500-hp Red AO3 diesel engine - Alan Ortiz

 

 The submarine-shaped aircraft will have a maximum cruise speed of 391 knots and a range exceeding 3,900 nm, while offering a stand-up cabin and fuel economy of 16 to 22 nm per gallon. 

The new procedure closely follows the path of the existing visual approach for Runway 4-Left. By providing vertical and lateral guidance to pilots and by enabling air traffic controllers to more precisely monitor arriving aircraft, planes stay in a more narrow approach path. It will also enhance safety and flight efficiency, especially in bad weather. When visibility is low, flights will be able to land on Runway 4-Left, helping to reduce delays that result in late-night arrivals at the airport. Currently, aircraft can land on the runway in only good weather.  

“These models of aircraft have solar reflective values that have to be met for the exterior paint,” said Duncan senior completions sales representative Angie Coleman. “This put our paint and design team to work to find a good match of paint in the solar reflective paint formulas.”

On the inside Duncan did a complete refurbishment of the cabin, using a light neutral tone for the headliner and window panels, cabin veneer with brown-toned stain, and red undertone in a matte finish. Drink rails and table inserts are covered with red leather, while lower sidewalls are fitted with a charcoal gray, diamond-patterned chenille fabric. The cabin seats are covered in black leather with red accent stitching, and a charcoal gray carpet capped off the cabin refresh.

“It’s always a little nerve-racking picking finishes because you don’t know how they will look together, but the Duncan Aviation team guided me through the process and ensured the final product would turn out great,” said Toll Group v-p Kjell Lindberg. “It certainly did.”

This article, the first in a two-part series, provides an overview of global aviation’s performance during the pandemic, by subsector. The second article explores what airline executives could consider doing to generate more value for their carriers—for instance, examining their cost base and accelerating capital turnover. Fiscal year 2021 data are not yet available for all the companies covered in this analysis, so this article draws insights mostly from the 2012–20 data, supplemented by observations of key developments in 2021.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-08-28/western-aircraft-installs-first-pc-12-speed-cowl    Noah - Western Aircraft has installed its first Speed Cowl on a Pilatus PC-12 that the Boise, Idaho-based MRO provider said improves the performance of the single-engine turboprop. 

The pandemic had negatively impacted the global revenue from full-service and low-cost airlines, according to GlobalData. The data shows that the industry enjoyed steady growth in the pre-pandemic years, but global revenues from full-service and low-cost airlines recorded a sharp decline in 2020, before showing signs of recovery in 2021 (which still fell short of pre-pandemic levels).

The deals come about two weeks after Boeing confirmed it would delay the first delivery of the 777X until 2025 after reassessing the time it would need to meet the FAA’s stricter certification requirements. Originally expected to win certification in 2020, the 777X has suffered through no fewer than three major schedule delays.

Lufthansa said the additional 787-9s will fill capacity gaps created by the latest 777-9 delivery delay, adding that it would bring forward “in some cases” deliveries of Dreamliners already on its books to 2023 and 2024. The new 787-9 order calls for deliveries in 2025 and 2026.

"We continue investing in more fuel-efficient, quieter, and more economical aircraft that emit significantly less CO₂,” said Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr. “This enables us to drive our fleet modernization. By purchasing these state-of-the-art aircraft, we again underline Lufthansa Group's ability to invest in and shape the future. Once again, we are taking the initiative and expanding our leadership role as well as taking responsibility for the environment—with premium products for our customers and a sustainable fleet.”

Boeing launched the new 777-8 Freighter in January and booked firm orders for 34 of the model. The 2021 Boeing Commercial Market Outlook projects a 70 percent increase in the size of the global freighter fleet by 2040, including some 450 new large widebody freighters.

A report commissioned by the climate charity Possible assessed every target set by the industry since 2000 and found that nearly all had been missed, revised or quietly ignored. The charity says the findings undermine a UK government plan to leave airlines to reduce their emissions through self-regulation.

Leo Murray, Possible’s director of innovation, said: “This forensic investigation shows just how implausible and credulous the government’s jet-zero strategy is shaping up to be. How can we credibly expect this industry to overdeliver on emissions reduction when they’ve never met any of their previous climate targets?

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“It’s clear that we need to demand reduction via a frequent flyer levy, which would discourage the frequent flying by a small group of people which makes up the bulk of emissions from planes.”

Air travel accounted for 2.1% of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, equivalent to about 915m tonnes, according to the Air Transport Action Group. It is estimated that 15% of people take 70% of all flights, Possible says.

The air targets report was written by researchers from the sustainability agency Green Gumption, who examined climate targets starting and finishing between 2000 and 2021, and assessed progress against some longer-term goals.

They found that unclear definitions, opaque monitoring and inconsistent reporting made many targets difficult to assess, with many also suddenly changed, replaced or dropped within the study period. Moreover, even if the targets had been met, the researchers said, many were insufficiently ambitious to reduce aviation’s climate impact.

In 2007 Virgin Atlantic set a target of a 30% reduction in CO₂ per revenue tonne kilometre (CO₂/RTK) by 2020, which the company later described as “a big target and we’re sticking with it”, according to the report. In a 2014 sustainability report, with a reduction in CO2/RTK of only 8% from baseline, the airline admitted: “We’re nearly halfway through our target period and know we have to pick up the pace.”

But when Virgin’s 2020 annual report was published, it no longer mentioned the 2020 target. The following year, a press release from the company announced a new target of 15% gross reduction in CO2/RTK by 2026.

The researchers conclude that climate target setting is in effect a smokescreen for business as usual. Such targets “appear to function principally as a tactic for giving an impression of progress and action to address aviation’s environmental impacts to the public and policymakers, in order to prevent any policy barriers to ongoing growth in the industry”, the report says.

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It includes a quote from Steve Ridgway, Virgin’s chief executive in 2007, who said: “It is important that the airline industry is being seen to do something.”

The government’s jet-zero strategy is due to be published in July and is expected to defy guidance from the climate change committee that deliberate policies will be needed to manage growth in demand for air travel in order to meet the UK’s net-zero goals.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “This report wilfully ignores this government’s historic investment in technology, fuel and market-based measures which will help us reach jet zero by 2050 without the need for further taxes. This includes £180m to accelerate sustainable aviation fuel and £685m to develop zero-carbon and low-emission aircraft technology.”

Fedex played a role in the development of the aircraft with members of its design and engineering staff serving on Textron Aviation’s customer advisory board, helping to establish the twin turboprop’s design, features, and serviceability. The high-wing airplane is designed to carry a payload of up to 6,000 pounds with an 87-inch cargo door, a flat floor, and a nearly 70-inch tall and wide cabin to accept three standard LD3 air cargo containers.

“The result of four and a half years of collaboration with Textron Aviation on this aircraft, FedEx is excited to add the Cessna 408 SkyCourier as part of our fleet modernization program,” said Scot Struminger, the air cargo provider’s executive v-p of aviation, adding this will help it better serve small and medium markets. “The SkyCourier will make us more efficient, now being able to move containerized and palletized freight for our customers.”

The clean-sheet aircraft, which is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65SC engines and has a 900-nm range, received its FAA type certification in March. FedEx's first SkyCourier was rolled out in February.

Now that it has entered service, Textron Aviation president and CEO Ron Draper expects the order book for it to lengthen. “We believe many other air freight, passenger, and special mission operators also will benefit from the winning combination of low operating costs and unparalleled lift capacity that the new SkyCourier brings to market,” he said.

The number one causal factor for General Aviation accidents is inadequate preflight planning. This course was developed by Flight Service to provide student, and Visual Flight Rules (VFR) pilots, guidance on how to conduct a safe and regulatory compliant preflight self-briefing using automated weather resources. The objective is to ensure that the pilot understands aviation weather basics and learns to apply meteorological and aeronautical information in a systematic manner to plan a safe flight. The course includes scenarios, real-life examples, videos, references materials, and practice exercises for pilots to conduct on their own or with their CFI. The FAA encourages pilots to leverage automated resources and develop weather and aeronautical interpretation skills in order to assess flight safety risks.

With its active electronically-scanned antenna radar, infrared search and track, revised cockpit with a large center pedestal display, modern avionics and a 12,000-hour airframe, the F-16 Block 70/72 represents a major improvement in combat capability compared with the RJAF’s existing F-16 fleet. Three squadrons (Nos 1, 2, and 6) fly the F-16AM/BM from As Shaheed Muwaffaq al Salti air base at Al Azraq. These aircraft—comprising the survivors of 31 F-16AMs and 15 F-16BMs delivered between 2008 and 2017—are former Belgian and Dutch aircraft that had undergone the Mid-Life Update program. Preceding them had been 33 ex-USAF F-16A/Bs in Air Defense Fighter configuration delivered between 1997 and 2003. A number were sold to Pakistan and none of the older aircraft remain in RJAF service.