Professional Pilot, March 2016

If you could add a new aircraft to your flight dept in production or development what would it be What avionics or other special equipment would it have I am very pleased to fly the Embraer Phenom 300 equipped with a Garmin G3000 Prodigy panel Jim McIrwin ATP CFII Phenom 100 300 Chief Instructor McIrvin Aviation Warrenton VA Adding the Sikorsky S97 Raider helicopter to our fleet would be really great The S97 is a coaxial rotor design with a pusher propeller that will cruise at speeds up to 240 kts For sure I would add some blade icing protection and we would be all set Our customers and owners would love the time saving capability of vertical lift married to turboprop speeds Michael Zangara ATP CFII Helo Sikorsky S76 Chief Pilot Associated Aircraft Group Wappingers Falls NY 24 PROFESSIONAL PILOT March 2016 We currently have a 3 aircraft Bombardier fleet of a Global Express Challenger 604 and a 605 All are great aircraft But if possible I would add a Gulfstream G650 because of its very long range capability Fernando Campos A P Global Express Challenger 604 605 Aviation Dir of Mx KACALP Flight Ops Van Nuys CA Citation XLS is my selection for a new business jet that would join our current flight ops I want it to have standard Garmin avionics plus WiFi The XLS has good stage length range decent balanced field length runway numbers and stand up cabin Also Cessnas great service and support is well known It would make a perfect step up airplane to join our fleet where we currently have a Citation Bravo and a Caravan Erik Swanberg ATP Citation Bravo Caravan Chief Pilot JA Air Charter Sugar Grove IL As an upgrade my pick would be the King Air 350 We currently operate an older King Air 200 Moving to the 350 would work great for our present flight profile due to the KA 350 s increased range and better load carrying capability as compared to our current KA 200 the faster speed and higher altitude performance would also give us additional benefits As to avionics my selection would be the Garmin G1000 due to its reliability cost and user friendly operation Danny Culler Comm Multi Inst King Air 200 Chief Pilot Eagle Sunrise Air Winston Salem NC Currently we operate a Challenger 601 3R and its a fine aircraft But to answer the question it would be great to move up to a new Bombardier 600 series product such as the Challenger 605 With that airplane wed be completely ready for FANS 1 A and all the ADS B Out requirements we need to have by Jan 1 2020 But if I were to choose a fun airplane for family and friends that I could fly anywhere on vacations hunting and fishing trips I would have a Viking Twin Otter on floats Lets hear it for amphibs Four up for the water Scott Adams ATP Challenger 601 3R Captain The Pyle Group Madison WI My interest is to possibly add a new Pilatus twinjet PC24 to our flight ops But for the avionics aboard the PC24 I would prefer an advanced Garmin suite as contrasted with the Honeywell system Pilatus has chosen for their PC24 I have enjoyed flying the PC12NG and Im pleased to see the fine Swiss engineering of Pilatus now vectored into the bizjet market Ken Meuser ATP CFII Citation CJ3 Chief Pilot Management West Aurora OR I believe the perfect helicopter for our PHI offshore use would be one with the payload range and reliability of the Sikorsky S92 combined with the automation and avionics of the AgustaWestland AW139 I think a merge of these 2 helicopters would really fill our offshore mission needs Im also a fan of both the AW189 and the Bell 525 As far as avionics Im a proponent of the Honeywell Primus Epic system and find it to be very user friendly On the Primus Epic it would be great to have a moving map underlay on the nav display Id also like to have the ability to use and evaluate EFVS IR Enhanced Flight Vision System for offshore use Seems to me that EFVS would be very beneficial for locating and making the approach to rigs during low viz ops Michael OBrien ATP Helo CFII AgustaWestland AW139 Sikorsky S92 Captain PHI Cantonment FL