One of the most talked-about exhibits this week at NBAA-BACE is the display from partner companies XBrand and 3 Delta Fox, which are showing three high-tech aerial camera ships. The companies specialize in aerial photography for the TV and movie industries, and for corporate work.

The best-known project undertaken so far is the filming of the "Top Gun: Maverick" movie, and indeed the company was originally formed when discussions of that movie began.

SpaceX made its debut at this year’s NBAA-BACE with an exhibit displaying the airborne hardware and antenna for its Starlink Aviation service. During the first day of the show, charter operator Trans-Exec Private Jets announced that it is buying Starlink systems for its entire Gulfstream fleet.

SpaceX is offering customers the opportunity to buy the system for $150,000 and sign up for the service plan, which costs $25,000 per month. A Starlink marketing document notes, however, “Does not include [supplemental type certificate] & installation.”

In a keynote speech during the second-day opening session at NBAA-BACE, “Shark Tank” superstar Daymond John shared his recipe for successful entrepreneurship. The 54-year-old businessman, investor, and television personality explained how he hustled his way to the top despite growing up financially strained and having no college education.

He summed up his advice for aspiring business aviation entrepreneurs in a fitting acronym, SHARK, which stands for: set your goals, do your homework, amor (or “love” in Spanish), remember your brand, and keep swimming.

Embraer Executive Jets recently conducted flight tests on two of its aircraft using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Brazilian airframer flew its demonstrator Phenom 300E and its prototype Praetor 600 at its U.S. headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, at the end of September after a year of preparations.

As a safety measure, both of the twinjets—which have separate fuel tanks supplying each engine—flew with one engine running on conventional jet-A while the other used unblended SAF.

Honeywell Flight Technical Services has made its FMS guided visual approaches database an optional standalone product. Aircraft operators can now purchase the visual approach database without buying the full RNP approach database, and the cost for a subscription is $2,000 per year.

Guided visual approaches are specially designed approach procedures coded in the Honeywell flight management system (FMS) that provide lateral and vertical guidance to a runway for use only in visual meteorological conditions. The approaches are designed to provide stabilized maneuvering with low bank angles and precise, repeatable lateral and vertical flight paths. Pilots can fly the procedures manually or fully coupled to the autopilot.

Tecnam’s STOL variant of the P2012 twin-piston utility aircraft remains on pace for EASA certification by year-end, the company said this week at NBAA-BACE. Test flights have confirmed and/or exceeded preliminary design performance data, the Italian planemaker said. First deliveries are slated to begin in January, and the company said the aircraft is already in production.

Designed to enable operations in some of the most demanding commercial airports, the P2012 STOL is available in passenger and multi-mission configurations, including combi, cargo, and air ambulance. The twin-piston, fixed-gear, unpressurized aircraft is interchangeable so it can convert from a nine-passenger cabin to a special-purpose use.

Barely three weeks on the job, Wheels Up's new CEO, George Mattson, has a message for customers. “We're going to be very much of a ‘show me’ and not a ‘tell me’ company,” he told AIN this week at NBAA-BACE.

“We're just going to go get it done and then tell people what we did. We’re going to deliver operational excellence and consistency,” he added. “Our state goal is to become the best-run private aviation company and we are delivering tangible, measurable progress every week, every month.”

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has kept busy this week at NBAA-BACE 2023 with a series of announcements of philanthropic support from a range of donors.

The university kicked off its activities on Tuesday with news that aircraft management firm Solairus has granted Embry-Riddle’s Runway to Business Aviation Scholarship a $100,000 gift to help meet the anticipated growth in demand for civil aviation pilots.