briefs

https://avweb.com/avmail/ Reader mail this week about FAA budget cuts, Cirrus parachutes (and the pilots who use them), and more.

_______COLUMNS CEO of the Cockpit #37: Pilot Lounge and PoliticsIt’s the final push to the election, and politics have entered the sacrosanct world of the airline cockpit, and the not-so-sacrosanct pilot lounge. AVweb’s CEO of the Cockpit reports on the latest gossip.

The first Russian SparrowHawk two-place kit-built gyroplane has flown successfully, Groen Brothers Aviation announced on Thursday… AirVenture Oshkosh starts one day early in 2005, shifting its schedule to a Monday-through-Sunday format. The event will run July 25-31… Two U.S. Forest Service workers survived an air crash although all on board had been reported killed…. “Wing […]

Following its successful test flight in June, the American Mojave Aerospace team, led by Burt Rutan and backed by Paul Allen, plans to launch its first official flight in pursuit of the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Wednesday. This week’s launch will be followed by a second required flight, tentatively set for Monday. The […]

The annual Powrachute Extravaganza, held in Columbus, Kan., Sept. 16-19, had a new theme this year as hundreds of powered parachute enthusiasts from across the nation gathered to fly, and showed an eagerness to learn more about the FAA’s new Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft rules. EAA said it answered questions “nonstop” at its tent […]

Airships seem to be getting a lot of attention lately, not only as a warm fuzzy way to advertise or give tours, but as a weapon of war. Last week, a blimp leased by the U.S. Army and loaded with sensors and cameras flew missions above the Maryland countryside, to test its usefulness as an […]

Williams International, of Walled Lake, Mich., has received the FAA Type Certificate for its FJ33-4A-15 turbofan engine, the company announced on Sept. 13. At the same time, the company said it is within a few months of completing the certification testing of yet another previously undisclosed new small turbofan engine, which it will unveil at […]

When rumors arose last week that Aerion Corp. has a supersonic business jet in the works, AVweb tried to track it down. The company is listed as a member at the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) Web site, under the Aerospace Design and Engineering category, based in Reno, Nev., and is headed by Brian Barents, […]

RENO 2004 Editorial Coverage And Extended Image Galleries (by AVweb contributing writer, Tim Kern) People who havent been there ask what the Reno Air Races are like. Theyre unique; theyre not like anything else – but to compare, say, Oshkosh to Reno, you might think of the relationship between the Detroit Auto Show and the […]

________TRAINING The Cessna, The Sky … and the Cartoonist: Chapters Two and ThreeOur intrepid student aviator and artist, John Ewing, continues his flight training and is hit with academic work that challenges his semi-retired brain. Attitude flying, however, is a bit more intuitive, although we catch him making engine noises in a silent airplane. __________WHAT’S […]