Volume 11, Number 14b — April 7, 2005

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

LEGISLATIVE MUTTERINGS TO FREE DC...
Legislation that would re-open Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to GA aircraft was introduced yesterday in the U.S. House, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) told AVweb last night. It's not the first bill to make that attempt. But this bill was introduced by the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and "That's key," according to NBAA spokesman Dan Hubbard. Congressmen Don Young (R-Alaska), Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) all signed on to the bill. These sponsors add considerable clout to "a growing chorus of support" for re-opening DCA, NBAA said. More...

JETS DISPLACING PISTONS? GA TURF WARS...
A new threat to GA airports is appearing more and more frequently, and it's a twist on the old familiar story of residents moving in, deciding they don't like the airport noise and turning the field into a subdivision. Instead, those same residents seem to be realizing that a GA airport can be a cash cow for their communities -- but not if it's infested with little personal aircraft and weekend flyers. The big bucks come with fuel-guzzling jets and corporate expense accounts. For flight schools, small FBOs and private pilots trying to find hangar space, the result is the same. They're being pushed out. More...

...MONTGOMERY FIELD OUSTS FBO...
Among the latest to feel the squeeze is Gibbs Air Service, a venerable FBO at Montgomery Field, a municipal airport in San Diego. The FBO is operated by Buzz Gibbs, whose father started the airfield back in 1937 (the field was later acquired by the city); it provides hangar space, a flight school, fuel and other services to hundreds of small-aircraft owners. Gibbs's lease expires on May 31 and the city says it won't be renewed. Officials so far haven't revealed their plans for the FBO's 24-acre parcel, other than to say they want to explore the options to maximize its income potential for the city (currently suffering a budget deficit), The Union-Tribune reported last week. Local pilots fear the city wants to drive them out with high prices, so they can cater to business jets instead. Over 500 small airplanes now live at the field. More...

...AS RIALTO GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH FAA
That's not to say that cities aren't still threatening to shut down airports, if they think there's profit in it. In Rialto, Calif., on the far western edge of the Los Angeles metro region, a new highway bypass is spiking property values, and the city is looking for ways for close its GA airport and redevelop the land. The FAA is crying foul, saying it has given the city almost $15 million to develop the airport and Rialto has no right to close it. The city says that the airport is no longer needed and the operations there can be moved to an airport in nearby San Bernardino, so they are not really closing the airport, just moving it (fun with semantics, 101). The FAA's not buying that argument. More...

SPORT PILOT REVS UP...
When the new Sport Pilot rules were announced last summer at Oshkosh, many saw Sun 'n Fun as the next crucial waypoint in the implementation of the rule. With that annual Florida event less than a week away (April 12-18), the sport aviation world is gearing up to make it count. The FAA-industry consortium that is developing consensus standards for light sport aircraft (LSA) is close to being ready to give the green light to manufacturers, AOPA said Monday -- but AOPA warns that LSA timelines have been painfully slow in the past, so "keep your fingers crossed." More...

...MARKETING EFFORTS INTENSIFY...
While the technical committees work on getting the aircraft OK'd to fly, gaggles of marketing types are working equally hard to make sure the public is ready to buy them when they do. EAA has announced a partnership with Sportsplanes.com to promote sport flying. Josh Foss, president of Sportsplanes.com, is working to establish a nationwide network of Sport Aircraft Regional Centers where flight training and aircraft sales will be available. EAA also is supporting the Sport Pilot Tour to bring sport aircraft to local airports where the curious can get an intro flight. More...

...AS ULTRALIGHT COMMUNITY PREPARES FOR CHANGE
One route to building the Sport Pilot numbers is to convert pilots who now fly ultralights. EAA said Tuesday it has developed an inexpensive new kit to help with that transition. The all-inclusive kit sells for under $20 and helps guide an owner through converting an ultralight aircraft to the experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA) category. The kit includes a 15-page guidebook, all the FAA forms, required standard instrument/control labels and placards, a fireproof dataplate and an "experimental" category sticker. "EAA makes the transition process from ultralight to experimental light-sport aircraft simple with this kit," said Charlie Becker, EAA aviation services director. More...

FAA OFFICIAL, FLIGHT ATTENDANT IN ALTERCATION ALOFT
An FAA official was handcuffed and detained when she disembarked in Kansas City after an altercation during a Southwest Airlines flight on March 26, The Kansas City Star reported on Saturday. A flight standards manager for the Central Region, she had argued with a flight attendant, according to the Star. The flight attendant told police that the official had confronted him about how he was handling a disturbance in the back of the airplane. He told the official to sit down and let him handle it, and the official allegedly became verbally combative and shoved him. Police and investigators from the Transportation Security Administration met the airplane when it landed, and the official was handcuffed after she objected to being detained. More...

"MINUTEMEN" FLYING BORDER PATROLS
The skies above the U.S.-Mexican border near Tucson have been busier than usual this week. Thirty pilots and their aircraft have joined a band of about 1,000 volunteers -- some, including President Bush, call them vigilantes -- who will spend the month of April working to deter illegal immigrants from Mexico. Leaders of the group, which calls itself The Minuteman Project, say they will not confront the migrants and/or smugglers, but will track them and report their activities to the U.S. Border Patrol. Leaders of the project have said they are worried about terrorists arriving through the leaky border, but Mexican President Vincente Fox said there is no evidence to support that fear. More...

SUPERFUND SITES NOW OPEN FOR FLYING (SORT OF...)
Plenty of pilots got their first introduction to controlling an airplane via remote-control models, and it seems that despite the advent of desktop flight simulators, the sport is still thriving. Now, under a new federal agreement between the Academy of Model Aeronautics and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, RC pilots will have more places to fly from. The group has been granted free access to EPA Superfund sites around the country for use as model airfields. The first site likely to open under the program is in Altoona, Pa., a 57-acre former landfill, flat and open and covered in grass. "It's a perfect place to fly airplanes," EPA official Romuald A. Roman told The Washington Post. More...

CHANGES AFTER TREES CITED IN FATAL CRASH
The Westerly (R.I.) State Airport recently got a federal grant that will rebuild a runway and remove trees that obscure pilots' visibility -- but it's too late for two pilots who died in a midair on that runway in November 2003. The NTSB last week released its final report on that crash, in which a Piper Archer landed on the runway as a Cessna 180 was taking off. Both pilots in the Cessna died, but the pilot of the Piper and his two passengers were OK. The safety board found that the probable cause for the crash was the Piper pilot's decision to land even though he saw the Cessna on the runway. Other factors were the departing Cessna pilot's inattentive radio communications, and the obscured visibility of the traffic pattern from the air and ground by trees located at the departure end of the runway. More...

AIR FORCE PILOTS HELP CIVILIAN FLYER IN TROUBLE
When the pilot of a small twin lost an engine over Idaho while far from an airfield in bad weather late last month, he was lucky that two Air Force pilots were nearby on a training mission. Lt. Col. Evan Roelofs, in an F-15C, and Capt. Marco Parzych, in an F-16, from Mountain Home Air Force Base, got a call from Salt Lake Center asking them to help the civilian pilot find a hole in the clouds to descend through. Roelofs found the twin and circled nearby, until he found a opening for descent. Parzych then flew alongside in his F-16 until the twin landed safely at Boise International Airport. More...

AVWEB'S SPECIAL SUN 'N FUN COVERAGE STARTS MONDAY
AVweb will be on the field in Lakeland all next week to bring you all the latest on new technology, new airplanes, and all the excitement from Sun 'n Fun, the first big show of the season. Monday's edition will feature a show preview, then watch for special editions in your inbox Wednesday and Friday with all the fresh news and photos straight from the site. The next Monday we'll wrap it all up for you, then return to our regular schedule. More...

ON THE FLY...
BRS to acquire Free Flight Enterprises...
Proposed AD cites rough-running TCM engines...
Tall airline pax could be at worse DVT risk...
CJ2+ took its first flight on Saturday...
Airbus 380 missed target for first flight...
EAA unveiled a new Young Eagles Web site...
Hearing tomorrow in Congress on GA access to DCA. More...

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

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
USED AIRCRAFT
High-Time or Low-Time Engine?
When looking to purchase a used airplane, prospective owners are often confused about whether to get a plane with a "new" (overhauled) engine -- and pay a high purchase price -- or get one with a run-out engine and do the overhaul to a quality level they can control. Brian Jacobson analyzes both possibilities.

WHAT'S NEW
April, 2005
This month AVweb's survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you a weekend private pilot ground school, altitude pre-select on an autopilot, pulse-demand oxygen for two and more. More...

AVWEB'S 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 ...
Sun 'n Fun is upon us, and this week AVweb wants to know how much money we skyhounds are spending on fly-ins. Not counting the price of admission, travel (avgas, etc.), and accommodations (food and hotel), how much do you spend at these events? PLUS: Results of last week's question on cell phone use by PICs. More...

AVWEB'S PICTURE OF THE WEEK ...
Sun 'n Fun kicks off in just a few days, and our Official AVweb Toothbrushes are packed. As usual, we'll be taking tons of photos to bring back home and show our friends and families — and since we've got 'em, we'll probably post a few on the AVweb site, too. That means there will be no "Picture of the Week" contest next week. Instead, we'll roll over any new entries we receive into the next week's contest. (That means there'll be a fierce competition in two weeks — which, in turn, means lots of great pictures to share with you.) For now, we've got a great batch to tide you over — starting with Bob Stetser's show-stopping helicopter pic. As the submitter of this week's top photo, Bob will soon receive a brand-new 2005 AVweb baseball cap in the mail. For a shot at one of these handsome caps, submit your photo here. 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.

Fly it till every part stops.

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