2017’s Summer of World Tours

The summer of 2017 can officially be referred to as the summer of world tours.  Piper’s M600, Bell Helicopter’s Bell 429 and the HondaJet all got the chance to circumnavigate the globe. The M600’s 6-week trip in May and June featured the M-Class aircraft flying directly across the Atlantic for the first time. Meanwhile, HondaJet’s 80-day tour marked the first time that the aircraft has embarked on such a journey. The Bell 429, outfitted with Honeywell’s connectivity services, flew around the globe to celebrate Canada’s 150^th birthday.

While the M600 and the HondaJet completed demos for international customers, the Bell 429 showcased Honeywell’s connectivity packages for helicopters. Each tour may have had different goals but they all succeeded in offering a unique experience for those interested in aviation.

M600 European Tour

Drew McEwen led the 6-week M600 European tour along with Thomas Neilson, Piper’s regional sales manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa. The trip started in Geneva on May 24 almost immediately after the aircraft was validated by EASA and ended in Italy on June 30. McEwen, who serves as Piper’s v-p of international and direct sales, flew the plane to countries including France, Germany, Russia and Poland. Ultimately, the aircraft flew 7,000 miles in Europe and burned approximately 38,000 lbs. of fuel in the process. However, McEwen was relieved to be flying with Neilson, an experienced pilot.

“I’m glad I had someone that’s flown around in Europe a lot,” McEwen told AIN. “It’s amazing how you have to plan your trip well in advance and go through a handling agent who gives you your routing. The routing has multiple waypoints; some legs had 15 waypoints. In the U.S. we typically have two to three waypoints or we just go direct.”

Multiple milestones were achieved on this trip, but one of the most significant was the M600 crossing the Atlantic. According to McEwen, Piper’s M-Class aircraft generally take a northern route to land-hop to Europe. The M600 went up to Newfoundland and cut across the Atlantic burning 42 gallons of fuel per hour with a tail wind under 20 knots. The aircraft was easily able to make the flight to Europe and continued to fly longer legs throughout the continent, making sure to hit all waypoints.

The M600 saw a lot of interested in eastern Europe. After completing several demo flights, two aircraft were sold in the Czech Republic while one was sold in Poland, one in Germany and another in Russia. Russian Piper dealer SimAvia marked the M600’s presence in Russia with a celebration and unveiling at Kuban Airshow in Krasnodar on June 17 and 18.

Around the World in 80 Stays with the HondaJet

Julian MacQueen, his wife Kim and Travis Holland of Holland Aero embarked on the HondaJet worldwide tour from AirVenture at the end of July. Dubbed around the “Around the World in 80 Stays,” MacQueen and the team planned to stop at approximately 80 locations around the world including Colombia, Ireland, Portugal, Turkey, Vietnam, New Delhi, Thailand, Australia, Japan, and Russia. As MacQueen owns Innisfree Hotels, the tour aimed to link traveling and the hotel industry while showcasing the aircraft.

“This is just one of those moments where I thought, ‘When will I ever get the opportunity to be the first to fly single-pilot fly an airplane as cool as the HondaJet around the world?’” MacQueen previously told AIN. “This trip combines a bunch of passions of mine—flying, hotels, design, culture. I’m at the age where if I don’t do it now, I may not be able to do it in the future. I thought I’d grab it while I could.”

This trip marks the first time a HondaJet has circumnavigated the globe like this. Before taking off, MacQueen estimated that the aircraft would use 60,000 lbs. of fuel and fly 29,000 nm, which is approximately 60 flying hours. Honda Aircraft worked with the MacQueens to display the aircraft to potential prospects and aviation enthusiasts along the way.

C150GO

This year marks Canada’s 150^th anniversary and father-son duo Bob and Steven Dengler are celebrating in a unique way. Along with veteran pilot Dugal MacDuff, the Denglers are flying a Bell 429 outfitted with Honeywell connectivity services around the world. Steven previously told AIN that he and the crew will stop in every Canadian territory as well as specific sites that hold historical significance for Canada and the aviation industry. This includes Cornwall, where the first transatlantic radio signal in history was sent, as well as Signal Hill, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where that signal was received. By the end of the trip, the Bell 429 stopped at 100 locations in 14 countries.

About three or four months before this trip began, the Denglers approached Honeywell Aerospace for a satellite phone to carry on their mission. Since the Honeywell team already has been working on helicopter connectivity for some time, they proposed the idea of installing a Satcom system on the Bell 429. After the Denglers agreed, Honeywell representatives had to work quickly with Transport Canada to receive a limited STC, set up a test flight and file the appropriate paperwork for installation to begin. Finally, Honeywell installed the Satcom system and Aspire 200 approximately one month before the Denglers took off.

Aspire 200 is a small Inmarsat Wi-Fi system that operates on SwiftBroadband. For this trip it will offer the Denglers Wi-Fi speeds up to approximately 350 kbps, meaning they can easily upload pictures and video to their social media accounts for people to follow along on their journey.  The Satcom connectivity offers weather updates, flight planning, ground logistics, maps,

Mark Goodman, product director for Honeywell Aerospace, told AIN, “The big challenge with helicopters when they’re flying outside of city centers and can’t receive ground-based connectivity is that the wing rotates above the antenna. The wing is between the antenna and the satellite and blocks the Satcom signal. We’ve employed some technology in the connection between the Satcom system on the aircraft and the satellite that makes the connectivity really robust and error-free.”

Each world tour also helped the companies learn more about their clients’ needs as well as their own aircraft. Following the success of the European tour, Piper worked with the National Airways Corporation (NAC) to bring the M600 to 11 countries in Africa from July 1 to July 20. Navigating a strict demo schedule, the aircraft’s tour included countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt. The HondaJet tour helped MacQueen and his wife with their hotel business, Innisfree Hotels. This trip acted as a crash course in hotel culture around the world for the couple. They were able to study the hotel industry and bring back different techniques to diversify Innisfree Hotels. While Honeywell is not planning another world tour at the moment, technicians were eager to study the data from the Denglers’ trip to improve and better position their products for their clients’ needs.