Recently in EBACE Category

It's an F1 frenzy at Ebace this year with no less than three different drivers putting in an appearance to fulfill various obligations.

First up was Jenson Button - here courtesy of Honda and their HondaJet.

He's buying a couple of aircraft and also announced his intention to set up a charter business.

Next is former world champion Kimi Raikonnen, keeping the boys at Piaggio happy with an appearance at their stand to do a bit of autograph signing.

Unfortunately for the waiting press Kimi was running two hours late.

Apparently, there were no free slots at Geneva Airport for him to land so he flew into Zurich and drove down (presumably not in his Ferrari F1 car.

And last but not least was Bombardier's chap Lewis Hamilton, who was guest of honour at an intimate Bombardier dinner, helping to promote Bombardier's Year of Learjet campaign.

All this has led to discussion as to just why aviation and F1 are such good bed fellows. Maybe it's because the drivers are big users of biz jets to get round the circuit.

Maybe it's that the lifestyle of these rich thrill-seekers inevitably leads some of them into the piloting world. Or possibly it's just that aviation and racing driving simply attract the same kind of people who are into speed and technology wrapped up in a glam lifestyle.

By Murdo Morrison

Journalists and the public relations community aiming to get their companies' messages across were not entirely happy with the new layout at EBACE on Monday's press day. The show has been a victim of its own success and this year has spilled out of hall six, last year's home, into hall seven, where the aircraft manufacturers are based.

Some of the spin-doctors for first tier suppliers were complaining that - by being consigned to hall six, alongside the FBOs, finance houses and seat-cover manufacturers - they were denied their spiritual home next to their big customers like Bombardier and Dassault. Many end-users, they complained, would simply visit the OEMs in hall seven, and the static park over the bridge, rather than tour hall six.

Unseasonably humid weather also meant the new press conference rooms in hall seven were far from ideal as speakers struggled to be heard over whirring standalone fans. Making a joke about there being enough hot air already probably wasn't the best move.

See Flight's full coverage of EBACE 2007...

By Murdo Morrison

The developers of a single-pilot aircraft which its inventors plan to fly around the world in 2011, powered only by sunlight, rather oddly chose EBACE to launch their latest initiative: a virtual flight from Honolulu to Miami which you can follow in real time today at the solarimpulse site

The Solar Impulse project aims to develop a two-tonne, lithium battery-powered aircraft with an 80 metre wingspan and capable of flying to 4,000 ft.

The Swiss-based developers plan to begin construction of a first prototype next year, which will be used for a 36h mission to prove the concept that the aircraft can generate enough power from the sun during the day to continue flying all night. A bigger version that will attempt the round the world flight will follow.

These guys may sound like Jules Verne eccentrics but they are not cranks. Partners include Dassault Aviation and Deutsche Bank and a host of other venerable financial and industrial backers.

However, they admit that their project is more of a "symbol" to highlight the need to find alternative forms of energy rather than a viable attempt to create solar-powered aircraft.

Check out Flight's EBACE page...

Grob - a niche maker of motor gliders and light aircraft based in Bavaria - surprised the industry when it unveiled at the Paris air show in 2005 its all-composite SPn light jet. Run for years as a bit of an indulgent sideline by the family behind German industrial machine company Grob, the aerospace arm was later bought by investors headed by Niall Olver, the South African owner of ExecuJet.

Like its Austrian counterpart Diamond, the innovative SPn showed that a small European company could still hack it in the world of business aviation manufacturing - dominated by giants such as Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Hawker Beechcraft and Gulfstream.

But at the end of last year, just about the worst thing that could happen happened - the second prototype crashed on a demonstration flight at the company's airfield at Tussenhausen-Mattsies, killing the chief test pilot.

It set the programme back months, but Olver and his team have got it back on tracks. Flying of the first test aircraft resumed on 23 February - although the investigation into the crash has not concluded, the authorities have cleared the construction of the aircraft itself - and Grob has more than 60 orders for the $7 million jet, representing two years' of production backlog. A third SPn will fly in July and Grob is aiming for European certification in April.

With chocolate box mountains as a backdrop, not to mention fine restaurants and Lake Geneva itself, there can be few better cities to come to for a trade show in May than Geneva. And EBACE is one of the best trade shows to attend - the convention centre is 10 minutes from the city centre and next to the airport, with excellent public transport and road links...it's almost as if it was designed by the Swiss! Paris-style traffic jams or Farnborough-style queues unheard of.

EBACE has grown tremendously since its birth here in 2001. This year it is occupying halls five, six and seven, with the static display, as always, over a walkway from hall seven, on the airport apron.

Today is press day, when Bombardier, Grob, Hawker Beechcraft and Privatair are among those making announcements. I'll be blogging opn some of those later. The show proper starts tomorrow, with the exhibition and any excellent series of seminars covering operational, safety and regulatory matters, which my colleague David Learmount will be covering.

Meanwhile, for the third year, Flight Evening News will be bringing show attendees, and the wider world via the web, all that day's breaking stories. The industry's only same-day show daily newspaper, my colleagues on FDN are currently busily putting the first issue - distributed to convention hotels as delegates arrive in Geneva this afternoon and evening. The paper comes out Monday through Wednesday and is an invaluable way to stay abreast of the big announcements and pictures from the show.

Click here to see Flight's full cover of EBACE