PASSENGERS: "CHUNKS OF SLUSH" FALLING FROM PLANE
NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol told NTSB investigators that "chunks of slush" slid from the top of the chartered Challenger 601 he was aboard as it tried to take off from Montrose Airport in Colorado on Nov. 28, 2004. The temperature in Montrose was just below freezing and it was snowing. Although other aircraft were being de-iced, the pilots of the Ebersol charter didn't ask for the service -- evidence suggests the crew visually checked the wings and turned the anti-ice system on. However, a switch to a 7,500-foot runway forced the pilots to change their original takeoff run calculations (from 8,000 feet) to make the numbers work. According to 180 pages of documents released by the NTSB last Thursday, the plane got briefly airborne before crashing off the end of the 7,500-foot runway, killing Ebersol's 14-year-old son Teddy, the pilot and a flight attendant. More...

PILOT QUALIFICATIONS QUESTIONED
Aviation safety consultants Wyvern Standard Ltd. recently performed a safety audit on the plane's operator, Air Castle Corp., and reported after the crash that pilot Polanco-Espiallat did not have the 75 hours in the previous 90 days, or the 300 hours in the previous year, that Air Castle considers minimum for its pilot in command. But the lawyer for Polanco-Espiallat's family said the pilot performed all necessary preflight procedures, including the icing check, and claimed the airplane was to blame for the crash. "It is absolutely clear that the manufacturer of this aircraft bears substantial, if not complete, responsibility for this crash," family lawyer Brian Alexander told the Denver Post. Amid the finger-pointing and legal wars emerges a story of a young man's heroism. More...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
A couple of good Samaritans in California are caught in that awkward maw between heroism and recklessness after some pretty interesting flying led to the rescue of two 11-year-olds last week. Using night-vision goggles, pilot David Gunsauls and helicopter owner Dan Kohrdt spotted Revina Dennis and her cousin Austin Rogers on a lava-rock-strewn hillside miles away from the ground party looking for them. Gunsauls toed the helicopter into the hillside while Korhdt pulled the kids inside. Flush with the success of the rescue, it was backslaps all around as the youngsters, who got lost while exploring the hills near Paradise, Calif., were dropped off to their families in a school playing field. It didn't take long for the local sheriff's office to distance itself from the celebration. "We did not ask for, frankly, nor did we support [the freelance operation]," Capt. Jerry Smith, head of the sheriff's department's aviation section told the Paradise Post. More...

AT WHAT RISK?
Smith said the nighttime toe-in maneuver was too risky. "I would not have allowed our pilots to do that mission," he said. Korhdt heard about the missing kids on the 11 p.m. TV news and called Gunsauls, who met him at the airport. Their Bell 407 helicopter has both night-vision equipment and forward looking infrared equipment (the sheriff's choppers have neither). They first found the searchers and then "just followed the natural lay of the land" trying to put themselves in the children's place in terms of choosing a route. They spotted the pair glowing brightly in their night-vision goggles against the dull background of the hillside and went to work. Pete Cunha, a local California Highway Patrol pilot contacted by the newspaper, also said rescuers should have left the task to experts. "It's not a game for amateurs," said Cunha. More...

BUT DON'T RUSH TO THE WINDOW
If all goes according to plan, the Airbus A380 will touch down on North American soil for the first time this morning but planespotters bent on sneaking a peek at the behemoth are warned to pack a pair of electric socks. The double-decker airliner is scheduled to land in Iqaluit, in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut at about 9 a.m. EST for a week of cold-weather certification work. Iqaluit Airport Manager John Graham told AVweb that everything's in place for the historic visit, except perhaps the reason for it. "We wish it was colder," he said. Like most of North America, Iqaluit is experiencing a warmer than average winter, but warmth is a relative thing. For the past week, the temperature's been a balmy (by Nunavut standards) –10 F. For the testing, Airbus would like –25 to –30. More...

HOPING FOR COLD (BUT PERHAPS NOT GETTING IT)
The forecast for Iqaluit calls for the "warm" spell to continue with temperatures in the same range as last week (but with the wind, it feels 20 degrees colder). What impact that will have on the testing isn't clear. Although aircraft routinely experience extreme cold when flying at altitude, circumstances are different on the ground. Airbus' team of 50 technicians need to see how the airplane starts, how the electronics hold up and even how interior components stand up to sitting on the ramp at –30 all night. The tests are part of the certification requirements for the aircraft, which is scheduled to go into service by the end of this year. Iqaluit is a popular destination for cold-seeking aircraft manufacturers, mainly because of its 8,600-foot runway and huge ramp area, all relics of ... the Cold War. More...

AIR FORCE WANTS MORE NEVADA SKY
As aviation groups and pilots battle it out with the federal government over 3,000 square miles of airspace around Washington, D.C. (deadline for comments on the proposal -- docket number 17005 -- to make the Air Defense Identification Zone permanent is today), the Air Force is proposing adding a 2,400-square-mile military operations area in eastern Nevada that, by some estimates, would push the total amount of Nevada airspace under some kind of restriction to about half the state. And while Nevada's sparse population and generally great flying weather makes it ideal (in military eyes) for this kind of work, there is a price to be paid for getting out of the way of low-flying jets and Nevadans may have had enough of paying it. More...

PRISONER TAKES FLIGHT
We'll be the first to say that flying is good therapy but as a Nebraska inmate's choice of rehabilitation the idea has raised some eyebrows. While he was still in jail, local corrections officials and the FAA allowed Barry Greg Caughlin to climb in an airplane by himself and head off into the wild blue yonder, according to a report by local NBC news. Apparently Caughlin has, to date, kept his promise to come back each time as he builds time toward his private pilot certificate. There's another twist. Caughlin's conviction, for which he has been behind bars for more than four years, is for vehicular homicide. He can't get a driver's license until 2011. The FAA says there's nothing stopping him from being a pilot and prison officials said the decision to let him go ahead was not taken lightly. More...

WING TIP FOUND WITH BULLET HOLES
Authorities in Clarke County, Ala., are trying to determine whether a piece of metal that appears to be an aircraft wingtip found in the woods by hunters came off a Piper Saratoga that crashed near there about a week ago. They're also interested in two apparent bullet holes in the part, according to a report by the Thomasville Times. The Saratoga went down in Yellow Bluff on a flight from Natchez, Miss., to Camden, Ala., killing a passenger and injuring the pilot. The part was turned over to sheriffs who said it matched the color of the crash airplane. The plane had already been removed so the part has been turned over FAA investigators to determine if the match goes beyond paint. More...

SHODDY ENGINE REPAIR BLAMED IN CRASH LANDING
An NTSB report says a quickie repair job led to the engine failure and subsequent crash landing of a Piper PA-28 on a freeway in Concord, Calif., in April of 2004. While the pilot and his son walked away, the plane's propeller sliced through a minivan and almost severed the leg of an 11-year-old girl. According to the report, the pilot, Curt Hatch, noticed the engine running roughly on the plane, which he had rented in Colorado. A local repair facility estimated repairs would take 20 hours and the plane's owner, Kempton Air Services, sent its own mechanic to do the job. The mechanic spent three hours replacing a piston with the wrong part and, according to the NTSB, didn't go looking for pieces of the broken valve that caused the original problem. More...

TEEN TROUBLE TURNS TO AERIAL MAYHEM
A 16-year-old Tennessee boy who allegedly decided that stealing an airplane and using it to buzz a neighborhood in the pre-dawn-a.m. was a good way to settle a score with his girlfriend is being described as "a good pilot" by local police. Murfreesboro Deputy Police Chief Scott Daniel told WSMV News that he was impressed by the youth's flying ability and likened his treetop buzzing of houses and police cars to watching an air show. "We were glad he didn't get hurt or hurt anybody," added Detective Maj. Chuck Thomas. "From what everybody said, he was a skilled pilot. He kept control." It's not clear whether the boy had any flight training but he's alleged to have stolen the Piper Cherokee from nearby Shelbyville Airport after arguing with a friend over his girlfriend. More...

COLUMBIA BEGINS FLIPPING THE BIRDS
Columbia Aircraft is in the business of selling airplanes but, until now, it concentrated those efforts, quite naturally, on selling its own Columbia 350 and 400s. However, the company has apparently come to the conclusion that many of its customers are aircraft owners looking to upgrade into one of Columbia's speedsters. So Columbia has introduced a program aimed at helping wannabe Columbia pilots quickly and painlessly sell their current steeds. They call it Flip the Bird 1,2,3 and it puts the services of some of the top names in the used airplane business at the disposal of those who want a Columbia. More...

ON THE FLY...
Last chance to comment on the Washington ADIZ is today...
Plane drops off load of pot, alleged recipient arrested...
FAA offers advice on buying hurricane-damaged airplanes...
NASA Inspector General under FBI-led investigation. 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. Our best stories start with you. More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
AIRMANSHIP
The Weather Wizards
More and more pilots are getting weather information from the Web before they call Flight Service -- and that information is getting more detailed and more accurate all the time. Mike Haenggi has the story of who is doing the aviation weather research and what is coming next.

___________
WHAT'S NEW
February 2006
AVweb's monthly survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you PDA software, RVSM altimeters, folding bikes and much more. More...

READER FEEDBACK ON AVWEB'S NEWS COVERAGE AND FEATURE ARTICLES ...
http://www.avweb.com/avmail/

Reader mail this week about user fees, thrust reversers, wake turbulence 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...
Overheard at my local 'drome this [superbowl] weekend...

N465: Ground, N465 at Pacific Aviation, VFR to the west with Victor, ready for taxi, we're going to need a progressive, please.

Ground: N465, roger. Alpha three, right Bravo, hold short 27 Right.
[short pause]
Unknown: Hike! More...

AVwebFlash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.

Today's issue was written by news writer Russ Niles (bio).

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