CANADA'S EXPEDITION E350 GETS FAA OK
The Expedition E350, a backcountry single-engine aircraft manufactured by Found Aircraft Canada, has been granted type certification by the FAA. The type certification includes both day and night VFR and IFR for the E350 with either tricycle gear or with floats. "Certification of the E350 is the culmination of over two years of development by our dedicated team of employees and suppliers who worked hard to make this day happen," says Drew Hamblin, spokesman for Expedition Aircraft. "The Expedition was designed to be the true meaning of a high performance, flying SUV and the undisputed heavy-hauler in its class." The aircraft, which seats four to five, has a full fuel payload of over 900 pounds, with a range of 700 nm at 156 knots. "E350 owners will not have to choose fuel over friends when planning long cross-country flights," Hamblin said. The airplane is designed for STOL performance, with rugged landing gear for operating from unprepared airstrips, and a powerful 315-hp Lycoming IO-580 engine. Production of the E350 has begun and first deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2009. The airplane is built on a steel-tube frame with both carbon fiber and aluminum skins. More...

GAVILAN PROJECT FOR SALE
It's kind of a tough time to be starting up an airplane business but the folks who have the intellectual property and a potentially flyable prototype of a rough-strip utility aircraft called the Gavilan are hoping there's someone interested in resurrecting the design. The Gavilan is described as the "pickup truck of airplanes" and features a cargo area capable of carrying 4x8 sheets of building materials. The type certificate has been revoked by the FAA and what's left is a slightly used prototype and all the engineering data that went into designing and certifying the aircraft. More...

NTSB REPORTS DETAILS OF SLEEPING PILOTS INCIDENT
The NTSB has released its factual report on the Feb. 13 airline flight during which both pilots fell asleep in the cockpit. The go! Airlines Bombardier CL-600 was bound from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii, at about 9 a.m., with 40 passengers. Midway into the flight, the crew failed to respond to repeated radio calls from air traffic control and other pilots for almost 20 minutes. The aircraft overflew its destination by 26 miles, then the crew turned around and landed safely. Both pilots had flown eight legs in each of the two days prior to the incident, and had started their workday at 4 a.m. Scheduling glitches and a heavier workload due to a malfunctioning flight management system on several flights added to their stresses, the NTSB reported. The first officer, age 23, was assigned to fly the leg to Hilo. "Working as hard as we had, we tend to relax," the captain, age 53, told the NTSB. "We had gotten back on schedule [after a departure delay], it was comfortable in the cockpit, the pressure was behind us. The warm Hawaiian sun was blaring in as we went eastbound. I just kind of closed my eyes for a minute, enjoying the sunshine, and dozed off." The first officer said he entered a sleep-like state from which he could "hear what was going on, but could not comprehend or make it click." The captain told investigators that he had often taken naps in the cockpit in the past, but the first officer said he had never dozed off before. The captain was later evaluated and found to suffer from sleep apnea, which can cause "significant fatigue." The captain called the FAA upon landing, the NTSB said, and told FAA personnel the crew had lost radio communications because they had selected an incorrect frequency. The captain and first officer then discussed whether they should fly the next scheduled flight, and decided it would be safe "because they were feeling very alert as a result of the incident." More...

GA PILOTS WANTED FOR NOTAM STUDY
Do you have an opinion about the FAA's current technology for disseminating Notam information? If you do, and if you can be in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Jan. 10, then the FAA wants your input. A one-day focus group for general-aviation pilots will be held to gather feedback on the current Notam system and suggestions for the Notam System Update, now in the works. American Institutes for Research, an independent research organization, is coordinating the stakeholder input for the FAA, and they are hoping to learn how GA pilots use Notams now, what they like and don't like about the system, and what changes they would like to see. The GA pilots' input will be considered by the FAA along with input from airline pilots, airline dispatchers, and military pilots. The meeting will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW. Brett Brown of the FAA Aeronautical Information Management group will give a briefing on the current status of the project. Registration is free and is open until Tuesday, Jan. 6. Space is limited, so sign up now. Click here to register. Parking will be provided. More...

LASP HEARINGS START NEXT WEEK
New rules proposed by the Transportation Security Administration would affect only the operators of large aircraft -- over 12,500 pounds -- but the general aviation community, representing pilots of aircraft of all sizes, is united in opposition to the plan. Public hearings on the Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) begin next week, Tuesday, Jan. 6, at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. In a briefing paper, EAA said that it "strongly encourages" everyone involved in recreational, personal and business aviation to participate in the TSA public hearings. EAA is concerned that the proposal would infringe "on the freedom of movement by private U.S. citizens and their family, friends, and business associates in their own personal or business-use aircraft." Ed Bolen, CEO and president of the National Business Aviation Association, plans to be in White Plains to testify. NBAA has posted a list of concerns with the proposal, which includes a TSA checklist of 80 items that would be prohibited from the cabin, a requirement for private aircraft to carry federal air marshals on demand, and fees for required "security audits." Anyone who wishes to provide oral testimony can attend the New York hearing, which begins at 9 a.m., with registration starting at 8. For more information about the hearings, click here for the complete TSA official notice. Other public meetings are scheduled for Jan. 8 in Atlanta, Ga.; Jan. 16 in Chicago; Jan. 23 in Burbank, Calif.; and Jan. 28 in Houston, Texas. More...

NBAA COUNTERS NTSB ICING ALERT
The NTSB recently issued a Safety Alert advising pilots that the procedures they have been taught regarding the use of de-icing boots may not be safe, but the National Business Aviation Association said this week that operators "should continue to base their decisions about de-icing on their experience and judgment." The NTSB alert said that pilots shouldn't wait "for a prescribed accumulation of leading-edge ice before activating the de-ice boots because of the believed threat of ice bridging." Ice bridging has never been implicated as the cause of an accident, and is extremely rare, and may not exist at all, the NTSB said, and delaying the use of the boots has been noted in "numerous incidents and accidents." NBAA said it believes "proving the existence of ice bridging after an accident is difficult, and many documented cases resulted in successful outcomes due to the skill and professionalism of the flight crew." Misuse of the de-icing boots was cited as a factor in the NTSB report on the crash of a Cessna Citation 560 in Pueblo, Colo., in February 2005, in which all eight people on board were killed. At that time, the NTSB asked the FAA to require all manufacturers and operators of airplanes equipped with pneumatic leading-edge de-ice boots to revise their manuals and training programs to emphasize that the boots should be activated as soon as the airplane enters icing conditions. More...

ECLIPSE AUCTION JAN. 14
Rumors that other bidders will try to assume control of Eclipse Aviation will either be verified or put to rest Jan. 14 when a Maryland bankruptcy court holds an auction for the assets of the company. Eclipse filed for Chapter 11 protection on Nov. 25 and a Luxembourg subsidiary of ETIRC Aviation, which is headed by Eclipse's Chairman of the Board Roel Pieper, has let it be known it wants to buy the company for $198 million. According to an Associated Press Report carried by Business Week, other potential suitors will have until Jan. 13 to get their bids in. 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...

NEW "SECOND-GENERATION" BIOFUEL PASSES AIRLINER TEST
A fuel mix of 50/50 conventional Jet A1 and fuel derived from the seeds of the jatropha tree passed its first flight test this week, in an Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400. The flight lasted about two hours and several tests were conducted, including shutting down and restarting the test engine. "All the parameters that we observed were as expected," said Air New Zealand chief pilot David Morgan. The engine will be taken apart and examined by Rolls Royce for signs of any problems. The fuel was refined and blended in the U.S. by UOP, a subsidiary of Honeywell, and has a freezing point even lower than standard jet fuel. It is considered a "second-generation" biofuel because it can be produced more sustainably than earlier alternative fuels based on corn or other crops that require a lot of farmland and energy to produce. The jatropha tree is easy to grow in a variety of conditions and it's resistant to drought and pests. It is native to Central America, but has spread to South America, Africa, and Asia, where it grows wild. "Today, we stand at the earliest stages of sustainable fuel development and an important moment in aviation history," Air New Zealand Chief Executive Rob Fyfe said shortly after the flight. Officials from the airline have said they hope to supply 10 percent of the airline's fuel needs with biofuel by 2013. More...

ON THE FLY ...
NASA released a study of the shuttle Columbia accident aimed to improve crew safety ...
The USAF Thunderbirds released its 2009 schedule for shows across the U.S. ...
Several airlines are continuing to refuse to take part in the FAA's safety reporting program ...
FAA has revoked the certificates of four Missouri men involved in operating a skydiving business. More...

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

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: AVGAS PRICES — WHY AREN'T THEY CHEAPER?
Your corner service station is offering 2001 prices; why isn't your FBO? Actually, a few are, and Paul Bertorelli explains why in the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog. More...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: 2008 AVIATION NEWS YEAR-IN-REVIEW
As 2008 draws to a close, we turn to our most trusted news source (that would be you, the AVweb reader) for an opinion on which headline dominated the year.

Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb readers what gifts they received over the holidays; click through to find out whether your fellow readers were naughty or nice. More...

BONUS VIDEO! AVIATION SAFETY PROFILES THE GARMIN 696'S TOP SAFETY FEATURES
By now, you've seen and heard a lot about Garmin's new GPSMap 696 GPS device. In this video, Jeb Burnside, Editor-in-Chief of Aviation Safety magazine, walks you through four key safety features of the 696. (Click through to watch.) More...

BONUS VIDEO! IFR MAGAZINE GOES INSIDE THE TOWER AT JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
IFR magazine Editor-in-Chief Jeff Van West spent time in the Tower at Kennedy airport to see what it takes to run the operation during the evening push and why it takes two years for a controller to reach full qualification at one of the busiest airports in the Northeast. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: EPPS AVIATION (KPDK, ATLANTA, GA)

Santa makes one final delivery for the holiday season, awarding AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon to Epps Aviation at KPDK in Atlanta, Georgia.

AVweb reader Steve Shrum has the story of how Epps saved his Christmas:

I was delivering some very special cargo to Peachtree on Christmas. The cargo included a mother, father, son, and daughter who otherwise would not have made it back home to visit with their family over the holiday. We had to wait out a long line of severe thunderstorms that stretched from Canada to Mexico. After the delay, we arrived in Atlanta just shortly after midnight. Little did we know that our batteries had made their last start. The kind folks at Epps Aviation were incredibly helpful — most specifically, Lymen Fisher. He didn't seem to mind when getting a call at 2 in the morning. He made the one-hour drive to the airport to help us with a battery change at 4 in the morning. The time for us went extremely fast as he kept us laughing with flying and mechanic stories that he had accumulated over the years. Needless to say, he is the sole reason I made it back to northern Arkansas with five minutes to spare to save my Christmas morning. In my opinion, this is yet another Christmas miracle. Thanks, Lymen!

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
Happy New Year! Stuart Toomey of Paso Robles, California looks back on 2008 from atop Morro Bay's dormant volcano. Over the last 365 days, we've received an incredible 4,580 submissions to our weekly photo contest. At just over 800 MB of photos, that's more raw images that we could archive on a single CD. Counting today's entries in our home page slideshow, we've shared 872 photos with you over the last 53 Thursdays. As long-time readers know, we're never satisfied — so let's try to top those numbers in '09! Click here to kick off the new year with a photo submission to AVweb. 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...

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

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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