I copied this from IPilot.com and thought it might be of interest to the
KRnet Listees
Don Lively
Burlington IA
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Air show and fly-in season kicks off with Sun 'n' Fun in Florida this
week
The 32nd annual Sun 'n' Fun Fly-In at Lakeland, Florida gets
going this Tuesday, drawing as many as 160,000 pilots and attendees
and several thousand aircraft. The F-22 Raptor fighter jet
will get its public debut this year, flying on several days. This year's
daily air
show schedule will include the Aeroshell acrobatic team,
Patty Wagstaff, Gene Soucy, Sean D. Tucker, and many others. Tucker will
perform a new acrobatic routine using an unmodified Columbia
400SL as part of his new tour to raise awareness about spin training
and unusual attitudes. Since the fly-in nearly coincides
with the 25th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle launch, the Sun 'n'
Fun
organizers also managed to snag John Young and Robert
Crippen, the commander and pilot, respectively, on that first flight.
The two
will appear as part of the evening program on Saturday,
April 8.
Impasse? Air traffic controller contract talks stalled,
depending on whom you ask
While the state of labor contract talks between the FAA and
the National Air Traffic Controllers Association is difficult to divine,
it is safe
to say that they are not going smoothly. In a harshly worded
press release last week, NATCA declared contract talks had completely
broken down, with the FAA allegedly rejecting an unspecified
offer from NATCA. But FAA Administrator Marion Blakey fired back that
the
FAA was unaware of NATCA's latest offer and that neither
side had called an impasse to the talks. Contract negotiations have been
ongoing for slightly more than nine months, with both sides
complaining about snags in the process periodically. The FAA is trying
to
get a leaner contract to reduce overtime costs. The two
sides are set to meet Tuesday to exchange their latest proposals.
(http://www.natca.org/mediacenter/pressreleasedetail.asp?id=381),
(http://www.faa.gov/news/news_story.cfm?contentKey=4032)
SOUTHEAST: Contract tower company must pay $25 million after
2003 midair
A midair collision between a Cessna 182 Skylane and a Cessna
172 above Deerfield Beach in June 2003 was at least partially the
fault of two contract air traffic control towers, a Florida
jury found last week. Five people were killed in the crash, which
occurred shortly
after the pilots of the two aircraft had made contact with
control powers at Boca Raton and Pompano Beach, respectively, the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The family of Steve Ross, the
pilot of the Skylane, will get about $25 million from Robinson Aviation,
the
air traffic control company named in the verdict of the
lawsuit. The National Transportation Safety Board's probable cause
report into the
crash, which occurred during day visual flight conditions,
found the pilots responsible for failing to see and avoid each other.
The report
also cited the Boca Raton air traffic controller's failure
to provide relevant traffic information to the two planes as a
contributing factor in
the crash.
(http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=MIA03FA124B&rpt=fi),
(http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-pilotjury0306apr03,0,5797353.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state)
FAA puts positive spin on UAVs while others worry during
Congressional hearing
At hearings before the aviation subcommittee of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday, voices on
several sides of the discussion on the future on unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) spoke out. A representative from the FAA told of
how
UAVs were the next great challenge for the agency, which he
said was fully up to the task of making sure UAVs integrated with other
aircraft in the nation's airspace. But those words were no
comfort for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which continued
to
voice its view that something must be done to regulate UAVs
so that temporary flight restrictions don't continue to pop up wherever
UAVs are operating. The hearing came as the House considers
what legislation, if any, should be crafted to keep UAV operations
compatible with general aviation and commercial airliner
operations. (http://www.faa.gov/news/news_story.cfm?contentKey=4029),
(http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2006/060329uav.html)
Putting pressure on Airbus, leasing companies tell it to
redesign the A350
Airbus' answer to Boeing's fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliner
isn't good enough and needs a redesign already, two heavyweights in the
airline industry said at a conference in Orlando last week.
Steven Udvar-Hazy and Henry Hubschman, who run the two largest aircraft
leasing companies in the world, agreed that the A350 design
is not innovative enough and will languish in the 787's jet blast unless
Airbus changes the designs now, the Seattle Times reported.
That news comes as Boeing has logged more than 300 orders for its
medium-range widebody jet, while Airbus lags behind in sales
of the A350. Neither aircraft is in production yet, but the Dreamliner
should start coming off the production line sometime in
2007. A redesign at this point in Airbus' program would be expensive and
risky,
the two men agreed, but necessary if they company wants to
stay competitive. Turning the A350 into a different plane, incorporating
more new technologies, would cost as much as $10 million and
delay the plane's release for at least another year, to as late as 2011.
(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002896362_boeing29.html)
Compiled by Peter Sachs. Send comments and news tips to
pe...@ipilot.com
