SJ30 MAKING A COMEBACK
The surprise appearance of one of two production Sino Swearingen SJ30 aircraft at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition last month prompted plenty of speculation on the future of the speedy bizjet, and the plans to resume production were confirmed earlier this week. Action Aviation took over the development of the aircraft a couple of years ago and announced on Monday that it now has a deal with Dubai-based Emirates Investment and Development PSC to buy 80 percent of the company and get the plane back in production. More...

GULFSTREAM BOOSTS G150/200 PRODUCTION
Gulfstream has announced a deal with Israeli Aircraft Industries to boost production of its smaller G200 and G150 aircraft. Gulfstream President Joe Lombardo told a news conference in Israel last week that the Israeli company will make at least 70 jets this year, up from 58 in 2007 and almost three times the production in 2006. "Rising fuel prices don't seem to be impacting our sales," Lombardo told reporters at IAI's headquarters at Ben-Gurion Airport. "Demand remains high. Furthermore, the dollar's decline signifies higher sales to our international customers." More...

CAE BUYS SABENA FLIGHT ACADEMY
CAE is expanding its ab initio training capability with the acquisition of Sabena Flight Academy. In a news release, the company said the acquisition will also add new type-rating training programs in Europe. "This strategic bolt-on acquisition is another step towards developing our training network in order to better address the global pilot shortage," said Jeff Roberts, who's in charge of CAE's civil training operations. The company already operates CAE Global Academy and combining the operation will enable it to graduate 1,400 cadets annually. More...

EBACE ORDERS BUOY AERION
Aerion says it took $1 billion in orders for its supersonic business jet at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) last month in Geneva. Since the aircraft sells for about $80 million, that means the company took $250,000 refundable deposits for at least a dozen of the Mach 1.6 aircraft and the total order book stands at more than 50, or about $4 billion. "There is no question at this point that a strong market for this aircraft exists," Vice Chairman Brian Barents said in a news release. More...

NEXTGEN COMES TO FLORIDA VIA DAYJET
DayJet, which operates an on-demand charter fleet of Eclipse VLJs, said on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to work with the FAA and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to deploy NextGen technologies throughout the state of Florida over the next five years. The project will serve as a proving ground for the technology, to develop procedures and wring out any problems, and it will help smooth the way for nationwide deployment over the next 15 years. The FAA's Hank Krakowski, the head of the Air Traffic Organization, said at AOPA's fly-in last weekend that as a pilot himself, he will keep the needs of GA pilots in mind as the NextGen system evolves. NextGen will create more access to airspace, more options for pilots, and increased efficiency, he said: "That's the promise of the new technologies." More...

AIRSHARES ELITE ACQUIRES IFLY
A couple of pioneers in the piston fractional market have merged and the winner appears to be Cirrus Design. AirShares Elite, which runs a fleet of "professionally managed" Cirrus SR22 G3 Turbos, has taken over iFly, "the world's first exclusive aero club," in a deal that will result in iFly members, presumably including spokesman Erik Lindbergh, making the transition from the Cessna 350s they now fly to the Cirrus. More...

VIRGIN CHARTER PROMOTES BRIAN POPE

Brian Pope

Virgin Charter has announced that Brian Pope has been promoted to chief operating officer from chief marketing officer. Prior to joining Virgin Charter, Pope was with IMG Consulting and Universal Studios. 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...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: B-2 SPIRIT STEALTH BOMBER CRASH TECHNICAL REPORT
The crash on takeoff of a 509th Air Wing, Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber, February 23 operating at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, was caused by water in the aircraft's sensors, according to an Air Combat report issued Thursday. Specifically, moisture in three port transducer units "distorted data introduced by a B-2 Spirit's air data system" which led to flawed information entering the bomber's flight control computers. The aircraft was reacting to inaccurate airspeed and a "perceived" negative angle of attack. This resulted in an "uncommanded 30 degree nose-high pitch-up on takeoff," according to the Air Force. (Click through to watch our video crash report.) More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: RECALLING THE BIG ONE (NOT WW II, THE GREAT LEANING WAR)
As the editor of Aviation Consumer, Paul Bertorelli gets to handle a lot of top-notch kit — some of it so good that he has a hard time imagining why the rest of the world hasn't embraced it. Case in point: With avgas more than $5 a gallon for most, why aren't more people running lean of peak? "If you could run your car the same way you run your airplane lean, you could increase fuel economy by about 20 percent. Who wouldn't do that?" wonders Paul on our AVweb Insider blog. More...

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...

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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