DOT: ADS-B TO LAUNCH IN GULF IN DECEMBER
NextGen satellite technology will go online in the Gulf of Mexico in December, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a news conference on Monday. The ADS-B system will cover 240,000 square miles. Helicopters that provide services to more than 9,000 oil rigs in the Gulf now must operate VFR only when they fly more than 150 miles offshore, beyond the reach of radar services, said LaHood. The NextGen system will enable them to fly IFR. Aircraft flying from Florida to South America also will benefit, he said. Air traffic controllers now must allow a 100-mile buffer for each aircraft crossing the Gulf on an IFR flight plan. The ADS-B system will make that unnecessary, allowing for less hold time between takeoffs. In an update on Tuesday, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said, "NextGen is a success story waiting to happen." The FAA is ready to commit to "giving it the juice it needs," he said, adding that he has the support of LaHood and President Barack Obama. "They want this up and running, and they are fully supportive. The green light can't get any greener than that." More...

REPAIR STATION SNAG MAY DELAY FAA REAUTHORIZATION
It's been a couple of years since the FAA had an actual financial mandate, and reauthorization of the agency may be delayed again over an international spat about repair station inspections. The House has passed its version of FAA reauthorization but it contains a prickly clause that would require FAA inspections of foreign repair stations. The European Union says a bilateral agreement on repair station inspections should cover both sides of the pond and if that version of the bill prevails, it will respond in kind, meaning a lot of trans-Atlantic flights by inspectors when the two have already agreed that their standards are consistent. "We negotiated for several years in good faith with FAA," Luisa Ragher, head of transport-energy and environment for the European Commission's Washington delegation, told ATW Online. "We trust the FAA. FAA trusts us." More...

USED G-III BECOMES HIGH-TECH TEST BED
There is life for used business jets, although not many will enjoy the fate of a G-III that Lockheed Martin recently had renovated. The aircraft is now known as the Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory and it will be used to test the myriad of sensors, detectors and whatever else the company is developing to help U.S. military aircraft do their jobs better. "We've designed the AML so that we can easily test a myriad of sensors to advance the science and art of correlating diverse types of intelligence – with the goal of rapidly providing high-quality data," said Jim Quinn, Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services-Defense's vice president of C4ISR Systems. The aircraft was signed off by the FAA a couple of weeks ago and is undergoing tests. LockMart subcontracted the construction (complete with mysterious-looking belly pod) to the IKHANA Group Inc. More...

PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD GOES TO CORPORATE ANGEL NETWORK
The Corporate Angel Network was honored for "outstanding achievement in public benefit flying" at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., last week. The award was presented by the National Aeronautic Association in partnership with the Air Care Alliance. The Network was recognized for its work in finding empty seats on corporate aircraft to transport cancer patients to treatment centers nationwide. The program, which began in 1981, now has more than 500 corporate participants who contribute 3,000 flights per year. Awards also went to Mack Secord, who has volunteered for more than 23 years with Angel Flight of Georgia, and Robert Munley, one of the founders of Wings of Mercy, in Michigan.

The Public Benefit Flying Awards were created to honor volunteer pilots, other volunteers, and their organizations engaged in flying to help others, and those supporting such work. Since 2003 dozens of awards have been presented at the Above and Beyond Awards Ceremony, held each fall in the U.S. Capitol Building. To nominate someone for a 2010 Public Benefit Flying Award, go to the NAA site or the ACA site. More...

40 YEARS OF CITATIONS
Has it really been 40 years? The prototype of the most successful family of business jets (number-wise), the Cessna Citation, first flew exactly 40 years ago Tuesday. Milt Sills and co-pilot J.L. LeSueur took the first Citation on a 105-minute hop and started a revolution in the business jet market that led to a myriad of innovations and made the Citation line of business aircraft the largest fleet in the world. More than 6,000 have been built, there are seven models (from the Mustang to the Citation X) in production and the CJ-4 is nearing certification. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: "BANG, BANG"
Being first to break a story isn't always the best way to be first in service to your audience. AVweb's Glenn Pew reflects on the pressures that led a major and respected news outlet like CNN to misreport a training exercise as potential terrorist activity on the anniversary of the World Trade Center attack. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: THE VICTOR DUSTUP
Whether the takeoff of a cold-war era Victor bomber was an accident or not, it seems to AVweb's Paul Bertorelli that such a thing ought to be avoidable. And blaming it on the co-pilot is ... tacky. Read Paul's comments (and add your own) at the AVweb Insider blog. More...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: VICTOR BOMBER TAKE-OFF — HERO OR HOAX?
At an air show, an old Handley Page Victor bomber was supposed to do a taxiby photo op. Instead, it took off. The explanation? The co-pilot accidentally firewalled the throttles. Really? You be the judge. More...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: AVRO LANCASTER BOMBER TOUR
With only two left flying, the Avro Lancaster is among the rarest of the rare of World War II aircraft. AVweb recently toured one when it appeared at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. More...

WOODS AT GREAT LAKES DIAMOND AIRCRAFT SALES

Mark Woods

Mark Woods has joined Great Lakes Diamond Aircraft Sales in charge of sales for Illinois, northern Indiana and Michigan. He previously worked for another Diamond dealer. 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...

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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