NATCA/FAA RANCOR CRANKED UP
Both the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the FAA have turned up the volume on their rancorous relationship and it's all about an air traffic control supervisor's decision to cut the sound on a tragedy playing out in northeastern California. In a news release, NATCA is alleging that "controllers at Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center last Sunday were deliberately prevented from monitoring the distress calls from a small plane in trouble" when the supervisor cut the sound on the loudspeaker system that was playing radio transmissions on the guard frequency concerning the engine-out emergency that ultimately led to the fatal crash of Steve Wilson's RV-7 near his home of Grass Valley, Calif. They also suggest the action by the supervisor is contrary to recurrent training taken by controllers that teaches them "to never assume that someone else is aware of an unsafe situation or an emergency, but rather to bring that situation to the attention of the proper controller or supervisor." But FAA spokesman Ian Gregor told AVweb in an e-mail that by the time the controllers in Oakland had tuned in, the plane had already crashed and all they heard were transmissions from another pilot who saw the crash and was circling the wreck waiting for help to arrive. Gregor said the supervisor could tell from the transmissions that the situation was being handled by another facility (an FSS in Rancho Murietta) and that there was nothing his staff could do to help the pilot. He was also concerned that the blaring speakers would distract controllers from handling traffic. But, of course, neither side was prepared to leave it at that. More...

ECLIPSE 500 VLJ -- A "FIRST" FOR RUSSIA
The first Eclipse 500 to be produced at the Russian Aviastar complex located at Ulyanovsk, Russia (the hometown of Vladimir Lenin), will also be the first foreign aircraft produced in that country, according to a report by Russia Today. Russian production of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ) is scheduled to begin next year now that Etirc Aviation, a Dutch investment company, has become Eclipse's largest shareholder. The Russian Aviastar aircraft complex will now be supported by $100 million in new investment, according to Russia Today, and Etirc's investment paves the way for building a second plant at the Ulyanovsk facility. Etirc expects the Russian facility to produce up to 500 jets per year beginning in 2009. More...

RUSSIA'S $1 BILLION AIRCRAFT COMPLEX
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the creation of an aircraft manufacturing complex, to be built near Moscow and to include facilities for design, construction, testing and marketing of aircraft. The goal of the project is to revive Russia's aircraft industry from its current 10 commercial aircraft per year and raise that schedule to 5,800 aircraft by 2025 (of which 2,600 would be commercial aircraft). Putin also hopes the consolidation of facilities will provide a foundation for Russian aircraft manufacturing to cooperate and compete with other manufacturers like Airbus SAS and Boeing. The state-owned OAO United Aircraft Corp. would take on creation of the center, but no timeline has yet been announced. OAO envelops Sukhoi, Tupolev and Aeroflot aircraft, among other holdings. Putin will step down from his position in May, but may retain significant political influence. More...

AIRPORT LAWSUIT FOR WITHAM IN FLORIDA?
A long discussion between Martin County, Fla., and the FAA, seeking common ground to placate neighborhoods claiming safety concerns and negative impact from aircraft noise and exhaust at Witham Field, may be taking a judicial turn. The county's commission voted in 1998 to extend Witham's runway, but provided the FAA with maps that failed to mark all of the residences nearby, according to the Palm Beach Post. The FAA extended the runway per the information provided and now refuses to shorten it but has requested that the county correct the safety issues. The Witham Airport Action Majority (WAAM), identified by the Palm Beach Post as an activist group, argues the FAA should reduce the runway's length to safeguard nearby homes. And now a court may be asked to find a solution. More...

AOPA PILOT CELEBRATES MILESTONES
AOPA's monthly AOPA Pilot magazine has reached its 600th issue and, with its March 2008 issue, AOPA Pilot celebrates its 50th anniversary. The "largest-circulation aviation magazine in the world" is sent to all 415,000 AOPA members and marks the milestone in its March 2008 issue that includes "the very first 'Never Again' column." The March issue also introduces a new "This Month In Aviation" feature that will recount significant historical aviation happenings that occurred that month in aviation's history. AOPA has also this month made available online the very first issue of AOPA Pilot magazine. Readers can "flip through the pages, just as if they were holding an original copy in their hands." More...

CRASH WIDOW DENIED BENEFITS BY COURT
Christine Wells-Groff, the widow of a firefighting pilot killed in the line of duty, has been denied federal death benefits by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling was finalized when the court declined to hear the widow's appeal on her own and other widows' behalf. Unlike public safety employees killed in the line of duty, the widows are not entitled to roughly $250,000 in federal death benefits because their husbands worked for a company that provides pilots for the California Department of Forestry (CDF) and not directly for the state. To the law, it makes no difference that the men flew CDF-owned aircraft, wore CDF uniforms and operated at the direction of the CDF. Widows have been excluded from federal death benefits since 1980, when the Department of Justice decided to exclude from federal death benefits tanker pilots hired by contract for seasonal firefighting. More...

PIPER CHEROKEE LOST IN ICELAND-TO-SCOTLAND FLIGHT
Icelandic rescue services and an RAF Nimrod search-and-rescue aircraft were looking Friday for a what they believed to be an American pilot presumed to have crashed at sea during a storm while flying from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Wick, Scotland. The pilot had contacted Iceland air traffic control to report severe icing and said he would attempt ditching. Less than 20 minutes prior to that, at 11:22 GMT, he had reported flying at 9,000 feet. He was "known to be in a survival suit but it was not clear whether he also had a dinghy," according to the BBC online, which reported weather as severe, "with heavy thunderstorms and a 20-foot swell. Search efforts include flights 450 miles from the Moray coast in the area of a distress beacon transmitted from the scene, until the aircraft sank. More...

CHC ACCEPTS TAKEOVER BID
On the eve of the helicopter industry's biggest show came news of the helicopter industry's biggest buyout. Days before Heli-Expo 2008 got under way Sunday in Houston, Texas, the board of Vancouver-based CHC Helicopter Corp. has agreed in principle to the takeover of the company by First Reserve Corp. for a $1.5 billion offer that values the company at $3.7 billion. CHC is the largest oil platform-servicing company in the world and maintains a fleet of more than 300 helicopters all over the world. First Reserve offered shareholders $32.68 a share, a 49 percent premium over the share price of $21.88. More...

SIKORSKY UNVEILS 250-KNOT HELICOPTER
Sikorsky Aircraft unveiled its X2 Technology Demonstrator Aircraft Sunday at Heli-Expo in Houston. The counter-rotating coaxial rotor design is aimed at delivering the high-speed cruise while keeping the low-speed handling, hovering and autorotation safety characteristics that operators want. "The X2 Technology Demonstrator is an integrated suite of technologies intended to advance the state-of-the-art, counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter," said Sikorsky President Jeffrey Pinot. "As we continue to work to prove out and mature the technologies that will allow the X2 Technology Demonstrator to become a viable product, we are focused on testing its limits and finding out where this technology will take us." More...

Click here for complete coverage of Heli-Expo 2008.

IRAQ AIR FORCE CESSNA DIESEL LANDS ON FLORIDA ROAD
A U.S. Air Force-owned Cessna 172 outfitted with a diesel engine and wearing Iraqi air force markings suffered a power failure and landed Thursday on a county road. Now for the explanation ... The Air Force published plans in October 2007 to send 12 Cessna 172s to Kirkuk where the aircraft would serve at the Iraqi air force flight training school. This particular aircraft had been taken to Miami to be fitted with the diesel and was then flown to a Tampa paint shop where it won its Iraqi markings, according to Tampa Bay Online. En route at about 4 p.m. from Tampa to Kendall-Tamiami -- where the Air Force would have inspected, dismantled and prepared the aircraft for shipment to Iraq -- the aircraft (and its Iraqi Air Force markings) then made its emergency landing on a rural central Florida highway ... County Road 731. More...

BRITISH CATHAY PACIFIC PILOT FIRED FOR LOW-LEVEL, HIGH-SPEED FLY-BY IN 777
A British Cathay Pacific pilot was fired after he did a low-level, high speed flyby at the Boeing plant in Everett, Wash. last month while on a delivery flight of one of the airline's new 777s. As the accompanying video shows, Ian Wilkinson took the aircraft, with company officials on board, within 30 feet of the runway at more than 300 mph. His first officer on the flight Ray Middleton (who got suspended for six months) said the company officials toasted the flight with Wilkinson later and he believes nothing would have come of the whole thing if the video hadn't made it to YouTube. More...

ON THE FLY ...
Air Force quiet on B-2 crash ...
Flight recorders recovered in Venezuelan crash ...
Virgin flies 747 on vegetable oil. 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...

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

THE PILOT'S LOUNGE #123: A SPECIAL AIRPLANE FROM SPECIAL PEOPLE
It's a tragedy when a pilot dies. But AVweb's Rick Durden helped turn a tragedy into an amazing gift from a grieving family. More...

OIL MYTHS DEBUNKED
Lubrication myths, legends and misconceptions still abound in the aviation world. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT (KSNA, SANTA ANA, CA)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Signature Flight Support at KSNA in Santa Ana, California.

AVweb reader Robert Parker recommended the FBO with one of the finest lines we've read in a while:

[W]hen a family in a Bonanza drops in for a weekend visit to Disneyland and gets treated like a Gulfstream full of celebrities, you know that you've found a good place.

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!

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: DASSAULT FALCON 7X FLY-BY-WIRE BUSINESS JET
Dassault has introduced a jet that changes the playing field for business jet manufacturers, operators and pilots. That jet is the $40 million Falcon 7X. In this exclusive video, AVweb video editor Glenn Pew takes us inside the Falcon 7X. (Click through to watch.) More...

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: 'ROCKFORD, WE HAVE A PROBLEM ...' — RECREATING AN ENGINE FAILURE
Today's "Video of the Week" comes from AVweb readers Scott Ross and Chuck Jansen. After Chuck lost an engine in his Arrow, the two recreated the frightening experience in video, using a flight-simulator and radar screens to show what happened and mixing in audio from the ATC tower and a WIFR interview. The result is a stellar presentation that brough that brought the Rockford, Illinois controller (heard in the video) out to the fellows' local EAA chapter (1414) for a presentation. According to Scott, the video's been a hit with at least two other local chapters, as well! (Click through to watch.) More...

SAVING APOLLO 13: THE INSIDE STORY
Although the Apollo astronauts got most of the glory, NASA's unsung flight controllers came into their own on Apollo 13, when an oxygen tank exploded and disabled the spacecraft on the way to the moon. Sy Liebergot, a Cal State-trained engineer, was lead EECOM (electrical, environmental, consumables) on that mission and in this detailed podcast, he describes what it was like to ultimately resolve NASA's most challenging moment. Liebergot spoke recently at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. More...

CHECK OUT OUR NEW BLOG ...
Be sure to visit our new blog, AVweb Insider, for personal insights and commentary on the aviation industry from our staff of writers and editors. Today, Aviation Group director Paul Bertorelli blogs about his chat with Apollo 13 EECOM Sy Liebergot. More...

SHORT FINAL

Today's "Short Final" breaks with tradition a bit by not being heard over the radio — but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this tale:

"I was coming back from Tampa in the early evening heading for Craig in my 182. Over Gainesville I came around a large cloud and came face to face with a UFO.

"Black, octagon-shaped with spikes, clearly not of terrestrial origin. I turned toward it. Heart racing, sweating like a pig, I could barely hold her steady. I don't believe in UFOss but there it was. About a mile out, it turns, and I can see the word Goodyear on it's side.

"What I saw in the fading light was the Blimp on end.

"But for a brief moment, I was making history.

"Things are often not what they seem."

Dr. James L. Jones
via e-mail

AVWEBBIZ: AVWEB'S BUSINESS AVIATION NEWSLETTER
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVweb's NO-COST weekly business aviation newsletter, AVwebBiz? Reporting on breaking news, Business AVflash focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the business aviation industry. Business AVflash is a must read. Sign up today at http://www.avweb.com/profile/. More...

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

Managing Editor
Meredith Saini

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

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