On The Fly…

An F-4U Corsair crashed yesterday while participating in the CelebrateFreedom Festival at Columbia, S.C., killing pilot Joseph Tobul, 68. Theaircraft was streaming smoke as it overflew Columbia-Owens Downtown Airport andcrashed in a nearby subdivision, but avoided hitting any homes.EAA founder PaulPoberezny will be awarded the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) WrightBrothers Memorial Trophy in Washington, D.C., next month. Previousrecipients include Igor Sikorsky and Charles Lindbergh…A group of Britishand Dutch planespotters had their convictions of involvement in obtaining Greekstate secrets overturned last week. The spotters were arrested near a Greek military base outside Kalamata last November8, as they looked at aircraft and wrote down registration numbers as part oftheir hobby’s ritual…Boeing announced thatit will decide by early next year what type of aircraft will be designed next.The struggling commercial aircraft manufacturer is deciding whether to design aultra-fast airplane -like the proposed Sonic Cruiser – or a more traditional, “super-efficient” plane.During this process, the company is gathering feedback from several airlines…Budget carrierJetBlue Airways reported a 21-percent increase in its third-quarter net income.The airline — one of the few making a profit — attributes the gain to addedflights and an increase in passenger loads. JetBlue’s revenue doubled to $165.3million from $82.6 million. At the same time, other carriers are falling by thewayside, like National Airlines, who ceased operations last week…Citing deep-vein thrombosis(DVT) as a killer aboard airliners, dozens of airline passengers who say theysuffered blood clots in tight airline seats are taking their cases to Britain’sHigh Court. Fifty-six claimants accuse airlines of failing to warn themabout DVT. The three-day hearing is to decide whether deep-vein thrombosis canbe classified as an accident under the Warsaw Convention, which coverscompensation for death and injury during air travel.