Aviation Week's Mike Lavitt, director of editorial content production, and Molly McMillin, editor of business aviation, discuss news from this year's Sun 'n Fun event at Lakeland, Florida. Special guest Jose Ramos gives some tips for air-to-air photography. 

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Transcript

Mike Lavitt:                  

Good day. This is Mike Lavitt with Aviation Week Network's BCA podcast. I'm here with Molly McMillin, our managing editor for Business Aviation. We are at Sun 'n Fun in Lakeland, Florida. We're here today to talk about what is happening at North America's second-largest air show that runs through April 14. Molly, what did you learn on the first day of this year's show?

Molly McMillin:             

Hi, Mike. There is a lot of activity today. The first day of the show, Daher had a press conference that kind of kicked the show-off, and they gave an update on their Kodiak line and also their TBM line of aircraft. But at their standpoint, Idaho Assembly facility, they're increasing production for the Kodiak 100 and Kodiak 900. In that they set up a second line, a second production line. So their targets for production for Kodiak aircraft, they're expected to increase to 25 in 2024 compared to 18 in 2023. So those lines will provide more efficiencies and allow them to increase production. They've got a two-year backlog of orders for the Kodiaks and also for the TBMs. They have over a hundred orders for their TBM line of aircraft. They also said that the TBM 960, they are enhancing it with what they call a pilot inactivity function.

So if a pilot hasn't interacted with any of the systems for 30 minutes, that pilot will receive a warning, kind of like, "Are you there?" After 36 minutes, they'll get another message and then after 39 minutes, if there's still no activity, then the HomeSafe or the Garmin's Emergency Autoland System kicks in automatically, which then lands the airplane for the pilot and it assumes that pilot's incapacitated for one reason or another. That's a really innovative way and necessary improvement that Daher officials are saying that that will really help with the pilots. Also, over at Cirrus Aircraft, they were talking about a new program they're implementing called Cirrus One. They call it a concierge management service, offering it to their Cirrus SR series owners and their Vision Jet owners in the Orlando, Dallas, and Phoenix areas. And what these are, they can tailor it to an owner's need. Say you want to purchase a Vision Jet, but you don't really want to fly it or hire pilots and do all the others.

So they can provide the pilots for you, the aircraft maintenance. They can let you know when you need your annuals done. They can give you hangar space, coordinate the insurance. They can make rental car reservations for you if you would like. And maybe not everyone wants all of those services, but some people might want all those services where it's just like, I just want to get in the airplane and go. They are going to tailor that for a customer.

Mike Lavitt:                  

So they can pay a la carte or they can get the full meal plan.

Molly McMillin:             

Right. I think you can pay monthly and then pay as you go. Or you can do an annual thing with so many flight hours a year and they'll include everything or they'll customize it to what you think you might want to do. Over at Textron Aviation, they were debuting for the first time altogether, their Cessna Skyhawk 172, Cessna Turbo Skylane 182 and the Turbo 206 stationair that has an enhanced interiors. A year ago they had the 172 with a new interior and now it's available or a standard actually in the 182 and the 206. And so those aircraft are all on display. They have all new seats. They have USB charging points at every seat, upgraded instrument panels, a little pocket on the seat for your cell phone. Everything is kind of new on the inside. And then they are offering a variety of new exterior schemes. Piper did their first public debut of their M700 Fury, which replaces the M600. So it was getting a lot of attention at the Piper exhibit.

Mike Lavitt:                  

We saw that aircraft yesterday. It's really a beautiful airplane and significantly outperforms the M600 processor.

Molly McMillin:             

Yes, yes. It has different engines. It adds a lot of enhanced performance.

Mike Lavitt:                  

Faster climb to altitude, better at clearing obstacles on takeoff and on landing.

Molly McMillin:             Yes.

Mike Lavitt:                  

So general aviation production has really turned around since the 2008 market crash. At one point, people just weren't making or buying many general aviation aircraft. Now the problem doesn't seem to be getting the orders; it seems to be getting the components and the systems that you need to build the aircraft.

Molly McMillin:             

Right. It's more getting the supplies in. And as some of people were telling me at the show that every week it could be something different or even in an hour you could find out something else is behind or on back order. So it’s better than it was maybe a year ago, but it's still a mitigating factor on how many aircraft can be produced.

Mike Lavitt:                  

How about the training market? How is that going?

Molly McMillin:             

The training market, I'm told, is still very robust. There are people wanting to be trained and some of the bigger flight schools could even take more airplanes if they were available. So the training market is strong, and the manufacturers who focus on the training market report that their sales are very robust.

Mike Lavitt:                  

And airline pilot hiring isn't quite where it was a year or a year and a half ago, but it's still pretty strong and it's still a great time to choose flying as a career.

Molly McMillin:             

Right. I'm told that people coming out of getting their hours, and they are finding jobs. The big kind of the exodus of a while back when pilots were aging out and having to retire from the airlines, some of that has been mitigated. So it's not quite the dire situation that it may have been, but the need is still strong, I'm told, for pilots and that they seem to be encouraging. There's a lot of encouragement for pilots to take training and it sounds like they are.

Mike Lavitt:                  

That's really great to hear.

Molly McMillin:             

And Mike, you had an interesting conversation with George Braly with GAMI on the alternative unleaded aviation fuel.

Mike Lavitt:                  

Yes. Piston-powered aircraft are the last source of airborne lead emissions in the United States, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is looking to ban leaded aviation fuel by the end of this decade. There already are unleaded 94 octane fuels, but there are no unleaded 100 octane fuels on the market today, but that could be changing very soon. General Aviation Modifications Inc. or GAMI, George Braly's company, received supplemental type certificates in the past two years. That first covered a limited number of aircraft and engines that use 100 low-lead avgas, but then were expanded to cover all avgas burning aircraft, including warbirds and DC-3-sized aircraft that are still used in Alaska. Now there's a tank in Baton Rouge, Louisiana that is holding about 1 million gallons of GAMI 100 UL avgas. Samples of that fuel are now undergoing laboratory testing to confirm that it complies with GAMI's STCs. That 1 million gallons is about the amount needed to replace 100 low-lead in California for a month, so it's about a one-month supply.

Sales of leaded 100 octane avgas have already been banned at some airports in California. So George Braly is GAMI's chief engineer, and he says that once the fuel produced by Vitol Aviation clears the lab testing hurdle, Vitol can offer it for sale to FBOs in California. Braly is a former trial lawyer who says the FBOs are subject to a consent decree in California, under which they agreed to stop selling 100 octane low-lead avgas once a commercially available substitute is available. The way he sees it, the FBOs won't be able to refuse to sell GAMI 100 UL once it is commercially available. And Robert Emmett, who is the project lead for Vitol Aviation on the production of 100 UL was at the press conference today when Braly talked about this.

Molly McMillin:             

That will be a big game changer.

Mike Lavitt:                  

It definitely will be. And there are other efforts, Eagle and PAFI, to come up with other 100 low-lead substitutes, but none of them are as far along as GAMI.

Molly McMillin:             

That'll be an interesting area to watch.

Mike Lavitt:                  

Yes. Maybe we'll see some developments later this year.

Molly McMillin:             

Mike, tell us what else you were doing at Sun 'n Fun. You held a session about the Aviation Week's photo contest and had a world renowned photographer come and speak.

Mike Lavitt:                  

Yes.

Molly McMillin:             

How did that go?

Mike Lavitt:                  

So I hosted a seminar in the Florida Air Museum on the Sun 'n Fun Grounds with Jose Ramos about how to take and submit winning photos to the Aviation Week Photo Contest. Jose is a two-time winner in our photo contest who specializes in air-to-air shoots in high-performance military aircraft. That's appropriate in the third year of our Shoot to Win seminars because we're introducing a new category for air-to-air photography in 2024.

The idea came up when we added Larry Grace as another judge in the photo contest last year. Larry brings a different background than the other photo contest judges who are photo journalists or a photo curator for the Smithsonian and members of Aviation Week's art department. Larry is a well-known air show photographer, so he brought the viewpoint of someone who's always at air shows shooting the action, whether it's on the ground or in the air. I also talked with Jose about highlights of our presentation.

So this is Mike Lavitt with Aviation Week, and we've just finished a seminar called Shoot to Win here at Sun 'n Fun with Jose Ramos. And Jose talked about shooting air-to-air and what are the key things for people to know?

Jose Ramos:                  

Well, in shooting air-to-air photography, I've been doing it for over 25 years, almost 30 years, and my principal experience has always been in high performance jet fighters, usually shooting with the United States Navy. And the main things that you always want to look at, at least from a photographic standpoint is subject, background, lighting,and action. In that regard, I've shot some of the most interesting aircraft out there, including the MQ-20 Avenger drone for General Atomics. I've done on the action side of things, weapon separation such as missile exercises for backgrounds. You can't go wrong shooting down in the Florida Keys.

You have great backgrounds there with the water, the coral formations and some of the islands. And as far as lighting, it's one of those things that sometimes you're going to wind up having to take what you get, but other times you get a chance to pick that time of day. And if everything works together, it's kind of like the stars aligning and you get some of the most dramatic lighting at high altitude, some very, very clean lines on the aircraft, and it's literally just almost magical.

Mike Lavitt:                  

Thank you. Great summary. And it was a really great presentation.

Jose Ramos:                  

Thank you.

Mike Lavitt:                  

And we're looking forward to fantastic participation in this year's photo contest where we are adding air-to-air as a new category this year.

Jose Ramos:                  

Excellent.

Mike Lavitt:                  

Thank you. This is Mike Lavitt at Sun 'n Fun.

Molly McMillin:             

At Sun 'n Fun, the weather's been gorgeous so far, at least. And ticket sales were told were up 30% over a year ago, and last year sales were up 30% over 2022. So a lot of people, a lot of interest, a lot of airplanes.

Mike Lavitt:                  

It really has been gorgeous, and I think it's interesting. This is Gene Conrad's second year running Sun 'n Fun, and I think he's really starting to put his mark on the show and decide where he wants to take it. Sun 'n Fun is working with the local airport to develop a master plan for where they're really going to take the airport into the future and also take this show because that's an important part of the airport and the local economy.

Molly McMillin:             

And along with their educational mission and the schools and they have a high school and a lot of STEM-related activities to encourage the next generation of aviators and mechanics and pilots.

Mike Lavitt:                  

And that's who we need to take over.

Molly McMillin:            

Exactly. Yes.

Mike Lavitt:                  

That's all the time we have for today's podcast. Be sure to check out our other Aviation Week Network podcasts, Check 6, Window Seat, and the MRO podcast. And if you liked today's podcast, be sure to rate it in your favorite app. And thank you to our producer, Andrea Copley Smith. Thank you.