In the wake of an amazing week in which somewhat controversial safety systems such as the BRS manufactured Cirrus Airplane Parachute System (CAPS) was credited with saving the lives of 5 people (and one alleged feline) in two aircraft in serious trouble, tragedy has struck the Cirrus community. At approximately 1400, Monday afternoon, a Cirrus SR20 (file photo, below) departed the Greenwood County airport in South Carolina, with four adults on board and went down about a mile from the 5000 foot runway, in trees and unimproved terrain.

Airport Opponent Wants Details

The man with a plan to turn Buchanan Field into a housing tract wants a report on the crash-landing of a single-engine GA aircraft last week in which a young girl's leg was severely injured by the plane's propeller.

Software Question Delays Launch Of Gravity B Probe

Einstein was right. Gravity works. NASA's Gravity Probe B is still stuck firmly to terra firma. Well, it wasn't all Einstein's fault. Seems the probe, one of the most precise scientific instruments ever designed, didn't launch Monday because someone forgot to load high altitude wind data aboard the launch vehicle. Or maybe they did. The point is, nobody knows. With time running short on a critical one-second launch window, NASA engineers decided they'd rather be safe than sorry.

Sitting in a service bureau in Monterey, California, I was watching a graphic designer put together the poster for the California International Air Show in Salinas. Everything looked great, each performer and air show participant was being recognized in a profound way except for Mike Goulian scheduled to fly at Salinas on October 2 & 3rd. Something just didn't look right…he had a new sponsor, Air BP, better known to us folks as Castrol. Eeek, we gotta fix this!

Government Says Cessna 180 Shouldn't Have Been Flying Passengers For Hire

The Indian government says the Cessna 180 that carried actress Soundarya to her death Saturday shouldn't have been carrying passengers in the first place.

Another Milestone For UCAVs

When the inert bomb slammed into the ground within inches of the truck it targeted, it might have seemed at first glance like just another UCAV test. But consider: No one was actually flying the Boeing X-45A. It was on its own.

A Comic Book, A Lump Of Cheese And Thee

Gus Grissom took a packet of dimes. Alan Shephard took his seven-iron. When Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers launches for the International Space Station this week, he'll take with him a comic book and a lump of cheese. Specifically, he's taking a lump of "mature" Dutch cheese (phew!) and a sci-fi comic.

Gets Woman Arrested At Florida Airport

And now the award for Miss Congeniality... Jayne Thorne, a 43-year old resident of Long Beach (NY), won't be flying Delta Song anymore -- not after the way the airline says she behaved at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (FL) earlier this month. And it all has to do with her little dog, Cutie.

Some Work Poorly, Some Just Don't Work

All GPS-equipped 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) and marine Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRBs) are not created equal. In a finding of a recent test of PLBs and EPIRBs from three manufacturers, the GPS location function of one manufacturer's products routinely failed to acquire a GPS location when tested under other than ideal conditions. An equally important test finding was that the international standards to certify the GPS-enabled 406 MHz beacons fail to take into account the real-world conditions that often exist when beacons are activated.

Airport Director, Controller Get Eight Years!

You can imagine Vincenzo Fusco and Paolo Zacchetti feel terrible already. Ditto for Sandro Gualano and Francesco Federico. They were all involved to one degree or another in the worst aviation accident to hit Italy in more than 30 years. But to compound their misery, an Italian court has sentenced all four men to prison.

Surfin' The Web At 35,000 Feet

Almost two years behind schedule, plagued by 9/11 and its effect on Boeing customers, Connexion is finally ready for launch. The Boeing subsidiary will make its maiden flights aboard Lufthansa starting later this month, on aircraft scheduled to spend more than eight hours in the air.

Ready For Some GOOD News?

Here's a story you don't see that often... One of the aviation industry's most well-known companies is cutting it's prices... AVEMCO Insurance Company has announced that it has reduced its premium rates for several categories of its popular Aviator Series Non-Owned (Renter's) insurance. Decreases of 7-8% have been made in the Gold and Platinum levels of the Aviator Series packages without any changes in coverages.

Jet 1 Center Predicts A Change In The Wind

Does the Naples Airport Authority have exclusive rights to sell fuel? That's what J. Scott Phillips wants to know. So far, the answer has been an unequivocal "yes."

Security Rules May Be Relaxed

Pittsburgh International could well become the first major airport where federal security officials drop the rule that prohibits non-flyers from the gate concourses. And if Pittsburgh does it right, the airport could serve as a model for the rest of the country.

"Once you get inside four minutes and you're headed to T-0, if you have a problem you don't have time to discuss it. With a one-second window there was no opportunity to try to resolve this." Source: NASA Spokesman George Diller, after the launch of the Gravity Probe B experiment was scrubbed Monday. No one was sure if they had loaded high altitude wind information into the rocket's computer. Since time was of the essence, NASA decided to err on the side of caution and try again Tuesday afternoon.

New Application Makes Spirit Stealthier

Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully applied a specially formulated coating developed to help improve the B-2 stealth bomber's combat readiness to an operational aircraft for the first time. The coating was applied at the company's Antelope Valley Manufacturing Center using a robotic paint system.

NOTAM: 4/3358  Issued: 04/19/2004 16:56  Effective: Undetermined - 04/20/2004 20:15  State: NY  Facility: ZNY - NEW YORK (ARTCC),NY.  Type: VIP  Description: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK. APRIL 20, 2004 LOCAL. 

NOTAM:  4/3300  Issued:  04/16/2004 19:45  Effective:  04/23/2004 16:30 - 04/25/2004 21:30  State:  LA  Facility:  ZFW - FORT WORTH (ARTCC),TX.  Type:  AIR SHOWS/SPORTS  Description:  BARKSDALE AFB, BOSSIER CITY, LA. 

NOTAM:  4/3279  Issued:  04/16/2004 15:43  Effective:  04/20/2004 12:40 - 04/20/2004 15:35  State:  NY  Facility:  ZOB - CLEVELAND (ARTCC),OH.  Type:  VIP  Description:  BUFFALO, NEW YORK, APRIL 20, 2004 LOCAL. 

Includes Fragments From Hijacked Aircraft

In its only California presentation, the acclaimed exhibition "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" opens at the Japanese American National Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, on July 1, 2004. Originally organized by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the traveling exhibition evokes the memories and experiences of September 11 through images, 45 carefully selected objects, and poignant stories from the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville (PA).

AD NUMBER: 2004-08-08 MANUFACTURER: Gulfstream SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-08-08 SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain Gulfstream Model G-IV series airplanes. For certain airplanes, this AD requires installation of an additional indicator located on the pilot's instrument panel in primary view of the flightcrew. The indicator willinform the flightcrew that the airplane main batteries are powering the direct current (DC) essential bus, which supplies power to vital communication and navigation equipment. For certain other airplanes, this AD will require the EICAS (Engine Instruments/Caution Advisory System) to be used for this indication. This action is necess