CANADIAN SAFETY BOARD URGES LIGHT-ICING LIMIT FOR CARAVANS
"This Cessna [Caravan] should not take off into anything more than light icing -- period," said Wendy Tadros, chair of Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB), at a news conference on Wednesday. "We think it would be safer if a Cessna 208 pilot never took off during anything but light icing conditions." The TSB asked both Transport Canada and the FAA to go further than current recommendations that tell pilots to fly out of moderate and severe icing conditions. The recommendation accompanied the release of the final report on the October 2005 crash of a Cessna Caravan that encountered icing shortly after takeoff. The pilot tried to return to the airport, but didn't make it, and was killed. More...

NTSB: USE CAUTION ON WET RUNWAYS
The FAA's rulemaking process takes a long time, and NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker says airlines shouldn't wait for a rule to be finalized before they adopt more conservative stopping-distance estimates for contaminated runways. "We think airlines should voluntarily adopt the procedures contained in the FAA's OpSpec (operations specification) now, as we are entering another winter flying season," Rosenker said on Wednesday. The FAA's OpSpec recommends that crews should add a 15-percent safety factor and make other changes in the calculations. The FAA has recommended that airlines comply with the OpSpec now, but the changes won't be mandatory until a final rule is published. More...

ECLIPSE TO MODIFY ALL MODEL 500S TO BOOST PERFORMANCE
When it became clear during development of the Eclipse 500 very light jet that it wouldn't quite be able to meet its projected speed and range targets, the depositors were offered refunds. But the company also said it would continue working on aerodynamic improvements. On Tuesday, Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn said a series of modifications have improved performance to 370 ktas and an NBAA IFR range of 1,125 nm (with 100-nm alternate). And, despite an earlier announcement that the first 100 Eclipse 500s would meet a lower standard -- 360 knots and 1,055 nm -- all of those twinjets now will be upgraded to meet the new performance numbers, Raburn said. A handful of changes, from bigger tip tanks to slicker aerodynamics, have resulted in the improvements. More...

ECLIPSE OFFERS PARTIAL REBATE FOR LATE DELIVERY
After some customers balked recently at being asked for a "six-month" deposit -- expressing concern that delivery of their jets appears to be more than six months away -- Eclipse CEO Vern Raburn this week announced a rebate plan for late deliveries. "For customers with a scheduled delivery date on or before September 30, 2007, we will reduce your final payment due at delivery by 0.5 percent per month (a 6-percent annual interest rate) of the additional payment we are asking you to pay now," Raburn said in a letter to customers. The six-month deposit will bring each customer's cumulative deposit up to 60 percent of the full aircraft purchase price. More...

BRAZIL ALLOWING U.S. PILOTS TO RETURN HOME
The two U.S. pilots who have been held in Rio de Janeiro since a fatal midair collision in September will be allowed to go home, a Brazilian court said on Tuesday. The pilots -- Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, both of New York -- will have their passports returned to them and can leave the country in 72 hours, after being further debriefed by police, the court said. The two must agree to return to Brazil for any further inquiry and judicial action. "Restricting the freedom of movement for foreigners is not backed by the domestic legal system," the court's statement said, according to Reuters. Brazil is still investigating the crash, which was the worst in the country's history. More...

NTSB INVESTIGATING FIRST FRAX CIRRUS ACCIDENT
The NTSB has finished its on-scene investigation of a Cirrus SR22 that crashed Thursday night while on approach to Runway 18R at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Killed in the crash of N665CD was George Vrana, the sole-occupant pilot and a partner with accounting firm Ernst & Young. Notably, the event marks the first accident at AirShares Elite, which managed the airplane under its fractional program. According to the NTSB, the Cirrus's recovery parachute and rocket separated from the aircraft, most likely during the impact sequence, yielding no early clue as to whether the pilot tried to deploy the emergency system before the single-engine airplane crashed seven miles from the airport. The Safety Board has examined the airplane's engine and is still interviewing witnesses and gathering ATC communications and radar data. A preliminary report is expected to be issued later this week. More...

STUNNING NUMBER OF TFR VIOLATIONS SINCE 9/11
According to data obtained from the FAA by AOPA, there have been 6,658 Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) violations between Sept. 11, 2001, and the end of last month. Broken down even further, 1,632 of these infringements are presidential TFR busts and another 3,254 are due to "Washington, D.C. security-related" breaches, AOPA said. Some 2,672 of the Washington violations are related to pilots straying into the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) surrounding the nation's capital. The good news is that Washington ADIZ busts are trending downward, an AOPA spokesman told AVweb. Late last year, the FAA introduced a D.C. ADIZ training course, which might account for the decline in these violations. More...

MORE THAN JUST RUNWAY REPAIRED AT VENICE MUNICIPAL
"This doesn't happen that often," AOPA President Phil Boyer said Tuesday morning at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to reopen a refurbished Runway 13/31 at Venice (Fla.) Municipal Airport. According to FAA Regional Administrator Doug Murphy, the FAA picked up all but $200,000 of the $4 million tab to repair the 5,000-foot runway. "The runway refurb was done with complete cooperation between local, state and federal officials, as well as the airport users," Boyer added. But just a decade ago this cordial relationship between airport and community was nowhere to be found. In fact, the FAA twice cut off federal funding due to spats with previous local leaders. Now Venice Mayor R. Fred Hammett calls the Gulf Coast airport "a lifeline for our community." More...

UND FLIGHT STUDENTS CRASH IN MINNESOTA
Two teenage freshmen students attending the University of North Dakota (UND) were killed Friday in the crash of a 1971 Cessna 172L not owned by the school. The aircraft departed Crookston Municipal Airport (Minn.) at roughly 5:30 p.m. for the purpose of closed pattern work, which was expected to last an hour, according to a friend (and fellow student) who spoke with the students before the flight. The plane's wreckage was discovered at 1:40 a.m. in a field about one mile southwest of the airport. Lowell Miller, manager of the Crookston airport, told The Associated Press that high winds and sporadic snowfall were present at the time of the flight. Jacob Rueth, 18, was the flight's pilot and a pre-commercial aviation major at UND. FAA records indicate he had been a certificated private pilot since July. More...

HELICOPTER DEPARTS FOR FLIGHT ACROSS NORTH AND SOUTH POLES
Two helicopter pilots, Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill, took off from Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday on the first leg of a flight that will take them to both the North and South Poles. If they succeed, it will be a first. The two will fly their Bell 407 helicopter through 34 countries and cover more than 36,000 miles in about six months. From Texas, they will head south to Mexico and South America, and are scheduled to reach the South Pole on Jan. 9. They head back across South America and along the U.S. West Coast to Alaska and Canada, reaching the North Pole on April 13. They plan to return via Russia, Europe and across the North Atlantic, reaching Fort Worth on May 23. You can follow their flight at their Web site, polarfirst.com. The same team attempted a similar flight in 2003, but crashed in Antarctica. More...

VIRGIN ATLANTIC TO TEST CLEAN-AIR STRATEGY
Virgin Atlantic is making good on recent promises from CEO Richard Branson to cut emissions of carbon dioxide. Driven by intense consumer concern about global warming in the U.K. and the rest of Europe, Branson has committed billions to research for new biofuels, but also said he'd work to cut consumption right away by reducing waste. The airline will carry out tests with its Boeing 747s throughout December at London Gatwick and Heathrow Airports. The idea is to create a holding area for airliners close to the runway that they can be towed to, so they don't use so much fuel taxiing from the gate and then holding on the taxiway. A longer, more detailed trial is then expected to take place in the first quarter of 2007. More...

AVWEB NOW HAS DAILY GA NEWS COVERAGE
You can now get the latest general aviation news from AVweb -- the world's premier independent aviation news source -- as it happens at AVweb.com. Or sign up for our news feed and have the most recent headlines pushed directly to your RSS-based news reader. Either way, you'll be able to read the same concise, but comprehensive, news stories that you've come to expect from AVweb. And for major breaking general aviation news, AVweb will send out news alerts via e-mail to keep subscribers informed. Don’t worry -- you'll also continue to receive AVwebFlash every Monday and Thursday. 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...

ON THE FLY
Adam Aircraft has hired two new engineering executives...
A computer at MIA Center was down for about an hour on Wednesday...
Brazil shut down three major airports Tuesday due to an ATC glitch...
Leonard Greene, founder of Corporate Angel Network, died at age 88…
The EAA is holding a ceremony today to observe the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something that 130,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

NEW ARTICLES AND FEATURES ON AVWEB
Say Again? #70: Speaking Freely
AVweb's Don Brown is freed from the confines of the FAA and can speak his mind -- and he's got a lot on his mind, what with massive retirements in ATC, user fees, restructuring and more.
More...

AVWEB AUDIO NEWS
AVweb posts audio news on Mondays, plus a new in-depth interview each Friday. In last Friday's podcast, you'll find an interview with Eclipse Aviation CEO Vern Raburn. And AVweb's podcast index includes interviews with Honda Aircraft's Jeffrey Smith; Cirrus Design cofounder and CEO Alan Klapmeier; Cessna chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton; Spectrum Aeronautical chairman Linden Blue; and Adam Aircraft chairman Rick Adam. In Monday's news summary, hear about how Lexington Airport denies any liability for the Comair crash, the age-60 commission deadlocked on extending the retirement age for airline pilots, rules for maintenance facilities and technicians could get more strict, a bomber that crashed some 62 years ago was unearthed and more. Remember: In AVweb's podcasts, you'll hear things you won't find anywhere else. More...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND LOCAL AIRPORTS
This week, AVweb wants to know how your local government officials view the community airport. Plus: We report on how many of you were ready to upgrade your GPS with WAAS, in the results of last week's Question. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: TAC AIR KTYS

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to TAC Air at KTYS in Knoxville, Tenn.

AVweb reader David Stone said he literally got a warm reception from the facility's staff upon his departure.

"I showed up Wednesday before Thanksgiving with my wife and two sons. TAC Air had crew waiting with a luggage cart and even unloaded the plane. What wins my nomination, though, is TAC Air employees pulling the plane into a heated hanger Saturday morning after I called to have the plane pulled out front. The plane was covered in frost, and they saved me an hour and did not charge me a dime."

Keep those nominations coming. For complete contest rules, click here.

AVweb is actively seeking out the best FBOs in the country and another one, submitted by you, will be spotlighted here next Monday!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Wing-walking, air-splitting jet take-offs, and parachuting dominated this week's reader submissions, but after the dust had settled, we had to award this week's highest honor to Mike Shore of Austin, Texas. Not only is Mike the second Texan in a row to win an Official AVweb Baseball Cap®, but he also managed to capture the spirit of this week's theme — excitement!

Each week, we go through dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of reader-submitted photos and pick the very best to share with you on Thursday mornings. The top photos are featured on AVweb's home page, and one photo that stands above the others is awarded an AVweb baseball cap as our "Picture of the Week." Want to see your photos featured? Submit them here! 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 Contributing Editors Mary Grady (bio) and Glenn Pew (bio) and Editor In Chief Chad Trautvetter.

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.

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