It's official. Monday morning, the parent company of
Independence Air, Flyi, announced to its customers and employees
the airline will cease operations January 5, after 7:00 pm EST.
A skydiving expedition turned tragic Monday after a single
engine Cessna carrying a pilot and six skydivers clipped a tree and
impacted a dam outside Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Five
onboard the aircraft perished.
Former Cosmodrome Director Found Guilty Stealing Artifacts
The former president and CEO of the Kansas Cosmodrome, Max Ary,
has some high-flying friends backing him up as he faces conviction
for stealing artifacts from the midwest space museum.
While investigators at the scene of a fatal accident last week
in SE Nebraska are piecing together the wreckage in hopes of
determining a cause of the mishap, the pilot's instructor is asking
why his student, George Greening -- who had recently received his
private license for VFR ops -- took off into heavy fog sometime in
the early hours of December 29.
New Year's Day marked the start of Phil Boyer's 15th year as
president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Association -- and as
tribute to his dogged service to general aviation, Boyer is
receiving a special anniversary gift. But what do you get the man
who already has everything... or heads a powerful organization of
over 407,000 members?
Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. is entering the new year with a new
name -- but it shouldn't be too hard for those in the industry to
follow along. The company announced effective January 1, they will
be known as PHI.
If you've ever been to Arlington National Cemetery, it probably
made a deep impression on you. It sure did on Morrill Worcester
when he visited Arlington as a boy of 12, on his first trip to the
capital.
Will Provide Wireless Internet To Airline
Passengers
One of the hottest topics in biz-av lately has been the
anticipated availability of wireless internet access aboard private
business aircraft and commercial airliners. A key component of such
a program was successfully placed into orbit last week.
Thankfully, 2005 was a good year for the best and brightest
among us to step forward and work tirelessly on behalf of us
all. While the severity of the threats we faced in 2005 was stepped
up a mite, so was the quality of expertise and passion brought to
our defense by those who heroically demonstrated to the the world
the very best side of aviation... via their deeds, words and
actions.
Part Two, Of Two
While we hate to dwell on the negative, there were some real
downers, aviation-wise, in 2005. Sure... "stuff" happens, but a few
folks seemed to go out of their way to create problems for the
world of aviation. Be it ignorance, arrogance or just plain
incompetence, these were the folks that made our lot a whole lot
more difficult and immeasurably injured the aviation world in the
past year.
The overall theme of 2005 to warbird operators is: growth and
expansion. As hard as it is to believe, there are more warbirds of
more types flying at the end of 2005 than there were at the end of
2004.
ANN's Top 10 Products/Programs Of 2005 (Part Two, of Two)
When it comes to the people, planes and products of the aviation
business, ANN firmly believes that there is no such thing as an
embarrassment of riches -- though 2005 actually made us think
that dictum over a time or two. This was a good year for aviation
products and programs; one of the best we've seen. Here are ten
reasons why... the best ten, of 2005, in our humble
opinion.
The most critical survival aspect of flying partial panel is
identifying a failed instrument in the first place. So how
can we make this confusing yet life-saving diagnosis?
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The answer to life, the universe and everything, according to
"The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy." This is very
funny if you live in the Base 13 universe.
"We COULD have recognized only one of these guys, and
justifiably so; it's far more gratifying, however, to recognize
them all -- for just as the Allied nations battled the Axis in
WWII, these guys are all fighting for the greater good of general
aviation. The only difference is that, they -- and their
organizations -- approach those same battles from different
angles."
Source: From ANN's compilation of the Top 10
Aero-Heroes of 2005, where we selected NBAA's Ed Bolen, AOPA
President Phil Boyer, GAMA's Pete Bunce, NATA's James K. Coyne and
the EAA's Tom Poberezny -- the "Alphabet Association Gurus" -- for
their combined contributions to the greater good of general
aviation.