EXTRA EXPANDS U.S. MARKET EFFORTS
Extra Aircraft, based in Germany, is expanding its efforts to market the Extra 500 turboprop in North America and expects to select a site for a new assembly plant in the U.S. later this year, company spokesman Errol Bader told AVweb this week. "When we first introduced the airplane several years ago, we decided not to market it in the U.S.," he said, due to various reasons such as the exchange rate and regulatory barriers. But now the company has decided the time is right, and they are offering the airplane with a Rolls Royce engine and Avidyne's new Entegra II Release 9 avionics, for $1.65 million. "If you order one now, you can take delivery in the first quarter of 2011," Bader said. Plans are to continue to construct the aircraft's composite parts in Germany, Bader said, but the engines and avionics and other components will be installed at the U.S. site. More...

PRATT AND WHITNEY BULLISH ON BIZJETS
The world's largest manufacturer of business aircraft engines says the market will return to the record levels enjoyed in 2008 — but not until 2014, at the earliest. Pratt & Whitney Canada President John Saabas told Bloomberg there are also some major developments brewing as Bombardier and Gulfstream square off for dominance of the big bizjet market and as Cessna considers relaunching the Columbus intercontinental model it shelved in 2009. "It's a great opportunity for us with all those yet-to-be announced competitions," Saabas said. He said the big jet market will strengthen first, which bodes well for P&WC's current development project, the PW800 series. More...

ARCADIA BUYS WAYFARER
Arcadia Aviation has purchased some of the assets of Wayfarer Aviation after supplying bridge financing to keep the company going folling its brief closure late last week. "Ending speculation about the future of Wayfarer, on Friday June 11, Arcadia Aviation provided bridge financing to Wayfarer to ensure the continuation of uninterrupted service in advance of the signing of the purchase agreement," Arcadia said in a news release issued Tuesday. Most Wayfarer employees were let go last week, but prospects look better for them now that the deal is complete. More...

TWG, VITESSE REACH PURCHASE AGREEMENT
TWG Aviation is buying the FBO, charter and maintenance portions of Vitesse Aviation Services at Dallas Love Field as part of a deal that should see both companies grow. TWG, which operates Business Jet Access and Business Jet Center, wants to beef up its Dallas operations, and the acquisition of Vitesse's business and the 7.5 acres of buildings and ramp space it occupies will accomplish that. "By entering into this agreement with Vitesse Aviation Services, we are in position to expand our infrastructure, increase our service capacity and posture our company for future growth," said TWG spokesman Mike Wright. The acquisition is also a chance for Vitesse to concentrate resources on a successful landing gear, machining and component business. More...

CIRRUS PAYING BACK RENT
One sign that things are looking up in the aircraft business is when cash-strapped companies start getting caught up on their bills, and Cirrus Aircraft took some big steps in that direction this month. This week, the city of Grand Forks announced that Cirrus had paid six months' worth of back rent worth $507,000. That leaves the company 11 months behind for a total of $930,000, but it has promised to get caught up. Cirrus builds composite components at the Grand Forks plant. Cirrus struck a different deal for its base of operations at Duluth. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: SELF-DELUSION SAVES LIVES
Pride goeth before a fall. We're told that lying to ourselves and overestimating our abilities is a surefire path to failure — but listening to Failure Is Not an Option author Gene Kranz talk about the Apollo 13 mission, Jeff Van West has come to realize the opposite is sometimes true: Our self-delusions can pave the way to success. Read more at the AVweb Insider blog — and then add your own comments. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: TULSA, WE HAVE A PROBLEM — A BORING AIR SHOW
How can an air show be boring? It's not enough to bring top acts into town like Kyle Franklin and the Rocket Racing League. On the AVweb Insider, guest blogger Greg Wustrack explains that pacing, parking, and a place to pee are top considerations, too. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: LIVE STREAMING ON THE INTERNET — YOUR AIRCRAFT WRECK!
That must be the way the pilot of that Strearman that pranged on the runway at Reagan National on Tuesday felt. You can hardly open a car door (or untie an airplane) without a camera catching you in the act. In the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli reminds us all to wear our best flight jackets and the underwear with no holes: We're gonna be on TV! Click here to read the blog and join the conversation. More...

AVIATION CONSUMER REVIEWS THE IPAD — WARTS AND ALL
Could it really be? Is the iPad the ultimate cockpit EFB (electronic flight bag) that we've all been waiting for? Find out in this review by AVweb and Aviation Consumer's Paul Bertorelli. It has potential — so much potential ... . More...

15 YEARS AND NOW 15 GRAND GIVEAWAYS ... IT'S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN AN AV8OR HANDHELD GPS

Win an AV8OR handheld GPS (from Bendix/King by Honeywell) as we celebrate our 15th Anniversary! All you have to do is click here to enter your name and e-mail address. (You only have to enter once, and you'll be entered in our prize drawings for the entire year — so if you've already entered, you're all set.)

And no, we're not going to rent or sell your name, ever. Tell your friends, and invite them to sign up for AVweb so they can qualify for our 15 Grand Giveaways prize drawings, too. (We won't spam them, either — but we hope they will sign up for our newsletters.)

Deadline for entries is 11:59pm Zulu time June 18, 2010.

Click here to read the contest rules and enter.

Congratulations to William R. Smith of Madison, Connecticut, who won a King Schools Get-It-All Pilot Training Kit in our last drawing! (click here to get your own from King Schools)

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 200,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

WHO'S WHERE? YOU TELL US
Get a promotion or a new job? Your colleagues want to know about it, and AVwebBiz can get the word out. Drop us a line about the staff appointment, with a nice recent photo, and we'll do our best to include it in our new section, "Who's Where." The items will be permanently archived on AVweb for future reference, too. More...

MEET THE AVWEBBIZ TEAM

AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.

The AVwebBiz team is:

Publisher
Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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