Mr Aviation
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Posted Date: 19/05/2008
Issue: Executive & VIP Aviation International June 2008
Publication: Executive & VIP Aviation International
Joe Clark, President of Aviation Partners, radiates enthusiasm. “We’re very close to certification on the Falcon 2000,” he enthuses. “The winglets will be standard on the Falcon 2000LX. That will be a Dassault product, but we will put winglets on existing Falcon 2000 and Falcon 2000EX airplanes in the retrofit market.” Dassault service centres and other approved service centres will carry out the retrofit work after certification in May 2008.
Following the Falcon 2000, further Dassault models are candidates for this technology. The Falcon 900 will be certified about six months after the Falcon 2000, and then will come the Falcon 50.
Much retrofitting activity has already been undertaken. A large volume of shipsets for the Hawker programme have been delivered to date – well over a hundred in fact. “This programme has redefined the Hawker airplane,” points out Clark. “It now flies higher, faster and gets pretty significant fuel savings.” The Gulfstream programme – and let’s not forget the Gulfstream II was Aviation Partner’s initiation to this business – is being wound down. “We’ve done a little more than 75% of the market but that programme will probably be terminated within the year,” he elucidates.
When asked whether Cessna aircraft are candidates for this technology, Clark responds: “Any airplane’s a candidate. We’ve taken a long look at the Citation X – we think that would be a very good candidate for our product. One of the problems we have is finding the time but we are looking at some of the Cessna and Beechjet products.” Aviation Partners is also considering retrofitting its winglets on aircraft that have been fitted with manufacturer winglets. Why? “Because our winglets are so much more effective,” Clark ventures.
Clark says he prefers the OEM to be involved in the process but this is not imperative; it simply takes a little longer without OEM involvement. His experience with working on more than 3,000 aircraft is that the OEM does not initially see fully what a winglet can bring to the performance equation. He attributes this misconception to poor early winglet performance that only brought a 2-3% performance enhancement. The early winglets simply looked the part but did not deliver significant results. “If you base-line fly an aircraft – without winglets – and then put the winglets on and measure the delta with and without winglets, we get very exact numbers,” explains Clark, referring to the 7% performance improvement achieved.
Clark comments: “We have perfected the art of flight testing these components. Wind tunnels don’t accurately predict what wingtip devices will do. We’ve found that by building a shape and flying an airplane with it and without it, it gives you much more accurate data. Then you transpose that into your own algorithms and you use computational fluid dynamics to refine it.”
Given the prevailing painful cost of fuel, does this mean that winglets are being pushed to the front of aircraft owners’ minds? “There is no question about it. People want greener airplanes that burn less fuel. Winglets do that,” Clark responds. “When we started out, a lot of people bought winglets for their airplanes for their looks. But private jet owners like more range and our winglets extend range or you can pull the throttles back and the winglets save a lot of fuel. It gives you more bang for the buck. Winglets will probably give a Falcon 900, for example, another 40-45 minutes more range.” The other benefits, says Clark, pertains to flying out of small airports, or flying out of high airports in hot temperatures.
Aviation Partners’ famous spiroid wingtip – that has been in discussion for some time – is now making it into the air. “We plan on flying a spiroid wingtip on a Falcon 50 this summer,” comments Clark. The test flight is not being carried out with Dassault – Aviation Partners is going it alone – but Clark is convinced the Falcon 50 is an ideal test aircraft for this novel technology.
What next? Will Aviation Partners work with any supersonic business jet technology that may come to the market in the next few years? “We think our technology can apply on supersonic airplanes as well as subsonic airplanes,” says Clark. He says that Aviation Partners’ approach of flight testing new products rather than relying on wind tunnel testing will give the market a very clear idea of what his company can provide to the supersonic market that might just make the difference.
From technology to the man
The science is complex and Joe Clark is not an engineer by background but aviation is his passion and he has led some very significant aviation businesses along the way. While Clark modestly attributes his success to luck, the reality is that he has been a very strong leader and motivator.
Clark formed Aviation Partners with Dennis Washington in 1991 but his aviation career began in 1965 when he founded Jet Air, the first Learjet distributor in northwest US where he became the Vice President of Sales. In 1981, Clark teamed with Milt Koult and founded Horizon Air which was ultimately sold to Alaska Airlines. Avstar came next in 1987 which marketed ex-military jet training aircraft to US companies and private individuals. In 1988, Clark co-founded – with Clay Lacy and Bruce McCaw – the Friendship Foundation which set the around-the-world speed record of 36 hours, 54 minutes and 15 seconds in a 747SP. Lacy and Clark also own an FBO together.
Clark jokes that it is better to be lucky than smart but he has not only exhibited great entrepreneurial skills; he has also had the capacity to assimilate huge quantities of engineering knowledge, having spent 20 years in the modification and design business with industry gurus.
“We’ve been fortunate in our company in hiring a lot of fellows who were retired from Boeing, Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas. I brought them out of retirement – these were people that certified airplanes like the 727, 737 and 747. They were flight test pilots, engineers and aerodynamicists,” comments Clark. He explains that, formerly, engineers were trained differently in that they had a broad-based knowledge bank compared with today’s engineers who are very specifically trained in certain disciplines. “I found that the broad-based training has been much more effective for the kind of work we have done,” he remarks.
“The luck I have had is in being able to attract such a strong team,” says Clark. In fact, one of his engineers is aged 90 and another is 87. “These guys are in the office every day, but they love it. I used their 300-400 years of experience in the business in our new technology.” But Clark has not forgotten future geniuses at the other end of the age spectrum. He brings in young interns every summer to expose them to the engineering expertise with which Clark has surrounded himself.
But Clark is well aware of the value of engineering beauty in the aviation industry. “If you design a product that is elegant-looking, people are inspired to do a good job,” he insists. “When you see winglets on an airplane, the perception is that a whole new model has been designed. In effect, we redesign the aerodynamics of these jets.”
This is not work for Clark; more like a calling. “I am lucky to have found such a passion,” enthuses Clark. “I fly the Learjet and other airplanes. I wake up every morning and am torn between going flying and going to the office to help design something new. I am most comfortable when I am in an airplane – about three or four times a week.”
Clark on the market
When asked whether Clark feels comfortable with the way in which the business jet market is evolving, he responds: “I don’t feel entirely comfortable. I think there has been a large shift of wealth to the Middle East and Russia. But I think we’re over building this market and it is way overheated.”
He continues: “However, I also think there has been a much greater acceptance of private airplanes. They used to be thought of as a rich man’s toys; now they’re thought of as a productive tool. I don’t know many successful companies that don’t use private transportation today.”
So what market dynamics throw up the most opportunities for Aviation Partners? “We’re kind of impervious,” Clark ventures. “Our biggest issue is in picking which aircraft we want to address next. Any time you can improve the performance and productivity of an existing airplane; that is a wise investment. And that is what we do.”
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