Sponsor Announcement

FAA REVOKES CERTIFICATES OF NORDO NORTHWEST PILOTS
The FAA has revoked the certificates of two Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew their destination airport last week while en route from San Diego to Minneapolis, the agency announced on Tuesday. The pilots were out of contact with air traffic controllers for an extended period of time and told NTSB investigators they were distracted while the first officer was showing the captain how to use a new crew scheduling procedure on their laptops. Air traffic controllers and airline officials repeatedly tried to reach them through radio and data contact, without success. More...

NTSB: NORTHWEST PILOTS DISTRACTED BY LAPTOPS
Two Northwest pilots who overflew their destination and went silent for over an hour last week were working on their laptops, in violation of company policy, the NTSB said on Monday. The first officer was showing the captain how to use a new crew flight scheduling procedure, and both pilots said they lost track of time. During their discussion, they did not monitor the airplane or notice calls from ATC. Neither pilot was wearing a headset, but both said they heard conversation on the radio. Also, neither pilot noticed messages that were sent by company dispatchers. Neither pilot was aware of the airplane's position until a flight attendant called about five minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked for an ETA. The captain said at that point, he looked at his primary flight display and realized they had passed their destination, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). They then made contact with ATC and were given vectors back to MSP. The flight had originated in San Diego. More...

CORPORATE CSERIES CONFIRMED
The Montreal Gazette is reporting that Bombardier has confirmed it will build a corporate version of the CSeries airliner it currently has under development. The Gazette says Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, made the commitment during a meeting of aviation analysts at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando last week. "Absolutely, there will be a corporate variant of the CSeries," he said. Ridolfi is also reported to have said that an updated version or a replacement for the top-of-the-line Global Express is also a possibility to maintain Bombardier's lead position in the intercontinental category. Gulfstream recently rolled out the G650, a long-legged luxury aircraft it says will be the fastest civilian aircraft in the air. Meanwhile, the airline version of the CSeries is getting some attention from the current market leaders in that segment, no doubt because forecasts indicate a need for 29,000 single-aisle airliners over the next 20 years. More...

AEA SAYS SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS UNWIELDY
The Aircraft Electronics Association says the FAA's approach to safety management systems (SMS) is "an excessive, unwarranted and unjustified administrative burden" that is poorly thought out and has no identifiable justification or goals. The association submitted detailed comments on the FAA's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF) Monday and is clearly worried about the implications of the measures if they become regulations. "In addition, the agency has not clearly defined the hazard SMS is intended to address, but rather defines SMS to address 'unknown' hazards," the association said. "This mandate is not within the scope of current rulemaking practices." AEA says SMS may have a place in multi-lateral organizations like airlines but they're not much more than paper chases for smaller companies. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt championed the SMS proposal last week at the National Business Aviation Association convention but his message was out of step with the other speakers, who were all pumping the value and contribution of business aircraft, and perhaps didn't get the attention Babbitt hoped. More...

NO CITATION CANCELLATIONS NEXT YEAR
Cessna has had no business jet order cancellations for the coming year. According to MarketWatch, however, the good news does not extend beyond 2010 and there are cancellations in 2011 and later. It quoted Scott Donnelly, incoming CEO of Cessna's parent company Textron, as saying the future cancellations are "reflecting customer uncertainty ... three years out in the future." Combined with a few new orders, Donnelly is predicting Cessna will build 275 business jets and possibly "a few more" in 2010. Textron also stayed in the black in the third quarter, if just barely. More...

RICHARD WHITCOMB, REVOLUTIONARY AIRCRAFT DESIGNER, DEAD AT 88
Engineer Richard Whitcomb, whose innovative ideas are incorporated in the design of most aircraft flying today, died in Newport News, Va., on Oct. 13. Whitcomb "was the most important aerodynamic contributor in the second half of the century of flight," according to historian Tom Crouch, of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Whitcomb won the Collier Trophy in 1954 for his development of the "transonic area rule," which reduces the shock wave drag that occurs near the speed of sound. "We built airplane models with Coke-bottle-shaped fuselages and lo and behold the drag of the wing just disappeared," said Whitcomb. "The wind tunnel showed it worked perfectly." In the 1960s, Whitcomb's supercritical wing design was revolutionary, according to NASA. The airfoil design was flatter on the top and rounder on the bottom with a downward curve on the trailing edge. That shape delayed the onset of drag, increasing the fuel efficiency of aircraft flying close to the speed of sound. More...

PROMOTIONS AT MARQUIS JET
Henry Schachar has been promoted from President to Executive Vice Chairman of Marquis Jets. Ken Austin will take over as President. (Austin was formerly Executive Vice President.) Both have been with the company since 2001, and Schachar is co-founder.
More...

WHO'S WHERE? YOU TELL US
Get a promotion or a new job? Your colleagues want to know about it, and AVwebBiz can get the word out. Drop us a line about the staff appointment, with a nice recent photo, and we'll do our best to include it in our new section, "Who's Where." The items will be permanently archived on AVweb for future reference, too. More...

NBAA CONVENTION 2009 COVERAGE ROUND-UP
A complete recap of our podcasts, videos, blogs, and news reports from the 2009 NBAA Convention in Orlando, Florida. More...

IT'S THE FINAL AV8OR PRIZE THIS YEAR ... AND YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!

Bendix/King by Honeywell is helping us give away one last AV8OR handheld MFD unit this year! All you have to do is click the image at right to enter your name and e-mail address. And no, we're not going to rent or sell your name, but Bendix/King by Honeywell may send you information on the AV8OR. You may also forward this newsletter to friends and invite them to sign up for AVweb so they can qualify for the AV8OR prize drawing, too. (We won't spam them, either, but we hope they will sign up for our AVwebFlash and AVwebBiz newsletters.)

Deadline for entries is midnight EST on Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

Click here to read the contest rules and enter.

(There's nothing to buy. All you need to do is be registered with AVweb.)

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: FLIGHT 188, CONTINUED — DID THE SECURITY APPARATUS DO IT RIGHT?
According to the Air National Guard, the F-16s stayed on the ground. If that's true, AVweb's Paul Bertorelli thinks it's good thing, showing a level of restraint that may mean things are going in the right direction with regard to aviation security. Read more of his thoughts in the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: WE'D PREFER YOU WERE SLEEPING, ACTUALLY
The crew of Northwest Airlines Flight 188 said it got into a discussion about airline policy that was so engaging that they, well, goshdurn flew 150 miles past the destination airport. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli argues that it would be better for all concerned if they were actually sleeping. More...

VIDEO: NEAR CFIT — CLOSE CALL WITH TERRAIN
The circumstances of this incident are unclear (and the subject of much speculation in the forums), but the result is pretty clear. The people aboard this Bonanza came within a tree branch or two of becoming victims of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 200,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

MEET THE AVWEBBIZ TEAM

AVwebBiz is a weekly summary of the latest business aviation news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.

The AVwebBiz team is:

Publisher
Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.)

Comments or questions about the news should be sent here.

Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team.

If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebBiz. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here.

Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.