<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbe1f0dac0a633ca7407746-1519/img2676.jpg" border="0" alt="Mark Mahoney" data-mce-source="The Mandrake" data-mce-caption="Mark Mahoney." /><p class="source"><span>The Mandrake</span></p><p class="caption">Mark Mahoney.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider recently sat down with the "<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/mark-mahoney-high-priest-hollywood-tattoo-artists-1003532">High Priest of Hollywood Tattoo Artists"</a> Mark Mahoney.</li><li>The tattooer recently finished a residency at <a href="https://www.themandrake.com/">The Mandrake</a> hotel in London's West End.</li><li>He told us stories of the old days when he used to tattoo Boston's bike gangs - when it was illegal at the time.</li><li>He also talked about the celebrity clientele he now surrounds himself with, including <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/david-beckham-tattoo-artist-says-he-feels-no-pain-2018-10">David Beckham</a>, Johnny Depp, and Lana Del Rey.</li><li>Mahoney might just be the most interesting tattoo artist in the world.</li></ul><p>Mark Mahoney is a man who has seen it all.</p><p>The legendary so-called "<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/mark-mahoney-high-priest-hollywood-tattoo-artists-1003532">High Priest of Hollywood Tattoo Artists"</a> started out tattooing drunk Hell's Angels in his native Boston, Massachusetts, and now counts the likes of Johnny Depp and David Beckham as friends. It's been a hell of a transition for him.</p><p>I'm catching up with Mahoney during his residency at <a href="https://www.themandrake.com/">The Mandrake</a> hotel in London's West End, where he's hosting a £500-a-ticket charity dinner and tattooed VIP clients in the lobby.</p><p>I open Mahoney's hotel room door to find his own piercing blue eyes, which have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJABBmAMXnY">immortalized by Lana Del Ray</a>, staring back at me. He's holding a can of Monster energy and wearing his trademark stand-up collar shirt and a pair of outrageous, purple, crocodile-skin monkstrap shoes.</p><p>His voice honestly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5cRxTiYxtg&amp;t=75s">has to be heard to be believed</a> - it's like it's been specifically engineered for an Al Pacino gangster flick.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbf77fe765453557158258c-1138/3t9a4244.jpeg" border="0" alt="Mark Mahoney" data-mce-source="The Mandrake" data-mce-caption="Mark Mahoney." /><p class="source"><span>The Mandrake</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As he sits down, Mahoney tells me that he recently recovered from throat cancer, which may have something to do with why he sounds like Ray Liotta after a heavy night out.</p><p>In the tattoo world, Mahoney is known as <a href="https://thelondontattooconvention.com/newsblog/the-history-of-black-and-grey/">the founding father of black-n-grey single needle art</a>, which was born out of jailhouse tattooing as prisoners often only had access to one needle (instead of the traditional five or seven needle cluster) and no colours.</p><p>"When I was a kid I'd get a box of crayons," Mark tells me, "and a couple days later the black one would be half an inch long and the colours would be untouched.</p><p>"So, the black and grey single needle style was more the way my aesthetic - the way I drew - worked."</p><p>He started tattooing in his native Boston when he was just 15, back when doing it was still illegal. His patrons weren't exactly law-abiding types anyway, mostly Hells Angels bikers.</p><blockquote class="pullquote">I get a lot of calls from prison, yeah.</blockquote><p>He got out of the east coast just in time, he tells me, as the tattooers he left behind were either getting arrested by the police or hit up by the mafia who wanted a slice of their action.</p><p>Now that every teen boy band and their mums are covered in ink, I ask Mahoney if tattoos have lost some of the outlaw appeal that once made them so enticing.</p><p>"I never thought it would be this big or this socially accepted," he says. "[Back in the day] it kind of symbolised... bikers and gangsters - those were all the people I got in the business to be around."</p><p>Mahoney still gets some of his old clientele coming into the shop, though, apparently: "I get a lot of calls from prison, yeah."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbf7d0c80538356770a32fb-1570/gettyimages-108839852.jpg" border="0" alt="Kanye West, Designer Giuseppe Zanotti and Tattoo artist Mark Mahoney attend the Giuseppe Zanotti Design Beverly Hills Store Opening cocktail reception held on February 4, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California." data-mce-source="John Sciulli / Getty Images for Giuseppe Zanotti Design" data-mce-caption="Kanye West, Designer Giuseppe Zanotti and Tattoo artist Mark Mahoney attend the Giuseppe Zanotti Design Beverly Hills Store Opening cocktail reception held on February 4, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California." /><p class="source"><span>John Sciulli / Getty Images for Giuseppe Zanotti Design</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>You would have thought painfully etching indelible ink into the backs, sides, arms, and faces of America's hardened criminals would be a daunting task, but Mahoney says he always knew it was where he was meant to be.</p><p>He tells me about a time he was setting up a tattoo for a rival biker gang's president - "He had just gotten out of jail and the club that I was working for was offering my services to this guy to kind of suck up to him."</p><p>It's winter in Boston and Mark's equipment is ice cold, he says. "I go to spray his back to prepare the thing and it's freezing so he rears up; knocks me on my a--; the whole table falls over with all my stuff.</p><p>"I'm staring up at the ceiling with the huge swastika flag [on the ceiling] and this six-foot-eight behemoth that I have to tattoo and it occurred to me like an outer body experience that, 'you could be nervous now, you should be nervous now.'</p><p>"But somehow I knew I'd always be nervous, you know, and I just wanted to be a tattooer and a good one so bad that it didn't affect me."</p><p>Mahoney's come a long way from the swastika-covered clubhouses of Massachusetts' most-feared bikers.</p><p>He moved to Long Beach, California in 1980 and lived in the same tattoo parlour that he worked in - an experience that he called "colourful, to say the least."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbf7dc22e712957995c2efb-1422/mark mahoney2018 gregorio soave-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Mark Mahoney" data-mce-source="Gregorio Soave / The Mandrake" /><p class="source"><span>Gregorio Soave / The Mandrake</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Since then he's opened his own place on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, the <a href="http://shamrocksocialclub.com/">Shamrock Social Club</a>, which attracts clients including David Beckham, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Rihanna, Adele, One Direction - the list literally goes on forever and is like a who's who of Hollywood A-listers. He also has a story about every single one.</p><p>Mahoney tells me that <a href="https://www.thisisinsider.com/david-beckham-tattoo-artist-says-he-feels-no-pain-2018-10">David Beckham is "the ultimate tattoo customer"</a> - "he picks good stuff, he's got great skin, he feels absolutely no pain."</p><p>His relationship with the soccer legend eventually led him to tattoo his eldest son, Brooklyn, an experience which he called "a real honour."</p><blockquote class="pullquote float_right">David Beckham comes to mind as the ultimate tattoo customer.</blockquote><p>"I know at 18 I was trying to do the opposite of what my dad was up to. So, I was really happy and proud to be a part of that," he said.</p><p>His closest celebrity client, though, is Johnny Depp.</p><p>Depp told <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/mark-mahoney-high-priest-hollywood-tattoo-artists-1003532">The Hollywood Reporter</a> last year that Mahoney "is amongst the finest tattoo artists to have ever plied the trade."</p><p>"I've known him since forever and I've got the ink to prove it. He's my brother," Depp said.</p><p>"We talk while he works. He once worked on my back for seven hours straight and that don't feel too good. I couldn't see a thing he was doing, but I trust him with everything I got."</p><p>While Depp was playing Irish hoodlum James "Whitey" Bulger in the 2015 film "Black Mass," Mahoney says he came into his shop on an unusually regular basis. "I think he was kind of studying my Boston accent," he says. "He got an inordinate number of tattoos that year."</p><p>Mahoney also played a small part in the film himself.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bbf7f4566fb3f582d36aef8-962/gettyimages-488419396.jpg" border="0" alt="Mark Mahoney and Nicole Mahoney attend the 'Black Mass' Boston special screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on September 15, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts." data-mce-source="Paul Marotta / Getty Images for Warner Brothers" data-mce-caption="Mark Mahoney and Nicole Mahoney attend the 'Black Mass' Boston special screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on September 15, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts." /><p class="source"><span>Paul Marotta / Getty Images for Warner Brothers</span></p><p class="caption">Mark Mahoney and Nicole Mahoney attend the 'Black Mass' Boston special screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on September 15, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Celebrities don't always come to his shop, though - sometimes he gets flown out to them.</p><p>Mahoney recalls tattooing Suge Knight in 1996, the former rap mogul who famously drove the car in which rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in, when he suddenly got invited on an impromptu trip to Chicago.</p><blockquote class="pullquote float_right">"He looked like Paul Newman in 'Hud,' but he had a huge bite mark - uppers and lowers - on his face and you could see individual teeth."</blockquote><p>"He [Knight] was like, 'Mark go pack your stuff up and come with me to Chicago,' and I was like, 'OK!' So I packed my stuff up and then me and 20 people are on a Learjet eating catfish 20 minutes later, it was great!"</p><p>Mahoney doesn't strike me as a man who's ever been afraid to take a risk, which is reinforced by another anecdote he tells me about a handsome Texan.</p><p>Apparently, the man was going from shop to shop asking for a tattoo on his face, but no one would do it. "He looked like Paul Newman in 'Hud,'" Mark says, "but he had a huge bite mark - uppers and lowers - on his face and you could see individual teeth.</p><p>"He wanted a kiss in between it - some kind of Texas bar room, comedy and tragedy - and everybody had said no.</p><p>"I was like, 'S--- that's a great idea! I'd love to do that, what's the matter with you?"</p><p>Speaking to Mahoney, it's easy to see why he's captured the imagination of so many fellow artists - he's the spellbinding character that actors try to replicate; the rogue that musicians make their muse. He's just really cool.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/mark-mahoney-high-priest-hollywood-tattoo-artists-1003532">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, the magician David Blaine, who once received a tattoo across his back from Mahoney over the course of 24 hours, said: "When Mark tattoos, you are not actually aware of the needle; instead you are entranced by the piercing of his eyes, which is always complemented by an incredible conversation."</p><p>In this sense, Mahoney may be the perfect tattoo artist: Here is a man so intensely interesting, who has lived so many lives and met so many people, that you don't actually realise you're being inked at all.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paris-motor-show-2018-first-look-at-the-new-bugatti-divo-2018-10">A first look at the new $5.7 million Bugatti Divo from the Paris Motor Show 2018</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/PncPwT7m-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Meet the 'High Priest of Hollywood Tattoo Artists,' who started out illegally tattooing bike gangs and now calls Johnny Depp 'brother'

<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55525ea66da811390dfe49d6-1200-924/mad men don.jpg" border="0" alt="mad men don"><p class="source"><span>Frank Ockenfels/AMC</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Warning: Spoilers ahead (if you're not caught up on season 7)</span></strong></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>After seven seasons on the air, </span>this Sunday marks the final episode of AMC's hit show "Mad Men."</span></p><p class="p1">If you haven't been keeping up with the current season, here's the key points you need to know before watching the finale.</p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">1. <strong>Sterling Cooper &amp; Partners is no more.</strong></span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55525b6eeab8ea18202ccbf8-972-560/mad men office.jpg" border="0" alt="mad men office"><p class="source"><span>AMC/"Mad Men"</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The advertising agency that housed the talented and very sought-after creative director Don Draper was finally <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mad-men-season-7-mccann-erickson-2015-4">absorbed by its parent company</a>, McCann Erickson, a few episodes ago. When the partners revealed the news to the SC&amp;P staff, Draper announced "this is just the beginning." </span></span></p><p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But everyone could see that things would never be the same, and soon Don would too. </span></span></p><p class="p2"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">2. Joan has left McCann Erickson after being sexually harassed. </span></strong></p><p class="p2"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5547c2d66bb3f7480533ba2b-1200-861/mad men-6.jpg" border="0" alt="Mad Men Joan Episode Lost Horizon"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.amctv.com/mad-men/videos/talked-about-scene-episode-712-mad-men-lost-horizon">"Mad Men"/AMC</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Out of all the SC&amp;P partners, Joan Holloway had the hardest transition moving to McCann Erickson. In fact, she quickly learned that her status at SC&amp;P didn't mean squat. First, she was talked down to by a male junior member on her team. Then she was hit on by one of the executives at the company. </span></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But Joan finally realized where she stood in the company when her chat with McCann Erickson's head honcho, Jim Hobart, ended with her threatening to get <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mad-men-season-7-joan-exits-2015-5%20">the ACLU involved</a> for sexism in the work place. When it was all said and done, she never reported the company and agreed to leave with only half the money it owed her.  </span></p><p class="p2"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">3. Peggy has turned over a new leaf.</span></strong></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55525aac6bb3f7ee2cbaac28-1200-706/c25935e9-22dd-ec07-aca9-c3011cd09083_mm 712 peggy entrance.jpg" border="0" alt="c25935e9 22dd ec07 aca9 c3011cd09083_MM 712 Peggy entrance"><p class="source"><span>AMC/"Mad Men"</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">As Joan was fighting the boys club at McCann Erickson, Peggy Olson was just trying to get in the door. At first the company thought she was a secretary. But Peggy stood her ground and stayed in the SC&amp;P offices until she finally was told that McCann Erickson had an office for her. But in those final hours at SC&amp;P she had a heart-to-heart with Roger Sterling. And through that she realized that going to McCann Erickson can be a new chapter in her career. A place where no one knows her past and she can create an edgy, no-nonsense persona. </span></span></p><p class="p2"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">4. Peter and Trudy are staring over.</span></strong></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55525a886bb3f78e25baac2b-1200-800/a7ba03c5-c998-94db-f967-9396aa8ee7ef_mm_713_jm_0602_1017.jpg" border="0" alt="a7ba03c5 c998 94db f967 9396aa8ee7ef_MM_713_JM_0602_1017"><p class="source"><span>Justina Mintz/AMC/"Mad Men"</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On last week's episode, Pete Campbell stumbles into a job opportunity at Learjet. This makes him think about the future, which would mean leaving New York. When he gets a serious offer, he decides to profess to his ex-wife Trudy that he still has feelings for her and wants her and their daughter to come with him to Wichita if he accepts the job. Following an emotional pre-dawn heart-to-heart, the two decide to give it another shot. </span></span></p><p class="p2"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">5. Betty has cancer.</span></strong></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5552625d6bb3f723718b8d49-1200-706/ae65bf2c-1ca8-ada8-d7b2-76ac1663f649_mm713-17.jpg" border="0" alt="ae65bf2c 1ca8 ada8 d7b2 76ac1663f649_MM713 17"><p class="source"><span>AMC/"Mad Men"</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">One of the most shocking developments from these final episodes is the reveal that Betty <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mad-men-season-7-betty-sick-2015-5">has lung cancer</a>. She learned about it after injuring herself falling on stairs at the school where she's taking psychology classes. The diagnosis is not good. The cancer is terminal and the doctor believes she has a year left to live, at the most. But Betty is staying strong about the news. She refuses to undergo treatment, and plans to continue taking classes and living her final months to the fullest. </span></p><p class="p2"><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">6. Don is on the road.</span></strong></p><p class="p2"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55525a63eab8ea3a1e2ccbf9-1200-800/9374868a-94fa-1644-73ad-78e7f271c095_mm_713_jm_0616_0201.jpg" border="0" alt="9374868a 94fa 1644 73ad 78e7f271c095_MM_713_JM_0616_0201"><p class="source"><span>Justin Mintz/AMC/"Mad Men"</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">What will more than likely be the main focus of the final episode is the journey Don is currently on. He quickly realized McCann Erickson wasn't for him after sitting in on a pitch meeting for Miller Beer with a table full of the McCann Erickson creative team. Seeing he was just a fish in a large pond, he walked out of the meeting and has been driving across the country ever since. He first tried to track down <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mad-men-premiere-rachel-katz-death-2015-4">the waitress</a> he'd been sleeping with for the last half of the season. When he couldn't track her down, he began driving west. He's even told people that he "used to be in advertising." Last we saw him, he gave up his car to a kid he recently met and sat alone at the side of the road.</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-stars-mad-men-have-changed-since-2007-jon-hamm-2015-3">How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9odTdhdDqT_JxDAn700pnGdn3YePsC7x" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '9odTdhdDqT_JxDAn700pnGdn3YePsC7x',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

6 things you need to know before Sunday's final episode of 'Mad Men'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/563226d2bd86ef1b008c5a34-2918-2189/20150527_ftv5_nuit_hr-151663_en.jpg" alt="Bombardier C Series" data-mce-source="Bombardier" /><p class="source"><span>Bombardier</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Bombardier was "overwhelmed" by its development programs, the company's chief executive said after the jet and train maker announced a massive write down.<br /><br />The company is taking a $4.4 billion charge, mostly related to its larger C-Series jet, which is meant to compete with Boeing's 737 and Airbus' A320 in the medium-range airliner market. <br /><br />That jet, which Bombardier decided it would build in 2004, has been beset by cost overruns and delays. More than a decade after it was conceived, the aircraft still isn't in commercial service. <br /><br />The company reported a loss of $4.9 billion for the quarter. The writedown includes a $1.2 billion charge for the Lear85 project, which the company has canceled. Bombardier also confirmed reports that the Quebec Government will inject $1 billion into the C-Series program. </p><p>During the third-quarter earnings call, one analyst asked just how the company got to this point financially. </p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"It's not as bad as people think," Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare said. " We had multiple development programs running concurrently and that was challenging for the company. The company was overwhelmed."</span></p><p>The CEO added that most of those programs are either complete, near completion or have been cancelled. <br /><br />The C-Series is an inflection point. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bombardier-stock-falls-after-fitch-gives-it-a-negative-outlook-1.3190312">Ratings agencies</a> have been worried about its drain on Bombardier's cash, and the shares have collapsed this year.</p><p>"Bombardier needs to the get the plane into service, prove that it is successful and generate more demand if it wants to correct its cash flow shortage," said Moody's analyst Darren Kirk, before Thursday's results. </p><p>According to Bombardier, the C-Series program is expected to be cash flow positive around 2020, but will also require an additional $2 billion to get there. </p><h3>Not fast enough</h3><p>With the jet scheduled to enter service next year, the company has <a href="http://www.bombardier.com/content/dam/Websites/bombardiercom/supporting-documents/BA/Bombardier-Aerospace-20150630-CSeries-Program-Status-en.pdf" target="_blank">243 firm orders</a> on the books.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/562edef7bd86ef175c8b9da0-4608-3456/rtx1gffs.jpg" alt="Bombardier C Series CS100" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol</span></p><p class="caption">Bombardier vice president Ross Mitchell, right, in the cockpit of the CS300.</p></div><p></p></div></div>But the concern is that those orders aren't coming fast enough. A whole year has come and gone since the last time Bombardier announced a new buyer for the C-Series, and one of its largest buyers so far, Republic Airways, could be about to bolt.</p><p>Republic, which originally <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/18/is-bombardiers-brand-new-cseries-jet-doomed.aspx" target="_blank">ordered the plane for its now sold Frontier subsidiary</a>, has said it is considering backing off from <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/shares-in-republic-airways-sink-on-earnings-warning-reduced-flying-time-outlook/article25723312/" target="_blank">its commitment</a> to the aircraft amid a slowdown in its own business. <br /><br />"The Republic Airways planes are never going to be delivered to Republic," Airways News senior business analyst Vinay Bhaskara said in an interview ahead of the results.</p><p>In June, Bombardier flew both the CS100 and the larger CS300 to the Paris Air Show. The planes arrived at Le Bourget airport with great fanfare, but left without booking a single new order.</p><p>The painful thing for Bombardier is that there's nothing wrong with the airplane. In fact, the C-Series has garnered generally positive reviews.</p><p>"The CS300 kills the Boeing 737 Max 7 and the Airbus A319neo in terms of ability and efficiency," Bhaskara said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Bombardier" title_caption="Bombardier CS300 in Republic Airways livery." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/562ee11fbd86ef195c8b9c3d-960/bombardier cs300 republic airways.jpeg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/562ee11fbd86ef195c8b9c3d-2798-2098/bombardier cs300 republic airways.jpeg" alt="Bombardier CS300 Republic Airways" data-mce-source="Bombardier" /></a><p class="source"><span>Bombardier</span></p><p class="caption">Bombardier CS300 in Republic Airways livery.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>At the Paris Air Show, aircraft leasing company, Air Lease Corp.'s president and CEO John Plueger told <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/the-next-new-airplane-the-bombardier-cseries-finally-arrives-and-waits-for-sales/" target="_blank">The Seattle Times</a> that it's not enough for people to like the plane because what Bombardier needs are orders.</p><p>It's a stark contrast to Bombardier's other aircraft. The company's CRJ-Series regional jets are among the most in-demand aircraft of its type with nearly 2,000 examples in service. Its Q-Series turboprop airliner is a staple of regional airlines around the world with more than 1,000 of the planes in service. That's on top of the company's iconic Challenger, Global, and Learjet families of private jets.</p><p>Part of the problem is that the C-Series is tapping a part of the market that the world's largest aircraft makers have deemed unworthy because of thin profits. Boeing and Airbus both discontinued their regional jets, the 737-600 and A318.</p><p>All may not be lost.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55d603b89dd7cc21008b4ad5-4608-3456/rtx1gln2.jpg" alt="Bombardier CS300 Paris" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol</span></p><p class="caption">Bombardier C-Series at the Paris Air Show.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Analysts such as Bhaskara predict room for as many as 2,500 planes in the 100- to 150-seat jet category, and Bloomberg recently reported that Bombardier is in talks about a possible order with JetBlue Airways.</p><p>Another major buyer, according to Bloomberg, could be United Airlines, which told pilots it plans to order small jetliners, Bloomberg also reports.</p><p>There's also room for the C-Series to recover as the older Boeing and Airbus aircraft are phased out and need to be replaced, said Tom Capital, Deloitte's vice chairman and head of global aerospace and defense.</p><p>Boeing and Airbus are focusing on larger aircraft with longer range," Captain said. "<span class="s1">This has left an opening for others such as Bombardier to come in with new and efficient equipment."</span></p><p>The trick for Bombardier now is to turn that optimism into actual orders. And fast.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tour-66-million-dollar-gulfstream-g650er-private-jet-2015-7">Take a tour of the $66.5 million private jet that everyone is waiting for </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hla2Eydjqca1c6k1LAeUWISDsiKHVDU-" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'hla2Eydjqca1c6k1LAeUWISDsiKHVDU-',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Bombardier CEO: We were overwhelmed

<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/51929ae8eab8eae27800000d-1200-800/168745236.jpg" border="0" alt="X-47B Drone Launch from carrier"><span class="source"><span>via US Navy</span></span><span class="caption">Sailors move an X-47B onto an aircraft elevator aboard the USS George H.W. Bush on May 14, 2013.</span></img></span><p></p></span></span>The Navy is trying to build a next-generation super-drone that it can launch from an aircraft carrier and refuel in mid-air.</p>
<p>In the first quarter of 2015, the US Navy will pick a winner from among the four <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> contractors asked to design a version of the aircraft.</p>
<p>According to a rundown of <a href="http://www.navy.mil/strategic/NPG14_CHINFO_Web_7Mar14.pdf">Navy programs</a>, four to eight units of the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) will be brought into participating carrier air wings, "enabling a single carrier to conduct '24/7' [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance], targeting, strike, and bomb damage assessment operations."</p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Unmanned aircraft come with significant advantages over their piloted relatives.&#xa0;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Drones don't suffer from pilot fatigue, making fuel their only flight limitation. And Northrop Grumman is looking to solve that with in-flight refueling capabilities for its candidate, the X-47B.</span></p>
<p>The contractor ran successful <a href="http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/us-navy-begins-unmanned-refuelling-trials-390454/">trials</a>&#xa0; of the X-47B last August and September, using a manned Learjet 25B on autopilot as a stand-in which was fueled in flight by a Boeing 707. The trial was a proof of concept, but mid-air refueling tests involving an actual X-47B may come as early as <a href="http://news.usni.org/2014/12/09/navy-test-aerial-refueling-x-47b-2015">next year</a>. Two units of the prototype -&#xa0;called Salty Dog 501 and Salty Dog 502 - are already in use in another Navy program, and one of them is equipped with a mid-air refueling capability.</p>
<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5192974669bedd2872000003-1200-800/168745245.jpg" border="0" alt="X-47B initial launch carrier" style="color: #000000;"><span class="source"><span>via US Navy</span></span><span class="caption">The X-47B.</span></img></span><p></p></span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Separately, DARPA, the Pentagon's technological research arm, has even tested flights between </span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19871063">two drones</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&#xa0;flying&#xa0;close enough to allow for refueling.</span></p>
<p>UCLASS will likely be able to leave its carrier for more time, and cover greater distances than manned alternatives. In a 2008 <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;ved=0CCcQFjAB&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.csbaonline.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F02%2FThe-Case-for-A-Carrier-Based-Unmanned-Combat-Air-System.pdf&amp;ei=3-2JVIijNfDgsASA74HABA&amp;usg=AFQjCNG4zDm6Z39LexHhA_8TG_sl_mG3lg&amp;bvm=bv.81456516,d.cWc">report</a> that strongly recommends carrier-based drone development, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments states that "with aerial refueling, a [combat drone] would be able to stay airborne for 50 to 100 hours - five to ten times longer than a manned aircraft."</p>
<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/51642eaceab8ea6c1700000b-941-706/uclass.jpg" border="0" alt="UCLASS Skunkworks Drone Prototype" style="color: #000000;"><span class="source"><span><a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/content/dam/lockheed/data/aero/photos/Uclass%20updates/UCLASS%20Litho.pdf">Lockheed Martin</a></span></span><span class="caption">Lockheed Martin's UCLASS candidate, a concept that "integrates proven technologies from F-35C, RQ-170 Sentinel and other operational systems".</span></img></span><p></p></span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">D</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">rones might also make safer landings. Landing a plane on an aircraft carrier is routinized but still incredibly dangerous, with Sam LaGrone </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/shipshape/several-reasons-why-aircraft-carriers-are-super-dangerous">noting in Popular Science</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> that "combat losses are tiny compared to the number lost in just attempting to take off and land on a carrier."</span></p>
<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5489da83eab8ea47462f9999-1200-800/drone%20control%20shadow%20afghanistan.jpg" border="0" alt="Drone Control Shadow Afghanistan"><span class="source"><span>Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images</span></span><span class="caption">A US Army soldier monitors a Shadow surveillance drone from a control room at Forward Operating Base Shank on May 8, 2013 in Logar Province, Afghanistan. The drone can stay aloft for 6 hours.</span></img></span><p></p></span></span>It might be safer to entrust more and more of naval aviation to robots, especially for missions that are less reliant on the human element. The X-47B achieved its first carrier <a href="http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=75298">landing</a> last year, and its first takeoff and landing in "rapid succession" in August.</p>
<p>The goal is to make the X-47B <a href="http://www.wired.com/2011/04/navy-wants-mouse-click-flying-for-its-carrier-based-drone/">truly unmanned</a>, with commands given through simple mouse clicks rather than the joystick used to control much smaller, land-based drones. &#xa0; &#xa0;&#xa0;</p>
<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5489dc76ecad047f5276a409-840-560/boeing%20phantom%20ray.jpg" border="0" alt="Boeing Phantom Ray"><span class="source"><span><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20291&amp;item=1493">Boeing</a></span></span><span class="caption">Boeing's Phantom Ray, another UCLASS candidate.</span></img></span><p></p></span></span>Drones also call for way fewer manhours of training, which allows the Navy to conserve its resources. According to <a href="http://warontherocks.com/2014/10/to-save-money-go-unmanned/">War on the Rocks</a>, "fewer flying hours equates to direct savings in fuel and maintenance costs, but also fewer aircraft needed for training, reducing procurement costs."</p>
<p>Despite these advantages, the UCLASS probably won't serve an active combat role. Some Pentagon and Navy officials want the drone limited to an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) function as opposed to using it for strikes in hostile airspace.</p>
<p>"The challenges of developing a trio of high dollar warplanes at once [the UCLASS, the F-35, and the <a href="http://news.usni.org/tag/fa-xx">F/A-XX</a>] and the latent cultural resistance to unmanned strike aircraft in naval aviation circles made an ISR centric UCLASS" easier to swallow for the Navy, according to sources who spoke with the <a href="http://news.usni.org/2014/07/31/uclass-requirements-shifted-preserve-navys-next-generation-fighter">US Naval Institute</a>.</p>

The Navy Is Developing A Next-Generation Drone That Can Land On Aircraft Carriers

34. The Legend of the Atari Burial

<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5466627decad047e656c845b-1200-924/tesla-motors-inc-ceo-elon-musk-unveils-a-new-all-wheel-drive-version-of-the-model-s-car-in-hawthorne-california-october-9-2014-6.jpg" border="0" alt="Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk unveils a new all-wheel-drive version of the Model S car in Hawthorne, California October 9, 2014. "><p class="source"><span><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C04WNME3EJLV&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1255&amp;RH=809">Reuters/Lucy Nicholson</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>"We're not quite ready to make a big announcement on the cell and battery gigafactory, but we are exploring a lot of different options right now," Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk told investors during his company's quarterly earnings call last November. "If I were to guess, I think we would do that, that soup-to-nuts gigafactory…that factory would most likely be in North America, but we are investigating other options as well."</span></p>
<p class="p3">Behind the scenes, as Musk uttered those words, there were seven states scrambling to submit proposals to host Tesla's "gigafactory," the ambitious manufacturing facility required to build the batteries in Tesla's electric cars for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p class="p3">According to Fortune's Peter Elkind, who published the <a href="http://fortune.com/inside-elon-musks-billion-dollar-gigafactory/">incredible in-depth story</a> on how Musk manipulated several states into bidding on his massive plant powered completely by renewable energy, Musk lured business recruiters from each state by charming them, inviting them to test drive the Model S, restricting their abilities to take notes during his pitches, and then forcing them to submit their proposals in just three weeks' time.</p>
<p class="p3">Once Tesla received all the proposals from the states - including California, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona - Musk informed the states Tesla would make a business decision in "one to two weeks," but kept them waiting for over a month.</p>
<p class="p3">Keeping the states' officials in the dark was part of Musk's strategy. Joey Grisham, president of an economic development corporation in Texas, says he didn't even know who he was courting; Tesla was only identified as a "publicly traded high tech company."</p>
<p class="p3">But states were aware of the competition between them- and there was even in-state competition. For example, Grisham says he had heard of rumors of Ross Perot Jr. personally pitching a few different sites to Musk. Eventually, Tesla sent "a team of company executives and financial experts" to show a PowerPoint presentation comparing Grisham's proposed area versus "The Competition," keeping that leading prospect unnamed. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54666357ecad0449666c845e-1200-924/elon-musk-tesla-86.jpg" border="0" alt="Elon Musk Tesla" style="font-size: 15px;"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Paul Sakuma</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p class="p3">This forced Grisham, and other states, to negotiate with Tesla in the dark.</p>
<p class="p3">"As you can tell, we want you in Hutto!" Grisham wrote to the Tesla team after the presentation. "I believe Tesla fits the Austin region and we will do EVERYTHING in our power to help make that a reality!"</p>
<p class="p3">Other states tried to seduce Tesla: Nevada chartered a 10-passenger Learjet for $10,000, offering to pick up Tesla's team in California and show them around the state. Tesla agreed to the jet, but "an emergency call halted it" as the plane was taxiing toward the runway. Tesla's team took a commercial plane to Nevada, instead.</p>
<p class="p3">After narrowing down the list to Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, Musk upped the ante. Now he didn't just want 90 acres; he wanted 1,000. This forced all the contenders to become super aggressive, offering to provide massive amounts of energy until the gigafactory could run on its own renewable fuels. Even California, which had been eliminated from contention, "begged Tesla to reconsider, promising to come up with a sweet offer and expedite the dreaded environmental reviews."</p>
<p class="p3">Tesla kept asking for more: free land, a 25% electricity discount, and "zero taxes of any sort for 20 years." In the meantime, Musk was bluffing on earnings calls, saying Tesla planned to break ground on "multiple" gigafactory sites. This forced states to redouble their efforts as they believed they were approaching a deal with the company.</p>
<p class="p3"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54666323ecad0485616c8462-1200-924/nevadamap002.jpg" border="0" alt="nevada_map_002"><p class="source"><span>Nevada Department of Transportation</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>In a dazzling act of manpower, Nevada convinced Tesla it would be "the bride." With Tesla's money and Nevada's planners, the state summoned "an armada of 200 earthmovers and graders" to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on the thousand-acre site, displacing more than 3 million cubic yards of dirt in the process. It even had drones flying overhead to take photos and video showing how the project was progressing. State officials later called it a "biblical" show of force.</p>
<p class="p3">But just as Nevada was about to close the deal, Musk once again upped his demands. He asked for $500 million in cash, instead of some of the tax breaks for electricity. It's unclear why he changed his mind, but it may have had to do with a deal struck days prior, when the state of Tennessee announced it would give $230 million to Volkswagen to help it build a $600 million plant in Chattanooga. But Nevada, with a budget of $6.5 billion, put everything on halt, sending its 240 construction workers home, and walking away from the deal.</p>
<p class="p3">In the ensuing earnings call in July, Musk told analysts it had indeed broken ground in Nevada, but said "the ball is in the court of the governor and the state legislature."</p>
<p class="p3">Other states kept pitching Tesla in the meantime: Texas Gov. Rick Perry drove a Tesla up to Sacramento to show he was serious about fighting for the factory; the mayor of Tuscon, Ariz., sent a building permit "good for a $3 billion, 5-million-square-foot building at an Arizona address 'to be determined.'"<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p class="p3">But even as the posturing ensued, and Nevada became unsure of its position, Tesla couldn't find any other takers at the $500 million in cash asking price, so it finalized the deal. Tesla would get 980 acres, which were level thanks to the previous groundbreaking effort. The state would pay to extend US Route 50, a major highway, to reach the four-lane road leading to the industrial park, and Tesla would receive $1.1 billion in abatements, including 20 years without having to pay a sales tax on equipment and construction materials, 10 years without property taxes, and a 10-year break on payroll taxes. And it would also receive $8 million in electricity discounts.</p>
<p class="p3">In return, Tesla agreed to give $37.5 million to local public schools in Nevada starting in 2018, donate $1 million to battery research at the University of Nevada, and wait for its subsidies to kick in only after the company reached its targets for job creation and investment. </p>
<p class="p3">With all of those subsidies and abatements - as well as a final $195 million in transferable tax credits and the $113 million in highway funds - Nevada's total tally for landing Tesla was a whopping $1.4 billion.</p>
<p class="p3">The deal was done in August, but other states didn't know Tesla had made its choice until Labor Day.</p>
<p class="p3">You can <a href="http://fortune.com/inside-elon-musks-billion-dollar-gigafactory/">visit Fortune</a> to learn more about this story.</p>

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