Half the G-II Fleet to Sport Winglets,
BBJs to Have Them, Hawkers Next?

Joe Clark of Aviation Partners guarantees it. One company that likes his winglets enough to order another half-million-dollar shipset is Regal Aviation, a Texas- and Oklahoma-based charter outfit co-owned by George Zimmer of Men's Wearhouse fame. Regal has three GII-SPs with winglets and one GII without-but is upfitting that aircraft as well. "It's the best money making aircraft there is for charter," Regal president David MacDonald says in a bulletin circulated by the Seattle-based winglets specialist. "Our II-SPs go out at $4,200 an hour compared to $4,500 an hour for our GIIIs," MacDonald says. "The additional $300 an hour does not justify the extra $6 million investment in the GIII, particularly when a II-SP can do the same nonstop transcontinental and Hawaii missions. We have charter customers who will not fly in a straight-wing GII but they will fly in a II-SP." "A II-SP gives you more range and performance and an improved overall flight experience," says his partner Zimmer. "I guarantee it!"

A quartet of blended winglets sales by Aviation Partners late this past summer means more than half of the world Gulfstream II fleet will be flying with the performance enhancing mod, says Joe Clark, president of the Seattle firm. "We're approaching 110 out of 203," he told Show News.

Winglets developed by Aviation Partners in league with Boeing were last month certified on the Boeing Business Jet as well. All BBJs will eventually have the enhancement, which will also be available as a retrofit for about $800,000.

Raytheon is targeted, too. "We've launched the Hawker 800 program," Clark reports. "The technology we have works for any business or commercial aircraft."

For the Gulfstream II, "We are booked through mid-October with installation slots open only in late October, November and all of December," Aviation Partners sales VP Dick Friel advises would-be customers. The winglets boost GII takeoff and cruise performance, and fuel-efficiency, by 6% to 7%. They are priced at $495,000 per shipset. Once you've got an appointment, allow between ten and 14 days of GII downtime to install.

The eight-foot winglets on the BBJ add about 300 nmi range and 4,000 pounds of payload-or better takeoff capability, particularly from hot-and-high airfields. Overall improvement is between 4.8% and 5%. The winglets could have been angled to bring the GII's 7% gain to the BBJ, but the more aggressive design would have required an expensive strengthening of the larger aircraft's outer wing.

Winglet certification for the commercial variant of the 737-800 (a far bigger market for Aviation Partners) is expected by the end of this year, with certification for the BBJ 2 in the first quarter of 2001, says Clark.

Aviation Partners notes the formation of Aviation Partners/Boeing to ramp-up the development of winglets for even more Boeing models. Former Boeing chief aerodynamicist Dr. Bernie Gratzer heads up the effort, which is targeting Boeing's biggest: the 757, 767 and even the 747.

For the Hawker 800, Aviation Partners is hoping to offer both retrofits and to induce Raytheon to make winglets standard on new aircraft. Clark predicts Hawker 800XP winglet certification in autumn 2001.

Details of a 'second wave' of blended winglets flight test programs are being planned, Clark says. Beyond the blended winglets, radical 'spiroid' winglets promise a GII performance gain of 10%.

Aviation Partners winglets are made with carbon-epoxy spars and carbon-epoxy skins over Nomex honeycomb core. The have aluminum leading edges with titanium fasteners. The company is interested in more extensive use of composite fabrication techniques, particularly bonding.

By Rich Piellisch