SEVEN YEARS AGO TODAY ...
Seven years later, we still are caught short by the appearance of that date on the calendar: September 11 -- it brings back all those memories of a day when aviation, and our country, were changed forever. While everyone was affected in one way or another, those of us involved in aviation felt a keen and personal sadness that the technology we admire, that provides us with the amazing ability to fly wherever we wish, was corrupted to such destructive ends. And aviators around the country were affected directly -- stranded by the airspace shutdown, then faced with suspicious scrutiny from local governments and increased regulation of our freedom to fly. Small general aviation airports in the Washington, D.C., area were closed for months, and flight schools around the country saw a drop in student enrollments. Now, seven years later, we almost take for granted those airport fences across what once were open fields. But maybe seven years from now, or seven years after that, or somewhere in the future, those fences will wear away in the wind and weather, and if we're very lucky, nobody will even notice they're gone. border="0" width="500">

Photo provided to AVweb courtesy of the CAP Historical Foundation and Major Andrew J. Feldman, NY Wing CAP.

This photo is from the first low-altitude fixed-wing photo recon mission over the World Trade Center wreckage, flown by the Civil Air Patrol on September 12, 2001. (Click for a larger version.)

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3,500 NAVCANADA CUSTOMERS GET TAX BILLS
If you've flown your corporate-owned aircraft to Canada anytime in the last five years there's a good chance you'll be getting a bill in the mail NavCanada for back taxes owed on the fees you paid to the private air traffic control provider. NavCanada spokesman Ron Singer told AVweb that about 3,500 "customers" got bills ranging from $25 to more than $1,000 to cover retroactive assessments of Canada's Goods and Services Tax (GST). But don't blame NavCanada and don't blame the concept of privatization, Singer insists. It's the Canada Revenue Agency that will get the money and Singer said NavCanada fought to keep the Canadian version of the IRS's sticky fingers off the money. "This was not our decision," Singer said. "We did not agree with it." He also stressed that private owners of aircraft that have visited Canada need not worry about getting a bill. They've already paid the GST. More...

SEAWIND SAGA UPDATE - REVIVAL CLOSE, BUT "TIME IS OUR ENEMY"
Dick Silva has been working for over 10 years to get the popular Seawind experimental amphibian to the market as a certified aircraft, and this week, he said he has found some new investors and hopes to soon restart operations. Last year, the company's only flying prototype was destroyed in a crash that killed the test pilot. Silva had to shut down and lay off his staff when investors pulled out, but some 68 order-holders asked him not to give up, and he hasn't. This week, Silva said he has raised $1.2 million to restart the company, and if he can find just $800,000 more the staff will return, and two Seawinds now in the works could soon be up and flying to complete the FAA flight-test regimen. However, "there is a limit to how long we can go without resuming the project," Silva said. "Time is our enemy." The company is accepting deposits of $9,000 (to be held in escrow) from new buyers interested in the fast and roomy four-seat amphib. Silva hopes that a growing number of orders would help to attract that final round of investment cash he needs to get the doors open and bring his staff back to work. More...

ENGINE OWNERS' GROUP PUTS THIELERT INVESTORS ON NOTICE
The recently formed Thielert Engine Owners Group (THENOG) said on Tuesday that it will "exhaust every available legal, political and economic avenue" to ensure that any new owner of the bankrupt company will not leave owners high and dry. The group was responding to last week's announcement from Thielert that several purchase offers have been received from "well-known investors." Dr. Todd House, founder of THENOG, said, "We're pleased with the positive investor response in Thielert and we have every confidence that the bidders will want to honor the company's commitments to its customers." Hundreds of aircraft powered by Thielert engines have been sold, but in the course of its insolvency proceedings, the company has said it won't honor warranties or inspect and replace certain life-limited parts as owners expected, THENOG said. The changes have left Thielert owners grounded or trying to operate aircraft that are no longer economically feasible. "Any investor that ignores Thielert's customer commitments will be facing a very unhospitable business environment," said Vilis Ositis, THENOG co-founder. "The first step for any new Thielert owner will be to honor the company's commitments to aircraft operators who bought into Thielert's vision of a dependable, efficient, aircraft turbo-diesel engine. Not only is that the right thing to do, but it would diminish the threat of potential lawsuits, political action and consumer boycotts the company could face from existing Thielert engine owners." More...

PANEL RECOMMENDS CHANGES IN FAA "SAFETY CULTURE"
A blue-ribbon panel that was told by the Department of Transportation several months ago to look into the "safety culture" of the FAA has filed its report. "We have found the FAA's aviation safety staff to be unambiguously committed to its core mission of safety," the panel reported. "However, we find a remarkable degree of variation in regulatory ideologies among the field office staff, which, in places, creates the likelihood of generating wide variances, and possible errors, in regulatory decision-making." The panel mainly focused on how the FAA oversees airline operations, but some of the suggested changes could spill over to affect general aviation -- such as changes in how airworthiness directives are handled by the agency, and a recommendation that more training should be required for managers and inspectors in the field. On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters directed the FAA to implement all 13 of the panel's recommendations. More...

ALASKA AIR EQUIPS JETS WITH AIRPORT NAVIGATORS
Plenty of pilots are familiar with technology that tells us to "Turn right" or "Turn left" in a friendly female voice -- because it's installed on the dashboards of our cars, fresh from Best Buy. Now Alaska Airlines will be the first airline to provide similar technology for all of its airplanes, to guide pilots around airport runways. Their technology, however, fresh from Honeywell, will cost $20,000 per airplane. The airline started working with Honeywell three years ago to test the Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS), which provides pilots with audible alerts when they approach and enter taxiways and runways. RAAS confirms runway identifications to help ensure pilots are on the correct runway with enough distance to complete takeoff, and provides an audible warning if a pilot inadvertently accelerates for takeoff while on a taxiway. Alaska Airlines began installing RAAS on its Boeing 737s in July, and the fleet will be fully equipped with the aural alert software by the end of this month. More...

CIRRUS DESIGN CUTS STAFF BY 8 PERCENT
Citing a need to enhance efficiency and redirect resources, Cirrus Design this week eliminated about 100 jobs at its plants in Duluth and Grand Forks, in Minnesota. "We're dealing with some straightforward realities," company president Brent Wouters told the Duluth News Tribune. "We're in a difficult economic environment that has impacted the aviation business. We're not selling as many airplanes as we'd hoped to this year." Wouters said the cuts resulted mainly from a decision to keep production rates at about 14 airplanes per week, instead of ramping up to 16 as had been planned. Also, resources are being reallocated to maximize efficiency and assign more workers to the SRS light-sport aircraft and the Vision jet projects. The company now has about 1,230 workers. More...

FATE OF RARE TWIN MUSTANG GOES BACK TO COURT
The dispute over the future of a rare F-82 Twin Mustang that has long been operated by the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) will go back to court, the CAF says. The case has already been heard by a district court in Ohio, which ruled that the United States Air Force Museum, which wants to claim ownership of the aircraft, has the right to do so. CAF says it will appeal that decision. CAF says they fear that if the museum takes control of it, the airplane will never fly again. If CAF is allowed to keep it, they say, they have a donor who is ready to fund the restoration of the airplane to flying condition. It hasn't flown since it was damaged in a 1986 accident, but prior to that it flew for nearly 20 years, appearing in hundreds of airshows around the country. Rob Bardua, spokesman for the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, told AVweb on Wednesday, "Since litigation is still pending, on the advice of our counsel, we are not able to comment at this time." According to court documents filed in the earlier case, the museum argued that federal regulations that pertain to military aircraft would make it impossible for the government to give the airplane unconditionally to CAF. "The CAF could not acquire complete title to the aircraft no matter what the actions of the Air Force Officers and civilian employees were," the U.S. Air Force told the court. More...

JET FUEL FROM ALGAE A STEP CLOSER
Solazyme, a San Francisco-based company, announced on Tuesday that it has produced fuel derived from algae that meets the Jet-A fuel standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials. The ASTM standards measure performance in areas such as density, stability, flashpoint, freezing point, distillation and viscosity. By meeting those criteria, the company said, it has shown that the fuel is compatible with existing engines and infrastructure, bringing it a step closer to commercial development. "We are excited to be the first advanced biofuel company to successfully make jet fuel from algal oil that passes the most critical ASTM D1655 (Jet A) standards," said Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson. "This announcement is proof of the advantages of our proprietary renewable oil production process to create highly tailorable oils and renewable fuels." The company is already producing thousands of gallons of oil using a unique process in which algae grow in large tanks quickly, efficiently and without sunlight. The algae feed on materials such as agricultural residues and high-productivity grasses as well as industrial byproducts. The oils they produce are low-carbon, nontoxic and safe, the company says. More...

ON THE FLY ...
Lt. Col. Jack Faas is the new executive director of the CAP Historical Foundation...
Three pilots are flying across the U.S. to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Air Mail...
A hot-air balloon pilot died in a fire while trying to land Sunday evening...
Pilots can attend a ground school about formation flying in St. Louis on Sept. 22. More...

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

ACROSS THE POND #21: REPORT FROM EUROPE
From a credit-crunch victim to a man with a crazy dream, this month's column takes a look at what's been happening in Euroland this summer. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: WHY ECLIPSE'S FUTURE IS DAUNTING
The ongoing FAA review of the airplane's certification may be the least of the company's problems. Emerging competition and the need for yet more cash transfusions cloud the future. In his latest AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli analyzes the state of play. More...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: REFLECTING ON POST-9/11 AIR SECURITY
It's been said that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 changed everything; the date certainly motivated a lot of changes in general aviation, and we'd like to know what you think about them, seven years later. Plus: How interested are AVweb readers in owning the Martin Jetpack? 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...

AVWEB'S AIRVENTURE 2008 VIDEO ROUND-UP
This year at EAA AirVenture we brought you fourteen video reports over the course of seven days. We realize the news was flying fast and furious during the show, so just in case you missed any of our reports, you can catch them all here. (Click through to watch.) More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: MCDONALD-GREGORY AVIATION (DVK, DANVILLE, KY)

Traveling AVweb readers have recommended many FBOs to us this week. If you'd like to see your favorite FBO spotlighted here next Monday, recommend them using our online form.

Our latest "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to McDonald-Gregory Aviation at Danville-Boyle County Airport in Danville, Kentucky.

AVweb reader Richard Grindal made an unscheduled visit last week:

Far from home and way out of my comfort zone — and experiencing engine trouble — I precautionary-landed on Monday, September 5 (Labor Day). The owner of the FBO arranged a car and called the mechanic that night. With an overnight and the chief mechanic dropping everthing (including work on a Cessna 414) to work on my lowly experimental Cub, I was quickly on my way again — thankful for the hospitality and expertise on the mechanic work, as well as the reasonable price for everything. Thanks again to Tim and Shane!

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!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: AVWEB'S FLYING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE
Once again, it's time to harvest the fruits of our eagle-eyed readership — and this week's crop is outstanding! We've got as many photos as we can bear to look at, and we're thrilled to share them with the rest of you. Let's dig in! Julie Brooks of Flushing Michigan gets us started with a simple (but elegant) composition that she noticed purely by chance while looking down at the Linden Airport runway. More...

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:

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Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
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Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

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Scott Simmons

Contributors
Mariano Rosales
Jeff van West

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