Volume 11, Number 28a — July 11, 2005

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

YOUNKIN, FRANKLIN DIE AT CANADIAN AIR SHOW
Bobby Younkin and Jimmy Franklin, two of the most respected and best-loved pilots on the air show circuit died as a result of a fiery mid air collision at an air show in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan on Sunday. The air show was immediately cancelled. The two were performing in the Masters of DisasterMasters of Disaster show when their aircraft made contact in front of 20,000 people attending the Saskatchewan Centennial Air Show at Moose Jaw, the southern Saskatchewan community that is home to the Canadian Forces Snowbirds. The other airborne member of the team, Jim LeRoy, landed safely. Franklin's son Kyle, who earlier in the day performed a wing-walking show with his dad aboard their jet-assisted Waco biplane, was at the time of the accident reportedly describing the performance from the announcer's booth. More...

...NO OTHER CASUALTIES...
The aircraft crashed well away from the crowd and emergency crews were on the scene within five minutes but there was nothing they could do for the pilots, according to a Canadian Press story. There were no other injuries or damage. Col. Alain Boyer, the base commander, told reporters, "Everything was done professionally." ... "These guys were professional pilots ... all the safety measures were there." Officials moved quickly to gather up friends and relatives of the pilots present at the show and took them to the air force base headquarters where the base chaplain met them. "I think you can consider most of the people [who] perform for a living in the air show industry as family," Clive Tolley, the air show's executive director, told a news conference late Sunday. "That's why it's so important for us to take care of them." More...

...AS THE TRIBUTE BEGINS
The Masters of Disaster have become one of the most sought after acts in the air show business and thrilled crowds at EAA AirVenture last year. They thrilled us. The team, including Jimmy Franklin (known best for his wing-walking acts and jet-biplane); Bobby Younkin (who flew the biplane Samson, a Decathalon, Beech and a Lear Jet each in separate air show performances); Jim LeRoy ("the Bulldog" in his yellow Pitts); Les Shockley (of jet-truck fame) and more had been scheduled for Oshkosh again this year. In a very late night interview from his Oshkosh area home on Sunday EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski told AVweb the industry has lost two of its very best ambassadors. "Both as pilots and as people, they were the best," Knapinski said. "They were incredible pilots and incredible people." More...

THE SPACESHIPS ARE COMING...
The X Prize Cup event to be held Oct. 4 - 9 in Las Cruces, N.M., will feature rocket demonstrations, hovercraft and rocket planes, the organizers announced at a press conference last week. Many X Prize competitors will be there, demonstrating their technology or showing mockups and plans, and several groups plan to launch small homebuilt rockets up to 20,000 feet or more. This year's event is billed as the Countdown to the X Prize Cup, which will become a yearly competitive event to spotlight the personal spaceflight business, said Peter Diamandis, chairman of the X Prize Foundation. More...

...BUT WILL SEATBELTS BE CLOSE BEHIND?
As the space-tourism industry struggles to invent itself, Jane Reifert, president of Incredible Adventures, of Sarasota, Fla., told MSNBC last week that tour operators must be careful about "overpromising" what their flights can deliver. "I can imagine people placing deposits on $200,000-plus flights, thinking they'll be able to float around," when in fact, she said, passengers may be required to stay strapped in their seats. "It just may be a huge disappointment if it's not what they've been properly prepared to expect," Reifert said. The FAA has yet to issue passenger-safety rules for spacecraft, but Virgin Galactic and Burt Rutan have said they plan to allow customers to float in the cabin for four to six minutes of weightlessness, though perhaps with a tether to their seat. More...

NTSB'S PUSH FOR SAFER AIRLINE FUEL TANKS (STILL)...
The NTSB is growing frustrated with the FAA's failure to require airliners to install devices that would prevent fuel-tank explosions like the one that brought down TWA 800 in 1996, The Washington Post reported last week. Airlines have asked the FAA to delay, the Post said, arguing that they have already addressed the flammability issues and that the expensive devices, which cost up to $220,000 per aircraft, are unnecessary. The FAA had announced in February 2004 that it would have a new rule in place by fall of that year to require the new systems for Boeing and Airbus airliners, but the rule has yet to be published. FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette told the Post a proposed rule "has been drafted and is getting final clearance." More...

...WHEN COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT EXPLODE
Besides the TWA accident, which resulted in 346 deaths, two fuel-tank explosions occurred in Boeing 737s in Asia while the aircraft were on the ground. In March 2001, a Thai Airways 737-400 exploded while sitting on a hot ramp at Bangkok's domestic airport, and in May 1990, a center-wing fuel tank of a Philippine Airlines 737-300 exploded. The FAA's explosion-prevention device dumps oxygen into the atmosphere and pumps nitrogen into the fuel tanks. The extra nitrogen cuts oxygen content by almost half, making combustion of fuel vapors virtually impossible. The systems need about $14,000 worth of maintenance every year. They weigh less than 200 pounds. More...

FAA WAS "DUPED," SAYS CITIZENS GROUP
A group opposed to expansion at Witham Field in Stuart, Fla., says that when airport officials submitted plans to the FAA for a runway extension, they didn't note that there was already a residential development nearby. A report by Witham Airport Action Majority (WAAM) said that when Runway 12/30 was extended by 460 feet in 1998, the map sent to the FAA by airport managers didn't show the five streets that would have been in the runway protection zone. "The FAA was duped, as was the county commission and the rest of the public," WAAM President David Shore told The Palm Beach Post. FAA spokeswoman Katherine Bergen told the Post that the WAAM report will be looked at and the FAA will ask county and airport officials to respond. More...

CONFLICT OVER NAVY PRACTICE AREA
"As the record makes clear: Landing a high-performance aircraft on a moving aircraft carrier at sea poses enormous challenges for even [the Navy's] most experienced pilots," the U.S. Navy said in a brief filed late Wednesday with a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., according to an Associated Press report. The Navy hopes to convince the court that it should be allowed to build a new training area for those pilots on a 33,000-acre site in North Carolina. The project so far has been thwarted by opponents who say it would be harmful to the nearby Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and would shut down 75 local farms. The case is expected to be heard later this month. More...

SUDDEN STORM CITED IN AIRSHIP CRASH
The NTSB last week released its factual report on the June 16 crash of a Goodyear blimp in Coral Springs, Fla. The airship was returning to its base in Pompano Beach at 5:25 in the afternoon after about two hours of flying in the Miami Beach area in good weather. The pilot told the NTSB that on approaching the landing area, he saw several lightning bolts hit the ground. Since the landing procedure requires a ground crew, the pilot chose to fly on to the west and wait for the storm to pass rather than endanger the crew. The pilot said the weather deteriorated rapidly, and he encountered heavy rain, lightning and severe downdrafts, and the airship was unable to climb, make headway or maintain directional control even with full power. The ship was pushed down, striking trees and powerlines, and came to rest on the ground in an industrial complex. More...

HERE'S THE BEEF, SO BE CAREFUL TAXIING
An Air France A330 carrying 196 passengers ran into a herd of cattle at Nigeria's Port Harcourt International Airport about 4 a.m. last Wednesday. None of those on board were hurt. Seven cows were killed. The A330 was checked and found to be undamaged. Local reports were not clear as to whether the cattle were on a runway or a taxiway, but they did say -- and we quote -- that security has been "beefed up" to prevent further incidents. Aviation Minister Isa Yuguda told AllAfrica.com that the presence of the cows was a "strange and unusual occurrence." More...

A FLIGHT OF PASSAGE
Two teenagers have a plan for their summer that soars beyond mowing lawns or playing baseball ... they planned to launch over the weekend from New Jersey in their grandfather's 1946 Aeronca Champ, bound for California. Cousins Ben Dunckerley and Nick Reed, both 17, said they were inspired by reading Rinker Buck's memoir, "Flight of Passage," which tells of a similar summer adventure by two young brothers over 30 years ago. They expect to fly for about six days, camping out along the way, and spend a couple weeks with an uncle in California before flying home in time for school. More...

AOPA: FAA'S TREATMENT OF CRACKS FLAWED
The FAA has released a new draft Advisory Circular (AC) that sets guidelines to allow aging aircraft to continue flying with known structural cracks. AOPA says the AC needs to clarify that it can be applied to all older general aviation aircraft. "The FAA left out the majority of older GA aircraft from this guidance document," said Luis Gutierrez, AOPA director of regulatory and certification policy. "As drafted, it only applies to Part 23-certificated aircraft. But most aircraft flying today were certificated under the old CAR 3 standards." The AC would publicize a long-existing FAA policy that says an aircraft is still airworthy if the crack is not in the primary structure and the airframe can still withstand the ultimate design load, AOPA said. More...

SEAWIND CONTINUES WORK TOWARD CERTIFICATION
The four-seat Seawind amphibian kitplane is well on its way to reaching the market in a certified version, the company said last week. ''We had always hoped that we would, some day, certify the Seawind," said company President Dick Silva. "Now the day is almost here." The most significant modifications to the kit design include an enlarged canopy space with more headroom for both front and rear seats and trailing-link landing gear to allow for landings on sod or gravel strips. Seawind will be showing its proof-of-concept certified version of the airplane at Oshkosh, and expects to have production model demonstrators available for demo flights by October for AOPA Expo, in Tampa, Fla. More...

ON THE FLY...
ATG expects first flight of the Javelin jet within two weeks...
Salina (Kan.) Airport offers transient pilots a GlobalFlyer memento...
A skydiver died in Ohio last week in collision with another skydiver...
Fly-by to honor the end of WWII went on as planned in London...
The FAA issued its first airline animal incident report last week...
TV story about Pilot Getaways magazine was nominated for an Emmy award. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Drop us a line. Heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about? If it caught your eye, it will probably interest someone else, too. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. You're a part of our team ... often, the best part. More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
COLUMNS
The Pilot's Lounge #89: How We Scare Our Passengers Without Realizing It
Sometimes it's obvious why our friends and relations enjoy -- or don't enjoy -- flying with us. But sometimes the reason they quit going is more subtle, and we may need to remember those things we felt back when we first learned how to fly. AVweb's Rick Durden reminds us to put ourselves in our passengers seats.

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AIRMANSHIP
Unusual Attitude Recovery: Reacting Quickly In An Over-Banked Situation
There are those who think flight is best experienced at zero or negative G. And then there are the rest of us, who just want to keep the dirty side down. But even though all pilots get basic training in how to recover from unusual attitudes, sometimes we need reminders.

More...

READER FEEDBACK ON AVWEB'S NEWS COVERAGE AND FEATURE ARTICLES:
AVmail: July 11, 2005
Reader mail this week about more D.C. incursions, Cirrus 'chute save, restrictions on GA 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...

SHORT FINAL...
Sometimes, perspective is everything.

Several years ago I was flying into OSH in the late afternoon, second in line for runway 27 behind a warbird on straight in. As everyone who flies into OSH during convention knows, there are three colored dots on the runway that help separate aircraft so the controller can land three on the same runway at the same time. The conversation went something like this:

Tower: Warbird, cleared to land, runway 27 on the "Green" dot.

Warbird: Ahhh ... which one's the "Green" dot.

Tower: Well, it's not the "Red" one and it's not the "Orange" one.

Warbird: With the glare, they all look the same color.

Tower: Oops, sorry, it's the first one. Cleared to land, runway 27, on the first dot. More...

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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

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