CONTROLLER 'TRAINING' SCRUTINIZED
The FAA says it's "looking into" whether the training of a developmental controller in Florida was accomplished at the expense of three airlines and their passengers aboard four airliners. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association alleged Tuesday that a supervisor ordered on-duty controllers at the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center to re-route a Delta Boeing 757, a Virgin Boeing 747 and two Southwest Boeing 737s to generate more traffic for a trainee undergoing a "skills check." NATCA says the aircraft were diverted by up to 100 miles and into the path of thunderstorms but the FAA says the longest diversion was about 50 miles and not into thunderstorms. More...

GLASS TO REPLACE COCKPIT WINDOWS?
NASA is working with Gulfstream to test a "fly-by-cam" system in which the pilot of a supersonic business jet would land the aircraft using a video feed from an HD camera. According to The Register the system is aimed at solving one of the vexing issues facing development of the speedy bizjets in that their design almost inevitably dicates a high angle of attack for landing and the long pointy nose of such aircraft obscures the forward view. Concorde designers solved the problem with the intensely complicated drooping nose but that's not likely practical for business jet-sized aircraft. So, the researchers are trying to convince the FAA that a camera in the nose is a replacement for the view out the windshield and they're inviting FAA pilots to test the theory themselves. More...

MAJOR BIZAV SHOW LAUNCHED IN INDIA
Begumpet, the former international airport at Hyderabad, India has been named the permanent host for a biennial business aviation show that organizers say will attract 12,000 delegates daily for the next three days. The arrival of an Airbus A380 on Thursday is being touted as the highlight of India Aviation 2008, which, a week on the heels of the National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando, has attracted a laundry list of business aviation companies, along with all the major airliner manufacturers. Boeing is using the show to announce the sale of a total of 110 aircraft to Air India and Jet Airways and flew in a 777ER to punctuate the announcement. And while the show is aimed at the business of aviation, the public will also get a chance to add their oohs and aahs. More...

NTSB BLAMES FAA IN PILOT'S DEATH
A pilot who died last year while practicing formation aerobatics prior to an air show should have been restricted from such flying by his FAA medical examiner, the NTSB said in its final report on the accident. Jan Wildbergh, 74, who had flown with the Geico Skytypers since 1986, died in September 2007. According to the NTSB, after completing their practice, the five-ship team executed a "pop up break" to return for landing. Wildbergh, however, flying a North American SN J-2, continued straight ahead in a slight descent, with the wings level and in a slight nose-down attitude, until the airplane hit the ground and erupted in flames. The NTSB said Wildbergh had an extensive history of heart problems and was taking medication, and the FAA medical examiner "clearly had sufficient information to justify restricting the pilot from commercial and/or aerobatic flight." Wildbergh had visited his cardiologist three days prior to the accident, complaining of multiple episodes of atrial fibrillation over the previous three months with fatigue and shortness of breath, the NTSB said. More...

QANTAS DIVE TRACED TO COMPUTER GLITCH
The abrupt dive of a Qantas A330-300 last week that injured scores of passengers wasn't caused by a passenger's electronic device, but by an internal breakdown in the Airbus's flight-control computer system, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Tuesday. The aircraft was flying at FL 370 en route from Singapore to Perth when the Inertial Reference System malfunctioned, which resulted in the autopilot automatically disconnecting, the ATSB said. However, the faulty unit continued to feed false information to the flight-control computers, which even with autopilot off, still command the control surfaces. Very high, random and incorrect values of the angle of attack led the computers to command a nose-down aircraft movement. The crew was able to recover within seconds, with a maximum altitude loss of 650 feet and a maximum pitch down of about 8.5 degrees, the ATSB said. Airbus told the ATSB it has never heard of a similar malfunction, but all operators of aircraft that use the system have been informed of the incident and provided guidance for a crew response to minimize the effect of any similar failure. The ATSB said its investigation is continuing. More...

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AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: IF OIL IS CHEAPER, WHY ISN'T AVGAS?
It probably is; you just haven't noticed. In the latest installment of our AVweb Insider Blog, Editorial Director Paul Bertorelli discusses why avgas prices are less volatile than those at the corner service station. More...

AVWEB'S NBAA CONVENTION 2008 VIDEO ROUND-UP
In case you missed any of our videos from the 2008 NBAA Convention & Trade Show in Orlando, Florida, you can watch all eight of them (plus two shorts you may find interesting) right here. (Click through to watch.) More...

JENNIFER MITCHELL NEW MOONEY REP

Jennifer Mitchell

Jennifer Mitchell, a Long Beach, Calif. imaging business owner, recently featured in a Mooney Airplane Corp. advertisement, has joined the company as a sales representative. Mitchell uses her Mooney Ovation 2GX to fly all over California on business.
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DAVID OLSON INTERIM CEO AT SHADIN
Shadin Avionics has announced that David Olson has been named Interim CEO of the company following the resignation of Allan Kramer Oct. 8. Olson has extensive management experience in the aerospace and defense industry in the U.S. and internationally.
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WHO'S WHERE? YOU TELL US
Get a promotion or a new job? Your colleagues want to know about it, and AVwebBiz can get the word out. Drop us a line about the staff appointment, with a nice recent photo, and we'll do our best to include it in our new section, "Who's Where." The items will be permanently archived on AVweb for future reference, too. More...

AVWEB'S NEWSTIPS ADDRESS ...
Our best stories start with you. If you've heard something 200,000 pilots might want to know about, tell us. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. What have you heard? More...

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Paul Bertorelli

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