September 28, 2011

By The AVweb Editorial Staff

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The Citation M2 is said to bridge the gap between the $3 million Mustang entry-level jet and the $7 million CJ series and it will compete directly with the Embraer Phenom 100, offering a little more range and speed. Cessna is putting the M2 on the market at $4.195 million, about $500,000 more than the Phenom 100. "Operator feedback and owner insight have indicated a market for a Citation with the size, speed and range of the Citation M2. We expect to see customers new to the Citation family, Mustang owners looking for a logical next step or CJ1+ operators who want a new, more advanced Citation," said Scott Ernest, Cessna president and CEO. What that $4.2 million gets you is what appears to be a four-passenger aircraft that Cessna says can seat "up to six passengers" with two crew, 1,300 nm range, a 400-knot cruise and 41,000 feet. It's powered by Williams FJ-44 1AP-21 engines that offer improved range over earlier models. Cockpit is based on the Garmin G3000 with whopping 14-inch PFD and MFD displays and infrared touch-screen controls. Cessna will have a mock-up on display at NBAA 2011 in Las Vegas later this month. Click for photos. There's Nothing Light About This Jet Meet the latest and greatest member of the world's most successful family of light jets, the Citation CJ4. It delivers more speed and greater range while retaining the pilot-friendly — and single-pilot-certified — operations of the CJ family. The CJ4's cabin is larger, more comfortable, and outfitted with new entertainment and communication systems. All this equals an aircraft that is flexible enough to meet the requirements of many mid-sized aircraft at light jet costs, plus the service reputation of Cessna to back up your decision. It's what every light jet aspires to be. Visit Cessna.com. China Adjusts to GA back to top  AOPA China Summit: An Earful For Government Parallel to AOPA Summit in Hartford last week, AOPA China held its own first summit in Beijing last week. More than 400 people attended the two-day event. This year's AOPA China Summit was in the form of convention and focused on the mission of providing prime opportunities for dialogues and networking among the Chinese government, general aviation organizations and industry members worldwide. Officials from Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB), Beijing City Government as well as a number of provincial governments joined the convention and heard a straightforward message from Feng Zhang, Deputy Director General of AOPA China. "The nation's airspace is a public domain." Zhang said in his speech, "Therefore our government should relax its control to allow the general public access to their own sky. It is the authorities' duty to assist the people with better utilizing our airspace by introducing favorable regulations, building infrastructure and reducing taxes on aircraft purchases, etc." John Sheehan, IAOPA's Secretary General, said he was impressed by Zhang's direct and blunt public message. Mr. Wei Dai, Deputy Secretary General of the Beijing City Government, revealed the city's comprehensive plan to develop GA in the next five to ten years. He anticipated the city's GA industry to reach a scale of $50 billion U.S. dollars within that time frame. A series of private meetings were held for key individuals. The Deputy Mayor of Ordos, Inner Mongolia expressed their city's strong interest in general aviation to Sheehan during one such meetings. Officials from CAAC's Flight Standard Office commented to Mr. Sheehan that they would like to learn and borrow from western experience to assist the government's GA planning. They also stated that CAAC needed AOPA China as a strategic partner for every step of the nation's GA development. Networking Opportunity in the Heart of the Caribbean This is a new networking opportunity in the heart of the Caribbean. Explore a variety of issues such as reasons for registering an aircraft offshore; the legal system in Aruba, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Isle of Man; the process of registering an aircraft; protection of third-party interests; aircraft surveys; inspection of maintenance facilities; air safety regulatory issues; air navigation services regulatory issues; and commercial affairs regulatory issues. Click here to learn more and register. The New User Fee Battle back to top  White House Petition: No GA User Fees Kevin Mossey, a private pilot living in Marion, Iowa, has posted a petition on the White House website asking the Obama administration to "take aviation user fees off the table." Last week's proposal to charge $100 per flight for some general aviation operations is too complex, according to Mossey. "We should be working to simplify the tax codes," he wrote. "A tax on fuel more accurately reflects the ATC services used." As of Tuesday, the petition had attracted over 2,600 online signatures. If the petition logs 5,000 signatures by October 23, it will be reviewed by the White House for an official response. Last week's user-fee proposal was part of a deficit-reduction plan. GA advocacy groups quickly expressed "unified opposition." The proposal exempts military aircraft, recreational piston aircraft, air ambulances, aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace, aircraft operated by the federal government, and Canada-to-Canada flights. The revenues generated by the surcharge would be deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to help pay the costs of maintaining the country's airports and the air-traffic-control system. The fee would generate an estimated $11 billion over 10 years, according to the proposal. JA Air Center — When It Comes to Garmin Avionics, Go with a Name You Can Trust! Since 1965, pilots have trusted the avionics experts at JA Air Center. Whether you're looking for ship-in repair, custom installation, or a mail order purchase, no one knows avionics better than JA Air Center. Call (800) 323-5966 or click here. BUY, SELL, or TRADE your avionics and GPS equipment at JA Air Center Judges to Hear Privacy/Transparency Arguments back to top  Court Date Set For BARR Dispute On December 2, a federal court will hear AOPA and NBAA argue in support of their position that airplane operators should have the option to keep their flight data private. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will preside over the case. AOPA and NBAA said on Tuesday they hope to convince the court to overturn changes to the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program that were imposed earlier this year, which make it harder for operators to block their flight info on public websites. "We look forward to explaining to the Court of Appeals why the government's move to severely limit the BARR program represents an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of aircraft owners and operators, a threat to the competitiveness of U.S. companies and a potential security risk to the persons aboard aircraft," said NBAA President Ed Bolen. "We are pleased that the general aviation community will soon have its day in court." The BARR program used to block flight info for anyone who asked, but faced with a Freedom of Information request, the government has taken the position that only a serious security concern can justify keeping the data out of the public domain. Trade Up to the Lightspeed Aviation Zulu Ranked #1 in Professional Pilot magazine's Annual Headset Preference Survey, Lightspeed Aviation is offering you a chance to trade up to Zulu. Setting the standard for all ANR headsets, Lightspeed Zulu features Full-Function Bluetooth™ connectivity, enhanced communications, a distinctive look, and unparalleled comfort. Visit LightspeedAviation.com, learn the value of your headset, and trade up to Zulu. Opinion & Commentary back to top  AVweb Insider Blog: How Old Is Too Old? Jimmy Leeward's tragic P-51 crash at Reno last week raised the emotional issue of age and piloting abilities. We might not like to hear it asked, but it's a fair question even if the pilot's age had no bearing on the accident. There's no easy answer, either, other than to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli shares some reflections of his own. Read more and join the conversation. AVweb Insider Blog: ARC Committee -- Progress, Yes; Clarity, No The FAA's ARC Committee gave a briefing of sorts at AOPA Summit in Hartford, Connecticut last week. It dealt mostly with process and little with substance. In his latest post to the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli again argues for a more transparent process. Read more and join the conversation. AVweb Insider Blog: Air Show Crashes -- An Outsider View In the aviation biz, we like air shows because they promote the industry -- but after a season of bad crashes, have we actually gone backwards in terms of public image? How are non-aviation people impacted by witnessing a crash? We decided to ask. Chloe Barkdoll was present when a T-28 Trojan crashed at Martinsburg Air Show in West Virgina on September 17; she shares her reactions in a guest post to the AVweb Insider blog. Read more and join the conversation. Fly Your First Year at No Cost to You Purchase a new Diamond DA20 or DA40 between September 1 and October 31, 2011 and receive maintenance, insurance, fuel and training incentives offered by Diamond dealers towards your first year of operation. Click for details. Who's Where back to top  McClellan Promoted at EAA J. Mac McClellan J. Mac McClellan has been named the director of publications for EAA. He was contributing to the publications for the previous year after a long career as editor-in-chief of Flying magazine. 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. Mobile FliteDeck: A Paperless En Route Charting Revolution for Your iPad® Aviation is transformed with the first interactive mobile en route flight application. With Mobile FliteDeck and a Jeppesen electronic chart subscription, you'll benefit from immediate access to accurate information, improved situational and operational awareness, and a more streamlined flight process. The app's features include en route chart data and Airway Manual® text, class-leading vector map imaging, and data-driven IFR and VFR terminal charts. Watch a view overview. The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is You! back to top  Survey: How's That Factory Engine Working for You? Our sister publication, Aviation Consumer, would like to know. We're doing a survey on owner experiences with factory-new, factory-reman and factory-overhauled engines. (No field overhauls this time.) The survey will take about five minutes, and you can take it merely by cliking this link. 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. You're a part of our team ... often, the best part. Fly More for Less Visit the AVbuys page for discounts, rebates, incentives, bargains, special offers, bonus depreciation, or tax benefits to help stretch your budget. We're helping you to locate and view current offers instantly, with a direct link to sponsors' web sites for details. Click for the resource page. AOPA Summit Recap back to top  AOPA Summit 2011: Complete Coverage Round-Up Click here for all our news stories from the AOPA Summit — both for 2011 and previous years. And our AVwebAudio newsletter has the complete run-down of this year's multimedia coverage: Podcasts Videos Daily E-Mail Coverage Want to get AVwebAudio in your inbox every Friday? Just log in to AVweb (or create a free account in the upper right corner of this page) and visit AVweb.com/profile. Choose "Update E-mail Subscriptions" in the profile center, and from there, you can add or drop any AVweb newsletters. How to Own an Airplane Available from AVweb Bookstore. Here are some good ideas on how to afford and own an airplane, including checklists, sample contracts and agreements, your rights and responsibilities, simplified FAA and tax rules, and lots of how-to solutions and ways to best economize your investment. Call (800) 780‑4115 or click here for more information. AVweb Media: Look, Listen, Laugh and Learn back to top  Video: Bristell LSA Makes Its Debut Original, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos AVweb found a new LSA at AOPA Summit last week. It's called the Bristell, and its main selling point is a super-wide cabin. Here's Mary Grady's video report on the new model. Don't see a video screen? Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page. If that doesn't work, click here to download the video directly. Looking for Low-Cost, Yet Effective, Marketing Options? Let AVweb assist your company in creating effective direct-response marketing campaigns to generate leads. No other digital aviation news media reaches more qualified subscribers more often. Text messages in newsletters combined with online banners reach over 255,000 readers monthly and deliver more new users to sponsor sites weekly than most print publications do monthly. Click now for details. Names Behind the News back to top  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 Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.) Comments or questions about the news should be sent here. Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team. If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebBiz. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here. Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.