The summer of 2017 can officially be referred to as the summer of world tours. Piper’s M600, Bell Helicopter’s 429 and the HondaJet all circumnavigated the globe. Over the course of a six-week trip in May and June the M600 flew 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, built near Montreal and outfitted with Honeywell’s connectivity services, flew around the globe to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday and showcase Honeywell's connectivity.
M600 European Tour
Drew McEwen led the six-week M600 European tour along with Thomas Neilsen, Piper’s regional sales manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The trip started in Geneva on May 24 almost immediately after the aircraft was validated by the EASA and ended in Italy on June 30. McEwen, who serves as Piper’s v-p of international and direct sales, flew the airplane to France, Germany, Russia and Poland. Ultimately, the aircraft flew 7,000 miles in Europe and burned approximately 38,000 pounds of fuel in the process.
“I’m glad I had someone who’s flown 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.”
One of the most significant milestones of the trip was the M600's crossing of the Atlantic. According to McEwen, Piper’s M-Class aircraft generally take a northern route to land-hop to Europe. The M600 left from St. John's, Newfoundland, and landed at Lajes Airport in Portugal four hours 38 minutes later after flying the 1,271 nm at FL280 and averaging 42 gph for a fuel burn of 1,290 pounds. The tailwind was less than 20 knots.
The M600 saw a lot of interest in eastern Europe, according to McEwen. 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 the 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,” the tour stopped at approximately 80 locations around the world, among them Colombia, Ireland, Portugal, Turkey, Vietnam, India, Thailand, Australia, Japan and Russia. MacQueen owns Innisfree Hotels, and 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 an airplane as cool as the HondaJet single-pilot 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. Before taking off, MacQueen estimated that the aircraft would use 60,000 pounds of fuel and fly 29,000 nm, which is approximately 60 flying hours. At press time, post-trip numbers were not available as the airplane was still making the rounds.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 150th anniversary, and father-son duo Bob and Steven Dengler, along with veteran pilot Dugal MacDuff, are celebrating by 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 at specific sites that hold historical significance for Canada and the aviation industry, such as Cornwall in southwest England, where the first ever transatlantic radio signal 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 had 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 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. Honeywell installed the satcom system and Aspire 200 a month before the Denglers took off.
Aspire 200 is a small Inmarsat Wi-Fi system that operates on SwiftBroadband. For this trip it provided the Denglers Wi-Fi speeds up to 350 Kbps, meaning they could 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 and maps.
Mark Goodman, product director for Honeywell Aerospace, told AIN, “The big challenge with helicopters when they’re flying beyond city centers and can’t receive ground-based connectivity is that the rotor discrotates 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 National Airways to bring the M600 to 11 countries in Africa from July 1 to July 20. The tour took in Nigeria, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt. The HondaJet tour helped MacQueen and his wife with their hotel business, with the trip providing 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 clients’ needs.
