Economy hurts general aviation makers; very light jets take blows

The deep recession was bad news for every general aviation manufacturer as orders dried up and potential customers found they were unable to get loans for new planes. While manufacturers tried to downplay their problems, nearly every piston plane maker had to either lay off workers or reduce production schedules by this fall. Piston plane makers weren’t the only ones suffering, either. Much of Cessna’s business jet base dried up as well as corporations scaled back expansion plans and looked for ways to save as fuel hit record highs over the summer, a pattern that repeated itself at companies like Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier.

2008 was a year of truth for the fledgling very light jet industry. While Cessna pushed steadily forward with deliveries of its Mustang VLJ and Embraer started shipping the Phenom 100 to customers earlier this month, other manufacturers didn’t do so well. Adam Aircraft went bankrupt in February; its new owners hope to certify the A700 jet by 2010 but have abandoned the centerline-thrust A500 turboprop. In September, air taxi company DayJet went belly up, foreshadowing Eclipse’s bankruptcy just before Thanksgiving. Eclipse’s assets are set to go on the auction block in early January, leaving the fate of the pioneering VLJ unclear for now.

Small planes offer promise in fold-up models

The bright spot for general aviation this year was in the progress made on small planes. Cessna’s light sport aircraft, the Model 162 SkyCatcher, began flight tests. One test plane was destroyed in a crash during spin testing (the pilot parachuted and landed unhurt), and Cessna said in response it was making minor design changes to improve the 162’s aerodynamics. Cessna plans to start delivering the planes in late 2009 or early 2010. Another segment that had the public’s attention this year: light sport planes that could fit in a driveway. Icon Aircraft began flight tests of its A5, an amphibious model with fold-up wings that will allow the plane to be transported on a small trailer. The company aims to have the A5 in production by late 2010. If being able to drive your plane into your driveway is more appealing, Terragufia hopes to have an answer. The company is in the early phases of testing a plane that could convert into a small car after it lands at an airport. Its makers call the plane a “roadable aircraft” to separate it from the ill-fated “flying cars” that have failed to take off in the past. The Terrafugia would be certified as a light sport aircraft with a 460-mile range in the air. Motors would fold the wings after landing and it would fit in a standard automobile garage.

FAA, Air Force find themselves in hot water

StudentPilot.com readers agreed that the scandal involving Southwest Airlines and the FAA was one of the most newsworthy government-related aviation stories in 2008. Mid-level managers at the FAA tacitly let Southwest skip mandatory fuselage inspections that would have checked for fatigue cracks, and the airline flew dozens of flights on planes that weren’t airworthy as a result. When the news broke, the scandal quickly broadened. Whistleblowers throughout the FAA said they had been pressured to turn a blind eye on maintenance lapses. As a result, American, Delta and United all grounded planes for various reasons, resulting in thousands of flight cancellations last spring. The FAA fined Southwest more than $10 million for its inspection lapses and pledged internal reforms, including new systems that would let employees report incidents without being intimidated by their bosses.

Other government agencies had their share of trouble in 2008, too. The U.S. Air Force struggled, and failed, to seal the deal on a $35-billion contract to replace its fleet of aging KC-135 midair refueling tankers. The two bidders were Boeing, which proposed a modified 767, and Airbus, which would have used a variant of the larger A330. When the Air Force awarded the contract to Airbus, Boeing cried foul, arguing that the Pentagon had changed the rules in the middle of the bidding process and had given Airbus more credit for its larger airframe. The Air Force initially said it would reevaluate both planes, but then scrapped the entire contract when Boeing said it would need more time to tweak the 777 for the tanker program. With all efforts stalled for several months, it will be up to Barack Obama’s administration to pick up the pieces.

Boeing struggles through challenges

If the tanker contract put Boeing in the defensive for the first part of the year, a crippling two-month strike left it in that position for the rest of the year. Its Machinists union, which includes many assembly line workers, hit the picket line in early September. Concerns over how Boeing would outsource future aircraft manufacturing work were among the top concerns for the union. In early November, Machinists voted overwhelmingly in favor of a four-year contract — one year longer than usual — that assures substantial pay raises but does not give workers much protection from outsourcing. The two-month strike meant Boeing’s production lines were idle for that time, setting the company behind in orders it had booked and giving Airbus a chance to pull ahead in deliveries for the year. The strike also meant another delay for the 787 Dreamliner, now expected to fly for the first time in mid-2009.

A Chinese manufacturer could be a future competitor for the likes of Bombardier when it comes to regional jets. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China announced in November that the nation’s first regional jet had completed its maiden flight. The ARJ21 will seat up to 90 passengers with a range of about 2,000 nautical miles. So far, the ARJ21 has booked more than 200 orders, mainly from Chinese airlines. If it looks like an MD-90, that’s because it uses much of the same fuselage tooling, though the ARJ21 has a completely new wing design. Expect the plane to take to the skies with passengers aboard in the next year.

2009: The year of green aviation?

When Jet-A prices spiked in the summer of 2008, airlines responded by raising fares, tacking on fuel surcharges, and making customers pay for checked luggage. But industry executives also acknowledged that they needed to start looking for ways to save fuel in the long term. Different fuels could be one solution. Early in 2008, Virgin Atlantic successfully tested a 20-percent biofuel mix in one of the engines of a 747 on a flight from London to Amsterdam. Sometime in early 2009, Continental, Air New Zealand and Japan Air Lines are all expected to make test flights using biofuel mixtures. The promise of using a blend of biolfuel and Jet-A is that it would save money without requiring substantial alterations to jet engines. The tests in the coming year could provide an indication of how realistic those hopes are. Simpler changes could save airlines money, too. Air New Zealand showed off how an optimized descent at the end of a long-haul flight could save thousands of pounds of fuel. The test required hefty coordination with air traffic controllers beforehand, though. Making the practice widespread would require that controllers move away from issuing step-down descents, which use more fuel because jet engines must spool up each time a plane levels off at a lower altitude.

For more year-in-review recaps, take a look at the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, which highlighted some of its successes in 2008. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association took at look at many of the low points in general aviation in the past year and also reviewed some of the pilots who made the news.

Vote by this Sunday, Dec. 28, to add your voice to StudentPilot’s aviation news year in review.

Acrobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff pleaded no contest Monday to charges she was drunk while driving down a runway at Oshkosh, Wisc., following an air show performance in July. Wagstaff performed at AirVenture on July 31 and later in the day, officials saw her swerving down the runway in a sport utility vehicle, the Oshkosh Northwestern reported. Police say Wagstaff hurled insults at officers as they arrested her and took her to a jail. She refused to take blood or breath tests for alcohol, but was still charged with driving under the influence. In pleading no contest Monday to charges of drunken driving and resisting arrest, Wagstaff agreed to pay a $500 fine and have her driver’s license suspended for eight months. She did not speak with reporters after leaving court. In a statement on her blog Monday, Wagstaff wrote that she regretted the incident and is taking responsibility for her actions. “The past five months have been very frustrating because I have not been able to tell my side of things,” she wrote. It is not clear what, if any, disciplinary action she will face from the FAA, though the Experimental Aircraft Association has already invited Wagstaff back to perform at this summer’s AirVenture.

The National Weather Service is scrambling to meet a Dec. 23 FAA deadline to submit its take on the aviation agency’s plane to boot weather forecasters out of Air Route Traffic Control Centers and consolidate them in separate facilities. The FAA has tossed the idea around for several years and now says the move would save money while allowing controllers the same access to information and analysis from forecasters, the Washington Post reported. But neither the FAA nor the Bush Administration has said how much money the consolidation would save. For the last 30 years, each ARTCC has had four full-time weather service meteorologists. Under the FAA’s plan, forecasters would work out of new facilities in Maryland and Kansas, and then teleconference with controllers at the 21 ARTCCs to exchange weather information. But meteorologists, controllers and one congressman say the change would decrease safety, especially if telecommunications links between facilities went offline, something that has happened several times in the last year. And opponents of the plan, which is being driven by the Bush Administration, said at the very least, the FAA should wait for the Obama Administration to make the decision.

Predator drones, controlled by humans thousands of miles away, are nothing new in the military’s arsenal. A new plane being developed by Northrop Grumman could take the unmanned aerial vehicle to the next level, landing on aircraft carriers and even refueling in midair by itself, the Register reported. The $100 million X-47B planes are also specially designed to fly undetected by radar and could carry weapons along with surveillance equipment. The planes are set to start land-based tests in the fall of 2009, with carrier testing as soon as 2011. The X-47B is costly but if it works, it could prove just as capable as many Navy pilots, especially if it can deftly land itself on an aircraft carrier. And that could open up a whole new discussion about when manned flights would still truly be necessary.

Cirrus Design announced last week that its new chief executive is Brent Wouters, who was previously the company’s chief operating officer. Wouters will take founder Alan Klapmeier’s place at the CEO spot, a position Klapmeier has held since co-founding the company 1984. In a news release, Klapmeier said he was stepping down from that position so that he could devote more time to implementing his long-range vision for the company and spend less time on day-to-day operations. Klapmeier will retain his position as chairman of the company’s board of directors. Dale Klapmeier, Alan’s brother and Cirrus co-founder, is keeping his position as vice-chairman of the board. The upper management shift comes as the company announced earlier this month it is pushing ahead with its Cirrus Vision single-engine jet program, though at a slower pace than once planned because of the economic recession.

A new coalition of Eclipse jet owners and customers has formed to give the group a unified voice during the very light jet maker’s bankruptcy proceedings. Collectively, the more than 200 owners and 1,000 people who have put down about $300 million in deposits represent the largest slice of the $1 billion in debt Eclipse currently has, the Albany Business Review reported. Current owners want to make sure that whatever the outcome of a Jan. 7 auction for Eclipse’s assets, they’ll still be able to get warranty service, parts, maintenance and aircraft upgrades from the new company. And existing customers want to ensure they can still get a plane in the future or get their deposits refunded. So far the group is small, but it is quickly gaining steam as it tries to get as many current owners and customers as possible to join its ranks. The group would then be able to intervene in the Eclipse bankruptcy case as a representative of the company’s customers. Eclipse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 25 after missing payroll and being unable to get the $300 million in financing it said it needed to keep building new planes.

Federal officials are growing worried now that several airlines have stopped taking part in the voluntary Aviation Safety Action Program. The program, slightly different at each airline and which had the blessings of airline management and unions, gave pilots, mechanics and flight attendants a way to report safety concerns and avoid disciplinary action if they did so, the Wall Street Journal reported. US Airways became the most recent airline last week to drop its program amid souring relations between the airline and its unions. US Airways had been in the program for a decade. In response, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was worried about increased safety risks without the program in place, and the FAA said the program never should have become a “bargaining chip” in labor talks. As at other airlines, after a pilot reported an incident or safety concerns, representatives from the airline, unions and the government would review the incident and take action to prevent it from happening again. While similar to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System, which is unaffected, ASAP gave everyone a way to resolve problems, not simply post them anonymously, as is the case with NASA’s system. Earlier this year, American, Delta and regional carrier Comair all dropped their respective voluntary reporting programs.

Flight-simmers feeling constrained by the limited flying area and four aircraft choices in the first version of X-Plane for the Apple iPhone can now branch out with two new $5 versions. X-Plane Airliner lets you fly a Boeing 747, 777, 787 or Airbus A380 above a 7,200-square-mile swath of Southern California with access to 98 airports and dozens of navigational aids. One screen simulates a two-panel glass cockpit, letting pilots work on cross-country flying in instrument conditions and practice approaches into dozens of airports. A separate helicopter version takes you over and in the Grand Canyon in a Robinson R-22, Bell 206, Army Blackhawk or Sea King search and rescue chopper. A slider on the left controls the collective and the simulation handles tail rotor anti-torque automatically. The original version, still $10, now features a standard six-pack of instruments, as well as radios to fly ILS approaches into three airports. Laminar Research says it has more updates in the works, including new planes for the original version, improved graphics and more airports.

Truckee Tahoe Airport, near the California-Nevada border, faces many of the same issues related to nearby housing developments as countless other airports in the nation. But officials there may be close to finding a way to keep neighbors at ease and reward pilots who follow noise abatement rules, the Sierra Sun reported. As soon as this summer, officials could install Multilateration Surveillance sensors on cell phone towers across the city, which would let residents and airport officials see who’s flying where in the area. The technology is similar to Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B. But while ADS-B requires both ground sensors and GPS signals to determine aircraft positions, Multilateration Surveillance uses a denser network of small ground stations to triangulate aircraft positions based on transponder returns. It’s already used at several European airports to keep track of planes taxiing on the ground. At Truckee, the system would let residents see which planes are flying over their houses, and at what altitudes Airport officials point out that they wouldn’t be able to punish pilots who fly too close to housing developments – but they could reward pilots with hangar or fuel discounts when they stick to local noise abatement procedures.