ECLIPSE ADDRESSES DELAYS AND PERFORMANCE GUARANTEES
With complications pushing back its delivery schedule, Eclipse Aviation in two announcements Monday disclosed plans to modify its design and offer certain customers payment reductions. To address concerns that the company's production schedule will not be met and that terms for additional payment due may in that be case be premature, Eclipse is offering the following adjustment. For customers with scheduled delivery dates on or before Sept. 30, 2007, the company will "reduce your final payment due at delivery by 0.5 percent per month (6 percent annual interest rate) of the additional payment we are asking you to pay now." Plus, the company says that because the Eclipse 500 has "fallen short of our guaranteed performance numbers" Eclipse Aviation developed a "Performance Improvement Program." According to a second announcement, Monday, the promised goal of 370 knots (TAS) and 1,125-nm range has been met through that program. Eclipse expects "to have this configuration certified sometime between mid-March and mid-April 2007." More...

BRAZIL LETS LEGACY PILOTS GO
The Federal Regional Court of the First Region of Brasilia said in a unanimous ruling that Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino have been granted permission to retrieve their passports and leave Brazil within 72 hours, according to a report yesterday from The Associated Press. The two pilots have been held in Brazil since Sept. 29, when the Embraer Legacy they were flying collided with a Gol Airlines 737, resulting in the loss of all 154 aboard the Boeing. The pilots had been held pending an investigation into the crash and possible manslaughter charges, but a federal judge Tuesday found no legal grounds for holding the pilots and ruled the return of their passports -- with one condition. The pilots "must agree to return to Brazil for any further inquiry and judicial action, the court said," according to the AP. More...

EMBRAER'S LONG-TERM MARKET OUTLOOK
Embraer's market outlook sees demand for 11,115 business jets over the next 10 years. The forecast weighs heavier for lighter jets -- with a projected 24 percent (more than 2,600) falling into Embraer's "very light" segment and another 21 percent (more than 2,300) filling in the ranks of "light." No larger jet categories (there are six) in Embraer's forecast claim more than 12 percent of the take. With all eyes on the yet-to-exist-in-the-real-world VLJ market, Embraer's projections are backed by current orders listed at more than 340. The number includes both the six-seat Phenom 100 and the eight-seat Phenom 300. More...

GROB TO GO ON WITH SPN AFTER LOSS
Grob Aerospace CEO Niall Olver said his company "remains committed to the program and production of aircraft number three will continue," following the loss of a jet prototype. The second, newer prototype of Grob's SPn all-composite "up to nine" passenger jet was lost Wednesday, Nov. 29 shortly after takeoff during a demonstration flight at the Grob facility in Mattsies Tussenhausen. The aircraft took off, appeared to turn right to enter the pattern, but instead fell into a meadow. Chief SPn test pilot Gerard Guillaumaud, the sole occupant, was killed in the crash. The aircraft lost in the crash had first flown on Sept. 29 and had accumulated 40 cycles and 28 flight hours, according to the company. Its older sibling has to date logged some 300 flight hours and 450 cycles. More...

SEEKING RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT'S LUCKY BUYER
Three leveraged buyout firms have made final bids that (some believe) range near $3 billion for Raytheon Aircraft, a company that last year claimed 416 aircraft sold for a cumulative $2.9 billion, which along with strong forecasts may represent a relative boom, making the company more attractive to potential buyers. Outspoken piston pilots aware of pricing of new Beechcraft singles have long suggested that marketers at Raytheon have approached the market wondering just how much they have to charge before people stop buying their aircraft. The theory may stem from Raytheon's long-standing position that Beech Aircraft is not part of its core business. For its part, Raytheon Aircraft added 35 positions at its Salina manufacturing facilities and reported plans to add 55 more over the next six months, bringing the workforce to 425 strong. More...

BOEING TOUTS "GREEN" BBJ
With delivery last week of its 100th "green" Boeing Business Jet, the company claimed success in selling empty, unpainted and largely unfinished aircraft (aesthetically, anyway) aircraft to customers -- 35 percent of whom are heads of state -- around the world. The program allows buyers to then "work with designers and interior completion centers to install an interior that exactly matches the owner's preferences and needs," according to the company. Boeing Business Jets' order book stands at 124 jets including 99 BBJs, 14 BBJ 2s , two BBJ 3s and nine widebody VIP airplanes. Aside from the wow factor, the BBJ offers a 6,000-nm range and 807 square feet of cabin space that is "nearly three times the interior space of competing models with similar range capability," according to Boeing ... and in our experience bests many one-bedroom New York City apartments. More...

NETJETS EUROPE FIGHT$ TO RETAIN PILOTS
Nearly 700 pilots and flight attendants working for NetJets Europe will see their compensation packages improve next year after the company this year lost close to 50 employees to airlines and other suitors, according to a report by Flight International. For starting captains, the new deal will translate to a salary boost pushing dollars from just over $100,000 to $125,000 each year while first officers will enjoy the bump from near $66,000 to $75,000. Merry Christmas. But that's not all; the company's desire to retain workers is also flowing through improved contracts and work schedules that guarantee "six days on to five days off," according to NetJets business development manager Robert Dranitzke. More...

CIP: AN IMPROVED WEATHER PRODUCT FOR ICING AWARENESS
Starting today, Dec. 6, pilots and dispatchers will now have available improved and cockpit-accessible graphical hourly updates on in-flight icing. The National Weather Service will operate the service creatively called the "Current Icing Product," or CIP, which incorporates more detailed observations and more advanced prediction models than its previous version (FAA approved in 2002). The new product, developed by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, will offer displays that rate areas by icing severity and the probability of encountering icing conditions with selectable altitudes up to 29,000 feet. Aside from making flights safer, the product aims to reduce costs incurred by unnecessary diversions around areas through which properly equipped aircraft could safely fly. More...

FAA RELEASES REPAIR STATION PROPOSAL
Friday, the FAA released a long-anticipated proposal "to amend the regulations for repair stations by revising the system of ratings and requiring repair stations to establish a quality program." The agency would require a repair station to maintain a capability list, designate a chief inspector, and provide permanent housing for its facilities, equipment, materials, and personnel. The FAA proposes to revise the ratings and classes that may be issued to certificated repair stations and combines the "instrument rating" and "radio rating" in an "avionics rating." The FAA would also no longer divide classes of aircraft by materials (composites or metal) and would also make changes to size classifications. The FAA is inviting comments, which must be received by March 1, 2007. More...

THE PASSING OF LEONARD GREENE
Founder of Safe Flight Instrument Corp., inventor of the stall warning indicator in 1946, co-founder of the Corporate Angel Network, test pilot and engineer, Leonard Greene, died last Thursday of cancer at the age of 88. Greene's Safe Flight Instrument Corp. sold more than half a million stall warning indicators and other flight safety devices, his Corporate Angel Network made nearly 25,000 flights using empty seats on corporate jets to facilitate travel free of charge for cancer patients. Greene invented devices that link sound and color to help the blind, created a system for "visible speech" for the hearing impaired and held some 60 patents in aviation. Strongly involved in invention, philanthropy and aviation, Greene lost a son and business partner, Donald, on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001. More...