African Pilot 8-2020

August 2020 Volume 19 No.8 ™

Digital single copy R18
Digital 12 copies R180

Boeing
Apache Helicopter Mother of

all cubs
Lanseria International

Airport 2020

Cover picture supplied by Boeing Military www.africanpilot.co.za
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CONTENTS

70 Boeing delivers 2,500th 142

AH-64 Apache helicopter

72 Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1

Defiant reaches 200 knots

74 Flying 1,500 miles with

AIRLINE PILOT fumes in the cockpit

14 Aviation and its exclusive SPORT PILOT

chase of sustaninability 152 Diamond - DA50-RG

18 Avolon cancels another 27 154 Cubcrafters’ nosewheel
Boeing 737 MAX Airlines
XCub ‘NX’
20 LufthansaclosesGermanwings 156 Pipistrel teams up with
24 Safety and mental health
Green Motion

COMMERCIAL PILOT 160 Mother of all cubs 34
57
28 Dassault’s Falcon 6X 162 Bristell High Wing 83

31 Embraer delivers first new, REGULARS

enhanced phenom 300E 06 Competitions
34 Blackhawk unveils new XR 10 Letters
upgrade kit for King Air 350 51 Accident Report
38 Bombardier announces 58 Events Calendar
Global 5500 business jet 78 Picture of the Month
40 Stratos aircraft announces 82 Flying High
the first flight of 716X
138 Fact File
42 The Magical Mooney
140 Names to Remember
48 ZeroAvia conducts UK’s first 142 Historical Pilot
electric flight
148 The Best of the Best

DRONES / UAVS 166 Shop Window

50 US-Swiss agreement reached 168 Professional Aviation

FLYING CARS Services

56 Australia awarded $1m SPECIAL FEATURES

57 ‘Made in Israel’ flying car 83 Lanseria International

HELICOPTER PILOT Airport 2020

60 Japan’s NPA orders five OTHER

new helicopters 64 Unbelievable survivors

62 Airbus H160 receives 130 Aircraft fabric covering

EASA approval 134 Coronavirus is forcing

MILITARY PILOT aviation to go digital 152
68 Airbus forms Team
150 Aviation courses August 2020 African Pilot 1
Nightjar 164 Book Reviews

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Editorial

Regular readers of African Pilot will notice
that there has been a substantial change in the
presentation of this August edition. Since African
Pilot stopped printing in April this year, we have
now tailor made the entire magazine for easier
reading on all electronic devices by enlarging the
text substantially, which has resulted in an increased
page count from the usual 120 or so pages to 174
pages. Within this edition of African Pilot, we have provided our readers with 34 illustrated
articles as well as the 2020 Lanseria International Airport feature. Until everything returns
to ‘normal’ we all need to understand that our lives have been turned upside down by the
COVID-19 pandemic and I do not expect the world of aviation to recover to 2019 levels
for at least the next two years.

As a consequence of the world aviation shutdown, the South African visitors have missed
the ‘Greatest Aviation Event on Earth’ in Oshkosh, USA this past July. EAA’s decision to
cancel AirVenture was wise one, as there could be not be any guarantee that the thousands
of visitors would be safe. However, Neil Bowden of Air Adventure Tours, with whom we
travel to Oshkosh every year, advised me that none of the travellers who had booked with
his 2020 tour this year asked for his or her deposit to be returned, but they asked if they
could be ‘rolled over’ for 2021. I must compliment the EAA USA for planning to host
many webinars throughout the week of AirVenture.

Back home, we need to be grateful to the Aero Club of South Africa (AeCSA) and
the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa (CAASA) for their joint
commitment to getting General Aviation back into the sky. Several key people from both
management teams have worked well with the SACAA to ensure that GA flights can
take place. In the face of the massive spread of the pandemic at this time, we all need to
be grateful for what has been achieved by our fellow aviation professionals. I understand
that the granting of permission to fly, with some restrictions is a mere formality. Therefore,
any pilot can complete the application forms to be found on either website and simply
print out the certificate that comes back via e-mail. Unfortunately, despite this provision,
there will always be rogue pilots who will do what they like and play ‘catch me if you can.’
This behaviour simply brings the entire GA community into disrepute, which may spell
disaster for the vast majority of law-abiding pilots.

Finally, as the pandemic in South Africa reaches its peak over the coming months, please
be safe and keep your social distancing. Good luck and please only fly with a permit!

Athol Franz

August 2020 African Pilot 3

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4 African Pilot August 2020

August 2020 African Pilot 5

Competitions Cover

Total value of the competition in this edition AH 64 Apache Military Gunship
is R1 500

August Cover Competition
This month’s cover prize has been generously donated by
Infinite Aviation based at Lonehill, Gauteng. The prize is
ground school training or a three hours tuition voucher.

Questions
1)Where is Infinite Aviation based?
2)Does Infinite Aviation offer ground school training?
3)Does Infinite Aviation offer tuition classes?

June 2020 Cover Competition Winner This month’s cover picture provided by Boeing Military is of the AH 64 Apache
Congratulations to the following winner,Carlo Olivier who Military gunship in a simulated war zone situation. With unprecedented
has won a flight in a Kitfox or super intense aerobatic flight. performance, advanced sensors and connectivity forming the building blocks
of this fully integrated platform, the AH-64E Apache stands as the world’s
This Month’s Cover Competition most advanced multi-role combat helicopter and represents the backbone of the
Entries to be submitted to the following e-mail only: US Army attack helicopter fleet, as well as a growing number of international
[email protected] defence forces. The US Army Apache fleet has accumulated more than
One entry per person please. Entries sent to other 4.5 million flight hours. With more than 2,400 Apaches delivered to customers
African Pilot e-mails will automatically be disqualified. around the world, Boeing is committed to the continuous modernisation of the
programme to ensure that AH-64 capabilities outpace adversaries to maintain
battlefield dominance today and for decades to come.

6 African Pilot August 2020

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we ensure that the needs of your aircraft are met. From small prop-driven planes and high-performance
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total.co.za August 2020 African Pilot 7

CONTRIBUTORS Athol Franz Mac McClellan Charlie Marais
Tom Willows Jim Wilson Tom Curran

copyright
The views expressed in African Pilot are not necessary those of the editor, publisher, or staff writers. The editors and
publishers cannot be held responsible for differences of opinion or statements published in good faith. No part of this
magazine may be reproduced including advertisements produced by Wavelengths 10 (Pty) Ltd in any form without
permission from the publisher. – South African copyright laws apply.

distribution
The onslaught of COVID-19 all over the world changed the way African Pilot will be distributed in the future. In addition
to printing in the past, the magazine has been digitally distributed for the past 12 years. However, from the April edition
onwards, African Pilot has been produced as a digital magazine free to anyone in the world. This has resulted in the
footprint of African Pilot increasing four-fold over the past four months. There is no point in returning to printing because
several of the distributors have closed their doors and a large portion of the traditional retail shops have also closed.

In addition, for the past 19 years African Pilot has published its popular APAnews every Monday or 50 times per year.
This has now increased to twice weekly on a Monday and Thursday, where the Thursday edition deals largely with
‘breaking news’ and regulatory items. For further information please visit the website: www.africanpilot.co.za Thank you.

Editor [email protected] Publisher / Production
Athol Franz [email protected] Wavelengths 10 (Pty) Ltd
[email protected]
Marketing [email protected] Editor
Adrian Munro [email protected] 082 552 2940
[email protected]
Copy reader [email protected] Marketing
Gordon Dyne 079 880 4359

Designers African Pilot 0861 00 11 30
Maria Leader Local +27 11 466 8524 / 6
Creshenda Maraba International 086 767 4333
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Accounts Manager
Helena Kurland P.O. Box 30620, Kyalami, 1684, South Africa

Admin / Subscriptions
Paulinah Motlhabi

African Pilot House

No. 6 Barbeque Heights, Dytchley Road, Barbeque Downs, Kyalami, South Africa

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www.africanpilot.co.za

8 African Pilot August 2020

August 2020 African Pilot 9

LETTERS

Hi Athol,
I hope you are well under these bizarre circumstances in which we find ourselves. Reading through
the African Pilot newsletter and other aviation stories this morning it struck me that there is
some entertaining, if not frustrating, story content being provided by the powers that be, between
the kleptocrats and ineptocrats in government and the CAA! I thought it might do some good to
put out a call for the dafter stories that you could roll up in your next newsletter.

Judge Norman Davis’ 2 June High Court ruling that the regulations enforcing the Covid-19
lockdown were unconstitutional, as they did not pass a ‘rationality test,’ has application to the
aviation sector, which he did not specifically mention. For example:
• Recreational aviation is prohibited, but 10 people may climb into a taxi. 50 may gather in
a church and dozens can fly in an airliner if it is for business. No rational conclusion can be
arrived at, that one person flying on his or her own, or in an open microlight poses any greater or
equivalent risk of spreading the virus
• People can fly domestically on commercial flights for business, but are not allowed to visit ailing
or ageing family who may need support
• Full stop landings are not permitted at airports other than from where a training flight originated.
No rational conclusion can be arrived at that if a training flight makes a full stop, then taxis
back up to the departure threshold to fly home again, that this poses any additional risk of viral
transmission to a ‘touch-and-go.’
• Only certain airports are permitted to operate commercial flights.

I am sure your readers could send a number of other daft effects of aviation-restricting rulings. I
have a friend who calls this ‘dumb.’
Regards, Glenn

Dear Glenn,
Thanks for your e-mail and of course your observations. All of us in aviation circles share your views and it is my
belief that the government is doing its level best to ‘control us with every means possible’ and for this reason certain
rules just do not make common sense. During the lockdown period,as a CAASA and Aero Club member,I have been
involved in trying to get these bureaucrats to see the light and understand that General Aviation is vastly different
to Airline Aviation. In certain cases, this has worked and for this I congratulate the good folks at both CAASA and
the Aero Club who have worked tirelessly to open up General Aviation.

Why certain major ACSA airports have not yet opened up is because the SACAA has not completed the
instrumentation calibration at some of the airports, which of course is the mandate of the regulator.
We know that the SACAA’s Cessna Citation crashed in George at the beginning of this year, therefore
the calibration at this airport was never completed. Now King Shaka Airport, Durban has also suffered
the same fate where flights can only continue as VFR approaches on runways 06/24, as there are not any
instrument approaches allowed. The sad part of all of this is that several South African companies have
the experienced pilots and aircraft to undertake the calibration of instrumentation and yet the ‘tender’
was awarded to a person who does not have a suitable aircraft or qualified pilots. The portable calibration
equipment is available in France and the United Kingdom, and could have been in South Africa within
a week of the Citation accident, whilst the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for this modification
requiring two small aerials is held by a South African aviation company. Do you smell a rat?
Sincerely, Athol

10 African Pilot August 2020

LETTERS

Good day Mr Franz.
After a long conversation with myself I finally decided to write to African Pilot to ask if there
are any other readers who may agree with my opinion of, this rather clumsy word, ‘Airplane’
that has recently been found in the ‘language of aviation.’ Considering from earlier days, ‘the
Spitfire, for sure, is a most beautiful AIRCRAFT’ with ‘grandpa has just arrived on that big blue
AEROPLANE’. I find it very difficult to even consider this word in conversation. It really may
not be a big deal, but for me it remains just another ‘clumsy’ English word ... could be with a little
American inspiration. Anyway, this magazine is still ‘One-of-the-Best.’
Kind regards to all members of the team, Brian Melmoth. Pietermaritzburg.

Dear Brian,
Good question so I consulted Google (often your best friend) and this is what was said by a grammarist:
Aeroplane vs. airplane

Aeroplane  and  airplane  are different forms of the same word.  Airplane  is preferred in American and
Canadian English, while  aeroplane  is traditionally preferred in non-North American varieties of English.
However, airplane has been steadily gaining ground in British publications and it may someday become the
standard. Meanwhile, aeroplane is almost completely absent from American and Canadian publications and to
North Americans it may have an old-fashioned ring. Frankly, over the past 20 or so years, I have witnessed the
gradual influence of the American language over English and we see this today in South Africa in almost ALL
publications. However, when writing for or editing African Pilot, I go to great lengths to ensure that a certain
standard is achieved by publishing correct English and not the American language. One of the most common
errors is the date: Americans say July 12, 2020- how daft! Surely12 July 2020 is far more appropriate?
Thank you very much for your kind words about my magazine.
Regards, Athol.

August 2020 African Pilot 11

12 African Pilot August 2020

August 2020 African Pilot 13

AIRLINE PILOT

AVIATION AND ITS
ELUSIVE CHASE OF
SUSTAINABILITY

Seemingly, sustainability is becoming
the name of the consumption game.
Businesses are moving towards more
sustainable practices in order to reduce their
emissions and to simply put, save our planet from
the brink of disaster. Airlines are no exception.
resumably against industry executives’ best wishes,
the spotlight was put on aviation to reduce its output
of greenhouse gases.

Starting from the flight shaming (#flygskam) movement, governments putting their
feet down, to protestors taking extreme action, the spotlight never faded despite the
COVID-19 pandemic essentially crippling the sector. Protestors invaded runways and
glued themselves to aircraft as recently as June 2020. Lawmakers were also mindful of the
environmental consequences of air travel when they gave out state-guaranteed loans or state
aid packages,attaching strings to the respective deals.Whilst the emission output plummeted,
as did the demand for air travel, airline executives expect 2019 levels of passenger demand
to return sooner rather than later. Optimistic predictions range from 2022 to 2023, whilst
pessimistic predictions indicate that it could be as late as 2025.

Airbus expects 2019-levels of business to return in 2025. With the economic downturn
touching every link in the aviation’s industry chain, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury provided
a harsh outlook for the future, assuming that business as usual would only return in 2025.

Despite the fact that airlines might only be getting back on their feet in 2021, the United
Nations’ agency, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) announced that Carbon
Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) will enter its
pilot phase in 2021. The goal of the industry, as laid out by the International Air Transport
Association (IATA), is to reduce the net emissions to half 2005 levels by 2050.

14 African Pilot August 2020

AIRLINE PILOT

August 2020 African Pilot 15

AIRLINE PILOT
Offsetting or reducing?

The way that CORSIA works is that airlines would offset their emissions by ‘financing a
reduction in emissions elsewhere,’ reads IATA’s fact sheet about the initiative. Greenhouse
gas reduction or removal must be something that is additional to an airline’s usual business
and it must reduce emissions permanently, not something that could be reversed. In its
purest form, CORSIA is not about the reduction of CO2 emissions, but rather making sure
that aviation can grow and not be scrutinised for its pollution.
“CORSIA is a vital step in that direction, enabling carbon-neutral growth that will
stabilise net emissions from international aviation at 2019 levels (580 million tonnes of
carbon),” stated IATA on July 1, 2020. The association, together with ICAO, agreed to
keep the baseline at 2019-levels, as the coronavirus pandemic swept aviation off its feet.
Due to the reduced traffic, CO2 emissions were also reduced.
“Today’s decision to remove 2020 from the baseline calculation marks a pragmatic way
forward that maintains the intent, spirit and impact of the CORSIA agreement,”highlighted
IATA’s Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac. “Sustainability is an airline’s licence
to grow,” added de Juniac.

16 African Pilot August 2020

August 2020 African Pilot 17

AIRLINE PILOT

AVOLON CANCELS ANOTHER

27 BOEING 737
MAX AIRLINERS

After the cancellation of 75 Boeing 737 MAX orders in April 2020,
the Irish-based lessor Avolon reduced its order-book

by another 27 of the jets on 7 July 2020, to consolidate
its capital amidst the coronavirus crisis. The 27 aircraft were

expected to be delivered between 2020 and 2022.

In addition, Avolon cancelled the order for an Airbus A330neo and postponed the
delivery of three A320neo family jets from 2020 to 2022. Earlier this year, in April 2020,
Avolon had already cancelled an order for 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and three Airbus
A330neo jets. It also deferred the deliveries of 25 narrow-body aircraft to 2024 or thereafter:
16 MAXs and nine Airbus A320neo. “We have reduced our near-term commitments by
over 140 aircraft since the start of the year,” commented Dómhnal Slattery, Avolon CEO.

These actions provide us with the capital strength to
manage through this market backdrop and to support

our customers through the recovery.

18 African Pilot August 2020

AIRLINE PILOT

Is the worst yet to come?

A week before Avolon’s decision, Boeing had already faced a series of cancellations.
On 29 June 2020, the low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle cancelled all its pending
orders with Boeing, which included 92 737 MAX and five 787 Dreamliner jets. Another
major lessor, BOC Aviation, also cancelled an order for 30 MAX aircraft. In 2020, orders for
313 Boeing 737 MAX were cancelled.

Norwegian cancels all remaining Boeing orders

Norwegian Air Shuttle announced it would cancel its pending order for 92 Boeing 737 MAX
and five Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets. The airline reiterated its will to receive compensation
for the losses generated by the 737 MAX grounding and the 787 Dreamliner Rolls-Royce
engine problems. The news came on the same day when Boeing successfully carried out the
first test flights for the recertification of its 737 MAX, in the lead-up to the plane’s return to
service after 14 months of global grounding. The three-day flight campaign aimed at testing
the updated MCAS that initially caused the two crashes that killed 346 people.

August 2020 African Pilot 19

AIRLINE PILOT

LUFTHANSA CLOSES
GERMANWINGS

Whilst Lufthansa significantly bolstered its liquidity position,
as the group received multiple state aid packages, the company

announced a restructuring programme called ‘ReNew.’
The German airline group is looking to significantly reduce

its fleet, limit new aircraft deliveries and close the door
on one of its subsidiaries.

Despite its financing currently being ‘secure,’ Lufthansa still aims to cut costs. Its plan
is to limit new aircraft deliveries to 80 until 2023, which will reduce its planned
investment into its fleet by half. Furthermore, the total fleet of the Lufthansa group
will be reduced by 100 aircraft. Lufthansa already retired six Airbus A380, eleven Airbus
A320 and five Boeing 747-400 jets ahead of schedule. With demand for travel at an all-time
low, airlines are preparing for the worst in the medium-term. Carriers are retiring their gas-
guzzling four-engine aircraft.
Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings will not resume operations. The low-cost carrier has
operated under the Eurowings’brand since March 2018, to simplify the Group’s operations.
Furthermore, 1,000 jobs will be cut at the administration of Lufthansa, as the group
accelerates the transformation of Lufthansa Airline into its own separate entity. ‘Due to
the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which are particularly serious for air

20 African Pilot August 2020

AIRLINE PILOT

travel, there is a calculated personnel surplus of at least 22,000 full-time positions,’ read a
statement by Lufthansa, as it continues negotiations with its unions. The flight attendant
union UFO already agreed to make concessions to save the company up to $561 million
(€500 million). Previously, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), a German pilot union, indicated
that it had offered to cut its pilots’ salaries by up to 45%, which would save Lufthansa up
to $400 million (€350 million).

Lufthansa finally cleared the remaining hurdles of its $9.8 billion (€9 billion) state aid
package on 25 June 2020, when the company’s shareholders approved the deal and the
strings attached to it. The package, which includes the German government’s Economic
Stabilisation Fund (WSF) taking a 20% stake in the airline, concluded a month-long drama
filled with insolvency deliberations and shareholder revolts within Lufthansa. The German
airline group also received help from the Austrian and Swiss governments, as they pleaded
$676 million (€600 million) and $1.35 billion (CHF1.275 billion) to Austrian Airlines and
Swiss International Air Lines, respectively.

Lufthansa Group: 50 percent of the fleet back in the air

Due to the significant changes in the booking wishes of their passengers, the airlines in the
Lufthansa Group are switching from short-term to longer-term flight planning and are now
completing their flight schedules by the end of October. This means that the airlines will
offer in the upcoming month over 40 percent of their originally planned flight programme.
A total of over 380 aircraft by the Lufthansa Group carriers will be used for this purpose
until October. This means that half of the Lufthansa Group’s fleet is in the air again, 200
aircraft more than in June.

August 2020 African Pilot 21

AIRLINE PILOT

Harry Hohmeister, member of the
Executive Board & Head of Commercial Passenger Airlines said

Little by little, the borders are opening again.
Demand is increasing, not only in the short term, but also in
the long term. We are therefore consistently expanding our flight
schedule and our global network and pushing ahead with our
restart. I am pleased to say that we can now offer our guests

even more connections to all parts of the world
with all Lufthansa Group Airlines via all hubs.

By the end of October, over 90 percent of all originally planned short and medium-haul
destinations and over 70 percent of the Group’s long-haul destinations will be served again.
Customers who are now planning their summer and autumn holidays will thus have access
to an extensive global network for tourism and business connections via all the Group’s hubs.

For example, the core brand Lufthansa will be flying 150 frequencies on the American
continent each week in summer / autumn via the hubs of Frankfurt and Munich. Around
90 flights a week are planned to Asia, over 45 to the Middle East and over 40 to Africa.
Flights will be resumed by October from Frankfurt to destinations including Miami, New
York ( JFK), Washington, San Francisco, Orlando, Seattle, Detroit, Las Vegas, Philadelphia,
Dallas, Singapore, Seoul, Cancún, Windhoek and Mauritius.

The service will be resumed by October from Munich: New York/Newark, Denver,
Charlotte, Tokyo Haneda and Osaka. In addition, the weekly availability of existing and
highly demanded destinations will be increased. Following the successful restart, the ramp-
up of Austrian Airlines flight operations continues to proceed according to plan. From July
onwards, Austria’s home carrier will fly to over 50 destinations.

SWISS will continue to extend its services from Zurich and Geneva over the coming weeks
and months, adding further new destinations to its network in addition to its existing
routes. SWISS will add 12 new European routes from Zurich in July and will offer 24 new
European destinations from Geneva. SWISS will serve a total of 11 long-haul destinations
from Zurich in July and 17 in October.

22 African Pilot August 2020

AIRLINE PILOT

Brussels Airlines expands its offer for both
leisure travellers and corporate guests.
In September and October,
the carrier plans to operate 45 percent of
its originally planned schedule.

To provide customers maximum flexibility in the COVID-19 crisis, the airlines of the
Lufthansa Group continue to offer numerous rebooking options. All Lufthansa, SWISS
and as well Austrian Airlines fares can be rebooked, including the Economy Light fare with
hand baggage only. Passengers wishing to change the travel date of their existing flight can
make a one-off rebooking free of charge for the same route and the same travel class. This
rule applies to tickets booked up to and including 31 August 2020 with a confirmed travel
date up to and including 30 April 2021. The rebooking must be made before the originally
planned date of travel.

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August 2020 African Pilot 23

SAFETY AND MENTAL
HEALTH:

AVIATION’S NEWEST CRISIS?

The COVID-19 imposed crisis is a truly unprecedented downturn
in aviation’s history. However, another crisis, of safety and mental

health, might be looming on the horizon.

24 African Pilot August 2020

AIRLINE PILOT

As 2020 rolled around, slowly, but steadily the aviation industry had started to
break apart at the seams. As the coronavirus spread, governments imposed border
restrictions upon travellers. Repatriation efforts began, as did operations to bring
vital medical supplies to fight the pandemic. When the repatriation flights were completed
and as less cargo was needed, the industry seemingly took a step back to self-reflect. The
self-reflection has led to long-lasting changes that will have implications on everyone that
has worked in or was involved with aviation. From a possible shift in passenger experience
onboard, accelerated homogenisation of aircraft in the sky, to thousands upon thousands
of jobs that are going to be lost.

Despite the best efforts of governments around the world to bolster airlines’ liquidity with
state aid packages, the message from the board rooms is clear: airlines are overstaffed.
Understandably so, as 2019 seemed like a record-breaking year. The industry was poised
to grow and employed people to meet the needs in the coming years. Even so, airlines still
lacked pilots and other personnel to properly adjust to the spurt of growth. A year ago, the
situation was very different.

From too few to too many

In June 2019 the now-ousted chief executive officer (CEO) of Boeing, Dennis Muilenburg,
told CNBC that a global pilot shortage was ‘one of the biggest challenges’ the industry
faced back then. Now, pilots “are struggling to even find opportunities, let alone job offers,”
noted Kristina Mateikaitė-Repšienė, a recruitment specialist. A great curriculum vitae
(CV ) with lots of hours and experience is not enough anymore, according to Mateikaitė-
Repšienė, as pilots have to be able to ‘present themselves, as more human factors come into
play’ when airlines start to pick and choose their flight crews.

The lack of opportunities follows months of uncertainty, as aviation has been abruptly
stopped in its tracks. Airlines had either fired their employees outright, placed them on
unpaid leave, or, for those lucky few, they allowed them to continue their duties. In an
optimistic scenario, some predict that 2022 or 2023 will be the year when traffic would
return to 2019-levels. Pessimistic scenarios depict that would only happen in 2025.

Emirates announces job cuts;
anticipates normality by 2023 / 2024

Even the most popular airlines are not immune to impending cuts to its operations:
Emirates announced that the airline is planning to cut a part of its workforce as a difficult
future is looming. Whilst so far bankruptcies have been few and far between, as no
high-profile airline announced reaching the end of the road, the cash crunch and looming
debt repayments can change the narrative. That could also erase many jobs across the
industry, permanently. The uncertainty that has no end in sight has an unseen toll on those
that fell in love with aviation.

August 2020 African Pilot 25

AIRLINE PILOT

Toll on those affected

“The financial crisis facing this industry and the inevitable cost reductions add to the
possible or actual effects of COVID-19 infection. Many aviation employees are now
facing the loss of their jobs, reduced terms and conditions, and the prospect of ongoing
employment insecurity in an uncertain and volatile future,” reads the European Aviation
Mental Well-being Initiative’s (EAM-WELL) statement, signed by several leading
European organisations that make sure employees in aviation are taken care of.

European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP), European Cockpit Association
(ECA), and the European Association for Aviation Psychology (ESAM) were amongst
the organisations. “These impacts on individuals’ health, both physical and mental are
profound and far-reaching. It is highly likely that the consequences of the COVID-19
crisis could have a direct impact on flight safety, was noted in the EAM-WELL statement.

European Union Safety Agency (EASA) shared its concerns

“The pandemic is a significant source of anxiety, stress and uncertainty for almost everyone.
Worries about unemployment for aviation staff and their relatives may be exacerbated,”
stated the agency’s review of aviation safety issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The review does highlight that the “personal wellbeing of professionals is likely to have
suffered,” which may lead to distractions or other normal procedures not being followed.
Unfortunately, the concerns have already turned to reality. The pilots of the fatal Pakistan
International Airlines flight PK8303 were distracted during the approach, as noted in the
preliminary report prepared by the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (PCAA).

The discussion throughout was about the corona, they
had the virus in mind: their families were affected.

A month after the crash of PIA flight PK8303, a preliminary investigation report was
released by the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan. Presenting the early findings, the
authorities pointed at the negligence of the pilots and the lack of adequate reaction from
the air traffic controllers.

Pilots questioning when it will end

“No one ever thought that this virus would affect everyone,” one pilot, who wished to
remain anonymous, said. “Initially, I had no worries, but then, I began to question when
would it end? I am quite positive aviation will pick up again, but I will not forget the

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managers who used the coronavirus as an
excuse to clean up companies or re-employ
people on much cheaper contracts.”

Airlines have been re-negotiating their
collective labour agreements with unions.
For example, Lufthansa’s employees, including pilots, offered to take pay cuts in order to
save their jobs. Ryanair shook hands with the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA)
to lower its wages in an attempt to keep Ryanair’s UK-based pilots flying. British Airways
was harshly criticised for its plans to cut 12,000 or 30% of its workforce, a plan which the
UK lawmakers called an ‘attempt to take advantage of the pandemic.’

Another pilot, based in Thailand, said that he may end up giving up flying because he
had lost his job and opportunities were rather scarce in the country. “I have done the
commuting back and forth early on in my career and I am not prepared to go back to it.
There is no more point in sacrificing flying a jet to be away from my family.”

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Dassault’s Falcon 6X on track
for first flight

Dassault Aviation is making steady progress toward an early 2021 planned first
flight for its latest and roomiest aircraft, the Falcon 6X, despite the upheaval caused
by the coronavirus epidemic.

“Bringing the Falcon 6X to market on schedule is a top priority for the company. Our planning

and production staff have been diligent and resourceful in adapting procedures to new sanitary
guidelines to keep this programme running smoothly,” said Dassault Aviation Chairman and
CEO Eric Trappier. “Our suppliers have also made extraordinary efforts to support us. We are

grateful to them all.

”

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The first of the three-pre-production aircraft that will take part in flight certification
has been powered up and has entered ground testing. Aircraft No. 2 and 3 are in
advanced stages of assembly and long cycle parts production for serialised production
has already begun. Certification and entry into service are set for 2022, in keeping
with the original timetable.

The second aircraft recently had its wings mated to the fuselage and the third aircraft is in the early
stages of final assembly. Each will be heavily instrumented and like aircraft no. 1, will be capable
of performing aerodynamic, performance and systems’ testing. Aircraft No. 3 will receive a full
interior to evaluate systems functionality, acoustics, airflow, comfort and other factors. Interior
furnishings, environmental systems, electronics and other equipment are currently being tested
in a ground test rig prior to installation on the aircraft.

Electric, hydraulic and fuel system tests have been completed and testing of the Falcon
6X’s advanced digital flight control system has begun. Ground fatigue and damage

August 2020 African Pilot 29

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tolerance testing has also been initiated. This test cycle will later be extended to
include stress testing to maximum load limits and beyond. The Falcon 6X sets a new
industry benchmark for cabin comfort, long-range performance and flying efficiency.
It offers the largest cabin cross section of any purpose-built business jet (6’6” tall by
8’6” wide) and its 5,500 nautical mile range capability allows it to connect far flung
routes such as Paris to Tokyo or Los Angeles to Moscow. The new twinjet is also
equipped with the latest innovative technologies, including a new-generation Digital
Flight Control System (DFCS) that provides unmatched manoeuvrability in flight.
The new DFCS controls all moving surfaces including a new multifunction control
area called a flaperon, adapted from Dassault fighter aircraft.

PW812D engine programme also on target
Assembly of Falcon 6X engines and nacelles is ramping up in parallel with aircraft
production.The aircraft’s advanced Pratt & Whitney Canada PW812D engine completed
an initial airborne test campaign earlier this year aboard Pratt & Whitney’s Boeing 747
testbed aircraft and a second series of flight tests are scheduled this summer. To date
the PW812D has accumulated over 200 hours in the air and more than 1,600 hours
on the ground. It has also completed initial certification tests, including bird strike, ice
ingestion and blade-off tests.

The PW1200G core engine shared by the PW812D has accumulated more than
16,000 hours running time. The PW800 series exceeds ICAO standards for NOx emissions
by a double-digit margin and generates ultra-low levels of unburned hydrocarbons and smoke.

The PW812D will meet future cockpit
CO2 regulations and achieve
Stage 4 noise requirements
with significant margin.
Production operations at
Dassault’s Bordeaux-Merignac,
France main assembly facility
are now back to normal after
a brief disruption due to the
COVID-19 crisis.

The company used the time cabin
to devise safer procedures
with smaller crews on
the production floor, now
working once again in two
shifts. The Dassault flight test
team is currently coordinating
with EASA and the FAA to
finalise the flight test and
validation programme.

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EMBRAER DELIVERS FIRST NEW,
ENHANCED PHENOM 300E

ON SCHEDULE

Late in June, Embraer Embraer Phenom 300E
announced the first
delivery of its new,
enhanced Phenom 300E,
the fastest and longest-
range single-pilot business
jet, capable of reaching
Mach 0.80, to Texas law
firm Dunham & Jones,
Attorneys at Law, P.C.
The firm also owns a
Phenom 100EV.

“This milestone delivery to our friends at Dunham & Jones is a testament to our ongoing
commitment to providing the ultimate customer experience in business aviation,” said
Michael Amalfitano, President & CEO of Embraer Executive Jets. “We are honoured to
help them grow their Embraer fleet with the world’s best-selling light jet for the past eight
years, which has now been even further enhanced in terms of its technology, comfort and
performance to ensure its market dominance in the industry.”

With its unparalleled technology, exceptional comfort and stunning performance, the
Phenom 300E sets the standard for the light jet category. The aircraft received technology
enhancements, including an avionics’ upgrade, which includes a runway overrun awareness
and alerting system (ROAAS), the first technology of its kind to be developed and certified
in business aviation. Predictive wind shear, Emergency Descent Mode, PERF, TOLD and
FAA Datacom, amongst others. The Phenom 300E also features 4G connectivity via GoGo
AVANCE L5. The new comfort-enhancing features on this jet include a quieter cabin,
more legroom in the cockpit and a new premium interior option, the Bossa Nova edition.
In terms of performance, the new, enhanced Phenom 300E is even faster, capable of reaching
Mach 0.80 and delivers a high-speed cruise of 464 knots as well as a five-occupant range of
2,010 nautical miles (3,724 km) with NBAA IFR reserves.

The Phenom 300 series is in operation in more than 30 countries and has accumulated more
than one million flight hours. It has been the world’s best-selling light jet for eight consecutive
years, with more than 540 delivered, since entering the market in December 2009.

August 2020 African Pilot 31

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COMMERCIAL PILOT

Blackhawk unveils new
XR upgrade kit for the

King Air 350

Blackhawk Aerospace has FAA’s approval of a new STC for its new XR Upgrade Kit
for the King Air 350 Series.

The XR Kit optimises a stock King Air 350 series aircraft by increasing max gross
take-off weight to 16,500 pounds and maintaining a basic aircraft empty weight
that is 220 pounds lighter than comparable extended range aircraft for greater
payloads and up to 25% more endurance.

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The original Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6A-60A engines and four-bladed
aluminium propellers are removed and replaced with brand-new 1200 shaft horsepower
(SHP) PT6A-67A engines and lightweight MT 5-bladed composite propellers.The XR Kit
also includes new heavy-weight landing gear, high floatation tyres, Raisbeck fully enclosed
high floatation gear doors and the True-Blue Power TB44 Lithium-ion battery. The XR
kit also incorporates conformal auxiliary CenTex Saddle Tanks that are 172 pounds lighter
than the OEM’s extra range fuel tanks whilst providing additional endurance and range
improvements to meet the most demanding mission requirements.
The PT6A-67A 1200 SHP engines provided with the XR kit are flat rated to
1050 SHP. The -67A’s larger compressor produces higher thermodynamic horsepower
output to provide full torque at higher altitudes.This extra horsepower provides improved
first, second and third segment climb capability, greater take-off performance in high

August 2020 African Pilot 35

COMMERCIAL PILOT

and hot conditions and increased single-engine service ceilings. The ability to reach
FL350 in 18 minutes significantly reduces exposure within hostile airspace and ensures
crews can be on-station to meet time-critical mission execution windows. A larger, single
oil cooler is provided with each engine to ensure oil temperatures remain within limits
whilst taxiing during the hottest weather conditions. The new PT6A-67A engines come
with a P&WC Enhanced Warranty of 2,500 hours or 5 years with prorated coverage
to the 3,600 Time Before Overhaul (TBO) and include all mandatory and optional
Service Bulletins. The new engines deliver peace of mind and greater reliability whilst
significantly expanding mission capabilities.

The quieter MT five-blade composite propellers offer an optimised blade design
and shorter diameter (102 inches) to increase ground clearance and reduce Foreign
Object Damage (FOD). The composite blades reduce cabin and exterior noise by
at least 5 dBA helping to improve stealth operations. Another key advantage of the
MT propeller is that it allows for the removal of the ground-idle solenoid which reduces
weight and maintenance costs. The composite propellers are extremely durable and
come with the longest TBO in the industry at 4,500 hours. They also offer unlimited
blade life compared with traditional aluminium propellers, which can only survive to
the third or fourth overhaul.

The True-Blue Power TB44 Lithium-ion battery replaces the main-ship battery, which
provides a weight saving of 30 pounds whilst doubling cranking amps for quicker
engine starts. This battery is built for use under the toughest conditions with superior
temperature performance (-40°C to +70°C) whilst having a useful life that is double that
of lead-acid and NiCad alternatives. The intelligent monitoring system incorporated
into each True-Blue Power battery prevents the need for battery removal for capacity
checks and reduces maintenance costs by 50% or more.

The XR-equipped King Air 350 with PT6A-67A engines requires 4.8% less power at
equal speed and produces 24% more horsepower at typical loiter altitudes, which delivers
up to 25% more endurance than a PT6A-60A-equipped King Air 350. Furthermore,
Blackhawk’s XR Kit significantly expands the ability to meet or exceed second segment
climb gradient requirements with full fuel and provides a head-turning 60% increased
climb rate to altitude. The XR Kit also increases cruise speeds 30-40 KTAS to ensure
on-time mission execution with minimal notification.

In addition to performance enhancements, the XR Upgrade Kit also impacts the
bottom line. The kit provides improved performance and operational flexibility at a
significantly lower acquisition cost as compared with other special mission aircraft
with extended range. Factory-new propellers, engines, heavy weight landing gear, True
Blue Lithium-ion battery, Raisbeck fully enclosed High Floatation Gear Doors, and
CenTex Saddle Tank fuel lockers are all included in the price of the upgrade.

36 African Pilot August 2020

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COMMERCIAL PILOT

BOMBARDIER ANNOUNCES
GLOBAL 5500 BUSINESS JET

ENTRY-INTO-SERVICE

Bombardier has announced the entry-into-service of the
innovative, long-range Global 5500 business jet, which was

recently delivered to an undisclosed customer

This high-value aircraft represents the gateway into Bombardier’s flagship large-cabin
Global family, offering world-renowned performance, comfort and the smoothest
ride. The global 5500 aircraft has the longest range, the largest cabin and the
smoothest ride in its class Last year, Bombardier announced that the Global 5500 aircraft
can fly 200 nautical miles more than planned and its new range of 5,900 nautical miles is 700
nautical miles more than the nearest competitor at the same speed.

David Coleal, President, Bombardier Aviation said; “This spacious and efficient aircraft is
the ultimate business tool, with the range and access to safely to take our customers where
they need to be. The first Global 5500 aircraft delivery is of particular significance for our
employees in Wichita, who recently took on the meticulous work of interior completions for
the Global 5000 and Global 5500 aircraft.”

Bombardier Global 5500

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Bombardier’s Wichita site has a rich history as the manufacturing centre of the iconic Learjet.
Over the years, Bombardier expanded the site’s operations to include a world-class service
centre, as well as its Flight Test Centre and Specialised Aircraft operations. Completion work
for the stunning Global 5000 and Global 5500 aircraft cabins is the latest diversification for
this skilled workforce.

All Bombardier employees have demonstrated flexibility and dedication in the face of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Bombardier has taken extraordinary steps to protect its employees
and customers against the virus and as manufacturing activities resume around the world, the
company has strict protocols for continued safety and operational excellence. The successful
entry-into-service of the Global 5500 business jet at this time demonstrates Bombardier’s
resilience and the efforts of its talented employees. The new Global 5500 business jet offers a
unique blend of innovation, style and comfort.With its next-generation wing technology and
purpose-built engines, the Global 5500 aircraft flies faster and further, with the smoothest
ride. Meticulously crafted with exquisite finishes and high-end craftsmanship, the Global
5500 aircraft features ground-breaking innovations including Bombardier’s patented Nuage
seat, the first new seat architecture in business aviation in 30 years.

Taking total performance to new heights, the Global 5500 aircraft boasts an impressive
range of 5,900 nautical miles (10,928 km), which enables it to connect Sao Paulo to
Paris or Los Angeles to Moscow non-stop, and has a top speed of M 0.90. An optimised
wing ensures the smoothest ride. The Global 5500 aircraft’s 4K-enabled cabin offers
the fastest in-flight connectivity and its intuitive cabin management system delivers an
ultra-high-definition entertainment experience.

The Global 5500 business jet is equipped with Bombardier Pur Air, a sophisticated air
purification system available exclusively on Global aircraft. The system’s advanced HEPA
filter captures up to 99.99% of allergens, bacteria and viruses that completely replaces the
cabin air with 100% fresh air in as little as one-and-a-half minutes.

Flight deck

Interior

August 2020 African Pilot 39

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STRATOS AIRCRAFT
ANNOUNCES THE
FIRST FLIGHT OF 716X

On 2 July, Stratos Aircraft announced the first flight of its Stratos
716X model (registration N716X). Flown by test pilot Sean
VanHatten, the flight lasted 22 minutes. Sean has over 5,300 hours,
with over 120 hours in the Stratos Proof of Concept 714 and has
performed nineteen first flights and flown four prototype aircraft.

The Stratos 716X is a spacious six-place jet with generous space for baggage. The all-
carbon airframe, single-engine jet is designed to cruise at 400 knots. The first flight
was a full power take-off and climb to 13,500 feet. A series of manoeuvres were
conducted to evaluate handling characteristics. The flight is the first of an extensive flight
test programme which will span several months.
The 716X is 4.5 feet longer and has a wider cabin, than the 714 Proof of Concept (PoC)
aircraft introduced at Oshkosh in 2017. The all-carbon-fibre 716X features trailing link gear
and is powered by a Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5 turbofan and is configured with dual G3X
screens, GTN 750 MFD, integrated Garmin Autopilot, dual standby attitude indicators,
custom switch panels, fully automated pressurisation system and air conditioning.The Stratos
716X is a multi-role’VLJ (Very Light Jet) designed to comfortably seat six people to support
personal, business and air taxi use. “The first flight of the 716X went as briefed, which is a
testament to the design quality and the professionalism of the crew here at Stratos,” said
VanHatten. “The aircraft is well harmonised and its directional stability was very good.
The Stratos Aircraft team should be very proud of this accomplishment and I am looking

Stratos 176X

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forward to continued flight testing this new design.” “When we introduced the Proof of
Concept 714 aircraft three years ago, the marketplace interest was tremendous,” said Stratos
CTO, Carsten Sundin. “It was clear that the market is looking for the performance and
comfort we were offering, but in a true six-place aircraft. We have achieved this with the
716X. With a cabin width of 4.9 ft and height of 4.8 ft, there is plenty of room for passengers
to relax on long flights.

The Stratos 716X will be offered as an experimental kit build aircraft whilst the 716 will be
certified by the FAA for production. “We see producing a limited number of kit aircraft as
a logical step towards certification. It will allow customers who don’t want to wait for the
716 certification an opportunity to own and operate a Stratos 716X much sooner, whilst
we continue to develop our production processes,” said Sundin. The Stratos 716X kit will
be comprehensive and include a builder’s assist programme. “We are excited to be able to
introduce the 716X builder’s assist programme,” said Sundin. “This programme will allow
us to deliver the 716X to a select group of customers very soon whilst we continue with the
programme for the 716 Certified aircraft.”

Stratos Aircraft has invested significantly to support the production of the Stratos 716
and 716X. Its facilities total over 41,000 sq. feet in Redmond, Oregon. Stratos boasts a
full engineering team, design office, assembly facility and a manufacturing machine shop
complete with a gantry router, large volume 3D printer, waterjet cutter and CNC machines.
A separate facility at Roberts Field Airport, Redmond supports the flight test programme.
“We have also just commissioned our state-of-the-art composite manufacturing facility.
Advanced technology is applied in the construction of the carbon fibre parts, including
a CNC ply cutter and laser projectors to aid the alignment of the individual plies.
The dedicated building also has a large ‘walk in’ oven in which the completed parts are
cured.” said Sundin. He declared himself to be extremely satisfied with the results of the
first flight. “The aircraft performed just as predicted and the initial feedback is that the
handling qualities are excellent. We look forward to now expanding the flight envelope and
demonstrating the aircraft’s full potential.”

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THE MAGICAL MOONEY
BY MAC MCCLELLAN

Richard Collins often told me that the Mooney was a cult airplane;
he was right. Whilst all pilots would brag about how fast their
airplane was, how much it could carry, how fast it climbed and
how far it went on full tanks, Mooney owners focused on one
thing only. How fast they flew on so little fuel.

Fuel efficiency matters to every pilot. Even in the days when Avgas sold for well under a
buck a gallon. However, pilots also balanced fuel efficiency against cabin room, payload,
runway performance and cruise speed. Not Mooney owners. They traded all that stuff for
fuel efficiency. Tiny cabin? Of course. Anaemic runway performance and not much climb?
Yes, kind of. Weird landing characteristics? Yes, unless you know how. Not really the fastest
cruise speed, but look how little fuel it burns.

A cult? I think Richard had it right

However, that all changed with development of the Mooney 201 and also following two oil
embargo shocks that left us wondering if there would be any avgas at any price? Suddenly
the Mooney looked more like mainstream pilot religion than a cult.

Mooney Avionics upgrade

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Mooney M20C

Early Mooney models were very small inside. The original M20 series Mooney is a truly tiny
airplane. It has four seats, but anybody in the back two should be shorter than 5 ft. 3 inches,
whilst pilot and copilot need to be OK with sitting on the floor. Well, almost on the floor.
There are a very few inches of seat bottom between your bottom and the cabin bottom. The
180 hp Mooneys were fast for their limited horsepower. However, realistic cruise is still 130 to
135 knots. Maybe they can outrun a Cessna Skylane on a good day, but not by much, whilst
the Skylane pilot and passengers will be able to stand up straight after a four-hour flight.

When the Mooney Super 21 was introduced with a 200 hp injected Lycoming in 1964,

cruise speed increased noticeably. Under perfect conditions the Super could threaten

150 knots true, but 145 knots was realistic. Better yet was the ‘F’ model Executive

introduced in 1967. Mooney stretched the Exec cabin by about 10 inches, an enormous

improvement in cabin comfort and usability. Maximum take-off weight also went up

by 165 pounds, so you could use the extra space. Members of the Mooney cult were

convinced that the short body 200 hp

model, named Chaparral, was faster Interior
than the longer Executive. I don’t think

so, if both airplanes were flown at the

same weight. The cabin stretch simply

didn’t add much in the way of drag.

As a company, Mooney was always
interested in increasing cruise speed.
After all, speed and fuel efficiency were
its only claims to fame. Sometime in the
early 1970s Mooney engineers took a
hard look at how to get more speed out of
the basic airframe without adding more
power, which would erode the efficiency
goal.Legend has it that early attention was
on the short body model because maybe
it could gain the most speed with a drag
reduction programme. Fortunately, more
logical thinking prevailed and the focus
was placed on the long-body Executive.

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The result was the Mooney 201, introduced late in 1976.

I never could get N201M to 170 knots true airspeed, which is the equivalent of 201 mph,
but it came close when conditions were just right and everything was firewalled. The
vibration with the prop up to its maximum 2,700 rpm and full throttle did not make for
a comfortable ride. However, 160 knot cruise was dependable in the 201 and that was far
faster than anything else with only 200 hp. That speed was within 10 knots or so of the
single engine speed leader, the Bonanza, which had 285 hp and cost about double the price
of a 201.

Roy Lopresti did as much as anyone to make the Mooney’s reputation. The aeronautical
achievements of the 201 would have made the airplane a success in its own right, but
Mooney was helped along enormously by Roy LoPresti who joined the company late in
the 201 development and became the airplane’s human face and its greatest cheerleader.
Roy was undoubtedly an accomplished aerodynamicist, but he was an even better
salesman. He didn’t talk about reducing form drag, or laminar flow, or propeller efficiency.
He humanised the 201-design programme.

He once told a gathering of pilots that he would lay on a shop creeper
and roll around under the Mooney

“imagining I was an air molecule and
how I would flow around the airplane.”

That, he said, helped design the shape of the secondary gear door that
helped seal the main gear in the wells.

At the time, Stancie Lane was a familiar figure in aviation. She ran the airshow exhibits and
show publications for Flying and Business and Commercial Aviation, so was at all the shows.
I remember at one Mooney press conference, in 1978 as I recall, Roy was announcing the
new upswept wingtips for the 201 that replaced the traditional Mooney ‘chopped off ’straight
edge tip. Ever the showman, Roy told the gathering of aviation press types, “I patterned the
new wingtip after Stancie Lane’s nose. I always thought she had a very pretty nose!” Even
in today’s ‘me too’ environment I guess it’s still alright to compliment a woman on the shape
of her nose. However, what the shape of Stancie’s nose (full disclosure: Stancie and I have
been married since 1980) had to do with aerodynamics, is a mystery, but the crowd loved it!

The real ‘magic’ of the 201-drag clean-up was primarily the cowling and the windshield.
The windshield on earlier Mooneys is nearly upright. So upright, in fact, that there are
access panels on the nose forward of the windshield so mechanics can reach the avionics and

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instruments. Sloping and reshaping the windshield on the 201 was worth several knots of
drag reduction. The other big gain was getting rid of the old Mooney cowling with its huge,
gaping air inlet.
The 201 cowling inlets are a fraction of the size and designed to recover ram air pressure
from the slip stream, instead of just holding out a bucket to catch the passing air.

Amongst the quirks of the Mooney is a ram air engine inlet. In clean air above the runway,
you pull a knob that opens a hole in the cowling to ram air directly into the engine induction,
bypassing the inlet filter. In earlier Mooneys, opening the ram air would increase manifold
pressure a full inch. In the 201 the ram air raised manifold pressure fractions of an inch. You
had to watch closely to see an increase at all. The reason is the original cowling and engine
air inlet was so bad, the ram air really helped. The 201 was done so well the ram air did not
matter much.

From landing gear doors to gap seals, the modern 201 is a very clean airplane. The secondary
main landing gear doors recovered a couple knots of drag and so did the improved gap seals
for the control surfaces. Even the cabin step redesign helped a little and it all added up to an
airplane that seemed like a free lunch. The 201 was still the efficiency leader by a lot, but also
came close to the fastest in cruise speed.

Jillions of words have been written about the efficiency of the Mooney laminar flow airfoil
and its smooth, thick wing skins, which were, of course, plywood in the original. However,
it has been hard to measure how much the shape of the Mooney airfoil matters. Objective
testing shows the more conventional airfoil of a Bonanza, or 210, have very similar degrees of
laminar flow and about the same drag, but there is no question the Mooney, particularly the

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201 and later models, has very low overall drag. Over the years Richard Collins and I proved
that to ourselves over and over by flying air-to-air photo missions when the Mooney was
the subject airplane. We most often used an A36 Bonanza for the camera airplane because
the rear doors come off easily to give the photographer an unobstructed shooting opening.
We would take-off in formation, if runway width allowed, or in close trail. The Bonanza
would leave the Mooney in the dust in seconds. The only way the Mooney could catch up
was to turn inside the Bonanza to cut the radius.

When you were flying the Mooney in formation, the real problem, after catching up was how
not to overshoot. With the power at idle the Mooney would keep closing on the Bonanza, but
you had to be quick to add power as soon as the gap opened because nothing much happened
to the Mooney’s speed with more throttle. Slippery is the right word for the Mooney.

Mooney has gone on to put ever
more powerful engines into the same
basic airframe and can claim to be the
speed king of singles, but that is more
about power. The magical Mooneys
are the ones that go fast on little fuel
and the 201 was the champion of
that game. It was the right airplane
for its time and perhaps even for
today. Going faster and farther on
less fuel is always a good thing.

MAC MCCLELLAN

When people ask Mac McClellan what he does for a living, he replies, “I fly airplanes and write
about them and I am one of the most fortunate people in the world to have been able to make a
career of doing what I love.” Mac has been a pilot for more than 45 years, an aviation writer for more
than 40 and has been lucky enough to fly just about every type of personal and business airplane in
production from the 1970s onward.

He was on the Flying Magazine’s staff for 35 years and editor-in-chief for 20 of those years. He
has private pilot privileges in single-engine airplanes, commercial pilot in helicopters and ATP in
airplanes with more than one engine. He holds several business jet type ratings and has logged more
than 10,000 hours. His first airplane was a Cessna 140 and for the past 27 years he has owned a
Baron 58 flying it more than 5,000 hours to cover the aviation industry and now he is a part-time
corporate pilot flying a King Air 350.

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ZEROAVIA CONDUCTS UK’S
FIRST COMMERCIAL-SCALE

ELECTRIC FLIGHT

Early in July, it was reported that ZeroAvia conducted the
first ever electric-powered flight by a commercial-scale aircraft,

carried out in the UK. The test flight is a significant milestone
both for the UK’s net zero and green aviation ambitions
and for ZeroAvia on the journey to demonstrating
long-distance zero emission flights in large aircraft.

The company successfully completed the first flight of the new version of its powertrain
from its base at Cranfield Airport. ZeroAvia is focused on developing a hydrogen
fuel cell powertrain. Hydrogen-electric offers the same zero-emission potential of
battery-electric, but has a much more promising energy-to-weight ratio, making it viable for
commercial operations at a much larger scale and in a shorter time frame. In addition, the
hydrogen-electric powertrain is projected to have lower operating costs due to the high cost
of battery cycling in typical high-utilisation regional aircraft. The longer-distance hydrogen-
electric test flights are planned for later this summer.

Beyond HyFlyer, ZeroAvia plans commercially relevant, certified 10-20 seat configurations
ready to go within three years and 50-100 seat configurations in flight by the end of the decade.
The company projects that aircraft over 200 seats with a range in excess of 3,000 nautical
miles is achievable by 2040 without requiring any fundamental scientific breakthroughs.

In spite of the challenges presented by the lockdown, and thanks to the support of the
Airport’s Operations’ team, Cranfield University and Cranfield Aerospace, the HyFlyer
project has made big strides in progressing the programme with minimal delays. A hydrogen
refuelling infrastructure has recently been commissioned and ZeroAvia has completed a
full set of ground-based full-power flight simulations for its long-distance hydrogen flights.
“Today’s flight is the latest in a series of milestones that moves the possibility of zero emission
flight closer to reality,” said Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia Founder and CEO. “We all want the
aviation industry to come back after the pandemic on a firm footing to be able to move to a
net zero future, with a green recovery. That will not be possible without realistic, commercial
options for zero emission flight; something we will bring to market as early as 2023.”

48 African Pilot August 2020