Flying high in the friendly skies.

IF FORMER LITTLE ROCK LAWYER GENE Cauley was looking for a stylish way to burn through money while traveling from Point A to Point B for business or pleasure, few would quibble with his decision to buy a 2004 Gulfstream G450. This sleek jet carries a 22-passenger payload backed by twin Rolls Royce Tay Mark 611-8C turbo-fan engines, each capable of delivering 13,849 pounds of thrust.

With a range of 4,350 nautical miles at .80 mach, "that's Dallas to Paris on a hot day with eight passengers aboard," the promo boys at Gulfstream Aerospace point out with an approving nod.

"G450 owners, operators, pilots and passengers familiar with the G400 will immediately see and feel the difference provided by the extra 12 inches in the fuselage and changes in the interior arrangement.

"Inside the cockpit, the flight crew will discover a working environment designed for safety and efficiency with the state-of-the-art PlaneView cockpit, a fully integrated flight deck that is more advanced than anything found on competing aircraft."

His thriving class-action securities practice provided the financial juice to power ownership of the Gulfstream. The aircraft wasn't Cauley's first.

Before upgrading to the G450, Cauley owned a Hawker Beechcraft 800 that ferried him around the country.

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But the money machine that fed his high-flying ways slowed during the past two years and cashflow problem became manifest among his holdings, including the G450.

Little Rock's Central Flying Service Inc. filed a $107,888 lien claim against Cauley's OAC Air LLC, which owned the aircraft. The fixed-base operator had to write off more than $76,000 in unpaid fuel bills that OAC Air amassed between November 2008 and April 2009.

Repayment of fuel isn't covered by Arkansas lien laws, but the jet's outstanding monthly hangar fees of $4,512 and an assortment of service work are.

Central Flying Service was able to recover more than $28,000 from Wachovia Financial Services Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., before the lender could take possession of the aircraft in June and fly the jet to its new home: the Cahokia/St. Louis Airport in Illinois.

Still unsettled, however, is a $234,016.63. business tax bill owed by a similarly named Cauley entity, OAC Air II LLC. It was the largest business tax delinquency in Pulaski County when the treasurer's office closed the books on tax year 2008 after the deadline for payment passed on Oct. 13.