PIPER MOTHBALLS JET PROJECT
Piper Aircraft announced on Monday it is "indefinitely suspending" further work on its Altaire single-engine business jet and will cut more than 200 jobs at its plant in Vero Beach, Fla. The news was not unexpected, coming just a week after the company appointed a new interim CEO and said it would "review" the program. Piper's news release on Monday said planned development costs had "risen above the point that were recoverable under foreseeable light-jet market projections." The deposits of Altaire position holders will be refunded, the company said. More...

MICA SAYS FAA FUNDING DEAL POSSIBLE
A leading lawmaker says he thinks long-term reauthorization of the FAA is possible before the current interim funding package expires Jan. 31. Rep. John Mica, R-FLa., the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, says he thinks a four-year deal is possible by the end of the year. But even though the FAA has been without a proper reauthorization package since 2007, Washington observers are terming Mica's plan "optimistic" because of the politics involved. Mica himself hinted at turning down the temperature on the dispute over subsidizing air service to isolated communities, an issue at least partly to blame for the impasse that caused a partial shutdown of the agency in July. More...

HOUSE REJECTS EU AVIATION TAX
Representatives from both parties in Washington agreed on something this week -- the European Union shouldn't be allowed to unilaterally impose a carbon tax on aircraft flying there from the U.S. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that prohibits all U.S. airlines and general aviation operators from taking part in such a scheme, NBAA said. "Global aviation standards are overseen by the International Civil Aviation Organization," said NBAA President Ed Bolen, "and any new standards should be decided by ICAO." The EU, however, said it intends to enforce its carbon rules, despite the U.S. opposition. More...

DREAMLINER BREAK-EVEN PEGGED AT 1100
Boeing will lift the curtain a little today on the financial aspects of its 787 program, but that didn't stop pundits from predicting what it will take to make the world's most expensive civilian aircraft development program make money. Rather than make its own prediction, Bloomberg tallied up the crystal balling of 18 analysts, averaged them and came up with Boeing's making its first buck on Dreamliner No. 1101. The magic number was undoubtedly much lower than that when Boeing embarked on the 787 program but a series of problems compounded to create a three-year launch delay. The first Dreamliner was delivered to ANA last month and was due to enter service today. The company has about 800 firm orders for the mostly plastic jet and based on previous programs should therefore have no trouble hitting the black. More...

MTSU FLEET RAVAGED BY HAIL (REVISED)

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A hail event at Murfreesboro Municipal Airport may have damaged up to 17 of 20 Diamond trainers operated by Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and left the school's entire fleet grounded, temporarily putting a stop to flight instruction for hundreds of students. MTSU has roughly 400 students studying in its professional pilot concentrations and it operates one of the largest fleets of Diamond trainers in the country. Diamond is sending experts from Canada to inspect potentially hidden (and apparent) physical damage to the Diamonds' composite skins. Dr. Wayne Dornan, Chairman of the school's Aerospace Department, told AVweb Thursday that the DA-40s operated by MTSU carry glass cockpits, some with synthetic vision, and cost roughly $365,000 each, new. MTSU also has five Piper Seminoles and they were also damaged. MTSU's aircraft weren't the only ones to suffer. The airport was hosting a regional competition and aircraft from other schools were also damaged. More...

MEXICO GETS PART OF GLOBAL 7000/8000 WORK
Bombardier has announced that major components of its flagship Global 7000 and 8000 business jets will be built in its Queretaro, Mexico plant. The company said Tuesday that the rear fuselages of the large long-range jets will be built in Queretaro. The decision was expected since the aft fuselages of Global 5000 and 6000 models are also built at the Mexico plant. Final assembly for the Global 7000 and 8000 will be done at Bombardier's Downsview plant in Toronto and interiors will be finished at the company's completion center in Dorval, just outside Montreal. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: FLIGHT 447 -- RELEASED TRANSCRIPTS PUT AIR FRANCE IN THE HOT SEAT
The transcript reveals confusion and dithering in the cockpit as the crew appears to have held the airplane into a persistent stall for three minutes or longer. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli predicts that Air France will have some explaining do to show why its pilots couldn't fly the airplane on raw data well enough to recover a stall. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: SIR RICHARD GOES A-GREENWASHIN'
That's the upshot of Richard Branson's announcement last week that his Virgin Atlantic airline will be testing out and maybe using a synthetic jet fuel made from steel plant effluent. As much as we cheer the idea, we're less thrilled with his statement that we're running out of oil. In his latest post to the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli stresses that, to remain credible, opinion leaders should stop saying things like this. Read more and join the conversation. 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...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 255,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

VIDEO: DRE'S NEW PORTABLE INTERCOM
Most portable intercoms barely meet the mark for basic cabin chatter. DRE's newest unit may be a bit big, but it performs like a certified panel-mount system. More...

VIDEO: AA JACKSON HOLE OVERRUN TRANSCRIPT RELEASED
Video appeared to show that the thrust reversers of American Airlines Flight 2253 were slow to deploy before the 757-200 slid off the runway at Jackson Hole Wyoming last December -- now we know the crew thought so, too. The NTSB Friday released a transcript of the flight's cockpit voice recorder. The airliner had touched down safely under a 1,000 foot overcast with a broken layer at 400 and 3/4 mile visibility in light snow. At the moment the wheels touched, the flight's captain said "very good." Twenty-seven seconds later, the first officer (who had flown the landing) expressed his opinion of how events had developed since then by stating, "we're screwed." He then told the tower why: "and American ah twenty two fifty three is goin' off the end of the runway." 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

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Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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