GAMA AT AERO: PART 23 REWRITE GAINING MOMENTUM
General Aviation Manufacturers Association President Pete Bunce said Wednesday at Aero in Friedrichshafen that the international regulatory community has seen the light on revising certification rules and efforts to overhaul Part 23 and its international equivalents are gaining momentum. "When you can go and put modern equipment into an amateur-built aircraft and have it perform just tremendously well, but then it costs ten times as much to be able to put that into a certified airplane … wait a second, our regulatory process is defeating the purpose for which it was set up, and that's to enhance safety. We, as an industry, need to change that." More...

CIRRUS BULLISH ON EUROPEAN MARKET
Cirrus COO Pat Waddick said at Aero in Friedrichshafen on Wednesday that its first public unveiling of the Generation 5 SR22 aircraft was done in Europe for a reason. The company now considers Aero as its primary spring show and the official start of the selling season. Although the company remains committed to some U.S. shows, including AirVenture, it skipped Sun 'n Fun this year, Waddick and VP for sales Todd Simmons said, because Aero presents stronger market opportunity for the buyers the company is hoping to reach. Cirrus has made a significant investment in marketing staff for Europe and may increase that if sales continue to grow. "We see a lot of excitement here in Europe and a lot of innovation. We think that's going to accelerate during the comings years," Waddick added. More...

PODCAST: CIRRUS EYES EUROPE
Cirrus increased its presence at Aero Friedrichschafen this year, and the company is confident the investments it's making in that market will pay dividends. AVweb's Paul Bertorelli spoke with COO Pat Waddick at the show. More...

AIRLINE DELAYS MAY SPARK ACTION ON FAA SEQUESTER CUTS
Amid speculation as to whether a spike in airline delays concurrent with recent FAA furloughs have been created as a tool for political leverage or are an inevitable result of sequester cuts, the White House Wednesday hinted that changes may soon come to FAA spending restrictions. White House press secretary Jay Carney Wednesday told reporters that if Congress wants to address sequester-related problems specific to the FAA, the White House "would be open to looking at that." The FAA began furloughs of all employees Sunday. According to NATCA, the first three days of furloughs saw 5,800 flight delays versus 2,500 during the same period last year without furloughs. Now, some legislators are floating proposals that would allow the FAA special latitude in how it applies the required cuts. More...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: HOW HAVE THE SEQUESTER CUTS AFFECTED YOUR FLYING?
The general public are noticing the effects of FAA budget cuts now. How about you?

Plus: Back before Sun 'n Fun, we asked readers where their last flying scare came from; click through to see the breakdown of answers. More...

HYUNDAI'S FLYING CONCEPT CAR
As part of an annual festival to encourage its engineers to develop creative ideas, Hyundai recently exhibited a "flying car" based on a quad-copter design. The aircraft has four sets of four propellers, with a seat in the center, which was occupied by a crash-test dummy for the demo flight at the festival. A short video posted online shows the vehicle taking off vertically from a road in Korea, and climbing to several feet above the surface, operated by remote control. More...

PILOT'S IN-FLIGHT SUICIDE?
The NTSB may remove itself from further investigation of the fatal crash of an RV-4 at Laughlin Bullhead International Airport, Ariz., Saturday April 20, after an autopsy determined the pilot died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head prior to the crash. First reports speculated that the pilot and sole occupant, 44-year-old Thomas Joseph, died from injuries sustained when the plane impacted the ground near Bullhead's single 7,500-foot runway. But a police spokesperson said Monday an autopsy completed earlier in the day determined that the pilot was dead before the plane crashed. More...

SOLAR IMPULSE FLIES, AS ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT EXPERTS GATHER
Solar Impulse, the one-of-a-kind solar-powered airplane from Switzerland, flew above the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Tuesday as the crew prepares for a flight across the U.S. next month. The aircraft took off from Moffett Field about 7 a.m. with Bertrand Piccard at the controls and flew above the bridge at about 3,500 feet. Another flight above the Bay Bridge was planned for later in the day. As the crew continues to prepare for the cross-country trip, experts in the development of battery-powered aircraft will be gathering in nearby Santa Rosa for the 7th annual CAFE Electric Aircraft Symposium. More...

BEECH HOPES TO SELL JET BUSINESS THIS SUMMER (CORRECTED)
Beechcraft hopes to sell off the now-dormant Hawker jet assets within three months and is dealing with several potential buyers. In comments made after a speech to the Wichita Aero Club Monday, Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture said the company has non-disclosure agreements with an unspecified number of interested parties and is, of course, not saying who they are. An online "data room" for qualified purchasers has been set up. Beechcraft dumped the jet line as part of its restructuring and emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a process Boisture said has set up the new company to prosper even in difficult times. "We have come out clearly and cleanly as Beechcraft," Boisture is quoted by the Wichita Eagle as saying. "We've got ourselves on a good foundation now." Boisture said. More...

FLIGHT DELAYS WILL WORSEN SAYS NATCA REP
A senior controller at one of the West Coast's busiest facilities says sequester-related issues and delays will only get worse as increasing demand meets diminished capacity throughout the system. For the third straight day since one-day-in-10 furloughs have been in place for air traffic controllers, significant delays have been reported at major airports all over the U.S., and Scott Conde, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association at Oakland Center in California, said the true impact has been barely felt. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," he said in a podcast interview. Conde said the sequester-related staffing cuts came between Easter and summer, normally the time when staffing is at its maximum and there's a slight lull in air traffic. Once summer vacations further diminish the ranks of controllers and traffic increases, the delays will almost certainly be much worse. He also expects the stress and long hours experienced by controllers will also start to take their toll, adding to the existing problems. More...

AVWEBBIZ: AVWEB'S BUSINESS AVIATION NEWSLETTER

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Delivered every Wednesday morning, AVwebBiz focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the business aviation industry, making it a must-read.

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VIDEO: RANDALL FISHMAN'S ELECTRIC-POWERED ULTRALIGHT
Randall Fishman first exhibited this lightweight new design at EAA AirVenture in 2012, shortly after its first flight. At Sun 'n Fun in April 2013, the prototype had about 30 hours of flight time, and Fishman was ready to sell copies under Part 103. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: FAA BUDGET CUTS -- GO FOR THE PAPER CLIPS
If you're a student of the First Amendment's right of redress, aviation gave you a good week last week, with a lawsuit to stop the FAA from furloughing controllers. But if you're a deficit hawk? Not so much. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli observes that by the time all the special interests get their piece of the pie, the FAA will be back where it started: no budget cuts at all. Maybe those people who say we're doomed have a point. Read more and join the conversation. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: HARRISON AVIATION (KGKY, ARLINGTON, TEXAS)

AVweb's latest "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Harrison Aviation at Arlington Municipal Airport (KGKY) in Arlington, Texas.

AVweb reader Carol Goldberg found warm Texan hospitality awaiting her here on a recent diversion:

Due to weather, we diverted to Arlington, Texas on our way home from Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The entire staff went out of their way to assist us in obtaining hotel reservations, driving us to the hotel, recommending a dinner place, assuring us the jetprop would be hangared if the winds increased, and having snacks and hot drinks.

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!

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...

AVWEB'S REFURBISHED AIRPLANE OF THE MONTH
New airplanes sales may be a little soft, but we're seeing plenty of refurb work -- everything from new panels to fresh paint to full-up interiors. We would like to feature some of these airplanes in the pages of AVweb and spotlight the owners and shops doing the work. If you have photos of your restored aircraft -- single, twin or turbine -- send them along to us, and if we select your airplane as refurb of the month, we'll contact you for more information. More...

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