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Thursday 18th March 2010

Top News
Two F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) test jets flew six times on Wednesday, March 10, above Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., clearing the way for the program's vertical landing tests. For this test, each landing was performed at a higher speed than its associated pattern work and culminated in a 40-knot fly-by followed by a 75-knot landing.
Mar 17, 11:23pm UTC

More News
Copilots for commercial flights carrying passengers would be required to have at least 800 hours of flight time under a measure passed by the Senate Tuesday.
Mar 17, 6:39pm UTC
It's now easier for U.S. pilots to fly their light sport aircraft into Canada, EAA said this week.
Mar 17, 3:54pm UTC
Two major awards programs have announced their winners for 2010 -- the FAA's General Aviation Awards and the Lindbergh Foundation awards.
Mar 15, 8:05pm UTC
India may be the market to lead business aviation out of the doldrums according to a report in the Mint, an Indian publication that lists the Wall Street Journal as a "partner."
Mar 17, 1:38am UTC
The two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew off course for over an hour last October while working on their laptops have lost all their FAA certificates, but now they have a chance to get them back.
Mar 16, 7:35pm UTC
Court documents obtained by AVweb show Harlow Aerostructures is seeking to acquire the assets of Epic Air, by March 30, for one-tenth of Epic's estimated value.
Mar 13, 12:22am UTC
Washington State legislators estimate they can raise $8.4 million a year on an excise tax increase on general aviation aircraft.
Mar 13, 9:01pm UTC
Cessna announced on Saturday that its new CJ4 received type certification by the FAA. That paves the way for deliveries to begin later this year.
Mar 13, 8:23pm UTC
The Environmental Protection Agency continues to go through administrative motions suggesting it's serious about removing lead from avgas.
Mar 11, 9:28pm UTC
 
Bills are now under consideration in both the House and Senate to amend a recent FAA policy that restricts airport access.
Mar 15, 9:22pm UTC
New Zealand's Martin Aircraft Company says it's signed a $12 million joint-venture with an "international aircraft company" that aims to make the Martin Jetpack a commercially available product.
Mar 17, 9:50pm UTC
Pilots of properly equipped aircraft flying through the Philadelphia area can get a glimpse of the future of flight now that ADS-B service has been switched on there.
Mar 17, 12:27am UTC
The Canadian government is clawing back safety oversight and administration of the business aircraft industry in response to criticism by the country's Transportation Safety Board.
Mar 17, 12:53am UTC
The pilot of a Lancair that was spewing oil made an emergency landing on a beach in Hilton Head, S.C., about 6 p.m. on Monday, and a 38-year-old man who was jogging along the shore was struck from behind and killed.
Mar 16, 2:27pm UTC
The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA) has announced its strong opposition to proposed legislation that would allow use of CVRs to punish pilots for procedural violations.
Mar 11, 10:31pm UTC
The army expects to top 1,000,000 total hours in unmanned aviation by April, and sees a need for over 3,000 UAV operators by 2018.
Mar 12, 10:37pm UTC
Boeing Phantom Works has begun construction of a liquid-hydrogen powered high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle designed to fly for more than four days at altitudes up to 65,000 feet, while carrying a 450 pound payload.
Mar 11, 8:39pm UTC
Teachers who inject a little aviation into their lessons are invited to apply for an award that can put them in touch with some of the biggest names in the industry: Nominations close May 1 for the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award.
Mar 15, 1:47am UTC

COMPLETE NEWS Read the Latest Issue of AVwebFlash
NEWS ARCHIVES Past News Stories on AVweb

 

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And it's not just the military, either. Think of a FedEx freighter with robots instead of pilots.
 

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Features & Columns

Letter of the Week: Revamp Light Sport to Save GA

The real world responses to this week's Question of the Week on the FAA's 2030 Aviation Forecast once again underscore the fact that the FAA's "last great hope" for aviation, Light Sport, is going to go the way of the 1990s recreational pilot and the Dodo bird. It's high time that everyone involved "gets" the fact that aviation is a sunset industry [unless there's] a massive paradigm shift in thinking.

All of the ongoing positive accolades from FAA and EAA and AOPA aside, Light Sport has produced only 3,248 Light Sport pilots in just over five years. That's about one Light Sport pilot per State per month. The total number of active U.S. pilots is down more than 35 percent since the heyday of the early 1980s. Something has to be done.

Larry Stencel

Click through to read the rest of Mr. Stencel's letter and other missives from our reader mailbag.

 
Brainteasers Airlines lock their flight crews in the cockpit so passengers won't embarrass them by asking a lot of tough questions. We have no such qualms. Time to unlock your pilot minds and take this quiz.
Take the quiz.

FULL INDEX OF FEATURES Browse Our Features Archive
FULL INDEX OF COLUMNS Browse Our Columns Archive

Podcasts and Video
Children all over the U.S. are being shown opportunities in aviation thanks to some enlightened teachers, and the late famed test pilot Scott Crossfield was one of them when he was in school. Crossfield established an award to recognize those teachers' efforts, and AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with his daughter, Sally Crossfield Farley, about this year's competition.
Topics in our interview with NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman include the Board's perhaps surprising safety findings regarding small light aircraft and glass cockpit technology; Hersman's aviation background; thinking outside the box; how the Board interacts with crash victims' families (specifically Colgan Flight 3407); FAA/NTSB interaction; and more.
AVweb speaks with director of the Unmanned Aircraft System Center for Research, Education and Training at the University of North Dakota, Jeff Kappenman, to hear his thoughts on how unmanned vehicles are changing aviation and piloting, right now and in the future.
Red Bull Air Races champion Michael Goulian talks with AVweb's Mary Grady about why some races are harder than others, why he thinks he can pull ahead in the rankings this year, and what his plans are for other airshows around the U.S.
User fees aren't in the newly released White House budget, but they might might appear elsewhere, says AOPA's Lorraine Howerton.
 
American Legend has made a name for itself in the LSA market with well-made Cub clones. At U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring in January, it showed a new amphib LSA that attracted lots of eyeballs. Last week, AVweb flew the amphib, and here's our video report on this new product. It's not just fun to fly; it's insanely fun to fly.
If you're a pilot, do you know what the rudder is for? In this short video, Aviation Safety editor-in-chief Jeb Burnside shows the most basic of flying skills: How to keep a turn coordinated.
IFR magazine's Jeff Van West shows how a portable GPS can be used to evaluate what altitudes will be safe for flying up valleys (without actually changing altitudes) and how to use the GPS while in those valleys to enhance safety and situational awareness.

FULL INDEX OF PODCASTS Find All Podcasts Of Interest

AVwebBiz: AVweb's Business Aviation Newsletter
Delivered every Wednesday morning, AVwebBiz focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the business aviation industry, making it a must-read.

Add AVwebBiz to your free subscriptions today by clicking here and choosing "Update E-mail Subscriptions."
Jan 1, 10:14pm UTC

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Who's Where
Woody Saland
Woody Saland, formerly Dassault Falcon's manager of technical programs, is now the manager of technical programs and pilot operations and training. He's been with Dassault for five years.

Mar 17, 1:44am UTC

FULL INDEX OF WHO'S WHERE STORIES Find Past Who's Where Stories Of Interest

VIDEO


F-35B Joint Strike Fighter 40-Knot Fly-By

No video? Direct link here.
American Legend's Amphib LSA

No video? Direct link here.

READER-SUBMITTED PHOTOS
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Is ADS-B equipage on your radar?

ADS-B is available over the Gulf of Mexico and was just switched on around Philadelphia. What are your plans to equip?


Share your Opinion »

PILOT RESOURCES

FBO OF THE WEEK

AVweb's latest "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Atlantic Aviation at Republic Airport (KFRG) in Farmingdale, New York.

AVweb readers Jeffrey and Lisa Chipetine recently pulled some long hours flying rescued dogs to their new homes for Pilots N Paws — and the staff at Atlantic were more than happy to help in their journey. Click through to read their full story.

Keep those nominations coming.

Nominate an FBO »

SHORT FINAL...

Overheard in IFR Magazine's 'On the Air' Section
Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"

During my IFR training at Duluth (Minnesota) International Airport, I'd just declared a missed approach. Here's the exchange I had with ATC:

Tower:
"Cessna One Two Three Four Alpha: Fly heading of zero niner zero. Climb and maintain 3,200."

Me:
"Zero niner zero, climb and maintain 2,200."

Tower:
"Make that 3,000."

Me:
"Climb and maintain 3,000."

Tower:
"That should be 3,200. We'll get it right eventually."

Me:
"But will I? Climb and maintain 3,200."

Woody Minar
Dresser, Wisconsin

Submit your story »

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