The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded, Illustrated News Coverage At AVweb's NewsWire.

NATIONAL SECURITY, YOUR CONVENIENCE...
With TFRs coming and going all over the landscape -- and presidential TFRs proliferating as the campaign trail heats up -- it's lucky that the FAA's graphical TFRs are finally starting to come online. A visit to the FAA Web site over the weekend showed dozens of full-color TFR depictions, from Arkansas to Alaska, Honolulu to Washington, D.C. Among the biggies: a 30-nm presidential TFR set for today over New York City, affecting operations at more than 20 airports, heliports, and seaplane bases. AOPA said over the weekend that although it opposes such large TFRs, it was "pleased" to see the zone where flying is banned outright held to a 7-mile radius. More...

...AND A VERY STERN WARNING
Later today, President Bush will head for Camp David, and the standard Prohibited Area there will be expanded to a 10-nm radius for tonight and tomorrow. Don't even think about messing with this one: AOPA says federal security officials told them this is a "highly sensitive" visit, and enforcement actions will be "severe in the extreme" -- meaning that military patrol aircraft are authorized to shoot down violators. Most operations are banned within a 5-nm radius, with restrictions on flights up to 10nm out. All aircraft departing from private airports/air fields within that outer ring must be on a heading away from the center of the prohibited airspace, the NOTAM says. More...

GA MOVERS AND SHAKERS GET ATTABOYS...
It's always a treat to have good news to report from the GA aircraft-manufacturing world, and we found a few such stories to warm our hearts this week. At the Paris Air Show, Flight International announced its annual Aerospace Industry Awards, giving this year's top honors to Diamond Aircraft, for the DA42 Twin Star. Finalists were Sikorsky Aircraft for its S-92 helicopter, and Cirrus Design for the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. The awards recognize "a major technological or operational step forward for this diverse but important sector," the organizers wrote. This was the first year that the awards included a category for GA, separate from corporate aviation. More...

...AND CIRRUS, GROEN BROS. REPORT BRISK SALES
And if you can stand it, yet more good news: Cirrus Design, citing the growing demand for its SR20 and SR22 aircraft, announced last week it has more than tripled the size of its sales force, from seven to 24. Cirrus, based in Duluth, Minn., has delivered more than 850 airplanes, and doubled its output in 2002. Also, Groen Brothers Aviation, of Salt Lake City, Utah, announced last week that its subsidiary, American Autogyro Inc. (AAI), is ready to debut the prototype of its new product line, featuring the Sparrowhawk Gyroplane. The aircraft will appear next month at both the Popular Rotorcraft Assoc. convention in Mentone, Ind., and at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wis. More...

FAA-COMMISSIONED CELLPHONE STUDY UNDER WAY
Cellphones are seen everywhere now -- restaurants, supermarkets, cars, sidewalks -- but if you're in an airplane, since the dawn of cellphone time, talking aloft has been forbidden. The reasons behind the ban have been unclear, sometimes citing possible interference with avionics, other times blaming cell-network issues. Now an official panel has been asked by the FAA to study the ban and see if there is any real problem with using the phones and other wireless devices, and if there is, how to fix it. The RTCA, an aviation study group, will investigate the problem and issue its initial report by November. More...

P&W SCRAMJET ENGINE COMPLETES 4.5 MACH GROUND TEST
The world's first flight-weight, hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine has achieved 4.5 Mach ground testing, Pratt & Whitney announced last week at the Paris Air Show. Ground testing at 6.5 Mach is expected to be completed later this month. The project is working with Air Force researchers under the Hypersonic Technology (HyTech) Program. "We are on track for this program to change the aerospace industry forever, as this technology will create a paradigm shift in the way we employ propulsion for access-to-space and global-reach applications," P&W Space Propulsion President Larry Knauer said in a news release from Paris. The engine uses standard JP-7 fuel, while Australia's HyShot scramjet, which began flight-testing in 2001, uses hydrogen fuel. More...

THOSE SCARY CESSNAS?
The teenager who flew a stolen Cessna 172 into a Tampa office building last year sought out detailed information about MacDill Air Force base shortly before the fatal flight, according to a new FBI report quoted in the Tampa Tribune last week. A week before he committed suicide, Charles Bishop, 15, emailed a classmate to ask if he knew the location of Central Command at MacDill, the Tribune reported, and also searched the Internet for maps of the base. The NTSB reported that Bishop's plane buzzed the control tower at MacDill and flew within 100 feet of two parked KC-135 tanker aircraft loaded with jet fuel. More...

PILOTS FACE COURT, LOSS OF CERTIFICATES FOR ALCOHOL
It's a well-worn debate, but it's getting yet another run -- if a pilot drinks, is that a medical problem to be addressed, or a violation to be punished? The rules were changed after Newsday reported last year that 22 commercial airline pilots had tested positive for alcohol use, up from nine the year before. If found guilty in court, it seems pilots could lose not only their medical certificates, but -- under new FAA rules in place since January -- they could lose all their flight certificates as well. About 10,000 pilots of the 75,000 in the U.S. are tested randomly each year, but pilots can also be tested if an airport worker or airline official raises a question about their behavior. Accusations from TSA screeners instigated several of the recent tests. More...

AEROBATIC PILOTS COMPETE FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The skies above Lakeland, Fla., will be filled with tumbling airplanes this week, as some of the world's best pilots gather to compete in the World Aerobatic Championships. The 10-day event, starting Wednesday, is an intense affair. It opens with a night air show and closes with fireworks, but otherwise the schedule is focused on tough, competitive flying. Fifty-four pilots from 12 countries will compete, and titles will go to individual men and women as well as national teams. Pilots are judged on a series of compulsory and freestyle flights. More...

ON THE FLY...
New whooping crane chicks ready to begin migration training in Wis....
Boeing said 777-300ER set a max takeoff weight record of 774,600 lbs....
Joe Gauthier of Conn. to receive EAA's 2003 Tony Bingelis Award...
A 707 that was Air Force One for 28 years moved to Reagan Library...
Stanford U. needs Bay Area pilots for a study of aging. More...

SHORT FINAL...

The definition of irony: Naming an airport after a President that fired all of the Air Traffic Controllers. More...

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AVweb's AVscoop Award...

Congratulations and an AVweb hat go out to Martin Scherr, this week's AVscoop winner. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. Rules and information are at http://www.avweb.com/contact/newstips.html.

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New Articles and Features on AVweb

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COLUMNS
Pelican's Perch #70: Gulfstream IV Part 2
Last month, AVweb's John Deakin told us what it was like to live the life of an itinerant Gulfstream IV pilot. This month he digs into the actual operations in the cockpit and, guess what? It's a good thing he likes computers and can read computer screens.

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SKYWRITINGS
SBD Checkout
Very few of these Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless dive-bombers are left, and even fewer are flying. The Dixie Wing of the Commemorative Air Force has one, and it provides a very memorable checkout at Falcon Field in Georgia.

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