IAC PRESIDENT VICKI CRUSE DIES IN CRASH
Former U.S. Aerobatic Champion and Reno racing pilot Vicki Cruse died Saturday when her Edge 540 competition plane crashed at Silverstone race track in England. Saturday was a training day for the World Aerobatic Championships, which run through Aug. 29 and Cruse was one of the members of the U.S. team. Witnesses told the the Telegraph the aircraft "nosedived" into the ground and there was no hope for her survival. Cruse, 40, of Santa Paula, Calif., was president of the International Aerobatic Club which said in its tribute to Cruse that team manager Norm DeWitt "said Cruse was flying the early-round "Q" program when she lost control of her Zivko Edge 540 aircraft by what appeared to be a mechanical problem in flight. She was at an altitude that prevented her from bailing out of the aircraft."

Related Content:
Promotional video showcasing Cruse's aviation story

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FAA GRANTS BOEING MORE AUTONOMY ON CERTIFICATION
Tuesday, the FAA increased the authority of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division to self-certify its own aircraft. Boeing is set to officially switch to the new system, dubbed Organization Designation Authorization, on Aug. 31, after a training period, according to the Seattle Times. Authority extended to Boeing under the new system allows Boeing employees to perform tasks on behalf of the FAA that include oversight of testing and product standards, along with certification of aircraft technologies and new aircraft designs. Boeing already had in-house inspection programs and much of Boeing's inspection work is already delegated to FAA-appointed in-house company inspectors, who report most of their findings to the FAA through Boeing. The new system extends that authority. The FAA will monitor Boeing's employees through a Boeing Aviation Safety Oversight Office (BASOO), which will review Boeing's own written reports and audit Boeing's internal inspection program. More...

MANAGER CLAIMS SAFETY REGS COULD CRIPPLE AIRPORT
Ithaca Tompkins Airport manager Bob Nichols has told the County Legislature to oppose federal legislation that might require additional airport firefighting staff, according to the Ithaca Journal. A companion bill to the FAA Reauthorization Act that, among other things, would authorize the FAA to change fire and rescue regulations is being considered by the Senate. The American Association of Airport Executives suggest that the financial impact of adopting the changes that bill might represent could cost nearly $4 billion in the first year without bringing a material improvement in safety for passengers. Still, the Senate bill "does not specifically include any of these proposals," noted the Journal, but the potential for change is clearly scaring people. "To me, it opens up a can of worms," county planning commissioner Ed Marx told the Journal. "Once it goes to the rulemaking phase, there are no further votes. The FAA can just make new rules." As written, the bill authorizes the FAA to change fire and rescue regulations and does not specifically include any proposals that would impose a cost burden on airports. More...

ACOUSTIC VECTOR SENSING FOR TRAFFIC AWARENESS
An associate professor and graduate students at the University of Kansas (KU) have "perfected" a traffic sensing system that does not rely on other aircraft having an active counterpart and may be available for under $10,000, according to a news release from the University of Kansas. The release does not state that the system has been flown, but that it has been tested "in small scale" and "with a ground setup." In those tests, it tracked vehicles that ranged in size "from a full-size helicopter to a model plane, with accuracy of within less than 1 meter." That accuracy held true at distances of more than six miles (10 km), according to KU. The system is based on acoustic vector sensing, which has long been used in underwater applications. Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, associate professor of aerospace engineering at KU, along with graduate students adapted the technology for the flight environment after a Dutch company, MicroFlown Technologies, failed to do so, the release says. In the KU system, information from sensors is fed to a cockpit display "to provide pilots with accurate alerts" and "urge evasive maneuvers" for collision avoidance. More...

MISSILE DEFENSE LASER-EQUIPPED 747 TEST SUCCESSFUL
On Aug. 18, a high-power chemical oxygen iodine laser mated to a modified Boeing 747-400F and beam/fire control system designed together to destroy ballistic missiles in boost phase was fired for the first time in flight. The next steps will include more airborne tests before a missile shoot-down demonstration. For the test flight, which launched out of Edwards AFB Tuesday, the laser was fired into an on-board calorimeter, which both captured the beam and measured its power. Team leaders hope that if the program is successful, it will usher in a new era for weapon systems. "We think ABL (airborne laser) will be a game-changer for weapon systems the same way stealth technology transformed aerial combat," Michael Rinn, Boeing vice president and ABL program director, said in a news release. If it progresses as planned, the test regimen will soon ramp up to firing the beam through the aircraft's advanced control/fire control system. That would mark "the first time a megawatt-class laser has been coupled with precise pointing and atmospheric correction in an airborne environment," according to Boeing. Following that progressively the more challenging target practice. More...

JET FUEL FROM SEAWATER IS POSSIBLE, STILL IMPRACTICAL
Air contains about .04 percent carbon dioxide, but ocean water holds about 140 times that much -- and using electricity to split the water molecules and then combining them with hydrogen creates a hydrocarbon fuel ... and it works. For now, the problem is that it doesn't work especially well. Navy chemists have gone so far as to process seawater into "unsaturated short-chain hydrocarbons," according to NewScientist, "that with further refining could be made into a kerosene-based jet fuel." If they power the reaction with a clean energy source the military could correctly claim to be flying mostly "carbon neutral." At this stage, the process is still producing an undesired byproduct -- 30 percent methane. It also takes substantially more energy to create the fuel than the fuel itself can yield. Navy chemist Heather Willauer is leading the project and believes the efficiency of the process needs to be significantly improved, which may be achieved by applying a new catalyst to the process. More...

TSA ADDS HURDLE TO RECREATION OF EARHART FLIGHT?
Grace McGuire, now 59, is still pursuing her decades-long dream to finish Amelia Earhart's final flight flying the same model aircraft with the same instrumentation and parts. The journey has already taken McGuire from her home in New Jersey to the Central Coast of California, where she says it was almost derailed by TSA regulations. Having acquired an original Lockheed L-10E in 1984, McGuire eventually had the aircraft shipped in sections to Santa Maria Airport where it was to be rebuilt, made airworthy, and readied. The plan was to fly it to Miami, down the East Coast of South America to Dakar making every effort to fly a route nearly identical to Earhart's ... "except the outcome -- I'm coming back," McGuire told a local CBS news affiliate. Unfortunately, the TSA requirement that each airport tenant provide an airport issued-I.D. card put the project that's already faced considerable financial and logistical hurdles, "in shambles," according to McGuire. At Santa Maria, airport tenants are required to provide a filled-out application and proof of identification. In McGuire's case, where numerous specialty mechanics were needed to reconstruct the aircraft, the task was proving difficult. But now, the San Diego Air and Space Museum has stepped in ... . More...

WORLD BALLOONERS CONTINUE TOUR FOR CHARITY
The historic flight that on March 20, 1999, made Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard the first to fly around the world non-stop in a balloon also moved the men to action. "We simply could not accept the rewards and adulation which came with success without revisiting the perverse inequality that allow us to realize a dream whilst unwittingly overflying children dying needlessly," Jones told the BBC. As a result, the men set up the Winds of Hope charity with the $1 million prize money they were awarded for making the successful record setting flight. Jones' will travel next to Australia as part of a world tour, according to the BBC, to fly a replica balloon and raise money for the charity. Winds of Hope currently is funding prevention of the gangrene-like disease Noma, which kills roughly 80,000 of the 100,000 (mostly children) who contract it each year. The first country to benefit from a Winds of Hope prevention program has seen an apparent decline of 90 percent, according to Jones. More...

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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...

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PAT PATTEN OF FLYING MEDICAL SERVICE TALKS TO IFR MAGAZINE ABOUT FLYING THE GAUGES IN THE WILDS OF AFRICA
In the U.S., IFR flying may be all about radar vectors and ATC. But in Tanzania, it's mostly self-reporting your position in uncontrolled airspace. Come hear how Flying Medical Service pilot Pat Patten flies hundreds of miles on dead reckoning, stays out of the worst of the thunderstorms, and avoids running into elephants on the runway in the dark of the African night. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: NTSB'S SNIT FIT
The NTSB's work is so serious, so respected, and so vital that we don't expect them to throw a fit when a group like the air traffic controllers' association issues a press release that's a little off the government message. In the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli argues why we should expect better of the safety agency. More...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: LOSS OF CONTROL IN AN F-16 FIGHTER, TEST PILOT ON YAW DEPARTURE
At Edwards Air Force Base, they still test F-16 fighters, because each software upgrade and each new weapons package introduces new parameters. Experimental test pilots need to identify the aircraft's performance limits, and they need to know how it will perform before their brothers- and sisters-in-arms take upgraded Vipers into combat. This is one of those tests, and Air Force pilot Desmond Brophy walks us through it step-by-step. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: GRIFFING FLYING SERVICE (KSKY, SANDUSKY, OHIO)
AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Griffing Flying Service at Sandusky Airport (KSKY) in Sandusky, Ohio.

Sometimes a great FBO can surprise you when you're not expecting to find one. AVweb reader Josh Johnson was on his way to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky when he discovered Griffing. John confesses:

I was initially a little disappointed when I saw on the wall that there would be a $10 landing fee and a $25 parking fee for my Cessna 172. I thought I had arrived at another of the fee-happy FBOs that seem to be popping up everywhere. What I didn't realize is that this fee also included transportation to and from Cedar Point at no charge for as many people as we could fit into our airplane. Suddenly, instead of moaning about what would likely have cost us $80 for a round trip taxi, we're getting not only airport services but also dropped off and picked up at the front gate of the park! I think this is one of the best values out there, and part of the fees are waived if there is a fuel purchase!

We did have a little problem: When we arrived there wasn't room for everyone in their full-size van, as several aircraft had arrived at once. Not a problem. Mr. Griffing himself gave us a ride to the park in his van — and it was his day off! All in all, an excellent experience!

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!

SHORT FINAL

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"

A few years ago, when I drove up to my airport, there was an Aeronca there with two men looking at a chart.

One of the men with the chart:
"This is Catherine, Alabama, isn't it?"

Me:
"Yes, sir, it is."

The man with the chart:
"Can you show me Catherine on this chart?"

Me:
"Sure. But, um — how did you know you were in Catherine if you couldn't find it on the chart."

Second man looking at the chart:
"Well, we looked on that coon dog's collar, and it had the town name on it."

Anonymous tale
as told to IFR magazine's "On the Air"

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