SAFETY TEAM INVESTIGATING SNOWBIRD CRASH
Canadian officials say they still don’t know why a Canadian Forces Snowbird suddenly broke formation and then pitched into the ground during a rehearsal for the group’s first show of the year at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Mont., on Friday. Capt. Shawn McCaughey of Candiac, Quebec, died instantly when the CT-114 Tutor aircraft disintegrated in a ball of flame on the south side of the base. Witnesses said the plane dropped back from a formation and then plummeted into the ground. Snowbird Commander Maj. Robert Mitchell told the Canadian Press that there was little he could tell grieving family members. "We just had to say we don't entirely know, which is tough for a family member," Maj. Mitchell said. "They want to know for closure." McCaughey, 31, was to be married in three weeks to Claudia Gaudreault, a social worker on the Snowbirds home base at Moose Jaw, Saskatewan. More...

TRANSCRIPT SUPPORTS PILOTS IN BRAZIL COLLISION
The full cockpit voice recorder transcript from the Embraer Legacy bizjet that collided with an airliner over Brazil last Sept. 29 appears to support the pilots’ contention that they were following normal procedures. The airplane’s winglet clipped a GOL Airlines Boeing 737 at 37,000 feet, and the Boeing crashed, killing all 154 on board. In February, Brazilian authorities leaked excerpts of the transcript, which suggested the pilots, Jan Paladino and Joe Lepore, of Long Island, N.Y., were not competent to fly the twinjet because they couldn’t figure out how to program the flight management system, a fundamental skill required to fly most advanced glass cockpit aircraft. The full transcript reveals it was the airplane’s entertainment system that was puzzling them at the time of the collision, something experts interviewed by Newsday said would be a normal distraction for pilots cruising at 37,000 feet under air traffic control. More...

MEXICO, CANADA JOIN ATC NEXTGEN EFFORT
Mexico and Canada have agreed to implement the FAA’s vision for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) in concert with the U.S. to create a seamless continent-wide, space-based air traffic management system. At a North American Aviation Trilateral meeting in Quebec last week, all three nations agreed to proceed with implementation of required navigation performance (RNP), RNAV and ADS-B technologies in an integrated way so that procedures and standards will be harmonized over North America. The primary goal of the NextGen technology is to increase system capacity but, in a speech during the meeting, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said there are also environmental and financial benefits attached. More...

UNION: FAA "STAFFING TO BUDGET"
The FAA seems intent on challenging long-established norms in terms of staffing levels, work hours and overtime management in many of its facilities as it copes with the "retirement bubble" of controllers hired in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan fired thousands of striking controllers. According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the agency recently began ordering controllers to stay at their consoles beyond the two hours that the unions says is the "longest possible period that controllers should ever work to ensure safety and allow them adequate rest periods." In a news release, NATCA says the agency is also instituting mandatory overtime to maintain minimum staffing at facilities and, even though traffic is increasing, recently reduced the minimum staffing levels at hundreds of facilities by as much as 26 percent. NATCA claims the reductions are reducing safety margins and increasing controller fatigue. The FAA did not respond to AVweb’s request for comment. More...

CONTROLLERS DENOUNCE RADARLESS ARGENTINA
While controllers in the U.S. often complain about the decades-old equipment they use, imagine if they had to work without radar. That’s the situation in Argentina, where the country’s only radar, near Buenos Aires, was hit by lightning on March 1 and hasn’t been repaired. The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations says controllers are coping with their blipless environment by plotting traffic based on position reports and limiting takeoffs to one every 10 minutes and landings to one every eight minutes. There’s no indication when the government might get around to fixing the radar, and that’s not the only problem in Argentina. "Air safety is compromised here today," Cesar Salas, president of Argentina’s air traffic controllers association told McClatchy newspapers. "The problem is this is a system that's collapsed. There's no plan, and there's no effort to make the improvements that are necessary." More...

VOTERS MAY DECIDE "PIPER TOWN'S" FATE
Vero Beach and Indian River County voters may have the final say on whether Piper Aircraft stays in the community. On May 8, city and county officials agreed to split a $50 million incentive package aimed at keeping the aircraft manufacturer in town and building its PiperJet factory there. But it would appear the civic governments are leaning toward a vote on the package. "I would say we have to put this in front of the voters as a referendum," Vero Beach Mayor Tom White told TCPalm.com. "It's important to get community support behind this." But while he’s high on voter involvement, White said he was less enthused about one official’s suggestion to change the airport’s name to "Piper Town." More...

THIELERT’S NUMBERS ARE UP
Even if you’re still not convinced that diesels are the piston engine of the future for light aircraft, enough people apparently are that you might want to consider adding Thielert to your stock portfolio. The company recorded an impressive 60-percent increase in sales in the first quarter over the same period last year, and that’s getting some attention in the financial journals in Europe. Of their total revenue of about $32 million in the quarter, about $19 million came from sales of its two and four-liter diesel aircraft engines and the rest came from its technology and prototyping division. Thielert also owns Superior Air Parts, which makes certified and experimental engines based on Lycoming designs. More...

NEW ICING AD ISSUED FOR CARAVANS
Operators of Cessna Caravans and Grand Caravans who want to fly them in known icing conditions will have to equip them with a "low airspeed awareness alert system" by Sept. 20, according to an Airworthiness Directive (AD) the FAA published last week. The system, developed by Cessna, costs about $8,200 per airplane to install and is designed to help Caravan pilots better manage airspeed in icing conditions. It was developed and then jointly tested by the FAA and Cessna to address the very rapid degradation of the airplane's flying qualities in icing conditions, which appears to surprise Caravan pilots. "The accident/incident history of the Model 208 indicates that pilots have not been diligent in the management of the aircraft when operating in icing conditions, as aircraft performance can decay very quickly," the AD reads. More...

CIRCUMNAVIGATION FLIGHT AT HALFWAY POINT
Barrington Irving, the 23-year-old Miami pilot who’s trying to become the youngest pilot ever to circumnavigate the world, was, at this writing, in Calcutta and about half way through the trip. He left Miami on March 26 and had hoped to be back by now but weather and maintenance checks on his Columbia 400 have combined to slow the schedule somewhat. He’s now hoping to get back to Miami by the end of this month and, after flying through sandstorms and being stalled by a tropical depression over India, he’s facing what might be his biggest challenge on the trip -- his longest leg, a 1,530-nm trip from Japan to Alaska. More...

WHALE PLANE CARRIES A MESSAGE
The Cape Air Cessna 402 normally carries passengers to various Massachusetts and Florida locations, but the twin was to have arrived in Anchorage on Sunday to deliver a conservation message to the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting there. On board the Whale Plane, which is painted in a whale motif, are 50 drawings by children urging the commission to stop hunting whales. The piston twin, with International Fund for Animal Welfare founder Patrick Ramage and his 12-year-old son Henry aboard, stopped in 12 cities along the way for media events calling attention to the escalation of whaling. More...

DARPA LOOKING FOR FIVE-YEAR-FLIGHT
The Defense Department is calling for proposals for a 1,000-pound aircraft that can stay aloft continuously for five years with a 99-percent probability. According to Government Executive’s Tech Insider blog, the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) issued a solicitation call last Wednesday for the project it’s calling the Vulture, after the energy-conserving bird that uses thermals to stay airborne while it waits for more energetic predators to kill something. Just what the military would do with such a creature is anyone’s guess, but it’s pretty much narrowed down the performance parameters to virtually ensure the winning bid will be some kind of solar/battery/fuel-cell combination or a robotic refueling system. More...

ON THE FLY
Spectrum Aeronautical moves its headquarters to McClellan-Palomar Airport…
Nose gear inspection AD proposed for DA40s…
PrestoSim puts King Air simulator into service…
Flying Physicians Association wins Hall of Fame Award. 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...

AVWEBBIZ: AVWEB'S BUSINESS AVIATION NEWSLETTER
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVweb's NO-COST weekly business newsletter, AVwebBiz? 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. Sign up today at http://www.avweb.com/profile/. More...

Columns | Features | What's New | Calendar | Brainteasers

THE PILOT'S LOUNGE #113: REAL-WORLD AVIATING 101 (LAB REQUIRED)
The cliche goes, "A pilot certificate is a license to learn." But how many pilots actually get refresher training other than flight reviews every two years? More...

ANSWERS ABOUT OIL
There's more information than ever about aircraft engine oils but still more heat than light. Here's what the people who make the stuff have to say. More...

AVMAIL: MAY 21, 2007
Reader mail this week about the "new" Flight Service Stations, Oshkosh, anti-collision systems 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 hear an interview with Pogo Jet's Cameron Burr. And AVweb's podcast index includes interviews with Teal Group's Richard Aboulafia; Air Journey's Thierry Pouille; Epic Aircraft's Rick Schrameck; Cessna's Jack Pelton; Embraer's Ernest Edwards; LAMA's Dan Johnson; Piper's Jim Bass; DayJet's Ed Iacobucci; AOPA's Andrew Cebula; Hawker Beechcraft's Jim Schuster; Avfuel's Craig Sincock; and Comp Air's Ron Lueck. In today's special podcast, hear Ed Iacobucci of DayJet talk about how the air-taxi start-up is getting ready to start service in July. Remember: In AVweb's podcasts, you'll hear things you won't find anywhere else.

More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: HEARTLAND AVIATION

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Heartland Aviation at KEAU in Eau Claire, Wis.

AVweb reader David Stone said the FBO stepped up to the plate when he had to divert due to weather.

"For two months I had been planning a trip to the Metrodome -- a birthday gift to my 12-year-old baseball-possessed nephew – to see the Red Sox versus Twins game. The forecast at KSTP was thunderstorms, with surface winds over 35 knots. Radar showed storms on the way, so I landed at KEAU instead. The car rental was closed, but Heartland lent me a great crew car for the 180-mile round trip with only a request to return it full (it was full when they gave it to me). They are the best."

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!

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: BOMBARDIER CL-415 CANADAIR HEAVY WATER BOMBERS IN ACTION
With fire-fighting season upon us, we'd like to call your attention to the amazing heavy water bombers that turn the tide of so many forest fire battles in North America each year. This week's clip comes to us from the folks at Dryden Regional Airport in Ontario, Canada. Take a quick fly-along with two of their Canadair Bombardier CL-415s as they pick up water and make a drop. And for more on Ontario's fire-fighting flyers, check out the province's Aviation and Forest Fire Management division. (Click through to watch.) More...

SHORT FINAL

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"

I was flying a Cirrus SR22, introducing the plane to a CFI interested in seeing it in action. We were still about 20 miles out, but the controller was working us into the sequence with other planes, mostly trainers, setting up for practice approaches:

Seattle Approach: Cirrus Seven Charlie Delta, say airspeed.

Cirrus: Seven Charlie Delta is indicating 165.

Approach: Wow! Uh, okay. Cirrus Seven Charlie Delta, slow to 140 or less.

The CFI was rolling with joy, saying, "Dude, you got a 'Wow!'" More...

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