Flight international

BUSINESS AVIATION

flightglobal.com 15-21 August 2017 | Flight International | 21

Tale of the dragon

World Airliner

Census P22

U

S and European regulators

have provided type and pro-

duction certification to Williams

International for the latest variant

of its FJ44-4 engine, which pow-

ers the in-development Pilatus

PC-24 superlight business jet.

Gregg Williams, president and

chief executive of the Michigan-

based company, says the

FJ44-4A-QPM – which stands for

quiet power mode – is Williams’s

first model to be certificated as a

complete integrated module.

“The turbofan includes a num-

ber of elements that have tradi-

tionally been designed and pro-

vided to the airframe OEMs by

other suppliers,” he says. “These

include our advanced, in-house

manufactured, drag-reducing,

heated inlet, our ‘Exact’ passive

thrust vectoring exhaust nozzle,

which provides significant per-

formance benefits, and our pro-

prietary QPM system.”

This feature allows one of the

FJ44 engines to act as an auxiliary

power unit while on the ground,

to enable air conditioning and

electrical power to be provided.

QPM eliminates the need for

what Williams describes as “a tra-

ditional, separate, expensive and

heavy APU”.

Pilatus, meanwhile, is acceler-

ating production of the PC-24 in

preparation for its certification

and service entry in the fourth

quarter. Three test aircraft have

accumulated more than 1,700h of

flight time to date.

The Swiss company has sold

84 units, and plans to re-open the

orderbook later this year in re-

sponse to high demand. ■

I

nmarsat has completed a suc-

cessful around-the-world test

flight using a Gulfstream GIV

business jet to demonstrate what

it calls “the seamless, worldwide

coverage” of its Global Xpress

satellite-based, Ka-band, high-

speed broadband network.

The large-cabin twin covered

around 25,000nm (46,250km)

over the six-day trip in June, says

Inmarsat. During the flight, Glob-

al Xpress supported voice, data

and streaming applications such

as video teleconferencing, high-

speed internet access and file

transfers, virtual private net-

works (VPN) and phone calls,

and “fully delivered or exceeded

the committed information rate”,

says Inmarsat.

“While government and busi-

ness users have historically had

to manipulate flightplans to

avoid gaps in coverage and per-

formance, the test flight enjoyed

complete flexibility in route se-

lection,” Inmarsat says. The trip

spanned both hemispheres, be-

ginning in the USA with stops in

the UK, United Arab Emirates,

Thailand, Australia and Fiji.

The GIV was outfitted with a

Honeywell tail-mounted anten-

na, which has a “committed rate”

of 4Mbps download and 1Mbps

upload, but is capable of more

than 15Mbps.

“Uniform coverage and service

was delivered to the aircraft as it

moved across 28 beams with

handovers that went unnoticed

by users; and three satellite-to-

satellite handovers were accom-

plished seamlessly,” Inmarsat

says. ■

Pilatus has so far logged over 1,700h with its new superlight twinjet

Pilatus Aircraft

An adapted GIV tested system coverage over a 25,000nm route

Inmarsat

B

usiness aircraft flight activity

in North America continued

its resurgence during the first six

months of 2017, with the charter

and fractional ownership seg-

ments making the greatest gains.

According to the latest TraqPak

report, published on 7 August by

aviation services company Argus

International, instrument flight

rules take-offs and landings

across Canada and the USA rose

by nearly 4% between January

and June, while flying hours

climbed by 6% year-on-year.

The Part 135 ad hoc charter

sector was the strongest perform-

er for the period, recording a 10%

climb in movements and a 12%

surge in flying hours. Fractional

ownership operators also made

solid gains in the six months

ended 30 June, with movements

and hours up by 5.7% and 8.1%.

Flight activity in the Part 91

sector, governing private and cor-

porate operations, remained flat

year-on-year, although overall

flight hours climbed by 1.5%, ac-

cording to Argus. ■

COMMUNICATIONS KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Global Xpress aces round-the-world assessment

PROPULSION KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

FJ44 update powers ahead

as Williams gains approvals

Quiet power mode variant, selected for PC-24, replaces separate auxiliary power unit

D ATA

KATE SARSFIELD LONDON

Charter growth

leads recovery

in flight activity