PLENTY OF AOPA NEWS THIS WEEK
Watch your inbox and keep AVweb.com high on your favorites list this week as our experienced team of award-winning aviation journalists delivers all the news from AOPA Expo in Hartford. It starts out with a rash of product announcements today (Thursday) and continues through three days of seminars, politically oriented discussions and general discussion about our favorite topic -- general aviation. Piper, Diamond, Cessna and Mooney all have big news to announce. Our audio and video casts will expand on the themes we present in AVwebFlash and on our web site, so be sure to check them out. More...

BAJA BUSH PILOTS FIGHT BORDER PROPOSAL
The Baja Bush Pilots, a group of about 4,000 pilots who promote flying to Mexico and Central America, say the proposal by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to require detailed manifests and itineraries from general aviation pilots crossing the U.S. border is unworkable in its present form. In an interview at AOPA Expo in Hartford, Baja Bush Pilots President Jack McCormick told AVweb the most pressing concern is the requirement that the information be filed electronically. "Sometimes in Mexico you're lucky to find a phone that works. How are you supposed to find an Internet connection?" As AVweb reported last month, Customs says the goal of the program is to improve security of trans-border small aircraft operations. More...

AOPA AIR SAFETY FOUNDATION OFFERS NEW COURSE IN AGING AIRCRAFT
It's well known that the general aviation fleet is aging, and while older aircraft can be safe to fly, they do demand a certain amount of care. AOPA's Air Safety Foundation addresses all of the issues that pilots should know about in a new course, Aging Aircraft, offered free online. This interactive course discusses factors that affect the rate of aging, such as storage, use, abuse, and maintenance; offers suggestions for proactive inspection and maintenance practices, and explains the difference between chronological and true age. Specific tracks can be chosen that focus on Beechcraft, Cessna, Mooney, or Piper models. Advice is offered for those thinking about buying or renting an older aircraft. The course takes about an hour to complete. More...

AOPA AIRPORT SUPPORT NETWORK CELEBRATES 10TH YEAR
When pilots run into trouble with threats to their airport, AOPA's Airport Support Network is there, and this year the organization is celebrating 10 years of helping to keep airports open and thriving. The program has nearly 2,000 volunteers across the country who work to support the program's mission to promote, protect, and defend America's community airports. "Saving airports is consistently at the top of members' priority lists," said Andy Cebula, executive vice president of government affairs at AOPA. "We see their passion in the numbers who volunteer their time and energy to protect their local airports, and we encourage all members to get involved." The program was formed in response to feedback from AOPA members who recognized that protecting community airports is a key step in securing general aviation's future and wanted to help. The ASN volunteers are the first reporters and first responders to potential threats against their airports. They communicate regularly with AOPA headquarters staff, who work with them to eliminate or mitigate threats to local airports. More...

CAP COMMANDER SACKED
The Board of Governors of the Civil Air Patrol has stripped the organization's suspended commander, Maj. Gen. Tony Pineda, of his rank, position and membership after investigating allegations that a member of CAP's Florida unit took U.S. Air Force Command and Staff College tests on Pineda's behalf in 2002 and 2003. Pineda was suspended in early August after the allegations came to light and the board of governors decided to formally investigate them. "This action was taken after careful review of the facts and circumstances and after numerous discussions of the report of the investigation against Gen. Pineda," Maj. Gen. Richard Bowling, chairman of the board of governors, said in a news release. Brig. Gen. Amy Courter, CAP's deputy commander, assumed command during Pineda's suspension and will continue in that role until August of 2008 when the board of governors will convene to elect a new commander. Courter can run. More...

FAA TO PILOTS: BE READY FOR ADS-B BY 2020
The FAA said on Tuesday it wants all aircraft flying in controlled airspace to have satellite-based avionics by 2020, so air traffic controllers can track them using Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B). The agency issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF) that says the equipment will allow controllers to handle more traffic more safely with less separation. "Aviation must take the big step into the next generation of technology," said Acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell. "It's safer and more accurate. Satellite technology is here to stay." Pilots with ADS-B cockpit displays can see, in real time, their location in relation to other aircraft, bad weather and terrain. In Southwest Alaska, the fatal accident rate for ADS-B-equipped aircraft has dropped by 47 percent, the FAA said. Aircraft that don't fly in controlled airspace will not be required to have ADS-B avionics, the FAA said. More...

FLORIDA TOWN REPEALS ANTI-HOMEBUILDING LAW
With a unanimous vote, the city council of Jacksonville, Fla., last week overturned its ban on working on airplanes in residential areas. Milford Shirley, president of the local EAA chapter, said he was "absolutely happy" with the decision. The EAA chapter had been fighting the ban since it was imposed over a year ago, after some neighbors complained that a homebuilder was keeping an airplane in his driveway. "We can imagine the outcry from the public if Jacksonville passed a rule saying residents could not work on automobiles, boats or motorcycles at the their own homes," Earl Lawrence, EAA's vice president of industry and regulatory affairs, said at the time. It took some patience and a lobbying effort, but the city apparently came to see things EAA's way. The council voted 15 to 0 to overturn the ordinance. More...

MOONEY EXPANDS THE ACCLAIM'S SPEED ENVELOPE
In the promotional poker game of which is faster, the Columbia 400 or the Mooney Acclaim, Mooney says it has just upped the ante. It announced this week that it has done some aerodynamic tweaks on the Acclaim which will give it a top speed of a blistering 242 knots, 5 knots faster than its previously claimed 237-knot top speed. What tweaks? Mooney says a series of refinements trimmed drag from the airframe, but we won’t be surprised to see substantially smaller cooling inlets on the cowling, to start. The gussied up version is called the Acclaim Type-S. More...

NTSB BLAMES 737 CREW IN CHICAGO OVERRUN
The crew of a Southwest Airlines 737 that overran a runway during a Chicago snowstorm in December 2005 had reverse thrust available, and should have used it, the NTSB said in its final report, released on Tuesday. If they had done so, they could have prevented the accident. The jet ran into a car on a nearby road, and a boy in the car was killed. However, the crew had inadequate information about the landing-distance analysis they used, and if they had been better informed, they might have decided to divert to another airport, the board said. The safety board's report calls on the FAA to immediately require operators to refine their procedures for conducting arrival landing-distance assessments and add a safety margin of at least 15 percent. "The urgent recommendation we issued today addressing landing performance is extremely pertinent to the safe operation of our aviation system," said NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker. More...

FAA PROMOTES "ARRESTOR BEDS" TO STOP RUNWAY OVERRUNS
Commercial airports should have runway overrun areas 500 feet wide that extend 1,000 feet off the runway end, but in cases where that isn't practical, the agency is now promoting the use of a new technology called EMAS. An Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) uses materials placed at the end of a runway to stop or greatly slow an aircraft that overruns the runway. The best material found to date is a lightweight, crushable concrete, the FAA says. When an aircraft rolls into an EMAS arrestor bed, the tires of the aircraft sink into the material and the aircraft is decelerated by having to roll through it. This technology is now in place at 18 airports with installation under contract at six additional airports. A standard EMAS installation extends 600 feet from the end of the runway. More...

AIRLINES SHOW DRAMATIC SAFETY IMPROVEMENT
The accident rate for U.S. airlines has dropped by 65 percent in the last 10 years, according to a Sunday New York Times story by aviation reporter Matthew Wald. The White House set a goal in 1997 to reduce the rate by 80 percent over 10 years, Wald wrote. Although the decline has fallen short of that mark, it is still an impressive improvement. The data, which excludes the terrorist-caused crashes of 2001, shows a steady decline in fatalities, bearing out recent remarks by outgoing FAA Administrator Marion Blakey that this is "the golden age of safety." Blakey said this is the safest period, in the safest mode of transportation, in the history of the world. The improvements of the last decade reflect the sum of many small changes, Wald said, including better technology, enhanced ground-proximity warning systems, and safer cockpit procedures. More...

MUSIC TO FLY BY: ATC PARTY MIX, PROP SYMPHONY, AND MORE
Why not record the sounds of an early morning landing at Heathrow, or Airbus A380 deep-freeze testing, or aerobatic airplanes spinning and looping, and integrate those sounds into electronic music compositions? That idea inspired Bruno Misonne, of Belgium, who lives close to a major airport, and he ended up with a compilation of "aviation music." He aims to "take the listener on a journey" with his work. "Bruno has chosen the perfect instrument for his new genre because the airplane is the best way to go global after all," says his press release. You can judge for yourself -- sample the tunes online, or buy the CD, at his web site. More...

AOPA EXPO 2007 EXCLUSIVE VIDEO #1: PRE-SHOW TOUR
To kick off our exclusive video coverage of AOPA Expo 2007, we thought we'd share a glimpse of what you see when a press pass gets you into the Hartford, Connecticut show a day early. (Click through to watch.) More...

AOPA EXPO 2007 EXCLUSIVE VIDEO #2: BAJA BUSH PILOTS FIGHT BORDER REGULATIONS
More...

BRAINTEASERS QUIZ #125: WHAT'S UP?
The sky's the limit of infinite possibilities when you don't let terminology and regulations hold you down. Let's dissect a few loftier ones to answer questions that have teased aeronautical brains since before Pratt met Whitney.

Take the quiz.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: THE COST OF ADS-B TO YOU (YES, YOU)
With the FAA asking all pilots to upgrade their avionics by 2020, we thought it would be a good time to ask AVweb readers what they're willing to spend to prepare for the NextGen airspace. Plus: Do AVweb readers think it's only a matter of time before Boeing and Airbus start cranking out VLJs? The results of last week's "QOTW." More...

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: AVWEB'S FLYING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOWCASE
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." As we dive head first into the AOPA Expo in Hartford, Connecticut, we find ourselves staring down the barrel of 130 top-drawer reader-submitted photos. With the show hanging over our heads and so many great photos to sort (and somehow choose between) we'll waste no time cutting to the chase. As soon as things slow down, we'll load up our home page slideshow with the best photos from the last two weeks that we couldn't share here in "POTW" proper. (Wanda Zuege of Custer, Wisconsin is currently using this photo to remind pilots at Stevens Point Airport of the October festivities planned for them.) 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...

MEET THE AVWEBFLASH TEAM

AVwebFlash is a weekly summary of the latest news, articles, products, features, and events featured on AVweb, the internet's aviation magazine and news service.

The AVwebFlash team is:

Publisher
Timothy Cole

Editorial Director, Aviation Publications
Paul Bertorelli

Editor-in-Chief
Russ Niles

Contributing Editors
Mary Grady
Glenn Pew

Features Editor
Kevin Lane-Cummings

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