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| AVflash! Three Rs Affordable Aircraft Initiative | back to top |  |
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Three Rs Launch Today At AOPA Summit
A wide range of aviation companies will be represented in AVweb's launch of its Three Rs Affordable Aircraft Initiative to boost the refurbishing and remanufacturing sector of the industry. "We expect about 15 participants for [today's] round table discussion [at AOPA Summit] in Palm Springs," said AVweb Publisher Tom Bliss. The discussion will be held in the executive boardroom of the PSP Hilton Hotel next to the Palm Springs Convention Center starting at 2 p.m. Thursday. Check out this podcast for a preview.
Bliss said there are more than 30 industry participants involved in the Three Rs Affordable Aircraft Initiative. He said the idea is to boost that sector of the industry with an eye to creating business opportunities for companies involved in engine, airframe and avionics repair and rebuilding. The meeting Thursday will cover the gamut of issues involved in creating these market opportunities and is open to anyone interested in the plan.
Podcast: The Affordable Aircraft InitiativeFile Size 10.3 MB / Running Time 11:20Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS
AVweb publisher Tom Bliss is developing a framework that he believes could bring affordable modern aircraft to the light general aviation market.
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| AOPA Summit in Full Swing in Palm Springs | back to top | |
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Podcast: Plenty to Learn at AOPA SummitFile Size 3.2 MB / Running Time 3:26Podcast Index | How to Listen | Subscribe Via RSS
The weather is perfect, and the agenda is packed at AOPA Summit in Palm Springs. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with AOPA's Katie Pribyl on the eve of the big show.
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| Three Rs: Evidence of Life in the Refurb Market | back to top | |
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Refurb Specialty Market Strong
New aircraft sales continue to be on the soft side, but some specialty refurbishing and modification companies can't keep up. "I can't build them fast enough," said Todd Peterson, owner of Peterson's Performance Plus, creator of the King Katmai modification of the Cessna 182. On setup day Wednesday at AOPA Summit in Palm Springs he sold a fully tricked-out $350,000 version of the aircraft complete with Tundra tires, wing extensions and nose-mounted canards that turn the venerable cross-country platform into a serious back-country performer.
Peterson said he has seven airplanes under construction at his facility in El Dorado, Kan., and a long list of future customers for the unique aircraft. He sources low-time corrosion-free airframes for his clients, completely rebuilds and modifies them with 260-or 300-horsepower engines and fully modern panels, in addition to the STOL gear. He said the typical customer has other airplanes, from twins to business jets, and want a better-than-new specialty aircraft. Peterson said there are now about 500 variations of the modified 182 flying.
Video: King Katmai STOL Cessna 182Original, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos
New aircraft sales continue to be on the soft side, but some specialty refurbishing and modification companies can't keep up. "I can't build them fast enough," said Todd Peterson, owner of Peterson's Performance Plus, creator of the King Katmai modification of the Cessna 182. On set-up day (Wednesday) at AOPA Summit in Palm Springs, Peterson sold a fully tricked-out $350,000 version of the aircraft complete with Tundra tires, wing extensions and nose-mounted canards that turn the venerable cross-country platform into a serious back-country performer.
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| A Real Eyecatcher | back to top | |
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Video: John Stahr's Unique RV-8 at the AOPA Summit 2012 Parade of PlanesOriginal, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos
One of the most aesthetically interesting aircraft in the AOPA Summit's Parade of Planes at Palm Springs this year was John Stahr's Van's RV-8. Stahr is a painter by trade and a pilot at heart. His ability to merge his passions has created an extraordinary artistic expression of his loves, in flight. And a paint job that's hard to forget.
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| Safety and Numbers | back to top | |
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NTSB: Gulfstream Safety Culture A Factor In G650 Test Crash
The fiery crash of a Gulfstream G650 during flight testing in April 2011 was caused by an aerodynamic stall and subsequent uncommanded roll during a one-engine-out takeoff flight test, the NTSB determined on Wednesday. Those events were the result of several human failures, according to the NTSB: Gulfstream's failure to properly develop and validate takeoff speeds for the flight tests and recognize and correct a takeoff safety speed (V2) error during previous G650 flight tests; the G650 flight-test team's persistent and increasingly aggressive attempts to achieve V2 speeds that were erroneously low; and Gulfstream's inadequate investigation of previous G650 uncommanded roll events, which would have shown that the company's estimated stall angle of attack while the airplane was in ground effect was too high. Two pilots and two engineers died in the crash, in Roswell, N.M. The G650 was type-certified last month.
"Two prior close calls should have prompted a yellow flag, but instead of slowing down to analyze what had happened, the program continued full speed ahead," said NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman. "This crash was as much an absence of leadership as it was of lift." Later, she acknowledged that after the accident, Gulfstream recognized "that many changes needed to be made and began to implement them." The investigation showed that Gulfstream's flight-test schedule was "aggressive," with "pressure to get the aircraft certified," Hersman said. "Assumptions and errors were made, but they were neither reviewed nor evaluated when review data was collected." The board's conclusions and recommendations are posted online.
Safety Study Finds FAA Needs Better Data
The accident rate varies among the various sectors of general aviation, says a new report from the Government Accountability Office, but without better data it's hard to tell what's really going on. For example, experimental amateur-built airplanes were involved in 21 percent of the fatal accidents reviewed, but accounted for only 4 percent of the estimated annual flight hours, while corporate operations flew about 14 percent of estimated annual flight hours but were involved in only about 1 percent of fatal accidents. Limitations in the data "preclude a confident assessment" of what those numbers really mean in regards to general aviation safety, the report states. The GAO said the FAA should find a way to collect more detailed data in ways that won't create a burden on the GA community.
Specifically, the report said the FAA should take the following actions: collect and maintain data on each pilot's recurrent training; improve measures of general aviation activity by requiring the FAA to collect flight-hour data at regular events that are already required, such as during registration renewals or annual maintenance inspections; and set specific general aviation safety improvement goals -- such as targets for fatal accident reductions -- for individual industry segments using a data-driven, risk-management approach. Officials from the Transportation Department "agreed to consider our recommendations," the report concludes. The full text of the report is posted online (PDF). |
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| Baumgartner Update | back to top | |
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Wind Delays Stratos Launch; Next Chance Sunday
Skydiver Felix Baumgartner was all suited up and ready to fly on Tuesday morning when a gust of wind knocked down the still-inflating helium balloon that would carry him to 120,000 feet, and the mission was scrubbed. The next launch window for the Red Bull Stratos project, which aims to break U.S. Air Force Col. Joe Kittinger's 52-year-old skydiving altitude record, is Sunday, Oct. 14. The launch will be carried live on the Internet, when it happens, and Baumgartner's capsule carries a raft of cameras to provide live coverage of the three- to four-hour ascent to the stratosphere and the leap back to Earth. The team hopes that Baumgartner can become the first human to exceed the speed of sound in a freefall.
Baumgartner was "surprised and disappointed" at the last-minute decision, according to the Red Bull Stratos website. He has been training for the mission for five years. Kittinger, who is an advisor to the project, said he knows how it feels to be ready to go and then have to wait. "It was like it is with Felix right now," he said on Wednesday. "The pressure was the same and I had to be patient. Once I had to wait 30 days and never could launch." Project Director Art Thompson said Tuesday morning's wind gust had dangerously twisted the 700-foot-tall balloon in a way that could have damaged the delicate polyethylene material. "The integrity of the balloon at that point is really unknown and unacceptable to use for manned flight because we were not sure what would happen as we launch," he said. "Our biggest problem was the wind at the [700-foot] level." Wind speeds cannot exceed 3 mph or there is a chance the envelope could tear when the support team tries to release it. "We knew that we only had a small window today which we finally did not hit," Thompson said on Tuesday.
AVweb's editorial director Paul Bertorelli was watching online during Tuesday morning's attempt; click here for his take on the project from a skydiver's point of view.
AVweb Insider Blog: Can a Skydiver Maintain Head-Down at Mach 1?
Felix Baumgartner was set to find out on Tuesday morning, when gusty winds forced yet another scrub of his world-record skydive attempt. That gave AVweb Insider blogger Paul Bertorelli some time to ruminate on what he'll have to do to reach his Mach 1 goal. No one knows if there's enough air at 120,000 feet to do anything like normal skydiving.
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| New on AVweb.com | back to top | |
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Brainteasers Quiz #176: Free Yourself from Restrictions
Between summer and winter, when reason begins to lower, comes a pause in a pilot's occupations that's known as Presidential campaign season, imposing TFRs that threaten your wings. Defend yourself with this quiz.
Take the quiz.
AVweb Insider Blog: Discovery Channel's Plane Crash
The Discovery Channel aired its much-hyped Plane Crash program on an ambitious project to crash an old 727 into the Mexican desert. It was billed as a research project and might very well have been, but it also made for some interesting television. If you saw it — or even if you didn't it — check out Paul Bertorelli's review on the AVweb Insider blog and let us know what you think.
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| Your Favorite FBOs | back to top | |
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FBO of the Week: Gulf Air Center (KJKA, Gulf Shores, Alabama)
Nominate an FBO | Rules | Tips | Questions | Winning FBOs
Once again, we've had a bumper crop of nominations to our weekly FBO contest — and this time, many of them came from members of the Beech Aero Club, which apparently had a terrific annual get-together at Jack Edwards Airport (KJKA) in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where Gulf Air Center served as their host FBO. Among those who nominated Gulf Air is the club's founder Cloyd Van Hook, who writes:
I am the founder of the Beech Aero Club, the type club for the Beech Musketeer farmily of aircraft. We recently had our annual national fly-in at JKA in Gulf Shores. Gulf Air Center served as our host FBO. They provided us with hangar space and equipment for our maintenance clinic and provided excellent service to our members. I look forward to visiting KJKA and Gulf Air Center again soon.
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! |
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| The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is You! | back to top | |
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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. You're a part of our team ... often, the best part. |
| Names Behind the News | back to top | |
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Meet the AVwebFlash Team
AVwebFlash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the world's premier independent aviation news resource.
The AVwebFlash team is:
Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? Your advertising can reach over 225,000 loyal AVwebFlash, AVwebBiz, and AVweb home page readers every week. Over 80% of our readers are active pilots and aircraft owners. That's why our advertisers grow with us, year after year. For ad rates and scheduling, click here or contact Tom Bliss, via e-mail or via telephone [(480) 525-7481].
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