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All News

December 15, 2004

New Government Report Praises Efforts To Secure General Aviation Airports

AOPA's Boyer: "We're On The Right Track"

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report notes that "the small size, lack of fuel capacity, and minimal destructive power of most general aviation aircraft make them unattractive to terrorists and, thereby, reduce the possibility of threat associated with their misuse." The report concludes that continued partnerships between the general aviation (GA) industry and the government –- such as AOPA's Airport Watch program –- are vital to the long term success of efforts to enhance security at the nation's nearly 19,000 GA landing facilities.

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FAA, EPA Bicker Over Aircraft Emission Rules

An Update On The "World's Longest Regulatory Negotiation"

In Washington, they call it the "world's longest regulatory negotiation" -- five years of talks between the FAA and the EPA on regulating jet aircraft emissions. And can you guess how much progress has been made? That's right, little if any.

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Fumes In Cabin May Have Caused Cessna Blast

C340 Went Up As Mechanic Worked Inside Aircraft

The investigation continues into the explosion of a Cessna 340 while on the ramp at Lafayette Regional Airport, LA, last month. Sources tell ANN that it now appears there was an internal fuel leak, which led to a collection of fumes in the cabin. A lone mechanic working inside the cockpit, 61-year old Carl Moulis Fellow, was preparing to run-up the aircraft after maintenance, according to fellow mechanics on the ramp. They tell ANN he boarded, closed the cabin door and sat down in the pilot's seat. Fellow told his friends that he remembers "hearing the master switch 'click.'" That was about it.

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Next-Generation SportPlane Resource Guide NOW Underway

There comes a time in flight where the PIC shakes the stick and says, "Here, you take over." (Usually when you're upside down, nothing on the clock, and still climbing, but that's another story...). And that has happened recently with the Sport Pilot Resource Guide, the beloved, and accursed, monstrosity that weighs down coffee tables nationwide -- but contains more information on sport and experimental airplane types than anything else, ever.

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Bye-Bye, Balls Eight

NASA's Famed B-52B "Mothership" Officially Retires This Friday

The end of an era in aerospace history will be marked this Friday, Dec. 17, when NASA retires its venerable B-52B "mothership" heavy-lift launch aircraft.

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Continental Rejects Blame In 2000 Concorde Crash

French Prosecutor: There Was A "Direct Causal Link" Between Continental DC-10 And Accident

A French prosecutor Tuesday said there was a "direct causal link" between a titanium strip he said fell from the engine nacelle of a Continental Airlines DC-10 and the crash of an Air France Concorde at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris four years ago. It's another step toward a possible criminal indictment of Continental executives in the search for those who contributed to the accident.

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The Army Upgrades Chutes -- and Training Methods (Part II)

And a Solution Was at Hand... As it turned out, the US Forest Service had developed a chute for its smoke jumpers that perfectly met the Special Forces requirement. The initial requester, 10th Group, got them in April, 2002, and they have since been fielded throughout Army special operations.

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Aero-Views: Wings May Be Going, But Don't Chuck The TV Just Yet

GA Program "Wings To Adventure" To Debut In Summer

By Tom Gresham Before there is too much hand wringing and mourning over the loss of Discovery Wings, aviation junkies should know that they will not be without fresh television programming about general aviation.

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An RF Mystery Intrigues CAP

Chasing A Phantom Beacon In Miami

By Lt. Col. Robert J. Miller, Commander, Miami Senior One Squadron, Civil Air Patrol We were traveling homeward from our weekly meeting about 10:00pm local time when Col. Martin, an IC, received a call from AFRRC requesting assistance with a DF/ELT mission. The signal was on both 121.5 and 243. In order to expedite things, and since we were already teamed up, we accepted the mission: 04M2531: opened at 10:10pm local, 23 November 2004.

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FAA Okays Residential Development Near Long Beach Airport

But Officials Still Have Reservations

A controversial housing project that would put up to 1,400 single family homes and apartments close to California's Long Beach Airport has won FAA approval -- with reservations.

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Whooping Cranes and Ultralights Reach Florida

They Did It Again!

Thirteen endangered whooping cranes and their surrogate parents—three ultralight aircraft—reached Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge shortly after 0900 Eastern today after a 64-day, 1,200-mile trek over seven states.

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ATP Receives First Of 16 Glass Cockpit Diamond Stars

First Officer Candidates Will Spend Up To 320 Hours In Them

Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) last week received the first of 16 new glass-cockpit, G1000-equipped DA40 Diamond Stars to be used exclusively in ATP's new Direct Track extension of the Airline Career Pilot Program. These 16 new aircraft will be used to train first officer candidates for the competitive regional airline job market.

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Piper To Equip Ohio University With New Trainers

Biggest Single Sale Yet Of Glass-Cockpit Warriors

The New Piper Aircraft Inc. has made its largest single sale of advanced, glass-panel equipped trainers to Ohio University, which has purchased seven new Piper Warrior III aircraft equipped with the Avidyne FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck.

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Deep Impact: Launch No Sooner Than January 12th

Vehicle Being Disassembled For Part Replacement

The launch of the Deep Impact spacecraft has been rescheduled for no earlier than Jan. 12. During a review of launch vehicle hardware, it was discovered that some components of the inter-stage adapter did not receive proper heat treatment and must be removed and replaced. The inter-stage adapter is located between the first and second stage of the rocket. A Boeing engineer reviewing an "as-built" drawing of the vehicle discovered the inter-stage had not been heat treated to a revised higher specification.

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Cassini's Next-To-Last-Pass

Getting Ready To Drop Huygens Probe On Titan

The Cassini spacecraft completed a successful rendezvous with Saturn's moon Titan on Monday. This was the last pass before the European Space Agency's Huygens probe is sprung loose from Cassini on Christmas Eve (in US time zones). Information gathered during this flyby will provide an opportunity to compare images from Cassini's first close Titan encounter which occurred on Oct. 26.

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Cirrus Is A Truly Continental Experience

Aircraft Now Registered In Europe

Great Britain welcomed its first Cirrus onto that country's aircraft registry last week when serial number 1458 Cirrus SR20 traded in its "N" number for a "G."

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US Airways FAs: Strike!

If Bankruptcy Judge Voids Contracts, They Walk

US Airways flight attendants say, if the judge presiding over the airline's second bankruptcy voids their contracts with the company, they'll walk.

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RAAS Service Bulletins Available For Citations

Cessna Will Perform Installation

Cessna has released the final Service Bulletins for the new Runway Awareness and Advisory System (RAAS). Cessna's Citation Service Center network will perform the RAAS installation and associated certification for all Citation Bravos (model 550), Citation Encores (model 560), Citation Excels (model 560XL), and Citation Xs (model 750). Cessna is among the industry's first to offer customers this important new safety system.

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Aero-News Quote Of The Day (12.15.04)

"We strongly disagree that anything that Continental did was the cause of the Concorde accident. We are confident that there is no basis for criminal action and we will defend any charges in the appropriate courts." Source: Nick Britton, Continental Airlines' spokesman in the United Kingdom, after a French judge ordered company executives to Paris so they could testify about the crash of an Air France Concorde four years ago. A French prosecutor Tuesday said there was a "direct causal link" between a titanium wear-strip that fell from a Continental DC-10 and the crash, which occurred moments later.

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AD: Pilatus

AD NUMBER: 2004-23-01 MANUFACTURER: Pilatus (CORRECTION) SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-23-01 SUMMARY: The FAA adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. (Pilatus) Model PC-7 airplanes with any Lear Romec RR53710B type or Lear Romec RR53710K fuel booster pump.

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AD: Pratt & Whitney

AD NUMBER: 2004-25-18 MANUFACTURER: Pratt & Whitney SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-25-18 SUMMARY: The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) PT6A-60A and PT6A-65B turboprop engines. This AD requires replacing Woodward propeller governor assemblies, part number (P/N) 8210-212H.

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