BABBITT MAY BE NEXT FAA ADMINISTRATOR
Randy Babbitt, who served as president of the Air Line Pilots Association during the 1990s, is expected to be nominated by the Obama administration to be the next FAA administrator, perhaps as soon as today, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Babbitt's name has been in the rumor mill for a while, and he's considered to be a compromise candidate who is likely to be acceptable to both airline types and labor leaders, according to the WSJ. The administration is apparently feeling pressured to fill the long-vacant post quickly, due to the recent run of aircraft accidents in the news. The FAA has not confirmed the appointment. More...

BOISTURE NEW HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CEO
An aviation industry veteran who led NetJets and Gulfstream during his career has taken over from Jim Schuster as CEO of Hawker Beechcraft. Schuster announced his plan to retire in November. Boisture told The Wichita Eagle the current economic issues will fundamentally change the way business is done after the recovery and his job is to make sure the planemaker is ready. "There's going to be a lot of change required to adapt to the levels of demand required in the marketplace and the way our products can be deployed in the marketplace in the future," Boisture said. More...

JETBLUE AD "MALIGNS" BUSINESS AVIATION
The National Business Aviation Association and the Alliance for Aviation Across America have both asked JetBlue to stop an ad campaign that appears to be a satirical attempt to cash in on the ongoing public relations problems suffered by business aviation. The campaign invites "bigwigs" to use the airline instead of flying privately. In response, the Alliance has run an ad noting the large areas of the U.S. not served by JetBlue. In a podcast interview with AVweb, Alliance spokeswoman Selena Shilad said JetBlue's ad is an example of the distorted view of general aviation being presented by some and her organization decided it was time to hit back. NBAA President Ed Bolen wrote JetBlue CEO David Berger asking him to pull the ads, noting that business people are among the biggest customers of the airlines when their service makes sense. More...

STAFFING ISSUES AT DENVER TRACON RAISE CONCERNS, RESTRICT TRAFFIC
Traffic in the airspace over Denver has been restricted because managers at the Tracon say they don't have enough experienced controllers to handle the volumes that once were possible, according to an internal FAA memo that was written last month. Kevin Stark, acting air traffic manager for the FAA at the Denver Center, wrote: "The Tracon has indicated that the loss of a large number of their experienced employees, the relative inexperience of many of their current controllers, and the increase in volume has created a situation they can no longer accept. They have indicated that the volume issues created by eight different routes flowing into their airspace routinely creates situations that put their controllers at risk, and they are unable to provide the level of service our customers deserve." Kathryn Vernon, the FAA's director of Western Terminal Operations, told CBS4 of Denver, "As the letter is written, I would agree with you it sounds alarming. ... [However,] there is not a safety issue in the Denver airspace and Colorado airspace." Doug Church, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told AVweb the problem proves what NATCA has long been saying: "That forced labor rules and pay cuts would drive out a significantly higher number of experienced controllers into early retirement and attrition, leaving the agency ill-equipped to handle today's traffic demands, let alone be able to train the next generation of controllers being hired." More...

SIKORSKY S-92 HELICOPTERS GROUNDED
On Monday, the FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive grounding all Sikorsky S-92 helicopters, the type that crashed off the Newfoundland coast on March 12, killing 17 people. The FAA said investigators found two main gearbox studs had broken. "Failure of a stud ... could result in rapid loss of oil, failure of the main gearbox, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter," the FAA said. A similar failure had occurred in a July 2008 accident. "The failures have been tied to fretting and galling of the original titanium studs," the FAA said, "therefore, we are requiring the removal of all titanium studs and replacement with steel studs." The helicopters cannot fly until the replacement is complete, the FAA said. The aviation authorities in Canada and the UK have issued similar mandates. Sikorsky, based in Stratford, Conn., said in a news release on Monday that the majority of the worldwide fleet of S-92 helicopters has already complied with the requirements of the AD. The company said it has delivered 91 of the S-92 helicopters, and contacted all operators on March 20 after broken titanium studs were found during the crash investigation in Canada. "The investigation is continuing, and no determination has been made that the broken studs contributed to the accident or if they resulted from it," Sikorsky said in the news release. Operators were notified "as a safety precaution." As of Monday, at least 50 of the fleet had already completed the retrofit, Sikorsky said. More...

PC-12 CRASH PROBED, 14 DEAD
AOPA is urging observers to refrain "jumping to conclusions" about the cause of the crash of a Pilatus PC-12 in Butte, Mont. on Sunday. The PC-12, loaded with seven adults and seven children, has been described by several witnesses as "nosediving" into a cemetery while on short final for Bert Mooney Airport in Butte, Montana on Sunday. Although there was reportedly the potential for icing in a cloud deck at 1,500, the PC-12 is certified for known icing and Weather Underground says it was about 45 degrees F with a dewpoint of about 26 on the ground when the accident occurred. Without knowing the baggage load on the aircraft (it was a ski trip) there is nevertheless less emphasis on the possibility of overloading since half the occupants were under 10 years old and some were babies and toddlers, the children of six adults on board who were university classmates and some of whom were part owners of the aircraft. More...

UNRECOVERABLE SPIN LED TO SKYCATCHER LOSS
As was the case with the first Skycatcher prototype crash, an unrecoverable spin led to the loss of the second and last flying Cessna 162 last week. The second airplane had been fitted with a larger tail as a result of the first crash. And, as in the first crash, there were complications with the parachute recovery system that led to the aircraft being wrecked, according to preliminary report issued Tuesday by the NTSB. The report says the test pilot set up an unspecified "planned test condition" and the aircraft entered a "rapid and disorienting spin" from which the pilot couldn't recover. Unlike the previous accident, in which the ballistic parachute recovery system failed to deploy, the chute opened this time but caused further problems in the rest of the accident sequence. The report was first publicly release on the Archer Bravo Aviation blog site late Tuesday and Cessna's offices were closed. More...

GOT SOMETHING NEW AT AEA? TELL US
AVweb will be attending the Aircraft Electronics Association's annual show in Dallas and word is that there will be more product announcements than ever. To give our newsteam a chance to cover all the announcements, we'd appreciate companies with news to share to get it to us in advance (embargoed as necessary) so we can give each one the attention it deserves. Send your announcements to editor@avweb.com. More...

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

AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: WHAT'S IN A NAME? TO THE AIR FORCE, NOT MUCH
Our resident crank, Paul Bertorelli, has just learned that the F-35 will be called the Lightning II. Can't the Air Force do any better than this? he asks in the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog. Why not log onto the blog and contribute your own two cents? Help us get this guy under control — this man has to be stopped. More...

JET BLUE'S ADS NOT SO CUTE
General aviation is used to taking potshots from groups not familiar with its value, but when Jet Blue tried to capitalize on the portrayal of business travelers as "bigwigs," it was too much for the Alliance for Aviation Across America. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with the Alliance's Selena Shilad. More...

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: TORNADO ALLEY TURBONORMALIZED CARDINAL
Tornado Alley's new turbonormalized Cardinal can run with the big dogs. AVweb's Paul Bertorelli takes you under the cowl with TAT's George Braly. More...

BENTLEY GETS NEW POST AT CIRRUS

Ian Bentley

Ian Bentley, who's been at Cirrus Aircraft since 1997, has been named Vice President and Managing Director of International Sales. Bentley has held various senior roles at Cirrus and been involved in many of its key development initiatives, including the Perspective avionics suite and flight into known icing capability.
More...

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...

MEET THE AVWEBBIZ TEAM

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

The AVwebBiz 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

Webmaster
Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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