NTSB: 787 BATTERY WASN'T OVERCHARGED
The NTSB has cast doubt on Japan's Transport Safety Board's speculation that a charging overload was behind battery fires that led to the grounding of Boeing 787 fleet. In an update Sunday, the NTSB said the flight data recorder aboard the Japan Airlines aircraft whose APU battery burned on the ground at Boston's Logan Airport Jan. 7 showed the battery never exceeded its design limit of 32 volts. On Friday, Japanese officials said they believed overcharging caused that fire and the one in an ANA 787 that was involved in an emergency landing and evacuation last Wednesday. Japan released photos of the battery that burned virtually under the feet of the pilots as they dove for the ground while on a domestic flight to Kaneda. The photo shows a mass of charred wires and cells within a thin case that shows signs of distortion but apparently wasn't breached. For comparison the agency put a good battery beside it. More...

PODCAST: 787 -- TOO BIG TO FAIL?
No, says turbine aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia. Even so, he says he expects Boeing and the FAA to get over the battery issue that is grounding the Dreamliner at the moment. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with Aboulafia. More...

STOVL F-35 GROUNDED
The Pentagon has grounded the most sophisticated version of the F-35 after a pilot had to abort a takeoff at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on Wednesday. An exhaust nozzle actuator line in the F-35B's exhaust system failed. The B model, which will be used by the Marine Corps, uses downward jet exhaust to assist takeoff and allow vertical landings. The Air Force (A model) and Navy (C model) aircraft are not affected. There are 25 airplanes grounded. More...

TSA MAKES CHANGES TO FULL BODY SCANNING
The TSA announced Friday that it will remove Rapiscan full body scanners from airport security stations, but leave others, as it works toward a congressionally mandated deadline to assure the devices produce less personally revealing imagery. The mandate, effective in June 2013, affects both types of body scanners currently used in the U.S. -- X-ray (or backscatter) devices produced by Rapiscan, and millimeter-wave devices produced by L-3 Communications. The TSA concluded that only L-3 will meet the deadline to create software that presents a more generic imagery of a human form, while still fulfilling its security function. More...

FRED CABANAS KILLED IN CRASH, A LEGACY OF EXPERIENCE
Key West-based airshow, ferry, and well-certificated pilot Fred Cabanas, 60, was killed Tuesday along with his passenger Jorge Lopez Vives, host of an extreme sports show, while flying near a private airfield in Cozumel, Mexico. According to the FAA, Cabanas held an ATP, multiengine rating, commercial land and seaplane privileges, plus an A&P license and advanced ground instructor certificate. He was also an Aerobatic Competency Evaluator for ICAS as well as an EAA Warbird Evaluator. According to his website, Canabas had flown for TV and movies and had accumulated 24,000 hours total flight time. More...

OSU CRASH PLANE'S CONTROL CABLES BROKEN
The NTSB says several of the flight control cables were broken on a Piper Cherokee that crashed, killing four people, including two high-profile college basketball coaches, in 2011. Oklahoma State University Women's Coach Kurt Budke and Assistant Coach Miranda Serna died along with pilot Olin Branstetter, 82, and his wife Paula, 79, when the Cherokee crashed in good weather near Perryville, Ark., Nov. 17, 2011. In the factual report on the accident issued last week, the NTSB said everything else on the aircraft appeared in normal operating condition but the cables were "fractured in multiple places" and that "each fracture was consistent with overload." The impact site suggested the aircraft hit with a 50- to 60-degree nose-down attitude and most of the wreckage was in a hole ten feet wide and three-and-a-half feet deep. More...

CIRRUS G5 UPS GROSS FOR 2013
Cirrus Thursday announced an increase in certified gross weight from 3400 to 3600 pounds for its 2013 "Generation 5" SR-series of aircraft, and claimed its now five-seat SR22 and SR22T offer "the highest in-class useful load" available. With all five seats filled, the aircraft offers a range of 700 nautical miles, according to the company. And it is capable of full fuel with four seats filled. Cirrus is also offering a "Generation 5 Vision Inspired Special Edition SR22T" that the company says is "inspired by the upcoming Cirrus Vision SF50 Personal Jet and modern automotive styling." Cirrus says the models have seen some changes from nose to tail. More...

NO SPITFIRES FOUND AT FIRST DIG SITE IN BURMA
An internationally supported expedition to Burma to dig up Spitfires thought to be buried there after the close of WWII is quickly drawing skepticism as it has so far found none after one week digging at a primary site, Mingaladon airport. The project's mastermind, British farmer David Cundall, believes there's still hope. Cundall had found eyewitness support of his theory that the British military packed more than 120 Spitfires in crates and buried them in the ground before vacating Burma more than 60 years ago. Counterclaims and alternate theories of explanation are beginning to surface, including one from another witness. Cundall, who had earned the support of British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Burmese government, expects to continue. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: GLIDER INCIDENT NO THREAT TO FREEDOM TO FLY
An incident involving a glider and a nuclear power plant raised questions about the conduct of some local sheriffs — but, as Russ Niles notes on the AVweb Insider blog, it won't have an impact on aviation in general. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVMAIL: JANUARY 21, 2013

Letter of the Week: Safety in Plain Language

I am writing with some thoughts about the Agusta 109 helicopter crash in London last week. One has to fly this particular heliroute (H4) below 1,000 feet due to Heathrow approach traffic and "above the high/low waterline."

I've flown it several times, though not for a few years. The actual location of this crane (nearly 800 feet high) is right on the edge of the river and presents little margin for safety for a pilot constrained to fly below 1,000 feet and over the same edge of the river. The location is featured in a NOTAM, though it is possible that the pilot never read it, as this was an in-flight diversion, not a planned excursion into the London Heliroutes.

The weather was foggy that day with low cloud and seems unlikely to have complied with the mandatory SVFR conditions for the routes. Looking at the NOTAM got me thinking: It specifies the obstacle using the usual Lat/Long:

HIGH RISE JIB CRANE (LIT AT NIGHT) OPR WI 1NM 5129N 00007W, HGT 770FT AMSL

I don't know any human who can interpret such a location unaided. As this obstacle is bang in the line of a published route, with little vertical margin of safety, wouldn't such a notice be much more effective if instead it read something like:

On the south bank of the River Thames at Vauxhall Bridge on Heliroute H4

Then pilots could immediately visualise the threat.

One has to wonder why it isn't marked on a map — it is nearly 800 feet high! — and pilots told to fly to the north of the river to avoid it?

Bob Gilchrist

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: MT. PLEASANT REGIONAL AIRPORT (OSA, MT. PLEASANT, TEXAS)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Mt. Pleasant Regional Airport (OSA) in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

AVweb reader Larry Richardson writes:

At OSA you get great service; a courtesy car if needed; competitive fuel prices; 6,000x100-foot runway; and always a friendly smile.

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: SEBRING SPORT EXPO 2013
AVweb was at opening day of the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo show in Sebring on Thursday and filed this video report. More...

VIDEO: LEVIL TECHNOLOGY'S NEW ADS-B/AHRS
The competition in the iPad remote ADS-B and AHRS market is getting white-hot, and now comes Levil Technology with a new device called the iLevil. AVweb took a took at it at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo show in Sebring. More...

SHORT FINAL

On some air bases, the military uses one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side, with the tower in the middle serving both. One day, at one of these fields, a call from an aircraft called in asking, "Hey, Tower, what time is it?"

The tower answered, "Who is calling?"

The aircraft answered, "What difference does it make?"

The tower responded with, "It makes a lot of difference. If you are a civilian aircraft, it's three o'clock; if you're an Army aircraft, it's 1500 hours; if you're a Navy aircraft, it's 3 bells; if you're an Air Force aircraft, the big hand is on 12 and the little hand is on 3; and if you're a Marine aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon and 120 minutes 'til Happy Hour."

John Yates
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.

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