U.S. TO LEAD BIZJET RECOVERY
It may be time for many bizjet sales people to cash in those frequent flyer points, at least according to one analyst. The Gerson Lehrman Group says growth in business aircraft sales will come mostly from the U.S. as companies recover from the current recession and get back to business as usual. The overseas market has been leading the charge in recent years. While "excess" is definitely out of style at the moment, the firm says the fact is that growing companies can't do without business aviation. "The market for business jets is tied to GDP closely, with activity mirroring the economy domestically," the firm said. " As the US economy recovers, so will the business aircraft market and fortunes of Cessna, Bombardier, Gulfstream, Dassault, Hawker Beechcraft, Embraer and others." The big question is when and that's almost entirely dependent on the availability of financing. More...

NTSB ASKS FAA TO IMMEDIATELY GROUND ZODIAC CH-601XL LSAS
In an unusual move on Tuesday, the NTSB issued an "urgent safety recommendation" asking the FAA to prohibit further flight of the Zodiac CH-601XL, a light sport aircraft that has been involved in six in-flight structural breakups since 2006. The airplane is designed by Zenair. The board cited four accidents in the U.S. and two in Europe in which a CH-601XL broke up in-flight, killing a total of 10 people. According to the NTSB, there is a problem with the airplane design that makes it susceptible to aerodynamic flutter -- a phenomenon in which the control surfaces of the airplane can suddenly vibrate, and if unmitigated, can lead to catastrophic structural failure. The CH-601XL was certified as an LSA in 2005. The NTSB wants the fleet grounded until the FAA can determine that the problem has been solved. "The NTSB does not often recommend that all airplanes of a particular type be prohibited from further flight," said NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker. "In this case, we believe such action will save lives. Unless the safety issues with this particular Zodiac model are addressed, we are likely to see more accidents in which pilots and passengers are killed in airplanes that they believed were safe to fly." [more] The NTSB also found the stick force gradient was not uniform, and was lesser at high Gs, which could make the airplane susceptible to over-control by the pilot, which could lead to over-stressing the design limits and lead to in-flight structural failure. The board also made several requests of ASTM International, the entity that provides the design standards for light sport aircraft. NTSB says ASTM should add requirements to ensure the standards for LSAs reduce the potential for aerodynamic flutter to occur, develop standards on stick-force characteristics that minimize the possibility inadvertent over-controlling by the pilot, and ensure standards for LSAs result in accurate airspeed indications and appropriate documentation in new airplane pilot operating handbooks. More...

FAA RESPONDS TO ZODIAC CONCERNS
The FAA is already looking into concerns about all versions of the Zodiac aircraft, which were raised at an industry meeting back in February, FAA spokeswoman Laura J. Brown told AVweb on Tuesday, but she added that the agency has no immediate plans to call for the airplanes to be grounded. "The manufacturer already has told owners to check the aileron control cable tensions," she said. The FAA has formed a special review team with members from the FAA and the industry to investigate the problem. Brown added that the FAA has told the ASTM that it should conduct a review of its LSA standards regarding aerodynamic flutter. More...

ADS-B PROVING ITSELF OVER HUDSON BAY
ADS-B has been in operation over a vast area of northern Canada for more than two months and air traffic services provider Nav Canada and the technology provider Sensis say it's working as advertised. While the 250,000 square nautical miles covered by the system is scantily populated and encompasses Hudson Bay, its high-altitude airspace is used by 35,000 flights between Europe and North America every year. Until earlier this year, those flights simply dropped off controllers' radar until they emerged hours later on the other side. With ADS-B, Nav Canada controllers can accurately track anything above 29,000 feet over the whole area and that means more efficient use of the routes. "With the accuracy of Sensis ADS-B, we can maximize airspace capacity by reducing separation standards from the current procedural separation of 80 miles to the five-mile separation standard now used in airspace with surveillance coverage," said Nav Canada spokesman Rudy Kellar. More...

AVIDYNE EXPLAINS LATEST AVIONICS IN WEBINARS
For aircraft owners looking to upgrade to the latest new panel, or shoppers ready to buy a new airplane, the big shows like Sun 'n Fun and AirVenture provide great opportunities to check out all the options. But now, buyers who can't be at the show in person can have the next-best thing — an online Webinar, complete with graphics, live audio, and a Q&A session, to get a rundown on all the details in the latest products. This month, Avidyne is making the most of the Webinar format to get the word out about their latest glass-panel upgrade, Release 9. The new system was unveiled late last year — click here for Paul Bertorelli's video tour of the system at AOPA Expo — but with the spring flying season now upon us and FAA certification approaching, the company is offering the hour-long Webinars to show off the system to potential buyers. Avidyne says Release 9 aims to provide "true single-pilot IFR" capabilities while making it easy and simple to use. Click here for a list of the dates for Avidyne's Webinars and to sign up. More...

OSH TOWER COMES DOWN, NO SOUVENIRS

Click for more images

photos by Chris Hibben

Arguably one of the most iconic pieces of aviation-related architecture anywhere came tumbling down recently. The old tower at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis., for a week each year the "World's Busiest Tower" was pulverized late last week by Miron Contracting, the company that built the new tower. According to the Oshkosh Northwestern, Airport Director Peter Moll said the contractor decided there was no economically feasible way to provide souvenirs from the old tower.

Related Content:
AVweb's video tour of the new tower. More...

DEAD AT THE CONTROLS
Every private pilot thinks about it but for Doug White, a passenger on a King Air last Sunday, the fantasy/nightmare came true. The self-described low-time single pilot stepped into the cockpit of the big turboprop twin when the pilot collapsed, and a short time later, died at the controls. "It's just me and the Good Lord flying this by hand," the passenger/pilot told Fort Myers approach controllers as he got the feel for the powerful aircraft and set it up for landing. As you can hear in this podcast, he didn't know much about flying a turboprop twin, but he also knew what he didn't know. More...

DEAD AT THE CONTROLS
When the pilot of a King Air 200, with five passengers, bound from Naples, Fla. to Jackson, Miss., died at the controls on Easter Sunday, a passenger who was a low-time single pilot stepped up, along with air traffic controllers at Miami Center and Fort Myers approach to bring a successful conclusion to the emergency. Relaying information from a friend who was a King Air pilot, the Fort Myers controller was able to give the stand-in pilot the tools he needed to bring the aircraft in. AVweb's Russ Niles assembled this report. More...

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AVWEB INSIDER BLOG: MARC AND PAUL'S SPORTSMAN PRE-SUN 'N FUN VLOG (PART 1)
Gearing up for the Sun 'n Fun extravaganza in Lakeland, Kitplanes editor Marc Cook and AVweb editorial director Paul Bertorelli are motoring around the west in Cook's Glastar Sportsman visiting companies prior to the show. Here's their first video blog report. More...

WANT A CHANCE TO WIN AN AV8OR GPS BY BENDIX/HONEYWELL?

All you have to do is click the image at right to enter your name and e-mail address. And no, we're not going to rent or sell your name, but Bendix may send you information on the AV8OR. You may also forward this newsletter to friends and invite them to sign-up for AVweb's Sun 'n Fun coverage and qualify for the AV8OR prizes also. (We won't spam them, either, but we will send them our e-mail news Flashes.)

Deadline for entries is midnight, Monday, April 27, 2009.

Click here to read the contest rules and enter.

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ASPEN AVIONICS AEA MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Aspen Avionics was named Associate Member of the Year by the Aircraft Electronics Association. President John Uczekaj said he was "speechless" at the announcement.
More...

MARTIN JOINS SIGNATURE
Debbie Martin has been named sales manager for the Northwest by Signature Air Support. Martin has more than a decade of experience in the field and will be based in Washington State.
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

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Scott Simmons

Contributors
Jeff van West

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