THE UNSTABLE TRAINING ENVIRONMENT AND THE COMING PILOT SHORTAGE

Congress has mandated a 1,500 hour minimum flight time requirement for scheduled air carriers next summer, and unless FAA regulations come along to supersede it the "impending pilot shortage" that even the general media  has latched on to could become a reality sooner than later. When regulation outpaces thinking, and policy is made without concern for data, supply and demand often get thrown out of whack. In this case, it's reasonable to assume that if this 1,500 hour rule is fully implemented, it will cost prospective pilots far more money and time to become professional airline pilots. And fewer and fewer pilots will enter the pipeline as many sensibly opt out of the arduous quest to reach the arbitrary 1,500 hour mark.

The pilot pipeline is precarious enough, right now. Lengthening it makes a continuos and positive flow of well-trained professional pilots that much less likely. We need to make a change.

Click here to read the full article.

PODCAST: THE AVIATION TALENT POOL
At the NBAA Convention a couple of months ago, aviation recruiter Sheryl Barden led a panel discussion about the expected shortage of pilots and mechanics in the near future and what that means for business aviation and for safety. Recently, she posted the transcript of that discussion online, and a white-paper report is expected soon. She spoke with AVweb's Mary Grady about these issues.

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

GA FLY-BY-WIRE: DIAMOND SAYS THREE YEARS

Fly-by-wire control system are standard issue in military aircraft -- including drones -- and in major new transport aircraft. Within three years, Diamond says it hopes to offer such systems for light aircraft and it's further along the developmental road than we imagined.

When we visited Diamond Aircraft's skunkworks in Austria earlier this year, the company showed us a crude fly-by-wire developmental project that, eight months later, has flown some 50 hours and will soon be ready to enter its second developmental phase, according to Diamond CEO Christian Dries. The system is installed in a DA42 testbed and Dries says if it can overcome certification hurdles—no small feat, to be sure—it could be certified and available as an option as early as 2015.

But why would you want such a thing?

Click here to read the full article and find out.

LITHIUM ION FOR AVIATION
It holds promise for higher capacity batteries, but also risks for fires and explosions. Owners should tread cautiously.

For the great wide world of transportation, the lithium-ion battery is the shining city on the hill, that pivotal bit of technology that will have us whizzing around in silent cars banishing the evils of carbon dioxide. For aviation, lithium-ion is both an enigma and an opportunity. To understand both, you need only to grasp three numbers: 50, 150 and 1700. The opportunity part resides in the first two numbers -- a lead-acid battery's energy density is about 50 Wh/kg, a third or less than that of the typical lithium-ion's 150 Wh/kg. Now for the enigma. The 1700 is the Wh/kg energy content of gasoline, adjusted for the typical internal combustion engine's 20 percent efficiency. The very best lithium-ion batteries can do at the moment is 400 Wh/kg and these don't exist commercially yet. That means the practical electric airplane may be on the horizon, but it's not around the corner.

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REFURB OF THE MONTH: LYLE HOLBO'S 180C CHEROKEE

click for photos

Fresh off the factory floor, a modest airplane like a Piper Archer may be better built, but its basic performance has been baked into the airframe for years. That's why a project like Lyle Holbo's 1965 Cherokee 180C, our refurbed airplane of the month, will keep pace with an airplane 40 years newer. 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

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Contributors
Kevin Lane-Cummings

Ad Coordinator
Karen Lund

Avionics Editor
Larry Anglisano

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