CHINA TO HOLD FIRST GA FLY-IN
The first-ever general aviation fly-in will take place in China in September as part of a five-day summit on GA issues in Beijing. According to AOPA, the summit, sponsored by AOPA-China, will include government and military officials discussing the incremental relaxation of the almost prohibitive regulations that currently restrict private aviation. It will also include a two-day forum on the economic opportunities that will flow from the regulation changes. "It is an excellent networking opportunity with China's aviation delegation, GA industry members as well as clients," Yinjie Jason Zhang, a New-York-based pilot and member of the AOPA-China board of directors, told AOPA. More...

CONGRESS ACTS ON FAA FUNDING
Lawmakers announced Thursday a plan to end the partial shutdown of the FAA, and the Senate passed a temporary funding measure Friday. The FAA's last temporary funding measure expired July 23, reportedly causing the immediate layoff of about 75,000 people either directly employed by, or contracted to work for, the FAA. The shutdown also prevented the FAA from collecting approximately $30 million per day in airline ticket taxes. After failing to pass a temporary (or more permanent) funding measure for the FAA, the Senate began a five-week-long "district work break." Had the Senate not acted on funding the FAA before returning to work in September, the FAA was on track to lose about $1.3 billion in ticket tax revenue.  More...

GAMA: GA SHIPMENTS DOWN
Total GA shipments dropped 15.5 percent in 2011 when compared to the same six-month period last year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) said Thursday, but small piston aircraft weren't the biggest losers in the segment. The first six months of 2011 saw 791 shipments versus 936 shipments for that period during 2010. The biggest loser in the general aviation segment was business jets. The industry shipped 355 last year, but recorded 261 in 2011 -- a 26.5-percent drop. Turboprop deliveries fell by 8.9 percent. And piston-powered planes fared better, but only by the slimmest of margins -- their numbers fell off by 8.7 percent. GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce included his political observations in a news release that delivered the figures and didn't seem to hold back. More...

SOLAR FLARES COULD HIT GPS
It might be time to review those VOR skills in light of sunspot activity that had the potential to disrupt GPS signals on Friday and Saturday. On Thursday, the sun sent a significant burst of electromagnetic energy toward earth after sunspot 1261 belched three major solar flares. The eruption was rated at three on a scale of five and that's enough to make GPS equipment lose its way. It's particularly hard on high-precision units like WAAS-capable aviation gear. The worst was expected to be over by late Saturday but there could be more solar storms coming. More...

BOEING PLANS FOR SPACE FLIGHT
With the last Space Shuttle flight in the history books, Boeing is stepping up plans to provide a manned space mission alternative with a modern take on the space capsule. The company has selected to use Atlas 5 rockets to test its CST-100 seven-place "space taxi" on three flights in 2015. Only the third will carry people. Boeing's first test will attempt to deliver the CST-100 to orbit. The next will be intentionally aborted after launch and before the vehicle has reached space. The third plans to deliver Boeing test pilots to the International Space Station, setting the stage for more regular service in 2016.  More...

BOEING BRANDS U.S. WITH 747 TRACK
Tuesday, a marathon flight of Boeing's latest cargo freighter, the 747-8, carried the jet 11,666 miles over 17 hours and roughly traced "747" across the western half of the United States, according to tracking provided by FlightAware.com. The practice isn't entirely unique. In another notable example, Cessna in 2008 used a Citation X's track to draw the company logo across several Midwest states. Boeing expects the FAA to evaluate test data over the next few weeks and return with certification for the aircraft. The big jet has flown more than 1200 flights through the test program and that did lead to some changes for the aircraft. More...

PILOT THOUGHT F-16S WERE ADMIRING HER CUB
A Chicago-area pilot who says she thought the pilots of a pair of F-16s circling her were just admiring her award-winning 1941 Piper Cub will undoubtedly get a written explanation of why they were really there. Myrtle Rose, 75, admits she didn't check NOTAMs or even turn on the radio in the blue-and-yellow Cub she calls Winston when she went for a hop from her fly-in community on Aug. 5 and strayed into a presidential TFR. When the fighters appeared, it apparently never occurred to her they might be on official business. "I thought, 'Oh, well, they're just looking at how cute the Cub is," she told The Associated Press. It's not clear whether the fighter jocks attempted to escort her to an airport but it may not have done any good. Rose headed home and the airstrip in the affluent Chicago suburb of South Barrington soon filled with police cars. More...

BREITLING APP PUTS YOU IN THE RENO AIR RACES
Breitling Chronometers has released a free iPhone game called Reno Air Races, where you get to try your hand at the pylons at Reno using the accelerometer in your iPhone in place of stick and rudder. The visuals are rather stunning and performance is quite good for something running on a phone. The game has a quick play mode, multiplayer (online) mode, tutorial and even its own YouTube movie. More...

AVMAIL: AUGUST 8, 2011

Letter of the Week: Things Will Be Better If Pilots Pay

Regarding the user fee issue: As a group, aircraft owner/operators are among the most affluent members of society. We should never have been on the government dole and should always have been paying for every service we get.

This is necessary not only as a matter of equity, but we must have control of the "services" offered. Free enterprise should be allowed to provide WX, traffic, ATC, whatever.

Cell phones automatically and invisibly change frequencies and power levels constantly. Why in this age should we have government workers telling us when to make frequency changes? We are held back by government's inability to adapt to the times. If we were paying, we would demand efficiency.

So, for both reasons, we should pay.

Darryl Phillips

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

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: THE ART, SCIENCE, AND POLITICS OF FLIGHT
The cumulative power of thousands of airplanes can affect even the most jaded worldview. Mary Grady experienced that for herself at EAA AirVenture this year and shares some observations on the AVweb Insider blog. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: LYCOMING ON AUTOMOTIVE GAS
A significant subtext in the quest to replace 100LL with an unleaded equivalent is the use of automobile fuel or mogas in engines that are approved to burn it. The two major engine makers, Lycoming and Continental, have traditionally avoided the approvals required to do this. But Lycoming sees a place for automotive-type fuels in the supply chain, and beginning this week, in a series of three guest posts to the AVweb Insider blog, Lycoming GM Michael Kraft explains the company's views on how automobile fuels can be integrated into aviation. The blogs will run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Read the first here, then share your own comments. More...

FORTY-SEVEN YEARS IN AVIATION -- A MEMOIR: CHAPTER 4 -- PRIMARY FLIGHT TRAINING PART 3
Richard Taylor continues his memoir with the final section of primary flight training: navigation, night flight, and IFR. After a short delay to avoid not one but two hurricanes in North Carolina, he graduates and is ready to go on to basic flight training in Texas. More...

PODCAST: GOOGLE AND EMISSION-FREE AERIAL TRANSPORTATION
Google's Larry Page has attended three of the CAFE Foundation's Electric Airplane Symposiums, and now his company is putting up money to help them out. AVweb spoke with CAFE Foundation President Dr. Brien Seeley about what the sponsorship means and how it affects the coming Green Flight Challenge in late September. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: CARLSON AVIATION (KYKN, YANKTON, SD)

Word of a good FBO spreads far and wide — as evidenced by our latest "FBO of the Week," Carlson Aviation at Chan Gurney Municipal Airport (KYKN) in Yankton, South Dakota.

AVweb reader Bruce Robertson tells us how, in Carlson's case, you really can believe the hype:

After reading their profile on various web sites, I thought I'd make Yankton a stop on my way to Oshkosh. They were better than all reports, welcoming us and taking care of our every need. As we needed to stay the night, Katie Carlson took care of hotel and transportation details. She also loaned us the crew car so we could explore the area a bit. We liked Carlson so much, we stopped in again on the way out of Oshkosh. They are worth a visit.

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!

EAA AIRVENTURE 2011: COMPLETE COVERAGE ROUND-UP

Click here for all our news stories from AirVenture — both for 2011 and previous years. And our AVwebAudio newsletter has the complete run-down of this year's multimedia coverage:

• Podcasts
• Videos
• Blogs
• Photo Galleries
• Daily E-Mail Coverage

Want to get AVwebAudio in your inbox every Friday? Just log in to AVweb (or create a free account in the upper right corner of this page) and visit AVweb.com/profile. Choose "Update E-mail Subscriptions" in the profile center, and from there, you can add or drop any AVweb newsletters.

SHORT FINAL

Back in the early '70s, I was an FO for now-defunct Cascade Airways in the Pacific Northwest. We were known to ATC as the VFR on-top airline. The following exchange was heard one day:

ATC:
"Ah, Cascade 123, Seattle Center; what do the clouds look like for you out there?"

Cascade 123:
"Well, let's see -- there's one at 12 o'Clock that looks like a fat little bunny and another at 9 o'Clock that looks like a big pony with a really long tail."

ATC:
[no reply]

Bob Kay
via e-mail

HEARD ANYTHING FUNNY ON THE RADIO?
Heard anything funny, unusual, or downright shocking on the radio lately? If you've been flying any length of time, you're sure to have eavesdropped on a few memorable exchanges. The ones that gave you a chuckle may do the same for your fellow AVweb readers. Share your radio funny with us, and, if we use it in a future "Short Final," we'll send you a sharp-looking AVweb hat to sport around your local airport. No joke. Click here to submit your original, true, and previously unpublished story. 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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