FAA ADDRESSES SOME TOWER CLOSURE ISSUES
The FAA Wednesday announced that 72 control towers (PDF) and other facilities that had been slated to shut down night operations to meet budget cut requirements will stay open. The FAA had planned to eliminate night shifts at 69 towers, two regional approach control facilities and one tower that also provided approach control services. The sites were targeted in response to spending cuts required by sequestration. Most of the facilities saw light traffic during the proposed hours of closure, but not all. Chicago's Midway -- which handles about 250,000 flights per year -- was on the list. There are other tower closure issues still pending. More...

UNITED WILL RE-LAUNCH 787 MAY 20
United Airlines will start using the Boeing 787 on domestic routes on May 20, USA Today reported on Wednesday. A flight from Houston to Chicago will be the airline's first flight for the jet since it was grounded by the FAA in mid-January, after two incidents when the airplane's lithium-ion batteries overheated. It's also the first flight announced for the jet on a U.S. route. Ethiopian Airlines and Qatar Airways already have resumed 787 service. The FAA has approved a modification that aims to both "prevent and isolate a fault should it occur," Boeing said. Meanwhile, the NTSB is continuing its investigation to try to determine why the batteries malfunctioned. More...

REPORT CRITICIZES FAA'S OVERSIGHT OF REPAIR STATIONS
Nearly 4,800 repair stations around the world provide aircraft repair services to U.S. carriers, and the FAA is not doing enough to oversee them, the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said on Monday. "We found that while FAA developed a risk-assessment process to aid repair station inspectors in identifying areas of greatest concern, its oversight continues to emphasize completing mandatory inspections instead of targeting resources where they are needed based on risk," according to the OIG report. Inspectors visited 27 repair stations during the review and said they found "numerous systemic discrepancies." More...

AOPA SEEKS INPUT ON FLIGHT TRAINING EXPERIENCES
Anyone who has been a flight student in the last two years is invited to take part in an online poll and share their experience and insight, AOPA said recently. The poll deadline is Aug. 9 and is open to all; you don't need to be an AOPA member to participate. "This unique pilot poll will give people a great opportunity to share feedback on their flight-training experiences," said Shannon Yeager, vice president of AOPA's Center to Advance the Pilot Community. The poll also asks participants to nominate a flight school and instructor for AOPA's Flight Training Excellence Awards. More...

HONDAJET CERTIFICATION DELAYED
Honda Aircraft Co. confirmed this week it will delay until late 2014 its certification effort for the HondaJet light business jet to accommodate more testing for the aircraft's GE Honda Aero engines. The company announced last October that it was aiming for full FAA certification in the first half of 2013 with deliveries to customers to follow before year-end. Honda Aircraft said it now expects the jet's engines to be certified late this year. The company has not yet set a new delivery schedule. More...

LOST RUSSIAN AIRPLANE FOUND
The burned wreckage of an Antonov An-2 biplane with 13 people on board that crashed last June in Russia was found late Saturday, and officials confirmed that all 13 were found dead at the scene. The airplane had taken off after 11 p.m. from an airport in the Ural mountains, reportedly by "revelers … who did not inform air traffic control," according to the Ria Novosti news service. The pilot, according to the BBC, had flown the airplane frequently and took off with a group of friends he'd been drinking with, presumably to visit a fishing spot or a sauna. An extensive search for the missing airplane was called off last November, due to winter conditions, and was expected to resume in the spring. Grouse hunters found the wreckage less than five miles from the airport. More...

SOME EXECS ARE FLYING MORE (CORRECTED)
Business aircraft use still hasn't recovered to pre-recession levels but some sectors of the economy are using airplanes a lot more than they used to. A study by JSSI, a large aircraft support and technical advisory company reported by CNBC, says those in the transportation business have more than doubled their aircraft use recently in search of new markets. At the other end of the spectrum, technology companies are logging less than half the hours they used to and other struggling sectors, like consumer goods, are also down substantially. "It tells me people are being a little more judicious about how and when they fly," said JSSI CEO Neil Book. "The guy who used to fly 600 hours a year is now flying 500 hours." What's also changing is where they're flying. More...

CONGRESSMEN PUSH PART 23 REWRITE
A bipartisan group of U.S. House members led by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., has introduced a bill designed to propel revisions to FAA Part 23 certification standards into law. The Small Aircraft Revitalization Act of 2013 will establish a "date certain" for implementation of FAA's Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recommendations, which were sent to the agency last week. Date certain is a legal term setting a deadline for putting the measures on the books although it's not clear what date will be set. The Part 23 revisions are aimed at making certification easier and allowing easier incorporation of new technologies in certified aircraft. It would set up a system of compliance through consensus-based standards. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association cheered the bill's introduction. 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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QUESTION OF THE WEEK: EAA'S ROLE
Chairman of the board and interim CEO Jack Pelton says EAA represents personal aviation — everything from jet warbirds to paragliders.

Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb readers how they planned to advance themselves (or aviation in general) this year; click through for the breakdown of answers we received. More...

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 INSIDER BLOG: FLYING CAR FATIGUE
We don't know about you, but Paul Bertorelli has about had his fill of flying car concepts. How about just bringing one of these things to market and spare us the additional concept cars? We're all for the vision and imagination thing, but how about some actual flying hardware for a change? Read the entire rant on the AVweb Insider blog. More...

VIDEO: ROTAX 912IS EFFICIENCY -- BETTER THAN CLAIMED
At Aero in Friedrichshafen, Germany two weeks ago, Rotax revealed some flight test data that shows that their new 912iS engine is much more fuel efficient than originally claimed. More...

BRAINTEASERS QUIZ #183: FLY YOUR PRIORITIES
If a control tower closes in the wilderness, does it make a sound? Politicians may diddle FAA budgets until the skies are porcine black, but we'll fly ... provided we keep our priorities upright by sequestering this quiz.

Take the quiz. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: HONAKER AVIATION (KJVY, SELLERSBURG, IN)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Honaker Aviation at Clark Regional Airport (KJVY) in Sellersburg, Indiana.

AVweb reader Charles Black recommended the FBO:

Kevin Happel and crew proactively removed a bird nest from the engine compartment. It could have led to an in-flight engine fire. I never suspected it was there. Profuse thanks for noticing the bird activity.

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!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: AVWEB'S FLYING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE
Our latest winning photo comes from Steve Nelson of Westminster, CO. Click here for the rest of this week's submissions. 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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Paul Bertorelli

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