GEORGIA FIRM BUYS TIGER TYPE CERTIFICATE
True Flight Holdings LLC of Valdosta, Ga., was the successful bidder for Tiger Aircraft's type certificates and hopes to resume production of the sporty low-wing that was originally made by Grumman. True Flight spokesman J. Kevin Lancaster told AVweb on Friday that there are several communities interested in hosting the new business, but there won't be any detailed announcements for at least several weeks. Lancaster said his group of investors plans to take a "dramatically different" approach to structuring the company and marketing the airplane than the former owner, Tiger Aircraft, which filed for bankruptcy in January. The former company had manufacturing facilities in Martinsburg, W. Va., and was owned by Taiwanese investors, which Lancaster said caused corporate difficulties that won't be an issue with his firm. More...

N.Y. PILOT BACKGROUND CHECK LAW STRUCK DOWN
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the state of New York lacks the jurisdiction to require background checks on student pilots. AOPA and seven flight schools filed suit against the law, and on Aug. 2 Judge Gary Sharpe ruled in favor of AOPA's motion for summary judgment. In essence, the ruling affirms that the federal government has sole jurisdiction over the regulation and security of aviation. "This law didn't do anything to enhance security for New Yorkers," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "It was unnecessary and discriminatory, and it violated the U.S. Constitution." More...

FORMER FAA DEPUTY BARRETT MAY GET TOP POST
An Arizona woman who was the FAA's deputy director during the Reagan era is being touted as current Administrator Marion Blakey's replacement. According to Aviation Daily, unnamed sources say Barbara Barrettis being chatted up in Washington circles to take over from Blakey when her term expires on Sept. 13. Barrett has been on the boards of large companies and charitable organizations and chaired the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. She also took a run at becoming Arizona's governor and is married to Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett. More...

BRIDGE STUNTS CONCERN FAA
Local authorities and the FAA are wondering what to do about an apparent fad among some pilots in northern Michigan. For the third time in two months, aircraft have been reported flying under the giant Mackinac Bridge that connects Michigan's Upper Peninsula with the rest of the state. The last time an airplane was reported flying under the bridge was 1959. "Flying close to any structure will create a tremendous risk of danger. It's not only a threat to the pilot and the people in the plane, but also to those on the bridge," FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory told the Traverse City Record Eagle. "There's a chance that wind or miscalculations could put you too close to a structure, any structure." The highest span of the bridge is 155 feet above the water. More...

FORCED LANDING PILOT ALREADY UNDER INVESTIGATION
A young pilot who witnesses say did a miraculous job in a forced landing on a busy Fort Lauderdale street last Wednesday has been cited by the FAA and has a checkered driving record, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.Austin Brennan, 24, of Hollywood, Fla., dodged people, cars and fast food restaurants when he brought the Piper Aerostar down on a main thoroughfare. He and his two passengers walked away from the fiery wreck with minor injuries while no one on the ground was hurt. Brennan had reported an engine failure just before the off-airport landing. "It looked like the pilot was in control the entire time," private pilot and incident witness Pat Schaffer told the Sun-Sentinel. But an investigation by the newspaper revealed Brennan has been accused by the FAA of previously violating regulations. More...

PIPER SALE RUMOR DOWNPLAYED
Piper Aircraft is always for sale, but that doesn’t mean it’s being sold, according to some cryptic reaction to rumors the Florida planemaker is on the block again. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, AOPA apparently fueled the rumors by running an item in its EAA AirVenture coverage (which we couldn’t find) saying the current owners, American Capital Strategies, might be "shopping the company to potential buyers." American Capital didn't exactly quell the rumor by telling AOPA that "most companies are for sale for the right price." So what was Piper management's reaction? Piper spokesman Steve Johnston told the Sun-Sentinel that the company always has been and always will be for sale until the right buyer comes along. "At any given time most companies are for sale at the right price, so we find it surprising that anyone would find that surprising," Johnston said. More...

COMAIR CAN’T SUE LEXINGTON AIRPORT
A judge has ruled that Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., cannot be sued because it enjoys "sovereign immunity" under the Kentucky constitution that prevents counties from being sued without a waiver approved by the General Assembly. Comair is trying to sue the airport for its alleged role in the 2006 fatal crash of one of its regional jets that took off from the wrong runway. The airline alleged that inadequate signage and runway markings contributed to the pilots of Flight 5191 choosing a shorter, narrower general aviation runway instead of the 7,000-foot runway to which they'd been cleared for takeoff. The aircraft crashed off the end of the runway, killing 49 of the 50 people on board. More...

OSHKOSH APPROACH CONTROL CHANGES
An unheralded but vital aspect to the (mostly) orderly aerial migration to EAA AirVenture each year is undergoing a major change. Approach control services, which have been handled by Chicago Center since 1969, are switching to Milwaukee’s tower and TRACON facilities for the 2008 show. "Chicago Center employees do a remarkable job with Oshkosh, and we have a good story to tell," Bill Cound, the center's air traffic manager, told MyFAA, the employees’ online newsletter. Although a lot of well-deserved attention is paid to the tower controllers and those operating the mobile centers in Oshkosh’s immediate vicinity, funnelling all that traffic into the area also has its challenges. More...

LOCALLY FAMOUS DC-3 MAKES FINAL TRIP
What the Corona, Calif. Press-Enterprise calls the local airport's "signature airplane" is headed to South America's largest aviation museum. The DC-3, owned by John and Betty Pappas of Mission Viejo, left Saturday on a 5,300-nm trip over the Andes and across the Amazon jungle to be featured in the museum at Sao Carlos, Brazil. Boeing purchased the aircraft, nicknamed Rose, for an undisclosed price from the Pappas to place in the museum, which is described as being comparable to Seattle’s Museum of Flight. "It is the best place for a wonderful old airplane to finish off her days," said John Pappas. More...

CLOSE CALL FOR RUSSIAN CARGO PLANE
It was a testament to the ruggedness of the IL-76, but we’ll let others decide what it says about the crew flying it. According to a Transport Canada incident report published by Canadian Defence and Geopolitics, the Silk Way Airways plane was headed for Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ontario, in early June when it encountered poor visibility (half mile in fog, vertical visibility 500 feet, RVR 600, temperature and dew point 12 degrees Celsius) at the military base. The crew elected to try an instrument approach. The massive plane, loaded with military hardware from the Canadian Forces operation in Afghanistan, hit a perimeter fence, taking out 150 feet of it, touched down briefly 430 feet short of the runway and then managed to climb out, trailing part of the fence from its landing gear and peppered with damage to its belly. However, that wasn’t enough to prompt the crew to declare an emergency. More...

ONE EARHART SEARCH FADES, ANOTHER EMERGES
As a group that has pored over Gardner Island several times failed in its attempt to find conclusive evidence that the island is the final resting place of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan, another effort to solve the 70-year-old mystery has received fresh funding, thanks in part to its exposure in AVweb. Last week The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery wrapped up its latest effort, recovering a part of a zipper and a melted bottle that might have been used to boil water, but nothing that proves Earhart was ever there. Official accounts say she and Noonan crashed at sea, but theories persist that they crashed on an island and perhaps survived for a time, either as castaways or prisoners of the Japanese. An Australian man hopes to test his theory that Earhart's plane came down on New Britain Island off Papua New Guinea and the $75,000 in funding pledges David Billings has received since his podcast interviewappeared in AVweb a month ago will go a long way toward that effort. More...

ON THE FLY
New steakhouse will offer airport views in Wichita...
AOPA membership hits record 413,450...
Shawn Vick named Landmark Aviation's CEO for Airport Services. 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 aviation newsletter, AVwebBiz? Reporting on breaking news, Business AVflash focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the business aviation industry. Business AVflash is a must read. Sign up today at http://www.avweb.com/profile/. More...

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

PELICAN'S PERCH #87: KILLER GO-AROUNDS
The recent crash of a warbird has John Deakin back on his soapbox to change our go-around habits. More...

PROBABLE CAUSE #38: TOO SHORT, TOO SOFT
A relatively inexperienced pilot botches his landing on a short, soft-turf runway. More...

AVMAIL: AUG. 6, 2007
Reader mail this week about Marion Blakey, the Cessna LSA 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 you'll hear Avidyne's Paul Hathaway on future avionics requirements. And AVweb's podcast index includes interviews with Arion Corp's Brian Barents; BusinessJetSEATS Alfred Rapetti; EAA's Dick Knapinski; AOPA's Andrew Cebula; Cirrus Design's Alan Klapmeier; NBAA's Harry Houkes; Reason Foundation's Robert Poole; SATSair's Sheldon Early; Epic Aircraft's Rick Schrameck; AOPA's Randy Kenagy; Eclipse Aviation's Vern Raburn; Xwind's Brad Whitsitt; BoGo Light's Mark Bent; DayJet's Ed Iacobucci; Pogo Jet's Cameron Burr; Teal Group's Richard Aboulafia; Air Journey's Thierry Pouille; Epic Aircraft's Rick Schrameck; Cessna's Jack Pelton; Embraer's Ernest Edwards and LAMA's Dan Johnson. In today's podcast, Lycoming's Ian Walsh talks about "green" engine initiatives at his company. Remember: In AVweb's podcasts, you'll hear things you won't find anywhere else.

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FBO OF THE WEEK: CORPORATE WINGS

AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Corporate Wings at KCHS in Charleston, S.C.

AVweb reader Val Nasano said the FBO's staff really delivers:

"I have been using Corporate Wings CHS since I started traveling to Charleston on business in 2006. I receive the same royal treatment in my C182 each time I taxi in as any bizjet or large corporate client. Last trip in, the crew at Corporate Wings went above and beyond. I always rent a car through the FBO and when I ended up with a flat tire on the side of the interstate at 9 p.m., I called the FBO for the number of roadside assistance. Not only did they call the car rental company for me, one of their lineman went out on his own, located our car and changed the flat for us so we could get off the busy highway in the dark. I can't say enough about this crew. I nominate them for FBO of the year!"

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: RIDGE-SOARING SCHWEIZER 1-26E SAILPLANE
Our regularly-scheduled "Video of the Week" feature returns today, with a fun flying clip of pilot Noel Anderson riding ridge lines on his way to Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts in his Schweizer 1-26E. (Click through to watch.) More...

SHORT FINAL

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"

Overhead during a rather quiet evening on Minneapolis Center.

Unknown aircraft: Minneapolis Center. Still there?

Minneapolis Center: Engineering to Bridge. Aye, Captain. Tricorder readings indicate carbon-based units still infest the planet.

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