In an announcement the day before Thanksgiving, Cirrus Design said it is furloughing 500 more workers until early January as it continues to slow its production lines. The furloughs affect only assembly line workers, including 165 in Grand Forks, N.D., and 335 in Duluth, Minn., the Duluth News Tribune reported. Jobs in the company’s other departments, including sales, service and customer support, are not affected. This is the third round of cutbacks in 2008 for Cirrus. The company laid off 100 people in September and another 105 people just a month later, in October. Cirrus officials stressed that the newest layoffs are strategic to idle parts of the production line as the company tries to clear out its inventory of 2008 models. The workers hit by the most recent furlough will still receive their health insurance and other benefits, but no pay while they’re off the clock. Following the October job cuts, Cirrus said it would not lay off any more workers and that the company was stabilizing itself. It gave no indication that the current furloughs would be the last, only that workers could expect to return to their jobs by Jan. 5.

Following months of concern over future financing and after being unable to make payroll two weeks ago, Eclipse Aviation on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The very light jet maker had run out of cash and was unable to secure the $300 million it needed to meet its production goals, the Albany Business Review reported. In bankruptcy court documents, Eclipse said it currently owes $1 billion, which includes millions of dollars to many of its parts suppliers and unpaid rent on some of its hangar facilities. At least a dozen people have sued Eclipse seeking $7 million worth of refunds for the deposits they had made on undelivered jets. Eclipse said it has gotten enough money to pay wages, service aircraft and keep production lines open at least until January, when the sale of the company in bankruptcy court is likely to happen. The company plans to sell itself it ETIRC Aviation, a Luxembourg firm that is already a large shareholder in Eclipse, unless another company outbids it in the bankruptcy auction. Chapter 11 would allow Eclipse to escape paying most of its debts for the time being, though whichever company wins the bankruptcy sale would likely take over many of those IOUs.

The very light jet maker’s bankruptcy filing has many parallels to the demise of Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing, which filed for Chapter 11 in September 2007 and was bought by Cessna two months later. Prior to the sale, Columbia had gone through several rounds of workforce furloughs and at the time of its bankruptcy sale, the company revealed that it had not paid many of its parts suppliers in months. While Cessna retained Columbia’s product lines and most of its employees after the sale, earlier this month it announced layoffs at the former Columbia plant amid sagging aircraft sales.

Coming quick on the heels of a Presidential executive order last week, acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell said Monday that the entire United States would have ADS-B coverage by 2013. Sturgell spoke at the ceremonial commissioning of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast coverage in Florida, but he gave no indication of how the FAA would reach its goal, which is seven to 12 years ahead of previous estimates, the FAA said in a news release. ADS-B gives pilots with properly equipped cockpit displays a view of nearby traffic and the ability to download real-time weather. With today’s announcement, it is now available in Florida, parts of the mid-Atlantic and Alaska. By the end of 2010, Sturgell said, Philadelphia, the Gulf of Mexico, southern Alaska and Louisville, Ky., will also have ADS-B coverage switched on. That gives the FAA three years to do the rest of the United States — including everything west of the Mississippi River. The FAA’s ability to keep to meet that deadline is only half of what’s required to get the system fully operational. All aircraft also need to be equipped with Mode S transponders and multi-function displays that that show the traffic and weather data. Those upgrades can cost more than $20,000 for the typical general aviation plane and much more for commercial airliners. Many airlines have been vocal about having ADS-B mandates imposed on them without a way to pay for new cockpit equipment.

As President-elect Barack Obama began naming members of his Cabinet in earnest this week, people across the aviation industry have been keeping an eye on who Obama might pick for FAA and Department of Transportation posts. So far, Duane Woerth, a former president of the Air Line Pilots Association, is gaining favor as one possible pick for FAA Administrator, though no one is committing to his selection yet, the Wall Street Journal reported. Woerth headed ALPA from 1999 to 2006 and has strong support from various labor groups. Currently an aviation industry consultant, he also is well liked by many members of Congress and some airline industry officials, giving him a possible leg up. Jane Garvey, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 to be FAA Administrator, will likely be chosen to head up the Transportation Department. Like Woerth, Garvey has the backing of many unions and remains a well-liked figure in Washington, D.C. One of the big issues looming for whoever takes over the FAA will be mending its relationships with labor unions, which have been particularly strained since the FAA imposed a new contract on air traffic controllers in 2006. Among other possible appointments, it appears likely that a Democratic member of the National Transportation Safety Board, Debbie Hersman, will be tapped to chair the board. Hersman was appointed to the board in 2004; before that, she spent 12 years working in various Congressional offices on transportation issues.

A top Pentagon official in charge of buying fighter jets for the U.S. military said that the Air Force is spending more than $8 billion bringing its fleet of new F-22 jets up to a serviceable level and that Lockheed Martin needs to take steps to make the planes less expensive and more reliable. The Air Force has 131 of the Raptors; 250 more could be ordered in the future, but that decision will be left to the Obama administration, Reuters reported. John Young, the Pentagon official in charge of major purchasing programs, did not detail what upgrades the Air Force has had to make to the planes, which use sophisticated technology to evade radar detection. But the Air Force’s Raptors have only been ready for missions 62 percent of the time, a very low number that suggests problems with keeping the planes airworthy. Based on what the Air Force is spending, Young suggested the Defense Department should negotiate with Lockheed for lower prices on future jets, or Lockheed should make changes to the jet program.

An FAA employee has been accused of taking illegal perks from his job, including a plane, a yacht and trucks. Steven Bradley Smith, a field technician in San Diego, allegedly used an internal computer system to acquire surplus items from other government agencies, according to charging papers unsealed Thursday in federal court. Since 2004, Smith obtain 215 items, selling computers and some others on eBay, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Some of the biggest were a Cessna 210 from the Forest Service, a Boston Whaler from the Coast Guard, and a 44-foot Navy yacht that had been used by the ROTC at the University of Washington. Smith allegedly used the 1965 Cessna 210 to defraud a London insurance by claiming that the plane was lost in a storm in Louisiana. The government has said it would try to reclaim its property, if it can find it. Officials are still trying to figure out how Smith gained access to the purchasing system, and how he was able to obtain so many items before being caught.

In a rare positive note for beleaguered very light jet maker Eclipse Aviation, the European Aviation Safety Agency gave the nod Friday for the plane to fly in 37 EU countries, meaning that owners can register the planes in those countries. One crucial piece that’s missing: Eclipse needs to get a second certification from the EASA before those jets can be used in air taxi operations, Business Week reported. In the wake of that news, Eclipse added 300 aircraft orders from European buyers to its book, bringing the company’s total order book to 1,100 planes. That number is significantly lower than the 2,400 planes Eclipse had lined up before air taxi operator DayJet shut down its operations in September. Another piece of good news for Eclipse came Friday with the FAA and the EASA approving changes to the plane’s avionics. A pair of Garmin 400W GPS units will provide navigation guidance, replacing the Avio system’s proprietary keyboard entry system with the standard Garmin buttons and knobs with which many pilots are already familiar. While Eclipse delivered paychecks to its workers on Tuesday as promised and its production lines have remained open this week, there has been no indication yet that the company has come any closer to getting the $300 million it says it needs to continue operating in the long term. Eclipse executives said they expect to have more news on future financing in the coming weeks. Revised production estimates call for the company to make up to 200 jets in 2009.

Seven people died almost instantly late in the morning of Nov. 16 when the Pacific Coastal Airlines Grumman Goose they were riding crashed into a forested area of an island off the coast of British Columbia and then burst into flames. But one man, Tom Wilson, walked away from the crash with relatively minor burns and doctors are unable to explain how he escaped without any broken bones or internal injuries, the Vancouver Sun reported. The Pacific Coastal Airlines crash was the second one this year for the company; five people died in August when another Grumman Goose crashed in trees about 10 minutes after taking off. Two people survived that crash. Both accidents are under investigation, but officials believe the most recent crash may have happened after the plane tried to climb in low-visibility conditions, striking trees that were shrouded in mist. Pacific Coastal Airlines operates several Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft, which it uses on routes in and out of rugged towns and work camps along the British Columbia coast. The Goose is the smallest plane in Pacific Coastal’s fleet, which also includes Beech 1900 turboprops, a Saab 340, a Shorts turboprop and King Airs. This year has been the worst for the airline in terms of accidents since it began operating in 1987.

A permanent version of the Air Defense Identification Zone over Washington, D.C., could be one of the last accomplishments of the Bush Administration, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association predicts. A final rule that would create the permanent zone is being reviewed by the White House, one of the last steps that’s required, AOPA reported. For all of AOPA’s arguments and alternatives, White House officials appear intent on pushing forward with making the rule permanent. And once that happens, it would take another lengthy rulemaking process for the Obama Administration to reverse it. AOPA has suggested that the ADIZ either be enacted by NOTAM when national security warrants it, or that the ADIZ be reduced to cover a 20-nautical-mile radius around the Capitol. Currently the ADIZ is roughly 60 miles across, smaller than it once was but still swallowing several general aviation airports, which prompted many pilots based at those facilities to either stop flying or move their planes elsewhere. The ADIZ was first created in 2003 as the U.S. prepared to invade Iraq, but the general aviation community was never given specific reasons why it was needed. In 2006, at the urging of AOPA and other pilot groups, more than 22,000 people commented on the ADIZ during a public review process. The overwhelming number of those comments opposed the ADIZ.

Just two weeks after ending a crippling Machinists strike with a four-year labor contract, Boeing has struck a deal on a new four-year contract with its unionized engineers. The contract, which must be ratified by the engineers and technical staff, would give many of them 5-percent pay increases each year and boost the amount Boeing would pay into their pensions, the Seattle Times reported. The contract also requires Boeing to “consult” with engineers on future outsourcing plans. The agreement was hashed out relatively quickly over the course of about two weeks of intense negotiations. With its major unions contented for the next four years, Boeing is hoping it can return to focusing on sorting out design, production and delivery problems across several of its aircraft lines. The Dreamliner 787 remains delayed with first flight now expected in early 2009, and the 747-8 program last week announced delays of nine to 12 months. That means the first passenger models won’t be delivered until mid-2011 instead of late 2010 as once planned.