Aviation News

Scott Peterson of Santa Rosa, California didn't have to visit 1945 to get this photo; he just went to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and "happened by when these guys came in period uniforms and posed for another photographer." Thanks to the internet, Scott's good luck is now yours and ours to enjoy.

In some high-profile recent accidents, emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) have failed to activate or their signals were obscured. The technology has existed for some time to track individual aircraft by satellite. Should we scrap ELTs in favor of satellite tracking?Plus: Last week, we asked why aviation incidents and accidents are so appealing to the mainstream media — and got some great letters on that topic, by the way. Click here to read a couple. And click through on the headline to see the complete breakdown of answers to last week's poll.

Recent crashes in Alaska have illustrated the limits of current search-and-rescue technology that depends on ELT signals, according to a story in Monday's Alaska Dispatch. The Otter that crashed last month, killing former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, carried a new-generation 406 MHz emergency locator transmitter, but the force of the crash separated the unit from its antenna cable. As a result, according to the Dispatch, satellites were unable to detect the signal. The Dispatch also reported that another airplane that has been missing since Aug. 21 in the same region of Alaska where Stevens crashed is equipped with an older 121.5 transponder, and no signal at all has been detected. Some pilots told the Dispatch they depend on non-approved supplemental gear such as personal locator beacons, Spot messenger units, and Spider Tracks tracking systems, which use GPS technology and communications satellites, to supplement their FAA-required ELTs.

The NTSB last month asked regulators to require children to have their own seats and seat belts, but the FAA squashed that idea back in 2005, citing statistical data, and may do so again. The new call (specific to commercial aircraft, though relevant to small aircraft) is tied to a March 2009 crash of a Pilatus PC-12/45 that had been configured to seat 10 but crashed killing all 14 that were actually loaded aboard. Seven of those aboard were children and several appeared to have been thrown from the aircraft after initial impact. The crash itself was severe enough that it's unlikely anyone would have survived regardless of seating choice. But the FAA agrees that infants and toddlers are safest in their own seat using a child-specific approved restraint like those approved in 2006. But in the larger picture, the agency believes applying the requirement (buying an extra seat on a commercial airline for a small child) would ultimately drive more travelers to other, statistically less safe, modes of transportation.

The developers of the Transition folding-wing roadable aircraft are preparing a 19,000-square-foot facility in Woburn, Mass., for low-volume production to begin as early as late 2011. The company is currently working on construction of two of its newly redesigned vehicles, which will serve as road test and light sport aircraft certification flight test vehicles, respectively. Terrafugia is currently targeting a low- to mid-$200,000 purchase price for the Transition, and says construction of the two test prototypes will help finalize final pricing. If all goes well, the company hopes to provide "fifty skilled manufacturing jobs" at its new facility by 2013 as it ramps up toward high-volume production. But those plans have not yet been finalized and will similarly be affected by the lessons of low-volume production, according to the company.

The tiny all-electric four-engine aerobatic aircraft known as Cri-Cri, which is "cricket" in French, has flown for the first time, EADS has announced. The company's Innovation Works developed the airplane together with Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association. The first flight launched from Le Bourget airport near Paris last Thursday morning. "Take-off and climb were smooth, no vibrations could be felt and maneuverability was excellent," EADS said in a statement. The project may seem like pure fun, but it has a serious purpose, according to Jean Botti, EADS's chief technical officer. "The Cri-Cri is a low-cost test bed for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," he said. "We hope to get a lot of useful information out of this project."

Special Use Airspace (SUA) isn't special because Mr. Rogers said so. Instead, it's special because someone inside that airspace may be taking aim at you. Show your special grasp of SUA by acing this quiz.Take the quiz.

Paul Bertorelli recently blogged on the state of sim training, and that (plus your letters) got him thinking about the state of the art — and how so many of us insist on teaching skills that technology may have already rendered obsolete. In his latest post to the AVweb Insider, Paul asks if we're being traditionalists — or just getting a jump on becoming the cranky old farts of tomorrow. Read more and share your comments.

There are much better alternatives to emergency locator transmitters. In his post to the AVweb Insider blog, editor-in-chief Russ Niles focuses on one that's affordable, reliable and readily available: GPS. With better technology at hand, Russ wonder why ELTs are still the law. Read more and share your comments.

After the FAA announced recently that all aircraft owners will have to re-register their aircraft every three years, the National Air Transportation Association went to work on developing an Internet product that will handle that chore for owners. The re-registration program, developed in partnership with AIC Title Service, is available to both members and non-members of NATA, for $45 per aircraft. "The simple-to-use program ... allows for re-registrations to be professionally processed and tracked using a straightforward Web interface," says NATA. The new FAA rule goes into effect Oct. 1.

The federal government plans to invest more in NextGen and fund the rehabilitation or reconstruction of 150 miles of runways and other airport facilities as part of a $50 billion infrastructure effort that would create jobs, President Barack Obama said in a speech in Milwaukee on Monday. The six-year plan would not add to the federal deficit, but would be paid for via a new Infrastructure Bank that Mr. Obama says will leverage federal dollars and focus on the smartest investments.If Congress goes along, the plan would reform "the haphazard and patchwork way we fund and maintain our infrastructure ... to focus less on wasteful earmarks and outdated formulas, and more on competition and innovation that gives us the best bang for the buck," the president said. He proposed a "robust investment" in NextGen, to help move from a radar-based system to one based on satellite technology. AOPA was quick to respond to the president's remarks.

One person was killed and at least three were badly injured Monday when a Piper PA32-RT-300 Lance made an emergency landing on a Henderson, Nev., city street after an apparent engine failure. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sgt. John Sheahan told local media that two men and two women were aboard the Lance, which had just departed Henderson's Executive Airport around 8 a.m. on Monday. Pilot Douglas Touchet, 45, of Erath, La., died. His wife and the two others, also from Louisiana, were hurt. The group was apparently heading home after a long weekend in Las Vegas. Henderson is just south of Las Vegas. Police said no one on the ground was injured, perhaps because the pilot pointed the airplane away from houses. "I think we can attribute that to the pilot trying to put it down in a safe place," he said. "You're talking the plane crashed maybe 20 or 30 feet (from the nearest home)," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sgt. John Sheahan said.

The airline CEO who suggested introducing pay toilets on his aircraft is now saying the right seat in the cockpit should fly empty. Michael O'Leary, the sometimes controversial and always publicity-hungry head of Ryanair said he advocated abolishing first officers and since he said it to Bloomberg Business Week, it's now being widely reported. "Really, you only need one pilot. Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it," were the exact words. And if the lone pilot can't, for some reason, make sure the computer is doing its job, O'Leary suggested he do what his passengers do when they have a problem and that's call a flight attendant, in this case, one that's been trained to land the aircraft. "If the pilot has an emergency, he rings the bell, he calls her in, she could take over." He apparently wasn't asked if it might make as much sense to make the FO push a snack cart when he or she isn't needed to watch the computer.

The Santa Barbara Police Department has defended the show of force employed in the detention of King Schools owners John and Martha King on Aug. 28. Spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey told AVweb in a podcast interview officers went by the book in their initial contact with the Kings, which led to their being handcuffed and put in separate police cars. McCaffrey said they were acting on information from the federal El Paso Intelligence Center and the McKinney, Texas, Police Department that the aircraft was stolen (as we've explained in earlier stories the tail number on the Kings' leased Cessna 172 was a re-issuance of the N-number on a Cessna 150 that was stolen in McKinney eight years ago), noting the call from EPIC carries the same weight as a call from the FBI. They had just 15 minutes to cover the 12 miles to the airport and get in position but McCaffrey said they did double-check to ensure the aircraft in question was, indeed, a Cessna with the tail number they'd received. What followed was a textbook takedown, called a felony stop, used by police forces throughout the U.S. to secure a vehicle and its occupants suspected of a serious crime.

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"Heard on Chicago Center frequency:Pilot:"Chicago, Piper 12345 en route to St. Louis. Request flight following."Center:"Piper 12345, where in the world are you?"Pilot:"I'm down below the water [meaning south of Lake Michigan], heading for St. Louis."Center (deadpan) :"Piper 123, it must be pretty wet down below the water. Want to try again?"Pilot:"I'm ten miles south of Michigan City."Center:"That's more like it."John Urschalitvia e-mail

>>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $4.76 (no change from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $4.43 (up 1¢ from last week)Fuel prices provided weekly by AirNav, based on prices from the past 2 weeks. Changes are relative to last week's prices. /TEXT_ONLY-->http://media.avweb.com/banmanavweb/a.aspx?Task=Click&ZoneID=0&CampaignID=5860&AdvertiserID=167&BannerID=2980&SiteID=19&RandomNumber=251669563&Keywords=/TEXT_ONLY-->AVweb reader Doug Latch pointed out that we'd given due praise to two FBOs who stepped up to the plate when traffic was routed away from Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh at the beginning of AirVenture — but no one had given a nod to KOSH's own Orion Flight Services:These people went well beyond normal. They treated me like I had a Gulfstream or Boeing business jet, and they knew from the start I was flying a 1966 Cessna Skyhawk. During AirVenture this year, parking was extreme and almost gone. [While] the other FBO was only accepting twins and jets, Toby Kamark took me and my Skyhawk and treated us like Royalty ... [then] he took as many people as he could to register for the show and returned. ... I was there after the show, and the level of service did not decline.Keep those nominations coming. For complete contest rules, click here.AVweb is actively seeking out the best FBOs in the country and another one, submitted by you, will be spotlighted here next Monday!

Can pilots be trained in a simulator to handle every conceivable emergency situation, or are we just kidding ourselves? In the latest installment of the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli argues that at some point, you have to stop training and start flying. Read more and join the conversation.

The issues surrounding special light sport aircraft flight in instrument conditions are complex and arcane, and in an effort to ensure that some of the finer points are crystal clear, Dan Johnson, chairman of the Light Aircraft Manufacturing Association, sent a follow-up letter to AVweb this week expanding and clarifying some of the details touched on in Thursday's AVweb report. In his letter, Johnson adds background about some of the ASTM committee debates over the issue and emphasizes that safety is the prime concern. "The [committees] always put safety first in their efforts," he says. For the rest of Johnson's comments, see our Letters section.

One woman was killed and up to 38 people were injured when a Tiger Moth taking part in a small German airshow ran into the crowd Sunday. The accident happened at the Lillinghof airfield about 20 miles from Nuremberg. Witnesses told German media the vintage biplane was taking off when it veered off the runway and into the crowd. About 5,000 people were on hand for the event, which featured mostly small aircraft and an AN-2 Russian transport. It was the second airshow fatality on the weekend in Germany.

The provincial government of British Columbia is suing Transport Canada, among others, to recover the cost of medical treatment for passengers injured in an horrific balloon accident in 2007. B.C. says Transport Canada didn't do enough to ensure the commercial ballooning company involved was properly qualified and equipped to carry out the type of flight that ended in disaster on Aug. 24, 2007. Two people were trapped and died and most of the 11 others were hurt when they jumped from the balloon's basket after a propane fire erupted. Under Canada's public medical system, provincial governments fund a major portion of healthcare. Earlier this year, British Columbia enacted a law enabling it to recover the cost of treatment of those injured due to negligence or criminal acts. The province alleges at least four of the passengers suffered serious injuries, including brain injury, burns, broken bones and traumatic stress disorder. The mother and grown daughter who died couldn't escape and burned to death as the balloon broke its tether and shot 400 feet before the basket broke loose, landing in a campground, destroying several cars and RVs in the ensuing fire.