with quieter booms, and the agency last December had finished the integration of its 13-foot-long engine with 22,000 pounds of thrust, sourced from General Electric Aviation.

The development comes as April 27, 2023, marked the 50th anniversary of a federal order that prohibited non-military aircraft from flying faster than the speed of sound and carrying out commercial operations. The ban was implemented after people complained of the excessive noise pollution and vibration, especially in cities, caused by the supersonic boom that occurred as such jets broke the sound barrier. 

According to NASA, during the period, various research projects had the potential to soften the impact of sonic booms, but "aeronautical technology during the 1960s and early 1970s wasn’t sophisticated enough to fully solve the problem in time to prevent the rule from being enacted." 
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How the ban came into effect?
The supersonic era in the U.S. started after the XS-1 airplane broke the sound barrier in 1947, and with such experimental flights becoming common in the coming decade, the Air Force, Navy, NASA, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employed resources to study the effects of sonic booms in various conditions, and how the public in different locations reacted to such frequent disturbances. 

The U.S. federal government also initiated a plan to develop a Supersonic Transport or SST. The program was initiated by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the proposal intended to develop a new commercial supersonic aircraft with a capacity of 300 passengers, carrying them at a pace exceeding three times the speed of sound.

In a major setback to such developments, in 1968, a supersonic flight by an F-105 Thunderchief passing 50 feet over school premises in Colorado blew out 200 windows and injured a dozen people. Public outcry in the subsequent years led to the SST program getting scrapped in 1971 and a blanket ban on civil supersonic flights over land in 1973. 

A supersonic experience without sonic booms
NASA is hoping that new standards with respect to supersonic flights will force lawmakers to reconsider the age-old ban as newer technologies can now ensure such flights without sonic booms that could affect anyone below. 

"Instead of a rule-based solely on speed, we are proposing the rule be based on sound. If the sound of a supersonic flight isn’t loud enough to bother anyone below, there’s no reason why the airplane can’t be flying supersonic," said Coen. 

NASA with its Quesst mission, is on the path of proving that the technology works, and plans to conduct community overflights and public surveys to change perceptions against such aircraft. 

More than public acceptance of supersonic flights, NASA is keeping an eye out to solve the issue related to airport noise, emissions, and climate impact, for such a mission to become a reality. According to the agency, the first item to tick off is lifting the half-century-old ban on supersonic flight over land. 

“We are very excited to be making this big step forward, but we recognize that more needs to be done,” said Coen. 

NASA aims to end a 50-year old ban on supersonic civilian aircraft in the US

Curt Lewis