briefs

AVMAIL INDEX AVmail: Jan. 29, 2007Reader mail this week about the Comair crash, ATC staffing, user fees and more.

It may not be as flashy or capable as GPS but Long Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN) is almost bulletproof when the going gets tough, and thats why the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) is urging the federal government to improve it. The feds have asked for opinions on what to do with LORAN, a […]

The owner of two small cargo aircraft that collided at Milwaukees General Mitchell International Airport last Wednesday says both pilots were complying with instructions from the tower. One of the pilots was slightly injured when the Cessna 402 and Beech 99, both owned by Freight Runners Express, came together at the intersection of three taxiways […]

Vietnams flying farmers (well, technically, they havent really flown yet) are at it again and this time, according to VietNamNet Bridge, it looks like they might actually put some air between themselves and the ground. As AVweb reported in 2004, Tran Quoc Hai and Le Van Danh from Tay Ninh Province cobbled together a helicopter […]

The British media is buzzing about a covert video and photo surveillance mission thats worthy of an Ian Fleming novel. But unlike a Fleming book, theres nothing as paltry as the future of mankind at stake. This plot has shaken and stirred something far more important-soccer (or, as they prefer to call it in Britain, […]

After presenting himself to the cabin crew, Stephen Brown was asked to sit in one of the front passenger seats while the right-seat pilot switched sides. He then transitioned from a 182 cockpit to the glass screen spectacle that is a modern airliners command post. Gosh, theres a lot going on in there compared to […]

Stephen Brown says he has no intention of abandoning his successful air conditioning business in Albuquerque, but hes done something most private pilots havent. The 47-year-old 182 pilot was asked to take the right seat of a Continental Airlines Boeing 757 after the captain collapsed at the controls (he later died) shortly after takeoff from […]

Symphony Aircraft and Tiger Aircraft customers may be down but they’re not necessarily out. Liberty Aerospace, which came on the scene roughly concurrently with the now-bankrupt Symphony and Tiger, is offering to honor the deposits of customers of its former competitor toward the purchase of a Liberty two-place touring aircraft. “The exit of these two […]

Frank Thielert, the CEO of Thielert AG, announced that Kent Abercrombie has been selected as the new president of Superior Air Parts. Abercrombie joined Superior in December of 2000 as the director of finance and was promoted to V.P. of finance in September 2005. Last year Superior experienced 25-percent growth, and further growth is expected […]

An NTSB recommendation resulting from its investigation of a January 2001 King Air crash that killed all aboard — two crew and eight members of the Oklahoma State University basketball team — has borne fruit. NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker praised the “admirable work” of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and other student athletic organizations […]