FAA: RUNWAY INCURSIONS DROPPING
The number of serious runway incursions has been dropping, the FAA said this week, and in fiscal year 2010, which ended on Sept. 30, there were just six serious incursions, half the number recorded in 2009. Overall, incursions have dropped 90 percent since fiscal year 2000. "The entire aviation community can be credited with the remarkable success achieved in runway safety," the FAA said. Since 2007, the agency has coordinated an "intense effort" to expedite the installation of new technologies at airports, conduct outreach, retrain pilots, develop better air traffic procedures, and improve airport infrastructure such as lighting, signage and markings. More...

NOVEL APPROACH TO BIRD CONFLICTS
Bird strikes are a perennial problem for aviators, but in Santa Barbara, Calif., airport managers found that improving bird habitat near the airport actually helped prevent bird-aircraft conflicts. Workers reconfigured a 10-acre wetland area to restore tidal flows. They found that the new habitat attracted small shorebirds such as sandpipers, which tend to fly in low numbers close to the ground and rarely head inland across the runways. In contrast, the unrestored area had provided only seasonal standing ponds, which attracted migratory waterfowl such as Canada geese and mallards, which often flew across the runways. The habitat change has reduced the number of wildlife strikes, the airport said, enhancing both aviation safety and environmental preservation. More...

100 YEARS OF NAVAL AVIATION CELEBRATED THIS SUMMER
All summer long, events around the country will honor the 100th anniversary of the start of naval aviation. The centennial marks the U.S. Navy's first purchase of an aircraft, a Curtiss seaplane, in 1911. Celebrations will take place this month during Marine Week in St. Louis and at the Rhode Island Air National Guard Air Show; in July, events are set for Rochester, Detroit, and Seattle, as well as EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh; and in August and September, events are planned for North Dakota, San Diego, Memphis, and more. Details for all events are listed at the Centennial of Naval Aviation web site. More...

STUDENTS DEVELOP BRAIN-WAVE-CONTROLLED FLIGHT SIMULATOR
A team of engineering students at Northeastern University in Boston have developed a system that allows a pilot to operate a flight simulator with brain waves. The pilot exerts control of a simulated airplane by looking at specific points on an array of LEDs mounted on Plexiglas in front of a television screen. "Typically, a pilot has a joystick and a throttle and those allow him or her to do a myriad of things," said Mike Nedoroscik, the team leader. "We were able to identify the absolute essential controls and write them into the software. We've been able to achieve up to eight commands, which allowed us to fly the plane and do a couple of flight maneuvers." The project has drawn interest from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and inspired a team at Honeywell Inc. to pursue similar research, according to the university. More...

DELTA UPSETS RETURNING SOLDIERS
Delta Air Lines worked to rebound from negative publicity Wednesday after soldiers returning from Afghanistan aboard a Delta flight appeared in a YouTube video explaining they were charged $200 each by the airline for carrying extra bags. Part of the problem appears to be that the soldiers understood their travel orders to mean they were authorized to check up to four bags free of charge. The airline says active military are allowed to check three bags free of charge while flying in coach. The soldiers say the airline collected a total of at least $2,800 from the 34 soldiers on the flight. Delta later offered an apology. Click through to hear the soldiers explain the problem as they perceived it at the time, in their own words. More...

DYNAMIC GLARE REDUCTION SCIENCE
Inventor Chris Mullin, with help from the Air Force, is developing smart sunglasses that identify the brightest spots in a wearer's field of view, dynamically darken that specific area, and follow the light source, leaving the rest of the view less affected.  The glasses work by putting liquid crystal displays in the lenses themselves. That technology is coupled with a pinhole camera sensor and programming built into the frame. Together they identify glare and react by applying more sun filtering to the LCD in that area of the lens, even as the wearer turns his or her head. In practice, wearers see a dark non-opaque spot hovering over the sun, or any other source of glare that exceeds a programmed threshold. The prototype is still relatively bulky and may challenge popular fashion sense, but the concept has earned attention (and funding) from the Air Force. More...

GA GROUPS CHALLENGE BARR CHANGE
The Transportation Department's recent decision to dismantle the BARR (Block Aircraft Registration Request) program, which allows aircraft operators to block identifying data from public flight-tracking systems, now faces a legal challenge from general aviation advocacy groups. NBAA, AOPA, and EAA said on Monday they will seek an injunction to prevent the DOT decision from taking effect and will ask the courts to invalidate the new policy altogether. "The DOT ... appears to have simply ignored the thousands of individuals and companies that voiced their strong and principled opposition to this change," said NBAA President Ed Bolen. More...

BIZJET USE RISES SHARPLY
Business aircraft traffic is now within 10 percent of the April 2008 peak and while that's good news for some parts of the industry, the manufacturing side is still in the doldrums in many sectors. USA Today quoted JSSI CEO Lou Seno as saying flight hours took a big jump in the first quarter of the year. He said the 1,300 customers for whom JSSI manages aircraft, on average, flew 11.4 percent more hours and the trend continued into April, which saw a 7-percent increase over March. "We are not back to late '07, early '08 levels, but we're really off the bottom of where we were," says Lou Seno, president and CEO of JSSI. "In the fall of 2008, following the decline of the financial markets … flying literally fell off the charts, and because of the economy and everything else, it has been slow to recover. But the recovery we're seeing has been encouraging." While bizjet owners are using their aircraft more, most are still not in a buying mood. More...

GA GROUPS LOBBY FOR KINDER TFRS
Aviation advocates working with the TSA last year made progress in lessening the impact of TFRs on Hawaii's airport businesses during a presidential visit, and now six GA groups are asking the TSA to loosen its grip nationwide. In a letter (PDF) to TSA Administrator John Pistole, the groups ask for procedures that would allow general aviation operations at near-normal levels while still addressing the security measures necessary to protect the president. Plans already in place at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport allow GA aircraft to share the airspace with the president, the groups said, and those procedures could be implemented elsewhere. More...

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: LOOSENING TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS
Aviation groups are lobbying to allow much easier GA access to VIP-inspired TFRs. Is that a good idea?

Plus: Last week, we asked what advice AVweb readers would give to Cessna's new CEO, Scott Ernest; click through to see the breakdown of our readers' answers. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 255,000 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: LOTOT AND THE IMPOSSIBLE TURN
One reason so many people die in stall-related accidents may be that we don't have good training doctrine to detect and respond to loss of power incidents on takeoffs. And we persist in the notion that turning back to the runway is never a good idea. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli offers a different viewpoint. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: FATAL ACCIDENT REDUCTION — NO EASY TASK
Paul Bertorelli's been looking at the numbers from a single year of GA accident fatalities —— and he shares his findings on the AVweb Insider blog. When you look at the numbers, says Paul, it's not easy to see any low-hanging fruit because there isn't any. Stall-related accidents still kill the most pilots every year, but plain, unimaginative loss of control is a close second. And don't even get him started on the bad judgment calls. Read more and join the conversation. More...

VIDEO: EASTMAN AVIATION'S CH750 VIDEO REVIEW
There are only a few LSAs that qualify for true STOL status, and Eastman's CH750 is one of them. With full-span flaperons and leading-edge slats, it won't win any beauty contests, but it could excel at some short landing contests. In this video, Aviation Consumer editor Paul Bertorelli takes a spin with Eastman's Gary Webster. More...

VIDEO: TRIBUTE TO AMANDA FRANKLIN
A nice video tribute to Amanda Franklin, who died a week ago, was posted shortly after her death. Franklin died May 27 from complications of burns suffered in a March 12 crash while she was doing her wingwalking routine with husband Kyle flying their Waco biplane. Donations are still being accepted to help the Franklin family in the aftermath of the tragedy. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: FLIGHTLINE OF DOTHAN (KDHN, DOTHAN, AL)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Flightline of Dothan at KDHN in Dothan, Alabama.

AVweb reader Bill Johnson testified to the FBO's stellar service, from big things all the way down to the small:

On a recent business trip to Dothan, I had need of some ramp maintenance for my C310D. Thank goodness I had chosen Flightline of Dothan as my arrival point. Don Smith and his staff were friendly, very helpful and went way out of their way to take care of my immediate needs. When it became apparent that my requirement was beyond his local resources, rather than direct me to his other maintenance facility, Don contacted another facility on the field and made arrangments for them to help me. In today's cut-throat world, it is a rare pleasure to see cooperation and collaboration at this level with the customer's need always put first. If your travels ever take you to Dothan, please make certain to stop in at Flightline of Dothan. You will be glad you did. The people are the best, service is excellent, facilities are great, and the popcorn is perfect.

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
This week's winning photo comes from Elliot Hamilton of Buckner, MO. Click here for the rest of this week's submissions. 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.