The airplane pre-buy process, an update on some recent aviation accidents, the safest seats on an airplane, ICAO  proposes an aircraft tracking standard, FAA Amends ADS-B Rule for General Aviation, building the Boeing 777x wing, and some aviation technology.

Don Sebastian is President of Aviation Consulting Services Incorporated and has performed over 2,000 pre-buys and flight tests. He was a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, and holds a CFII and helicopter commercial and instrument ratings. Don testifies as an expert witness and has eight lecture tours under his belt. Outside of aviation, Don contributes his energy to a variety of community and charitable activities.

We talk with Don about the airplane pre-buy process: making a squawk list for the buyer, conducting flight tests, log book reviews, and maintenance record reviews.

To speak with Don about your airplane purchase, call:

+1 (910) 315-0099.

The NTSB released a preliminary report on the January 25, 2015 recovery parachute deployment over the waters near Maui, Hawaii. The pilot was unable to transfer fuel from the aft auxiliary fuel tank.

A University Of Greenwich, London study examined over 100 seating charts from plane crashes. People sitting close to the emergency exit rows were much more likely to survive.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is recommending a performance-based tracking standard using existing and planned technologies and procedures. Aircraft flying in remote areas that do not have air traffic radar surveillance would report their position every 15 minutes. This can be achieved through onboard Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract (ADS-C), or Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), and other connectivity solutions.

The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) says the ICAO tracking standard should exempt aircraft with 19 passenger seats or less.

The FAA has corrected the May 2010 final rule on ADS-B requirements for general aviation. The rule required that ADS-B equipment must meet the requirements of certain TSOs. Now the FAA says the equipment must “meet the performance requirements” in those TSOs.

Orginally, the composite wing for the 777X was to be manufactured in Japan. Boeing decided to keep the technology in Washington State and is building a 1.3M square foot plant at a cost of $1B to build and equip.

UK industry and government project funding includes using McLaren’s Formula 1 gearbox expertise future jet engines, and landing gear using electric motors to taxi without burning fuel.

Reaction Engines says they’ll have a static demonstration of the SABRE engine by 2019. The engine uses proprietary pre-coolers and starts in air-breathing mode up to Mach 5.5. It then transitions to rocket engine mode.up to Mach 25 using stored liquid oxygen.

Avro Canada C102 Jetliner by Jamie Dodson. The jetliner that never was.

Qantas’ first 747-400 VH-OJA is being donated to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) at Wollongong where the arrival is likely to be rather spectacular.

Virgin Australia are closing off their New Zealand based Pacific Blue operations.

The outback’s version of The Onion newspaper has run an amusingly false story of a pilot who tried to land on top of Ayres Rock (aka Uluru).

Rob Mark talks about pilot wages.

Report 7 by Juan Fernandez from McMurdo Bay brings to a close the Airplane Geeks on Ice series about aviation in Antarctica. Be sure to visit Juan’s Photo Gallery for some great photographs and videos.

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• Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim
  

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• Dutch game developer misses flight because of unreal Air Canada security boondoggle at YVR
  

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• Selfie May Have Contributed To Crash – The NTSB says a pilot’s distraction while taking a selfie with a cellphone may have contributed to the crash of his Cessna 150, killing him and a passenger in May of 2014 in Colorado.
  

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• Airplane Boneyards.com
  

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• Mega Flyover Over DC on the 70th Anniversary of VE Day Announced and The Arsenal of Democracy World War II Victory Capitol Flyover
  

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at brotherloverocks.com.