June 2, 2010

By The AVweb Editorial Staff

Share Your Thoughts on Aviation Headsets Pilots have many choices when considering aviation headsets. So we'd like to know: What features lead you to purchase? How do you choose between brands? In short, we want to know what's important to you. Please take a few moments to complete our survey. And help influence the future of the aviation headset industry. Go to survey » AVflash! More TCM Lifters on Recall back to top  Sponsor Announcement TCM Lifter AD Expanded The FAA on Monday expanded its recall of faulty hydraulic lifters on Teledyne Continental general aviation engines to include the TCM 346 series and R-RM IO-240-A  reciprocating engines. Excessive wear on the lifters can result in loss of engine power, the FAA said, with at least one instance of damage after just one hour in service. The Airworthiness Directive is effective June 16, at which point all affected aircraft must be grounded until the work is done. No special flight permits will be approved, the FAA said. The AD went straight to final rule without any advance notice or comment period because an unsafe condition exists, the FAA said. However, comments will be accepted until Aug. 2. Several thousand aircraft were affected by the original AD, which was effective last November. TCM said "an issue" with a vendor component was the cause of the defect. View Trade-A-Plane's New Edition at No Cost on Your Mobile Device! Just enter Trade-A-Plane.com/mobile. Search for aircraft (hourly updates). Find companies, products, and services. Locate dealers/brokers. Call or e-mail sellers, and click directly to their web sites. With our web and mobile editions, you can view all of our ads at no cost, all the time! Call (800) 337-5263, or visit us online. Eye on China back to top  Sponsor Announcement Gulfstream Makes Move In China Gulfstream is making an aggressive expansion move in China by signing an agreement with Deer Jet to look after the burgeoning fleet of Gulfstream aircraft in the country. Deer Jet already has 13 Gulfstreams and is looking to add 10 more. Gulfstream will provide Deer Jet with a maintenance team that includes a mechanic, avionics tech and quality control specialist as well as provide access to interior technicians and a field service representative. "The business-jet market in China is expanding rapidly, and we are committed to staying ahead of that growth with an expanding product support infrastructure," said Mark Burns, Gulfstream's president of product support. The latest estimates predict China's business aircraft fleet will grow faster than anywhere else. But there are now only about 30 corporate jets registered to operate on the Chinese mainland. The Chinese government is said to be poised to significantly relax regulations that make it difficult to make the most of the flexibility and convenience that private aircraft travel can offer. Business Aviation Will Help Companies Not Only Survive But Prosper During the Current Financial Crisis To be your most productive, and your most efficient, you must keep flying. Because in so doing, you will emerge from these times even stronger than before. And you will replace the uncertainty that surrounds many, with the confidence and courage to light the way for all. Visit CessnaRise.com. Meanwhile, Mexican Companies Eye the U.S. back to top  Mexico Courts American Aerospace The number of Mexican aerospace companies has tripled to more than 300 in the last six years and it's not stopping there. The Mexican business magazine Mexico Now is sponsoring a daylong aerospace industry conference -- in Philadelphia -- June 24 and it's clearly aimed at OEMs who might be thinking of moving some of their production there. So far dozens of established companies, including Cessna, Bombardier, Hawker Beechcraft and Pratt & Whitney, have built factories in Mexico or are contracting with Mexican companies. "The main objective of this seminar is to obtain detailed and privileged information about the current and future conditions and trends of the aerospace Industry in offshore manufacturing operations," said conference spokesman Sergio Omel. The conference runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue and will feature speakers from the Mexican aerospace industry as well as representatives from companies that now do business in Mexico who will relate their experiences. The conference also promises to "objectively analyze the present and future business conditions of the aerospace industry in Mexico." First Ever Aircraft Auction at Oshkosh Auction.com, in partnership with EAA, will be hosting an aircraft auction at AirVenture on Saturday, July 31, 2010. All aircraft welcome, from single-engine to jets. To buy or sell your plane, visit AirVenture.org/Auction or click here for more information. Future Fuels: Here Comes the Sun? back to top  Solar Impulse Flies On Pure Sunlight "Finally we can say we are flying a solar plane," pilot Andre Borschberg, CEO of the Solar Impulse project, wrote in his blog last Friday. The 12,000 solar cells on the wings of the one-of-a-kind aircraft for the first time produced more energy than the aircraft was consuming, providing thrust for the engines with enough power left over to start charging the batteries. "At this precise moment," Borschberg wrote, "the fulfillment of a dream -- to fly solely on solar power, day and night -- came one step closer to reality." The flight was the first time the aircraft was powered solely by solar energy. Borschberg flew twice last Friday, on the first circuit using up the energy that had been stored in the batteries overnight; on the second flight he activated the solar cells for the first time and began to recharge the batteries. "Never before in my 40 years as a pilot have I experienced anything like this," Borschberg wrote. The aircraft flew at Payerne Airfield in Switzerland. The project was launched seven years ago by Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Their ultimate goal is to fly the aircraft around the world on solar power alone in 2012. They plan to fly five hops in quick succession, weather permitting. Rediscover Jet City! Make King County International Airport/Boeing Field your flight destination! Conveniently located just 5 miles from downtown Seattle, KBFI is positioned in the center of the growing economy of the Puget Sound region, serving as a hub for business travel, private jets, and general aviation travel. Partner with aviation experts when you fly to Seattle. Make your destination King County International Airport/Boeing Field! For more information, visit online. Opinion & Commentary back to top  AVweb Insider Blog: Ghosts of Merlins Past — A V-Block Engine As the season for new engines seems to be in full flight, Paul Bertorelli's latest post to the AVweb Insider blog addresses an intriguing new engine design from Adept Airmotive, a South African startup. The initial numbers sound good but, of course, the company has a long road ahead of it. Click here to read Paul's thoughts and add your own comments — and you'll want to hear this podcast interview with Adept principal Richard Schulz. AVweb Insider Blog: ADS-B Rule — Big Bucks, Paltry Benefit Somewhere out there, someone must be thrilled the with FAA's final rule on the implementation of ADS-B in the NextGen airspace over the U.S. That someone isn't IFR magazine editor-in-chief Jeff Van West, who confesses to more than a little disappointment in the latest installment of the AVweb Insider blog. Click here to read his opinions, then chime in with your own in our comments section. Mooney: We Love to Fly. Fast. Fly faster. Fly farther. In the powerhouse advancement of the best-selling single-engine rectractable on the market. Pilots know. There's no aircraft like the new Mooney Acclaim Type S. Nothing has prepared you for the performance punch you'll feel when you pull back the yoke. You'll fall in love with pure speed and flying excitement all over again. Mooney is taking deposits for 2010 models. Call (800) 456-3033 or visit Mooney.com. The Top Reporter on Our Crack Staff ... Is You! back to top  Got a Turbonormalized Cirrus? Aviation Consumer Wants You Actually, Aviation Consumer wants a little bit of your engine data for a research product we're doing. If you don't mind sending us a sample data file, contact Paul Bertorelli at avconsumer@comcast.net. Contact us before sending anything. Thanks. (The results will appear in a future issue of Aviation Consumer. For subscription information, click here.) 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. 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. You're a part of our team ... often, the best part. Now Available: 2010 1/2 FAR/AIM & FARs for AMTs eBooks Extensive changes have been made to the FAR/AIM & FAR/AMTs since the 2010 printed editions were last published. These changes through 3/2/10 are now available in a complete new eBook edition. All eBooks are single-file .PDF documents. They are extensively bookmarked, fully searchable, and printable. There is no easier way to access the information you need, whether you are flying or maintaining aircraft. Click these links to order: 2010 1/2 FAR/AIM eBook | $11.95 2010 1/2 FARs for AMTs eBook | $17.95 AVweb Media: Look, Listen, Laugh and Learn back to top  Kim Prout Gives Kitplanes a Tour of His Europa Monowheel Original, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos Kim Prout's homebuilt Europa Monowheel is one of the highest-time examples in the U.S. and amply shows off the superb combination of agility and utility in this exclusive vide from the editors of Kitplanes magazine. If you enjoy this video, be sure to look for other homebuilt content in our sister magazine, Kitplanes. Don't see a video screen? Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page. If that doesn't work, click here to download the video directly. IFR Magazine Shares GPS Tricks for VOR Clearances Original, Exclusive Videos from AVweb | Reader-Submitted & Viral Videos Handling clearances with that panel-mount GPS is a snap — until they throw some rogue radial off a VOR into the mix. IFR editor Jeff Van West unlocks the insider techniques that make clearances like this just another day plying the airways. If you enjoy this video, be sure to check out our sister publication, IFR magazine. Don't see a video screen? Try disabling ad blockers and refreshing this page. If that doesn't work, click here to download the video directly. Looking for Low-Cost, Yet Effective, Marketing Options? Let AVweb assist your company in creating effective direct-response marketing campaigns to generate leads. No other digital aviation news media reaches more qualified subscribers more often. Text messages in newsletters combined with online banners reach over 255,000 readers monthly and deliver more new users to sponsor sites weekly than most print publications do monthly. Click now for details. Help Us Celebrate AVweb's 15th Anniversary back to top  15 Years and Now 15 Grand Giveaways ... It's Your Chance to Win an AV8OR Handheld GPS Win an AV8OR handheld GPS (from Bendix/King by Honeywell) as we celebrate our 15th Anniversary! All you have to do is click here to enter your name and e-mail address. (You only have to enter once, and you'll be entered in our prize drawings for the entire year — so if you've already entered, you're all set.) And no, we're not going to rent or sell your name, ever. Tell your friends, and invite them to sign up for AVweb so they can qualify for our 15 Grand Giveaways prize drawings, too. (We won't spam them, either — but we hope they will sign up for our newsletters.) Deadline for entries is 11:59pm Zulu time June 18, 2010. Click here to read the contest rules and enter. Congratulations to William R. Smith of Madison, Connecticut, who won a King Schools Get-It-All Pilot Training Kit in our last drawing! (click here to get your own from King Schools) Names Behind the News back to top  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 Click here to send a letter to the editor. (Please let us know if your letter is not intended for publication.) Comments or questions about the news should be sent here. Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's sales team. If you're having trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device), there's also a text-only version of AVwebBiz. For complete instructions on making the switch, click here. Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.