PODCAST: SHUTTLE TRANSPORT PILOT
Space shuttle deliveries are not a simple affair from a technological, aerodynamic or security standpoint. AVweb speaks with NASA shuttle carrier aircraft (SCA) pilot Bill Brockett.

This podcast is brought to you by Bose Corporation. More...

ISRAEL SAYS IT SHOT DOWN DRONE
Israel says it shot down a drone invading its airspace on Saturday and the big question still appears to be to whom it might belong. The video released by the Israeli government shows a missile blowing something to pieces and a fighter jet turns sharply just shy of the debris cloud. Media reports immediately implicated Iranian-backed Hezbollah for the airspace incursion, which Israel said came from the Mediterranean and ended in a puff of smoke over the southern desert. More...

DARPA STEPS TOWARD UAV TO UAV REFUELING
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced that two modified Global Hawk drones have demonstrated they can "safely and autonomously operate under in-flight refueling conditions," but challenges remain. The tests actually took place several months ago, and DARPA researchers have been poring over data acquired during those tests to reach their conclusions. Researchers expected low success rates over multiple attempts because Global Hawks are designed for endurance, not refined control authority in formation flight. But DARPA this week said data analysis shows that close formation flights show that "60 percent of the attempts would achieve contact." And that could eventually lead to changes the mission profiles and capabilities of unmanned aerial systems. More...

WERE THOSE ALIENS OR JUST CANADIANS?
The Air Force recently declassified documents that detail a plan to contract a Canadian company to build a flying saucer capable of flying at Mach 4 and landing and taking off vertically. According to CNET, Project 1794, as it was known, had a development budget in 1956 of $3.168 million (about $27 million in 2012 dollars) and envisioned a strike aircraft that could still operate without the runways that would presumably have been destroyed by nuclear strikes from Russia. Avro Canada apparently came up with the idea. "It is concluded that the stabilization and control of the aircraft in the manner proposed -- the propulsive jets are used to control the aircraft -- is feasible and the aircraft can be designed to have satisfactory handling through the whole flight range from ground cushion takeoff to supersonic flight at very high altitude," Avro said. Since the declassified drawings look so much like the alien spacecraft that were rampantly reported about the same time, it begs some questions that are there for the answering by enterprising historians and/or conspiracy theorists. More...

"JETPACK" SETS "RECORD"
The president of Jetlev Southwest, Dean O'Malley, flew (tethered to a floating powerplant and not without stops) over 26.2 miles of open ocean from Newport Beach California to Catalina Saturday, Sept. 29, to promote the company's jetpack product. The promotional stunt aimed to set a record for longest jetpack flight. Jetlev manufactures a jetpack that uses water pressure for thrust. The water is pumped from a floating power unit through a hose to two downward-facing nozzles attached to a backpack worn by the pilot. The system handled the trip in about four hours but its 200-hp four-stroke marine engine emptied the craft's 22-gallon fuel tank twice along the way, with varied results. More...

AERODYNAMICS PIONEER WHITCOMB HONORED
The Whitcomb area rule, the supercritical wing, and winglets changed supersonic flight, modern jetliners and aircraft of all kinds, and are attributed to Richard T. Whitcomb, who will be posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame Saturday, Oct. 6. Whitcomb died in 2009 at the age of 88 after a 37-year career at NASA's Langley Research Center. Lesa Roe, director of the center, said of Whitcomb, "His practical solutions led to three of the most significant and practical contributions to aeronautics in the 20th century." Whitcomb's application of the area rule earned him the Collier Trophy in 1954 and has been applied to nearly every U.S. supersonic aircraft ever designed, according to NASA. The latest honor adds to a long list bestowed on Whitcomb while he was still alive. More...

FIRECAT GOES TO MUSEUM
A piece of aerial firefighting history has flown its last mission and will become the newest display at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, British Columbia, about 30 miles east of Vancouver. Conair Group Inc., which pioneered the conversion of military surplus aircraft into air tankers, is phasing out its fleet of Firecats, modified Grumman CS2F Tracker submarine hunters. It donated the airworthy aircraft to the museum. The twin-radial-engine aircraft were carrier-based patrol aircraft used by the Canadian and U.S. Navies in the 1960s. Conair converted more than 35 for use as firefighting aircraft. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S PLANE CRASH
The Discovery Channel aired its much-hyped Plane Crash program on an ambitious project to crash an old 727 into the Mexican desert. It was billed as a research project and might very well have been, but it also made for some interesting television. If you saw it — or even if you didn't it — check out Paul Bertorelli's review on the AVweb Insider blog and let us know what you think. Read more and join the conversation. More...

BRAINTEASERS QUIZ #176: FREE YOURSELF FROM RESTRICTIONS
Between summer and winter, when reason begins to lower, comes a pause in a pilot's occupations that's known as Presidential campaign season, imposing TFRs that threaten your wings. Defend yourself with this quiz.

Take the quiz. More...

AVMAIL: OCTOBER 8, 2012

Letter of the Week: Going Clubbing

Regarding the "Question of the Week": I am a firm believer in flying clubs. I started flying in the early '70s [and] belonged to an active flying club in South Africa, and it was a marvelous and supportive experience aviation related. I emigrated. The club scene there continues to flourish, but here in the States there is little if any such involvement, and I think it is a great pity. Flying overseas is far more expensive than in U.S.A., but there is more enthusiasm and activity [abroad], and that proves the point.

Dr. Peter Foox

Click here to read the rest of this week's letters.

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 255,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: GULF AIR CENTER (KJKA, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA)

Once again, we've had a bumper crop of nominations to our weekly FBO contest — and this time, many of them came from members of the Beech Aero Club, which apparently had a terrific annual get-together at Jack Edwards Airport (KJKA) in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where Gulf Air Center served as their host FBO. Among those who nominated Gulf Air is the club's founder Cloyd Van Hook, who writes:

I am the founder of the Beech Aero Club, the type club for the Beech Musketeer farmily of aircraft. We recently had our annual national fly-in at JKA in Gulf Shores. Gulf Air Center served as our host FBO. They provided us with hangar space and equipment for our maintenance clinic and provided excellent service to our members. I look forward to visiting KJKA and Gulf Air Center again soon.

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!

VIDEO: SUPER LEGEND FLIGHT TRIAL
American Legend gained success with its popular Legend Cub, and now it's followed up with a new Lycoming-powered version of the airplane. If you like the Super Cub, you'll like the Super Legend, too, because its performance is quite similar. AVweb ventured to Legend's Sulphur Spring, Texas, homebase to fly the airplane, and here's a video report on the flight. More...

VIDEO: THE LAST FLYING B-24 BOMBER (COLLINGS FOUNDATION)
The B-24 was the most widely produced bomber in world history. This video shows the sole surviving regularly flown example, from roughly 18,000 B-24 Liberator bombers produced. This is the Collings Foundation's B-24, Witchcraft. More...

SHORT FINAL

We had lost our autopilot and advised the local ATC controller in the Kyrgyz Republic that we were not RVSM-compliant. This prompted the following exchange:

Aircraft 1234 (us) :
"Aircraft 1234, Osh control. State nature of the problem?"

Osh Control:
"Osh Control, Aircraft 1234. We have lost our autopilot."

[long pause]

Osh Control:
"Aircraft 1234, which pilot doesn't work?"

Karl Vogelheim
via e-mail

HEARD ANYTHING FUNNY ON THE RADIO?
Heard anything funny, unusual, or downright shocking on the radio lately? If you've been flying any length of time, you're sure to have eavesdropped on a few memorable exchanges. The ones that gave you a chuckle may do the same for your fellow AVweb readers. Share your radio funny with us, and, if we use it in a future "Short Final," we'll send you a sharp-looking AVweb hat to sport around your local airport. No joke. Click here to submit your original, true, and previously unpublished story. More...

MEET THE AVWEBFLASH TEAM

AVwebFlash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the world's premier independent aviation news resource.

The AVwebFlash team is:

Publisher
Tom Bliss

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

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Russ Niles

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributing Editors
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Glenn Pew

Contributors
Kevin Lane-Cummings

Ad Coordinator
Karen Lund

Avionics Editor
Larry Anglisano

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