With recent announcements concerning the Eclipse 550 and the sale of Diamond to Dubai-based Medrar Financial Group, it seems that “personal jets” are, once again, poised for a comeback… if somewhat delayed. Yes, the Altaire has been put on hold indefinitely and the entry into service of the Cirrus SF50 has been postponed until 2015. Yet, some activity is still better than no activity and I can’t help but hope that one day these more affordable entries into the jet world will become a reality.

Now, to be clear, I am fully aware of the whole financial debate pitting personal jets vs. turboprops and I’ll be the first one to admit that purely from an operating cost standpoint turboprops appear to make a more compelling proposition. However, the experience of flying a bizjet is quite unique and I have to believe that the decisions of individuals who can afford one of those aircraft will transcend pure economics.

My first experience sitting in the cockpit of one of those aircraft was at Oshkosh ’06, where Diamond had brought a mockup of their D-Jet. My first reaction was one of surprise: the cabin was substantially more spacious than I had anticipated. The apparent size of the aircraft’s exterior truly does not do justice to the amount of legroom available for passengers and pilots alike. A few years later Cirrus brought a mockup of the SF50 also at Oshkosh, further reinforcing my thoughts that these aircraft are not merely intended to bring you from point A to point B, but also provide an enjoyable experience in the process.

Perhaps this is not the time for “personal jets” to shine, but hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to see some of those incredible machines take off. In the meantime, I encourage you to check out the following websites and share your thoughts:

• http://www.diamondaircraft.com/aircraft/djet/
• http://www.cirrusaircraft.com/vision/
• http://www.eclipse.aero/

Cheers,

Raf.

Not literally, of course. The X-47B still has that wonderful, GE-made landing gear system. Check out some excellent video of the most recent public flight, courtesy of Northrop Grumman Corporation. See the video below.

What’s new and exciting within the US Navy’s UCAS-D (Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration) program is the recent announcement that X-47B will include in-flight refueling capabilities, thus increasing its effective range to a whopping 3,000+ miles. Click here to read the report.

The DoD has recently begun to shift strategic military discussions to the Asia-Pacific region and one requirement that keeps popping up is the need for long-range and long-endurance capabilities in order to ensure adequate standoff distances from potential land and ship-based threats. With in-flight refueling, the ability to operate in a carrier environment, and an impressive array of planned playloads, the operational version of X-47B will undoubtedly help to fill a growing mission-capability gap of the USN and potentially other US military services.

We can certainly expect to see more technological advances in autonomous aerial refueling in the coming years. Not only from manned-to-unmanned refueling, but also from unmanned-to-unmanned refueling. Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before we see UAVs delivering fuel to manned aircraft.

Fly safe,

Marc

David Huber Fulton was the most significant person in my life.  He was my Dad and a pilot for the US Air Force and then Delta Air Lines.  I grew up crazy about airplanes and dreaming of being a pilot like him.  He encouraged me to study hard in school to gain a solid academic foundation that would be a complement to my flying skills.  My engineering training and flying qualifications have proven to be a tremendous combination in helping me think through some of the toughest challenges in aviation navigation.   As I look back on what I have been able to accomplish in my life, I have him to thank for most of it.

My Dad died five weeks ago and I’m in the very human process of grieving his passing.  It is not easy, but our family is quite close and we’re helping each other through it.  These are the times in life that we pause and think about more than just the normal, everyday routine things of life. 

Steve Jobs gave a commencement address to the graduating class at Stanford University in 2005.  He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the previous year which resulted in his own time of reflection on the subject of death.  He told the class that, “Death is very likely the single best invention of life.  It is life’s change agent.”  Jobs described his morning routine where he looked in the mirror and asked the question of himself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”  If the answer to that question too many days in a row was, “No”, then he knew he needed to change something.  Steve Jobs accomplished a lot in his life, but it has been observed by many since his death a few weeks ago that his final years since his cancer diagnosis were the most productive in his entire career.

All of us want to do meaningful work – that is, to work on things that make a difference.  We have an innate need to be part of something that is bigger than ourselves.  I began to recognize my opportunity to do this early on in my time as a pilot for Alaska Airlines. It became clear to me that there was a better way to navigate than with the old ground-based transmitters and the associated operating rules that had prevailed for the previous decades of air transport operations. 

Over a course of events, I was able to lead the development and operational deployment of an entirely new way of navigating aircraft that revolutionized operations for Alaska Airlines and is now the focus of significant deployment efforts around the globe.  However, as satisfying as these accomplishments are, I feel a certain amount of restlessness.  I know there’s more that can be done.  Air traffic operations today are safe, but inefficient and subject to disruptions.  I know we can improve, but we need to make better progress than what we are seeing from current activities.

I work with people at GE who share this same sense of purpose and calling.  We can build on the foundation of performance-based navigation and connect with other technologies to bring significant improvements to air traffic operations.  Dare to imagine with us a world where airplanes depart as scheduled, transit to their destinations with lower cost and environmental impact and arrive precisely on schedule.  We believe it is within our ability to help create this future of air traffic management and that it is a life-cause that passes the “bathroom mirror” test described by Steve Jobs.  I look forward to working with my colleagues at GE and those of you across the industry as partners to accomplish this dream.

Despite the fact that global economic woes have flooded news outlets with stunning regularity over the past couple of years, last month’s NBAA convention in Las Vegas was refreshingly upbeat. Truth be told, I don’t think anyone in the business aviation industry believes that the fate of the economy and bizjet sales will turn around in a matter of weeks. However the signs are there that, though a slow recovery, a recovery is nonetheless around the corner and this year’s NBAA convention was the first one in a couple of years where I saw more optimism from participants.

Most estimates that I have reviewed over the past year appear to be in line with GE’s own, which is reassuring. Broadly speaking, they indicate that the bizjet industry will experience an almost linear growth starting in 2012 and crossing the 1000-annual-deliveries threshold in the 2015-2017 timeframe (from the current sub-700 units). Furthermore, growth is expected to be steady enough that a total of 10,000 deliveries are projected in the next decade.

Positive atmosphere aside, some of the announcements and updates at NBAA appeared to reflect the ongoing upward momentum:

• Gulfstream confirmed that entry into market for their G280 and G650 models is scheduled for this year and the start of next year, respectively
• Embraer is continuing its climb into the upper echelons of the bizjet world with the Legacy 450 and 500 programs
• Bombardier provided further updates on the Lear 85 program, which will constitute a nice bridge to their Challenger lineup
• Lastly, but certainly not least, Cessna made the surprise announcement of the Latitude, only a short period after the M2 program had been officially unveiled.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the hopes for the so-called “personal jet” segment appear to have been dealt another blow. It was just last year at NBAA Atlanta that the Piper Jet had been renamed and respec-ed amongst much fanfare, yet, as I write this post, the Altaire program has been put indefinitely on hold. With similar platforms from Diamond and Cirrus having been delayed, it appears that the dream of flying these innovative aircraft will have to wait at least until the middle of this decade. Until then, those users will be looking either in the direction of Eclipse Aerospace or turboprop manufacturers (newcomer Kestrel certainly appears to be well positioned in that regard).

The thought on everyone’s mind, though, was how to position one’s firm to reap the benefit of the seemingly endless hunger for business aircraft coming from China. The country appears to be poised to fill a considerable portion of the order books for ultra-long range aircraft, as the word “Trans-Pacific” becomes commonplace. It will be interesting to follow the competition at the top (7X, Global 7000/8000, G650), as OEMs try to meet the increasing demand. While a desire for aircraft is indeed important, equally relevant indicators of the growth rate in China will be its ability to cut much of the existing regulatory red tape and build an adequate infrastructure of MROs, smaller airports and FBOs: I remain optimistic.

And if Las Vegas was any indication of things to come, we can all already start looking forward to next year’s gathering in Orlando. See you there.

Raf.