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10.08.2010 2:00

FBO of the Week: Lakeshore Aviation (KMTW, Manitowoc, Wisconsin)

>>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $4.77 (up 1¢ from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $4.41 (down 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-->Last week, we told you how many of the FBOs nominated in our weekly contest were those pilots discovered when the weather forced them to divert from Wittman Regional Airport on the first day of Oshkosh. This week, we have another FBO that stepped up for those displaced pilots — Lakeshore Aviation at Manitowoc County Airport (KMTW) in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.AVweb reader Al Mathews was the first to tell us about the terrific service he and others received at Lakeshore on their way to OSH:Curt Drumm and his Lakeshore Aviation team welcomed us and went out of their way to accomdate our needs. They quickly arranged for restrooms and showers, brought picnic tables to us, arranged for a bus to take us to AirVenture, and held a Wisconsin brats and beer barbecue for us! No request was ignored.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! [Read more]

10.08.2010 2:00

Red Bull Wraps Air-Race Season

Austria's Hannes Arch placed first in the final event of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race in Lausitz, Germany, on Sunday, but Britain's Paul Bonhomme, who came in second, took the overall title for the season. Bonhomme, who also placed first in 2009, is the first pilot to win back-to-back titles and joins Mike Mangold of the U.S. as the only two-time champion in the eight-year history of the race series. The final race drew an overflow crowd of 118,000 spectators to the EuroSpeedway racetrack. Bonhomme said he hopes the competition will return to the site after the one-year hiatus that was recently announced. "It's a superb venue," Bonhomme said. "We're a motor-racing sport and we worked beautifully together. I hope that when the Air Race season fires up again, we have a lot more venues like this and that we indeed come back here again as well." But while the air race series winds down, another Red Bull project -- to fly in a balloon to the edge of space and parachute back to earth -- is moving forward. [Read more]

10.08.2010 2:00

FIRC Webinars Now Online

Certified flight instructors who want to stay current need to attend periodic refresher clinics, but finding one nearby when you need it can sometimes be a problem. Now AVseminars has come along to take advantage of the computer age and offer the FIRC online in a webinar format. The course is the first of its kind to be approved by the FAA. The class takes place in "real time" with up to 24 instructors participating in interactive discussion using a microphone and webcam, combining the interaction of a live seminar with the convenience of learning from home. The course runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. The next one coming up is August 21 and 22, with a registration deadline of August 17 and a fee of $96. [Read more]

07.08.2010 2:00

Sikorsky X2 Goes Faster

Sikorsky's unofficial 258 mph run last week of its X2 counter-rotating coaxial rotor technology demonstrator bests a previous record set by a Westland Lynx in 1986, but is still short of the X2's goal. Sikorsky aims to cruise the X2 at 288 mph by late this year. The helicopter itself is far from traditional. It includes a six-blade rear-facing propeller that relieves the main rotors of certain aerodynamic and engineering hurdles created by high-speed rotor-wing flight. Normally, traditional helicopters rely on the main rotor for all forward propulsion and lift. At high forward speeds, the rotor blades meet increasing stresses as they advance and retreat. At some point, the retreating blades can stall or the advancing blades can achieve tip speeds that reduce their efficiency. Those complications, among other things, effectively create a speed barrier for traditional helicopters. The X2 approaches the problem differently. [Read more]

07.08.2010 2:00

AVweb Insider Blog: The Risky Lure of AirVenture

Do FAA producedures at AirVenture increase the chances of accidents? Yes, a little. But the compromise is worth it for the higher traffic capacity. If you fly there, says Paul Bertorelli in the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog, bring your A-game. If you're uncomfortable with it, don't fly into Oshkosh. Read more and comment. [Read more]

07.08.2010 2:00

GAO On NextGen Human Factors Integration

The GAO says that FAA and NASA officials need to develop a cross-agnency plan for coordination of human factors research efforts, or NextGen implementation may see cost increases and delays. "FAA has not established an agreed-upon set of initial focus areas for research that identifies and capitalizes on past and current research," said the GAO. Meanwhile, "experts GAO contacted generally agreed that FAA's and NASA's human factors research efforts adequately support NextGen." While efforts by both NASA and the FAA are ongoing and coordinated "in a variety of ways," GAO says its research shows that human factors research leadership is still lacking and coordination efforts can be improved. The Office has offered suggestions. [Read more]

07.08.2010 2:00

NTSB To EASA: Fix Your Rudders

In 2001, an Airbus lost its vertical fin and crashed on Long Island; Friday, the NTSB directed Safety Recommendations to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) "to ensure safe handling qualities in the yaw axis throughout the flight envelope, including limits for rudder pedal sensitivity." The 2001 crash involved an Airbus A300, American Airlines Flight 587, and killed all 260 aboard, plus five on the ground. The NTSB determined it was caused when, as a reaction to a wake turbulence encounter, a pilot's application of rudder led to failure of the airliner's vertical fin. The NTSB's new recommendations A-10-119 (PDF) and -120 and a reiteration of previously issued A-04-63 aim to create new yaw axis certification standards and review existing aircraft to determine if they meet the standard. The Bureau directed the recommendations toward the European Aviation Safety Agency and specifically toward its certification specifications for large aircraft. [Read more]

06.08.2010 2:00

AVweb Insider Blog: Flight Students Need Protection

Student pilots have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to unscrupulous flight schools. Now California is trying stop it, and AVweb editor-in-chief Russ Niles asks the obvious question, "What's wrong with that?" Read more and add your own thoughts at the AVweb Insider blog. [Read more]