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French To Use Falcon 8X As Special Missions Platform
The Dassault Falcon 8X is the current flagship of the Falcon family of business jets. The French Armed Forces - French Armament General Directorate (DGA), is looking to acquire three of these jets not for a VIP role but modified for their special missions purposes. Specifically, for Signal Intelligence duties (SIGINT). Below is a rendering of how the Falcon 8X would look as modified for this role...
Daher Shipments Fall In 2019 Overall
Daher Socata has been known for pushing-out alot of single-engine turboprops across their line by the end of a particular year. In 2018, Daher delivered 50 TBM aircraft. Compare that to 48 TBMs handed over in 2019 by the company. 2019's results are the first results since Daher made the acquisition of Quest Aircraft and therefore their Kodiak aircraft has to be added to the delivery tally. In 2019 Daher shipped 20 Kodiak Series II turboprops which is slightly down from the 23 they delivered in 2018. Overall Daher shipped combined between the TBM family and the Kodiak family, 68 units in 2019, compared to 73 in 2018...
Toyota Invests In Joby Aviation eVTOL
Automotive manufacturer Toyota is dipping its tentacles into the eVTOL market place with its investment into Joby Aviation's eVTOL. Toyota's role will be to aid the manufacturing process, quality control as well as expense control for the developmental process as well as production later on. With Toyota onboard it will bring the funding for Joby Aviation to over 700 million dollars at this point...
NetJets Takes First Citation Longitude
NetJets is pleased to have taken delivery of their first Citation Longitude executive jet that they have on order from Textron Aviation brand, Cessna. The aircraft was formerly handed over to the fractional ownership company on December 31, 2019. Customer service with the new jet will actually take place later this quarter. This is the start of a very large order for this aircraft type that NetJets made back in 2018 for as many as 175 if they were to exercise all options...
Bell eVTOL Sheds Two Engines; Goes Fully Electric
The eVTOL project that Bell has been working on has changed in propulsion design slightly. The Bell Nexus 4EX -as it is called now-, will have four rotor ducts instead of six and be fully electric. It appears the move was spurred by performance and aerodynamics. Six fans would potentially provide more drag and lesser efficiency...
2019 Falcon Deliveries Remain Flat
French airframer Dassault Falcon 2019 deliveries remains flat as they did not do much better than for the year 2018. For the year 2019 the airframer shipped 40 business jets which was one less than the previous year. They expected to have delivered 45 Falcons in the year but that did not materialize. It is anticipated that Dassault Falcon will release the full results next month...
NASA Ready To Move Forward With Final Assembly Of X-59 QueSST
The X-59 QueSST (Quiet Super Sonic Technology) is ready to move on to the next phase of development, which is Final Assembly. The major product review of the pending aircraft was held in mid December 2019 and looks to be green-lighted to move into the physical final assembly of the X-59 QueSST. They will then meet again around the same time towards the end of this year to evaluate the first flight in 2021...
Cessna SkyCourier Spared After Explosion
A few days ago a massive explosion rocked one of the facilities of the Wichita-based Cessna. The building that was affected housed assembly of the new SkyCourier that Textron/Cessna has under development. Reports are now suggesting that despite the severity of the blast, the SkyCourier was not affected. The explosion sent 11 persons to the hospital while others were treated on the scene...
AC04 AW609 Lifts Off Marking Final Stretch To Certification
We here at JF normally do not cover helicopters but the AW609 is a bit of both worlds as a tilt-rotor. The AW609 is inching closer and closer to certification with the flight of the fourth test article which would be more representative of a production aircraft. The AW609 is the civilian tilt-rotor but many will be familiar with the recognizable V-22 Osprey in use with the U.S armed forces which uses similar system...
9 P180 Avanti EVOs From Italian Government Firmed For Piaggio
Earlier this year JF alerted you to the prospect that the Italian Government was looking to create a contract to purchase more P180 Avanti Pusher-prop aircraft to either replace or add to the fleet they have. It appears the contract has been firmed and the Italian Government will be taking five in a passenger transport configuration and four equipped for "radio-measures", Piaggio said...
Delta Private Jets Makes Big Stake In Wheels UP
Delta Private Jets has made a large stake in company Wheels UP becoming the largest investor with them. Wheels UP is a company more known for its sizable fleet of Beechcraft King Air turboprops. They do operate some CJs too. However, with the Delta Private Jets investment it will add a suite of jets that includes a few mid and large cabin aircraft...
First Flexjet Praetor 500 Delivered By Embraer
Flexjet has received its first present for the 2019 Christmas season in the form of the first Praetor jet from an order made at the 2019 NBAA-BACE show in Las Vegas. The Praetor 500 -seen below- is part of a 1.4 billion dollar order which involves Praetor 500s, 600s and Phenom 300E's. "As the Praetor Fleet Launch Customer, Flexjet, once again, will lead the fractional ownership market with the introduction of the most modern midsize aircraft," said Michael Amalfitano, President & CEO, Embraer Executive Jets...
FAA Approves Bombardier Global 5500; 6500
The American regulatory body the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given its approval to Canadian airframer Bombardier for its Global 5500 and 6500 models. The two new models have been certified by the local Transport Canada and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) prior...
First HondaJet Shipped To China
In August 2019, the HondaJet received Chinese type certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The Honda Aircraft Company is proud to announce that it has made the first delivery to China. The aircraft has gone to Honsan General Aviation Co., Ltd, which is Honda Aircraft Company's exclusive dealer in China...
First Cessna SkyCourier Update
While the business aviation community has been humming about the fastest and longest range business jet battles, on the smaller end of the market Textron Aviation has been working away on their Cessna SkyCourier product. The first example had its wing mated to the fuselage recently marking an important period in the assembly...
Phenom 100 Flight Deck Upgrade To G1000NXi Ready
In early December, the Garmin G1000NXi received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an upgrade for the Prodigy-fitted cockpit of the Phenom 100. Now that the green-light has been given owners and operators of the Phenom 100 can visit select Garmin Dealers and Embraer Service Centers to have the upgrade executed...
Bombardier Delivers First Customer Aircraft Fueled With SAF
The first factory customer-bound Bombardier executive jet has been delivered fueled with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The aircraft with this distinction was a unit from the Challenger 350 model which was delivered to charter operator Latitude 33 Aviation...
First PC-24 To Russia Nearing Delivery
The first Russian-based Pilatus PC-24 is nearing delivery status. However, the aircraft has to be certificated by Russian authorities which is expected to come before 2019 ends. Nesterov Aviation is the dealer for Pilatus Aircraft and as a result, the first PC-24 in Russia...
Gulfstream Delivers 400th G650 Family Aircraft
The Gulfstream G650 family of aircraft has notched-up a new milestone. The 400th G650 family aircraft was recently delivered to its owner. The landmark G650ER aircraft has been delivered to a U.S-based customer. It was only five years ago that the G650ER derivative entered service. The G650 and its ER variant are both performers. The G650 can fly up to 7,000 nautical miles at Mach 0.85 and 6,000 nautical miles when flying faster at a high-speed cruise of Mach 0.90...
Toronto Pearson New Site Of Bombardier Global Assembly
A couple days ago Bombardier conducted a press meeting in which it would discuss the future of the Global assembly plant in Downsview. Bombardier suggests that they are moving from the Downsview, Toronto plant to a new 1 million sq ft plant at the Pearson International Airport also in Toronto. They will be making the move and opening in 2023 the airframer revealed...
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