08-31-2025, 07:59 PM
The Last Minute Hitch: 29 August 2025
29 August 2025
– Steve Hitchen
When the whole GA world seemed to be inflicted with very-light-jet madness in the mid 00s, two companies went about developing viable alternatives that ended up all but killing the VLJ idea: Cessna and Embraer. Whilst some organisations were soaking up development funds with promises of single-engined jets that would retail for less than $US1 million, Cessna and Embraer down-scaled their corporate jets to produce the Mustang and Phenom respectively. It was an astute move that diverted deposits away from the crashing VLJ concept to models that would actually get delivered. For Embraer in particular, it was a bold move that now sees them celebrating the 2000th delivery in a four-ship line-up. The Phenom 100 now has a Phenom 300 cousin and the Praetor 500 and 600 have since joined the range. Cessna also went one bigger with the M2, which over-powered the now-obsolete Mustang. Cessna and Embraer have gone from strength-to-strength in this market over the years, joined by Honda and Pilatus. VLJs on the other hand, basically disappeared when many designs proved unviable or impractical. The only remnant now is the Cirrus SF50 Vision, which sells for a lot more than $US1 million!
"..our licences and earned privileges are sacred to us.."
It has been 11 years since CASA introduced a rickety piece of regulation named Part 61. This represented a complete overhaul of the flight crew licensing system, but contained more points of failure than a home-made kite. Any piece of solid regulation doesn't need a raft of fixes put in place only months later. Regardless, flight crew made the transition from CAR 5 to CASR Part 61 over several years. But now, time is up. Monday is the deadline for any flight crew that are still on CAR 5 papers to update themselves. The fact that CASA has had to sound a warning is an indicator that there are still some hold-outs. And it's not that we can blame them; our licences and earned privileges are sacred to us, and stories of those that transitioned only to find that regulatory malfunctions stripped them of something are numerous. I even know of a CFI that was told he had CFI approval, but didn't actually hold an instructor's rating. When I made the transition, the bee in my bonnet came from the Part 61 licence wiping out my history. It says my PPL was awarded in 2015, with no recognition of the prior 30-year aviation career other than acknowledging that I earned some endorsements. Monday's deadline should be the completion of Part 61, but CASA's GA Workplan is due to review Part 61 beginning in a few weeks, which could yield more modifications.
You've got to love the foresight of Vickers Aircraft. They've been working on the Wave amphibian for 15 years now, and initially were able to score an exemption from the FAA for an 839-kg MTOW and remain in the LSA category. Thanks to the new Part 22 regulations, they don't need that anymore, and have increased the MTOW further to 907 kg, making it a very capable little seaplane indeed. But there's more frustration for the market: further delays to production testing, which ultimately mean customers have to wait longer. CEO Paul Vickers is keen to get this absolutely right to avoid putting a half-baked product on the market, but he's finding now the traps involved in building a completely new company at the same time he's building a clean-sheet aeroplane. Despite the methodical calmness that Vickers is showing to the public, pressure is mounting on the Wave. After all these years, it now needs to be an absolute world-beater given all the delays that have been attributed to getting it right. On the upside, the design and the company have the confidence of Charles Bombardier, a bloke who doesn't make a lot of missteps when he places money.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
29 August 2025
– Steve Hitchen
When the whole GA world seemed to be inflicted with very-light-jet madness in the mid 00s, two companies went about developing viable alternatives that ended up all but killing the VLJ idea: Cessna and Embraer. Whilst some organisations were soaking up development funds with promises of single-engined jets that would retail for less than $US1 million, Cessna and Embraer down-scaled their corporate jets to produce the Mustang and Phenom respectively. It was an astute move that diverted deposits away from the crashing VLJ concept to models that would actually get delivered. For Embraer in particular, it was a bold move that now sees them celebrating the 2000th delivery in a four-ship line-up. The Phenom 100 now has a Phenom 300 cousin and the Praetor 500 and 600 have since joined the range. Cessna also went one bigger with the M2, which over-powered the now-obsolete Mustang. Cessna and Embraer have gone from strength-to-strength in this market over the years, joined by Honda and Pilatus. VLJs on the other hand, basically disappeared when many designs proved unviable or impractical. The only remnant now is the Cirrus SF50 Vision, which sells for a lot more than $US1 million!
"..our licences and earned privileges are sacred to us.."
It has been 11 years since CASA introduced a rickety piece of regulation named Part 61. This represented a complete overhaul of the flight crew licensing system, but contained more points of failure than a home-made kite. Any piece of solid regulation doesn't need a raft of fixes put in place only months later. Regardless, flight crew made the transition from CAR 5 to CASR Part 61 over several years. But now, time is up. Monday is the deadline for any flight crew that are still on CAR 5 papers to update themselves. The fact that CASA has had to sound a warning is an indicator that there are still some hold-outs. And it's not that we can blame them; our licences and earned privileges are sacred to us, and stories of those that transitioned only to find that regulatory malfunctions stripped them of something are numerous. I even know of a CFI that was told he had CFI approval, but didn't actually hold an instructor's rating. When I made the transition, the bee in my bonnet came from the Part 61 licence wiping out my history. It says my PPL was awarded in 2015, with no recognition of the prior 30-year aviation career other than acknowledging that I earned some endorsements. Monday's deadline should be the completion of Part 61, but CASA's GA Workplan is due to review Part 61 beginning in a few weeks, which could yield more modifications.
You've got to love the foresight of Vickers Aircraft. They've been working on the Wave amphibian for 15 years now, and initially were able to score an exemption from the FAA for an 839-kg MTOW and remain in the LSA category. Thanks to the new Part 22 regulations, they don't need that anymore, and have increased the MTOW further to 907 kg, making it a very capable little seaplane indeed. But there's more frustration for the market: further delays to production testing, which ultimately mean customers have to wait longer. CEO Paul Vickers is keen to get this absolutely right to avoid putting a half-baked product on the market, but he's finding now the traps involved in building a completely new company at the same time he's building a clean-sheet aeroplane. Despite the methodical calmness that Vickers is showing to the public, pressure is mounting on the Wave. After all these years, it now needs to be an absolute world-beater given all the delays that have been attributed to getting it right. On the upside, the design and the company have the confidence of Charles Bombardier, a bloke who doesn't make a lot of missteps when he places money.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch