IMPORT BAN FRUSTRATES PIPISTREL
A European light aircraft manufacturer is claiming the FAA has suspended imports of its aircraft to the U.S. because it couldn't locate one of its factories with a Google Earth search. Michael Coates, who handles U.S. distribution for Slovenia-based Pipistrel Aircraft, said the company has since provided ample proof that the factory does exist but have been given no indication when the importation ban might be lifted. "The FAA has used Google Earth to validate certification data," Coates told AVweb. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said she is looking into the matter but was unable to provide a response in time for our deadline. Coates said the Google searcher didn't plug the right data into his computer and the little pushpin landed on a traffic circle rather than an airport. The simple explanation is that the FAA staffer used the plant's mailing address, which is about 1,000 feet from the physical location of the factory in an Italian city near the border with Slovenia. "He just didn't zoom out enough," Coates said. However, it's more complicated than that. The action is related to an announcement by the FAA in July that it would be cracking down on possible importation abuses in the LSA industry. More...

EMBRAER WANTS 30 PERCENT OF BIZJET MARKET
Embraer, which only really got started in the business jet industry five years ago, says it wants up to 30 percent of the market and it's most of the way there. "We don't want to be greedy," Ernie Edwards, head of Embraer's executive jet business told Reuters in an interview at LABACE last week. "Twenty to 30 percent would be healthy market share." Edwards said. The Phenom series of light business jets has made significant inroads in that market segment but it's the higher-margin mid-sized realm that is next on the Brazilian company's agenda. More...

EASA CERTIFIES ROTAX 912 IS
The Rotax 912 iS aircraft engine, which was introduced at Aero Friedrichshafen earlier this year, this week received a type certificate from EASA. The engine also was recently ASTM certified. "These are important milestones in the commercialization of new aircraft engines," said Gerd Ohrnberger, general manager of BRP-Powertrain. The company said it will now will focus on gaining FAA certification. The 912 iS engine delivers fuel efficiency 38 percent to 70 percent better than comparable engines, Rotax said. More...

CESSNA BOOSTS LATITUDE RANGE
When Cessna introduced the mid-sized Latitude at last year's NBAA convention in Las Vegas, much of the hallway discussion was about its relatively modest range of 2,000 nm. Cessna apparently heard that chatter and a few months after the convention boosted the range to 2,300 nm, matching that of the Embraer 450. At LABACE in Sao Paulo last week the company added another 200 nm to the Latitude's range, making it among the most long-legged in its segment. More...

NTSB RELEASES RENO DOCUMENTS
The NTSB on Tuesday posted online more than 900 pages of documents plus photographs related to its investigation of a fatal crash at last year's National Championship Air Races in Reno. Among the documents is a careful examination of a video shot by a spectator at the event, which concludes that the Galloping Ghost, flown by Jimmy Leeward, reached a maximum acceleration of 17.3 Gs after a roll upset, in which the airplane reached a roll angle of 93 degrees, left wing down. The documents also examine several photos that show the departure of a trim tab from the airplane's elevator. Leeward and 10 people on the ground were killed when the racer crashed. The safety board said it will release its final report, with a determination of probable cause, by the end of this month. More...

MAINSTREAM PRESS SHINES ON GA
Both The New York Times and Forbes this week published unusually upbeat stories about general aviation. Fractional-ownership and charter jet operators have seen a rise in business over the last year or so, according to the Times story, by Joe Sharkey. XOJet, a charter operator, for example, reported a 55 percent increase in flight hours in the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year. And in Forbes this week, writer Mark Patiky shows readers how efficient it can be to fly yourself in a small aircraft, describing his flight in a Mooney as the best way to get from Providence, R.I., to Teterboro, N.J. "It's amazing to realize how powerful a business tool even a small airplane can be," says Patiky. More...

KRUEGER LEAVES VAN'S

Ken Krueger

Ken Krueger, the chief engineer who guided Van's Aircraft in the design of many of its most popular models over the last 16 years, has taken an engineering post at Sierra Kilo.
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...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: RUNWAY CHICKEN REVISITED
One way of preventing the sort of opposite-direction loss of separation that occurred at Reagan National in late July is to just shut the airport down for a while. That's essentially the gist of a new order from the FAA. On the AVweb Insider blog, you can hear how it works out with live audio from Los Angeles tower. Read more and join the conversation. More...

VIDEO: PLANEDRIVEN'S ROADABLE AIRPLANE
The problem with flying cars is that it's a lot harder to make a car fly than it is to make an airplane drive. That's the thinking behind Trey Johnson's roadable Glasair Sportsman, which we filmed at Oshkosh. He flew it in and drove it around town a couple of times. We're not sure what kind of demand there is for this sort of thing, but it's fun to watch it come together. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: WHAT IS IT WITH FLYING CARS?
Maybe we should blame Popular Mechanics for all those magazine covers featuring — artist's conception only — a flying car in every garage. The idea has never worked, and it's probably never going to work, yet it persists and draws more interest than a lot of practical designs that just aren't as sexy. Or, as Paul Bertorelli surmises on the AVweb Insider blog, maybe they just don't have that edge-of-sanity dingbat factor. Just because people won't buy crazy doesn't mean they don't want to watch people try to pull it off. Read more and join the conversation. 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...

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