January 1, 2013 AVweb's Top Ten For 2012

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By Russ Niles, Editor-in-Chief

One of the cool things about being a Web-only publication is that we can tell at a glance what our readers considered the most popular of the thousands of items we served up in 2012. In recent years, that's been spectacular video, and this year is no exception in the top spot. Another video (and not what you might expect) grabbed second spot, but it was plain old text that captured the imaginations of our readers for the third most popular item on the site in 2012.

Our Top Ten Stories of 2012

1. Video Editor Glenn Pew's original production of "William Rankin, The Man Who Rode the Thunder" captured the imaginations of thousands of AVweb readers and many more who saw the video posted on other sites that linked to it for their audience. In all, that video was seen 305,413 times during 2012.
2. The flight of a 45-foot wingspan paper airplane by the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson captivated viewers.
3. Dozens of Spitfires buried in Myanmar (Burma) were discovered by British farmer David Cundall.
4. A hard landing by an ANA Boeing 767 at Tokyo's Narita Airport buckled the fuselage but didn't hurt anyone.
5. Yet another search for evidence of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan was launched.
6. The FAA said it was considering more liberalized use of personal electronics by airline passengers.
7. The FAA set an Oct. 1 deadline for electronic filing of pilot medicals.
8. A midair collision between a Bonanza and a Robinson R22 helicopter ended happily with both pilots walking away.
9. A podcast with audio from a close call on the runway at Chicago Midway Airport between a cleared-for-takeoff Learjet and a Southwest 737 cleared to cross the same runway showed just how close it was.
10. NASA announced the schedule for the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery to the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport.