"MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON" CREW VISITS OSHKOSH
Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and first officer Jeff Skiles drew a huge crowd to the Honda Forum Pavilion at AirVenture Oshkosh on Thursday afternoon -- the audience filled every seat and spilled out dozens deep from both sides and the back, and even passing rain showers didn't drive them away -- and the crew was welcomed with a succession of standing ovations. For over an hour, the two sat on stage and talked about their dramatic flight last January, cracked jokes, and welcomed questions from the audience. Skiles, who said he is known to most of the media only as "the co-pilot," quickly won over the crowd with his self-deprecating humor. "My role in this is, I'm the guy who flew the airplane into the birds," he said. "So, I'd like a little credit for making Sully what he is today." The two went on to tell the familiar story of the 208 seconds that elapsed between the time their A320 lost both engines, until they found themselves evacuating the airplane on the Hudson. Sullenberger said he had never had an engine failure before in 42 years of flying, and as they descended toward the river, he focused on energy management. "I knew I only had so much kinetic energy," he said. "If we ran out too early, we would drop into the river, and if we ran out too late, it might compromise the integrity of the structure." Once they committed to the Hudson, Skiles abandoned his attempts to restart the engines, and called out altitudes and airspeeds for the captain. And once they had ditched, Sullenberger said, they both turned to each other and said, almost simultaneously, "Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought." More...

FAA FORUM: BABBITT MEETS OSHKOSH; PAUL POBEREZNY HONORED
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who was just confirmed to the post in May, got a warm welcome Thursday morning on his first visit to AirVenture Oshkosh, where he gave a short talk and took questions from the audience in the Honda Forum Pavilion on Thursday morning. But before getting started, Babbitt honored EAA founder Paul Poberezny with a Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, "in recognition of a life of service to aviation [and] a life of service to your country ... on behalf of a grateful nation." Babbitt read a long list of Poberezny's accomplishments, and ended, "This last one is the one that makes me stop. He's piloted nearly 500 different types of aircraft, more than 170 of them amateur-built." Babbitt then read his prepared speech (click here for the full text), noting that GA's safety record is improving, serious runway incursions are down 70 percent in the last year, the LSA experiment is working out well, and NextGen will provide valuable services for GA without imposing undue costs. He wrapped up by urging all pilots to cultivate a professional attitude toward every flight to promote safety. Tom Poberezny then joined Babbitt on stage for the Q&A. More...

MARTIN JETPACK PROGRESSING

Previous Martin Jetpack Videos

At last year's AirVenture, a start-up company from New Zealand created the biggest buzz of the show with an unlikely contraption called the Martin Jetpack. The fallout from Glenn Martin's Oshkosh appearance has spawned a new corporate structure, plans for a factory and technical advances that Martin says could eventually create a niche market that serves thrill seekers and business alike. In a podcast interview with AVweb, Martin said he's no longer the one man band trying to solve the formidable technical challenges of his creation while creating the business needed to support it. "We now have a CEO and a board of directors," he said. That leaves him free to work on the invention, which has been 28 years in the making. Martin said he's made significant progress in the controllability of the device, to the point where he'll be opening an amusement facility that will, for a fee, allow novices to "have a go" after only about 45 minutes of training. Martin wouldn't disclose the exact number of orders so far but he said the plan is to build a factory that will build 500 of the $100,000-plus machines a year. More...

FISHMAN PLANS ELECTRIC TWO-SEATER FLIGHT SOON
Over a year ago, Randle Fishman moved electric flight in a small airplane from paper to reality when he equipped a single-engine Moni motorglider with an electric engine and lithium-polymer batteries and took flight. This year he brought his almost-complete ElectraFlyer X to Oshkosh. This two-seat, electric-powered aircraft features side-by-side seating for two and is designed to cruise for up to two hours at 75-80 MPH. Fishman hosted a Q-and-A session to a standing-room-only crowd to discuss the pros and cons of electric flight, as well as show the details of his new design. More...

GE AVIATION AND WALTER TURBINES
This is GE Aviation's second appearance at AirVenture Oshkosh and it's only been one year since the company acquired Walter Aircraft Engines, but they've already hung their new soon-to-be-certified enhanced version of the robust Walter M601 on a soon to be certified production aircraft. That aircraft is Thrush Aircraft's new 510-gallon, 10,500-pound gross weight, Thrush aerial applicator (crop duster), and GE Aviation's version of the engine is the H80 turbine. But that's not all. Smyrna Air Power 90 conversions also offer the H80 as a re-engine package, complete with five-bladed props, for the King Air. Through application of GE's 3D Aero technology, plus raw materials that allow hotter harder running, GE says it has reduced specific fuel consumption by 7.5% over the M601. Meanwhile, where the M601 put out 850 shp reduced to 750 through the gear and prop (as GE phrased it), the H80's new internals have improved that to 1100 shp rated at 800, limited by the gearbox. Certification is set for the first quarter of 2010 and GE Aviation hopes to increase production dramatically soon after. More...

EVERGREEN'S FIREFIGHTING B747 SEES FIRST REAL TEST IN ALASKA
Evergreen International's newly certified B747 firefighting Supertanker can reach a fire at speeds near 600 mph, slow down, and then drop more than 20,000 gallons of payload on it – and the company hopes to put it to work in Alaska to do just that this week. This wildfire attack is a first for Evergreen, which has deployed the freshly certified aircraft to perform a combination water/retardant drop on the Railbelt Complex fire as a demonstration at no cost to the Alaska Forestry Division. The fire has already burned more than 300,000 acres and there are at least 70 other active fires in the state, according to Fairbanks' Daily News-Miner. Alaskan officials are greeting the aircraft with hope and scepticism. "It has some limitations because of its size and bulk, however it does bring to the table a lot of retardant or water at any one particular time, so we can make some longer fire lines," Steve Elwell, Division of Forestry aviation supervisor told KTUU news. With the Supertanker, those lines can be as wide as a football field and three miles long. But that capability comes at a cost. More...

EAA TO EXPAND CO-OPERATION WITH AERO FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
EAA President Tom Poberezny said on Thursday at AirVenture that EAA will expand its collaboration with Aero Friedrichshafen, the biggest GA air show in Europe. "So far, our collaborative efforts have functioned superbly," said Thomas Grunewald, project director of Aero. "We want to keep working together as partners to meet the challenges that lie ahead for general aviation." The Aero show has been growing, with 12 percent more visitors this year than the year before. More...

MUTT MUFFS PROTECT DOGS FROM COCKPIT NOISE
When it's time to go flying, Michelle McGuire has a reluctant husband but a willing and happy black Lab. Cockpit noise is even worse for dogs' ears than for ours, and McGuire felt she had to do something to protect her pooch's hearing. After searching in vain for a solution and failing to come up with a homemade design, she enlisted some professional engineering help to create hearing protection her dog actually wears. Now she sells Mutt Muffs in a range of sizes to fit everything from a chihuahua to a bull mastiff. "My dog never complained, but I could see he was unhappy," said McGuire. "The dogs figure out pretty quickly that things are a whole lot better if they don't take the muffs off," she explained in a podcast interview with AVweb. More...

EAA AIRVENTURE 2009 VIDEO SERIES: PRODUCT MINUTES—GARMIN G500 IN DIAMOND TRAINER, DIAMOND DA42 NG, AND VAMPIRE LSA
There are lots of new products at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2009, here's AVweb's look at some of the more interesting ones: Garmin G500 in Diamond's popular Eclipse trainer, the Austro diesel-powered DA42 NG, and the Vampire LSA.

This video is brought to you by WxWorx XM WX Satellite Weather and Lightspeed Aviation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: A380 AT OSH—YEAH, IT WAS A HARD LANDING
An Airbus A380 made a spectacular landing at AirVenture Oshkosh Tuesday afternoon. AVweb's report on the subject drew a storm of angry e-mail. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli explains why the report touched a nerve, and it has nothing to do with Airbus-bashing. More...

EAA AIRVENTURE 2009 GALLERIES: DAY FIVE

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It's our fifth day at EAA AirVenture 2009 and the fourth day of the show. Yes, we're recovered our ability to tell which day is which, and even though we're still a little bleary-eyed and maybe just a tad bit unkempt, we're having more fun than airplane people should be allowed. Join our AirVenture intern Adam for another romp around the grounds to see why. More...

EAA AIRVENTURE 2009 GALLERIES: OUR DAY AT THE SEAPLANE BASE (1 OF 3)

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On Thursday, we sent Aviation Safety editor-in-chief Jeb Burnside out to the Seaplane Base at EAA AirVenture. In exchange for his freedom, we demanded pictures — and Jeb brought back three galleries' worth of awesome snapshots. This is the first. More...

THIS WEEK, LIVE FROM OSHKOSH: THE AVWEBCAM (LIVE VIDEO FEED)
Watch for live video coverage of EAA AirVenture throughout the web, via our AVwebCam. We'll be broadcasting live from 9am to 6pm local (Oshkosh) time each day of the show. Look for the webcam player on our home page to enjoy the sights and sounds of the show — and maybe catch a glimpse of the AVweb team in action. More...

EAA AIRVENTURE 2009 PODCAST SERIES: MAN'S BEST FRIEND'S BEST FRIEND IN THE COCKPIT
Nobody makes noise-cancelling headsets for dogs, but Mutt Muffs may be the next best thing. Michelle McGuire tells how her dog's discomfort led to a company that keeps dog hearing safe in airplanes, in pit stops, on shooting ranges, and on the battlefield.

This podcast is brought to you by Bose Corporation. More...

EAA AIRVENTURE 2009 PODCAST SERIES: JETPACK IN YOUR FUTURE?
The Martin Jetpack was one of the most talked-about innovations at AirVenture 2008. There were no jetpacks at this year's show, but inventor Glenn Martin wsa there, and he talked with AVweb's Russ Niles about what's been going on since.

This podcast is brought to you by Lightspeed Aviation and WxWorx XM WX Satellite Weather. 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...

HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT GLASS PANEL? TAKE AVIATION CONSUMER'S USER SURVEY
Virtually every new airplane these days has an electronic flight display system of some kind. Our sister publication Aviation Consumer would like to hear from users of these systems. Click here to take the survey.

(The results will appear in a future issue of Aviation Consumer. For subscription information, click here.) 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
Mariano Rosales

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