SEAN D. TUCKER, "I SURE AM HAPPY TO BE HERE"
Airshow legend Sean Tucker gathered a roomful of reporters at Sun n Fun yesterday morning to hear the riveting first-hand story of his harrowing emergency over Louisiana on Tuesday. An ounce of empathy turned some moments raw as Tucker described to a press corps of pilots the decision that would doom the "most magical piece of equipment that I've ever gotten to fly in my life." The equipment was the highly modified and customized Challenger Biplane that for Tucker has clearly become so much more than that, performing as his partner over many seasons. "I didn't want to give her up," Tucker said. Facing decisions sequentially, it would occur to him later that the aircraft might not be the only one taking its last flight. Tucker was at just 100 feet off the ground when he knew he had a major problem. He had just taken off for a practice session around 10:30 a.m. when he pulled back and felt something snap. At first he thought the stick had just broken off. Find press conference video in AVweb's NewsWire. You won't want to miss it. More...

SUBARU-BASED MILLS WOULD OFFER 180 TO 350 HP
A tiny Canadian company is trying to do something a giant Canadian company apparently couldn't. Ontario-based Crossflow Aero Corp. has begun the process of certifying the first new design of gasoline-powered piston engines for the mainstream GA market since Rotax came out with its four-strokes more than a decade ago. "We applied for certification last October," Crossflow CEO Jorge Alonzo told AVweb in an interview at Sun'n Fun on Wednesday. The high-revving four and six-cylinder engines are liquid cooled, run on car gas and use a gear reduction to bring prop speed to normal parameters. If that sounds familiar, there are some operational (but not design) similarities between Crossflow and the highly anticipated Bombardier engines that were introduced with lots of fanfare three years ago. More...

BOMBARDIER ENGINES STILL ON HORIZON?
While Bombardier's efforts are all but forgotten, they are apparently not gone. After a series of corporate structural changes, the reins for the project were turned over to a Florida company called Aircraft Engine Services (AES). Luc Gaspe de Beaubien, who was in charge of the project at Bombardier, is the CEO of AES and, according to the company Web site, he'll be back at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh in July with the V-6 engines. The company stopped attending Sun 'n Fun in 2004. More...

AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Subaru engines were spotted by kitbuilders 20 years ago when the Japanese automaker came out with a boxer (horizontally opposed) design similar to that of Continental and Lycoming. That's where the similarity ends, however. The four-cylinder Crossflow models range in horsepower from 180 to 250 hp and the six-cylinders are rated at 250 to 350 hp (larger engines are turbocharged). The fours are 2,000 cc and the sixes 3,300 and there's only one way to squeeze all those ponies from that little displacement and that's to crank up the compression ratio and to run the engines at close to 5,000 rpm at full power. More...

YOUNKIN-FRANKLIN CRASH -- CANADIAN AUTHORITIES ISSUE FINDINGS
A complex maneuver that required accurate timing and at least some visual contact between the pilots for safe execution lacked both and resulted in the deaths of two of the air show world's most respected pilots last July. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board says that Jimmy Franklin and Bobby Younkin didn't have a clear idea of where each other was right up until the moment their two biplanes collided belly first at an air show in Moose Jaw, Sask. The board's final report says the Masters of Disaster aerobatic team, which also included Jim LeRoy, executed a modified version of a maneuver called the Dairy Turn, which not only introduced two potential points of collision, it also made it possible for them to lose visual contact just before the cross was to occur. More...

MODIFIED MANEUVER MORE DANGEROUS
As with NTSB reports, the Canadian authorities don't determine fault in these reports so there's no indication why the maneuver wasn't carried out the way it had been originally conceived. As originally scripted, the maneuver looked like a near collision from the ground but both pilots were able to control separation safely. As performed that day, the maneuver took on new elements of risk, the report says. "This is a significant difference from the original maneuver, and the risk of collision was no longer just an illusion," the report says. More...

PILOTS BOTH TOOK EVASIVE ACTION
The maneuver began with Franklin's Waco "chasing" LeRoy parallel with the crowd before climbing and turning toward Younkin, who was in a descending turn. But the report says Younkin was a few seconds late with his part of the maneuver and that eliminated visual contact between the two. Both pilots realized the maneuver had gone sour and broke off, trying to avoid the crash. The report says that if either pilot had continued the maneuver and the other took evasive action, the collision would have been avoided. "The actions of each performer negated the actions of the other, and neither pilot took positive action to regain visual contact," the report says. More...

LYCOMING OPENS CUSTOM ENGINE DIVISION
Lycoming announced this week that a new division called Thunderbolt Engines will offer custom-built products at its Williamsport, Pa., facility. Customers can choose horsepower, fuel and ignition systems, plus performance enhancments such as tuned induction and turbocharging. The customer can even specify engine color. The factory-built custom, non-certified engines are aimed at specialty markets such as Reno-style racing and competitive aerobatics, Lycoming Vice President Ian Walsh said at Wednesday's news conference. More...

A CHAT WITH LYCOMING ABOUT CRANKSHAFTS
Recently released Service Bulletin 569 calls for the retirement (within the next three years) of some 5100 crankshafts born of a suspect "hammer forging" process performed by a specific (former) Lycoming supplier in the years 1997 through 2002. According to Lycoming's Ian Walsh, who spoke with AVweb yesterday, Lycoming "knows they're OK" (the crankshafts) and knows of no incidents related to the batch cited in SB 569, but doesn't want to wait for long-term data that may prove the suspect crankshafts are not up to Lycoming's own lasts-for-decades (if properly maintained) standards. Greatly reduced by Lycoming, the cost borne by engine owners conforming to the SB will yet amount to more than several thousand dollars per engine. We learned yesterday that Lycoming seems to believe owners will, for the most part, be understanding of these complications. It's the idea that owners may have had good reason to expect more from their crankshafts that could bring complications back to Lycoming. We found Walsh's reaction to that notion ... unexpected. More...

NATCA, FAA NEGOTIATIONS REACH IMPASSE
Finally, there's something the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and the FAA agree on: The contract negotiations between them have officially stalled. As AVweb told you Monday, the two have been locked in a bitter battle over a number of issues, the most divisive being controller pay. After rejecting NATCA's "best and final" proposal on Wednesday -- and according to NATCA, rejecting the union's request to continue talks under mediation -- the FAA ended the negotiations. Now, the FAA will submit its final proposal to Congress, which has 60 days to review the FAA proposal and NATCA's objections. By statute, the FAA is authorized to implement its own proposal if Congress does not otherwise act within the 60 days. More...

WHERE'S MY FLYING CAR?
The car's not here yet, but a flying motorcycle has arrived... complete with its own headlight and license plate. And if you too are completely insane, you can have one! That may be a common reaction, but it may also be not all that fair. The facts are that Larry Neal, president of Butterfly LLC, says his patented fly-drive vehicle is fully tested and ready for sale as a Super Sky Cycle kit for $24,995. The single-seat gyroplane meets all FAA criteria as an Experimental aircraft and can also be licensed to travel the roads as a homebuilt motorcycle, Neal said. The rotor is easy to fold and secure for driving, and the lanky landing gear -- to absorb the momentum of near-vertical landings -- even crouches down so you can fit the thing in your garage. "After 12 years of development, we're seeing our dreams come true," Neal said at a news conference on Wednesday. Before casting judgement, you may want to wait on an independent flight review ... look for it somewhere else. More...

SYMPHONY TOOLING UP PRODUCTION
Symphony Aircraft, based in Quebec, is gearing up to increase production from the current rate of about one airplane per month to four per month by the end of this year, CEO Paul Costanzo said at a Sun n Fun news conference yesterday. "We're investing in new tooling and processes to increase effieciency," Costanzo said, with the aim of bringing down the cost per unit to keep the price of the two-seat 160 competitive. Costanzo said the company has 17 orders in hand and this week entered into agreement with Spartan College of Aeronautics to supply 160s for their training fleet. The school currently flies 30 152s and 10 172s. More...

CARTERCOPTER BACK IN THE AIR
The CarterCopter folks, who have been grounded since their one-and-only flying technology demonstrator crashed last June, were back at the show yesterday with some new ideas. They showed off a new design for a smaller version of the gyroplane, which they hope will fulfill the dream of a Personal Air Vehicle. "This aircraft will allow true point-to-point travel," said company president Jay Carter Jr. It will have four seats and cruise at about 200 mph, and pilots can land in hotel parking lots and fuel up at automotive gas stations. To test their theories, the company flew to the show in a small one-seat gyroplane, stopping at several parking lots along the way. That aircraft was built from a stock gyroplane with Carter's own prop and landing gear added. More...

TOWERING BLACK SMOKE AT SUN 'N FUN -- NOT WHAT YOU FEAR
Early yesterday afternoon, a thick black smoke plume arose behind the trees just off the main show area at Sun 'n Fun... not far from the flight pattern. Heads turned, and worried showgoers asked passing aviation reporters who had crashed. The good news was, nobody had crashed. The bad news was, 24 cars in the parking lot had burned down to twisted black hunks of charred wreckage. It all started with heat generated from the catalytic converter beneath a low-slung Masserati, parked in one of the many grass lots. More...

SUN 'N FUN IMAGE GALLERY, "LIVE" FROM LAKELAND
More images from the show grounds at Sun 'n Fun. We hope you brought sunscreen.
Click through for access to the latest images posted to our image galleries More...

AUDIOCASTS
Online Now: Marion Blakey, in her own words.

Preview: While FAA Administrator Marion Blakey has this week been preoccupied with contract negotiations (or lack of same) with air traffic controllers, all that wrangling is unlikely to have any practical impact on pilots (at least for now). The impasse, as it is now designated, is part of a larger picture that will change the way the FAA does business. We talked with the administrator recently and, if you listen carefully, you'll see where she's headed.

Subscribe to AVweb audiocasts and receive them automatically, or check this spot each Monday and Friday to download them individually for listening on your iPod, while sitting at your computer, or traveling with any MP3 player.

Find AVweb's Podcast index, here More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
COLUMNS
As the Beacon Turns #100: Waking Up
Pilots trained in the last 30 or 40 years may not ever have learned the skills necessary for flying a tailewheel airplane. Taildraggers require you to wake up those "dead" feet and really feel the rudder pedals. Michael Maya Charles teaches some new tailwheel pilots in this month's As The Beacon Turns column.

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...

FBO OF THE WEEK: BANYAN AIR SERVICE, FORT LAUDERDALE
AVweb's "FBO of the Week" contest is sponsored by Aviation Safety magazine, the monthly journal of risk management and accident prevention.

Thanks to all the pilots and AVweb readers who took time to nominate their favorite FBOs in our "FBO of the Week" contest. Today's ribbon finds its target in Florida.

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to BANYAN AIR SERVICE at FXE in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Jim Alkire wrote us to say, "WE FLY OUR CESSNA 180 INTO FXE FOR OUR ANNUAL CRUISE VACATION AND HAVE REPEATEDLY RECIEVED OUTSTANDING SERVICE AND PROFESSIONALISM FROM BANYAN. OUR RENTAL CAR IS PULLED UP TO THE PLANE AS THE PROP STOPS. THEIR LINEMEN SEEM GENUINELY HAPPY THAT WE ARE THERE..."

Keep those nominations coming.

Click here to nominate your favorite FBO and here for complete contest rules

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