The Curse of P-40 Lives On (and On....) NOTAM: 4/0410 Issued: 01/16/2004 14:36 Effective: 01/16/2004 20:15 - 01/18/2004 21:00 State: MD Facility: ZDC - WASHINGTON (ARTCC),DC. Type: VIP Description: HAGERSTOWN/THURMONT, MARYLAND JANUARY 16-18, 2004 LOCAL.

Builds and Sells 422 Helos in 2003! Robinson Helicopter Company produced 422 new helicopters in 2003, a record for the company. The total included 219 R44 Raven IIs, 75 R44 Raven Is, and 128 R22s. An additional 46 R22s were overhauled on the Robinson production line. Sales in 2004 should be even better; R44 and R22 production is already sold out more than five months in advance. Robinson attributes the boom in sales to the excellent market reception for the higher performance Raven II, and to improvements in the U.S. economy, which has helped the domestic market while the weak American dollar has greatly stimulated the foreign export market. Robinson employment increased by over 300 employees in 2003 to a total of 950. A new additional

"Stinging" Letter Sent To CBS News President AOPA President Phil Boyer (shown right, with Former TSA Head Admiral Loy, to his right) today sent a stinging letter to the president of CBS News, complaining about the "slanted, incomplete, factually erroneous, and salaciously inflammatory" story on general aviation airport security. That story aired Wednesday night on the CBS Evening News and claimed that there was "no security" at GA airports and that "nothing had been done" since 9/11. Boyer took the story apart piece by piece. "Your irresponsible reporting techniques included ... failure to mention a wide range of security initiatives — developed by AOPA and other organizations in concert with the FAA and Homeland

NATA President James K. Coyne (right) has described wednesday night's CBS Evening News segment on the lack of security at general aviation airports in the United States as "irresponsible journalism in its most egregious form." "Even a cursory check with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)-the government agency charged with aviation security-would have revealed to the CBS reporter that NATA and all of the general aviation industry have been working with the TSA over the past year to formulate general aviation airport security guidelines," Coyne stressed.  "Those guidelines were submitted to the TSA last fall and the TSA is now in the process of refining them and distributing them to the industry.  And long before that we worked hand-in-glove with th

New Piper Aircraft has introduced special 20th anniversary models of the company's flagship aircraft, the Malibu Mirage and the Malibu Meridian, to celebrate the significant innovations these models have brought to New Piper as well as the general aviation industry as a whole. "These models continue unchallenged in their niche," said New Piper President and CEO Chuck Suma. "The Malibu was Piper's first pressurized, cabin-class, single-engine aircraft, and the Mirage and the Meridian are proud inheritors of that legacy." When the Malibu was first designed, it was not intended to be an enhanced version of an existing model, but rather a totally new airplane. The primary goals were passenger comfort and supreme performance. It was also the first Piper model to be made with flus

Opportunity for Operators To Drum Up Additional Support 

Air tour operators have been holding their breath over the last few weeks, as the January 20 deadline for comment on the FAA's latest regulatory hammer drew near. However, late Wednesday night, the agency decided to extend the deadline to April 19, 2004 and that bit of extra time is giving operators the opportunity to gather additional support against the devastating proposal. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would raise the minimum number of hours required for pilots conducting charity fund raising flights from 200 to 500 and remove an exemption that allows Part 91 sightseeing flights within 25 nm of an airport. The rule, if adopted, would also force Part 91 operators to upgrade to at least Part 135

ANN Readers are really PO'ed and continue to send record amounts of e-mail (thousands...) to us over the matter. Here's a few more samples... Message(s) Sent To CBS Congratulations. You have proven once again that the terrorists are winning - with your help. The primary purpose of terrorism is not to win wars outright. It is to create terror within their enemy. And thereby cause their enemy to collapse from within. Last evenings Evening News does a great job in promoting this terror. Never mind that the piece was full of incorrect "facts" and no real expert on GA and its relation to terror was consulted in its preparation. Never mind that no small GA aircraft has ever, anywhere in the world, been used as an instrument of terror (except as i

The Aviation Weather Center (AWC) went operational this week with the release of their experimental Forecast Icing Potential (FIP) web-based graphical product. Many pilots already use the Current Icing Potential (CIP) that can be found within the other Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) suite of graphical products. Don't get too excited. At this point in time, FIP is not quite ready for prime time; according to the AWC disclaimer, FIP is "authorized for operational use by meteorologists and dispatchers." Therefore, pilots should not use this product as primary guidance for icing forecasts. CIP attempts to provide the likelihood of encountering icing based on data such as model output, pilot reports, satellite, radar and surface observations. FIP, on the other hand, provide

You Lucky TX Flyers Get To Avoid More of YOUR Airspace... NOTAM: 4/0384 Issued: 01/15/2004 17:08 Effective: 01/16/2004 22:00 - 01/19/2004 17:00 State: TX Facility: ZHU - HOUSTON (ARTCC),TX. Type: VIP Description: FALFURRIAS, TEXAS, JANUARY 16-19, 2004 LOCAL.

Eurocopter AS 355 (Twin Ecureuil) Series Helicopters AD/AS 355/75 MGB Free-Wheel 3/2004 DM Applicability: AS 355 E, F, F1, F2 and N model helicopters fitted with a main gearbox (MGB) incorporating: 1. A bevel reduction gear supplied or installed by Eurocopter Marignane; and/or 2. A combiner gearbox supplied or installed by Eurocopter Marignane; and 3. Has less than 10 hours flying time in service since installation of an applicable bevel reduction gear or combiner gearbox. Requirement: 1. Replace the combiner gearbox; or 2. Clean the combiner gearbox in accordance with a DGAC approved Eurocopter Technical Support Directorate published procedure.