Though Audrey Hepburn didn’t actually deliver that line in her 1954 film Sabrina, it’s widely attributed to her, and having lived in Paris for three years, I couldn’t agree more. To this day, I never need an excuse to go. I’d happily hop the pond to La Ville-Lumière for the opening of an envelope.

But on one day in April 2000, Paris became a great idea, an incredible idea, une très, très bonne idée—no, that’s not hyperbolic enough. On one April day, Paris became the best idea ever, as I booked myself on Air France Flights AF001 and AF002 aboard Concorde for a round trip from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport (LFPG).

To say a flight on Concorde (not “the” Concorde) was unlike one on any other commercial aircraft is an understatement. The delta-winged Concorde was a truly unique airplane and an extraordinary feat of aeronautical engineering, especially for its time. Incorporating groundbreaking technologies like fly-by-wire, it was as stunning and graceful as it was swift, scorching the stratosphere at altitudes high enough to make a flat-earther blush. On my particular flights, we got up to FL580 and Mach 2.02—faster than a bullet and high enough to plainly see the curvature of the Earth.

• READ MORE: Tripping the Light Fantastic

From its first flight a few months before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon to its first commercial flights in 1976—G-BOAA, London to Bahrain and F-BVFA, Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar, Senegal—to its final flights 27 years later, Concorde captured hearts, minds, and dreams around the world. Coincidentally, F-BVFA is also the airplane I flew on from New York City to Paris. It is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. 

Tuesday, October 24 marks the 20th anniversary of the final scheduled commercial flights of Concorde. On that day, British Airways Concorde G-BOAG, as BA002, took off from JFK, with chief pilot Mike Bannister at the controls, and landed at London’s Heathrow Airport (EGLL) a scant few hours later, but not before “Alpha Golf” formed up with two other Concordes for a low formation pass over London.

Alpha Golf is now on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. On its way to retirement—because of course it did—G-BOAG set a New York-to-Seattle speed record of 3 hours, 55 minutes, 2 seconds, flying supersonic over Canada along the way. As one would expect, Concorde holds many speed records, including the fastest Atlantic crossing and New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds.

The final scheduled passenger flight for an Air France Concorde came earlier in 2003 on May 31. That morning, Concorde F-BTSD, as AF001, departed JFK at 8:15 a.m. and landed at 4:30 p.m. local time in Paris. That airframe is on display near Paris at the National Air and Space Museum of France, located at Paris Airport-Le Bourget (LFPB) .

There are just three Concordes on display in the U.S. In addition to the two mentioned earlier, British Airways G-BOAD is preserved at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

I recently caught up with both Bannister and John Tye, another British Airways Concorde captain, and asked them both what they thought about this anniversary. 

“I was fortunate enough to fly that last flight from New York to London,” said Bannister. “Every time I go to Brooklands [Museum near London] and look at the stylish lines of our Concorde there, she still looks like she was designed only a few years ago, very 21st century. I also still find it difficult to get my mind around just how technically advanced she was—an aeroplane that could carry 100 passengers 1,350 miles per hour across the Atlantic in great safety. We did something then that can’t be done now.

“When we look at Concorde, there is nothing like it today. It’s amazing to think that the last flight was 20 years ago. It seems like yesterday, both literally and metaphorically.”

Tye wasn’t flying any of the final flights.

“I was at a beach bar in Barbados, rum and coke in hand and tears streaming down my face as I watched Mike land that last airplane,” Tye said. “On October 24, there will be a big crew reunion at Brooklands. All flight crew, cabin crew, ground staff, 196 people coming together. Concorde is an aluminum tube. It’s the people who brought her alive, made her so special. We were just the privileged ones who got to fly Concorde and get paid for it—absolutely astonishing.”

Look for more in 2024 from FLYING Media Group on Concorde. I will detail not only my own experiences flying on the airplane but also bring you along as we meet the pilots who flew Concorde and get into the weeds with them about what she was really like to fly.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Plane & Pilot.

The post October 24 Marks 20 Years Since Final Scheduled Concorde Flights appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Volocopter, the German manufacturer that’s been a mainstay near the top of SMG Consulting’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Reality Index, on Thursday announced a partnership with Houston-based Bristow Group that will bring the company’s VoloCity eVTOL to the U.S. and U.K. Bristow placed a firm order for two VoloCity with the option to acquire another 78, for a total of 80 aircraft.

The partnership will combine the vertical flight expertise of Bristow, which primarily operates helicopter services, with eVTOL aircraft from Volocopter as the partners develop an urban air mobility (UAM) ecosystem in the U.S. “Immediate cooperation” between the two firms will involve regulatory discussions, research on infrastructure requirements, and building local partnerships.

The joint development agreement also calls for the two to explore commercial, operational, and eVTOL aircraft maintenance services. It includes the adaptation of Volocopter’s proprietary digital platform, VoloIQ, which optimizes the allocation of batteries and other ground infrastructure, provides fleet service and management, automates routing and digital flight operations, and even connects users with cabs, scooters, and other ground transportation after they land.

Volocopter expects to receive European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification for VoloCity in 2024. A concurrent certification path with the FAA could allow it to begin operations in the U.S. shortly after. Prior to Thursday’s update, the company had not announced any services in the U.S. market.

“With this collaboration, Volocopter surpassed 500 pre-orders accumulated, including nearly 30 firm orders from reputational partners,” said Christian Bauer, CFO and CCO of Volocopter. “I am filled with excitement toward the vast potential of the U.S. and U.K. markets and looking forward to working with Bristow’s experienced team as we prepare for operations.”

Bristow earlier this week placed deposits for early deliveries of five Elroy Air Chaparral cargo drones. The commitments add to the firm’s orders for up to 55 Beta Technologies Alia-250s, up to 50 Vertical Aerospace VA-X4s, 20 to 50 Overair Butterfly eVTOLs, 50 Lilium Jets, and 100 eVTOL aircraft from Embraer subsidiary Eve Air Mobility.

Bristow mainly flies helicopter services around the world, including in Australia, Africa, Latin America, the U.S., and the Caribbean. But the company is making it clear that other vertical-lift aircraft are in its crosshairs.

“Launching this collaborative effort with Volocopter marks a major milestone in Bristow’s effort to usher in a new era of vertical transportation solutions,” said Dave Stepanek, executive vice president and chief transformation officer at Bristow. “Volocopter has taken a pragmatic approach to certification with a simple and elegant initial aircraft design and is leading the pack in its efforts to bring their aircraft to market.”

Volocopter, meanwhile, does not yet operate commercially. But it’s set to fly VoloCity over Paris at the 2024 Olympic Games through an agreement with international airport operator Groupe ADP, the French Civil Aviation Authority, and the Paris Region. The initiative is similar to the FAA’s Innovate28 plan for air taxi demonstrations at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. But it’s scheduled to take place a full Olympic cycle before the U.S. effort.

The company first unveiled its VoloCity design in 2019. Its two seats provide room only for a pilot and one passenger, but 18 rotors powered by nine lithium-ion battery packs give it a 440-pound payload, a 22 sm (19 nm) range, and a 68 mph (59 knots) cruise speed. Volocopter claims the design is four times quieter than a small helicopter.

VoloCity will be certified in the EASA special condition—VTOL (SC-VTOL) category. The company obtained design organization approval (DOA) in 2019, giving it permission to begin developing its design. It followed that up with a production organization approval (POA) in 2021, giving it the green light to begin producing its type-conforming aircraft. 

Now, it’s seeking the coveted type certification which so far no eVTOL manufacturer has achieved. That would be a major step toward commercial operations. If the company doesn’t obtain type approval by 2024, it would need special permission from regional authorities to fly in Paris.

In January, Volocopter formed a new company and applied for an air operator certificate to fly commercial services with VoloCity. Normally, a company would first need to obtain type certification. But the firm has an agreement with regulators that has allowed it to pursue both in parallel. It’s serving as somewhat of a test case for authorities as they draw up AAM regulations.

The company also recently completed its Bruchsal, Germany production facility, noting that it received regulatory approval to manufacture 50 VoloCity aircraft per year there. In addition to Paris, Volocopter is looking to fly in Singapore and Rome in 2024, as well as in the planned city of Neom, Saudi Arabia as soon as construction allows. It just wrapped up the first eVTOL test flights in the country in June.

Looking a bit further out, the company is also developing the longer range VoloRegion model. It’s expected to connect cities and suburbs with UAM routes and first flew in 2022. The VoloDrone heavy-lift cargo drone is also in development.

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Lego has even made several name-brand representations, including the Learjet, Sopwith Camel, and the Sud Aviation Caravelle. None, however, are likely to excite LEGO-enthusiast pilots as much as the company’s latest offering, Concorde.

• READ MORE: Concorde in Photos

One can only imagine how many interpretations of the iconic supersonic airliner LEGO fans of all ages have constructed, but this latest version probably is what many of them wanted.

The 2,083-piece set is a scale model of the historic aircraft that builders can pose on its display stand in various flight modes. The set also offers detailed landing gear, a tilting nose section, and a removable roof showing the cabin interior.

Built in the 1960s as part of a joint venture between the United Kingdom and France, the real Concorde could cruise at about twice the speed of sound, or Mach 2. This impressive pace cut travel times between the U.S. and Europe down to reasonable lengths. Flights from Paris to New York took about three and a half hours, though one of the airplanes set a record of just under three hours.

The Lego model is 41.5 inches long, 17 inches wide, and more than 6 inches high. Sets will be available starting September 7 at a price of $199.99.

The post LEGO Group Gets Aviation Fans’ Attention with Unveiling of Concorde Set appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

SkyAlps operates the fleet out of Bolzano Airport (LIPB) into the southern Tyrol region of the Alps, lending the company its name. By using the twin turboprop de Havilland Q400s, SkyAlps already offers a 50 percent reduction in carbon footprint for its flights over competitors using regional jet platforms. The implementation of the SmartWing technology will further improve efficiency by 7 to 8 percent. The Dash 8s will also see performance improvements along with the noise reduction, and lower fuel burn and emissions.

The two companies came together at the Paris Air Show on Monday to confirm details of the deal. SkyAlps is in growth mode, acquiring four more Q400s this summer, and an additional eight aircraft over the course of the next year, and two more to follow—bringing its total fleet count to 14 units. Following the initial installations on SkyAlps aircraft, Tamarack will take the SmartWing certification to the market, which consists of roughly 400 flying worldwide.

Broader Implications of the Deal

Significant delegations from the U.S. government are attending the Paris Air Show, and endorsing the opportunities that across-the-pond collaboration can generate. Among them was Congressman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), who currently serves as chair of the congressional Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He’s also a pilot and in a position to understand the nuances of the deal. Graves commented on the Tamarack and SkyAlps deal, agreeing that it has far-ranging implications. 

“This letter of intent between Tamarack Aerospace, a U.S. aviation technology thought leader and SkyAlps—also an aviation visionary—is a powerful example of U.S. and other companies working together to meet the world’s sustainability goals,” Graves said.

At a press conference at the show, Tamarack Aerospace CEO Nick Guida said, “We’re going to take the Q400—which is an amazing aircraft—and make it more efficient and with less of a carbon footprint.”

The post Tamarack Moves into Dash 8 Market with SkyAlps appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

At the Paris Air Show, company chairman Patrick Daher addressed the need for such investment—to give the mission the support it requires to achieve the lofty and critical goals of decarbonization. 

“People are very excited, very much on top of the situation—while we’ve been through the Paris Air Show and we have seen that all of us—all of us meaning all exhibitors, whether French, American, or any other countries, we have invested a lot of money in decarbonization,” Daher said.

• We Fly: Daher TBM 960

Daher noted that collectively the industry is on the eve of “the fourth evolution” of aviation. The first one was just being able to fly, “something that was thought impossible at the beginning of the 19th century,” followed by the ability to fly safely. The third evolution brought flying to everyone, in “democratization.” “Now the fourth evolution is we have to change the aviation system in order to come to decarbonization. If we do not do that, then that will be the end of aviation in the future.”

Strategic Investment

Daher celebrates its 160th anniversary this year, and it kicked off that commemoration with the “Take off  2027” plan announced at the beginning of 2023. A significant part of the plan centers around the company’s decarbonization efforts across its four verticals—aircraft development, aerospace manufacturing, manufacturing services, and logistics. The programmed investment represents four times the spend of the previous strategic plan.

• We Fly: Daher Kodiak 900

The company has created three innovation centers within its structure to help it contribute to the goals of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 as outlined in the Paris Agreement on climate change. An initial “significant step” will take place by 2035, utilizing these centers along with efforts by its partners, suppliers, and customers. “Competitive solutions” for the marketplace will launch in three to 10 years in areas such as hybridization, new-generation materials, production processes (robotization and cobotization—human/robot collaboration), and digital transformation.

Solutions for the 90 Percent

Daher CEO Didier Kayat revealed in the press conference at Paris that 90 percent of the group’s carbon footprint comes from utilization of its products by its customers.

“Ninety percent of the carbon impact of Daher is due to the products of our clients,” said Kayat. “So if we don’t help our clients decarbonize, we will not achieve our decarbonization plans.”

In order to reduce those impacts, Daher is pursuing the use of lighter structures and new production processes to both increase output and reduce emissions. Also it will pursue more ecologically responsible logistics, using cleaner modes of transportation, for example, and implementing use of biofuels, such as sustainable aviation fuel, which it has already started at its aircraft division headquarters in Tarbes, France.

Daher will also work on its own footprint through initiatives such as the launch of its first hybrid-electric aircraft by 2027—based on lessons learned from the EcoPulse joint project with Safran and Airbus, and driven into its TBM and Kodiak series of aircraft. 

“Though all my engineers say I’m crazy to say that publicly…we will launch a hybrid aircraft in 2027,” said Kayat. “We don’t know yet what aircraft it’s going to be,” but the company is learning a lot from the EcoPulse project so that “at the end of this year we can have the road map to see what our product is going to be.”

• READ MORE: Quest to Daher

‘Imagineering by Daher’

To achieve the critical goals—and propel the group toward a successful future as a global aerospace manufacturing and logistics company—Daher has developed the three centers of “open innovation” within its structure under the umbrella of “Imagineering by Daher.” While it has long promoted the spirit of entrepreneurship within the company, the current movement doubles down on preserving the startup mentality of its teams. Five key imperatives to that “imagineering” are “#explore, #connect, #test, #scale, and #communicate.”

The three centers include:

• Log’in: a Toulouse-based innovation acceleration platform for tomorrow’s logistics industry
• Shap’in: a center of excellence in Nantes dedicated to new-generation composite aerostructures
• Fly’in: a forward-looking development center in Tarbes for tomorrow’s general aviation industry.

Three examples of decarbonization projects within Daher take place in logistics and in its aircraft products. First, Daher is implementing the use of a digital twin (JUMEL) to model and optimize logistics warehouses—a project led by the Log’in TechCenter to promote and facilitate innovative, eco-responsible industrial logistics.

A second example is in the digitizing of data collection from its TBM series turboprops and using analysis of the data to drive more responsible flying. To this end, Daher launched version 6 of its Me & My TBM app earlier this year.

Third is the use of thermal plastics in its aircraft and other aerospace products. “We are working a lot on the new composites that [are] called thermal plastics,” said Kayat. “It’s reusable, so it has a double virtue—it makes planes lighter [by up to] 20 percent.”

“Since Daher’s creation 160 years ago, the company always has supported key industrial developments with its customers,” said Kayat in his closing statement. “We continue to write this story by going further: It is as pioneers that we will be the first to offer a hybrid aircraft to the market.”

The post ‘Imagineering’ by Daher Launches Within Increased Sustainability R&D Spend appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

American electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturers Joby and Archer Aviation have long planned commercial launches by 2025. But at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday, German rival Volocopter reinforced its agreement with Groupe ADP, an international airport operator based in Paris, and the French Civil Aviation Authority and Paris Region (DGAC) to establish an air taxi network in Paris by next summer.

Volocopter and its new partners are hoping to turn the “City of Lights” into the City of eVTOL Flights in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, a timeline that would likely make Paris the first city in the world to fly routine, dedicated urban air taxi routes.

The plan is to begin with three public transit routes—linking airports, heliports, and vertiports—as well as two round-trip tourism routes. Trips will be flown by Volocopter’s VoloCity eVTOL, which has capacity for a pilot and one passenger. It will fly below 1,640 feet (500 meters) but will not be audible from the ground within the Paris soundscape.

“We are counting down the days to making electric air taxis a reality,” said Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopter. “Together with our French partners, we will take command in decarbonizing aviation, slowly but surely.”

All of Volocopter’s early operations in Paris will be based out of five vertiports, the construction of which will begin no later than September. Those five facilities, including a special vertiport on the Austerlitz barge on the Seine River, will produce five urban air mobility (UAM) routes to support a mix of public transportation and tourism:

• Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (LFPG) to Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LFPB)
• Vertiport of Austerlitz barge (under construction) to Paris Heliport (JDP)
• Paris Heliport to Airfield of Saint-Cyr-l’École (LFPZ)
• Paris Heliport round-trip flights
• Paris-Le Bourget round-trip flights

In addition to the Austerlitz barge vertiport, which is being supported by Paris Region authorities, Volocopter will construct air taxi infrastructure at the two major Paris airports, the Paris Heliport, and the airfield in Saint-Cyr-l’École. Each vertiport will feature passenger terminals with one to three takeoff and landing spots. Over the next decade, the company said it will look to add vertiport coverage for the entire Paris Region.

But Volocopter will still need to certify VoloCity with the European Union Aviation and Safety Agency (EASA)—a process it says will be complete by early 2024—before launching commercial operations. For the past 18 months, Volocopter has completed dozens of flights at its testing ground in Pontoise, France, in front of thousands of spectators.

Aiding the company further is the recent completion of its Bruchsal, Germany, production facility, which it says has received regulatory approval to build 50 VoloCity aircraft per year.

“All the indicators are green for a successful summer 2024,” said Edward Arkwright, deputy CEO of Groupe ADP. “The challenges ahead are huge, but they are a great source of pride for all those involved in the project, with whom we share the conviction that carbon-free air travel also brings new services.”

Following a successful demonstration at the Paris Air Show, Volocopter also announced that charitable air rescue service ADAC Luftrettung agreed to buy two custom-built VoloCity aircraft, with the intention of procuring 150 more as part of an ongoing collaboration. The aircraft will begin flying research operations in 2024, with an eye toward future zero-emissions EMS and rescue missions.

“With higher ranges and operational speeds as well as significantly more payload of the next generation of eVTOLs, we can also put the benefits for emergency care into practice—and fulfill our statutory mission to further develop the rescue service from the air with pioneering innovations,” said Frédéric Bruder, CEO of ADAC Luftrettung.

In addition to services in France and Germany, Volocopter is looking to fly air taxi routes in Singapore and Rome by 2024, as well as in the planned city of Neom, Saudi Arabia, as soon as construction allows. The firm is also developing a longer-range eVTOL, VoloRegion, which aims to connect cities and suburbs with UAM routes. That model first flew in June 2022.

Interestingly, Volocopter has not announced any plans to launch commercial services in the U.S. That’s where Archer (Chicago and New Jersey), Joby (Los Angeles and New York), and Eve Air Mobility (San Francisco) are planning their hubs. But if Volocopter remains on schedule, none of them will stake a claim to the first commercial eVTOL service.

The post Volocopter Targets Commercial Launch in Paris for Summer 2024 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

From the best young journalist to lifetime achievement awards in reporting and photography, the event feted those who have committed their careers to reporting on a wide-ranging remit that continues to expand.

Notable winners included:

• Best Aviation Image, Giovanni Colla
• Best Digital Submission, Aviation Week Check 6 Podcast
• Best Young Journalist, Lucy Powell
• Best Safety, Training & Simulation Submission, Elan Head’s “What’s missing from the debate over the 1,500-hour rule” in The Air Current
• Best Passenger & Crew Wellbeing Submission, James Wynbrandt’s “Mental wellness gets post-Covid safety focus” in Aviation International News
• Best In-Depth Feature, Judges Commendation, Jon Ostrower’s “A different way to think about the future of flying in China”; and winner Guy Norris’s “Mind the Gap” in Aviation Week & Space Technology
• Bill Gunston Technology Writer of the Year, Patrick Veillette
• Aerospace Reporter of the Year, Greg Waldron
• Outstanding Achievement in Aviation Photography, Katsuhiko Tokunaga
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Jacques Callies, Aviation et Pilote

Held for the first time at Paris Air Show since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic paused the venerable convention, the tenth-anniversary event also gave all in attendance—led by organizer Peter Branfield of Branfield & Associates—the chance to honor fellow journalist Jerry Siebenmark, of Aviation International News, posthumously, with a raise of their watches in his memory. FLYING contributor Fred George was recognized by a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

The post Aerospace Media Awards Recognize Excellence in Aviation Journalism appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Yes, in theory, you could untie the very boat we were in and float out to the mouth of the Seine at Le Havre, and you could make your way across an oft-feisty ocean at sea level—but why on Earth would you do that when you could slide onto the flight deck of Dassault’s new Falcon 6X and make the jaunt in comfort and class at Flight Level 430 in less than 7 hours?

While the court of public opinion at times gives the microphone to voices calling for the end of flying, we know within our ranks that we hold the solution to sustainable flying—and the way to get there is to fly forward, not slam us to a collective stop with full reversers.

There are problems to solve with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), for one, but Dassault is already using a 40-percent blend in its operations at Paris Le Bourget (LFPB) and Bordeaux-Merignac (LFBD). The wide-body 6X and even grander 10X sit poised to debut with SAF fully tested—perhaps up to a 100 percent level by the time the 10X gains certification as projected in 2025. And it’s just one OEM out of a chorus of them moving along the same lines.

Éric Trappier, president and CEO of Dassault Aviation, dropped by our lunch that day to talk about the indications ahead in finance and supply chain following the release of Boeing’s Q1 results, along with his own assessments. A softening of the market seems at hand—but after the heady surge of 2022, a “normalization” seems prudent.

While protests in Paris, London, and Amsterdam have captured recent headlines stateside, we witnessed none of the furor firsthand on this trip. Instead I felt an uneasy calm as we work to figure out how to tell our story in a way that resonates with those who need to hear the reassurance that we can keep flying, keep innovating, keep aspiring.

• READ MORE: Boeing Reports First Quarter Net Loss on Higher Revenue

Across the river from Dassault lies the Bois de Boulogne—Paris’ great green space—and the Parc de Bagatelle, a garden that covers the spot where Santos-Dumont first flew his No. 14-bis in September 1906. Just a block away, Louis Bléirot’s factory once stood, and the vintage sign from that roof announces to passersby the history entrenched in the scene. 

Great aeronautical design still sparks to life here, with the site of the current Dassault Group buildings over a former engine factory. The lightweight-for-the-class Falcon series preserves performance while making tracks across the sky in a more efficient way than its competitors—and utilizes shorter runways closer to the passengers’ intended destination, saving fuel and time.

And isn’t time our most precious commodity?

The lightness of being is the Dassault raison d’être, in their tack towards not only efficiency but runway performance. Combined with higher wing loading than others in the class, they promise a better ride through the bumps—and a nimbleness derived from the Rafale fighter’s heritage.

You can read Fred George’s We Fly report on the Falcon 6X in the May 2023/Issue 937 print edition of FLYING that’s about to land in your mailbox if you subscribe. George took an exclusive first flight in the graceful, master stroke of the class—and he shares his expertise in the business aviation arena with FLYING’s readers for the first time after returning to us as a contributor.

Because there’s nothing like being there—and stepping into the left seat to do it.

The post Nothing Like Being There appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The flight, identified as AF447, was enroute from Rio de Janeiro to Paris the night of the June 1, 2009, accident. 

The aircraft was flying through an equatorial storm when the pilots allegedly became confused by the airspeed readout and did not realize the aircraft was in a stall as it entered an uncommanded descent. The crew of three—with approximately 20,000 hours of flying time among them—kept the aircraft in a nose-high attitude for approximately 4 minutes until it hit the ocean.

The aircraft went down in deep water, and it took two years for remote submarines to locate the aircraft’s flight data recorders, the so-called black boxes.

Like most equipment flying for the major airlines, Air France aircraft are equipped with an aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS), which enables them to transmit data messages to their home base. On the night of the accident, there were several transmissions about confusing airspeed indications as the three independent air data systems were not in agreement, making flying very difficult.

Upon review of the recorded information, it was determined that the aircraft’s speed sensors had iced up during the flight. The autopilot disconnected, and the flight crew became confused and did not respond correctly to the aircraft’s stalled condition, according to Reuters.

During the trial in Paris, it was revealed that France’s BEA, the French government agency that investigates aircraft accidents, revealed earlier discussions between Air France and Airbus over problems with external pitot probes.

According to the report in Reuters, a Paris judge said Airbus was suspected of responding too slowly to reports of speed incidents stemming from the introduction of the updated probe.

Airbus blames the accident on pilot error, while Air France argues the pilots became confused and overwhelmed by conflicting data and alarms in the cockpit.

Reuters notes relatives of the victims “brushed off the maximum fine of 225,000 euros ($220,612) each could receive—equivalent to just two minutes of pre-COVID-19 revenue for Airbus or five minutes of passenger revenue for the airline.” There have been larger, undisclosed, out-of-court settlements, according to the report.

During the trial some of the relatives of the victims were openly hostile to Air France chief executive Anne Rigail and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury when they expressed condolences during opening statements.

The trial is expected to run in Paris Criminal Court until December 8.

The post Manslaughter Trial Underway for Air France Crash appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Neste’s market-leading SAF is produced from 100 percent renewable and sustainable waste and residue raw materials, such as used cooking oil and animal fat waste. Fully certified for use in a wide range of platforms, Neste’s SAF can reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 80 percent compared to fossil jet fuel use, according to a statement from the companies.

“World Fuel is committed to the industry’s goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 percent,” said Duncan Storey, vice president, supply aviation Europe for World Fuel Services. “Working together with Neste to expand the global supply chain of SAF furthers that commitment. We will continue to invest in creating innovative solutions and expanding renewable and lower-emission fuels and energy offerings.”

• READ MORE: SAF Refiner Neste Delivers Fuel to LaGuardia Airport

Officials at Paris-Le Bourget airport are enthusiastic about the addition of World Fuel SAF.

“As a European airport leader for business aviation, Paris-Le Bourget airport has always been a pioneer in the aviation world,” said Sébastien Couturier, managing director, Paris-Le Bourget Airport within Groupe ADP. “Through this enthusiastic initiative led by World Fuel with Neste, we stay at the forefront of innovation and decarbonization. This new service will allow us to complete the biofuel offer available on our platform, putting us in a unique position in Europe. This is an excellent signal, which attests to the transition underway in business aviation.”

According to World Fuel, they were one of the first companies to have blended SAF in the UK, as they have a supply of SAF from Neste at Farnborough Airport (EGLF) in Hampshire, England. In addition, World Fuel managed Bremen Airport’s (EDDW) fuel storage facility upgrade by converting an existing avgas tank into a SAF tank and supplying a dedicated refueller asset to support Airbus’ Beluga flight operations. 

• READ MORE: Avfuel To Buy 1 Billion Gallons of SAF in Deal with Alder

At Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (LFBO), World Fuel supported Airbus by delivering blended and 100 percent SAF for engine testing. In addition, World Fuel supplied SAF to the Royal Air Force Brize Norton in support of the Autumn Royal Tour and provided Boeing with SAF for flights related to the UK and the Middle East.

“SAF is a key element in achieving the aviation industry’s emission reduction goals. Neste is leading the transformation to SAF and increasing its global SAF production capacity to 1.5 million tons per annum in 2023,” said Jonathan Wood, vice president Europe, renewable aviation, Neste. “Partnering with World Fuel at Paris-Le Bourget Airport underlines our commitment to business aviation and supports the French government’s ambitions for a more sustainable aviation industry.”

Since 2015, World Fuel has delivered more than 27 million gallons of SAF to business and commercial aviation customers worldwide. Becoming an authorized branded distributor of Neste’s SAF furthers the broader adoption of cleaner fuels that will help advance the industry on its path to net zero.

The post World Fuel Services Expands SAF Distribution appeared first on FLYING Magazine.