JUDGE'S RULING ON AVGAS EXPECTED SOON
A federal judge in California has asked for more information before deciding whether to dismiss a case affecting the sale of avgas in California, the National Air Transportation Association reported this week. In a hearing last week in Fresno, Judge Anthony Ishii requested additional briefings to be filed by Wednesday before ruling on a motion to dismiss the case. His decision is expected within a week. The case was brought by a coalition of California FBOs and avgas distributors, who have asked the court to derail a suit brought by the Center for Environmental Health over the sale of leaded avgas. More...

NAVY'S X-47B DRONE FLIES GEAR UP
The Navy's project to develop a tailless drone that can take off and land from ships at sea reached a milestone recently when the X-47B test aircraft retracted its landing gear and flew in cruise configuration for the first time. The successful test took place at Edwards Air Force Base in California on September 30, the Navy said this week. "Reaching this critical test point demonstrates the growing maturity of the air system, and its readiness to move to the next phase of flight testing," said Janis Pamiljans, program manager for Northrop Grumman. The project team aims to complete take-offs and landings from an aircraft carrier in 2013. More...

RENO RACER BEATS HUGHES SPEED RECORD
Flying at 407 mph, Will Whiteside on Monday shattered a three-kilometer speed record that had previously been set by Howard Hughes in 1935 in his H1 racer, and which had since been broken only by the H1 racer replica, in 2002. Whiteside's Yak model 3U, which has been continuously refined over the last six years, beat the H1 replica's speed by 102 mph. The flight for the record speed over a three-kilometer closed course by a piston aircraft under 6,600 pounds was monitored by a representative of the National Aeronautic Association, but the result won't be official until it's vetted and accepted by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. More...

PHENOM 100 TO PROMOTE SCIENCE EDUCATION
Embraer, together with philanthropist Fabio Alexander, announced this week at the NBAA convention that it will provide a Phenom 100 business jet to Barrington Irving's Experience Aviation educational program for use as a flying classroom. Irving will fly the jet around the world while engaging students via live video feed and encouraging them to pursue education in science, technology, engineering, and math. Students also will learn about history, geography, weather, and culture. The project will reach more than one million students around the world, according to Embraer. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: YELLVILLE TURKEY DROP -- FAA IS ON THE CASE
When the FAA said it's going after pilots for dropping live turkeys in Yellville, Arkansas, we couldn't resist a blog on the topic. After all, how often do you get to use "Les Nessman" in a keyword search string? Paul Bertorelli has the hijinks in his latest post to the AVweb Insider. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: NBAA NOTEBOOK -- THE POLITICS OF EXCESS
As of Press Day, the NBAA Convention had adapted well to its 2011 setting -- Las Vegas, the showy capital of excess. But what happens at NBAA may not stay in Vegas, as celebrity and politics share the spotlight in a show of such theatricality that editor-in-chief Russ Niles had to post to the AVweb Insider blog about it. Read more and join the conversation. More...

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: WHY GARMIN'S NEW AERA 796 ISN'T AN IPAD KILLER -- AND VICE VERSA
Garmin's new mega GPS, the aera 796, is a tour de force. But an iPad killer? Not quite. On the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli analyzes why there's likely to be a market for both of these devices (or ones like them) for a long time. Read more and join the conversation. More...

VIDEO: PIAGGIO P.180 AVANTI II
One of the most unusual-looking aircraft flying and shown at the static display during the 2011 NBAA convention in Las Vegas, the Avanti II is an all-Italian twin-turboprop airplane. Manufacturer Piaggio Aero says the Avanti II offers superior speed per horsepower and larger interior cabin dimensions than its competition in the turboprop segment.

This video is brought to you by Phillips 66 Aviation. More...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: NBAA'S TOP STORY
We've just wrapped up our coverage of the 2011 NBAA Convention in Las Vegas, and now we'd like to hear from you. What do think the big news out of NBAA was?

Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb if the FAA was on track with mandating 700 hours of flight time for first officers on airlines; click through to see the breakdown of answers. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: HENRIKSEN JET CENTER (KEDC, PFLUGERVILLE, TX)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Henriksen Jet Center at Austin Executive Airport (KEDC) in Pflugerville, Texas.

AVweb reader William Mills visited KEDC on a trip with his his daughter this summer and had a great experience:

Austin Executive Airport ... was nearly as conveniently located to where we needed to go as any other airport, and the brand-new facilities looked very nice and offered the services we would need. When we arrived (on a day that was already quite warm and promised to get much hotter), we were met on the taxiway by a "follow me" cart and led to parking underneath their large covered awning, just like the big boys. We were marshalled in by several linemen, and when we shut down and got out, our rental car was beside the airplane, running and air conditioning fired up. [Their] facilities are amazing, with a genuine Rolls Royce Olympus turbojet engine (from a Concorde) in the lobby. When we arrived back for departure, they took an air-conditioning cart out to the airplane and had it cooling down the inside -- definitely much appreciated. [The] entire staff was extremely friendly and couldn't do enough to make our stay as pleasant and comfortable as they could. Definitely will revisit [when] going back to Austin.

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!

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...

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: AVWEB'S FLYING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE
This week's winning photo comes from Forrest Fasig of Dayton, NV. 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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