FAA FUNDING BILL CHANGES PILOT REQUIREMENTS
As Congress was heading out the door last weekend for a six-week break, both houses approved an FAA bill (PDF) that extends funding for the agency only for the next two months, but they tacked on some provisions that affect pilot certification. The bill requires that every pilot flying for a commercial airline must hold an ATP certificate, effectively increasing the minimum requirement from 250 flight hours to 1,500, effective three years after the bill is enacted. The bill also requires the FAA to implement NTSB recommendations related to training for Part 121 pilots, including stall and upset recovery training. The FAA must review research on fatigue and mandate new flight and duty time rules for pilots within a year. Also, the bill says the FAA must create a database with a comprehensive training record for every pilot and require airlines to offer remedial training to pilots if needed. Laura Brown, spokeswoman for the FAA, told AVweb on Tuesday her agency is currently reviewing the bill and has no comment yet on its implications. More...

FAA TO CESSNA DRIVERS: CHECK FOR WATER IN FUEL
The FAA says pilots of Cessna 100-, 200-, and 300-series airplanes should intensify their efforts to check for water in the fuel before every flight. "All pilots, owners, operators, maintenance, and service personnel of these type airplanes should assume some water exists in the fuel tank system," the FAA said in a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin posted last week. Water may enter the fuel system via any penetration in the tank, or it may come out of solution in the fuel and settle or adhere to the inside of the tank walls. The bulletin recommends that owners should ensure the airplanes have plenty of drains at a variety of locations, and check them prior to every flight, taking at least one cup of fuel from each location. More...

GA AIRCRAFT SALES DOWN 10 PERCENT FROM LAST YEAR
In the first half of this year, sales of general aviation aircraft are down 10 percent compared to the first half of last year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported on Wednesday. Last year, 1,039 aircraft were sold in the first six months, compared to 937 this year. Billings, however, were up 0.2 percent, totaling $9.40 billion in the second quarter of 2010.  This is the second consecutive quarter that industry billings have risen, GAMA said. "As general aviation manufacturers continue looking towards recovery from the economic downturn, it remains critical that pro-growth, pro-manufacturing policies like bonus depreciation that promote aircraft purchases and stimulate job creation be put in place," said GAMA CEO Pete Bunce.  "As the global economic recovery picks up steam, markets outside of North America continue to hold promise for renewed growth in our industry." More...

PARIS IN MIAMI? MAYBE IN 2012
With a growing aerospace industry and a location that provides access to the Latin American market, an economic development group in Florida hopes to bring a major commercial airshow similar to the one in Paris to Miami every other year. Airbus has moved its Latin America and Caribbean sales team from France to Miami, and trains about 2,000 crew members at a center there each year. The Miami show could attract small and medium-size companies that can't get to Paris, and would also be attractive to the U.S. military, said Frank Nero, CEO of The Beacon Council, an economic development group working for Dade County. The show could launch as soon as 2012, though "there are still many hurdles," Nero told the Miami Herald. More...

FORMER NETJETS BOSS SANTULLI IS BACK
Richard Santulli left his position as CEO of NetJets Inc. one year ago and announced Wednesday that he will head a new aviation company. Santulli's Milestone Aviation Group is setting its legs behind a $500 million investment, a few key former NetJets employees, and a plan to buy new and used jets and helicopters, which it then plans to lease. Santulli's position is chairman, while the company's president, Daniel Rosenthal, is a former NetJets vice president; its CEO, William Kelly, was the head of NetJets Europe; and a host of other former NetJets employees make up Milestone's leadership. The new company is based in Dublin, Ireland, but has an office in Columbus, Ohio, which is also the home of NetJets. That said, Milestone is not designed to compete with NetJets. More...

SCHOOL LAUNCHES AGING AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE SITE
A new website has been developed that aims to provide one-stop shopping for general aviation maintenance information and, specifically, for help maintaining aging aircraft. Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research has developed the Aging General Aviation Education & Training website to provide information to the general aviation community through an extensive searchable database of maintenance documents and training materials. The site hopes to help users identify potential type-specific problems, offers links to outside resources and includes recommended training and education materials for pilots, mechanics and avionics technicians. It also offers a growing collection of "war stories." More...

FLIGHT SCHOOL CLOSES, 60 CHINESE STUDENTS AFFECTED
About 60 Chinese student pilots face an uncertain future after the abrupt closure of a London, Ontario flight school that took their $55,000 tuition up front and was evicted from its facilities for non-payment of rent before training was complete. The London Free Press says some of the students are also facing eviction from their apartments because accommodation was included in the fee paid to Maylan Flight Academy, which was forced from its premises more than a month ago. The students are still flying. They were transferred to another school at the London Airport and so far their lessons have been covered by Maylan. But the other school, Blue Bird Flight Academy, trains only private pilots and the Chinese students were promised multi-IFR tickets. More...

Related Content:

• Russ Niles chimes in on California's efforts to legislate flight school ethics on the AVweb Insider blog.

AVWEBBIZ: AVWEB'S BUSINESS AVIATION NEWSLETTER

Have you signed up yet for AVweb's no-cost weekly business aviation newsletter, AVwebBiz?

Delivered every Wednesday morning, AVwebBiz focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the business aviation industry, making it a must-read.

Add AVwebBiz to your AVweb subscriptions today by clicking here and choosing "Update E-mail Subscriptions."

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: A VISION FOR EAA'S NEW PRESIDENT
EAA has picked a new president, and AVweb asked Rod Hightower what his vision was for the next five years. You can view his response here, and we encourage you to have a look before you reply. We've given some options below but realize this might not be a classic multiple-choice question so feel free to expand your thoughts in a letter to the editor at editor@avweb.com. We'll feature the letters that represent a cross-section of points of views in our Monday AVwebFlash.

Plus: Back before AirVenture, we asked AVweb readers if the U.S. should consider an owner maintenance cateogory; click through to see the answers. 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...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: FLIGHT STUDENTS NEED PROTECTION
Student pilots have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to unscrupulous flight schools. Now California is trying stop it, and AVweb editor-in-chief Russ Niles asks the obvious question, "What's wrong with that?" Read more and add your own thoughts at the AVweb Insider blog. More...

EAA AIRVENTURE 2010 COMPLETE COVERAGE ROUND-UP
Looking for coverage of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010? Click here for all news stories from AirVenture. And our AVwebAudio newsletter has the complete run-down of this year's multimedia coverage:

• Podcasts
• Videos
• Blogs
• Photo Galleries

15 YEARS AND NOW 15 GRAND GIVEAWAYS ... IT'S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A SPIDERTRACKS AVIATOR

Win a Spidertracks Aviator 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 Friday, August 6, 2010.

Click here to read the contest rules and enter.

Congratulations to Lukasz Shaded of Atlanta, GA, who won a Zaon PCAS XRX in our last drawing! (click here to get your own from Zaon)

FBO OF THE WEEK: WISCONSIN AVIATION AT DODGE COUNTY AIRPORT (KUNU, JUNEAU, WI)

We heard from many readers who were diverted on their journey to Oshkosh this week and discovered other FBOs along the way. The most popular FBO we heard about, though was Wisconsin Aviation at Dodge County Airport (KUNU) in Juneau, Wisconsin.

Jon Dean was the first to bring this FBO to our attention:

When over 190 aircaft arrived un-planned thanks to the closure of OSH for arrivals, Tim and his team (Mary and Josh) were truly amazing. They got everyone tied down, allowed us all to camp, got transport, helped with finding food — Domino's actually delivered to my plane on the far side of the field! — made coffee, and organised shower and head facilities. And with all this, they levied no charges at all, just the regular top off with gas! ... They then helped organize transport for all of us stranded there to get to OSH some 45 nm north.

The best part of this story? Most of the readers who told us about Wisconsin Aviation have already made plans to fly into KUNU next year as part of their AirVenture pilgrimage!

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!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: AVWEB'S FLYING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE
... And we're back! AirVenture Oshkosh was a blast, but if there's one thing that can take the edge off coming home from our favorite trip of the year, it's finding photos like today's "Picture of the Week" waiting in our submission box. Ryan Grantonic of Dayton, Ohio has been a regularly submitter this year, but this simple, elegant shot is the one that put him into our top slot. 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

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.