The Buttonville Flying Club COPA Flight 44

A UPS 747-400 out of Dubai for Cologne crashed after take-off Friday at about noon EST, within the perimeter of a military base, killing its two crew after suffering an onboard fire, according to early reports. A statement from civil aviation authorities said "measures were taken to contain the fire which broke out on board," but did not directly indicate where the fire was located within the aircraft. Witnesses have reported they saw the jet was on fire before it crashed. The crash took place some 18 miles from Dubai International airport and early reports did not indicate additional casualties on the ground.

Arizona education officials have decided against following California in imposing potentially onerous financial and regulatory requirements on Part 61 flight schools. The Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education unanimously rejected a proposal to consider Part 61 flight schools as "vocational" programs. Doing so would have made the generally smaller and less federally regulated schools subject to financial performance regulations and annual fees aimed at least partly at ensuring students would be protected if the school suddenly ceased operations. Aviation groups and flight instructor organizations spoke against the Arizona proposal at a meeting in Phoenix last week, saying the new rules might force otherwise upstanding and successful flight schools out of business. However, a group that loosely represents students who have collectively lost tens of millions of dollars to corrupt or incompetent flight schools has a different take on the Arizona decision.

The Navy says it's working on a software glitch that resulted in a helicopter drone flying autonomously toward Washington, D.C., last week. The Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV is no toy helicopter. It grosses out at 3,150 pounds and is nearly 24 feet from nose-mounted multi-sensing eye to tail rotor. On Aug. 2, while undergoing testing at NAS Patuxent River, the remote control pilot lost the data link with the UAV. "When they lose contact with the Fire Scout, there's a program that's supposed to have it immediately return to the airfield to land safely," Cmdr Danny Hernandez told The New York Times. "That did not happen as planned." This time, the automation failed and the UAV headed for Washington.

British Airways is investigating how an automated message came to be played on Aug. 24 over the intercom of an otherwise healthy in-flight 747, telling all 275 passengers the jet was going to ditch. The message, delivered by what a British tabloid called a "calm female voice," said (according to multiple other sources), "This is an emergency. We may shortly need to make an emergency landing on water." The aircraft was out of Heathrow for Hong Kong and over the North Sea at the time. As passengers began to absorb and perhaps imaginatively elaborate on the message, cabin crew "immediately made an announcement," and advised passengers that the warning "was played in error" and "the flight would continue as normal," according to British Airways. A BA spokesman told Bloomberg News the message can be activated in a number of ways -- none of which are accessible to pilots in the cockpit.

Having most recently set its sights on late this year, Boeing is blaming Rolls-Royce for the latest in a series of delays that now has the company estimating first delivery of its 787 Dreamliner sometime in the first part of next year. Boeing says it needs Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 engines, an engine option for the 787, for the final phase of flight testing this fall. Rolls-Royce says it can not support that schedule but is working with Boeing to expedite delivery of the engines. A 787 engine being tested at a Rolls-Royce facility in early August suffered an uncontained failure that significantly damaged both the engine and its casing. Boeing and Rolls-Royce previously said that failure would not impact the airliner's delivery schedule. With the most recent delay, the Dreamliner may now run at least three years behind schedule, and that passes significant costs to Boeing. The company's first customer appears to be understanding of the latest delay even as already completed "production" 787s sit engine-less near Seattle.

In raw figures, Cirrus had a better first quarter this year than last, but while "the trajectory of the business is terrific at the bottom line," Cirrus CEO Brent Wouters told TheStreet.com, "the revenue line stinks" and fuel adversity may be coming. Cirrus' first quarter was up 36 percent over the same period last year, and total billings were up 22 percent. But Wouters is only expecting to hold par with last year's volume and revenue, while leveraging a $55 million improvement at the bottom line through cost-cutting. "Even in my five-year projection, I don't see the business returning to the level that it was in 2007." For Wouters, the concern isn't in the quantity of aircraft delivered, it's about delivering at a level that "is sustainable and at good solid gross margins." That, he says, means continuing work to lower labor and material costs to increase margins. It also means planning ahead when it comes to 100LL.

Central Maine Airport operator Kristina Wallace told The Morning Sentinel her phone is "ringing off the hook" with calls from pilots who've learned that 87-Octane fuel is about to vanish from the airport. Federal regulations and tax incentives, along with the actions of fuel refiners and distributors in the region, mean that the only 87-Octane fuel provided to the airport will soon come pre-packed with 10-percent ethanol. The airport's fuel distributor says it will run out of ethanol-free fuel in less than two months. Any pilots who've been using it will have to move to the more expensive 100LL, whether the leaded fuel is good for their wallets (or engines) or not.

The Coast Guard, Navy and Marines have published reports on an October midair that took the lives of all involved -- seven Coast Guard members and two Marines flying in a Military Warning Area, at night, off Southern California. The crash involved a Coast Guard C-130 and Marine Cobra AH-1. The C-130 was flying search and rescue; the helicopter was flying a practice mission in formation with three others. The Coast Guard says its C-130 crew had been in contact with Navy controllers (who were monitoring the Warning Area) for more than two and one-half hours prior to the midair and may have expected the controller to provide separation. The Marine pilots were flying without an active anti-collision light, or transponder, which gave the C-130's crew "little opportunity" to see and avoid the helicopter, according to the Coast Guard. While the Marines' report was not made public, Tuesday, the Coast Guard and Navy offerings differed slightly in their presentation of contributing factors.

A letter to the editor on Monday by Chuck Leathers suggesting increased regulation for radio-controlled models in light of the collision between a large RC model and a biplane earlier this month has caused a lot of discussion. Where do you stand?Plus: Last week, we asked whether a recent string of air show accidents and incidents indicated performances were becoming unsafe and should be discontinued. You can probably guess which side of the issue most AVweb readers came down on, but click through to see the numbers.

We knew we were in trouble this week when we the first five photos we downloaded from the electronic submission box went directly into the "maybe top photo" pile. Picking a winner was tough, but the photos we've got to share with you are outstanding, even by our usual high standards. When all was said and done, Isaac Adler of Kalamazoo, Michigan nudged out the nearest competitor by combining a great airplane and unusual photo op. Isaac and the Yankee Air Museum B-17 seen here were both at Pontiac Airport in Waterford while storms were battering Oshkosh during the opening hours of AirVenture. When a sudden downpour surprised everyone, Isaac grabbed his camera to get some shots of the rain against a sunny blue sky and couldn't pass up this shot.

Proposals under consideration by ASTM committees for light sport aircraft could ban flight in instrument meteorological conditions for future aircraft until such time as ASTM reaches a consensus on standards for IFR aircraft.

Responding to "several reports of the rear passenger door departing the airplane in flight" the FAA Wednesday published proposed rules for owners of certain Diamond aircraft models. "Several reports" appears to translate to 31, according to the FAA, and affected models are DA40 and DA40F airplanes. The FAA is proposing to change the models' "emergency open doors procedure" via temporary revision to the aircrafts' flight manuals and apply an "improved design" to an open door retention mechanism on some aircraft. The physical change required for door retaining brackets would affect 428 airplanes in the U.S. registry at an estimated cost of $245 per aircraft. But that change does not affect the door locking mechanism, itself, which Diamond says appears to be fine ... so long as pilots actually close the door.

Felix Baumgartner is working to break the longstanding freefall record by jumping from a balloon gondola at the edge of space later this year, and this week Red Bull said it has developed a "flying video production studio" to capture the event for live streaming over the Internet. When the current record was set, 50 years ago this month, USAF Col. (Ret.) Joe Kittinger documented his jump from 102,800 feet using spring-wound motion-picture cameras warmed by hot-water bottles. The Red Bull Stratos capsule will be equipped with nine high-definition cameras, three 4K digital cinematography cameras and three high-resolution digital still cameras. The outside cameras are in pressurized housings designed to protect them from the near-vacuum air pressure, ice and extreme heat of the stratospheric conditions. Baumgartner also will carry three small cameras attached to his space suit. The launch date will be announced within a few weeks, the team said on Wednesday.

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.
 

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.
 

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.
 

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.
 

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.
 

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.
 

The all-electric Cri-Cri demonstrator aerobatic plane completed its first flight today at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris.


(credit: EADS)

The single-seat aircraft developed by EADS's Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintone and the Green Cri-Cri Association, took off at 11:13 local time and landed seven minutes later. EADS says "all systems performed well."

Didier Esteyne, the pilot, notes that the aircraft performed well and operated "more quietly" than a regularly powered aircraft.

Actual aerobatic flights are still some time off, though, he notes. For that, five flight hours have to be logged and at least 15 landings. Eventually, the aircraft should deliver 30 min. of cruise at 110 km/h speed or 15 min. of autonomous aerobatics at up to 250 km/h. The cimb rate should reach 5.3 min/sec.

EADS views the Cri-Cri as a testbed "for system integration of electrical technologies in support of projects like our hybrid propulsion concept for helicopters," says Jean Botti, the company's chief technical officer.