ALLEGED REMOTE-CONTROLLED PLANE TERROR PLOT
26-year-old US citizen, Rezqan Ferdaus was arrested Wednesday, charged with plotting to attack the Pentagon and US Capital with plastic explosive-laden remote-controlled aircraft. Reports state that an affidavit said recorded conversations caught Ferdaus talking about using three remote control aircraft like small kamikaze-drones by packing them with C-4 and slaving their controls to GPS equipment. The plan allegedly involved six gunmen divided into two teams. Authorities say those teams were to serve to increase the death toll and chaos at the pre-selected impact sites in Washington, DC. A multi-agency effort culminated in the delivery by undercover FBI agents of fake explosives and weapons to Ferdaus' home, allegedly at his request. More...

GA CAUCUS BACK AT WORK IN D.C.
With Congress now back in session, the General Aviation Caucus is playing a role in keeping GA issues on the agenda. "I think we're ultimately going to be able to keep user fees out of the FAA reauthorization bill," U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., who co-chairs the GA Caucus in the House, told AVweb last week at the AOPA Summit. He said three contentious issues need to be worked out to get a full reauthorization bill through Congress: essential air service, which subsidizes passenger service to small communities; a labor issue that will affect whether airline employees are allowed to unionize; and the actual funding. The funding has mainly been settled, he said, but the other two issues are contentious. Nonetheless, he was hopeful: "We had hundreds of issues out there that we were able to solve… we're down to two," he said. More...

GREEN FLIGHT CHALLENGE DOWN TO FOUR TEAMS
By Wednesday, only four of the original 13 contenders were still in the running for the $1.65 million NASA prize purse in the Green Flight Challenge. The event, which is ongoing in Santa Rosa, Calif., through the weekend, has eliminated all the contenders except PhoEnix, Pipistrel-USA, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's EcoEagle, and e-Genius. All met a noise level no greater than 78 dBA at full-power takeoff, measured from 250 feet away. "This is the dawn of electric flight, right here, right now," Mark Moore, an aerospace engineer with NASA, told the Sonoma County Press-Democrat. "This is a Lindbergh moment." More...

WINGSUIT FLYER NAVIGATES MOUNTAIN GAP
Wingsuit flyer Jeb Corliss successfully flew through a narrow tunnel in a Chinese mountain region on Saturday. The gap between two peaks, known as Tianmen Hole, is just 96 feet wide and about 360 feet tall. Corliss jumped from a Red Bull helicopter and landed safely with a parachute on a bridge. "That was one of the greatest wingsuit flights of my entire life," Corliss said. After navigating through the tunnel, Corliss had to continue flying through the narrow mountain gap for about two-thirds of a mile before he could safely open his chute. More...

PIPER NOW HIRING IN WICHITA
Piper Aircraft will hold a job fair in Wichita, Kans., next week, the company said on Wednesday. About 20 positions are open for engineers and designers, all of them based at the company headquarters in Vero Beach, Fla. The company has already tried to fill the jobs locally, Piper spokeswoman Jackie Carlon told AVweb on Wednesday. "We always search first in Indian River County and then the state of Florida, before looking elsewhere," she said. "These are all highly skilled positions." Most of the new hires will be put to work on the Altaire jet project, she said. More...

"FIRST" ALL-AFRICAN MILITARY PLANE
The South African aeronautical firm Aerosud announced this week the Ahrlac high-wing tandem-seat pusher aircraft design, which may break new ground for South African aviation. South Africa has produced light aircraft before and a quarter century ago designed an attack helicopter, but the Ahrlac (short for Advanced High Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft) may be the first modern all-African aircraft purpose built to fill roles that include military operations. Aerosud plans to fly it for the first time next year. It will be built with six underwing hardpoints that can carry weapons or external fuel tanks. Aerosud has designed the aircraft for multi-role capability by making part of the fuselage itself, swappable. More...

CESSNA TARGETS PHENOM WITH M2

click for photos

In a move that caught most in the aviation industry flat-footed, Cessna announced a new bizjet model late Monday. The Citation M2 is said to bridge the gap between the $3 million Mustang entry-level jet and the $7 million CJ series and it will compete directly with the Embraer Phenom 100, offering a little more range and speed. Cessna is putting the M2 on the market at $4.195 million, about $500,000 more than the Phenom 100. "Operator feedback and owner insight have indicated a market for a Citation with the size, speed and range of the Citation M2. We expect to see customers new to the Citation family, Mustang owners looking for a logical next step or CJ1+ operators who want a new, more advanced Citation," said Scott Ernest, Cessna president and CEO. More...

AOPA CHINA SUMMIT: AN EARFUL FOR GOVERNMENT
Parallel to AOPA Summit in Hartford last week, AOPA China held its own first summit in Beijing last week. More than 400 people attended the two-day event. This year's AOPA China Summit was in the form of convention and focused on the mission of providing prime opportunities for dialogues and networking among the Chinese government, general aviation organizations and industry members worldwide. Officials from Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB), Beijing City Government as well as a number of provincial governments joined the convention and heard a straightforward message from Feng Zhang, Deputy Director General of AOPA China. "The nation's airspace is a public domain," Zhang said in his speech. "Therefore our government should relax its control to allow the general public access to their own sky. It is the authorities' duty to assist the people with better utilizing our airspace by introducing favorable regulations, building infrastructure and reducing taxes on aircraft purchases, etc." John Sheehan, IAOPA's Secretary General, said he was impressed by Zhang's direct and blunt public message. 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."

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: MEDICAL PROPOSAL DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH
Is a little freedom better than none? In a guest posting to the AVweb Insider blog, Potomac Airfield owner David Wartofsky argues that the answer is a resounding "no" and that it's time to abolish third class medicals entirely for those flying aircraft that weigh less than 6,000 pounds. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: HOW OLD IS TOO OLD?
Jimmy Leeward's tragic P-51 crash at Reno last week raised the emotional issue of age and piloting abilities. We might not like to hear it asked, but it's a fair question even if the pilot's age had no bearing on the accident. There's no easy answer, either, other than to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli shares some reflections of his own. Read more and join the conversation. More...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: THIRD CLASS MEDICALS AND RECREATIONAL FLYING
EAA and AOPA will propose to the FAA that the driver's license medical that now applies to Sport Pilot certificate holders be expanded, and their initial suggestion is that it be limited to the ability to fly four-place aircraft (with one passenger) having 180 horsepower or less, fixed gear, day VFR. What do you think?

Plus: On our way out the door to the AOPA Summit two weeks ago, we was AVweb readers what aviation issue they believe should be AOPA's top priority as an organization. Click through to see the breakdown of answers. More...

SURVEY: HOW'S THAT FACTORY ENGINE WORKING FOR YOU?
Our sister publication, Aviation Consumer, would like to know. We're doing a survey on owner experiences with factory-new, factory-reman and factory-overhauled engines. (No field overhauls this time.) The survey will take about five minutes, and you can take it merely by cliking this link. 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...

VIDEO: BRISTELL LSA MAKES ITS DEBUT
AVweb found a new LSA at AOPA Summit last week. It's called the Bristell, and its main selling point is a super-wide cabin. Here's Mary Grady's video report on the new model. More...

AOPA SUMMIT 2011: COMPLETE COVERAGE ROUND-UP

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

• Podcasts
• Videos
• 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.

FBO OF THE WEEK: ATLANTIC AVIATION (KGPT, GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Atlantic Aviation at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport (KGPT) in Gulfport, Mississippi.

AVweb reader John Hunt gave this location a stellar recommendation:

Incredible service! You would think I was pulling up in a G450 the way they treated us. We were met at the line by two extremely professional folks with a rental car, all paperwork filed out. Additionally, when it was time to leave, all my bills were in order, the plane was fueled, and they returned our rental car. I'd fly out of my way to use the services of Atlantic at KGPT!

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 Gary T. Austen of Swansea, IL. 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

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