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Less threatening is an amendment calling for a government study of GA security, proposed by Senators Hillary R. Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). The study would examine the potential for GA aircraft to be used as weapons against high-risk sites and would check the overall security of GA airports. It would also assess what […]

You Won’t Like This, AOPA Says The spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is in play this week in Washington, and the policy-watchers at AOPA are raising a red flag — some senators are submitting amendments that would make GA pilots very unhappy. The worst one says anyone who negligently violates Washington’s […]

Lycoming claims to have all the cranks in hand, produced by new vendor Louisville Forge in Georgetown, K.Y., to replace the affected parts without an interruption of normal programs. If your engine has an affected crankshaft, Lycoming will replace the crank at no cost and, “when authorized by Lycoming,” will reimburse owners for the removal […]

This MSB comes on the heels of Lycoming’s loss of a lawsuit sought by Interstate Forging in Navasota, Texas, alleging that Lycoming had improperly specified vanadium to be added to the crank alloy. Lycoming claimed that Interstate had improperly manufactured the cranks and that the addition of vanadium was not at fault. The jury verdict […]

Lycoming said that a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM) would be issued by Friday with an AD to follow, making the new MSB truly mandatory for Part 91 operators. According to Lycoming president Ian Walsh, “We had enough incidences to finally decide that all cranks with the same ‘heat code’ manufactured by Interstate should be […]

The New MSB (AD Expected Soon) The ongoing controversy surrounding Lycoming crankshafts took a new twist Monday as the company issued Mandatory Service Bulletin (MSB) 566, which greatly widens the net draping a crankshaft issue previously limited to high-horsepower six-cylinder engines (often found in high-stress turbocharged applications). The new MSB recalls crankshafts in more than […]

The Masters of Disaster have become one of the most sought after acts in the air show business and thrilled crowds at EAA AirVenture last year. They thrilled us. The team, including Jimmy Franklin (known best for his wing-walking acts and jet-biplane); Bobby Younkin (who flew the biplane Samson, a Decathalon, Beech and a Lear […]

The aircraft crashed well away from the crowd and emergency crews were on the scene within five minutes but there was nothing they could do for the pilots, according to a Canadian Press story. There were no other injuries or damage. Col. Alain Boyer, the base commander, told reporters, “Everything was done professionally.” … “These […]

Fiery Collision Claims Two Of The Best… Bobby Younkin and Jimmy Franklin, two of the most respected and best-loved pilots on the air show circuit died as a result of a fiery mid air collision at an air show in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan on Sunday. The air show was immediately cancelled. The two […]

Besides the TWA accident, which resulted in 346 deaths, two fuel-tank explosions occurred in Boeing 737s in Asia while the aircraft were on the ground. In March 2001, a Thai Airways 737-400 exploded while sitting on a hot ramp at Bangkok’s domestic airport, and in May 1990, a center-wing fuel tank of a Philippine Airlines […]