Volume 10, Number 06a -- February 2, 2004

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The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded, Illustrated News Coverage At AVweb's NewsWire.

PILOT AS TERRORIST SUSPECT...
His only crime is fastidious attention to his airplane but an AVweb reader says the long arm of the law reached out and touched him because of his passion. Mike, who asked that his last name and hometown not be used (AVweb has verified his identity) says a dark tan, a black beard and the regular shipment of aviation-related merchandise to his home is all it took to have him branded (briefly) as a suspected terrorist. "What we have here is a textbook example of how things are not supposed to work," Mike told AVweb a week after he was interviewed by the FBI on suspicion of being a terrorist. We suspect there are those who might feel the exact opposite is true. More...

...AL QAEDA OPERATIVE, OR JEWISH IMMIGRANT...
Since the aviation merchandise (and "hazardous materials") arrived while he was at work, they were received by the building manager and held for Mike to pick up. Mike says he believes someone working in the building manager's office looked at him, looked at the kind of stuff he was getting in the mail, and then looked up the local FBI office in the phone book. About 10 days ago, he arrived home to find the business card of a local FBI agent slipped under his door with a note on the back asking him to call. After a couple of trips through the FBI's voice mail system, the agent and his suspect made telephone contact. "At first he didn't want to tell me what it was about, being vague about having to investigate a complaint, but when I pressed him he broke down and told me I was under suspicion as a terrorist!" Mike said. "I nearly cracked up." More...

...AND WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED
Perhaps the episode confirms such terrorism tips are actually followed up but Mike said he thinks his experience shows something else. "It's like all the other measures they've taken in the name of [GA] security," he said. "They're all window dressing." He noted that if he'd actually been a terrorist, finding the FBI card under the door likely would have sent him bolting for the border, or changing his appearance, or doing something to evade the authorities ... as opposed to picking up the phone and giving a special agent a call. Even if his apartment was under surveillance, Mike estimates an international terrorist worth his salt would be able to escape. "But because I'm not a terrorist, I met him for lunch," Mike said. An FBI spokesman said investigation strategies differ in each case. More...

ONE PILOT'S DONATION SAVES AIRPORT...
Hardly a week goes by that angry airport supporters don't fill a council chamber somewhere trying to save their local strip, but it's not often one of them puts his money where his mouth is. Enter Robert Kimball, who set an example (or an uncomfortable precedent) a week ago by putting up $6,630 to ensure his local airport, owned by the borough of North Cambria, in Pennsylvania, received a $132,000 state grant to complete the airport's master plan. Local governments in Pennsylvania must ante up 5 percent of state airport grants and the local council was considering dropping the grant until Kimball's offer came along -- they then voted unanimously in favor of taking his money and then the state's. More...

...FLORIDA LEGISLATORS OPEN THE BANK...
While the Pennsylvania politicians couldn't (wouldn't) come up with $6,630, their counterparts in Florida's Martin County are getting set to part with millions to protect Witham Field. The FAA has approved the county's plan to buy homes near the end of the main runway and to soundproof others, all at taxpayers' expense, to ease the effect of noise on residents. Airport director Mike Moon said the county now has to find ways (like borrowing) to pay for the houses and soundproofing and that might take some time. Meanwhile, the FAA has also rejected a couple of noise-prevention measures in the plan and that has some local residents making a racket. More...

...HOW ABOUT A SUPERMARKET OFF THE RUNWAY?
The politicians of Farmingdale, Long Island, extol the economic benefits of a massive new supermarket, while the proposal has driven some opponents to such headline-grabbing stunts as attending council meetings made up as bloodied airplane crash victims. The new Stew Leonard's superstore will be 1,032 feet from the end of busy Republic Airport's main runway. "It's a disappointment that they don't understand ... that it's unsafe to build these types of facilities in these locations," said William McShane, chairman of the Long Island Business Aviation Association. The store will be well within the airport's runway protection zone and, in addition to local aviation officials, the state department of transportation also objected to the location. More...

THUNDERBIRDS CRASH: TRUTH IN IMAGES
AVweb has confirmed that the image last Thursday posted to our Picture Of The Week section of Capt. Christopher Stricklin's Sept. 14, 2003, ejection from Thunderbirds jet number 6 -- roughly eight-tenths of a second before aircraft impact -- is in fact authentic. It was shot by Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III, Still Photographer, U.S. Air Force, from the catwalk atop the tower at Mountain Home AFB, and was not officially released by the Air Force until last Friday afternoon. See AVweb's NewsWire for yet another video (including audio), more images, and more details. More...

TERRORISM WITHOUT ACTION
Al Qaeda has apparently discovered a new instrument of terror. It's called the threat and it was used to ground at least six return flights headed to the U.S. Sunday and today. Based on intelligence reports issued by the Department of Homeland Security, the travel plans of hundreds of people were upended when British Airways, Air France and Continental cancelled flights to and from Washington and Miami. The Department of Homeland Security said they had word al Qaeda was planning to release biological agents or a radiological device aboard an aircraft. More...

DISTRESSED PILOT SAYS MILITARY TURNED HIM AWAY
Regulations aside, a California pilot claims the military put him in harm's way when it refused to let him land his powerless Cessna 140 at Travis Air Force Base Jan. 11. But an Air Force spokesman said he was welcome to set down on that big, wide runway. "We were more than ready to accept that aircraft," Capt. Michele Tasista, public affairs chief at Travis, told the Vallejo, Calif., Times-Herald. "As I understand it, we were willing to let him land here." But 68-year-old pilot Ted Weddell said that Travis controllers first peppered him with questions and finally sent him to nearby Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville. He never made it. The fuel-less 140 hit a tree on a vacant lot, sending Weddell and his passenger, 34-year-old Scott Terra, to the hospital. The NTSB preliminary report may support Weddell's version of the events. More...

PHILADELPHIA PILOT FACES MORE CHARGES
We told you Jan. 19 and Jan. 26 about the case of the allegedly drunk pilot who raised havoc over Philadelphia and southern New Jersey a couple of weeks back, but the story keeps getting better (worse). Authorities now say John Salamone was also taking Valium when he took his Cherokee on a four-hour tear and they've also added the charge of "risking a catastrophe" by allegedly coming within 900 feet of a Boeing 747 loaded with passengers. Meanwhile a local television station has obtained a tape of tower conversations recorded during the ordeal. (See NewsWire for a link to the exchange.) More...

"NEW" LUSCOMBE BATTLES LEGAL HEADWINDS
After years of bitter legal battles, a company's plans to build a souped-up modern version of the venerable Luscombe 8F taildragger revolve, predictably, around finding new investment. Renaissance Aircraft LLC has the facilities, the jigs and the equipment and should soon have the legal right to start building new Luscombes, but the court battles have drained its coffers. Renaissance was embroiled in suits and countersuits with the Arizona-based Don Luscombe Aviation History Foundation, which sued over Renaissance's plan to manufacture the 8F. Renaissance ultimately won a $2.2 million judgment against the foundation, which promptly declared bankruptcy. Now, an April 1 deadline looms in which the company has to start paying $21,000 a month in lease payments for 48,000-square-foot hangar built by the taxpayers of Cape Girardeau, Mo. Still, Renaissance owner John Dearden remains upbeat. "I feel very optimistic at this point," he said. More...

SECOND NAVIGATIONAL BLUNDER FOR AIR CANADA
Could Air Canada flight crews be in for some refreshers on VFR procedures? For the second time in less than six months an Air Canada crew has committed an embarrassing navigational blunder while looking out the windows instead of scanning the panel. According to the NTSB incident report, on Jan. 19, a rare clear winter day in Seattle, the crew of an Air Canada Jazz Dash-8 lined up visually for an approach and landing on Taxiway Tango at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. They were supposed to be aiming for Runway 16R. As AVweb reported in September, an Air Canada A319, with gear down and flaps partially extended, was apparently intent on setting down at tiny Vernon Regional Airport (runway 75' x 3360') in British Columbia before the crew thought better of it and went looking for their real destination of Kelowna International, about 30 miles away. That incident also happened while the crew was flying VFR. Last month in Pennsylvania, a Shuttle America flight actually landed at the wrong airport. More...

ON THE FLY...
The federal government has upheld a ban on large aircraft at Teterboro Airport...
Documentary finds FAA slow in resolving safety recommendations resulting from Swissair 111...
NATCA wants the courts to resolve contract disputes in 11 of its non-controller bargaining units. More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
Pelican's Perch #77: Startups & Runups
Even the apparently simple tasks of starting and running up a piston aircraft engine before takeoff should be done with the same concerns for engine life, reliability and safety as any other part of flight. AVweb's John Deakin steps us through the process, dispelling myths as he goes. More...

READER FEEDBACK ON AVWEB'S NEWS COVERAGE AND FEATURE ARTICLES
Reader mail this week about getting your license in 40 hours, changes in the D.C. ADIZ, airport closures and more. More...

BUSINESS AVFLASH
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVweb’s NO-COST twice monthly Business AVflash? Reporting on breaking news, Business AVflash also focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the Business of Aviation. Business AVflash is a must read! Sign up today at http://www.avweb.com/profile/

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AVflash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest aviation news, articles, products, features and events featured on AVweb, the Internet's Aviation Magazine and News Service. http://www.avweb.com

Letters to the editor intended for publication in AVmail should be sent to mailto:editor@avweb.com.com. Have a comment or question? Send it to mailto:newsteam@avweb.com.

Today's issue written by News Writer Russ Niles:
http://www.avweb.com/contact/authors.html#rniles
AVweb's editorial team: http://avweb.com/contact/authors.html.

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

Let's all be careful out there, okay?

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