CESSNA THINKS SKYCATCHER IS A HOME RUN
On Sunday morning at EAA AirVenture, Cessna Aircraft revealed more details about its light sport aircraft (LSA), which is now known as the Model 162 SkyCatcher. "For the past year, we have been soliciting feedback from the market on our proof-of-concept aircraft, and the result is an airplane that we believe is the most advanced and innovative in its class," said Cessna President, Chairman and CEO Jack Pelton. The $109,500, aluminum Cessna LSA will sport the Continental O-200D engine, single-screen Garmin G300 avionics, two-blade composite prop, caster nosewheel, adjustable rudder peddles, painted metal interior and gull-wing doors. A significant change from the POC airplane is a constant chord wing, which makes it easier to manufacture. It is expected to cruise at up to 118 knots and have a max range of 470 nm and 15,500-foot service ceiling. Preliminary specifications of the day/night VFR-capable airplane include a 1,320-pound mtow, 490-pound useful load and 24-gallon useful fuel load. A conforming prototype is expected to be flying by next summer, with ASTM certification planned by the end of 2008 and first deliveries in the second half of 2009. More...

NEW PANEL, WITH FLIR, COULD BE CIRRUS' BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
Persistent rumors that Cirrus Design and L-3 Avionics Systems were collaborating on a new flat-panel display, called SmartDeck, that includes forward-looking infrared (FLIR) are actually old news to those who live in Grand Rapids, Mich. Last June 6, Cirrus taxied an SR22 down one of Cascade Township's main streets to an L-3 plant where the new display was developed. From the newspaper and television reports we've seen, it looks like a next-generation cockpit display that integrates all the stuff you'd expect: weather, collision avoidance, terrain, navigation, communication and aircraft systems monitoring in a touch-pad-accessible system. But it does include one you wouldn't expect -- a system that lets pilots see in the dark. More...

THE KING IS BACK
Honeywell's Bendix/King division on Sunday unveiled two new glass-panel avionics -- the KSN 770 MFD/GPS WAAS/navcom unit and KFD 840 primary flight display -- in an attempt to leapfrog competitors. The KSN 770 borrows its easy-to-use graphical interface, which is called INAV GA, from Honeywell's higher-end integrated avionics systems for business aircraft. Not lacking any features, the 5.7-inch-diagonal LCD unit will be localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) and WAAS capable and will display a range of safety systems, including onboard weather radar, terrain awareness and warning system, datalink weather, traffic, charts and maps. It features multiple control inputs, such as traditional hard keys, line-select keys, display-based dedicated keys and a cursor control device. Bendix/King plans to certify the KSN 770 in late 2008; pricing has not been set, but "will be competitively priced with similar WAAS receivers." It features multiple control inputs to optimize the pilot interface including traditional hard keys, line select keys, display based dedicated keys and a cursor control device. "We believe the KSN 770 is revolutionary in that it pushes the boundary of performance for retrofit avionics," said Dan Barks, business director of GA operators and dealers. "This unit is a significant step forward in performance and ease of use over existing multifunctional WAAS displays. Pilots will see that this unit has some of the same look and feel as other Honeywell avionics on larger aircraft." More...

A SPECIAL YEAR FOR BONANZAS TO OSHKOSH
The annual Bonanzas to Oshkosh (B2Osh) trek on Saturday took on special meaning this year, which sees both the 60th anniversary of the Beechcraft Bonanza and the 75th anniversary of Beechcraft. This year's B2Osh flight to aviation mecca (EAA AirVenture) included 110 airplanes -- 102 Bonanzas and eight twin-engine Barons. However, the stars of the show were the old and new Bonanzas -- a newly renovated 1947 Model 35 (S/N D-18) owned by the Beechcraft Heritage Museum and the 60th anniversary G1000-equipped G36 piloted by Hawker Beechcraft Chairman and CEO James Schuster. The group of airplanes took off about noon on Saturday from the Rockford (Ill.) Airport and landed in Oshkosh, Wis., at approximately 1:20 p.m. It took less than eight minutes for the group to leave Rockford, and an equal amount of time to land at Oshkosh. However, the mass landing in Oshkosh was missing N313W, a 1981 V-tail Bonanza that suffered an engine failure shortly after leaving Rockford. More...

LOOKS LIKE AN INTERESTING SHOW
EAA AirVenture has been the world's aviation showcase for years, but in recent years the big companies especially have ramped up the showmanship. Last year, for instance, Cessna surprised everyone with a flyby of its proof-of-concept next generation piston aircraft while the media and public were poring over the company's proposed entry in the light sport category. This year, Cessna sealed the LSA deal with a splashy press conference on Sunday. This year at AirVenture, Cirrus is unveiling its "big surprise" on Monday morning. Now it's natural for us to assume that it has something to do with its personal jet, and media types have been busy the last week busy analyzing every word spoken in reference to Cirrus's surprise announcement a month ago that it wasn't bringing its jet mock-up to Oshkosh (key word, mock-up). Whatever Cirrus ultimately reveals on Monday, there'll be plenty of other new product announcements this week and they start on Monday with first appearances by several aircraft. More...

PIPER DECLINES POTENTIAL $76.5 MILLION INCENTIVE
The key word is "potential". A $75.5 million incentive package offered to Piper Aircraft to keep the airplane maker in Vero Beach, Fla., the company's current headquarters and a possible manufacturing facility for the PiperJet, was tied to a countywide referendum, stimulating public conflict and stifling the company's interest in the plan. Piper management used a full page ad in Thursday's Vero Beach Press Journal to state its position: "We do not wish to subject the employees of Piper to the uncertainty of a highly controversial public political process related to the overall economic development efforts in Vero Beach and Indian River County." Other financial considerations factored into the mix. The ad went on to state that the proposed referendum would require payment of more than $100 million in rent over 30 years, in exchange for $23 million in incentives and was, therefore, "not financially compelling." Efforts to retain the employment that Piper provides and potential employment from the proposed single-engine PiperJet design are in the works. More...

ALOUETTES REMAIN GROUNDED
An FAA spokesman says a paperwork snag that has grounded an unkown number of French-built Alouette helicopters in the U.S. doesn't seem to have any easy solution. "The short answer is they're ungroundable," Roland Herwig, a communications officer for the FAA's Southwest office, told AVweb on Friday. Herwig also said he's continuing to gather information on the unusual case, which has shut down at least one helicopter operation in West Virginia. As AVweb reported in a July 20 podcast, Marpat Aviation of Logan, W.Va., had three Alouettes grounded on July 6 after FAA inspectors, accompanied by two state troopers, failed to find a Certificate of Airworthiness for Export that would have been issued by French authorities when the aircraft were sent to the U.S. Joe Altizer, Marpat's chief pilot, said the helicopters were purchased in the U.S. and all came with current U.S.-issued certificates of airworthiness in the standard category, meaning that FAA staff approved them for import without the paper they're now demanding. Altizer says it's not fair that current operators of the aircraft, who might be the third or fourth U.S. owners of them, should have their investments essentially erased because of an administrative error at the FAA. More...

EAA CHIEF LAMENTS DWINDLING PILOT POPULATION
During the unveiling of the Cessna 162 SkyCatcher light sport aircraft Sunday at EAA AirVenture, EAA President Tom Poberezny sounded the alarm bell about low student starts and a declining pilot population. According to Poberezny, "Seven out of every 10 people who take flight lessons drop out before they get their private pilot certificate. There are two reasons for this -- lack of time and money." He said he pushed for the light sport aircraft rules exactly for this reason and said he has high hopes that Cessna's commitment to build an LSA will contribute to reversing the downward trend. The student starts over the past decade have remained steady at about 60,000 per year, far below that of the heydays of the 1980s. Meanwhile, the overall pilot population dipped last year to 597,190 pilots, also far below the highs of about 850,000 pilots in the 1980s. "Six-hundred thousand pilots is not enough to sustain the general aviation industry," warned Poberezny. More...

CRASH PROBE FOCUSES ON THRUST REVERSER
As the political crisis that was ignited by last Tuesday's fiery crash of a TAM Airbus A320 at Sao Paulo (Brazil) Congonhas Airport continues to intensify, the investigation of the crash is shifting from the allegedly dangerous conditions at the airport to a thrust reverser that had been disconnected four days before the crash. The Airbus was landing in heavy rain on a 6,362-foot runway when it ran off the runway, skipped over a highway and exploded. The pilot may have been trying to take off again after realizing he wasn't going to stop. According to an Associated Press report, landing with only one reverser operating is "not unusual" but it cast the accident in a new light, apparently inspiring Marco Aurelio Garcia,an aide to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to make an obscene gesture for TV cameras that was interpreted as "reaction of glee" that some of the heat was coming off the government. More...

EARTH-ROUNDER BARRINGTON IRVING'S NEW GOAL
Barrington Irving, the Jamaican-born 23-year-old who this year flew around the world in a Columbia 400 built largely with parts donated from suppliers, plans to conduct an eight-week training course in October for inner-city kids in Miami. The program aims to expose disadvantaged youngsters to the world of aviation, while enhancing their math, science and reading skills. They'll use 10 Microsoft flight simulators housed in a "facility refurbished last year by Irving and one of his friends," according to BlackAmericaWeb.com. In 2005, Irving established a non-profit organization to help reach his goals -- one of which is to be able to fulfill speaking engagement requests from entities that cannot even afford to pay Irving's travel expenses. More...

RON SCHRECK AND HIS RV-8 HAVE VERY LONG DAY
"After seventeen hours and six minutes of flying time I touched down at all 110 airports (109 public plus one private) and averaged a landing every nine and a half minutes," Ron Schreck wrote of his journey to each public-use airport in North Carolina on July 4. Schreck said the total distance (minus a few wide patterns) was 1,991 nm, throughout which he managed an average 116 knots in his RV-8, "Miss Izzy." That doesn't include the two hours he spent at Currituck County airport waiting for the sun to come up so he could begin his assault on the state's non-lighted fields (Schreck began his journey just after midnight) or time spent during four trips to the pump for avgas. Schreck said challenges included inoperative runway lights and short (1,400 foot) grass strips "with huge trees at both ends" and meandering ground-bound flocks of geese. Fortunately, he didn't have to actually land, just touch and go. More...

DIAMOND ROLLS OUT FIRST CONFORMING D-JET
Diamond Aircraft on Friday celebrated the rollout of its first copy of the D-Jet that conforms to the expected production configuration in structural layout and aerodynamic design. The jet, S/N002, will fly for the first time next month. Meanwhile, Diamond Aircraft is at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh this week showing a mock-up of the jet cabin, allowing all comers a chance to climb inside and try it on for size. Diamond is also already at work building the next three certification test planes. Diamond says it already has 300 orders in hand for copies of the jet, and expects to start deliveries next summer. More...

GARMIN OFFERS G600 REBATES, WIRELESS FLIGHT PLAN FILING
The folks at Garmin always come to the show with something new to announce, and this year is no exception, with price cuts and rebates on popular products, in addition new wireless services for mobile phones. Buyers of the new G600 retrofit avionics suite will get a $2,500 rebate off the G600 if they also buy two GNS 430W, two GNS 530W, or a GNS 430W and 530W by November 30. "We believe the G600 will change the way pilots fly," said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. "This $2,500 incentive will make it even more feasible for pilots to turn their avionics panel into the all-glass avionics suite they’ve dreamed about." The G600 incorporates two displays in a package designed to easily fit into the space currently occupied by the traditional instrument six-pack. The system list price will be $29,772, and Garmin said it will be available by the middle of next year. The company also announced that Pilot My-Cast by Garmin is now available for download on mobile phones. 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

LEADING EDGE #7: FIFTEEN THINGS
What stands between student pilots and their first solo? The list may seem long but it's the bare minimum to get you up and down safely. More...

WHAT'S NEW FOR JULY
This month, AVweb's survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you weather briefing cards, a Rotax engine DVD, the 2008 FAR/AIM, suction cup lights for your panel and much more. More...

AVWEB'S AIRVENTURE 2007 PODCAST #1: INTRODUCING THE CESSNA 162 SKYCATCHER
On Sunday, Cessna gave its light sport aircraft a model number (Cessna 162) and revealed more details, including basic performance figures and other specifications for the Wichita-based company's entry-level piston single. AVweb Editor-in-Chief Chad Trautvetter sat down with Cessna 162 Program Manager Derek Mookhoek at the EAA AirVenture show grounds for an in-depth look at the $109,500 two-seat trainer. More...

FBO OF THE WEEK: LIVINGSTON AVIATION (KALO, WATERLOO, IOWA)

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Livingston Aviation at KALO in Waterloo, Iowa.

AVweb reader Mark Griffith writes, "A fellow pilot and I were on a $100 Hamburger flight from Rochester, Minnesota. When we pulled into the Livingston Aviation parking area, we were met by a very professional lineman who provided us with as much attention as the Cessna Citation he had just parked. After filling our tanks and adding a little air to the tires, he took us inside, where the very professional receptionist gave us a crew car to complete our mission.

"The icing on the cake? Yesterday, I got a handwritten thank you note with a coupon for discounted 100LL next time we're in town."

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!

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: SOLAR/ELECTRIC-POWERED FLIGHT WITH THE SUNSEEKER
In anticipation of the many green innovations that will debut this week at AirVenture, we're foregoing our usual viral "Video of the Week" and bringing you a special look at the solar/electric-powered Sunseeker. (Click through to watch.) More...

SHORT FINAL

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"

On a bumpy day near New York City, we heard the following exchange:

Diamond 8DS: New York Approach, Diamond Eight Delta Sierra. I'm getting continuous moderate turbulence at 5,000. Request 6,000. It looks like I'll be on top at six.

New York Approach: Diamond Eight Delta Sierra. Unable 6,000. Maintain 5,000.

Diamond 8DS: Maintain 5,000, Eight Delta Sierra.

New York Approach [a few minutes later]: Diamond Eight Delta Sierra, change to my frequency 133.75.

Diamond 8DS: “New York Approach, Diamond Eight Delta Sierra. Unable to change frequencies right now. I can't keep my hand on the radio knob in this turbulence. More...

MEET THE AVWEBFLASH TEAM