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AVflash Vol. 8, Issue 02b Thursday, January 10, 2002
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This issue of AVweb's AVflash is brought to you by Teledyne ***************************************************************** The Top Headlines From AVweb's Expanded, Illustrated THE FAA SUGGESTS FLIGHT SCHOOL SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS... NOTE: Go to AVweb's NewsWire ...SAME TOPIC, DIFFERENT JOUR: AVIATION SECURITY, CONT'D.... ...CESSNA 172 VS. BANK, GA VS. FEAR... ...FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN, AND THE HUNT FOR BAD APPLES NOTE: For more details on this story, go to AVweb's NewsWire, at FLIGHT 587: MAKING SENSE OF THE JET THAT FELL APART... ...IS NOT YET MAKING MUCH SENSE NOTE: Go to AVweb's NewsWire GA ACCESS TO DCA -- SLOA GOING... ...OPERATORS WARNED: EXPECT DELAYS FAA BRINGS ITS PILOT DATABASE ONLINE: The FAA has for some time had a COMPUTER-PILOT DATALINK ON ICE: So the transportation appropriations NEW AIR DEFENSE, FLORIDIAN TNT: Aviation security officials and local REPORTERS OR TERRORISTS, YOU DECIDE: Authorities in the U.K. are BRING ON THE BACKGROUND CHECKS: The FAA has extended the comments period NTSB REVIEWS GOVT. OPS. SAFETY: Monday, the NTSB released a study that ON THE FLY...
Marines KC-130 crashed in Pakistan last night, at least 7 feared lost... _______________________________________ New Articles and Features on AVweb _______ COLUMNS "Say Again: Decisions, Decisions" ___________ SKYWRITINGS "Wind Wrestling In A Cub" In his earlier article, Rob Guglielmetti described his feelings as he ________________________ KLYDE MORRIS COMIC STRIP Just in case you were wondering who's in charge of aviation security ______________________________________ AVweb's Picture Of The Week... *** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** We received over 50 pictures last week. Congratulations to this To check out the winning picture, or to enter next week's contest, _______________________________________ AVweb's Question Of The Week... *** PREVIOUS RESULTS *** We received almost 500 responses to our question last week on the To check out the complete results, including comments, go to *** THIS WEEK'S QUESTION *** This week, we would like to know your thoughts on last weekend's Have an idea for a new QOTW? Send your suggestions to ___________________________________________________________________ Reader feedback on AVweb's news coverage and feature articles: Tons of reader mail about the Tampa teenager suicide crash. Mail __________________________________________ Sponsor News and Special Offers _______________ SHOPPING DEALS TEST DRIVE "FLIGHT EXPLORER AVWEB EDITION" WITH A FREE DEMO MODE ARE YOUR AIRCRAFT'S TIRES LOOKING A LITTLE WORN? REPLACE THEM WITH FREE ONLINE DEMONSTRATION OF SCHEDULE MASTER FROM TIME SYNC AT ____________ SPONSOR NEWS WHAT COULD YOU DO WITH $100? IF YOU'RE AN AIRCRAFT OWNER, TAKE A MOMENT AVEMCO INSURANCE COMPANY IS THE ONLY DIRECT WRITER OF GENERAL AVIATION ATTENTION CESSNA OWNERS & PILOTS! CPA'S 2002 SEMINAR SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED ADD ACTIVE NOISE CANCELING TO YOUR HEADSET WITH A HEADSETS INC. KIT TO SUPPORT AVWEB AND AVFLASH SPONSORS, SO THE NEWS WILL REMAIN FREE TO YOU! ________________________________________ We Welcome Your Feedback! AVflash is a twice-weekly summary of the latest aviation news, Letters to the editor intended for publication in AVmail should be This issue's editorial team: Have a comment or question? Send it to Have a product or service to advertise on AVweb? A question on Comments to AVweb's editorial team Want to subscribe or unsubscribe? Change/update your email address? Let's all be careful out there, okay? ________________________________________ Copyright (C) 2002, The AVweb Group. All rights reserved.
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News Coverage At www.avweb.com.
Yesterday, reacting to last weekend's crash by a flight student into a
Tampa skyscraper, the FAA issued recommendations that aim to try to
avert such incidents in the future. The recommendations expire after
six months, and are not mandatory. The FAA said flight school operators
should implement the suggestions in ways they deem appropriate to their
operations. The recommendations focus on greater oversight of student
pilots, and include: Keep all pre-solo students under the supervision of
a flight instructor at all times. Positively identify all students
before every flight. Require that all students complete their medical
exam before beginning training, to allow a chance to detect any
disqualifying mental condition. And more. AOPA yesterday called the
recommendations "reasonable and practical," though we expect they'll
seem uncomfortably Big-Brother-like to some.
details and the complete text of the FAA's suggestions to flight
schools.
On beyond flight schools: Suicidal jihadians with explosive shoes and
armed journalists can still find their way past airport security and
onto passenger- and fuel-laden aircraft. At the same time, an aged
congressman with a metal hip and an armed Secret Service agent are,
respectively, strip-searched and simply not allowed to board. Anyone
with the intelligence of a 15-year-old child apparently can steal a
light aircraft, fly it through military airspace and slam it into an
office building. Fortunately, nobody's seriously advocating the denial
of our freedoms as a failsafe solution to protect us from ourselves --
at least not yet. Unfortunately, so long as the insane and foolish
continue to kill and die for reasons the rest of us fail to comprehend,
so too will the noble and the brave die to protect us. And those who
belong to neither group will struggle to walk the line between self-
protection and paranoia.
Pilots are quick to point out that the Cessna 172 that crashed into the
Bank of America building in Tampa on Saturday all but bounced off,
killing only its sole occupant. Even general-news media seem to be
growing wise to the useful load and speed limitations that make your
average GA aircraft not especially terrorist-friendly. Many reports
have thus far portrayed the Tampa event more as an unfortunate troubled-
teen episode than a general aviation security crisis. NBC's Dateline
Tuesday focused on the boy's unsettled home life. There is also a
question about an adverse reaction to a prescription drug ... hardly
problems that can be solved by increased security at small airports.
In a sickeningly positive twist, the surreal image of a light aircraft's
tail hanging from the 28th floor of an office building has at least
imprinted on the public the reality that your generic light aircraft is
capable of relatively limited damage in such applications. Further,
millions of viewers have now, through a familiar local newscaster,
visited a small local airport and seen the concerned, patriotic, honest
people working to improve security there -- some now require security
badges and thumbprints -- and how even those measures would not have
stopped last week's crash in Tampa.
Don't hold your breath ... the more we learn about this crash, the
further we seem from finding a definitive cause. An American Airlines
Airbus 300 lost its vertical fin and both engines before crashing in
Belle Harbor, Queens, N.Y., last November, killing 265. The New York
Post recently reported that some six witnesses to November's crash,
including a retired police lieutenant and a fire department deputy
chief, have written to the NTSB demanding a public hearing on what they
say they saw -- fire and parts shedding from the aircraft's right wing.
The FBI is in possession of video taken at the rate of one frame per
minute by a traffic camera. One reporter who saw the tape claims that
it shows a puff of smoke in the sky where the jet had been.
The vertical fin of the doomed aircraft has been absolved of pre-
existing structural anomalies by NASA's composites experts. The NTSB's
analysis shows no evidence of a bomb or explosion, but shows a series of
very aggressive rudder movements. Airbus says their aircraft can
withstand 50 percent more force than their engineers reckon it would
ever see. However, a letter from the FAA and Airbus warned that, for
the A-300, abrupt use of rudder at high angles of attack could lead to
sudden loss of control. The NTSB said the aircraft encountered wake
turbulence. So, exactly what happened next -- or first, for that matter
-- is still far from clear. It may take a very long time for this
investigation to produce believable causal results ... that time has not
yet passed.
details on the American Airlines Flight 587 investigation.
Prior to 9/11, National Airport (DCA), conveniently located near
downtown Washington, D.C., hosted some 60,000 GA operations per year;
now, it hosts none. Adm. Paul E. Busick, the FAA's associate
administrator for civil aviation security, offered on Monday that a
proposal from NBAA was a positive step toward creating a regulatory
foundation for the resumption of GA at DCA. The plan would allow Part
91 operators to submit a request to the FAA Administrator asking for a
Security Letter of Authorization (SLOA).
To qualify for the SLOA, operators would agree that all passengers and
crew would be security-verified, all aircraft would be searched before
departing for DCA, all crew members would be U.S. citizens, and more.
Background checks would be conducted for owners and operators. Busick
expressed concern that the NBAA may have overestimated the ability of a
limited number of FAA employees to manage a large number of requests in
an extremely expeditious manner, and cautioned that the program may not
be operational by March, as the NBAA hoped.
NOTE: AVweb's NewsWire
details about the NBAA's proposal.
monstrous airman database file available for download, but now access is
easily available, interactive and online, at the FAA Web site. The FAA
says it won't release your mailing address unless you agree it's okay,
but if you don't remember being asked, you might want to check.
NOTE: Visit AVweb's NewsWire
details about the FAA's online airman database.
bill of 2002 gave $13.3 billion to aviation pursuits -- that's $800
million more than last year -- but not enough to support the alternative
datalink communication system intended to relieve radio congestion.
Originally envisaged to reduce communication delays that left airliners
stranded on the ground, datalink development is on hold. We'll have to
hope that pilots and controllers learn verbal shorthand to expedite
departures, while the FAA diverts the leftover funds to security needs.
bureaucrats are seeking to improve Florida's Dade-Collier Training and
Transition Airport (TNT) and use it as an isolation center to which
threatening aircraft can be diverted. The airport is 36 miles west of
Miami, in the Everglades, and has a 10,500-foot strip plus the distinct
"advantage" of being in the middle of nowhere. Proponents are looking
for funding for lights, observation/shooting platforms and bulletproof
assault vehicles. Of course, they'd have to keep highly trained
personnel as well as expensive fire equipment rotting away ... er,
standing at the ready ... in the isolated location -- and that becomes
practical only if planes are hijacked with morbid frequency.
investigating airport security practices after an article in the Sunday
People claimed that reporters smuggled weapons aboard a British Airways
737 out of London Gatwick for Manchester. The reporters said they
stashed a four-inch dagger, a stiletto knife and small meat cleaver in a
briefcase and overcoat and took the load through security and onto the
flight. While on the aircraft, the reporters said they took the weapons
to a lavatory situated near the flight deck. It seems that they then
opened the lavatory door and leered into the cockpit, which was not
protected by a locked -- or even closed -- cockpit door. British
Airways is expected to make a formal request that the government invest
in better screening devices.
for a final rule issued December 6, 2001, regarding criminal-history
record checks. You may now speak up through January 16. The original
rule required each airport operator and aircraft operator to adopt a
security program to conduct fingerprint-based criminal-history record
checks for anyone who wants unescorted access to the Security
Identification Display Areas of airports. The background check would
also apply to screeners. So the next time criminals slip through
security, at least it won't be criminals who let them do it.
examined accident rates for aircraft used in a variety of public-use
operations since 1993. That group includes low-level observation, law
enforcement, firefighting, search and rescue and the like. Almost half
of the hours flown were in rotorcraft. For the period 1996-99, all
public-aircraft operations had an accident rate of 3.66 per 100,000
flight hours. The rate for general aviation was 7.2 per 100,000 hours.
The report asked that the FAA collect more detailed and precise data in
the future to help the NTSB conduct a more thorough analysis.
Unison Industries said it will be bought by GE Engine Services...
Friday, NASA/Ames will close down the Museum at Moffett Field...
United Air Line mechanics are suing so they can go on strike...
SBA deadline for disaster loans for 9/11 aftermath is January 21...
Indian engineers are designing the country's first airship transport.
By the end of the day, evening, or night shift (as the case may be)
that friendly voice on the ATC frequency has made several decisions a
minute for eight hours or so. The ATC decision-making process has a
profound impact on those of us who fly within the system. Don Brown,
the NATCA safety representative at the Atlanta Air Route Traffic
Control Center, fills us in.
clambered into a 1945 Piper J-3-65 Cub for the first time. Well,
time marches on, and so has Rob's Cub flying. In this follow-up
article, Rob takes a look at life in the back seat when the weather
gets nasty and the wind kicks sand in your face. If you enjoyed the
last article, don't miss this one.
regulations, well ... maybe you don't want to know...
week's winner, Mark Murdock, of Jonesboro, Ga. Mark sent us an
exciting shot of his Dream Classic ultralight and a Kolb Firestar
in formation over rural Henry County in Georgia. Great picture,
Mark! Your AVweb prize is on the way.
go to
aviation year in review. We had nearly a tie on the top GA story of
2001 (besides 9/11): 33 percent of our respondents cited threats to
airports and airspace, and 32 percent voted for the economic downturn
and its effect on general aviation. Most of the comments we received
dealt with projections of the big aviation story for 2002. While many
guesses were received, one respondent offered this opinion: "The
biggest GA story for 2002 will be: One of the major networks or
newspapers will get a GA story right..."
Cessna 172 crash into a Tampa skyscraper. Please go to
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The Cessna Pilots Association (CPA) has announced its 2002 seminar
schedule to include some new and exciting courses. If you live in
Australia, CPA is coming your way with "Systems & Procedures for Cessna
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