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| Top News: Clock Ticking on 100LL? | back to top |  |
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Leaded Avgas Issue Moving To Front Burner
A notice from the Environmental Protection Agency concerning the future of 100LL is expected to be published within the next few weeks, EAA's Doug Macnair, vice president for government relations, told AVweb on Tuesday. The advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or ANPRM, has already gone through the Office and Management of Budget, and publication in the Federal Register is the next step. According to the EPA Web site, the notice's regulatory review has been concluded and publication is projected for sometime this month. "This action will describe the lead inventory related to use of leaded avgas, air quality and exposure information, additional information the Agency is collecting related to the impact of lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft on air quality and will request comments on this information," according to the EPA Web site. The ANPRM is not expected to set a final date for the end of 100LL, but will likely seek input from the industry and the public to develop a transition plan so the fuel can be phased out, Macnair said.
The ANPRM publication is expected to energize efforts to address the lingering issue of finding a viable replacement for 100LL, which has been a topic of concern in the GA world for two decades or more. A lot of input from advocacy groups and manufacturers will have to be worked through to come up with a consensus standard and produce a fuel that will reliably meet the needs of general aviation airplanes, Macnair said. "It's going to be a painful process," he added. "There's no way around it." Plenty of contenders are already at work on a solution, including Swift Fuel, General Aviation Modifications (GAMI) and some engine and airframe manufacturers. The EPA has said it would like to see leaded fuel phased out as early as 2017, EAA's Earl Lawrence said in a February update. The issue was a topic of discussion last November at the AOPA Summit, and with the publication of the ANPRM, activity toward finding an alternative is expected to intensify in the coming season. AOPA, EAA, GAMA, NBAA and other aviation advocacy groups already have been at work on the issue as well. |
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| Breaking: Terror Threat a False Alarm? | back to top | |
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Suspect "Subdued" By Air Marshal
Wednesday night, a man with diplomatic ties was reportedly subdued by a federal air marshal after he tried to light something on fire aboard United Flight 663, a Boeing 757 inbound to Denver from Washington Reagan, according to early (still vague) reports. Later reports suggested the man may simply have been trying to sneak a smoke before landing. ABC reported that the suspect, Mohammed al Modadi, held a position as 3rd secretary and vice-consul at the Qatar embassy in Washington and that the FBI said the position gave Modadi "full diplomat immunity." Two F-16 fighters were scrambled from Buckley Air Force Base to meet the flight as it flew its final 40 miles to a landing at Denver. The aircraft landed safely.
After the landing, the airliner was reportedly directed to a remote area of the airport and a team of explosives experts were summoned. First reports had suggested the episode may have been an attempted shoe bombing and that the air marshals restrained the man until landing. No conclusive determination regarding the event was available at the time AVweb went to press, but The Associated Press reported that no explosives were found on the man. |
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| Meanwhile, On the Leading Edge | back to top | |
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NASA's Blended Wing Body Passes Controllability Test
NASA announced April 6 that its X-48B blended wing body remotely piloted scale model successfully met the challenges of low-speed controllability tests, bringing the quieter, more-efficient transport closer to full-scale reality. The most recent tests of the 8.5 percent scale (21-foot wingspan) 500-pound airplane follow some 80 previous flights and prove its flight computer can handle deliberate excursions from controllability at low speeds. The program is part of NASA's new Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project. The project's manager, Fay Collier, said, "The team has proven the ability to fly tailless aircraft to the edge of the low-speed envelope, safely." Compared with conventional airliners, NASA believes similar manta ray-shaped aircraft could one day provide operators with higher volume for passengers or cargo, a lower fuel burn and lower noise signature. Tests with the X-48B will continue later this year, as will tests of the X-48C, which has an even lower noise profile than the X-48B. Key to the latest tests was the aircraft's flight computer and its programmed limiters. Those limiters were tested with deliberate excursions from defined boundaries of controllability at high angles of attack, sideslip and acceleration limits. Eight test flights convinced NASA that the limiters could provide "robust, versatile, and safe control" for blended wing body tailless aircraft. NASA's ERA project hopes to help further the technology before it is transferred to the industry. The X-48B first took flight on July 20, 2007.
Solar Impulse First "Real" Flight Tops 3,000 Feet
The solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse, which aims to fly around the world in 2012, was flown Wednesday over Switzerland by test pilot Markus Scherdel to an altitude of 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) in a successful test flight. The aircraft's previous flight was limited to a 350-meter flight flown about one meter above the ground. On April 7, the 1600-kg aircraft stayed aloft for nearly 1.5 hours driven by four electric motors fueled (this time) by batteries alone. The motors generate a maximum output of 10 hp. The aircraft left the ground at about 28 knots, climbed to altitude and executed basic maneuvers designed to simulate the aircraft's first approach. Scherdel said the aircraft "behaved just as the flight simulator told us" and "the aircraft's controllability matches our expectations." The project plans to see its first day-night flight this summer and hopes that flight will last a full 36 hours flown on solar and battery power. There will be more testing, first. Prior to a night flight, Solar Impulse will see a series of flights of increasing distance and duration. The effort's ultimate ambition is to fly the aircraft around the world on solar and battery power. The plan would see the flight made in a series of five hops flown in quick sequence, weather permitting. Led by Chairman Bertrand Piccard and CEO Andre Borschberg, the Solar Impulse project is as much of a demonstration of available technologies as it is a pursuit of a rapid transition to renewable energy sources, according to Piccard. Solar Impulse employs extensive use of carbon composites in its construction and has roughly 12,000 solar cells on its wings. |
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| Keeping 'Em Flying | back to top | |
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NTSB SAYS FAA SEARCH & RESCUE NEEDS IMPROVEMENT NTSB: NEGLECTED TIRES STARTED LEARJET'S FATAL ACCIDENT CHAIN FAA AD TARGETS THIELERT ENGINES
E5 Mention
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