LASP HEARINGS START NEXT WEEK
New rules proposed by the Transportation Security Administration would affect only the operators of large aircraft -- over 12,500 pounds -- but the general aviation community, representing pilots of aircraft of all sizes, is united in opposition to the plan. Public hearings on the Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) begin next week, Friday, Jan. 6, at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. In a briefing paper, EAA said that it "strongly encourages" everyone involved in recreational, personal and business aviation to participate in the TSA public hearings. EAA is concerned that the proposal would infringe "on the freedom of movement by private U.S. citizens and their family, friends, and business associates in their own personal or business-use aircraft." Ed Bolen, CEO and president of the National Business Aviation Association, plans to be in White Plains to testify. NBAA has posted a list of concerns with the proposal, which includes a TSA checklist of 80 items that would be prohibited from the cabin, a requirement for private aircraft to carry federal air marshals on demand, and fees for required "security audits." Anyone who wishes to provide oral testimony can attend the New York hearing, which begins at 9 a.m., with registration starting at 8. For more information about the hearings, click here for the complete TSA official notice. Other public meetings are scheduled for Jan. 8 in Atlanta, Ga.; Jan. 16 in Chicago; Jan. 23 in Burbank, Calif.; and Jan. 28 in Houston, Texas. More...

NBAA COUNTERS NTSB ICING ALERT
The NTSB recently issued a Safety Alert advising pilots that the procedures they have been taught regarding the use of de-icing boots may not be safe, but the National Business Aviation Association said this week that operators "should continue to base their decisions about de-icing on their experience and judgment." The NTSB alert said that pilots shouldn't wait "for a prescribed accumulation of leading-edge ice before activating the de-ice boots because of the believed threat of ice bridging." Ice bridging has never been implicated as the cause of an accident, and is extremely rare, and may not exist at all, the NTSB said, and delaying the use of the boots has been noted in "numerous incidents and accidents." NBAA said it believes "proving the existence of ice bridging after an accident is difficult, and many documented cases resulted in successful outcomes due to the skill and professionalism of the flight crew." Misuse of the de-icing boots was cited as a factor in the NTSB report on the crash of a Cessna Citation 560 in Pueblo, Colo., in February 2005, in which all eight people on board were killed. At that time, the NTSB asked the FAA to require all manufacturers and operators of airplanes equipped with pneumatic leading-edge de-ice boots to revise their manuals and training programs to emphasize that the boots should be activated as soon as the airplane enters icing conditions. More...

BIZJET PERCEPTION, REALITY
The argument for business jets as essential tools for business may see some conflict in tight economic times as businesses seeking to control costs are selling their jets and corporate jet brokers watch their inventories soar. Where manufacturers recently had waiting lists of people seeking positions on non-resaleable deposit lists the trend has now reversed. Citigroup, Time Warner, Alcatel-Lucent, and of course, GM and Ford are among those companies that have allowed leases to expire or put jets up for sale. "The jet market stinks," Richard Santulli, chief executive of Warren Buffett's NetJets, told The New York Times Thursday. Recent months have seen the global market, which some industry optimists had hoped would help carry manufacturers through difficult times, fall into a worldwide slump. The fall of the Indian and Russian stock market, a slowing economy in the Middle East, and fears of a depression brewing in the United States have had a substantial negative impact on sales -- as has a strengthening U.S. dollar. Unfortunately, when a company drops a jet lease, or sells a jet it previously operated, that effort to control costs doesn't just dump an expensive asset, but also the workers hired to maintain it. In GM's case, closing its air transportation services unit cost the company another 49 jobs. Flight Options, which sells jet shares, has laid off 104 pilots. Even within the bizjet segment, there are particular aircraft lines that are suffering more than others. More...

GULFSTREAM EXPANDS "CAUTIOUSLY"
Gulfstream says it will continue with expansion plans at its facilities despite the market downturn and PR problems in the industry. Company spokesman Robert Baugniet told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that Gulfstream has been affected by the downturn and that's in turn affected the company's approach to expansion. "We're still hiring people but we're doing it carefully," Baugniet said. The company had an ambitious year in 2008, completing a new manufacturing plant and a research facility at its Savannah headquarters and launching two new models, the big G650 intercontinental jet (view video here) and the midsized G250. More...

ECLIPSE AUCTION JAN. 14
Rumors that other bidders will try to assume control of Eclipse Aviation will either be verified or put to rest Jan. 14 when a Maryland bankruptcy court holds an auction for the assets of the company. Eclipse filed for Chapter 11 protection on Nov. 25 and a Luxembourg subsidiary of ETIRC Aviation, which is headed by Eclipse's Chairman of the Board Roel Pieper, has let it be known it wants to buy the company for $198 million. According to an Associated Press Report carried by Business Week, other potential suitors will have until Jan. 13 to get their bids in. More...

FUEL PRICE REBATES GIVEN TO ATP STUDENTS
It's easy to get cynical about high fuel prices, especially when the price of aviation fuel hasn't dropped like that of auto fuels. But the flight school Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) is relieving some of that frustration among its students by dropping prices for new enrollments and giving rebates of up to $2,500 to students who signed up last summer when fuel prices topped $6 a gallon. "ATP is the only flight training company to pass cash rebates on to their students due to the recent fuel cost savings," said Jim Koziarski, ATP's Vice President of Flight Operations. More...

BONUS VIDEO! AVIATION SAFETY PROFILES THE GARMIN 696'S TOP SAFETY FEATURES
By now, you've seen and heard a lot about Garmin's new GPSMap 696 GPS device. In this video, Jeb Burnside, Editor-in-Chief of Aviation Safety magazine, walks you through four key safety features of the 696. (Click through to watch.) More...

BONUS VIDEO! IFR MAGAZINE GOES INSIDE THE TOWER AT JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
IFR magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeff Van West spent time in the Tower at Kennedy airport to see what it takes to run the operation during the evening push and why it takes two years for a controller to reach full qualification at one of the busiest airports in the Northeast. More...

Columns | Features | What's New | Calendar | Brainteasers

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: PATTY WAGSTAFF, BOOZE AND FLYING
Patty Wagstaff's official statement on the embarrassing incident at an Oshkosh runway this past summer has sparked a lot of reaction among our readers. AVweb Editor-in-Chief Russ Niles has been reading the mail, and while your comments are harsh, they're mostly fair. In the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, Russ doubts that Patty Wagstaff will ever make such a faux pas again. More...

JA AIR CENTER OPENS AT CHICAGOLANDS

JA Air Center

The year ended on a positive note for JA Air Center with the opening of their new FBO at Chicagolands Aurora Airport (KARR). The facility includes a canopy large enough for large-cabin business jets to park under while deplaning passengers. 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 200,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

ATTENTION, POWER FLOW CUSTOMERS: AVIATION CONSUMER WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Have you installed a Power Flow Exhaust on your airplane? Our sister publication, Aviation Consumer magazine, is conducting a survey on Power Flow exhausts and would like to learn about your experiences with their products.

Send a note to aviation_safety@hotmail.com to share your experiences. We're particularly interested in your opinions on the exhaust system's price and performance, its ease of installation, before and after performance measurements, fuel flow, whether you'd purchase the system again and any other comments you'd care to share. Please include information on your airplane (make/model/year) and its engine (e.g., Lycoming O-360).

(The results will appear in a future issue of Aviation Consumer. For subscription information, click here.)

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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