briefs

While there may be nothing unusual about a 15-year-old spending the holidays working on an airplane kit, Rusty McCullough plans to do more than hang this one from his bedroom ceiling. Just before Christmas, McCullough, who lives in Tehachapi, Calif., received the empennage of an RV-7A he’s now building at the local airport. It’s a […]

Just three weeks after tornadoes destroyed most its training aircraft, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU’s) Daytona Beach campus will resume flight training Jan. 16. ERAU is leasing airplanes from other flight schools, Cessna dealers and several individuals to replace the 40 airplanes that were tossed to destruction by two Christmas Day tornadoes. The twisters also did […]

Your paper pilot certificate will be suitable for framing — and not much else — likely sometime in 2009 as the FAA puts every pilot on plastic. The new, more forgery-resistant certificates were introduced at EAA AirVenture in 2005 as a security enhancement. The FAA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) Friday that will […]

AVweb posts audio news on Mondays, plus a new in-depth interview each Friday. In last Friday’s podcast, you’ll find an interview with Professsional Aviation Maintenance Association president Brian Finnegan. aviation forecaster Richard Aboulafia. And AVweb’s podcast index includes interviews with aviation forecaster Richard Aboulafia; NORAD; Bill Lear, Jr.; NATA President Jim Coyne; Eclipse Aviation’s Vern […]

A rival avionics company is offering some solace for customers of Direct To Avionics (D2A) who may have been left hanging by the company’s abrupt closure late last month. OP Technologies of Beaverton, Ore., is offering a $1,000 credit toward the purchase of one of its EFIS systems to D2A customers who have been financially […]

Mooney is now formally laying claim to the title of “fastest piston single” with the final certification of its Acclaim speedster. The aircraft, which was introduced at Sun ‘n Fun last April, sports twin intercooled turbochargers on its 280-hp TSIO-550-G Continental engine. The airplane is said to hit 237 ktas while cruising at its 25,000-foot […]

Bombardier was recently awarded by Spain for the “greatest technological advancement in firefighting,” citing the accomplishments of the 1960’s era Canadair CL-215, -215T and, since 1994 its current incarnation, the Bombardier 415. Continuous improvements were credited for making the series “the most efficient tool for the aerial combat of forest fires,” a status held “over […]

Tracy Municipal Airport in California is getting $500,000 for upgrades that will at least make trips to the bathroom there more pleasant, but are ultimately intended to draw more business to the field. Toward that end, the city will seek more than $2 million in state loans for the purpose of adding 44 hangars. City […]

Alden Rigby, who on Jan. 1, 1945, shot down four German aircraft in 25 minutes, on Memorial Day (May 28) will join the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame at the Hill Aerospace Museum. Rigby and fellow WWII fighter pilots found themselves on the runway at their base in Asch, Belgium, when it was attacked by […]

Podcast Index |How to Listen |Subscribe Via RSS In today’s Friday podcast, AVweb literally talks shop with Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) President Brian Finnegan. He dismisses the notion reported in AVweb earlier this week that insurance concerns are behind some maintenance shops’ decision to refuse to work on older airplanes. Instead, he suggests that […]