ECLIPSE OWNER MAKES BID FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
As the Eclipse community waits for court date for the Chapter 7 liquidation of the company, a Louisiana company has filed a motion with the bankruptcy court that could turn the whole process upside down. Gray Oil and Gas Company and Gray and Company Inc, which owns two Eclipse 500s, has filed a motion with the court to compel the bankruptcy trustee to turn over access to the source codes and fundamental building blocks of the highly proprietary computerized aircraft systems. The technology was developed at great expense by Eclipse and is considered fundamental to the operation of the aircraft and that, said a Gray's spokesman who asked not to be identified, is the whole point. "The desire is to divorce the existing owners from a potentially hostile intellectual property owner" who might use the exclusive rights to the software to compel existing owners to pay high prices for needed repairs and upgrades. More...

FIRST-QUARTER BLOODBATHS EXPECTED
Analysts are lining up to paint a truly ugly picture of the first-quarter results that major business aviation firms will post this week. In its analysis, Bloomberg is predicting 2010 deliveries will sink to lows not seen since the post-9/11 slump. It says the analysts it has reviewed are predicting that Cessna's earnings may fall 90 percent and companies like Dassault, Bombardier and Gulfstream maker General Dynamics will report earnings levels not seen since 2003. But while the general economy is certainly the main driver of the downturn the lingering curse of the Big Three automakers' bailout flights continues to have an impact. More...

GLASS PANELS FOR LEGACY CITATIONS
That glass-paneled Citation that legacy Citation owners may be dreaming of could be their existing mounts. Innovative Solutions and Support Inc. announced this week that the first Citation V retrofitted with the AdViz Flat Panel Display System was test flown three weeks ago and exceeded expectations. ISS was picked by Cessna to develop the new panel which will be offered as a retrofit for steam guage Citation 500 through 650 models. "The crisp symbology and clarity of the displays, along with additional navigation aids, will enhance situational awareness in flight," Cessna test pilot Rick Trissell said after the 90-minute flight. More...

FAA BACKS OFF PROPOSAL TO KEEP BIRD-STRIKE DATA SECRET
The FAA said last week that it has decided not to proceed with a proposal that would have designated bird-strike information in the FAA's National Wildlife Aircraft Hazard Database as "protected from public disclosure." The agency said it made the proposal in March "to encourage persons to provide the information to the FAA," citing concerns that information might not be submitted "because of fear that the disclosure of raw data could unfairly cast unfounded aspersion on the submitter." The FAA changed course after reviewing 47 comments from the public, the majority of which were not in favor of secrecy. The FAA said it has determined that releasing the data will not jeopardize aviation safety. The Wildlife Aircraft Strike Web site will be modified "to make the database available to all users consistent with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Agency policy," the FAA said. The news prompted a flurry of reports in the mainstream press, many citing statistics from the "newly available database" -- in fact, much of the wildlife-strike data has been publicly available since the information was first collected in 1990, but the FAA's decision now allows users to access all the details of each report. A small amount of data, such as personal phone numbers, will be blocked out. City papers around the country checked the data on their local airports. Many of the stories cite a dramatic growth in the number of bird strikes, but since the reports are voluntary, it's not clear if the rising numbers reflect more bird strikes or if the strikes are being reported more frequently -- the FAA estimates that it hears of only about one in five strikes. The NTSB has asked the FAA since 1999 to make the reports mandatory, but so far the agency has declined to do so. More...

U.S. REPS FORM GENERAL AVIATION CAUCUS
When it comes to dealing with Washington, general aviation needs all the help it can get, and some support appeared recently when two congressmen formed a General Aviation Caucus. Representatives Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., and Allen Boyd, D-Fla., joined together as co-chairs to help inform other members of Congress and the administration about the value of GA to the nation's economy and transportation system. Congressman Boyd, who is a pilot, says he knows firsthand how important GA is to rural communities like the farming region in northern Florida that he represents. "This campaign is an important tool for raising public awareness of general aviation, and I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to keep general aviation strong," he said. The two representatives have invited their colleagues to join the caucus, noting that the GA industry is one of the few U.S. industries that maintains a positive foreign-trade balance, and it contributes more than $150 billion to the U.S. economy each year and 1.3 million jobs. The two also expressed support for AOPA's GA Serves America campaign. The National Business Aviation Association was quick to respond to the announcement with lots of encouragement. "NBAA and the business aviation community thank Representatives Ehlers and Boyd for spearheading the caucus, and promoting the value of all general aviation, including business aviation," said NBAA CEO Ed Bolen. More...

AIR FORCE ONE PLANE SETS OFF NEW YORK PANIC
U.S. President Barack Obama is said to be furious over the Air Forces decision to fly one of the presidential Boeing 747s over Manhattan on a Monday morning with an F-16 in trail. That would appear to be the lone saving grace from a photo mission that sent New York into a state of panic and left New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wondering how something like this could be done without his, and the rest of the city's, knowledge. Now, it's not that the Air Force didn't tell anyone about the flight, which happened on a sunny morning about 10 a.m. The Air Force told the New York Police Department but added that it couldn't release the time and nature of the flight to the public and media, no doubt out of security concerns. Mayor Bloomberg was quite naturally upset. "Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies the imagination," Bloomberg said. "Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase it. ... Had I known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to." The FAA apparently told a Bloomberg staffer who didn't pass along the message. More...

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

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: NEW YORK TO WHITE HOUSE — ARE YOU %$#&*^& NUTS?
In the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli asks the same questions you've been thinking: "Who's in charge at the White House? What idiot authorized the New York flyover of Air Force One?" More...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: MARTIN JETPACK SHOWS IMPROVED CONTROLLABILITY
At last year's AirVenture, the Martin Jetpack was easily the most anticipated and hyped product. But the sort-of jetpack only sort of flew, with spotters keeping a close eye on it. Martin has shown the vehicle will fly without external assistance in this latest video, but as AVweb Video Editor Glenn Pew explains, the latest demonstration may not answer all those questions from Oshkosh. More...

BROWN NEW BYE ENERGY PRESIDENT

John W. Brown

John W. Brown has been named president of Bye Energy Inc. Brown is founder of Sandia Capital Partners LLC.
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COWAN JOINS UNIVERSAL AVIONICS

Matt Cowan

Matt Cowan has taken over the newly-created position of U.S. Southeast Region Marketing Manager for Universal Avionics. Cowan held sales positions at Cirrus Aircraft and Avidyne before coming to Universal.
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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...

AVIATION CONSUMER'S ASPEN AVIONICS SURVEY
Have you installed an Aspen Avionics PFD/MFD? Our sister magazine, Aviation Consumer, wants to talk to you about the experience and your satisfaction with the system. Please take a moment to fill out this survey and share your experience with other potential buyers.(The results will appear in a future issue of Aviation Consumer. For subscription information, click here.) 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...

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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.

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Paul Bertorelli

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