For a while now, an ASTM committee that develops the standards for light sport aircraft to operate under instrument flight rules has struggled to reach consensus on a key point -- whether Special-LSAs should be allowed to fly in actual instrument meteorological conditions -- and although the committee members still disagree, they have decided to move forward and change the standards to prohibit the use of S-LSAs in IMC. That proposed change now must go through some further approvals and then be submitted to the FAA for an OK before it takes effect. That process could take until the end of this year or perhaps longer, Dan Johnson, chairman of the Light Aircraft Manufacturing Association, told AVweb on Wednesday. The change will not be retroactive, Johnson said. Any S-LSA that is flying today, or that is built before the new standard takes effect, is not prohibited from IMC flight if the aircraft is properly equipped and flown by a qualified pilot (although manufacturers may choose to prohibit IMC flight in their aircraft even when the ASTM standard allows it).
Chandler Negrete, an 8-year-old boy, is preparing to fly from Arizona to New York in a Cessna 172 with an instructor to raise money for children with parents serving overseas in the military. The instructor will wield pilot-in-command responsibility for the flight, but clearly the intent is to get Negrete some stick time. The third-grader is currently preparing for the flight and has accumulated all of 12 hours in a simulator and 12 hours in an actual airplane. His instructor, Matt Forsey, works for Sawyer Aviation in Arizona. The team is seeking donations and hopes to raise between $80,000 and $100,000 for their charity's cause. But, according to a local news report, Negrete "needs to collect $15,000 in donations to cover the cost of the flight," and no date has yet been set for the trip. Of course, for some pilots, simply the proposition of the flight itself may conjure memories of another one altogether.
Air Force veteran Richard Young will attempt, this Sept. 11, to establish a closed-course speed record using unleaded fuel developed by Swift Enterprises. Young will be flying his one-of-a-kind Western Air Racing Special, which is a "purpose built closed course pylon racer" that he flew at Reno in 2007, 2008, and 2009, according to his website. The current and applicable closed-course speed record for a piston-engine aircraft weighing between 300 and 500 kilograms was set in 2004 at 238 mph, according to Young. That aircraft burned conventional leaded avgas. Young hopes to run the course at 260 mph in his aircraft burning Swift's product and "verify the performance characteristics of clean burning bio fuel" at the same time. That could be difficult to do in one 62.1 mile stint flown at 260 mph (or about 15 minutes), but we'll be watching for whatever information the attempt produces.
>>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $4.76 (down 1¢ from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $4.42 (down 2¢ 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's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to Montgomery Aviation at Indianapolis Executive Airport (KTYQ) in Zionsville, Indiana.AVweb reader Brian Johnson tells us Montgomery is the cream of the crop in his region:... [B]y far the best experience I have had with an FBO in my 18 years of flying. They are very courteous, helpful and responsive. I have been part of Eagle Flyers, their local flying club, for the past two years, and it has been a wonderful experience. Very well-maintained aircraft, reasonable prices, good availability and excellent service this is the type of FBO that inspires current and future general aviation pilots.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!
Problems stemming from simulator training have been cited as contributing factors in airline accidents that caused more than half of the 522 fatalities over the last decade, according to a USA Today analysis published on Tuesday. Most recently, the NTSB cited deficient simulator training as a contributing factor in its final report on a December 2008 accident in Denver, in which six people were severely hurt when a Continental 737 ran off a Denver runway. Simulated crosswind training in the airline industry is "inadequate," the NTSB reported, due to "deficient simulator wind gust modeling" that fails to provide pilots with "realistic gusty crosswind training." USA Today noted that simulators also were cited in the NTSB reports on last year's fatal Colgan Air crash and the November 2001 crash of an American Airlines A300 in which 265 people died.
John and Martha King will help the Santa Barbara Police develop training for members of the department to help them more effectively deal with incidents involving aircraft. The Kings were detained at gunpoint, handcuffed and held at the Santa Barbara Airport last Saturday after a case of mistaken identity over the N-number on their leased Cessna 172. Martha King told AVweb the chief of police, Camerino Sanchez, called her husband to apologize "clearly and profusely" for the aggressive manner in which they were detained. "He said that the police don't have any training for aircraft stops, and used the only procedure they knew a 'hot stop' on a stolen vehicle," she said. The Kings will be providing the department with ideas on how to develop training for officers to intercept aircraft properly. John King also suggested the training could be developed into a national set of standard operating procedures for all police departments. Martha King said the conversation with the police chief was "very cordial." Meanwhile, AOPA is reporting that the FAA has removed the N-number from the list of stolen aircraft and the National Business Aviation Association is calling for further action that would likely have prevented Saturday's incident.
The Santa Barbara police chief had the decency and class to apologize to John and Martha King after holding them at gunpoint over the weekend following an erroneous stolen aircraft report. Unfortunately, as Paul Bertorelli reports on the AVweb Insider blog, pilots are uniquely vulnerable to this sort of thing and we wonder how many agencies would bother with the apology, much less the extra mile to avoid these things in the first place. Read more and join the conversation.
John and Martha King's brush with the authorities in Santa Barbara on Saturday is apparently the second time this airplane has been detained and its pilot questioned because it shares an N-number with a Cessna 150 stolen eight years ago. According to aviation blogger Max Trescott, former Cessna employee Jim Pitman picked up the factory-fresh Skyhawk in Independence and flew it to Wichita for meetings. On landing he was met by Wichita police, who quickly ironed out the mix-up and sent him on his way. Why that didn't trigger an update to the databases that were consulted to create the situation in Santa Barbara is a question sure to come up as aviation group leaders, including AOPA President Craig Fuller, demand answers from authorities over the treatment of the Kings. As we reported earlier, aviation's most prominent husband-and-wife team is calling on government agencies to keep their databases up to date and warning pilots and aircraft owners they could be next to be surrounded by heavily armed police, handcuffed and detained because of a bit of miscommunication.
Although business aviation in much of the world has been downplaying the luxury aspect and emphasizing efficiency and productivity, a major exhibition in Abu Dhabi next February embraces the undeniable comforts that come with private air travel. Most of the major business aviation companies are expected to take part in Big Boy Toys, which runs from Feb. 2-5, 2011, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center. Although an exhibitors' list isn't available on the website, Al Bawaba, a Middle Eastern news agency, says the show is "expected to attract top aviation customers across the globe." In addition to kicking the tires on the latest that aviation has to offer, attendees can shop for high-end marine, automotive and electronics products and maybe even book their favorite superstar for a private concert. Meanwhile, the publication says the market for business aircraft looks rosy in the region and that bodes well for the show.
The recent past hasn't been all that pleasant for the business and commercial aircraft sectors, so a group of leading industry execs is looking to the future. Representatives of manufacturers, brokers and operators will debate the topic "Preparing For The Future" at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Long Beach, Calif., Sept. 14-16. Among the topics to be discussed are whether the recent uptick in orders signals an end to the downturn. There's also the interesting question of whether the absence of consolidation of manufacturers during the downturn was a good thing or a bad thing.
