March 1, 2018 - No. 017 In This Issue Iridium Certus(SM) Readies for Takeoff with Aviation Service Providers Heli-One Lands Royal Netherlands Maintenance Contract Dassault Aviation Launches Falcon 6X MIA opens first passport clearance facility with facial recognition MROinsider Brings Transparency to Mx Services Airport Noise Modelling For Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment Of Aviation DLR/NASA Design Challenge Helisim Building $40 Million Texas Training Center EASA releases opinion on safe drone operations Blue Origin isn't interested in a race with SpaceX Iridium Certus(SM) Readies for Takeoff with Aviation Service Providers MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced today that Honeywell Aerospace, SKYTRAC, Avitek and Navicom Aviation are the first Iridium Certus service providers to be selected for the aviation industry. As Iridium Certus service providers, each company will be able to offer the new, best-in-class broadband satellite connectivity to its customers. Ideal for commercial airliner flight deck communications, rotorcraft and both flight deck and cabin business jet connectivity, Iridium Certus will soon offer the industry's fastest L-Band speeds. This will be delivered through small form factor, cost-effective antennas with the same reliable pole-to-pole coverage only provided by the Iridium® network. A recognized leader in the aviation industry and long-time Iridium partner, Honeywell Aerospace products and services are found on virtually every commercial, defense and space aircraft. Honeywell Aerospace works to develop innovative solutions to increase aircraft efficiency, reduce pilot workload and improve passenger safety and comfort. "Iridium Certus will extend Honeywell's vision for the Connected Aircraft by enabling high-speed data rates for all aircraft types operating anywhere in the world," said John Peterson, Honeywell's senior director of services and connectivity. "Combining the capabilities of the new Iridium constellation with GoDirect's Flight Services, Connected Maintenance, and Optimization Analytics will bring even greater operational efficiency for Honeywell's thousands of airline, military, business and commercial operators." SKYTRAC provides performance trending, operations reporting, real-time asset tracking and situational awareness solutions to the aviation industry. SKYTRAC will extend Iridium Certus services to aviation partners as well as delivering the technology on their ISAT-200A hardware. "Our mission is to drive flight safety and efficiency through streamlined air-to-ground connectivity. With its higher bandwidth, Iridium Certus will allow us to bring more power to recent innovations like real-time Health and Usage monitoring and weather to cockpit while also offering highest-quality voice services. SKYTRAC is proud to have been selected as one in a limited group of companies to offer Iridium Certus services direct to aviation clients," said SKYTRAC President, Malachi Nordine. Based in China, Avitek is a leading aviation solutions company that provides onboard communications, ADS-B, ACARS and Electronic Flight Bag services. Avitek has been instrumental in equipping airliners throughout China with Iridium satellite communications devices to meet the Airline Operational Communications voice mandate by the Civil Aviation Authority of China. The introduction of Iridium Certus will allow Avitek to enhance the capability of the data solutions it offers and improve flight standards and operations as a result. Navicom Aviation, based in Japan, is dedicated to the safe and efficient operation of aircraft. With a large number of helicopters in Japan serving public safety efforts for police and fire departments and the Japanese Coast Guard, Navicom plays a vital role in ensuring their aircraft stay connected. Navicom will provide the Iridium Certus service in support of their goal to help improve flight support systems for the overall aviation industry. Enabled by the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation, Iridium Certus will bring broadband functionality, with enterprise-grade quality of service, to the aviation industry. It will feature a range of throughput and service options that will enable everything from graphical weather reports, multi-user internet/VPN and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) redundancy to flight data recorder streaming, video conferencing, and, upon formal approval, safety services. The Iridium Certus high-gain antenna (HGA) solutions will provide data speed options of up to 704 Kbps, and eventually as high as approximately 1.4 Mbps following full Iridium NEXT deployment, with an antenna size of approximately 24 x 10 x 6cm, while the low-gain antenna (LGA) solutions will enable data speeds of up to 176 Kbps. "Iridium Certus is poised to introduce a revolution in aircraft communications," said Brian Pemberton, vice president strategic planning and general manager aviation at Iridium. "Iridium Certus leverages the inherent advantages of the Iridium network and architecture and combines that with enhanced capabilities of the Iridium NEXT constellation to redefine best-in-class aircraft connectivity. Iridium Certus not only satisfies the connectivity requirements for the flight deck but also serves as an ideal cabin connectivity solution for many business aviation users." Initial flight trials will take place later this year, with Iridium Certus commercial service introduction expected in mid-2019 for aviation users. Commercial service introduction for other verticals, such as maritime and land-mobile, is planned for mid-2018. Iridium NEXT is the Company's next-generation satellite constellation. To date, there have been four successful Iridium NEXT launches, deploying more than half of the new constellation. Four additional launches are planned for 2018. For more information about Iridium Certus, please visit https://www.iridium.com/company/industryleadership/iridiumcertus For more information about Iridium NEXT, please visit www.IridiumNEXT.com About Iridium Communications Inc. Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables connections between people, organizations and assets to and from anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of reliable solutions for markets that require truly global communications. The company has a major development program underway for its next-generation network - Iridium NEXT. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium products, services and partner solutions, visit www.iridium.com. https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/28/1401247/0/en/Iridium-Certus-SM-Readies-for-Takeoff-with-Aviation-Service-Providers.html Back to Top Heli-One Lands Royal Netherlands Maintenance Contract The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) and MRO provider Heli-One (Booth N4505) have signed an agreement under which Heli-One will provide on-site intermediate/depot-level maintenance on a dozen active RNLAF AS532 Cougar helicopters and five others in storage. The work includes inspections and maintenance above the 750-hour/two-year interval, Maikila 1A2 turboshaft engine inspections, corrosion prevention, and support to the operational level maintenance organization on request. To fulfill the agreement, Heli-One Poland is providing project managers, technicians, and support crew to a facility at RNLAF Woensdrecht Air Base. Heli-One's long-time experience with the AS332/532 enhances its capabilities to support the Cougars. British Columbia-based Heli-One is expected to support the RNLAF through the end of the Cougars' suspected lifespan in 2022, and potentially through 2030. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2018-02-27/heli-one-lands-royal-netherlands-maintenance-contract Back to Top Dassault Aviation Launches Falcon 6X February 28, 2018 (Saint-Cloud, France) Dassault Aviation today unveiled the Falcon 6X, the most spacious, advanced and versatile twinjet in business aviation. This new 5,500 nm aircraft will make its first flight in early 2021 and begin deliveries in 2022. Pratt & Whitney Canada's Pure®Power PW800 engines have been selected to power the Falcon 6X that offers the largest, quietest and most comfortable cabin of any aircraft in its class and more cabin volume than any other Falcon ever designed. It comes equipped with the industry's most advanced digital flight control and cockpit technologies, drawing on heritage from other recent Falcon models and fighter jet programs. The 6X is largely based on the Falcon 5X aerodynamics and system features which were validated during the 5X preliminary flight test program. It has been optimized to take advantage of the new engine, offering a greater range and a longer cabin. "We wanted to further push the boundaries with this new aircraft, to provide the best flight experience possible using today's aviation know-how," said Eric Trappier, Chairman & CEO of Dassault Aviation. "The Falcon 6X will offer a mix of range, comfort and capability no other large cabin business jet can match while guaranteeing fully mature systems and a proven powerplant." Falcon 6X-Industry Leading Cabin Space The Falcon 6X cabin is six feet, six inches (1.98 m) high and 8 feet 6 inches (2.58 m) wide -- the highest and widest cross section in a purpose built business jet - and is nearly 40 feet 8 inches (12.3 m) long. The cabin can accommodate 16 passengers in three distinct lounge areas, affording room for multiple configurations including a large entry way/crew rest area and a spacious rear lounge. Every element of cabin style and design has been totally rethought, the result of an extensive survey of customer tastes and inputs from Dassault Aviation's own in-house Design Studio. Flowing uninterrupted lines enhance the feeling of space and declutter the cabin. Significantly more natural light floods into the cabin thanks to 29 extra-large windows including a unique galley skylight - the first in business aviation - designed to provide additional brightness in an area usually devoid of natural light. "The industry has been moving towards ever wider and higher interiors, and customers told us what they wanted most in our new Falcons was more space," continued Trappier. "So we designed the Falcon 6X from the cabin out, making it as passenger-centric as we could while still delivering the high performance and other flying qualities that customers value in Falcons." Proven PurePower PW800 engines, next generation aircraft systems The Falcon 6X has a top speed of Mach 0.90 and a maximum range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,186 km), longer than any other jet in its category. It can fly directly from Los Angeles to Geneva, Beijing to San Francisco or Moscow to Singapore at long range cruise speed. It can also connect New York to Moscow, Paris to Beijing or Los Angeles to London at a cruise of Mach 0.85. The Pratt & Whitney Canada Pure Power PW812D engine rated at 13,000-14,000 lbs thrust has been selected to power the Falcon 6X. The PurePower PW800 engines feature the common core technology of the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan, which is shared by 16 different engine applications and have amassed over 585,000 flight hours. Equipped with a low maintenance single piece fan and emission reducing Talon combustor, the PurePower PW800 engines offer the highest efficiency, reliability and maintainability in the 10,000-20,000 lb class and have accumulated over 20,000 hours of testing to date. The Falcon 6X is equipped with an ultra-efficient wing that minimizes the impact of turbulence and a next generation digital flight control system that controls all moving surfaces, including a novel control surface called a flaperon. The 6X is the first business jet to use a flaperon, which considerably improves control during approach, especially on steep descents. The aircraft also comes with industry leading noise suppression systems, based heavily on experience with the new Falcon 8X - the current benchmark in noise comfort - and an all-new cockpit and third generation EASy III all digital flight deck. It will be delivered with a full package of equipment, including Dassault's FalconSphere II electronic flight bag and the revolutionary FalconEye Combined Vision System - the first head up display to combine enhanced and synthetic vision capabilities. All Falcon 6X systems and critical equipment will be extensively validated on the ground through new Highly Accelerated Life Tests and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening endurance campaigns intended to enhance reliability and ensure that the aircraft is fully mature from the day of first delivery. "There is still today a strong market need for a brand new long range aircraft with a very large cabin. The Falcon 6X will be best value for money in the 5,000 nm segment, a class all its own." concluded Trappier. About Dassault Aviation : With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft delivered in more than 90 countries over the last century, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets and military drones. In 2016, Dassault Aviation reported revenues of €3.6 billion. The company has 12,000 employees. https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/28/1401090/0/en/Dassault-Aviation-Launches-Falcon-6X.html Back to Top MIA opens first passport clearance facility with facial recognition MIAMI, Feb. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, officials from the Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate Miami International Airport's newly renovated Concourse E federal inspection facility for international arrivals. The facility is the first in the country completely dedicated to providing expedited passport screening via facial recognition. The new technology verifies a travelers' identity by matching a traveler to the document they are presenting. "Miami International Airport, in partnership with CBP, has introduced yet another cutting-edge enhancement that improves the international arrival experience for visitors to our community," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "Congratulations to the Miami-Dade Aviation Department and our federal partners for continuing to simplify passport screening at Florida's busiest international gateway." Since launching the facial recognition pilot program in November, the Concourse E facility has been screening as many as 10 passengers per minute. In addition to providing the latest in expedited passport screening technology, the new facility reduces the walking distance for Concourse E and F passengers who previously only had access to the Concourse D passport hall - decongesting one of the country's busiest arrivals facilities in the process as well. "Aside from welcoming 96 percent of all visitors to Miami, our airport also welcomes 70 percent of international passengers to Florida," said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, Chairperson of the County's Economic Development and Tourism Committee. "With improvements like the new Concourse E passport clearance facility, MIA continues to deliver on its commitment to providing a world-class experience for travelers." The Concourse E facility follows another industry-leading innovation launched by MIA in 2017. Last August, MIA launched an update to the MIA Airport Official app that allows users to seamlessly access Mobile Passport Control and CBP Forms without ever leaving the app, the first airport in the world authorized by CBP to do so. "Improving customer service through technology and innovation is our highest priority at MIA," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Lester Sola. "We are proud to partner with CBP on this new technology, which has significantly reduced wait times for our international passengers." The re-designed, all-technology driven facility also offers passport clearance via Global Entry kiosks and the Mobile Passport Control (MPC) app for select flights arriving at concourses E and F. "CBP's core mission is to safeguard America's borders," said CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Todd Owen. "We must balance our need to increase security while still expediting travel. Passenger volumes are on the rise here at the Miami International Airport. In order to meet the growing challenge of balancing traveler volumes and security, CBP has partnered with industry stakeholders to leverage biometric technology and systems." Miami International Airport offers more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other U.S. airport, is America's third-busiest airport for international passengers, boasts a lineup of more than 100 air carriers and is the top U.S. airport for international freight. MIA, along with its general aviation airports, is also the leading economic engine for Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida, generating business revenue of $33.7 billion annually and welcoming 70 percent of all international visitors to Florida. MIA's vision is to grow from a recognized hemispheric hub to a global airport of choice that offers customers a world-class experience and an expanded route network with direct passenger and cargo access to all world regions. MIA is committed to sustainable practices. Learn more at www.MIAefficiency.com. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mia-opens-first-passport-clearance-facility-with-facial-recognition-300605352.html Back to Top MROinsider Brings Transparency to Mx Services MROinsider is making maintenance services more transparent. As an aviation maintenance bidding website, the Michigan-based company brings pilots, owners, operators, and MRO providers together while improving the customer experience. It launched at the NBAA convention in 2017 and has since registered approximately 140 corporate aircraft, 30 general aviation aircraft, and 21 facilities. With an online account, customers looking for MRO services can register their aircraft and request bids from maintenance facilities registered on the website. After a maintenance facility submits a quote, customers can decide whether or not to accept the bid. If a bid is accepted, the facility is notified, and reminders will be sent to the customer and the facility the day before maintenance is scheduled. MROinsider also incorporates a confidential rating system for both customers and MRO facilities. Last month, MROinsider signed up Wisconsin's Helicopter Specialties, its first helicopter maintenance facility. The company also added multiple full-time account managers to continue building the network of service providers registered on the site. Craig Miracle will cover maintenance facilities in Texas, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska; Guy Shaghaw will cover facilities in Georgia and Florida; and Jacob Kingsley will cover maintenance in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Looking forward, MROinsider co-founder and v-p of sales Andy Nixon told AIN that the company hopes to increase transparency in maintenance services even more by introducing a mobile app. The app would help customers and facilities communicate throughout the entire maintenance process. MROinsider also wants to introduce maintenance tracking services to help customers maintain their aircraft records. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2018-02-28/mroinsider-brings-transparency-mx-services Back to Top Airport Noise Modelling For Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment Of Aviation ircraft noise is usually the main environmental concern for communities living near airports. Among the primary effects of aircraft noise, annoyance and sleep disturbance have received considerable attention, as they cause a significant impact on quality of life and welfare. A recent report of the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) in 2016 stated that over one million people are exposed in the UK to aircraft noise above levels recommended for the protection of health, and that about 600,000 people are exposed to average aircraft noise levels that risk regular sleep disturbance.[1] As a result, it has been estimated that the aircraft noise from Heathrow and Gatwick airports in 2010 was associated with 17 early deaths. [2] In addition to noise, aircraft engine exhaust emissions are detrimental to local air quality, leading to public health concerns (e.g. 195 early deaths were estimated as caused by aviation emissions at US airport in 2005 [3]), and have direct and indirect effects upon climate (12% of the CO2 emissions from all transportation sources[4]). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recently estimated that by 2036 the number of air passengers will nearly double (as compared to figures in 2017)[5], so a significant increase in air traffic movements will take place over the next decades. If the further deterioration of the quality of life of communities living near airports wants to be avoided, the different stakeholders are required to explore all possible aviation scenarios, to find the technology options, flight procedures, and fleet replacement strategies with the minimum aviation noise impact. Of course, the analysis of the noise impact of different aviation scenarios cannot be independent of other environmental pollutants, but a more holistic approach is needed, where noise, local air quality, and climate change are considered, to find the environmentally friendly options and strategies. These exploratory analyses of aviation scenarios are highly combinatorial, and therefore, computationally expensive. The available high-fidelity airport noise models allow a very accurate calculation of aviation noise outputs but at the expense of providing a significant number of input variables and expending considerable time for computing. Also, not all these high-fidelity models were developed to interface with other environmental and economic models. For all the reasons above, these high-fidelity models might not always be appropriated for the exploratory analysis of thousands of aviation scenarios. To overcome such drawbacks, a number of simplified airport noise models, which are rapidly computable and have a simple formulation, have been developed by different research groups. Within the framework of multidisciplinary strategic environmental impact assessment of aviation, this paper examines the applicability of existing simplified airport noise models and discusses their intrinsic limitations and advantages. Particular attention is paid to a new aviation noise model: Rapid Aviation Noise Evaluator (RANE).[6] RANE uses a highly efficient algorithm allowing a very rapid computation of noise outputs around airports, with minimum uncertainty as compared to high-fidelity airport noise models, such as INM (FAA's Integrated Noise Model) (see Fig. 1). Developed to be incorporated in integrated tools for the environmental and economic assessment of aviation[7] (see Fig. 2), one of the main benefits of RANE is the substantial reduction in input data requirements, which can simplify multidisciplinary strategic assessment as part of a decision-making process. The reduction of data requirements, the simple formulation and the rapid computation facilitates the multidisciplinary strategic assessment of alternative aircraft designs and air traffic management options, where trade-offs between different environmental consequences (i.e. engine exhaust emissions and noise) have to be evaluated. RANE has also been developed to be coupled with technology evaluators, which can provide information about the noise emission of novel aircraft designs[9] so that it can be implemented by the aviation stakeholders for contributing to policy decisions about which novel aircraft designs would be likely to achieve the lowest environmental impact when considered holistically. Finally, this paper examines and discusses the validity of a common simplification used in simplified airport noise models, i.e. reducing the whole aircraft fleet into a number of representative-in-class aircraft capturing the noise characteristics of the different aircraft categories. This research was subsequently extended[10], observing an 80% reduction in computational time and a minor decrease in accuracy (between -4% and +5%) when the whole aircraft fleet is replaced with four representative-in-class aircraft for computing noise outputs around London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports in the UK. These findings are described in the article entitled Airport noise modelling for strategic environmental impact assessment of aviation, recently published in Applied Acoustics. This work was conducted by Dr. Antonio J. Torija and Prof. Rod H. Self from the University of Southampton. References 1. AEF, Aircraft Noise and Public Health: the evidence is loud and clear, 12 January 2016 2. Wolfe, P.J., Kramer, H.L., Barrett, S.R.H., 2017. Current and future noise impacts of the UK hub airport. J. Air Transport. Manag. 58, 91-99. 3. Ashok, A., Lee, I.H., Arunachalam, S., Waitz, I.A., Yim, S.H., Barrett, S.R., 2013. Development of a response surface model of aviation's air quality impacts in the United States. Atmos. Environ. 77, 445-452. 4. ICAO Environmental Report 2007 (http://www.icao.int/env/pubs/env_report_07.pdf) 5. http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2017-10-24-01.aspx 6. Torija, A.J., Self, R.H., Flindell, I.H., 2017. A model for the rapid assessment of the impact of aviation noise near airports. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141, 981-995. 7. Dray, L., Krammer, P., Doyme, K., Wang, B., Al Zayat, K., O'Sullivan, A., Schafer, A. AIM2015: Validation and initial results from an open-source aviation systems model. In Proceedings of the 21st Air Transport Research Society Conference (ATRS), Antwerp, Belgium; 2017. 8. Torija, A.J., Self, R.H., Flindell, I.H., 2018. Airport noise modelling for strategic environmental impact assessment of aviation. App. Acoust. 132, 49-57. 9. Synodinos, A.P., Self, R.H., Torija, A.J., 2017. Framework for predicting noise-power distance curves for novel aircraft designs. J Aircraft (in Press), https://doi.org/10.2514/1.C034466 10. Torija, A.J., Self, R.H., 2018. Aircraft classification for efficient modelling of environmental noise impact of aviation. J. Air Transport. Manag. 67, 157-168. https://sciencetrends.com/airport-noise-modelling-strategic-environmental-impact-assessment-aviation/ Back to Top DLR/NASA Design Challenge Three students did it last year - with the 'Urban Liner', they designed an aircraft that is highly innovative in formulating a coherent overall concept. At the same time, they demonstrated what aspiring researchers are capable of in the design competition organised by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the United States space agency NASA. The competition is now entering its second year, and it is again time for students to use their own ideas to direct aviation technology in new directions. This time, the focus is on ultra-efficient aircraft designs that revolutionise passenger flight, making it more environmentally friendly and economical. This task has been set by DLR in cooperation with NASA and will be carried out by students in Germany and the USA. The kick-off meeting for participants from seven German universities will be held on 23 February 2018 at the Center for Applied Aeronautical Research (Zentrum für Angewandte Luftfahrtforschung; ZAL) in Hamburg. The competition proposals must be submitted by the end of June. In the autumn, the German winners will visit the NASA facilities, where they will present their work alongside the US winners of the competition. The ever-growing global demand is providing today's aviation with impetus towards further development and change. Ambitious targets in Europe and the United States are pushing the frontiers of technology to achieve lower emissions, more efficient and cost-effective passenger air travel. The competition is seeking to find revolutionary new technological ideas - from aircraft designs to propulsion concepts. "Last year, the winners of the DLR / NASA Design Challenge demonstrated the fresh ideas they can bring to the aircraft of the future with well thought-out concepts," says Rolf Henke, the member of the DLR Executive Board responsible for aeronautics research. "Global aviation is facing great challenges and needs such unconventional impulses. That is why we are delighted to be joining forces with NASA to hold this competition for a second year." The German and US aerospace organisations have been collaborating closely for a long time. In aviation research, they are particularly involved in joint research projects in the areas of air traffic management, low-noise and low-emission flying and, most recently, in joint test flights in Germany to investigate the emissions of alternative aviation fuels. "The NASA and DLR partnership has worked extremely well over the years," says Jon Montgomery, deputy associate administrator for management at NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. "Design challenges help foster today's students in solving some of the most difficult issues facing the aviation industry today. Based on what we saw from last year's DLR/NASA challenge, I know we will all learn and benefit from what our respective teams create during the next few months." Fifty-one students from all over Germany have registered for the NASA / DLR Design Challenge. Together, they form 10 teams from nine universities, including TU Munich, TU Berlin, University of Stuttgart, TU Braunschweig, RWTH Aachen, FH Aachen, TU Hamburg-Harburg, HAW Hamburg and TU Dresden. On the US side, there will also be a two-digit number of participating teams from various universities. A winning team will be chosen for each country. The German winners will travel to the United States in the autumn of 2018 to visit NASA. There, they will present their award-winning work along with the US winners work at a symposium attended by internationally recognised aviation researchers. Participants now have to develop their design proposals and submit them to DLR by 1 July 2018. The winners will be announced at the end of July. http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10081/151_read-26199/#/gallery/29817 Back to Top Helisim Building $40 Million Texas Training Center Airbus Helicopters-Thales helicopter training joint venture Helisim and its member companies are building a new 23,000-sq-ft, $40 million pilot and maintenance crew training center on the Airbus Helicopters Inc. campus at Grand Prairie, Texas, it announced on Tuesday at Heli-Expo 2018. Helisim will develop and operate the center, which will house the first Airbus H145 and H175 level-D simulators in North America. The H145 simulator is scheduled for installation first and construction of the center will begin later this year. Its Reality H simulators will be built by Thales. Plans call for an H160 simulator to be added at a future date, once that model is certified and production is under way. According to Helisim, the center will incorporate Airbus Helicopters' existing training facilities at Grand Prairie, including its H125/AS350 full-flight simulator and H135/H145 flight-training device. The new center is expected to accommodate "several thousand" students annually, including approximately 1,000 pilots for introductory and recurrent training. "This is the next step of customer experience for us. When they arrive in Grand Prairie not only will they have their aircraft to pick up, we will have level-D simulation capability. This is just the first step. With this expansion, we will be able to support our customers' needs for helicopter training in one location," said Christopher Emerson, president of Airbus Helicopters Inc. and head of the North America region. "Expanding our capabilities with H145 and H175 level-D simulators will allow customers to optimize their training programs and benefit from the expertise that we can provide onsite at our headquarters in the U.S." "When we first embarked on this partnership with Airbus, our primary goal was to ensure the next generation of helicopter pilots worked in an industry with the same safety record as those in the fixed-wing market," said Benoit Plantier, Thales' vice president of training and simulation. "The quality and level of training Helisim offers to pilots in Europe has gone a long way to accomplish that goal. We are proud to continue this legacy in North America." "The opening of this new facility near Dallas represents a major international expansion of Helisim," said Helisim CEO Christian Cochini. "Our 18 years of experience in simulation training for Airbus Helicopters' wide range of aircraft, representing nearly 200,000 simulated flight hours, combined with Airbus Helicopters Inc.'s expertise will allow us to offer safe and efficient training solutions for North American customers." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-02-28/helisim-building-40-million-texas-training-center Back to Top EASA releases opinion on safe drone operations The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has unveiled its first formal opinion on safe and secure operations for small drones weighing up to 25kg in Europe. The opinion is expected to help the European Commission to adopt concrete regulatory proposals regarding small drone flights later this year. EASA executive director Patrick Ky said: "This regulation will enable the free circulation of drones and a level playing field within the EU, while also respecting the privacy and security of EU citizens, and allowing the drone industry to remain agile, to innovate and continue to grow." The EASA opinion aims to establish simple rules with a strong focus on the operation in question, as flying the same drone over a city centre or the sea poses a completely different risk. It combines product and aviation legislation, as well as stated that the design requirements of small drones to be brought into the European market will be implemented by using the Conformité Européenne (CE) marking for products. The operator will find recommended consumer information on how to safely fly a drone in each drone package. EASA's newly proposed approach does not focus on the drone itself but considers various other elements, including the area where the drone is flown, who is flying the drone, or what kind of drone is being used in a particular flight. Featured in the opinion, the 'open' category of operations' can be conducted without a prior authorisation by the competent authority or a declaration by the operator before the operation. The 'specific' category of operations requires an authorisation by the competent authority before flying a drone. Among other aspects, the opinion will enable the EASA member states to define zones where drone operations will be either prohibited or restricted, or where certain requirements are terminated. https://www.aerospace-technology.com/news/easa-releases-opinion-safe-drone-operations/ Back to Top Blue Origin isn't interested in a race with SpaceX When we talk about the current era of private spaceflight, the phrase "space race" is thrown around quite often. It's meant as a good thing; a space race against the Russians is what put American astronauts on the moon. The idea of rocket billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos working day and night to outdo one another in some spectacle of bravado may sound appealing; it would certainly have entertainment value. But a space race isn't necessarily, in and of itself, a good thing. After all, it's why we've been stuck in low Earth orbit for going on five decades. It's difficult to overstate the achievements the US made in going to the moon. From rocket science to pushing the limits of computing tech, the advancements that emerged out of the endeavor are astounding. What's more, it was a stellar opportunity for science and exploration. The argument isn't that it was a bad idea to go to the moon; it was possibly the greatest achievement in the history of humankind, and scientists are still studying the data from those missions. But the way it happened -- specifically, the fact that it was a race against the Russians, rather than a project centered around science and exploration -- has stifled our nation's spaceflight program ever since. The problem with a race is that the end goal is winning. President Kennedy's dream was "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" before the end of the 1960s in order to "win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny." Apollo was a product of the Cold War. Once we beat the Russians to the moon, budget cuts to NASA began to roll out. The planned Apollo 20 flight was cancelled in January 1970, just six months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Apollos 18 and 19 quickly followed. NASA had the will and the way, but Congress wasn't on board for it. The decades that followed have seen a cycle of ambitious plans downscaled to fit shrinking budgets. Now, SpaceX's founder Elon Musk has made clear that he's interested in igniting another competition. "We want a new space race," he said during the press conference that followed the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket. "Space races are exciting." And it's true: They are exciting. There's a thrill in getting there first, in being bigger and better than everyone else. It's part of the allure of SpaceX, and the company has shown it has the substance to back up its bravado with rockets like the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy. But a problem arises when the space race becomes the singular goal. When the emphasis is on building something bigger because you can, to prove that you could do it first, it can make for a difficult environment. Competition can be good and healthy, but it also can diminish values of exploration, collaboration and scientific knowledge. It's a product of a machismo that many believe should have no place in space or in science. To more than a few, SpaceX and Blue Origin are two sides of the same coin. They are both rocket companies founded by white male entrepreneurs. But their approaches have been markedly different. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has operated somewhat outside the public eye, solidifying its identity as a rocket manufacturer with a massive new factory at Kennedy Space Center. It's planning multiple launches of its suborbital rocket New Shepard this year in advance of a crewed flight. The company has found success in building on what it already has achieved, rather than continually embarking on massive new projects. SpaceX, on the other hand, is broader in scope. Is it a rocket company? Is it interested in colonizing the solar system? Is it a satellite internet provider? Apparently, the answer to all of these is . . . yes. When it comes to space, ambition is good. However, the question is whether the lack of a clear focus, and an emphasis on visionary goals rather than tangible short-term objectives, will end up hurting the company. After all, a focus on what can be done, rather than what is practical and necessary, could end up expending the company's resources too quickly. But what about Blue Origin's approach to space? After all, in the eyes of many, the company has been thrown in a space race with SpaceX. But the question is, does the company even want to be in this sort of competition? According to Blue Origin, the answer is no. When asked whether Blue Origin felt pressure to accelerate its launch testing and schedules because of competitors' achievements, Caitlin O'Keefe Dietrich, the Head of Public Relations at Blue Origin, told Engadget, "Space is a big place. It's not a zero-sum market." The company, it seems, isn't even interested in the space race challenge that Elon Musk presented. Jeff Bezos isn't above poking some fun at rocket size, as he did when he unveiled the company's massive New Glenn rocket, which is currently scheduled for its first launch towards the end of 2020. And it would be foolish to presume that ego doesn't play into his decision making when it comes to his rocket company. But generally speaking, Blue Origin's approach is to think long-term, rather than jumping from rocket to rocket. "Our philosophy is to use an incremental, step-by-step approach for our long-term space technology development programs. And this approach has yielded us a lot of progress thus far," Dietrich said. It's certainly different than SpaceX's approach to rocket building. On a press call for the Falcon Heavy before the rocket's launch, Musk stated that the company has already assigned the bulk of its engineering teams to the even larger BFR because "I was looking at Falcon Heavy, and thought it's a bit small." There isn't currently a huge market for the Falcon Heavy; SpaceX has only booked a few launches for it. Yet SpaceX has already put its resources toward building another, even bigger, rocket simply because the Falcon Heavy wasn't quite large enough for Musk (and because of SpaceX's Mars colonization ambitions). It's not exactly the incremental approach of Blue Origin. One philosophy isn't necessarily inherently better than another. But it's important to remember that a space race isn't, in and of itself, a good thing. It certainly can be an avenue of technological achievement, but if it's used to show off prowess at the expense of building solid foundations, it can end up being a detriment. It's important to have somewhere to actually send a rocket, and a plan surrounding its use, before you turn to building the next, bigger one. Space is big, and there is room for many different ways of looking at spaceflight. Elon Musk may want a space race, and he'll likely get it from ULA, Boeing or another spaceflight provider. Perhaps even Blue Origin will join the fray at some point. But for now, the company isn't interested in a rivalry, nor does it feel any pressure to perform based on the recent Falcon Heavy launch. "Our vision is for millions of people to live and work in space," Dietrich said, "so we are applauding all launch operators that are building new and more capable systems." https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/28/blue-origin-spacex-space-race/ Curt Lewis