AVwebFlash News Briefs

• Short Final
  This gave me a little chuckle because it rhymed so well. The pilot knew too, as he said it with pauses:Line up and wait...Runway 28...Cirrus 188Shawn Byersvia e-mail
  
  
• FBO of the Week: St. Clair County Airport (KPLR, Pell City, Alabama)
  >>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $6.04 (up 3¢ from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $5.49 (no change from last week)Fuel prices provided weekly by AirNav, based on prices from the past 2 weeks. Changes are relative to last week's prices. /TEXT_ONLY-->AVweb's "FBO of the Week" ribbon goes to St. Clair County Airport (KPLR) in Pell City, Alabama.AVweb reader Mike Grossberg got the royal treatment there recently:The service is "over the top" at this beautiful country airport. The airport manager, Larry, answered my airport advisory request and offered to meet me on the ramp with the rental car as I taxied in from landing. Larry escorted us to the transient hangar, helped push the plane in, and gave us directions. This lovely airport even has a shady gazebo for watching the airplanes come and go. Real Southern hospitality at its best.Keep those nominations coming. For complete contest rules, click here.AVweb is actively seeking out the best FBOs in the country and another one, submitted by you, will be spotlighted here next Monday!
  
  
• User Fees In New Zealand: $1 Per Touch-And-Go And Rising
  A trip around the patch at a controlled airport in New Zealand will soon carry a $1 NZD charge under a user fee schedule announced by the Airways Corporation of New Zealand, the "state-owned enterprise" that runs the country's airspace system. By 2015, however, that same touch-and-go will cost $3.55 NZD as will transiting controlled airspace around airports and something called a "vicinity landing" that is not defined in the Airways announcement of the fees. Fees for airliners will increase an overall 15.7 percent over the next three years.
  
  
• Cirrus Investigating Chute Incident
  Cirrus Aircraft has sent an investigative team to Addison, Texas, to look into a report that a repacked Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) failed to deploy when a pilot pulled the handle late last week. "We did have an incident in Texas at the end of last week that involved a repacked CAPS parachute," Cirrus spokesman Todd Simmons said in an email to AVweb. "While we understand that an anomaly may have occurred related to extraction of the chute, it is premature to draw any specific conclusions at this point much beyond that." AVweb contacted the owner's home Sunday evening but was told he was out for the evening.
  
  
• Avidyne DFC90 Certified For Bonanzas
  Avidyne Corporation announced the STC certification of the DFC90 plug-and-play retrofit autopilot system for Beechcraft Bonanza applications. The STC, which covers 25 models of the Bonanza, allows the DFC90 to replace existing S-TEC autopilots when interfaced with the Aspen Evolution Pro Primary Flight Display (EFD1000Pro). Avidyne previously certified the drop-in DFC90 with the Aspen PFD in Cessna 182 Skylane series aircraft and with the Entegra PFD in the Cirrus SR20 and SR22. It's also certified in the Piper PA-46 Matrix and Mirage.
  
  
• Sole Survivor Documentary Targets August
  A documentary based on the insights of individuals who became sole survivors of commercial aviation disasters appears set for release in August. According to the movie's creators, the film includes commentary from at least three survivors who have never spoken publicly about the events that changed their lives. Among them is one pilot, Jim Polehinke, who acted as copilot of Comair Flight 5191, which crashed at Lexington on August 27, 2006, killing all 49 others aboard. The NTSB found the probable cause of the accident included multiple failures of the flight crew. Click through for the trailer.
  
  
• Concrete (RC) Airplane 'Flies' (With Video)
  The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology said earlier this month that students there had created and flown a small remote control aircraft made of concrete, but their level of success may be open to interpretation. The aircraft had a wingspan of 40 inches and weighed 18 pounds. A news release from the school notes "viral" coverage of the event. It also states that the "flight was quick and wobbly with the landing equally erratic, but it was enough for the record books." After viewing video of the flight, it may not be clear that the vehicle's return to earth can be categorized as a "landing." The concrete plane isn't the first of its kind.
  
  
• Mechanic: I'll Pay For Crashed Heli
  Earlier this month, a Robinson R22 helicopter flying a photo flight successfully auto-rotated onto a downtown Honolulu street and, now, the owner of the company that inspected the helicopter says he will pay to have it replaced. In an interview with HawaiiNewsNow.com, Brant Swigart said the pilot was "in no way" at fault for the May 9 event, and the operator "had no culpability in this." He said he did not personally work on the helicopter prior to the accident flight, but he "was responsible for checking it." Swigart said he believes a mixture cable snapped and a backup switch failed. "I didn't physically inspect that assembly," he said, "and if I had I would have caught it." The helicopter wasn't the only vehicle damaged in the accident and Swigart says he's stepping up for another affected party, an Iraq war veteran.
  
  
• Virgin Galactic Has Hired Its Pilots
  A retired Air Force Lt. Colonel and a former NASA space shuttle commander have been hired to fly space tourists in Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, the company has announced. Michael "Sooch" Masucci has 30 years of civilian and military operational and test flying, according to the company, has served as a U-2 pilot with the Air Force and has flown 70 different types, including gliders. Frederick "CJ" Sturckow has 26 years of military flight experience, flew as commander of two Space Shuttle missions and has logged 1,200 hours in space. The men are currently training to operate commercial suborbital space flights, carrying passengers for $200,000 per ticket.
  
  
• Video: Sam LSA Debuts at Sun 'n Fun
  The Sam light sport aircraft, which first flew in March, was on display at Sun 'n Fun in Lakeland, Florida.