CESSNA-COLUMBIA DEAL CONFIRMED; CIRRUS SAYS THAT'S A GOOD THING
Cirrus Design co-founder Dale Klapmeier told AVweb Monday that Cessna's planned acquisition of Columbia Aircraft "is going to help our industry." In an exclusive interview with AVweb, Klapmeier said the move by Cessna not only validates the effort of Cirrus and Columbia in modernizing general aviation aircraft, it adds significant clout to get that message to potential aircraft owners. "It opens up the market to more people," Klapmeier said. "It validates what we've been saying for a decade, now." Cessna CEO Jack Pelton declined to confirm the rampant rumors of the deal in front of the world aviation media at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Atlanta earlier on Monday. "We try not to confirm or speculate on rumors that might be out in the press regarding [the] potential acquisitions," he said. Columbia issued news releases in the evening that confirmed the deal and also announced that the company was seeking bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. "We have explored many options over the past months," said Columbia Chief Restructuring Officer Carl Young. "This path enables the Company to manage its present cash flow and liabilities while pursuing a plan that enables us to continue operating until a final sale can be completed." More...

NEXT-GEN GLASS COCKPIT FROM ROCKWELL COLLINS
In case you haven’t noticed, the glass cockpit concept is now into its third decade and although progress has been steady, it’s also been slow. The basic displays haven’t changed much and the human interface—the buttonology—is long overdue for an overhaul. And that’s exactly what Rockwell Collins is doing with its latest EFIS product, which it’s calling Pro Line Fusion, a clean sheet design that’s the next generation from the industry standard Pro Line 21. Says Denny Helgeson, Rockwell Collins VP for business and regional aviation systems, Fusion’s architecture will concentrate on flexibility to easily integrate with external sensors and products of all kinds. Rather than the usual soft keys and knobs, it will have a graphic user interface more in tune with desktop computing logic than traditional avionics. Voice recognition and context sensitive logic are also planned as prominent features. The system will display on high-resolution LCDs and will integrate both GPS-derived synthetic and real-time enhanced vision capability, a first for the industry. The system will also have heads-up display capability. More...

BUSINESS JET SALES CONTINUE TO SOAR
Cessna will deliver almost as many business jets next year as the entire industry did a few years ago, and CEO Jack Pelton says there's no end in sight to the jet boom. "Last year, we delivered 307 business jets. This year we expect to deliver 380. Next year, we plan to deliver 470," said Pelton, "This extraordinary rate of growth is being driven by strong economies and corporate profits and a rapidly-emerging global marketplace." In 2003, the total number of business jets shipped was 518. Cessna's backlog is at $11 billion, a record high, and it has more than 2,700 aircraft on order, half of them jets. More...

HONEYWELL PREDICTS 14,000 BIZJET DELIVERIES IN NEXT 10 YEARS
Honeywell has significantly increased the number of business jets it predicts will be sold in the next 10 years to 14,000 and Embraer says it, too, is revising its projections upward. The Brazilian planemaker last year predicted that about 11,600 business aircraft would be sold between 2006 and 2016 but says that's too low. The new Embraer report will be prepared soon but the Honeywell report, which came out on the eve of the National Business Aviation Association convention in Atlanta, has already caused a buzz on the convention floor. The 14,000 deliveries add up to $233 billion in sales and represent a 16 percent increase in the number of aircraft sold and a 20 percent increase in revenue for manufacturers. More...

HONEYWELL, JEPPESON DEVELOP RNP FOR BUSINESS AIRCRAFT
Honeywell and Jeppesen recently completed a Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach for Morristown, N.J. to show how such procedures can be developed for the use of business arircraft. RNP uses GPS and ground stations to provide precision guidance for aircraft flying into airports with congested airspace, difficult terrain and bad weather. Some airlines use the approaches, but Honeywell and Jeppesen believe business aircraft operators represent a major market for the technology. "RNP allows pilots flying the approach to use a more controlled continuous descent technique versus the traditional "dive and drive" method and offers lower minimums than the current GPS procedure," said a joint press release. Jeppesen is also part of an FAA experiment that could lead to more rapid RNP deployment. More...

ECLIPSE 'GREENEST' AIRPLANE?
Eclipse Aviation says it's setting the standard for environmental impact with its Eclipse 500. CEO Vern Raburn told a news conference at the National Business Aviation Association convention that on (his) scale of 30, his company's jet is a perfect 30 in environmental impact. He said he invites comparisons on key indicators of environmental responsibility and he's confident the 500 will prevail. Raburn said that in terms of fuel consumption, emissions, hazardous materials and recyclability, the 500 is "already green." Raburn's also defended his product against critics. More...

CESSNA CARAVAN GETS GARMIN GLASS
While light aircraft makers Cirrus and Columbia can be credited with launching the glass cockpit revolution for piston singles, Cessna took its time dropping steam gauges. As of this week, with the announcement that the turboprop Caravan will now have the G1000, everything in the Cessna line now features state-of-the-art EFIS. The G1000, along with Garmin digital GFC 700 flight control system, will be standard equipment in all three variants of the Caravan, the 675, the Grand Caravan and Super Cargomaster. More...

EMBRAER PROPOSING TWO NEW JETS
Embraer announced two new jets (and possibly a new jet category) in its pre-NBAA news conference Monday. The Brazilian company said it is considering building a mid-sized jet (MSJ) and a "mid-light jet" (MLJ). It's unveiling a mockup of the MSJ today on the convention floor. Embraer has launched aggressively into the business jet market recently and the two new offerings will give it representation across all market sectors. More...

NBAA 2007 EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: SPECTRUM FREEDOM JET GE/HONDA HF-120 UPDATE WITH LINDEN BLUE
In the first of our original videos from the NBAA Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Spectrum Aeronautical's Linden Blue details the progress that's been made on the Freedom Jet GE/Honda HF-120 design. (Click through to watch.) More...

WANTED: AVIATION WRITER, EDITOR AND WEB PERSON
AVweb has an opening for an able and experienced aviation writer and editor with proven experience in both print and web publishing, although we're willing to train the right person in the finer points of massaging content for the web. This position requires relocation to our Sarasota, Florida office. If this description fits you, contact aviationeditorial@comcast.net. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something that 130,000 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

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