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January 21, 2013
By The AVweb Editorial Staff
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Two Great Ways to Keep Your Engine Up to Speed
Do you have a new engine core that's never been rebuilt or overhauled? Save up to $5,000 on a rebuilt engine. Do you have an original Lycoming factory engine that last left the factory as a
new, rebuilt or overhauled engine? Save up to $1,900 on a new, rebuilt or overhauled engine. For complete details, call (800) 258‑3279 to find an authorized Lycoming
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The NTSB has cast doubt on Japan's Transport Safety Board's speculation that a charging overload was behind battery fires that led to the grounding of Boeing 787 fleet. In an update Sunday, the
NTSB said the flight data recorder aboard the Japan Airlines aircraft whose APU battery burned on the ground at Boston's Logan Airport Jan. 7 showed the battery never exceeded its design limit of 32
volts. On Friday, Japanese officials said they believed overcharging caused that fire and the one in an ANA 787 that was involved in an emergency landing and evacuation last Wednesday. Japan released
photos of the battery that burned virtually under the feet of the pilots as they dove for the ground while on a domestic flight to Kaneda. The photo shows a mass of charred wires and cells within a
thin case that shows signs of distortion but apparently wasn't breached. For comparison the agency put a good battery beside it.
The Japanese investigators said the ANA battery looks like the battery that fried in the APU bay of a Japan Airlines 787 a week before and they believe both batteries caught fire because they were
being overcharged. "If we compare data from the latest case here and that in the U.S., we can pretty much figure out what happened," investigator Hideyo Kosugi told The Associated Press. He said the evidence suggests "voltage exceeding the design
limit was applied." The NTSB says it will share the conflicting data from its investigation with the Japanese.
File Size 7.1 MB / Running Time 7:45
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No, says turbine aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia. Even so, he says he expects Boeing and the FAA to get over the battery issue that is grounding the Dreamliner at the moment.
AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with Aboulafia.
Click here to listen. (7.1 MB, 7:45)
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Flying IFR? ForeFlight Mobile Pro Is for You
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Visit ForeFlight.com to learn more and upgrade.
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The Pentagon has grounded the most sophisticated version of the F-35 after a pilot had to abort a takeoff at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida on Wednesday. An exhaust nozzle actuator line in the
F-35B's exhaust system failed. The B model, which will be used by the Marine Corps, uses downward jet exhaust to assist takeoff and allow vertical landings. The Air Force (A model) and Navy (C model)
aircraft are not affected. There are 25 airplanes grounded.
"Implementing a precautionary suspension of flight operations is a prudent response until F-35B engineering, technical and system safety teams fully understand the cause of the failure," said Joe
DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office. "Safety of pilots and ground crew is the top priority of the program." Reports say the line detached and that to save weight the actuator
uses fuel rather than hydraulic fluid to move the machinery.
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Pilots Require a Different Approach
When It Comes to Buying Life Insurance
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Call PIC at (800) 380-8376 or
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"Less Personally Revealing" Passenger
Scans |
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The TSA announced Friday that it will remove Rapiscan full body scanners from airport security stations, but leave others, as it works toward a congressionally mandated deadline to assure the
devices produce less personally revealing imagery. The mandate, effective in June 2013, affects both types of body scanners currently used in the U.S. -- X-ray (or backscatter) devices produced by
Rapiscan, and millimeter-wave devices produced by L-3 Communications. When used to scan passengers, both types of devices produce images largely recognizable as naked bodies (and whatever they might
be carrying). The TSA's action to remove only Rapiscan devices is based on its conclusion that only L-3 will meet the deadline to create software that presents more generic imagery of a human form to
the machine's operators, while still fulfilling its security function. The TSA will reportedly still use Rapiscan products at some government facilities.
By the numbers, the TSA removed 76 Rapiscan machines from airports last year and will remove the remaining 174, Bloomberg News reported, presumably before June. Under an agreement with the TSA,
Rapiscan will pay for those removals and the TSA may redeploy the devices at government facilities. The TSA will reportedly use 60 of L-3's millimeter wave scanners at the nation's busier airports.
They will reportedly be equipped with software that will display passengers as generic shapes (as opposed to naked figures) while highlighting foreign objects on their bodies. The TSA's ongoing
relationship with Rapiscan and its parent company OSI will continue in spite of concerns raised by Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama, who in November said the company "may have attempted to defraud
the government by knowingly manipulating an operational test." Rapiscan denied the allegation.
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The Biggest Aviation Show on the Planet ... Is Back!
The award-winning hit TV series The Aviators is back for an all-new third season showcasing everything from the F-22 and DC-3 to LSA and balloons. We take you dogfighting in the Nevada
desert, flying with the USAF Thunderbirds, and look on as Mötley Crue frontman Vince Neil learns to fly. Join our 10 million weekly US viewers and countless more worldwide.
Watch The Aviators on PBS, iTunes, Amazon, and Hulu.
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Key West-based airshow, ferry, and well-certificated pilot Fred Cabanas, 60, was killed Tuesday along with his passenger Jorge Lopez Vives, host of an extreme sports show, while flying near a
private airfield in Cozumel, Mexico. According to the FAA, Cabanas held an ATP, multiengine rating, commercial land and seaplane privileges, plus an A&P license and advanced ground instructor
certificate. He was also an Aerobatic Competency Evaluator for ICAS as well as an EAA Warbird Evaluator. According to his website, Cabanas had flown for TV and movies and had accumulated
24,000 hours total flight time.
At the time of his death, Cabanas owned Cabanas Aeronautics Unlimited, which offered thrill rides and aerial tours of the Florida Keys. Cabanas' legacy is continued by pilots he touched, including
Gary Ward, who credits Cabanas as an inspiration and mentor. As Ward's airshow career developed, Cabanas helped Ward get work, flying with him in the Cayman Islands, Panama, and other locations. One
quirky connection won by Cabanas was being credited with reporting a MiG 23 flown by a Cuban military general as it was inbound to the U.S. from Cuba, in 1991. Cabanas performed in the Pitts
S-2C, Waco, Cub, P-51 Mustang and other warbirds at airshows internationally. In 2005, he also raced at Reno. He leaves behind a wife, Susan, and their two children. Cabanas' daughter and son are both
pilots.
The NTSB says several of the flight control cables were broken on a Piper Cherokee that crashed, killing four people, including two high-profile college basketball coaches, in 2011. Oklahoma State
University Women's Coach Kurt Budke and Assistant Coach Miranda Serna died along with pilot Olin Branstetter, 82, and his wife Paula, 79, when the Cherokee crashed in good weather near Perryville, Ark., Nov. 17, 2011. In the factual report on the accident issued last week, the NTSB said
everything else on the aircraft appeared in normal operating condition but the cables were "fractured in multiple places" and that "each fracture was consistent with overload." The impact site
suggested the aircraft hit with a 50- to 60-degree nose-down attitude and most of the wreckage was in a hole ten feet wide and three-and-a-half feet deep.
The report (PDF) says the aircraft was level at 7,000 feet heading toward Little Rock on a recruiting trip when it inexplicably entered a
descending right turn and disappeared from radar. The NTSB says witnesses on the ground said they saw it at low attitude making turns before it dove into the ground. The pilot had a current medical
and clean flying record but medical examiners couldn't determine whether medical incapacitation contributed to the accident. Although by definition a factual report does not determine cause, this
report makes a point of noting that Paula Branstetter, also a current pilot, was sitting in the back with Serna and that Budke, sitting in the right seat up front, was not a pilot. Immediately after
the crash, OSU tightened standards for aircraft and pilots flying athletic officials. Branstetter, a long-time OSU supporter, was volunteering his personal aircraft and services as a pilot for the
flight.
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Cirrus Thursday announced an increase in certified gross weight from 3400 to 3600 pounds for its 2013 "Generation 5" SR-series of aircraft, and claimed its now five-seat SR22 and SR22T offer "the
highest in-class useful load" available. With all five seats filled, the aircraft offers a range of 700 nautical miles, according to the company. And it is capable of full fuel with four seats filled.
Cirrus is also offering a "Generation 5 Vision Inspired Special Edition SR22T" that the company says is "inspired by the upcoming Cirrus Vision SF50 Personal Jet and modern automotive styling." Cirrus
says the models have seen some changes from nose to tail.
Cirrus engineers also went over the aircraft from spinner to tail and redesigned or re-engineered as necessary to accommodate the increased airframe load. The carbon fiber spar has been
strengthened as has the landing gear and flap system. Pilots can now extend flaps to the first position while flying at 150 knots. As for the parachute, Cirrus says it has increased the canopy size
and fitted a new rocket, fired by a new igniter, incorporating "lighter and stronger" construction materials. The company says the system underwent "substantial testing," including a new series of
test drops. Available features on Cirrus aircraft include Cirrus Perspective avionics by Garmin, Perspective Global Connect satellite communications, Cirrus Known Ice Protection, 60/40 FlexSeating,
and the Cirrus CAPS full airframe parachute system.
An internationally supported expedition to Burma to dig up Spitfires thought to be buried there after the close of WWII is quickly drawing skepticism as it has so far found none after one week
digging at a primary site, Mingaladon airport. The project's mastermind, British farmer David Cundall, believes there's still hope. Cundall had found eyewitness support of his theory that the British
military packed more than 120 Spitfires in crates and buried them in the ground before vacating Burma more than 60 years ago. His evidence drew the assistance of David Cameron and cooperation of the
Burmese government in arranging permission for a dig. But after one week digging at Mingaladon airport (now Rangoon International Airport), and with one witness, a 91-year-old British veteran, in
attendance, archeologists Wednesday suspended the search on lack of evidence. Counterclaims and alternate theories of explanation are beginning to surface, including one from another witness. Cundall
expects to continue.
In a letter published on Jan. 9, by TheTimes.co.uk, Lionel Timmins claims to have served with RAF 81
squadron from August 1946 through February 1948, spending time at Mingaladon "for a substantial part of each year." Timmins states he "neither saw anything of the burials nor did I hear any rumors,
which I believe there most certainly would have been had the aircraft been buried." Tmmins wrote at the time that the steel interlocking plates of the airport's then runway could account for the
search's initial indications of buried metal. The search itself has since turned up cables and pipes, as well as metal plates used in construction of the earlier airport's runway. It had expected to
find as many as 36 Spitfires carefully packed in crates for storage and buried in good condition at the location. Some skeptics now believe witnesses may have confused burial of the planes with the
disposal of other equipment while Spitfires were assembled or disassembled nearby. Cundall's project had acquired funding from Wargaming.net, an online gaming company, and the project's spokesman,
Frazer Nash, has said the team will continue its investigation at two other sites in Burma.
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Eclipse Offering Production Aircraft for Sale Now
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An incident involving a glider and a nuclear power plant raised questions about the conduct of some local sheriffs — but, as Russ Niles notes on the AVweb Insider blog, it won't have an
impact on aviation in general.
Read more and join the conversation.
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The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is
You! |
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Each week, we run a sampling of the letters received to our editorial inbox here in AVmail. One letter that's particularly relevant, informative, or otherwise compelling will headline this section as
our "Letter of the Week," and we'll send the author an official AVweb baseball cap as a "thank you" for interacting with us (and the rest of our readership). Send us your comments and
questions using this form. Please include your mailing address in your e-mail (just in case your letter is our "Letter of the Week"); by
the same token, please let us know if your message is not intended for publication.
Letter of the Week: Safety in Plain Language
I am writing with some thoughts about the Agusta 109 helicopter crash in London last week. One has to fly this
particular heliroute (H4) below 1,000 feet due to Heathrow approach traffic and "above the high/low waterline."
I've flown it several times, though not for a few years. The actual location of this crane (nearly 800 feet high) is right on the edge of the river and presents little margin for safety for a
pilot constrained to fly below 1,000 feet and over the same edge of the river. The location is featured in a NOTAM, though it is possible that the pilot never read it, as this was an in-flight
diversion, not a planned excursion into the London Heliroutes.
The weather was foggy that day with low cloud and seems unlikely to have complied with the mandatory SVFR conditions for the routes. Looking at the NOTAM got me thinking: It specifies the
obstacle using the usual Lat/Long:
HIGH RISE JIB CRANE (LIT AT NIGHT) OPR WI 1NM 5129N 00007W, HGT 770FT AMSL
I don't know any human who can interpret such a location unaided. As this obstacle is bang in the line of a published route, with little vertical margin of safety, wouldn't such a notice be much
more effective if instead it read something like:
On the south bank of the River Thames at Vauxhall Bridge on Heliroute H4
Then pilots could immediately visualise the threat.
One has to wonder why it isn't marked on a map — it is nearly 800 feet high! — and pilots told to fly to the north of the river to avoid it?
Bob Gilchrist
787 Grounding
Regarding your "Question of the Week": Although some may argue the grounding is unnecessary, it could
be a blessing in disguise for Boeing. (Conspiracy theorists might go so far as to argue that Boeing requested it.)
Imagine the aircraft was allowed to keep flying while the issue was being addressed. A skeptical public (and reporters digging for a story) wouldn't trust Boeing's word, and every little hiccup
with the aircraft would be scrutinized. The issue and bad PR for Boeing would linger on.
But with the FAA grounding, Boeing's eventual fix will have the agency's blessing. That helps bring closure and buys public/media trust.
Noel Wade
Ground the airplane! The issues with lithium ion have been known for years. This is just another example of economics overriding sound certification procedures.
It's lucky a crash didn't occur. Then the standard "pilot error" scenario could have been used to cover up the sloppy certification process.
Fred Yarborough
I agree with unequivocally yes, but not for the reason stated. My reason is the nature of the problem, as an inflight fire is about the worst thing that can happen in an airplane and can
easily bring it down.
Sam Roberts
I don't have enough information to make a decision on grounding the Dreamliner. I would need detailed engineering drawings of the plane and details of the failures. I have neither, just what I
have heard in the media, which is notoriously unreliable.
Richard Jones
You are second-guessing the agency that has all the info and whose job is to make commercial aviation safe? Why would you even be asking such a silly question? There are many, many experts that
have a hand in this process. Most of your readers have not even touched a Dreamliner, much less have an expertise on it!
Jim K. Walton
Read AVmail from other weeks here, and submit your own Letter to the Editor with this form.
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.
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On some air bases, the military uses one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side, with the tower in the middle serving both. One day, at one of these fields, a
call from an aircraft called in asking, "Hey, Tower, what time is it?"
The tower answered, "Who is calling?"
The aircraft answered, "What difference does it make?"
The tower responded with, "It makes a lot of difference. If you are a civilian aircraft, it's three o'clock; if you're an Army aircraft, it's 1500 hours; if you're a Navy aircraft, it's 3 bells; if
you're an Air Force aircraft, the big hand is on 12 and the little hand is on 3; and if you're a Marine aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon and 120 minutes 'til Happy Hour."
John Yates
via e-mail
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.
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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:
Publisher
Tom Bliss
Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli
Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles
Webmaster
Scott Simmons
Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew
Contributors
Kevin Lane-Cummings
Ad Coordinator
Karen Lund
Avionics Editor
Larry Anglisano
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
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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.
If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your phone or handheld device), there's also a text-only
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Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.
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