LYCOMING WOES CONTINUE: 5100 CRANKSHAFTS TO BE "RETIRED"
In what appears to be the largest crankshaft-related service bulletin yet, Lycoming has notified field shops and distributors that it's calling for the "retirement" of 5100 additional crankshafts in certain -360, -390, -540 and -720 series four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines. The newest action follows close on the heels of Lycoming's last recall of nearly 400 crankshafts for -360 series engines last fall and brings the tally of affected crankshafts to some 7500. While last fall's action was a "recall," the latest mandatory service bulletin -- SB 569 (PDF file, here) -- requires the retirement of serial-number-specified crankshafts within the next three years, by Feb. 21, 2009, or at the first opportunity before then if the crankcase is opened up for overhaul or prop-strike inspection. The distinction between "recall" and "retirement" is one that some owners may not like. More...

LYCOMING DRIVERS TO PAY IN TIME AND DOLLARS?
In previous recalls totaling some 2400 crankshafts, Lycoming has paid for the engine work to various degrees, even reimbursing owners for hangar expenses and loss of use in the 2003 recalls. Not this time. Owners affected by the crank retirement will get a discount deal on the replacement crankshaft -- $2000 for the shaft, plus a box full of free parts such as gears, bearings, piston ring sets, connecting rod bolts and nuts and seals. But they're on their own for engine assembly, repair and reinstallation, which field overhaul shops tell us will add another $4000 to $5000 to the job if the crank is replaced proactively or before the engine reaches routine TBO. Don't put the calculator away just yet, there's More...

PRIVATE OPERATORS TO THE BACK OF THE LINE
Lycoming says it will ramp up production of replacement crankshafts but as in previous recalls, priority will go to government operators and Part 121 and Part 135 operators, with private owners last. What's not known is if this recall withdraws all of the potentially defective crankshafts from the market. (We queried Lycoming about this but haven't received a reply yet.) The crankshafts in question were manufactured between March of 1997 and March of 2002. In a separate letter to distributors, Lycoming's Michael Everhart said, "While there have been no incidents involving these crankshafts, Lycoming Engines, in cooperation with the FAA, continues to monitor and analyze the approximate 5100 affected shafts. More...

EMINENT DOMAIN DEBATE HITS AIRPORTS
The growing furor over the alleged abuse of local governments employing "eminent domain" powers to grab land from the existing property owners could threaten GA airports in Alabama, according to the FAA. The agency's Mississippi Airport District Office has written the Alabama Department of Transportation saying eminent domain legislation now before the State Assembly could prevent local authorities from keeping trees trimmed and providing enough space for the safe operation of about 90 publicly owned, public-use airports, according to a report in Alabama Aviator. More...

ALABAMA BILLS TARGET LOCAL 'DROMES
What may set the Alabama bills apart (S.B 466 and H.B. 622 -- follow up, here) is that legislators there deal specifically with airport land acquisition. Under the proposed laws, only Class 1 cities, those with a population of 300,000 or more, would have eminent domain rights to buy land needed for airports. The FAA routinely hands out grants for land purchases to improve airport safety and, according to Alabama Aviator, is concerned that local authorities that get this money will have their hands tied by the limitations imposed by the proposed legislation. It wants the communities operating all 90 public-use airports to have those powers. More...

STOLEN DME FOUND ON EBAY
If weather, vacation or your winter slumber has kept you from visiting your plane recently, it might be a good idea to get reacquainted. And if, like a growing number of aircraft owners on the Eastern Seaboard, you discover big holes in the panel where your avionics used to be, check eBay. Connecticut pilot Tim Vecchiarelli and his King KN-64 DME are expected to be reunited soon after Vecchiarelli's wife Allyson discovered the stolen device posted for sale on eBay by Avionics Masters, a Florida-based avionics dealer. "I just thought, what the heck. I mean what else is someone going to do with it?" she told AVweb. Within minutes she matched the serial number of a DME on the auction site to the one that used to reside in the couple's Piper Warrior. More...

RETURNED BY SELLER TO RIGHTFUL OWNER
Avionics Masters owner Jim Scully told AVweb that as soon as the Connecticut State Police contacted him about the DME, he pulled the listing off eBay and shipped the equipment back to the Vecchiarellis. Scully said the DME was in a consignment of salvage items his company bought as part of its normal business -- finding and reselling used avionics. The company's policy is to check serial numbers against an FAA list of stolen equipment and this DME cleared because of the delay in reporting it stolen. Scully said he wouldn't characterize avionics thefts as common. "They happen, though. We've had a few," he said. Scully said there are some relatively simple precautions owners can take. More...

WASHINGTON BILL WOULD PUT ETHANOL IN GAS
Most people know that alcohol and airplanes don't mix, whether in the pilot or in the fuel tank. That's why some Washington State aircraft owners are lobbying state officials to modify proposed legislation that would require the addition of up to 10 percent ethanol, by volume, in all motor fuel sold in the State. It would start with 2 percent, to be added by Dec. 1, 2008. Ethanol reacts with seals, lines and other fuel-system components on (unmodified) aircraft and can cause maintenance or safety problems. There are about 600 airplanes either originally designed or STC'd to operate on car gas in Washington and that's enough for EAA to mobilize its members. More...

LEAVE SOME FUEL ALONE, SAYS EAA
Some states have recognized various risks posed by ethanol-blended fuels and taken steps to ensure the availability of pure gasoline. For instance, last month the EPA revoked for California a long-standing mandate that refiners add ethanol to gasoline, but the decision will only go into effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register this summer; refiners do not yet know how it will alter the mix, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. EAA's home state of Wisconsin permits unaltered gas as long as it fits the "premium" octane level of 91 and EAA is suggesting that Washington adopt a similar exemption. Most users of ethanol-free fuel have neither the money nor the inclination to be storing large quantities of fuel so it has to be readily available through the regular distribution system. More...

AIRLINES AGREE ON USER FEES
Airline executives who make up the Air Transport Association, which represents most of the major carriers in the U.S. have agreed to accept a system of user fees to replace ticket taxes "and other fees" currently collected to fund the FAA's now $14.3 billion budget, according to a Bloomberg News report. The collection of some $10 billion collected annually from the taxes and fees would be swapped for one "based on use of airspace," a step the report says "will be the basis of industry lobbying aimed at persuading Congress to change the way it finances the air traffic control system." Paying for actual use of the system may include take-off charges and metered fees based on use of air traffic control services. More...

STUDY: ON-BOARD ELECTRONICS USE DANGEROUS
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say the FAA and FCC should maintain their bans on cellphone use on airliners and consider broadening the ban to computers and other non-broadcasting electronic devices. Airlines should also be compelled to install monitoring equipment so pilots can detect signals that might disrupt their instruments. The researchers found that the interference with aircraft systems caused by all electronic devices was greater than previously thought, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The team concluded that the in-flight use of electronic devices "will, in all likelihood, someday cause an accident by interfering with critical cockpit instruments such as GPS receivers." More...

TEENS TAKE MOONEY, NOT FUEL
It used to be that kids not happy with things at home would run away and join the circus. Nowadays, they grab the keys to the old man's Mooney and fly away to Mexico. At least, that's what two California teens would have done if there'd been gas in the plane, according to police in Big Bear, Calif. The two 14-year-olds managed to get a parentally owned Mooney M20 off the ground from Big Bear Airport on Sunday after one of them had a fight with his parents. They stayed in the air for about 10 minutes before running out of gas and made a relatively safe deadstick landing in the desert near Joshua Tree. More...

AGING AIRCRAFT FROM AN INSURANCE PERSPECTIVE
On March 22 and 23, the FAA is holding public meetings in Kansas City, Mo., on what to do about keeping safe and serviceable the aging machinery that flies in regular service around the country. Expect to hear plenty from pilots, maintenance experts, crash investigators and the like, but in terms of overall impact on the continued use of 40-, 50- and even 60-year-old aircraft, the constant denominator is the insurance business. Avemco spokeswoman Lauretta Godbey said the company's chief underwriter, Jim Lauerman, will speak from experience and offer suggestions in his presentation. More...

THE NEW MATH FOR TURBULENT FLOW
Inspiration sometimes comes from unusual sources and a Princeton University scientist's examination of the air flow through a car's sunroof may someday make jet engines quieter, speed up stealth aircraft and make better micro air vehicles. What Clarence Rowley has demonstrated, through a Princeton-worthy series of calculations and experimentation, is that the sound created by the turbulence at the barrier between slow and fast moving air can be cancelled in much the same way that noise-attenuating headsets give pilots a quieter ride. More...

TURNING A BLIND EYE ON DISCRIMINATION?
After 16 years of legal wrangling, a Hawaiian pilot who's blind in one eye has been told to start over again in his bid for compensation from an airline that refused to hire him. Bruce Pied has maintained a valid ATP rating for the full 16 years (one of more than 200 one-eyed ATPs on the FAA's register, according to The Associated Press), worked for other airlines (he amassed more than 1,200 multi hours) and, at one point, was awarded $1.4 million in compensation by the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission over Aloha Island Air's (now Island Air) decision not to hire him, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,. The airline, which appealed the commission ruling, says it's free to hire whom it chooses and even though the eye problem was the reason they chose not to hire Pied, it's not discrimination because according to the FAA he's not disabled. Now, the Hawaii Supreme Court has "cleared the record" on the case and ordered a new jury trial to start from scratch. More...

ON THE FLY...
International aircraft registry went live...
God Is My Co-Pilot author has passed...
NATCA called for federal mediation...
Adam may get $50 million investment. 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
COLUMNS
Say Again? #60: ATC 303 -- Bedrock ATC
The history, the basics and the bedrock of ATC is all about making sure two planes don't get to the same point in space at the same time. You thought the space-time continuum only had to do with Einstein? Not even close, as AVweb's Don Brown discusses in his next 300-level ATC course.

___________
AUDIO CLIP
Landing, when it has to be right. Dick Taylor offers an approach of standardized technique to conquer the engine-out landing. Use it with care every time you fly and you'll be one step closer to mastering your aircraft's unique aerodynamic profile. Click through to learn.

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
Lycoming's crankshaft issues continue. This week, AVweb wants to know if the recalls and retirements have affected your impression of the company and its products. PLUS: We've got your answers to last week's question about the controller crunch. More...

AVWEB'S PICTURE OF THE WEEK
We've always heard it's best to do your preflight checks before the rotors are spinning. Then again, we're not lucky enough to have a flight suit that matches our aircraft's paint job, so who are we to question this brave soul? This week's winning photo is from Gary Grass of Port Alberni, British Columbia. Like all our first-place winners, Gary will be receiving an official AVweb baseball cap in the mail, as a "thank you" for submitting. To win one of these hats for yourself, all you have to do is submit your aviation photos. Each week, we'll choose one first-place winner and show you the best runners-up, right here on AVweb. 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).

Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.)

Comments or questions about the news should be sent here.

Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team.

If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebFlash. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here.

Freedom, independence, responsibility.