PILOTS PULL RANK, DECLARE EMERGENCY AT JFK (WITH AUDIO)
The crew of American Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing 767 out of Los Angeles for New York, ultimately declared an emergency while trying to land in strong crosswinds at JFK, May 4, after apparently being denied their runway of choice. Speaking for the JFK Controller union, Steve Abraham told ABC news the pilot "had no choice. He couldn't land 22L, it would have been illegal for him," due to the crosswind. Wind was 320 at 23 gusting to 35, at the time. JFK's main runway, 31 Left, has been closed for upgrades for about eight weeks, and controllers say that maintaining the flow of traffic at the airport has led to some less than ideal clearances. FAA spokesman Arlene Sarlac told AVweb Thursday that the agency studied the situation "for over a year" prior to closing the runway and worked with airlines who "agreed to reduce their schedules during this closure time." The FAA says the situation at JFK is safe. After receiving their clearance, the crew of American Flight 2 said, "We can't land on 22," adding, "We're breaking off approach and if you don't give us to Runway 31R, we're going to declare an emergency." The controller responded "alright, I'll pass it along, fly runway heading for now." At that point, things got more serious. Click for audio (MP3 file). More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: TRUMPED-UP JFK EMERGENCY?
Under what authority did the Captain of an American 767 reject a runway assignment and take the runway he wanted? Command authority, says Paul Bertorelli in the latest installment the AVweb Insider blog — and, like it or not, it was the PIC's call to make. Click here to see what others think. More...

A CLEAN-SHEET 737?
Speculation is rampant in commercial jet circles that Boeing is ready to build a clean-sheet replacement for its bread-and-butter 737. "Everything's on the table," Liz Verdier, Boeing's spokeswoman for New Product Development, told Seattle's KING 5 News. While much of the focus on Boeing has been on its prestige lines, like the 787 Dreamliner and the new 747-8, the company's Renton plant is cranking out the latest generation of 737 at the rate of almost one a day. Although it continues to outsell its rivals, there is more competition on the horizon and that's why pundits are wondering if something completely new is in the works. More...

OSPREY CRASH -- THE AIRCRAFT AND ITS LEGACY
The first fatal crash of an Air Force CV-22 Osprey in Afghanistan, this April, served as a reminder of the aircraft's costly and deadly development history, but comparing the current aircraft to the development aircraft may be an apples-to-oranges comparison. In this week's podcast, AVweb's Glenn Pew speaks with Richard Whittle, author of the newly released book, "The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey." In the podcast, Whittle explains the problems encountered during the Osprey's development, the deadly crashes it experienced, and how the government's own development process may have contributed to those problems. Today, Whittle believes the physical lessons of the Osprey's development have been incorporated into the current Osprey airframe, along with its hardware and software. But the aircraft's reputation in the general public may not have similarly evolved. And the government may have yet to incorporated the lessons learned. (Click to listen.) More...

THE STORIED HISTORY OF THE OSPREY, WITH AUTHOR RICHARD WHITTLE
The first fatal crash of an Air Force CV-22 Osprey in Afghanistan this April served as a reminder of the aircraft's costly and deadly development history — but comparing the current aircraft to the development aircraft may be apples to oranges. AVweb's Glenn Pew spoke with Richard Whittle, author of the newly released book The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey. More...

GROUP HOPES TO PULL "OLDEST" P-38 FROM UK BEACH
Lost during a training mission in 1942, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning was first revealed by shifting sands at Gwynedd, UK, in 2007; now a recovery team aims extract the aircraft, in whole, from its partially submerged spot. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) began looking after the aircraft when it was discovered three years ago. The aircraft was identified as the Maid of Harlech, which was flown by Second Lieutenant Robert Elliot. The Lieutenant walked away from the crash that eventually saw the aircraft buried, but was reported missing in action three months later while flying in Tunisia. His "Maid" is now thought to be perhaps the oldest surviving P-38 airframe. As such, museums are in discussions with TIGHAR over hosting the aircraft. But removal of the seriously eroded airframe, from its sand-and-seawater home of 68 years, won't be easy. More...

KOMET TEST PILOT DIES
Rudy Opitz, the chief test pilot of one of the most uniquely ambitious programs of the Second World War died May 1 in Bridgeport, CT at the age of 99. Opitz headed up the testing and eventual deployment of the Me 163 Komet, which still holds the distinction of being the only rocket-powered airplane to enter combat. Opitz was snapped up by the U.S. occupying forces after the war in Operation Paperclip and became a U.S. citizen in 1955. He joined Lycoming to run their jet program but he never lost his love for gliders, which, after seven minutes, the Komet became. More...

TENNESSEE AIRPARK RAVAGED BY FLOOD
About 20 aircraft were underwater and an aircraft parts warehouse was flattened by a landslide as privately owned Cornelia Fort Airpark, Nashville, Tenn., succumbed last Monday to the highest water it's seen since it opened in the 1940s. All but one aircraft were still mostly submerged through last Tuesday afternoon, even though the floodwater had then receded from its Monday high by about two feet. This comes after the airpark, which was reportedly having financial difficulties, had been put on the market. "The water rose so quickly that it was already over the runway before anyone knew they had to get the airplanes out," Jerry Shephard, an aircraft mechanic for the airport's operator, told The Tennessean.com. Just one twin, parked just inside the perimeter fence on the road that leads out of the airport, stayed almost dry -- but "almost" appears to mean the water may have stopped short of the engines. But damage came to some other aircraft not only from the rising water, but the current (and debris) that came with it. More...

SNOWBIRDS WELCOME FEMALE COMMANDER
The first woman ever to fly as a member of a jet military demo team is now the commanding officer of the team. Lt. Col. Maryse Carmichael took over Canadian Forces 431 Squadron (Air Demonstration) Squadron, more popularly known as the Snowbirds, last Thursday as the team entered its 40th season. "This is a chance for me to give back to the team," she told Canadian Aviator Magazine. "To be back here is a chance to really support this team." Carmichael is a 20-year veteran of the Canadian Forces and joined the Snowbirds for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. She joined the Snowbirds a year after Fl. Lt. Joanne Mein, became a member of the Royal Australian Air Force's Roulettes, who fly turboprop PC9s. More...

AVMAIL: MAY 10, 2010

Letter of the Week: Clearance Change Overdue

The change to the FAA "Taxi to Runway" clearance is way overdue. ICAO procedures (in use outside the U.S.) require that a pilot receive a clearance to cross each individual runway when taxiing from any point on an airport to another point on the airport.

This has been a set-up for U.S. pilots, used to FAA regs and unaware of ICAO procedures, to have a runway incursion when outside the U.S.

Bob Ryan

Click through to read the rest of this week's letters.

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: NEWSFLASH — A POWERFUL RADIO WON'T SHOO AWAY TRAFFIC
The next time you fly into an uncontrolled airport, there may be some traffic in the pattern who won't answer on the radio. Of course, you already knew that — you just didn't know it might be AVweb Insider blogger Paul Bertorelli. Give the radio a rest and exercise your eyeballs with Paul's latest post. 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...

KITPLANES REPORTS FROM CAFE ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT SYMPOSIUM
With electric airplanes continuing to gain favor, the fifth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium was held recently, and here's a video report from Kitplanes magazine editor Marc Cook. In case you haven't been paying attention, there has been broad progress in battery technology and endurance, motor weight, and power and charging systems. This video summarizes the high points. More...

AVIATION CONSUMER LOOKS AT THE FX8 JEPPESEN CHART READER
It's light enough to fit in a chart holder on the yoke, yet big enough to view a Jepp plate at full width. This new digital chart reader from SOLIDFX is a winner. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: DANVILLE/BOYLE COUNTY AIRPORT BOARD (KDVK, DANVILLE, TN)

We saw plenty of great FBO stories this week, but none that wowed us so much as AVweb reader Liza Kummer's story of above-and-beyond service at Danville/Boyle County Airport Board, located at Stuart Powell Field (KDVK) in Danville, Tennessee:

We landed late at night enroute from Penn to Texas and stayed at the fabulous Hampton Inn. The lady with Sharon's Car Service — Danville did not have taxis — waited an hour for us at the airport! It looked like we were going to be unable to fly the next day because of a scary-looking squall line with forecasts of hail. After thoroughly researching the weather, we were able to plan a path to avoid all those nasty orange and red radar echoes and decided to forge on before the squall line hit. It was raining now, and they retrieved my plane from the corporate hangar, filled the tanks at the self-service for me, pulled the plane close to the FBO to avoid getting wet, handed me an umbrella for my pre-flight, and gave us bottles of water for the flight. We felt like royalty.

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!

15 YEARS AND NOW 15 GRAND GIVEAWAYS ... IT'S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A KING SCHOOLS GET-IT-ALL TRAINING KIT

Win a Get-It-All Training Kit from King Schools 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 May 21, 2010.

Click here to read the contest rules and enter.

Congratulations to David Schieman of Lawrenceville, Georgia, who won Scheyden Dual RX frames and a Scheyden flight gear package in our last drawing! (click here to get your own from Scheyden)

SHORT FINAL

This was heard the about a week ago when I was out getting night current and was returning to Mid Continent for landing. There was a regional jet that was landing ahead of me in my Mooney.

Tower:
"Regional jet, taxi to the gate."

Regional Jet:
"Roger. To the gate."

[a long pause]

Tower:
"RJ, you going to the gate? I have a Mooney on short final."

Regional Jet:
"Uh, yeah, we are. We're just waiting for the skunk to clear ahead of us."

Tower:
"Take your time."

James Oliphant
via e-mail

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

Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.)

Comments or questions about the news should be sent here.

Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team.

If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebFlash. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here.

Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.