GA SAFETY TREND CONTINUES
AOPA's annual Nall Report (PDF) says 2006 was the safest year ever for general aviation operations. According to the report, there were 6.32 accidents for every 100,000 hours flown in 2006 compared to 7.19 in 1997. The report bases its analysis on trends, rather than year-to-year statistics. There's been an increase in the number of weather-related accidents, possibly due to the availability of advanced, high performance aircraft. Other categories of accidents are generally declining but one thing remains constant. "No matter what accident statistics you look at, pilot decision making continues to be the leading cause of all accidents," Bruce Landsberg, head of AOPA's Air Safety Foundation said in a release. While pilots are flying safer, they're also flying less often than five or 10 years ago. More...

LAWSUIT SPARKED FLY-IN REVIEW
EAA says a judgment against it stemming from an accident at an unnamed regional fly-in resulted in the controversial review of its association with such events. In a statement issued a week after AVweb reported that the annual Texas Fly-In at Hondo was being scrapped because of the proposed policies, EAA said the review was necessary because the judgment threatened insurance coverage of its core activities. "The damage award affected the evaluation of EAA's coverage in the insurance market and created a situation that, if not addressed, would lead to very significant and unsustainable increases in the cost of EAA's insurance coverage at the levels required for all of its programs," the statement said. More...

ECLIPSE CELEBRATES FUNDING, AVIONICS CERTIFICATION
There were a couple of pieces of good news for Eclipse Aviation and its customers this week as the business year wound down. The company received certification for its Avio NG avionics suite and it also got a $30 million shot in the arm from customers who paid deposits in advance in return for a lower overall price on their aircraft. Certification of Avio NG was a major milestone and the system will be immediately integrated into aircraft coming off the assembly line. More...

ASPEN AVIONICS EFD1000 CERTIFICATION DELAYED
Aspen Avionics announced last week that expected certification and deliveries of its new EFD1000-series electronic flight displays have been delayed until the end of March. Rollout was originally planned for this fall. In a letter to customers dated December 19, the company said it has released a preliminary installation manual to dealers that can help them pre-wire a plane for the new equipment. Aspen says it plans to submit its final FAA certification package in time to support shipment of EFD1000 Pilot and Pro primary flight display (PFD) units by March 31. More...

HAI RECOGNIZES 2008 PILOT OF THE YEAR
Franz Ivanovich Levitskiy, a helicopter pilot and instructor with UTair Aviation of Surgut, Russia, is the Helicopter Association International (HAI)'s 2008 Pilot of the Year. During his 40-year career, Levitskiy has logged 27,500 accident-free flight hours in various aircraft including the Mi-4, Mi-6, Mi-8, Mi-8MTV and Mi-26T helicopters. More...

AIR FORCE CUTTING PILOT TRAINING
The U.S. Air Force will train about 925 new pilots in 2008, a decrease of about 12 percent from the 1,100 that will graduate this year, the Air Force Times is reporting. The Times says there will be a slight bump in trainees in 2009 to about 1025 that is expected to remain constant for several years. The newspaper says the reduction is directly related to the decline in the number of aircraft and will be particularly felt in the fighter pilot ranks. "If the Air Force did not slow down pilot production, the service's fighter squadrons would be overwhelmed by first-assignment pilots who could not get adequate training because there wouldn't be enough jets or instructors," the newspaper reported. More...

GLOBAL AIRPORT FLIGHT DELAY INDEX LAUNCHES ON FLIGHTSTATS.COM
Airline travelers can now monitor flight delays at airports throughout the world for free on FlightStats.com. The Web site's new global delay index provides a graphical indication of whether your flight to or from a given airport is likely to be late. Users can get details on the status of particular flight and request email or text message alerts. FlightStats assesses the airport's current departure performance and the severity of delays and cancellations using data collected from the previous hour and from flight schedule delays for the upcoming two-hour period. Conditions are translated into an index score between 0 and 5 where higher values indicate more severe departure disruptions. More...

TRACK SANTA ONLINE
Beginning at 0900Z on December 24 you can track Santa live online at www.NoradSanta.org as he makes his annual round-the-world flight. "Santa has had to adapt over the years to having less and less time to deliver his toys," states the Web site, which is run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). With a world population of more than 6.5 billion, Santa has but a fraction of a second to deliver a gift to each person on Earth. "The fact that Santa Claus is more than 15 centuries old and does not appear to age is our biggest clue that he does not work within time, as we know it." More...

DALLAS HOLIDAY LIGHTS ATTRACT AERIAL SIGHTSEERS
What started as a way to earn extra money during college has grown into a booming holiday business for David Snell, owner of Starlight Flight in Frisco, Texas. This month Snell's company will fly about 90 people low and slow over the glistening lights of Interlochen and Highland Park, two Dallas-area neighborhoods known for their large and elaborate holiday light displays (this is Texas, after all). A 30-minute flight for two people in a Cessna 172 costs $160, and an hour-long flight costs $215—about half the price of similar helicopter flights. More...

ON THE FLY ...
EAA confirms top acts for AirVenture ...
Rob Reider earns ICAS award ...
Cessna's 8,000 Independence aircraft goes to CAP ...
German glider pilot Herman Weiss killed in competition ...
Sturgell, Forrey meet to talk safety. More...

AVMAIL: DEC. 24, 2007
Reader mail this week about the environment and flying, airline-congestion solutions, the future of GA and more. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: EMERALD COAST AVIATION (54J, DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, FL)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Emerald Coast Aviation at 54J in Defuniak Springs, Florida.

Emerald Coast brought a little holiday cheer to AVweb reader Travis Turner, who stopped at the FBO "to pick up my mother for the holidays":

She had not flown in a small plane before, and the owner Johnathan helped to reassure my mom that flying was a safe and fun way to travel. Aside from helping to calm her nerves, Emerald Coast has a clean facility, good prices and a new surface on their runway. I certainly will visit again!

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!

Columns | Features | What's New | Calendar | Brainteasers

PROBABLE CAUSE #48: MOUNTAIN WAVES
Even though the weather may be clear, when flying in the mountains, what you can't see can bite you. More...

AVWEB'S MONDAY PODCAST: AVIATION CONSUMER REVEALS "WHY AIRCRAFT BATTERIES DON'T LAST"
Usually it's because the owner or operator let them discharge too deeply or too often, according to Concorde's Skip Koss, who discussed battery technology and longevity with Aviation Consumer's Paul Bertorelli. In its January issue, the magazine features an in-depth comparison of aircraft batteries, with some surprising results. More...

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: DRUMS AND AEROBATICS
Here's a little air show fun to spice up your holiday week, straight from the e-mail of AVweb reader Robert Reid, who (accurately) describes the clip as "short, crystal clear, [featuring] amazing photography, and fun to watch." (Click through to view the video.) More...

SHORT FINAL

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"

Heard at Lawrence, Massachusetts:

Tower:
"Arrow Eight Two Xray, slowest possible speed. Traffic ahead is an ultralight on a half-mile final."

Ultralight:
"Tower, we'll climb out so he can land."

Tower:
"Roger, climb and maintain 1700, runway heading. Arrow Eight Two Xray, cleared to land, caution, mowing in progress, right side of runway."

Arrow:
"Roger, duck under the lawn mower ahead and avoid the one on the ground. Cleared to land, Arrow Eight Two Xray."

Angelo Iannuzzo Nashua
New Hampshire

AVWEBBIZ: AVWEB'S BUSINESS AVIATION NEWSLETTER
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MEET THE AVWEBFLASH TEAM

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

The AVwebFlash 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

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