Waypoints

The Experimental Aircraft Association's annual convention at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is aviation's show of shows; there is nothing quite like it in scope. AOPA Expo, by contrast, is much smaller, but it is often described by exhibitors as the place where many general aviation pilots actually open their wallets and put down money for everything in general aviation — from airplanes to flight training videotapes.

The National Business Aircraft Association convention, on yet another hand, is the place to be seen, particularly for manufacturers. And for those of us who write about the general aviation industry, the NBAA show is three grueling days of back-to-back press conferences — 51 this year in all. For the media, the show actually starts the day before the show, when the press conferences begin. (These days, a few media events even begin two days before the show's actual opening.)

This year's NBAA convention was held during September in Las Vegas, attracting a record 24,500 attendees. The Las Vegas Convention Center, the largest in the world, swallowed up exhibits from nearly 750 companies. And even that didn't fill the center. A carpenters' union convention was going on elsewhere in the mammoth facility. The 1.3-million-square-foot building could house 22.5 football fields and has enough kitchen capacity to feed 12,000 conventioneers all at once — that's a tall order to surpass, even in a town known for its one-upmanship.

The NBAA convention requires such a large hall not because of the number of attendees — by that standard it's not such a large trade show — but because of the size of the exhibits. NBAA represents companies that operate business aircraft. Those who attend the show are generally pilots, CEOs, and (more important) CFOs of major corporations shopping for new business aircraft...or at least hinting at shopping for new aircraft, in order to be treated royally by manufacturers anxious to make multimillion-dollar deals.

To impress and possibly sway potential customers, the manufacturers spare no expense. Many, such as Cessna, Raytheon, Bombardier, Honeywell, Collins Avionics, and others will spend millions of dollars on booths and entertaining. Most of the manufacturers will bring actual business jets and turboprops, or at least full-size mockups, onto the exhibit floor; thus the need for a giant exhibit hall. The show requires so much floor space that only about half a dozen convention centers in the country can accommodate it.

If the number of attendees and the level of enthusiasm at the show are any indication of the health of the business aircraft segment of general aviation, then we can expect good times ahead. As a 10-year veteran of the show, I can say that I've never seen such a diversity of new airplanes displayed. The airplanes ranged from the Cirrus SR20 that I wrote about last month to the business aircraft world's version of the jumbo jet — the Gulfstream G-V and Canadair Global Express.

In fact, the SR20 was not the only single-engine piston aircraft on display. Aerospatiale was there, showing off not only its TBM700 single-engine turboprop, but its Caribbean series of piston aircraft, as well. Likewise, Commander Aircraft had a booth where it touted the 114B and newly certified 114TC as business aircraft for small companies. It was an especially exciting show for Diamond Aircraft; at NBAA, Diamond closed a deal with Spartan School of Aeronautics for 40 Katana DA20 two-seat trainers. Not to be outdone, Cessna announced an order for 100 piston singles to be delivered to TAM/Transportes Aereos Regonais, Cessna's authorized sales representative in Brazil.

At a time when everyone seems to believe turbines are the answer to general aviation's problems, a few companies are going against the grain. Hawker Siddeley Canada believes that there's still a place for big piston engines. The company's Orenda Engine Division expects to certify both 500-horsepower and 600-hp variants of V-8 powerplants by late next year. The engines will soon fly on a Beech King Air test aircraft.

At least one new airframe design plans to take advantage of this engine. Kraft Company was at NBAA for the first showing of its StarKraft push/pull twin. The eight-place twin is currently powered by a pair of Continentals, but those will soon be replaced by a pair of Orenda V-8s.

Hawker Siddeley isn't alone in its interest in the big piston engines. As noted in this month's "Pilot Briefing," Toyota Aviation is also expected to certify a version of its Lexus engine.

The light jet segment is another part of the market showing lots of activity. Cessna practically reinvented the light jet market with its introduction of the CitationJet. Within two years, the company had sold 200 of the airplanes, each capable of single-pilot operation. Such numbers really attract attention in an industry where only a few hundred jets are sold a year.

Just as with successful television shows, it doesn't take the competition long to figure out the recipe.

After keeping the world guessing for months, Raytheon unveiled its Premier I light jet at NBAA. The Premier will be built to FAR Part 23 standards and certified for single-pilot operations — just like the CitationJet. Sino-Swearingen Aircraft joined the fray by announcing a new variant of its yet-to-be built SJ30. The SJ30-2 will also be built to Part 23 standards and certified for single-pilot operations.

Making all this new activity possible are the highly successful Williams/Rolls FJ44 engines. The CitationJet and the SJ30-1 are powered by the original FJ44s, producing 1,900 pounds of thrust each (lbst). The Premier I and the SJ30-2 will get their power from a new version, the FJ44-2C producing 2,300 lbst.

Not all of the new light jets utilize Williams/Rolls engines, though. VisionAire chose the venerable Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D turbofan to power its new single-engine jet, the Vantage. In the Vantage, the JT15D will produce 2,900 lbst. Like the others, however, the Vantage will be certified to FAR Part 23 and certified for single-pilot operations. "Because it's a single, we wanted to go with the most reliable and proven technology we could find," admitted VisionAire CEO Jim Rice, sensitive to corporate concerns about single-engine aircraft.

One thing that many of the new airplanes have in common is sophisticated avionics displays. The Premier I's cockpit, for example, is home to a planned pair of 8 2 10-inch flat-panel color LCDs. The Collins Pro Line 21 system will be the first use of such large LCDs in business aircraft. Honeywell already has similar large flat panels in use aboard the Boeing 777.

The use of flat-panel technology has been an industry dream for more than a decade. The cathode-ray tubes used in current generation EFISs are heavy and demand alternators full of power, all the while generating enough heat to warm the boss' coffee in the cabin. The LCDs offer higher definition, but at a fraction of the depth, weight, and power consumption of CRTs. The problem with LCDs has been restricted viewing angles. New filters and glass manufacturing processes have improved viewing angles tremendously, however.

The CRT drawbacks have stifled the use of new avionics displays in light aircraft. The latest LCDs, though, will definitely find homes in the front of many smaller aircraft within the next five years. At Oshkosh, it seemed that about every third exhibitor was showing off some new LCD for general aviation. Most of those products are for experimental aircraft, but it won't be long before some will be certified for production aircraft.

Arnav Systems, for example, has placed a series of 6 2 8-inch LCDs in the cockpit of the ST-50 single-engine pusher turboprop being developed by a consortium of Israeli companies. Cirrus designed the ST-50 for the Israelis and has been a partner with Arnav in introducing new technology into the cockpit.

Seeing such technology unfold over the years as we attend one after another of these major aviation shows is what makes things interesting. It's exciting stuff to contemplate, but if you come just to attend the press conferences, bring a pillow. You'll be able to catch up on your sleep.