FLIGHT SERVICES HERE TO STAY?
Although calls to Automated Flight Service Stations are decreasing steadily, the service they provide remains valuable says Jim Derr, the program director of Lockheed Martin Flight Services. In a podcast interview with AVweb at Sun 'n Fun 2010, Derr said that despite the huge shift in communications, weather and avionics technology over the last decade there are still times when that "personal touch" from a live briefer is invaluable. Although most, if not all information a pilot needs is available online or through the panel, sometimes pilots don't get all the data they need for a flight. Briefers often notice those gaps and fill them, he said. More...

FSS'S ROLE
AVweb's Russ Niles speaks with Lockheed Martin's Jim Derr, who's in charge of the company's flight service contract.

This podcast is brought to you by Conoco-Phillips and Bose Corporation More...

RED BULL AIR RACE SUFFERS FIRST CRASH
The first crash in the Red Bull Air Race's seven-year history was suffered Thursday, April 15, 2010, in Perth, Australia, when Adilson Kindlemann, 36, lost control of his aircraft after rounding a pylon during practice. Kindlemann managed a near wings-level impact. but as the aircraft's fixed landing gear dug into the water the aircraft flipped, leaving Kindlemann and the aircraft floating upside down in Perth's Swan River. Red Bull rescue crews arrived quickly to the inverted MXS-R aerobatic race plane. They soon extracted Kindlemann from the river and local police said he appeared to be conscious with minor injuries. Video after the jump... More...

RED BULL AIR RACE CRASH, PERTH, APRIL 15, 2010 — ADILSON KINDLEMANN
The Red Bull Air Race experienced the first crash of its seven years on Thursday, April 15, 2010 in Perth, Australia. 36-year-old Adilson Kindlemann lost control of his aircraft after rounding a pylon during practice and managed a near-wings-level impact, but the aircraft flipped as the fixed landing grear struck the water. Rescue crews extracted Kindlemann from the river, and local police reported he was conscious and appeared to be suffering only minor injuries. More...

AOPA PROMOTES ENGAGEMENT AT SUN 'N FUN
The future of general aviation rests in the hands of today's pilots, AOPA President Craig Fuller said at Sun 'n Fun on Thursday evening, as he kicked off the event's annual AOPA Day, which will be held all day Friday. "At AOPA we are busy doing more than ever before to keep flying strong," Fuller said. "And everywhere I go I meet people who want to help, but they don't know how." Fuller is on a campaign to get grass-roots aviators fully engaged in meeting the challenges ahead. "Being more engaged can be as simple as staying informed about the issues that affect your flying and as involved as hosting a major public event," he said. "But in between are almost infinite opportunities." AVweb spoke with Fuller about some of those opportunities, as well as the challenges facing GA; click here for the podcast. More...

CRAIG FULLER, PRESIDENT OF AOPA
General aviation dodged a bullet on user fees, but there are plenty of other challenges ahead. Craig Fuller talks with AVweb's Mary Grady at Sun 'n Fun about those challenges, including NextGen, avgas, and more, and also the opportunities that GA will be facing in the future.

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

SPORTY'S EXPANDS ELECTRONIC OFFERINGS
Sporty's is keeping up with the electronic age, now offering a mobile version of its pilot-training video series that will run on smartphones, an iPhone E6B app featuring 23 aviation functions, and its first downloadable e-book. The mobile video series will play either on a 3G/4G network or via wifi, said Sporty's vice president John Zimmerman at Sun 'n Fun on Thursday. It costs an extra $49.95 for buyers of the online training series. The E6B app will be available in a couple of weeks for $4.99, and the first e-book, Richard Collins' updated classic Air Crashes, will cost $9.99. "This is just the first of many e-books to come," Zimmerman said. He also offered a video sneak peak of a new product that will be introduced at Oshkosh: a hand-held unit that can probably do myriad things, but the video showed it operating as a back-up ILS after the avionics went down during a flight. More...

BUILD A PLANE DEMAND STILL STRONG
"The down economy has been good for Build A Plane," founder Lyn Freeman said at Sun 'n Fun on Thursday. "We've had a lot of donations." The organization is now accepting airworthy aircraft as well as projects. And the demand continues to run ever higher, according to executive director Katrina Bradshaw. "We've started 200 projects since 2003," she said. "But we still have 325 groups waiting for an aircraft." Freeman said the projects have a huge impact on the kids who take part. "We had a group of kids in Hooper Bay, Alaska, who started a project in 2007, and now we're raising money so they can fly the airplane they built into AirVenture this summer," Freeman said. "Out of the 11 kids who started the airplane, three have now earned their A&Ps, and two more are taking flying lessons." More...

GROUNDBREAKING FOR NEW AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL
Officials from Sun 'n Fun and the Polk County (Fla.) School Board broke ground Thursday for a $7.5 million facility that will provide a new home for the Central Florida Aerospace Academy, an aviation-oriented high school/career academy already located on the Sun 'n Fun campus. The 58,000-square-foot facility will house up to 500 high school students. Current facilities for the school have a maximum capacity of 175. "Sun 'n Fun is ecstatic to have such significant and inspirational support for an educational facility of this magnitude that underscores our organization's core values and is in lock step with our educational focus and mission," said Sun 'n Fun Board Chairman Bill Eickhoff. The project is funded by a grant from the Aviation Education Foundation, a Naples-based not-for-profit organization founded by James C. Ray. More...

VOLCANO ASH CLOSES BRITISH AIRSPACE
U.K. Authorities took the unprecedented action of closing its airspace Thursday as a plume of volcanic ash from Iceland blew over the country. All flights, except certain emergency operations, were banned starting at noon and weren't expected to resume until 7 a.m. Friday. By then, the plume is expected to be over northern Europe, where similar airspace closures will be implemented. The plume contains minute particles of silicate which damage the engines and airframes of aircraft that fly through it. It's the first sweeping closure of its type since the Second World War. More...

DIAMOND MOTOR GLIDER FLIGHT TRIAL
At Sun 'n Fun, Diamond announced the reintroduction of its HK36 motor glider, and AVweb's Russ Niles took a demo flight with Great Lakes Aircraft's Andy James.

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

LOCK AND KEY UPGRADE FOR PIPER NAVAJO
Piper's Navajo was one of the most successful cabin class twins, mainly because it carries a lot at a good cruise speed. But it hasn't been made since the 1980s, so Mike Jones Aircraft has developed an extensive upgrade program for the Navajo called the Lock and Key. Here's a report.

This video is brought to you by Conoco-Phillips and Bose Corporation. More...

15 YEARS AND NOW 15 GRAND GIVEAWAYS ... IT'S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN SCHEYDEN FRAMES AND FLIGHT GEAR

Win Scheyden Dual RX frames and Flight Crew Ensemble flight gear as we celebrate our 15th Anniversary! All you have to do is click here to enter your name and e-mail address. (You only have to enter once, and you'll be entered in our prize drawings for the entire year — so if you've already entered, you're all set.)

And no, we're not going to rent or sell your name, ever. Tell your friends, and invite them to sign up for AVweb so they can qualify for our 15 Grand Giveaways prize drawings, too. (We won't spam them, either — but we hope they will sign up for our newsletters.)

Deadline for entries is 11:59pm Zulu time April 30, 2010.

Click here to read the contest rules and enter.

Congratulations to Jack Feiden of Wichita, Kansas, who won an XM WX Satellite Weather Receiver from WxWorx in our last drawing! (click here to get your own from WxWorx)

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
Mariano Rosales

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