I spent last week at the NBAA-BACE convention in Vegas, and the ensuing hangover has finally subsided to a point where I can cogently write on the subject. Here goes…

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the first FAA authorization of its kind for an electric VTOL, BETA’s ALIA. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said he’d consider a path back to single-pilot Citation operations, but only at an equivalent level of safety. Pratt & Whitney Canada unveiled the certified PT9 turboprop. Steven Udvar-Hazy told the story of escaping communist Hungary and arriving in America with $5 and no English. And SyberJet staged the flashiest show of the conference for a mockup of the SJ36 (a mockup, not an aircraft).

You’ll also find the StandardAero move to DFW, Texas activity numbers, a full Texas and national forecast, and the lowest Jet A prices I could find at Texas FBOs.

NBAA-BACE opens tomorrow in Las Vegas, and Scissortail is on the scene.

This week’s Scissortail Brief covers what’s on the schedule for the show, including FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford’s regulators panel and two open FAA issues: the oxygen-mask proposal and the Citation single-pilot exemptions. It also covers a new 28,000-square-foot hangar open for lease at Austin Executive (KEDC), Bombardier’s new maintenance learning center in Wichita, PlaneSense picking Gogo Galileo for its Pilatus fleet, a Texas and national forecast, and fuel prices with Brent crude near $110.

Rise Aviation is building a 63,100-square-foot, $9 million hangar complex at North Texas Regional (KGYI), with two bays and 160-foot doors that fit large-cabin jets. Mente is retiring the Four Corners Aviation name. Texas charter and fractional departures are running 11% ahead of last year, and Hurricane Isaias closed Gulf Coast airports. General Dynamics named Danny Deep its next CEO.

Plus a Texas forecast with a cold front and some wet days ahead for West Texas, a national outlook, and fuel prices. Our thoughts are with the families of the six people aboard the Latitude Air Ambulance jet lost off Nantucket.

This week's Scissortail Brief is the first in our new Texas-focused format. Going forward, we want this to be your go-to weekly source for business aviation in Texas, with the national and global headlines still in the mix. This week: NetJets files plans for a $19.5 million private terminal at Austin-Bergstrom, Texas business jet flying climbs 6.4% while U.S. totals slip, and days of heavy rain break the dry spell from the Hill Country to the Metroplex. We also cover two aircraft accidents at Texas airfields, Solairus closing on Clay Lacy, a record year for FAA mechanic certificates, and a Gulf disturbance on the forecast radar.

In the biggest Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Foxtrot Alpha Alpha moment to hit our sector in a long time, the FAA issued a policy notice September 24 ending its 40-year practice of granting single-pilot exemptions for transport-category Cessna Citation CE-500-series aircraft, and rescinding the exemptions already in place. This, and other news in this week’s brief!

OneFlight International paused all flight activity with more than $150 million in customer deposits exposed, a real reminder to check how any prepaid jet card or broker relationship actually protects your money. A construction crew's fiber cut also triggered an ATC meltdown that shut down Teterboro and four other Northeast airports the same day the FAA launched its new AI-assisted SMART traffic management tool in Washington. Honda pushed HondaJet Echelon certification back three full years. Flexjet took delivery of the first Praetor 600E. Signature Aviation bought its third FBO at Van Nuys. NBAA named interim leadership while Ed Bolen takes medical leave. We're also correcting an omission from last week: NBAA's full 2026 Top 40 Under 40 class, including two STXBAA board members we're especially proud of. Read the full Brief at scissortailconsulting.aero.

This past week marked 25 years since September 11, 2001. I remember it like it was yesterday, watching it unfold on a TV in a Walmart parking lot in Bristol, Tennessee. Aviation changed permanently that day, and this industry has spent a quarter century building the safety and security culture that grew out of it. Worth pausing to remember. As for the rest of the week: Trump threatened to block Bombardier from the U.S. market entirely, and Bombardier fired back citing its 2,800 U.S. suppliers and existing manufacturing footprint. Global Jet Capital projects North America will drive nearly three-quarters of all business jet transactions through 2030. The FAA proposed a safety directive affecting 680 Bombardier Challenger 300-series aircraft. And Texas launched real-world eVTOL integration flights at Fort Worth Alliance.

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by Sunday's tragic Amazon Prime Air accident at Miami International. Beyond that, it was a big week for capital flowing into this industry: GAMA's Q2 report shows manufacturers actually delivering more airplanes, Bombardier is buying a supplier to bring wing production in-house, Honda made a direct investment in a fractional operator, Atlantic Aviation's nearly $10 billion valuation closed into this week's news cycle, and Sino Jet added its second G700. NBAA also released fresh Q2 safety data and confirmed its OEM lineup for BACE.

Big week in the Brief. Apollo Global Management just bought into Atlantic Aviation at a nearly $10 billion valuation, the clearest sign yet that Wall Street sees FBOs as infrastructure. Embraer's Phenom 300EV became the first light jet certified with Garmin Emergency Autoland. Textron Aviation has a new CEO. Jetcraft says the pre-owned market is outpacing last year. FinCEN just made life easier for anyone who owns an aircraft through an LLC. SyberJet is claiming a transcontinental speed record. And FAA officials put charter brokers on notice in Dallas: verify your operators, or the agency might make you. We also pause this week to remember Dolly Parton, and to note that Nashville International, where I learned to fly, may soon carry her name.

This week's Scissortail Brief covers a lot of ground. NBAA's 2026 Compensation Survey shows bizav salaries up nearly 7% in some categories, a sign of how competitive the talent market has gotten. The FAA clarified its 25-hour CVR timetable for new business aircraft, no retrofit required. Private equity keeps buying up FBOs, this time Trenton-Mercer. Textron delivered its 500th Citation CJ4. Texas lawmakers held the first hearing of a brand-new House Select Committee on General Aviation, worth watching if you're in this industry in this state. Global Jet Capital's Q2 brief shows rising OEM backlogs and tightening pre-owned inventory. FlyExclusive posted its third straight quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, though a GAAP net loss remains. Fuel climbed again. And Texas heat advisories are entering their second week with no relief in sight.

It's hot outside, y'all, and so is this week's Scissortail Brief. Los Angeles County is using your ADS-B data to build a $4 billion property tax base, and there's a bill sitting in the Senate right now that could put that fire out for good. NBAA is fighting the same battle on the federal registry front. Embraer posted its best-ever second quarter (the company is HOT HOT HOT). Bizjet traffic can't decide if it's speeding up or slowing down. LEO connectivity keeps expanding. Fuel climbed again. And if you're flying in North Texas this week, the Heat Advisory is hot enough to melt the tarmac.

This week's Scissortail Brief is a big one. Solairus just swallowed Clay Lacy's aircraft management and charter business whole, creating the largest managed private jet fleet the industry has ever seen, over 500 aircraft under one roof. Down the road from us, Joby Aviation planted its flag at Fort Worth Alliance, and the age of flying cars just got a Texas zip code. Bombardier clawed its way back to the top of AIN's Product Support Survey. LABACE turned São Paulo into a runway full of jets and nine-figure deals. EBAA is trying to fill the hole EBACE left behind with a brand-new Brussels event. Hop-A-Jet added another aircraft to its fleet. And fuel keeps climbing because the Middle East refuses to give this industry a break. Plus, North Texas is heating up fast, literally, with fire danger building through the week.

This week's Scissortail Brief opens with Chris Rocheleau leaving the FAA to return to NBAA as COO, a week after he personally unveiled Mobile Clearance at Oshkosh. Gulfstream and Textron posted very different Q2 numbers, Gulfstream's book-to-bill hit 1.5x while Textron's jet deliveries slipped to 40 from 49, and IADA's Q2 report shows the pre-owned market tightening as a result. Gulfstream reclaimed the LA-to-Farnborough speed record from Bombardier after holding it just ten days. Oil posted its biggest monthly gain since March as both the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb Strait stayed under threat simultaneously. FBO Jet-A rose to $7.70 nationally. And NOAA's updated August outlook puts Texas and Oklahoma at the top of the list for above-normal heat.

EAA AirVenture wrapped this weekend with a record roughly 730,000 attendees, smoke and all. The FAA unveiled Mobile Clearance at the show, a genuinely significant digital IFR clearance tool headed for nationwide rollout in 2027. Textron, Cirrus, and Garmin all made news at Oshkosh, with Cirrus putting autoland on a piston aircraft for the first time ever. On the fuel side: Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers near Bab el-Mandeb have opened a second front in the region's shipping crisis, pushing Brent crude briefly above $100 a barrel. With both major Middle East chokepoints now compromised, there's no end in sight, plan your fuel budgets accordingly. Plus a dangerous heat wave building across the central and southern U.S., and STXBAA's second annual aviation law seminar in Conroe.

Happy Oshkosh week, BizAv family. EAA AirVenture kicked off today at Wittman Regional under some early wildfire smoke, but it's still one of the best weeks on the aviation calendar and this week's Scissortail Brief opens with it. Beyond that: large-cabin Part 91 flying keeps declining while fractional large-cabin activity surged 13.3% in June, GPS jamming and spoofing are both up sharply and Honeywell's got a new answer for it as a freshly independent company, Embraer launched the Phenom 300EV with the largest business jet application yet of Garmin Emergency Autoland, Spain beat Argentina in the World Cup Final, and crude oil is climbing fast again as the Iran conflict reignites. Farnborough opens today too.

The NTSB's preliminary report on the June 16 Laredo crash found a fractured fuel tube and broken pressure switch in the right engine, but the left engine failure right after it is still unexplained. The Iran ceasefire collapsed after renewed strikes and attacks on Gulf shipping, sending oil from the low $70s to $75-79 a barrel and putting recent fuel price relief back in question. And we lost Senator Lindsey Graham this weekend, whose Budget Committee chairmanship is the reason 100% bonus depreciation on business aircraft is permanent law instead of a countdown to zero by 2027. Plus the Global 8000's new speed record and this week's fuel and weather outlook.

This week's Scissortail Brief covers a lot of ground. A heat dome cooked the eastern half of the country through the Fourth of July, grounding schedules with density altitude issues and a "ring of fire" storm pattern that produced thousands of delays nationwide, we share our own client-side lesson from it. Fuel dropped below $7.50 nationally for the first time since February as wholesale prices keep easing. The NTSB still hasn't published its Laredo preliminary, but new details are emerging about the crew's four-leg day before the accident. The public comment window closed on NetJets' petition to extend Global 7500 and 8000 crew duty limits, and it drew real opposition. Farnborough is two weeks out, and the World Cup knockout rounds are underway.

Fuel is down to $7.59 nationally at the FBO, with wholesale prices dropping 14.2% in a single week as the Iran MOU starts doing what it was supposed to do. The NTSB still hasn't published the Laredo preliminary report, which tells you the investigation is more complex than it might look from the outside. The FAA proposed a significant overhaul of Part 25 aircraft certification standards this week, the most consequential certification rulemaking in years. And World Cup traffic data from the opening two weeks shows the big airports absorbing the extra jets just fine while smaller host-city markets like Seattle are doubling their normal daily activity.

This week's Scissortail Brief leads with the NetJets Citation Latitude crash on Loop 20 in Laredo, which killed Capital Factory founder Joshua Baer and appears to be the first fatal accident in the history of fractional aviation. The NTSB is on site, the FDR and CVR are in Washington, and a preliminary report is expected in roughly two weeks. Also this week: the Dassault Falcon 10X flew for the first time, NetJets separately asked the FAA to extend crew duty limits on the Global 7500 and 8000 with pushback already in the docket, AeroVanti's founder was convicted on six counts of wire fraud for a $15 million membership scheme, Global Jet Capital closed a $659 million business jet securitization with 41 investors, and fuel prices are finally declining with a fragile Iran MOU providing partial Hormuz access during a 60-day negotiation window.

Late last night, the U.S. and Iran announced a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with a signing set for June 19. If it holds, it could change the fuel story we've been covering for four months straight. But wait, there's more: Flexjet bought The Jet Business and named founder Steve Varsano president, putting one of bizav's biggest social media names in charge of fleet sourcing. The FAA loosens its mental health certification policy for pilots and controllers, which is a big win for the industry. And World Cup host cities are now under PPR with FBO surcharges running 20-40% above standard rates.