Superior took the success of its experimental XP-360 engine line to the next logical level Thursday, April 15, 2004, with the introduction of the Vantage 360. The Vantage incorporates the improvements that Superior engineered into the in an FAA certified package. The type certificate, #E000001SC, was presented to Superior at a press conference at Sun-n-Fun. All participants hailed the Vantage engine project as a model of industry/FAA partnership.

Hey... Is that...? Naw... Couldn't Be... JIM CAMPBELL at Sun 'n Fun????

The birds are still singing. Great chasms have not opened up in the earth. Society's precepts are more or less intact (no matter what Jerry Falwell may tell you). Rampaging hordes of Visigoths have been amazingly quiet. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are nowhere to be seen... AND Jim Campbell has been to Sun 'N Fun. Mind you, a heavy frost has been forecast for hell... but that's only a rumor. And.. best of all, Pigs haven't flown.

Nationwide Newspaper Calls For Aviation User Fees

AOPA defended general aviation to the rest of the world on Thursday, after a USA Today editorial claimed airline passengers "subsidize" general aviation. In an opposing view piece published alongside the paper's editorial, AOPA President Phil Boyer explained to USA Today readers that the current system is a single structure, designed for the airlines.

Mike O'Sullivan remembers Spitfires fondly, and personally. "I had RAAF pilots - Spitfire pilots - in my family. Not my dad, he was in the Navy. But my uncles." Mike smiles, like many of us, when he remembers his earliest interest in aviation. "Yeah, I always wanted to fly. There were always airplanes around the station. Old surplus airplanes, not serviceable… Mustangs, Spitfires." Those planes were destroyed - so much old, irreparable junk, by the standards of the day - before Mike appreciated what they were, or what they signified. But they left their mark. Mike is in the USA to introduce his successful Supermarine Spitfire kit to the American market. The well-finished demonstrator, now the property of American dealer Craig Muth, is approximately 80% scale.

'Dash-10s' In A King Air C/E 90? Can you say, 'Rocketship?'

National Flight Services has delivered their first Honeywell TPE331-powered King Air 90 with the Kilo Alpha 290 conversion. The Kilo Alpha conversion program for the Beechcraft King Air C90 and E90 series aircraft features two new Honeywell (Garrett) TPE331-10 (1000 horsepower engines) with new McCauley five-bladed BlackMac noise reduction propellers backed by full factory warranties. Also included in the conversion are Raisbeck Aft Body Strakes and the Kilo Alpha 290 "Fresh Air" Exhaust Soot Reduction System.

Three On Board Were Killed

Federal safety investigators say the test pilot aboard a Bombardier Challenger 604 test aircraft pulled "too aggressively" on the yoke, causing fuel to slosh aft and pushing the center of gravity out of the safety envelope.

CEO Denies Company Could Move To US

"Surprising." "Detrimental to Canada's industrial future." "There's been some sort of quid pro quo..." That's how some Canadians reacted when they heard that their government has awarded a contract for new CF-18 simulators -- not to the home team, CAE, Inc., but to Bombardier Aerospace, which plans to buy the sims from L-3 Communications in New York. To make that deal work, Ottawa will have to pay $44 million more than CAE bid and uses what, to Canadians, amounts to foreign goods and services.

The TSA Raises Klyde's Ire...

Courier Pilots Testing Product, Company In Contract Negotiations With Four Airlines

Just a few days ago during our AEA coverage, we told you about NavAero's new t*Bag C2 electronic flight bag product, which at the time was estimated to receive FAA approval by June of this year. The system consists of a control box that is permanently mounted on the aircraft, an interconnect box and a touch-screen display that mounts in the cockpit. According to company Public Relations official Ms. Cheryl De Filippo, the product is still on schedule for its first STC in June. In addition to that, however, there's other exciting news about this new flight bag product.

Time Pieces would like to do a little bragging... for a good reason. They are announcing the sale of its first vintage fractional franchise. Organized to handle the tremendous amount of interest generated by its initial press coverage, Time Pieces has now started after its goal of "a franchise in every state." Bob May and Ron Dillard will operate the new Time Pieces Franchise location at Creve Coeur Airport, located in St. Louis, Missouri, with a nostalgic Piper Cub. 

AAL Briefs FAs On Focus Group Results

What does service with a snarl get you? Fewer passengers, if you're not careful. That was the message American Airlines recently sent in a letter to flight attendants, after conducting focus groups with some of the company's top customers, according to the Dallas Morning News.

After taking an 11-year hiatus, the world famous Red Knight returns to the sky for the 2004 North America air show season. Although present at air shows in past years such as the Reno Air Races and Nellis Air Force Base, the Red Knight will be making its first official performance on April 17th and 18th at the annual EAA Sun and Fun convention in Lakeland, Florida. When he is not flying the former CT-133, Chris Rounds will have the aircraft on display in the Warbirds lot.

JFK Invests In A380 Infrastructure

If the giant Airbus A380 were to fly from London to New York's JFK tomorrow, it could pull up to one of only four gates on landing. Now, the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey is spending $179 million on infrastructure to make more gates available to the behemoth.

"Virtually all of the problems with the air traffic control system cited in the USA Today editorial are problems of the airlines' own making. The delays that the FAA and the airlines are already forecasting for this summer are largely due to the hub-and-spoke system that the major airlines rely on. The hub-and-spoke system creates unrealistic arrival and departure schedules at the major hub airports. Summertime storms only compound the problem." Source: Phil Boyer, writing on behalf of the AOPA in USA Today. He was responding to an editorial that accused GA pilots of not paying their full weight when it comes to government-provided aviation services. The paper's opinion quoted a recent in-flight magazine article by Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson, blaming

Goodrich, Boeing/Wichita Selected As Final Vendors

Boeing this week completed its 7E7 Dreamliner partner team by selecting its Wichita division to provide the all-new passenger jet's pylons and Goodrich Corporation to provide the nacelles, including the thrust reverser.

They're Flyin' 'Em In By The Plane Load

Just what IS it about Krispy Kreme doughnuts? Most of us will admit to a deep and very personal love affair with the glazed confections -- they're so easy on the taste buds but so cruel to the waistline. Now, all that extra weight is posing a problem aboard flights from the mainland to the islands.

NATA has nominated three individuals to the NATA Board of Directors: Dean Harton, president and CEO of Piedmont Hawthorne Holdings; Jim Spinder, president and COO of Atlantic Aero; and Bill Koch, chief operating officer of SevenBar Enterprises.

NOTAM:  4/3212  Issued:  04/15/2004 14:31  Effective:  04/16/2004 13:10 - 04/16/2004 16:05  State:  AK  Facility:  ZAN - ANCHORAGE (ARTCC),AK.  Type:  VIP  Description:  ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, APRIL 16, 2004.

NOTAM:  4/3230  Issued:  04/15/2004 18:22  Effective:  Immediately - Until Further Notice  State:  MN  Facility:  ZMP - MINNEAPOLIS (ARTCC),MN.  Type:  HAZARDS  Description:  APPLETON,MN.

NOTAM:  4/3077  Issued:  04/13/2004 12:59  Effective:  04/17/2004 19:00 - 04/18/2004 02:00  State:  KY  Facility:  ZID - INDIANAPOLIS (ARTCC),IN.  Type:  AIR SHOWS/SPORTS  Description:  LOUISVILLE, KY