The Senate Thursday followed the House and approved a stop-gap funding measure that will carry the FAA through February 17 at current funding levels. The temporary measure provides funds through airport taxes and precedes another vote on long-term funding which is expected to take place in February. The temporary measure is the 23rd of its kind and it replaces another that was set to expire on January 31. The last long-term FAA reauthorization bill expired in 2007. For two weeks in 2011, Congress failed to provide either temporary or long term authorization for the FAA leading the agency to temporarily furlough thousands of workers and possibly tens of thousands of contractors. Current reports suggest lawmakers are optimistic they can reach an agreement prior to the new February 17 deadline.
In his court room appearances, Colton Harris-Moore, the late-teen who stole five airplanes as part of a two-year crime spree, appeared to be remorseful, but he saved his self-praise and color commentary for later, according to new reports. Emails Harris-Moore sent from prison were monitored by authorities and detailed in a memorandum filed by federal prosecutors ahead of a hearing scheduled to take place in a Seattle court, Friday, January 27. According to that document, the young man referred to police and the prosecution as "fools" and "swine" among more colorful language. Harris-Moore's attorney argues the clips are representative of isolated emotions cherry-picked from personal correspondence to negatively impact her client. As released, the emails appear to show the young thief had a distinctly more positive opinion of himself and, specifically, of his piloting abilities.
The possibility of an increase in the maximum weight for LSAs is being bandied about at the FAA. How much should an LSA weigh?Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb readers about crosswind landings: Do you crab or slip? Click through to see the breakdown of answers.
The Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS pilots, this week filed a court statement challenging the FAA's decision to exclude cargo operators from new pilot fatigue and rest rules. IPA called the FAA's decision "arbitrary and capricious, lacking in substantial evidence in the record or otherwise not in accordance with law." IPA says the FAA failed to provide an opportunity for affected or interested parties to review and comment on the cost-benefit calculations that drove its decision and ignored essential factors specific to cargo carriers. The court has ordered the FAA to respond.
Delta, Qantas and Air Canada reportedly were among operators that chose to alter routes Tuesday and Wednesday to avoid potential disruptions caused by the most powerful solar storm to hit earth since 2003. Some flights originally scheduled to fly transpolar routes were re-routed south, adding to flight times but reducing the risk of disruption to high-frequency radio communication used along the routes. The storms cause fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field, and high frequency radios and other systems are susceptible to the interference. The re-routing was a precaution that not all carriers chose to take.
The CAFE Foundation has announced the dates for this year's 6th annual Electric Aircraft Symposium, which will be held April 27 and 28 in Santa Rosa, Calif. The event focuses on practical knowledge and updates for electric aircraft builders. Speakers at the event will include representatives from Pipistrel, the winner of last year's $1.35 million Green Flight Challenge, as well as experts on electric batteries, UAVs, ultra-quiet liftoff technology, and new developments in electric LSAs. CAFE also will announce the details of a new Green Flight Challenge at the event. Online registration is open now.
There's a new eye in the sky over Tulsa these days, and it's keeping an eye on things for the local sheriff's office for about 10 percent of the cost of a helicopter. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with Roger Crow of Echo Flight Resources about the Flight Design CTLE law-enforcement platform based on a light sport aircraft.
For the 23rd time since 2007, the U.S. House on Tuesday passed a short-term extension to the FAA's funding -- but it appears that a more permanent solution is imminent. Leaders in the House and Senate have reportedly worked out their differences and are ready to agree to a long-term funding plan. This week's extension gives them until Feb. 17 to work out the details. One of the thorniest points of contention, about labor rules, has been settled, with a provision that requires 50 percent of airline employees to favor a union before a union election is called, according to The Hill. The House and Senate also still have to work out the actual funding -- the House wants to approve just $14.8 billion, 15 percent below the Senate's $17.4 billion, for four years of operations, according to Business Week.
The NTSB said this week it has completed the data-collection phase for a study on the safety of Experimental-Amateur Built aircraft. The study aims to "give the innovators and aviators in the community information about accidents that will result in a real and immediate safety payoff for them when they are flying these aircraft," said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman. NTSB investigators conducted in-depth investigations of 222 E-AB aircraft accidents that occurred during 2011. More than half of the accidents involved E-AB aircraft that were bought used, as opposed to having been built by the current owner, the NTSB said. Sixty-seven people died in 54 of the accidents.
click for photosA new art exhibit that uses discarded airplanes as canvases opens this weekend at Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz., and on Monday curators released more photos of the transformed aircraft. Click here for an AVweb story about the show, click here to go to the museum website, and click here for a gallery of the newly released photos.
The tailhook might seem like a mature bit of technology for airplanes -- it's been in use for more than 100 years -- but Lockheed Martin is finding it a challenge to get the tailhook to work right on its high-tech F-35C Joint Strike Fighter stealth aircraft. A recent Defense Department report (PDF) about the test program said that during simulated carrier landings at Lakehurst, N.J., last year, the test aircraft "could not engage the arrestment cable. … Resolution of these deficiencies is needed for testing to support F-35C ship trials in late 2013." A Lockheed official, Tom Burbage, told the NavyTimes that a new design for the tailhook is already in the works and will be tested at Lakehurst in the second quarter of this year, with plenty of time to iron out the problem before sea trials begin.
Wings, the classic 1927 film about World War I pilots, is available on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, as of this week. The film, which won the first-ever Academy Award for "Best Picture," has been "meticulously restored," according to Paramount Home Entertainment. "Featuring groundbreaking aerial dogfights and epic battle sequences, Wings is both a cinematic spectacle and a compelling story of love and sacrifice," says PHE. New techniques were developed to capture a "sense of authenticity" in the dogfight sequences, PHE says. The film was one of the first in which the actors actually flew in real airplanes. For the new release, digital techniques were used to restore the film frame by frame, and the original score has been freshly recorded with a full orchestra. Sound effects were re-created by Skywalker Sound.
Twenty Airbus A380s must undergo inspections to check for cracks in the rib feet -- metal brackets that attach the wing ribs to the skin -- the European Aviation Safety Agency said in a directive (PDF) published on Friday. Cracks were previously found that originate in the ribs and extend to the skin panel attachment holes, EASA said, and inspectors who were checking for those cracks then found a "new form of rib foot cracking… [that] is more significant." These "Type 2" cracks, if not detected and corrected, "could potentially affect the structural integrity of the aeroplane," EASA said. Results of the inspections must be reported to Airbus. EASA added that it is continuing to investigate the problem, and further mandatory actions might be considered.
One of the most popular kitbuilt light sport aircraft is the Vans RV-12. Ken Scott took AVweb through the airplane at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida.
The common wisdom in aviation is that air conditioning is heavy. Corbi Aviation has proven that effective air conditioning can come in a package that's light enough (22-35 pounds, depending on application) to use in light sport aircraft. The system was on display at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida.
Whitted Ground:"N12345, clear of the active, taxi to the Hangar Restaurant."N12345:"345 cleared to the restaurant via 'Bravo.'"Whitted Ground:"They're featuring five dollar hamburgers today."N12345:"Five dollars? I thought it was a hundred-dollar hamburger!"Whitted Ground:"For you, it's a hundred dollars. For me, it's five dollars."Michael J. McCarthyvia e-mail
>>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $5.74 (up 2¢ from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $5.51 (up 3¢ from last week)Fuel prices provided weekly by AirNav, based on prices from the past 2 weeks. Changes are relative to last week's prices. /TEXT_ONLY-->Our latest "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Bighorn Airways at Sheridan County Airport (KSHR) in Sheridan, Wyoming.AVweb reader Nick Tarasiuk recommended the FBO:We arrived here on January 14, a cold windy night, [and] were guided in and greeted and tied down by Isaiah Bothamley. He pointed out an electrical outlet that we could use to keep our engine warm, then called a shuttle out to pick us up and take us to a nearby Holiday Inn hotel. He let us know that this particular hotel had special rates for Bighorn and got us an incredible rate. In the morning, when we arrived at the FBO, our aircraft had been serviced and was ready to go. All this was done with friendly smiles from everyone. Great job!Keep those nominations coming. For complete contest rules, click here.AVweb is actively seeking out the best FBOs in the country and another one, submitted by you, will be spotlighted here next Monday!
Most light sport aircraft are made in Eastern Europe, but there's a slight trend to bring these airplanes to the U.S. for manufacture. One of the companies at the fore of that trend is Allegro. At the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, AVweb talked to the company about its plans.
A compromise on an arcane bit of labor law will likely result in a long-term reauthorization bill approval in the next month or so. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) have struck a deal that will require a public hearing if the National Mediation Board wants to make changes to the Railway Act to make it easier for airline employees to unionize. The Washington Post's explanation is here.
A Charlotte company has developed a lightweight air conditioning system that could find applications in a broad range of light aircraft. Corbi Air President Ron Corbi said that when he started flying the Alto Light Sport aircraft his company represents, he immediately recognized the need. "I wanted air conditioning and I was told it wasn't available so I decided to find it myself," he told AVweb. The answer came from a Colorado company that put together a 22-pound system that will fit most light sport and experimental aircraft.
click for photosSport Aviation Expo officials say this year's show has set attendance records. Although no figures were released, sunshine and warm temperatures in Sebring drew significant crowds. At least one exhibitor reported brisk sales. Renegade Aircraft said it sold at least three aircraft at the show. The weather also boosted fly-in traffic and the normally sleepy central Florida airport was among the nation's busiest for a couple of hours on Saturday.
Weight increases for light sport aircraft may be intended to allow for the installation of safety equipment, like ballistic parachutes, without affecting payload. Whether the weight increase will open legacy trainers like the Cessna 150 and 152 to be included in the category, as many people have suggested since the category was created in 2008, is not clear. In a podcast interview at Light Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla., Dan Johnson, president of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA), told AVweb the weight increase proposal, which is at the earliest stage of internal discussions at the FAA, may be compensation for a joint proposal by EAA and AOPA to the FAA to relax medical requirements for pilots of certified aircraft with no more than 180 horsepower. Many in the light sport sector were surprised and angered by the proposal when it was announced last fall, particularly because there was a lack of consultation, Johnson said. The weight increase idea could be a sign that respect for light sport is growing, Johnson said.
A joint initiative by EAA and AOPA to convince the FAA to offer medical certificate exemptions for certain limited GA operations will likely be delayed while the agency looks for a new administrator. In a town-hall meeting speech at Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring on Friday, AOPA President Craig Fuller said former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt's resignation after a drunk-driving charge means the medical proposal will likely be shelved for a few months until a new administrator has been named and is up to speed. The joint proposal would exempt pilots flying day VFR in aircraft with not more than 180 horsepower from the third-class medical requirement. In a podcast interview, Fuller said he would support an increase in the maximum weight for light sport aircraft that is in the very earliest stages of consideration by the FAA. EAA President Rod Hightower, in response to a question from the floor, discussed the potential of a weight increase, for safety purposes, during his speech to the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) dinner on Thursday. Fuller also dropped some hints about the direction AOPA will be headed to improve student pilot retention.
The Renegade Falcon LS is one of the first airplanes to have Lycoming's new IO-233 light sport engine. AVweb's Paul Bertorelli took the airplane for a flight trial recently.
One thing the light sport aircraft industry doesn't have much of is biplanes and aerobats. But the F12 Comet is both. At the Sport Aivation Expo in Sebring, AVweb talked to Mike Hansen of Hansen Air Group about this German-designed East European import. Besides being the rare aerobatic LSA, it will soon be getting Lycoming's new AEIO-233, a fully aerobatic powerplant.
The FAA has opened "a dialogue" about increasing the maximum weight for light sport aircraft as a safety measure, Rod Hightower, the president of EAA, said Thursday. In answer to a question following a speech at the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, Hightower stressed the preliminary nature of the FAA's consideration of the idea but he did acknowledge the idea is being floated internally at the FAA. In a later podcast interview, he called it an "interesting" opportunity to possibly enhance flight safety but he also said it hadn't reached the "discussion" stage. In the speech he told about 200 LAMA members that EAA is refocusing to concentrate on its core mandates, including renewed energy at the chapter level and encouraging new pilot starts.
The video we featured of crosswind landings at Dusseldorf Airport earlier this month ignited the debate over crosswind techniques. What do you do?Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb readers ; click through to read what AVweb readers had to say on the subject.
Women in Aviation International will hold their 23rd annual conference March 8 to 10, in Dallas, Texas, offering seminars, workshops, networking events, and a commercial exhibit area. The event brings together a wide range of aviation professionals, educators and enthusiasts from around the world, and welcomes men as well as women. The focus of the event is on networking and building successful careers in a variety of aviation fields. The show is also known for its closing banquet, when dozens of scholarships, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, are awarded to help women advance in aviation careers. The event also showcases the annual inductees to the Pioneer Hall of Fame.
Now that it's 2012, the Centennial of Naval Aviation is officially over, but the Navy nonetheless took note this week that 101 years ago, on Jan. 18, 1911, a pilot landed his airplane on a ship for the first time. A temporary platform, 120 by 30 feet, was built across the afterdeck of the armored cruiser Pennsylvania, anchored off the San Francisco waterfront. The ship's crew rigged a series of ropes across the platform to catch hooks attached to the landing gear of Eugene Ely's Curtiss Pusher biplane. Thousands of spectators lined the shore to watch the historic attempt. Ely flew around the ship to set up the landing course, then came in toward the stern. "Ely was prepared to handle the existing tailwind, but apparently did not expect the updraft that struck his lightly-loaded plane just as it reached the platform," says the Navy website. "Fortunately, he responded quickly, dove, and snagged the arresting gear about halfway up its length."
Red Tails, the George Lucas film about the famous Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, opens on Friday, and aviators around the country are eager to see it -- if they haven't already. Several advance screenings have been held, including one in the family theater at the White House last Friday, where President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a group of Tuskegee Airmen. Other Tuskegee groups around the country also have already screened the film. "I think the movie should get maybe four or five Oscars, at least," Arthur Green, president of a Detroit Tuskegee Airmen group, told the Detroit Free Press.The critics, of course, also got an advance look, and not all of them were won over. "Despite stunning aerial scenes and good intentions," writes Tish Wells for McClatchy Newspapers, "Red Tails is grounded by clumsy dialogue, a meandering plot and the occasional jarring anachronism."
California Cities End ABLE, Outsource Air Support The cooperative agency known as ABLE, for Airborne Law Enforcement, has been jointly funded for 30 years by the California cities of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Both have now voted to defund the program, and ABLE has retained private brokers to sell the agency's three helicopters.
Brings Non-Unionized AirTran Instructors Under TWU 557 Flight Instructors from Southwest Airlines, represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) 557, and Flight Instructors from AirTran Airways have voted to ratify their Seniority Integration Agreement. This tentative agreement, reached late last year, integrates the two groups' seniority lists.
Carrier Also Adds All-Premium Class A330 To Fleet Hong Kong Airlines has become a new operator of Airbus single aisle aircraft, following the delivery of its first A320. The aircraft is the first of 30 A320s ordered by the airline and is powered by CFM International's CFM 56 engines.
Flight Operations Were Suspended January 19th The Australian Army's Black Hawk helicopters have returned to full flying operations following the lifting of the recent suspension. The suspension was put in place on January 19 following the identification of a number of fractured bolts during a routine maintenance check.
First New 'Human Rated' Engine To Be Developed In Four Decades A new series of tests on NASA's new J-2X engine will begin next week at NASA's Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. NASA says the tests on the engine bring it one step closer to the first human-rated liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be developed in 40 years.
Pilots And Boaters CAN Have The Best Of Both Worlds What do you do when you love boating and flying, but you can only afford to do one or the other? That's easy, you buy an amphibious seaplane; a freedom machine that gives you both worlds.
Mexicans Were To Pay $2,500 Each To Get Past Checkpoints US Border Patrol officials say it's common to see light planes used to smuggle drugs into the US from Mexico, but less common to see them used to smuggle people. But the Daily Comet reports a pilot allegedly tried to fly three Mexicans past checkpoints in California's Imperial Valley after the trio illegally crossed the border.
AD NUMBER: 2012-01-08 PRODUCT: 328 Support Services GmbH (Type Certificate previously held by AvCraft Aerospace GmbH; Fairchild Dornier GmbH; Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH) Model 328-100 and 328-300 airplanes.
AD NUMBER: 2012-01-09 PRODUCT: The Boeing Company Model 757-200, -200CB, and -300 series airplanes with off-wing escape slide systems installed.
Points Out Alternatives For AD Compliance Following a recent AD to address seat tracks on a wide range of Cessna GA airplanes, the company released three alternative methods of compliance (AMOCs) to correct the issue. The FAA has now issued an SAIB advising owners and operators of the airplanes about those AMOCs.
Hersman Will Speak At The General Membership Meeting NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman will deliver the keynote address during the HAI annual general membership meeting, Sunday, February 12, 2012, at HELI-EXPO in Dallas, according to HAI President Matt Zuccaro.
Security Camera Evidence Seems To Refute 'Irate' Description Security camera video from Nashville International Airport (KBNA) appears to refute a description from local police that U.S. Senator Rand Paul became "irate" when he was detained by TSA. Instead, the video shows the Senator waiting patiently in the glass cubicle area until he is interviewed by authorities.
Aero Club Of SoCal To Present February 8 The Aero Club of Southern California plans to honor Clay Lacy February 8 with its prestigious Howard Hughes Memorial Award. Described by the group as one of the most versatile pilots in the history of powered flight and a local aviation icon, the jet charter industry pioneer will receive the award from no less than Bob Hoover.
Company Says Wing Rib Attachment Cracks Are Not Caused By Fatigue The cracks that have cropped up in the wing skin rib attachment points on several A380 superjumbo airplanes are not caused by fatigue, are easily repaired, and pose no threat to safety, according to the planemaker.
" I'm trying to figure out how the cart got so far ahead of the horse." Source: Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR), Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee.
