Volume 11, Number 32b — August 11, 2005

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

BEHIND THE EYES OF AN ADIZ INTERCEPT PILOT...
AVweb met U.S. Customs Service pilot Mark Cox on the grounds of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. Cox was among several customs pilots on the show grounds this year displaying a Citation 550. Cox has flown three intercepts over Washington, including one that had authorities on the ground more than a little concerned. "It was a Lockheed Lodestar and it went right over the Capitol at 11,000 feet," he said. The Citation crew was finally able to get the pilot's attention and order him to land, something all pilots who enter restricted airspace can expect. "It would be irresponsible for us not to talk to them," he said. Cox stated plainly that pilots need to know exactly what to do if, despite their training, they blunder deep into restricted airspace and he needs to intercept them. More...

...CHALLENGING FLYING...
Customs pilots normally fly drug interdiction missions off the coast but they also rotate through Washington on temporary duty. They work 12 hours on, 12 hours off waiting for the call to scramble. And while the time away from home and the long days are hard, Cox said there's nothing like the flying. The Citation, with the same radar used in F-16s added inside its bulbous nose, races at full speed to the intercept at which point, in most cases, Cox has to throttle back and hang everything out to match the speed of the (generally single-engine piston) target. "It can be challenging flying," he said. "I once got the tail number of an Ercoupe that was only doing 80 knots." More...

...THE GA/INTERCEPT PILOT INTERFACE
Cox said it's important for pilots to understand customs pilots' role in the protection of the Capitol. "We're here to protect GA," he said. As long as an ADIZ-busting pilot is successfully intercepted by unarmed customs aircraft, there's no need to call out the armed-to-the-teeth military, whose attitude toward errant aviators is markedly different. "The military doesn't know how to deal with this," Cox said. Customs pilots have gone to great lengths to try to keep the F-16s from becoming involved, to the point of crafting handmade signs with the emergency frequency on them and waving them at pilots of target aircraft through the Citation's cockpit windows. Cox said that in the end, they just painted the frequency on the noses of the Washington-based aircraft so the customs pilots could better maintain visual contact (it was hard to see through the signs). More...

AND MORE ON A PERMANENT ADIZ...
AOPA says the FAA's plan to create a permanent ADIZ of 2,000 square miles -- nearly twice the size of Rhode Island -- is "operationally unworkable" and not clearly justified by the FAA. The FAA is currently seeking comments on its proposal. Meanwhile, for those who must navigate the region's nerve-wracking airspace (and are still waiting on proposed "mandatory training" from the FAA to see the light of day), AOPA has posted a helpful online briefing that explains how to do so without getting into trouble. It took us about 15 minutes to view the program, which covers all the fine points of ADIZ operations in lucid, easy-to-grasp detail. More...

...ENFORCEMENT ROLE COULD CHANGE
Discussions are now underway that could shift the agency responsible for ADIZ security from the U.S. Customs Service to the U.S. Coast Guard, USCG spokesman Lt. Gene Maestas told AVweb yesterday. The Coast Guard would be suited for the job because it has a dual role as a law-enforcement authority as well as a military branch. "The military can't patrol within U.S borders," Maestas said, but the USCG can. The change could simplify the chain of command in case of a crisis, and perhaps make it easier for hostile action to be taken against an intruder, according to a recent MSNBC story. More...

ATC ASKED TO ASSESS RUNWAY-HOLD PROCEDURES...
The FAA on Aug. 1 issued a General Notice to all control towers, noting that recently there has been "increased concern" about operational errors involving taxi-into-position-and-hold (tiph) procedures. "It is essential that [air traffic] managers give priority to the management of tiph," says the notice. It mandates that by Sept. 30, each facility manager must determine if an operational need exists to justify the use of the procedure. "Such factors as capacity, efficiency, user input, etc., should be considered in making this determination," the notice says. The manager must then prepare a directive that prescribes local procedures for handling tiph. More...

...AS NATCA COMPLAINS...
The new directive is "bizarre," the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) said on Tuesday, and "will greatly exacerbate flight delays." It's "inefficient and wasteful," forcing tower personnel to "scramble" to come up with a justification to continue doing things they are already doing, NATCA said. "The likely outcome is that busy airports will eventually get waivers, leaving the real safety concerns unaddressed, while other airports will operate under unnecessary restrictions," said NATCA President John Carr. "Pilots will have no effective way of knowing where this rule is in effect and where it has been waived," he said. More...

...FAA EXPLAINS
FAA spokesman Greg Martin defended the action. "The primary intent of this notice is to be a wake-up call to the facilities, to take a close look at taxi into position and hold, and see if they need it," he told AVweb on Tuesday. "And if they don't need it, don't use it. ...This is due to a recent spate of operational errors and subsequent loss of separation." He added that pilots will not be affected. They will know whether the procedure is available or not because they will be talking to the controllers. "Dallas has already reviewed their procedures and verified that they need [tiph], so they will continue to use it," he said. "As will most facilities that have shown a significant increase in volume." More...

TWO KILLED IN CRASH OF SPORT AIRCRAFT
Two men died in North Carolina on Sunday when the light-sport aircraft they were flying crashed in a 25-acre cow pasture. Robert G. Swanson, 62, an active pilot with 40 years of experience, had bought the Allegro 2000 in June and had flown it for about 90 hours, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. Also on board was John Nesbit, 51, the former anchor of a TV morning show in Greensboro. The Allegro, a high-wing two-seater with a T-tail, has a composite fuselage and metal wings. It is manufactured in the Czech Republic and was certified in the U.S. as an LSA in May. This will be among the first LSA crashes to be investigated by the NTSB. More...

PILOTS, HIGH ALTITUDE AND RISK FOR CATARACTS
Pilots who operate at high altitudes have triple the risk of developing cataracts compared to other men their age, researchers at the University of Iceland reported in the August issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. The researchers said that of 445 men aged 50 or older in the study, 79 were airline pilots and 71 of them had cataracts. The likely cause is the exposure of the pilots to cosmic radiation, the study concludes. According to AVweb aviation medical columnist Dr. Brent Blue, the risk for GA pilots is significantly lower than for airline pilots. GA pilots fly at much lower altitudes and don't frequent the polar routes where radiation is more intense. More...

BOEING CLINCHES DREAMLINER DEAL IN CHINA
Boeing won an advantage this week in its perennial battle with Airbus, with an announcement that four Chinese airlines have ordered 42 of its new 787 Dreamliner jets, with a list price of about $5 billion. Airbus is trying to capture the airliner market with its superjumbo A380, which is already plagued with development delays, as Boeing maneuvers to compete with its midsize, fuel-efficient 787. The fast-growing Asian market is a central battleground for the two companies. Currently the World Trade Organization is arbitrating a dispute between the United States and the European Union over state aid, which the U.S. says gives Airbus an unfair advantage in the marketplace. More...

ALASKA PILOTS PROTEST INSURANCE RATES
High insurance premiums are forcing Alaska's small charter operators out of business, a half-dozen pilots said during a recent forum in Wasilla. The pilots met with the state insurance director, Linda Hall, and state Sen. Charlie Huggins, the Anchorage Daily News reported last week. "Air taxis provide an essential air service and you're losing them," said operator Dave Glenn. He said liability coverage on his four-seat M-7 Maule costs $11,400 per year. The pilots asked that the state create an insurance pool to offer lower premiums, or rescind its requirement of at least $150,000 per seat in liability for commercial operators. More...

NASA GOES LOOKING FOR FLYING-CAR INNOVATIONS
Have an idea for making the flying car of the future work? NASA wants to hear about it, and the space agency is offering $250,000 in prizes as encouragement. The Personal Air Vehicle Challenge, announced at AirVenture last month, will pay $25,000 each for advances in noise control and handling qualities. The biggest reward, $150,000, would recognize a vehicle with two to six seats that can fly at least 130 mph for a 300-mile range while being fuel-efficient and making good time door-to-door. The idea, NASA engineer Mark Moore told AVweb, is to encourage "chaotic" research. "We think we understand the problem at NASA, but we could be wrong," he says. More...

TWO AIRCRAFT HIT BY GUNFIRE
Right here in the U.S. Last Wednesday, an instructor and student were flying in a gyrocopter at about 800 feet over Springville, Utah, when they felt a "pop" and couldn't tell what was wrong. During the 10-minute flight back to the airport, they heard a strange whistling sound, and on landing they found a bullet hole in the rotor. Then on Saturday night, a sheriff's helicopter flying above an Albuquerque neighborhood to investigate a burglary was hit by a bullet that shattered the windshield. The pilot said he heard a pop and the helicopter lost power. He was able to land the aircraft in a backyard, but tore down trees and a fence along the way. Both men on board were hit by shrapnel and suffered minor impact injuries. More...

AVIATION CONSUMER SEEKS YOUR GYRO BACK-UP THOUGHTS
Our sister publication, Aviation Consumer, is examining the topic of back-up gyro strategies for light aircraft, specifically using PDAs or Garmin 296-type flight instrument displays as gyro back-ups. The editors would like to hear pros and cons from readers who have used such devices to back up vacuum or electric gyros. Did they work for that purpose? Knowing what you know now, would you do it again? Contact the magazine at aviationeditorial@comcast.net with your comments. More...

ON THE FLY...
FedEx crossed a BOS runway where JetBlue was cleared for takeoff...
EAA sport-pilot instructors database now online...
Russian Sigma sport plane will be sold in the U.S. by Sportsplanes.com...
Space tourists now can buy a flight around the moon for $100 million. 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. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. News is everywhere, we always appreciate an extra eye. More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
BRAINTEASERS
Quiz #97 -- Unscramble Your Head
When your brain is unfairly teased in flight, how well you score on this quiz may determine your ability to handle unusual aeromedical factors, attitudes, and illusions.

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 ...
This week, AVweb wants to know how concerned you are about having a mid-air collision. Terrified it will happen to you? Willing to bet that it won't? Tell us. PLUS: Answers to last week's question about the National Defense Airspace over Washington, D.C. becoming a permanent fixture of East Coast aviation. More...

AVWEB'S PICTURE OF THE WEEK ...
Christian Hauser of Vienna (Austria) takes the top spot in our latest installment of "Picture of the Week." It was a fierce battle for the Number One position, but Christian barely edged out Greg Poole of Australia and Kevin Orr of Kansas to win this week's Official AVweb Baseball Cap. Remember: You could win a cap of your very own by submitting your best aviation photos. We'll run the best of them right here on AVweb (in front of a couple million astonished eyeballs) and award one baseball cap to the best of the best. 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

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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.

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