Inland aviation company makes the most out of failed government program

Threshold Aviation Group in Chino would have provided the aircraft used to investigate High Ice Water Content (HIWC), a natural phenomenon and major contributor of the 2009 Air France crash that killed 228 people. Then the federal government pulled its funding.

Last week, the cockpit from a 14-seat Gulfstream jet was loaded onto a truck at Threshold Aviation Group’s facility at Chino Airport. Within two hours, the cockpit – which was severed from the rest of the plane less than one month ago – was moved to a hanger at Arizona Flight Procurement, another aviation company at the airport.

The cockpit will be used for training or testing, although there’s no timetable for that to happen. It’s new owner hasn’t decided exactly what he wants to do with it, said Mark DiLullo, chief executive officer of Threshold Aviation Group.

When the cargo completed its journey, it marked the end of an interesting, exciting but ultimately disappointing odyssey for Threshold Aviation Group, which provides private jet aircraft to manufacturers, governments, jet charter companies and select individuals throughout the world.

Four years ago, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approached Threshold Aviation Group about participating in an investigation into High Ice Water Content, a rare natural occurrence in which jet engines freeze at high altitudes.

Officials in the aviation industry have known about the phenomenon for years, but the issue was pushed into the national spotlight in June 2009, when Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.

The investigation concluded that ice crystals obstructed the plane’s pitot tubes, which determine the plane’s speed. That caused the aircraft’s autopilot to disconnect, sending the plane – which was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris – into an aerodynamic stall from which it was unable to recover.

While this is not the first time HIWC has caused trouble with an engine, Flight 447 was the first time the condition was connected definitively to a fatal crash.

DiLullo jumped at the opportunity to work with NASA and the FAA to investigate HIWC, knowing that the project, if successful, would make commercial flight safer. He also felt like it would be a part of aviation history.

“The Air France crash was a horrible tragedy,” said DiLullo, who normally spends his time traveling the globe looking for private aircraft that Threshold Aviation Group can buy and restore. “I didn’t know anyone on that flight, but I knew what caused it and I knew something had to be done.”

About 30 NASA officials paid a visit to Threshold Aviation Group’s facility, an experience no one who worked there at the time is likely to forget.

“They came in and fully vetted our systems and processes and concluded that we had the capability and capacity to complete the project,” said DiLullo, who estimates that NASA and the FAA had “hundreds of millions of dollars” budgeted for the investigation. “NASA needed to ensure that our safety culture was compatible and our capabilities met the space agency’s standard.”

NASA recognized Threshold Aviation Group’s abilities and dedication to the project. The agency promoted the company to Quality Assurance Manager during the aircraft’s retrofitting process, which took two years. Flight tests, which were expected to last about three months, were to be conducted in Darwin, Australia. Darwin frequently experiences monsoon-like weather, making it ideal for the testing, DiLullo said.

NASA appointed DiLullo the program’s chief pilot because of his years of experience flying Gulfstreams, making him one of three pilots who would fly the plane in the HIWC environment.

Immediately after they received the go-ahead from NASA, Threshold Aviation Group began a complete overhaul of the plane, which was built in 1978.

DiLullo called the process “enormously complicated” and unlike anything the company has undertaken during its 20-year history.

“What we did was take a commercial plane and turn it into a scientific research platform,” DiLullo said. “Mostly, it was installing 32 sensors on the outside, then computers on the inside to collect the data the sensors would bring in. We put together a dream team [of technicians] and made it happen.”

Threshold Aviation Group’s dream team sometimes broke new ground.

“Many of these sensors were new technology and had not been previously flown, so we had to figure out how to do that,” DiLullo said. “The challenge of the HIWC environment and the untested scientific equipment created unique challenges, some of which had not been seen before.”

By the spring of 2013, the plane was ready to begin collecting data. Unfortunately, in March of that year, mandated cuts in some categories of the federal budget – a result of budget sequestration – went into effect, taking with it the NASA/FAA investigation into High Ice Water Content in jet aircraft.

“The politicians got in the way, and that was the end of it,” said Arthur Barth, an FAA Engineer/Test Pilot and Threshold Aviation Group crewmember, who was also selected to fly the HIWC Aircraft. “When the budget sequestration started, NASA became an easy target. The program never had a chance.”

“No one ever said officially that it was because of sequestration, but we knew that’s what it was,” DiLullo said.

NASA officials could not be reached for comment.

Barth, who lives in Oak Park in Ventura County, is semi-retired but still takes some commercial flying assignments. Even though the FAA classified the High Ice Water Content tests as dangerous, Barth said he was anxious to fly them and was disappointed when the program was canceled.

“Looking back, it feels like a missed opportunity,” Barth said. “It was going to be historic within the aviation industry. NASA tried to cobble something together after the sequestration, but they weren’t successful. They were never going to get a plane as capable as the one we were going to present to them. And the problem of High Ice Water Content is still out there.”

Once the program was canceled, Threshold Aviation Group was obligated by contract to remove the sensors and computers, all of which were government owned, from the plane.

“We were unable to secure another opportunity to utilize the plane,” said DiLullo.

To recover the money they invested in the aircraft, Threshold Aviation Group scrapped the remainder of the plane. The cockpit, however, continues to serve as a training tool for staff.

DiLullo also expressed disappointment in the tests being canceled, but he didn’t hesitate when asked if he would participate in the program should NASA or any other agency ever revive it.

“In a heartbeat,” he said.