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November 21, 2012
By The AVweb Editorial Staff
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Bose® A20® Aviation Headset
The Best We've Ever Made
Bose was the first to introduce active noise reducing headsets to aviation more than 20 years ago, forever changing the way pilots fly. Today, we continue to set the standard with the Bose A20
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AVflash! Change of Plan for Hawker
Liquidation |
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A bankruptcy judge has rejected Hawker Beechcraft's bid to fire-sale its inventory of Hawker 4000 jets to raise some quick cash. The company was planning to dump the aircraft, the all-composite
flagship of its jet roster, for as little as about 35 cents on the dollar until some existing 4000 owners stepped in to prevent their $20 million aircraft from suffering the same devaluation. Hawker
Beech has 13 finished new 4000s, three in production and four used aircraft. The inventory clearance bid was part of a filing made by the company that also requested the court to allow it to abandon
warranty and extended service plans on the 4000 and on Premier I and Premier IA jets. Hawker Beechcraft VP Shawn Vick outlined the warranty decision in a podcast interview at the 2012 NBAA convention in Orlando in October.
Hawker Beech said in its filing it wanted to dump the aircraft before more advanced competitors hit the market and make them harder to sell. Cessna and Embraer are both working on aircraft in the
same class as the 4000 that offer new technology and are more efficient and are in the same price range. However, bankruptcy judge Stuart Bernstein wrote Monday that the company failed to make the
case that immediately slashing the price was necessary. The owners committee argued that Hawker Beech has promised it will find someone to take over service and support of the jets and if it does that
the aircraft can retain their normal used value. "This process will require a reasonable amount of time, not an accelerated process," the committee argued in its filing. "Thus, there is simply no
reason to race to sell the Hawker 4000 inventory before those efforts play out."
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The FAA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking covering aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats that will require much more comprehensive monitoring and record-keeping concerning contract
maintenance. The new rule was mandated by the recent reauthorization of the FAA but the FAA seems to agree there's a need. "These changes are needed because contract maintenance has increased to over
70 percent of all air carrier maintenance, and numerous investigations have shown deficiencies in maintenance performed by contract maintenance providers," the NPRM says. Although the rule is aimed
primarily at Part 121 operators, it will capture larger business jets and charter aircraft, too.
The FAA wants contract maintenance to be performed with the equivalent level of operator oversight as in-house maintenance. That means maintenance manuals have to be rewritten and operators have
"to develop policies, procedures, methods, and instructions for performing contract maintenance that are acceptable to the FAA." Affected parties have until Feb. 13 to comment.
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The Biggest Aviation Show on the Planet ... Is Back!
The award-winning hit TV series The Aviators is back for an all-new third season showcasing everything from the F-22 and DC-3 to LSA and balloons. We take you dogfighting in the Nevada
desert, flying with the USAF Thunderbirds, and look on as Mötley Crue frontman Vince Neil learns to fly. Join our 10 million weekly US viewers and countless more worldwide.
Watch The Aviators on PBS, iTunes, Amazon, and Hulu.
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Dassault has created a wholly-owned subsidiary in China to secure its stake in that market. The company, Dassault Falcon Business Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., is based in Beijing and will look
after creating a customer support network in the country that will include maintenance specialists and even a couple of "jump-seat support" pilots. "Firmly establishing Dassault's presence in China
today positions us to serve the needs of its growing business aviation sector with the highest level of support in the years to come," said CEO John Rosanvallon.
The company says it has 20 orders for its big Falcon 7X trijet and that the twin Falcon 2000S is doing well since it was introduced a year ago. "We sold our first new Falcon to China in 2006. But,
by 2011 the market had already grown to become our largest for new aircraft orders and one of the most promising," said Rosanvallon. Jean Michel Jacob has been named general manager of the
subsidiary.
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U.S. Sport Aviation Expo
January 17-20, 2013
Sunny Sebring, Florida will hold its 9th annual U.S. Sport Aviation Expo this January 17-20, 2013 — the largest sport aircraft-dedicated event in the world.
Additions for 2013 range from a twilight air show opened by Patty Wagstaff demonstrating LSA aerobatic aircraft to The Year of the Cub to star-studded Manufacturers Showcases and a contest that will
crown sport aviation's most efficient aircraft/pilot duo. Four days in Sebring, Florida to "See, Try, Fly and Buy" ... everything in the world of sport aviation.
Visit Sport-Aviation-Expo.com for details.
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The NTSB said last week it won't make any major changes in the way it oversees FAA enforcement actions against pilots, and NBAA says that's not fair to small aviation businesses. The
current NTSB rules stipulate that NTSB administrative law judges who review emergency actions by the FAA against certificate holders must assume the allegations presented by the FAA are correct and
accurate. NBAA and other aviation advocacy groups, including AOPA, EAA, NATA, and the Air Line Pilots Association, objected to this "assumption of truth" standard, but the safety board declined to
change it.
The NTSB said (PDF) it considered all of their arguments, but decided to retain the rule, mainly because it doesn't
have enough staff or time to do things differently. The NTSB said it would make some minor changes in the rule's language and would remain open to reconsidering the policy again in the future. "NBAA
and its members have seen examples of perceived 'misuse' of this government-benefitting provision that provides practically no opportunity for a certificate holder to present additional information
that may materially alter whether an emergency safety issue does or does not, in fact, exist," said Doug Carr, NBAA vice president for safety, security, operations and regulation. He said NBAA was
"disappointed" in the NTSB's decision, calling the assumption-of-truth requirement "a practice of biased judicial review."
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Eclipse Offers 2012 Production Aircraft for Sale Now
Eclipse Aerospace is excited to offer two 2012-model-year, factory-new Total Eclipse Jets available for delivery in December! These 2012 Total Eclipse Jets include the Avio IFMS
avionics suite, two P&WC 610F zero-time engines, an extended two-year factory warranty, an anti-lock brake option, and much more.
CLICK HERE for more information.
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Citing concerns over privacy, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has told members of Congress that the selection of six testing sites for unmanned aerial vehicles, which was expected this year, has
been indefinitely put on hold. According to the Dayton Daily News, Huerta wrote to
members of the Unmanned Systems Congressional Caucus, but no public statement has been released about the decision. Earlier this month, 20 aviation advocacy groups (including AOPA, EAA, NATCA, NBAA,
GAMA, and more) jointly sent a letter (PDF) to Huerta, asking him to "ensure UAS are safely and responsibly integrated
into the national airspace in a timely manner." The groups also said, "It is our belief that for FAA to succeed, the agency must remain focused on safety rather than privacy issues, where the FAA has
no statutory standing or technical expertise."
At a meeting of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems in August, Huerta said he was "very optimistic" that the FAA would meet
the congressional mandate to integrate most UAVs into the national airspace system by 2015 (2014 for UAVs weighing less than 55 pounds). "Rest assured that the FAA will fulfill its statutory
obligations to integrate unmanned aircraft systems," he said. A government report released in September noted
that although the FAA "has taken steps to meet the requirements set forth in the 2012 Act, it is uncertain when the national airspace system will be prepared to accommodate UAS."
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| Bell Helicopter |
Bell Helicopter has appointed Chris Jaran as its managing director in China. Jaran is familiar with the Chinese market and was president of the China chapter of the American Helicopter Society
International.
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| Rob Cords |
Rob Cords is the Senior VP for Airlines and Fleets at StandardAero. He was most recently Associate Partner for Oliver Wyman's Aerospace and Defense Practice.
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.
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Rod Machado Instrument Flying
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click here for more
information. 
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The European Union has the dubious distinction of being a leader in this harebrained idea. Last week, it momentarily suspended a plan to penalize airplanes flying into Europe for carbon emissions,
but don't expect the decision to hold. Certainly there must be a better way? On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli suggests there is: Minimize carbon emissions from airplane as much as
practical, but otherwise just get yourself ready for life in a warmer world.
Read more and join the conversation.
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The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is
You! |
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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.
New airplanes sales may be a little soft, but we're seeing plenty of refurb work -- everything from new panels to fresh paint to full-up interiors. We would like to feature some of these airplanes
in the pages of AVweb and spotlight the owners and shops doing the work. If you have photos of your restored aircraft -- single, twin or turbine -- send them along to us, and if we select your airplane as refurb of the month, we'll contact you for more
information.
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AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the world's premier independent aviation news resource.
The AVwebBiz team is:
Publisher
Tom Bliss
Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli
Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles
Webmaster
Scott Simmons
Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew
Contributors
Kevin Lane-Cummings
Ad Coordinator
Karen Lund
Avionics Editor
Larry Anglisano
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