The idea of recycling regional-jet winglets into bookshelves may raise a skeptical eyebrow, but manufacturers are talking seriously about how to manage the end-of-life for their aircraft and engines—however distant that may seem today.

This year Aviation Week's chief test pilot, Fred George, buckled up in the left seat of a number of business jets, including Gulfstream's G650, Dassault's Falcon 2000S and Bombardier's Learjet 75. 

Business aviation groups are encouraging the Department of Transportation to establish a registry for air charter brokers as part of a larger regulation to improve air charter consumer protections.

FAA is advising operators of various Hawker 750s, 800s, 900s and 1000s to check the aircraft aileron and aileron tab assemblies for potential problems that could cause oscillations at high altitudes. The agency issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) in late November encouraging the checks, saying it had received reports of wing/aileron oscillations from operators of Hawker 800XP and 850XP airplanes at altitudes above 33,000 ft. and at speeds of more than 0.73 Mach.

Shell has become the latest company, and the first of the major oil companies, to declare it has developed an unleaded replacement for aviation gasoline. The launch of the formula follows a 10-year research and development program that included testing of Lycoming engines and a recent test flight of a Piper Saratoga. Shell must still undergo a testing program to obtain regulatory approvals from FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency, along with ASTM specification for the fuel.

Directional Aviation Capital completed its acquisition of Dallas-based fractional ownership provider Flexjet from Bombardier for about $195 million and an agreement to buy up to $5.6 billion in Bombardier business jets. The deal closed a little less than three months after the companies announced plans for Bombardier to sell its homegrown fractional ownership business.

Rockwell Collins is rolling out a series of upgrades to its Pro Line Fusion avionics suite to improve cockpit capabilities and prepare the systems for the latest Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programs.

Clay Lacy Aviation, working with Envoy Aerospace, is hoping to secure certification next year for a Universal Avionics package that would enable Gulfstream IV and IVSP aircraft to meet new equipment requirements for North Atlantic crossings.