Bit and Pieces of The Future May Be Coming (Soon?) To A Cockpit Near You

The pleasant little town of Danville, VA, is hosting an amazing if somewhat bewildering confab of NASA-inspired technology this week in a locale not normally known for seeing the best and brightest in aerospace technology.

It's far from Edwards, hundreds of miles from "The Cape," and even a few hundred miles from the puzzle palaces in DC... but for the moment, Danville, VA, is high-tech central for the aerospace world. They're all here -- NASA staffers, FAA folks, the best and worst of the dreamers and doers... but most importantly, we're hobnobbing with the cream of the crop from the revitalized world of general aviation. And it's the GA folks who are hoping that an appreciable amount of the technology on display will someday be sitting in a hangar near you.

The whole thrust of SATS is to make the very latest aerospace technology FINALLY work for the most basic ranks of aviation. While certain GA luminaries have been the earliest adopters of a number of new technologies, there are plenty of companies that have taken a wait and see attitude and a few more that are still, carefully, testing the waters.

The SATS program here at Danville is strictly mass demonstration... bringing dozens of programs under a number of interconnected roofs so that the public, the media and the industry can judge the state of progress, evaluate each program's potential, and start deciding what they want to put their dollars behind. The atmosphere is fairly positive, the event is fairly well-managed (with only a few hiccups seen so far), and the overall appearance puts forth a scenario of immense promise. There isn't a soul here who can spend 15 minutes running from display to display (dozens of them... no kidding) and not be impressed by the potential of what they see... so long as they eventually get to use it in the real world.

What should be apparent by now, though, is that the early adopters and risk-takers in GA seem to be winning where it counts... at the cash register and in the numbers of NextGen birds joining the civil registry. 

Companies like Cirrus Design (possibly the most aggressive of the GA wunderkind) have taken to the latest technologies with great gusto... while a few others have not let the early Cirrus lead persist for long. Most notable in this race is the resurrection and increasing prominence of new players Lancair and Extra, as well as the inspired decisions that have made Diamond Aircraft a major player now and a promised powerhouse for the future. Indeed, Diamond is still the only GA builder in the flock demoing certified birds (the DA-40TDI and the DA-42) that have updated each aspect of the holy trinity of GA's basic technology needs... airframes, avionics and powerplants. 

Even the most promising two-place birds are showing up with all the bells and whistles -- a resurrected Symphony is about to start showing up with BRS chutes, Avidyne glass panels and a host of other services that used to be associated with only a few of the turbine toys. And thankfully; some of the biggest names from the "elder generation" of GA are now adapting the latest technologies left and right... with Mooney, New Piper and even Cessna each adopting either Avidyne or Garmin panels, to the collective relief and edification of their sales force.

And of course, there's Eclipse... the company that upset EVERYONE's apple cart by building a million dollar Bizjet that ordinary semi-rich dweebs can own and fly... with as much real-live Single-pilot friendly technology crammed between two PW610Fs as was humanly (or inhumanly, to hear some people describe it) possible. Vern Raburn's pocket rocket is now a year or so away from production, with REAL progress being made and schedules being kept reasonably intact (with some publicly acknowledged delays here and there--NO project survives contact with reality, intact, and Eclipse has not hidden that from anyone). It's a whole new ballgame and if SATS proves an appreciable amount of its technologies (and not even a majority, frankly) to the point of industry-wide adoption, then the ballgame begins anew.

But it's not all conventional GA here at SATS... there is GREAT emphasis on the much-discussed (and much hyped) air taxi renaissance that is due REALLY SOON NOW. Let's face it, this is where throwing such an event in a place like Danville makes sense. United is never going to give Danville a second glance, but a thriving network of VLJs and light air taxis may eventually mean that the folks of Danville can forget that long one hour drive to Greensboro or the two hour drive to RDU... and the attendant "joys" of TSA induced delays, inconveniences and all the other things that have been thrust upon airline travelers 'for our own good.'

There are a number of Air Taxi concepts being discussed and proposed here... starting with shared ownership derivatives using SR22s (a model that makes surprising sense and is startlingly economical) to cover an appreciable portion of a regional market to burgeoning national models like Day-Jet's exquisitely prepared and conceived  plans for a nationwide network of Eclipse Air-Taxis allowing one to cost-effectively thumb one's nose at the not-so-friendly skies for fares that are far more reasonable than conventional air charter prices command today. 

On the problematic side of things, there is a perceptible lack of interest, among many competing technologies, in the ultimate need to integrate their program into a real-world environment. One of the (justifiable) accusations made against parties involved in the SATS program is that a number of small technology fiefdoms have emerged that appear to be competing with others for time, attention and dollars. Cooperation isn't coming as easily as we'd hope... but it is starting to gain some steam. We're happy to say that this problem is a diminishing trend, but none-the-less still evident.

In the meantime,we're roaming the grounds, looking over the most promising new technologies and a few of those that are currently being implemented... and we'll fill you in on those shortly, REALTIME, from the SATS demonstration site in little ol' Danville. Stay tuned... There is some VERY cool stuff going on here.

FMI: www.sats2005.com