Volume 12, Number 2a — January 9, 2006

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

MORE SUSPECT LYCOMING CRANKS
Lycoming is casting its recall net a little wider for engines with potentially faulty crankshafts and the FAA is reinforcing that with yet another proposed AD. Since 2002, Lycoming has replaced hundreds of cranks containing suspected metallurgical faults and now nearly 400 more have been added to the list. In a Nov. 30 supplement (check there to see if your engine is affected) to a mandatory service bulletin issued last July, Lycoming said a single failure (no accident involved) prompted the expanded recall. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the FAA on Jan. 6 duplicates the company's call for the affected engines to be repaired within 50 hours or six months, whichever comes first. The MSB supplement and NPRM affect (L)O-360, (L)IO-360, and AEIO-360 models. More...

IF THE NUMBERS MATCH
If your engine is on the list in the MSB supplement, Lycoming wants you to phone them (570-323-6181) or fax them (570-327-7160) to arrange its return. If your engine was rebuilt or had the crankshaft replaced after March 1, 1999, you need to hunt down the repair records and find the crankshaft serial number to compare to the list contained in the MSB supplement. If your number comes up, you need to call or fax, too. Lycoming will cover a "reasonable" amount of labor for the removal and reinstallation of the engine. At the factory, it will be disassembled, inspected and the cranks and bearings replaced. More...

ONLINE AWOS SYSTEM STRIVES FOR LEGITIMACY
What if you built a better mousetrap but government regulations made the cheese prohibitively expensive? That's the situation the owner of a small electronics company says he finds himself in as he tries to bring to market what he says is an affordable (about $1,000 per installation), effective and user-friendly system to display automated weather observation system (AWOS) and automated surface observation system (ASOS) information via the Internet. About five years ago, Bill Stanwyck, of Newburgh, N.Y.-based Stanwyck Avionics, designed software that would enable an ordinary PC to gather, record and upload the weather sensor data to a Web site. There, it's displayed both in text and graphic form. The information is updated every minute and the graphic display shows wind speed and direction trends for the previous five minutes and even calculates the crosswind component. "I think it's a useful tool for pilots," Stanwyck told AVweb. More...

SAME AWOS INFORMATION NO FAA "CERTIFICATION"
Stanwyck said his software is designed to interface with any of the more than 1,500 AWOS and ASOS installations across the country by plugging into already-existing data ports. But the FAA won't let him physically attach anything to the equipment, saying it is proprietary and he must have written permission from the companies that manufactured the gear before he can plug in with FAA approval. Since Stanwyck began the crusade, those companies have come up with Internet distribution systems of their own (which Stanwyck claims they copied from him), and Stanwyck said it's unlikely he'll get permission now. Stanwyck said the services offered by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are prohibitively expensive for many smaller airports while his is a fraction of their prices. More...

ALTERNATE METHODS TRIPLE COSTS
The FAA's position stopped Stanwyck dead in his tracks for a couple of years but he didn't stop thinking. That eventually led to him design a system that can transcribe data captured from the UHF radio signal that some AWOS and ASOS stations emit and then put it up on the net. It works, but the receiver alone triples the equipment cost and it's another device to maintain. But even though the FAA has said it will allow him to gather the data in this way, it's not endorsing the end product. Even though the information is exactly what can be obtained over the phone or the radio, the FAA has told Stanwyck that his Web pages must carry a disclaimer stating that the information is not to be used for aviation purposes. More...

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FAA BACKS DOWN ON NOISE RESTRICTIONS
The FAA has backed off on implementation of noise restrictions that could have prevented owners of thousands of older aircraft from getting any modifications, through Supplementary Type Certificates, to their planes that had anything to do with how much sound they might create. After hearing from more than 30 groups and individuals, the agency decided that turning back the clock on already-certified designs would be both expensive and potentially unworkable, so the new noise standards will apply only to clean-sheet designs for which the certification is received after Feb. 3, 2006. "Following consideration of all the comments, the FAA has determined that the impact of a new noise standard on already certificated aircraft could be significant," the final rule says. "We also realized that given the number of STCs, the impact is almost impossible to estimate for the fleet of single engine airplanes." More...

LIGHT SPORT SHOW THIS WEEK
Although Mother Nature disrupted the timing, the second U.S. Sport Aviation Expo will get off the ground from Jan. 12 to Jan. 15 at Sebring Regional Airport in Florida. The event, which features only aircraft that qualify under the Light Sport Aircraft classification, was supposed to be held in late October but Hurricane Wilma blew that plan away. All the palm branches and shingles have been cleaned up and organizers are expecting another big turnout after last year's first-ever event drew thousands of attendees and hundreds of exhibitors. More...

$26 MILLION SETTLEMENT IN CRASH SUIT
In what may be the largest settlement of its kind in North Carolina history, the family of a Concord, N.C., couple settled for a total of $26 million from four companies after the couple was killed by the post-crash fire when the Cessna 421 on which they were passengers went down in Mecklenburg County in 1999. David and Ann Drye, along with pilot Kelly Ward and another passenger, Mark Carlson, died after the pilot reported the right engine had failed. Teledyne Continental, the maker of the engine, was assessed $20 million of the settlement, while engine overhauler Ram Aircraft paid $3 million. Component supplier Vibratech was hit with $2.8 million and Stevens Aviation, which maintained the plane, paid $250,000. According to the NTSB report, metal fragments were found in the right engine's oil sump from the starter adapter needle bearing but "the right engine assembly did not exhibit any condition that would have prevented it from operating." More...

INDIANAPOLIS RUNWAY SHORTENED IN NAME OF SAFETY
The FAA and local authorities are spending more than $5 million to tear up 324 feet of runway at Indianapolis International Airport. But both insist the amputation won't affect the utility or safety of the airport, which is undergoing a $1 billion reconstruction. In fact, the jackhammers are being called in for safety reasons. The section of runway in question is at one end of Indy's 7,604-ft. crosswind runway. It's being eliminated because a FedEx hangar blocks controllers' view of that portion of runway from the new 340-foot tall tower. Officials insist the runway shortening has been part of the construction plan all along and is regarded as the most practical solution to the sight-line problem. It's not that Indy is short of runways, however. More...

INSTRUCTOR STARVES CHEROKEE?
We're not sure who learned more from a mishap on a busy freeway near San Jose, Calif., last week. An unidentified flight instructor and his student landed their Piper Cherokee on busy I-680, near Fremont, after they reportedly "ran out of fuel" on a sightseeing trip, according to the Bay area's Daily Review. "It was a perfect landing" said witness Gary Page, who was among the motorists who got out of the airplane's way as it glided onto the road. Neither occupants nor aircraft suffered any harm (physically, anyway) and the Cherokee was trucked away a few hours later. Reporters described the pilots as behaving sheepishly. Neither would comment. More...

FAA EMPLOYEES GET PAY HIKE
What's FAA for a raise? How about "organizational success increase." Whatever it's called, it will mean an extra 3.1 percent in the pay packets of employees as long as they meet "minimum performance standards." Administrator Marion Blakey linked the raise to what she termed the successful achievement of the agency's goals under its operational plan, known as the Flight Plan. "The real credit for this goes to you who delivered an outstanding performance under the Flight Plan," Blakey said. The agency has also eliminated a payband freeze that had capped the salaries of some of its most senior employees. More...

AIR SHOW PILOT DIES HAULING FREIGHT
Described by colleagues as "one of the top three or four performers" in the business, air show pilot Eric Beard, 48, died Friday when the Piper Seneca he was flying crashed in fog about 400 yards short of the runway at Skagit Regional Airport near Burlington, Wash. Beard was perhaps better-known for flying a rare Yak-54 nicknamed Russian Thunder in air shows all over the world. On Friday he was flying for Airpac Airlines, a Seattle-based cargo company. He worked part-time for Airpac and also worked for Boeing. His last transmission to Whidbey Island approach was normal and there was no indication of an emergency, according to Tom Peterson, air search coordinator with the state department of transportation. More...

ON THE FLY...
Four-year-old makes no-fly list...
Twin Star gains 187 pounds (of EASA OK'd payload)...
U-2 may be retired by 2011...
GlobalFlyer damaged in accident with fuel truck. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
What have you heard? There might be something to it. If you've heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about, don't be shy. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. You're a part of our team ... often, the best part. More...

READER FEEDBACK ON AVWEB'S NEWS COVERAGE AND FEATURE ARTICLES ...
AVmail: January 6, 2006
Reader mail this week about the TSA chasing airplane "hunters," IFR vs. VFR, airline pilot woes and more. More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
WHAT'S NEW
What's New for January 2006
This month AVweb's survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you portable oxygen, micro lights, an ultralight/LSA engine and more.

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INSURANCE
Insuring the Professionally Managed Aircraft: A Candid Discussion of Fleet Policies
If you buy a plane and then put it on the flight line at a flight school or charter outfit -- or have it operated by an aircraft management company -- who takes out the insurance policy? The answer is different depending on several factors you may not have thought about.

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...
An oldie, but a goodie...
Overheard while flying freight near Frankfurt.

ATC: F1243, desend and maintain 12-thousand.

F1234: 12-thousand, F1234.

ATC: F1234, can you make it to 12 in one minute?

(short pause)

F1234: Negative. The captain requests I inform you we're going as fast as this Fokker will go.

(silence)

ATC: ...Right. Lufthansa 456, turn right heading 330, please. 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 Russ Niles:
http://www.avweb.com/contact/authors.html#rniles
AVweb's editorial team: http://avweb.com/contact/authors.html.

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