Volume 10, Number 27b -- July 1, 2004

Email this AVflash to a friend

This issue of AVweb's AVflash is brought to you by ... LightSPEED Aviation THE NEW A450 HEADSET — PREMIUM FEATURES/PRACTICAL PRICE AvShop boiled down the most requested high-performance headset options to offer ANR, auto shut-off, mobile phone/music interface, uncompromising comfort, and a low price of only $269. Pick one up at their AirVenture Booth (#2004, 2031-2032 in Hangar B) or online today at http://www.avweb.com/sponsors/litspeed/avshop/avflash.

The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded, Illustrated News Coverage At AVweb's NewsWire.

SPORT PILOT EXAMINER PROCESS GENERATES CONFUSION
When the Aero Sports Connection (ASC), a membership group for sport flyers and ultralight pilots, sent out a letter last week to its registered ultralight instructors asking them if they want to become FAA Designated Pilot Examiners (DPEs) in the proposed Sport Pilot category, it opened a can of worms -- which may be only the first of many such cans lying in wait, as the long-anticipated Sport Pilot rule, with its multitude of devilish details, creeps toward finalization. "We need to get started on this," ASC President Jim Stephenson told AVweb yesterday. "We have over 2,400 instructors, and we'll have to have examiners to give them check rides." But to some, the action seemed premature. More...

... AS EAA CALLS FOR CLARIFICATION ...
About 5 p.m. Tuesday, a teleconference with EAA, the ASC, the FAA, and the U.S. Ultralight Association (USUA) was held to clarify the procedure for authorized ultralight instructors to become DPEs in the proposed Sport Pilot category. "FAA emphasized that, contrary to some reports, the application process has NOT started and that no action to start the DPE process would begin until a final Sport Pilot/Light-Sport Aircraft rule is published in the Federal Register and subsequently the DPE policy is released," EAA said on its Web site Tuesday night. Stephenson said that his letter to instructors was "fully compatible and coordinated with the FAA process." More...

... BUT APPLES MAY NOT BE ORANGES, ANYWAY
The confusion seems to have arisen from two separate provisions in the expected Sport Pilot rule. While only the FAA can designate a DPE, the major ultralight organizations -- ASC, USUA, and EAA -- may endorse applicants, and that endorsement, although it is not required, will add to the value of the application. It was that endorsement process that the ASC was trying to get a jump-start on, Stephenson said, so it would have a pool of qualified applicants ready to go when the gate opens. USUA Director Jim Sweeney said that his organization also encourages its registered flight instructors to consider becoming a Sport Pilot DPE or CFI. "It is critical that we have as many Light Sport DPEs and CFIs that are knowledgeable and competent with ultralight aircraft as possible [to] participate in these programs," Sweeney said in a e-mail to AVweb yesterday. More...

HOW TO ADD CAPACITY WITHOUT ADDING AIRPORTS
As AVweb reported Monday, the FAA is faced with yet another new report projecting that demand will outgrow capacity at many of the nation's airports. Just about every attempt to expand or build an airport runs into delays and obstacles, but one program has been working since the early 1990s to add capacity without all that trouble. The FAA's Military Airport Program provides funds to under-used military airfields to help make them attractive to GA and commercial air traffic by adding hangars, fuel farms and other upgrades. Last week, the FAA named five airports that will share in $35 million this year: Griffiss Airpark, Rome, N.Y.; Millington Municipal Airport, Millington, Tenn., Sawyer Airport, Gwinn, Mich.; Okaloosa County Airport, Valparaiso, Fla.; and Alexandria (La.) International Airport. More...

... AND KEEPING CURRENT AIRFIELDS ALIVE
The irony is that even as airports grow more and more congested, GA airports around the country are being shut down, victims of rising development pressures and neighborhood complaints. But in one small town in Michigan, champagne corks were popping last week after a judge's decision saved Wilderness Airpark, near Kent City. The airpark's only runway was growing effectively shorter and shorter as a neighbor's trees grew higher and higher, till it reached a point where closure was imminent. "The trees were so tall that they penetrated the 'approach protection area,'" said Rick Durden, the aviation lawyer (and AVweb columnist) who argued the case. The state's Aeronautics Code makes anything encroaching on the approach protection area a public nuisance, Durden said. The judge agreed, and ordered the neighbor to trim the trees, saving the runway. More...

BOMBARDIER-ROTAX V-ENGINES NOW PART OF BRP
Bombardier Recreational Products, based in Quebec, which was sold off from Bombardier last year, has relaunched itself under a new brand name, BRP. The company's V-engines for recreational aircraft, which were introduced at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh last year and are under development at Bombardier-Rotax in Austria, will be part of the BRP organization. "We will definitely be at Oshkosh with the new engines, and a flying demo, and some new things to reveal," BRP spokesman Luc de Gaspe Beaubien told AVweb yesterday. "We're on track for certification the end of '04 and limited production in 2005," he added. More...

AOPA TO FAA: HANDS OFF OUR AIRSPACE, PLEASE
When the FAA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Monday proposing to turn a Washington State TFR into a permanent prohibited zone, AOPA was quick to cry foul. "AOPA has consistently opposed these TFRs in the Puget Sound area because of the adverse operational impact on general aviation, particularly seaplanes using the Hood Canal," AOPA President Phil Boyer said in a news release. "There is a much less restrictive solution that would satisfy the Navy's legitimate security concerns." AOPA told the FAA that an airspace classification called a National Security Area (NSA) would do the trick. More...

FOR OZ PILOTS, WEEKDAYS ARE SAFEST
Evenings and weekends tend to be the most dangerous times for GA pilots in Australia, according to a report published Monday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). GA accidents between 5 p.m. and 8:59 p.m. were 1.6 times more likely to be fatal than during other times of the day, the ATSB found. The weekends are even worse -- accidents involving non-commercial operations were 1.9 times more likely to be fatal over the weekend than during the workweek. "Reasons for these findings could not be clearly identified," the report said. The analysis also found that risk varies with age and experience level. More...

LONG-HAUL AIRLINE PILOTS TO BE MONITORED
When the longest-ever nonstop airline flight went into service on Monday -- 18-plus hours between New York's Newark Airport and Singapore, over a 10,000-mile route, in an Airbus A340-500 -- the pilots became inadvertent guinea pigs. To document their response to the stresses of the flight, the crew will be hooked up with a special watch attached to a handheld computer, which will monitor their alertness levels, Singapore authorities told the Associated Press on Tuesday. After each flight, the pilots are scanned with a brainwave-measuring device to check how rested they are. The tests are to see whether new regulations are needed for the super-long flights. More...

NYC CONCORDE READY FOR BOARDING
When the supersonic Concorde fleet was retired last year, one of the glamorous birds came to rest on a barge outside the Intrepid Air & Space Museum on the Hudson River, on Manhattan's West Side. Last weekend, the airplane opened to the public, and unlike at most aviation museums, visitors are invited not only to gaze upon the airplane from a distance, but also to walk right on board and get a close-up view of the cabin and cockpit. A timed "boarding pass" must be picked up on arrival at the museum. The tours are limited to 1,500 people per day -- so get there early; it's been sold out every day so far. Seattle's Museum of Flight also offers on-board tours of its Concorde, but the National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, in Virginia, does not. More...

FAA TRAFFIC-FLOW MANAGEMENT TUTORIAL NOW ONLINE
With summer here, thunderstorms, congested airports and flight delays are to be expected, and the FAA has posted a new online tutorial to help pilots work with ATC's traffic management system. Divided into 13 short modules, the tutorial includes some gorgeous vintage photos as background to help keep you awake. A few minutes' browsing will get you up-to-date on how the FAA manages traffic flow , help you understand why they do what they do, and see how you fit into the big picture. If you need to know what capping and tunneling and flow control and STMPs are, this is the place to find out. More...

AD ROUNDUP: SOME GPS UNITS NEED UPGRADE, LYCOMING AD CORRECTED
The FAA on Tuesday published a final rule requiring updates to the software on some Garmin GPS units. The upgrade will prevent the GPS navigation unit from providing erroneous cross-deviation information, which could result in the aircraft deviating from its intended course for a brief period of time, the FAA said. Also, a recent Airworthiness Directive regarding certain Lycoming engines has been republished by the FAA with minor corrections. Some corrections to engine models have been made by adding missing dashes, clarification to changes in requirements from the proposed rule are made, and some corrections are made for clarification in the compliance section. More...

ON THE FLY ...
Retired NTSB member John Goglia now works for PAMA...
EAA says hard copies of AirVenture NOTAM available at AFSS or online...
FAA requests comments on a proposed AC on electronic displays...
NATA has published its annual compensation survey, yours for $100...
Nominations for NAA's Public Benefit Flying Awards OK till July 9...
Steve Fossett trying to break glider altitude record this week in NZ...
South African microlight pilot still trying to get home from China...
NASM Udvar-Hazy Center had 1 million visitors in its first six months. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about? If it caught your eye, it will probably interest someone else, too. Drop us a line. Submit news tips via email tonewstips@avweb.com. More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
_______
WHAT'S NEW

This month, AVweb's survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics, and aircraft owners brings you a pocket survival kit, more LED flashlights, software to manage maintenance documents, and much more. More...

BUSINESS AVFLASH
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVweb’s NO-COST twice monthly Business AVflash? Reporting on breaking news, Business AVflash also focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the Business of Aviation. Business AVflash is a must read. Watch for a Business AVflash regular feature, TSA WATCH: GA IN THE "SPOTLIGHT". Sign up today at http://www.avweb.com/profile/ More...

AVWEB'S QUESTION OF THE WEEK ...
The FAA recently selected five new airports to participate in their Military Airport Program (MAP). As part of the program, the airports will receive funding in exchange for growing their joint-use facilities — in theory, alleviating pressures on overloaded GA airports. Will it work? AVweb wants to hear your opinion. PLUS: Results of last week's poll on SpaceShipOne. More...

AVWEB'S PICTURE OF THE WEEK ...
Selecting "Pictures of the Week" for publication is a lot of fun — but lately, it's been a lot of work, thanks to the flood of quality images our readers are submitting. This week, in particular, was filled with tough calls and near-collisions with publication. After much deliberating, we settled on three terrific POTWs, headlined by Tom Evernham's stunning air-and-sea shot of the U.S.S. Kennedy aircraft carrier. (An officially licensed AVweb baseball cap is winging its way to you already, Tom!) We also received a handful of amateur SpaceShipOne photos, two of which really caught our eye — so, in the interest of bending our own "POTW" rules, we've included them as a bonus. That's right — you're getting five photos this week for the price of three! More...

AVflash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest aviation news, articles, products, features and events featured on AVweb, the Internet's Aviation Magazine and News Service. http://www.avweb.com

Letters to the editor intended for publication in AVmail should be sent to mailto:editor@avweb.com.com. Have a comment or question? Send it to mailto:newsteam@avweb.com.

Today's issue written by News Writer Mary Grady:
http://www.avweb.com/contact/authors.html#mgrady
AVweb's editorial team: http://avweb.com/contact/authors.html.

Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team: mailto:sales@avweb.com.

AVflash is now available in optional easier-to-read graphic format, which includes some photos and illustrations. If you prefer, you can continue to receive AVflash in text-only format. Simply follow these instructions and AVflash will continue to arrive as it always has, in text format.