Wings • September-October 2018 • On The Fly

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CAE and government partners unveiled plans to invest $1 billion over the next five years to innovate aviation training platforms. This includes primary funding for CAE’s new Project Digital Intelligence initiative, described by the company as a digital transformation project to develop next-generation training solutions for aviation, defence and security, and healthcare.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Québec Premier Philippe Couillard joined CAE executives in Montréal to announce the investment plan, which includes partnership funding of $150 million from the Government of Canada and $50 million from the Government of Québec over five years. CAE notes this is one of the most-significant investments in innovation in the aviation training industry globally.

The total $1 billion project is designed for CAE to continue to play a key role in making air travel safer, defence forces mission ready, and helping medical personnel save lives. CAE explains other benefits will include reducing aviation’s environmental footprint and addressing the worldwide demand for aircrews. Project Digital Intelligence will leverage artificial intelligence, Big Data, cloud-computing, cybersecurity, or augmented reality, and virtual reality tools. The project includes three major activity areas: Advanced digital technology development, digital transformation of the training and user experience, as well as CAE innovation and collaboration facilities.

Longview Aviation Capital of Victoria, British Columbia, reached an agreement with Cascade Aerospace of Abbotsford, British Columbia, to provide training and resources in support of the Viking CL-415EAF Enhanced Aerial Firefighter conversion program. Longview explains its selection of Cascade, an operating unit of IMP Aerospace & Defence, for the conversion program is based in part on Cascade’s previous experience converting nine Canadair CL-215 firefighting aircraft to a CL-215T turbine configuration for the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The initial Viking CL-415EAF turbine conversion will be conducted at Cascade’s facilities at the Abbotsford International Airport. It is scheduled to begin in September 2018. Cascade will provide training to Longview observers during this initial conversion and will then send support staff to provide on-site training at Longview’s facilities in Calgary, Alberta, for the second and subsequent CL-415EAF conversions. The CL-415EAF turbine conversion program is based on the Canadair CL-215T configuration, and encompasses installation of two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW 123AF turboprop engines, integration of a new digital avionics suite, installation of six new aircraft structures (including winglets and finlets), upgraded power-assist flight controls, installation of a new power distribution system along with complete rewiring of the aircraft, and incorporation of 75 Service Bulletins associated with the CL-215T conversion kit.

Winnipeg-based Vanguard Air Care, a part of the Fast Air group of companies, is the first to join Sky Regional Airlines’ new Sky Path pilot gateway program. As a result, qualified Vanguard pilots who are accepted will be eligible to join Sky Regional in first officer positions on its fleet of Embraer 175 jet aircraft after a requisite amount of time at Vanguard.

Sky Regional operates flights to destinations across Canada and the United States under the Air Canada Express banner. Licensed by the Manitoba government to provide medevac services, Vanguard operates a fleet of Garmin-equipped King Air 200 aircraft. “We are very pleased to help our pilots define their future careers and provide significant advancement opportunities in partnership with Sky Regional,” said Kevin Lawes, Vanguard chief pilot. “We are devoted to finding the best pilots, and the Sky Path program will help aid us in that mission.”

Organizers of the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event reported statistics from its 2018 event, which ran from July 23 to 29 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The group also announced winners of the 2018 Lindy Awards, which includes five Canadian entries. Attendance at AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 was approximately 601,000, which the organizers describe as being nearly 2 per cent above 2017’s record total. “EAA members and aviation enthusiasts attended in large numbers, even without the presence of a military jet team as we had in 2017,” said EAA chairman Jack Pelton. “Our efforts to create unique attractions and aviation highlights across the grounds were incredibly successful. Attendance on opening day was the best in our history.”

More than 10,000 aircraft arrived at Wittman Regional and other airports in east-central Wisconsin. At Wittman alone, there were 19,588 aircraft operations in the 11-day period from July 20 to 30, which is an average of approximately 134 takeoffs/ landings per hour. There were 2,979 showplanes at Oshkosh 2018, representing the second straight year of having more than 2,900 such aircraft on display: 1,160 homebuilt aircraft (5 per cent increase), 1,094 vintage airplanes, 377 warbirds (7 per cent increase), 185 ultralights and light-sport aircraft, 75 seaplanes, 22 rotorcraft, 52 aerobatic aircraft, and 14 hot air balloons.

Chris Ferguson, who led the final mission of America’s Space Shuttle Program, will return to the International Space Station as a commercial test pilot of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Starliner is being developed in collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a partnership between NASA and the aerospace industry. The spacecraft is designed to transport passengers and cargo to and from low-Earth orbit.

When it retired the space shuttle program seven years ago, NASA signalled the start of a new era in the commercialization of low-Earth orbit missions. NASA is working on its own ambitious Space Launch System, leveraging the Orion Spacecraft, for carrying heavier loads and exploring further out in the solar system, as private and public enterprises initially focus on newly available contracts for low-Earth orbit delivery vehicles.

In September 2014, according Bloomberg News, NASA awarded Boeing and SpaceX a combined US$6.8 billion to revive the U.S.’ ability to fly to the International Space Station (ISS). As SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg publicly challenged each other over who would be the first to send astronauts to Mars, a launch schedule released by NASA on August 2, 2018, suggests SpaceX will be first to send astronauts into low-Earth orbit. SpaceX is set to fly Demo-2, its first crewed test flight, in April 2019, according to the newly released schedule, and Boeing is slatted for its first crew test flight at some point in mid-2019.

Burloak Technologies of Burlington, Ont., reached an agreement to become one of the first companies to join GE Additive’s newly launched Manufacturing Partner Network (MPN). As a launch partner for MPN, Burloak, a division of Samuel, Son & Co., will work closely with GE Additive to accelerate the use of additive manufacturing technologies across a number of market segments, including aerospace. Burloak will invest in GE Additive equipment, materials, software and technology and use them as a development platform to scale production and industrialization of all work referred through the MPN.

In May 2018, Burloak announced the establishment of its $104 million Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Oakville, creating 65 new jobs and retaining 16 positions. The centre is being built with $7 million of support from Ontario’s Jobs and Prosperity Fund.

The Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, according to Burloak, will provide every service required to move customer projects from concept to optimized design for additive manufacturing (DFAM) to full-scale production in a single location. The centre is expected to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2019.

Magellan Aerospace, headquartered in Mississauga, Ont., signed a six-year agreement with Pratt & Whitney to manufacture aluminum castings for the latter’s Next Generation Product Family (NGPF) of engines. This family focuses on Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engine, with its unique – industry-changing – geared fan technology currently powering the Airbus A320neo, Airbus A220 (formerly known as Bombardier C-Series), Embraer E2 series and Mitsubishi MRJ aircraft.

Under the new purchase agreement, the aluminum castings will be produced at Magellan’s facilities in Haley, Ont., and Glendale, Arizona. The agreement is expected to generate approximately $81 million in revenue for Magellan through 2023. Magellan will utilize 3D sand printing and automated pouring to produce these components.

Boeing through its HorizonX Ventures arm made an investment in Digital Alloys Inc., a Burlington, Mass.-based company developing high-speed, multi-metal additive manufacturing systems that produce 3D-printed parts for aerospace and other production applications. Additive manufacturing is quickly moving beyond the early adoption phase in several industries, including aerospace. Today, Boeing has more than 60,000 3D-printed parts flying on space, commercial and defense products.

Digital Alloys’ Joule Printing technology can rapidly combine multiple metals into each part, explains Boeing, which enhances thermal, electrical, magnetic and mechanical properties. The process allows metals like titanium and high-temperature alloys to be 3D-printed for parts that can be used on Boeing products. Formed in January 2017, Digital Alloys developed a patented 3D-printing approach that avoids the cost and complexity of powder-based systems, explains Boeing, and delivers higher resolution than other wire-based 3D-printing techniques.

Drone operator and developer The Sky Guys, with operations in Toronto and Vancouver, received a Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC) for its DX-3 Vanguard, which the company describes as a landmark development project.

The new permit allows for commercial Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) flights to perform testing of the DX-3 Vanguard. This will involve putting the DX-3 through what the company describes as critical elements of integrated flight testing, including performance benchmarking and evaluating Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL), transition, forward-flight, endurance, systems safety, and various aspects of human factors.

The SFOC approval, explains the company, comes after months of testing and evaluation in a controlled laboratory environment. Initial flight testing, to be conducted at Toronto Markham Airport CNU8, will consist of Line of Sight (LOS) and simulated Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) only.

The Sky Guys has been working closely with partners in industry, law enforcement and defence to define test protocols that will establish the DX-3 as leading technology among NATO Class 1/DoD Group 2 Class UAVs.

Anthony Norejko becomes president and CEO of the Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA). He joined the CBAA board in 2014 and most recently served as its vice president, member relations and development. The CBAA explains Norejko made his mark as one of its directors by working to strengthen the association and its membership, which currently includes some 400 members located across the country. The CBAA pegs Canada’s business aviation sector as generating $12.1 billion annually. Norejko played a pivotal role, explains the CBAA, in working with the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) on slot restrictions, taking a critical position in establishing the CBAA/GTAA Technical Working Group. The CBAA points to

Norejko’s leadership in business aviation as director of aviation and chief pilot for Walmart Canada, and later as the principle of his own aviation-service company, CrewSked. He has also developed financial and strategic planning experience as founder of MoneyUpstream Coaching and, more recently, as vice president, strategy and operations, north, at FirstService Residential.

Boeing named Brendan Curran president of Boeing AvionX, an organization formed last year to focus on the development and production of avionics and electronics systems. Curran, who has more than 20 years of aerospace industry leadership, joins Boeing from Crane Co., where he served as president of the Aerospace & Electronics Group. Prior to Crane, Curran was vice president of business development, strategy and partnerships for commercial engines at Pratt & Whitney. Before that, he was vice president and general manager of repair and supply chain for Hamilton Sundstrand.

Air Canada Cargo becomes the first airline in the world to receive a new global certification for the safe transport of live animals. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) awarded Air Canada Cargo with the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for Live Animals Logistics (CEIV Live Animals) Certification following a verification process in its Montreal facility. IATA launched the new standardized global certification program earlier this year to improve and reinforce the safety and welfare of animals travelling by air. Air Canada Cargo was chosen as a pilot operation for the program.

The airline explains this certification reinforces that its Cargo business is operating to the highest standards in the transport of live animals, be it exotic species or household pets. In 2017, Air Canada Cargo handled more than 18,000 different animal shipments across its network. From January to July 2018, as part of a thorough audit, IATA’s specialists reviewed Air Canada Cargo’s live animal transport policies and procedures in its Montreal facility. Compliance with Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) was fully reviewed as was compliance with protocols like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Edmonton Mill Woods, yesterday announced a series of Government of Canada investments for safety improvements at three Alberta airports. “The High Level, Lethbridge and Red Deer airports are important hubs for residents and businesses in this region,” said Sohi. “This investment will help ensure continued safe operations for passengers, flight crews and employees, who rely on these airports to support the regional economy and its social development.”

The funding round, which comes from Transport Canada’s Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP), includes spending $5,714,821 for the rehabilitation of Runway 13-31 and Taxiways A and B at High Level Airport located in the north-western region of Alberta on the Mackenzie Highway, approximately eight hours north of Edmonton. At Lethbridge Airport, $98,000 will be invested to purchase a de-icer. At Red Deer Airport, $271,450 will be invested to replace a wheeled loader, which is used for pulling snow removal or deicing equipment.