Trikepilot Social

Win an XM WX Satellite Weather receiver from WxWorx as we continue the celebration of AVweb's 15th Anniversary! All you have to do is click here to enter your name and e-mail address. (You only have to enter once, and you'll be entered in our prize drawings for the entire year — so if you've already entered, you're all set.)And no, we're not going to rent or sell your name, ever. Tell your friends, and invite them to sign up for AVweb so they can qualify for our 15 Grand Giveaways prize drawings, too. (We won't spam them, either — but we hope they will sign up for our newsletters.)Deadline for entries is 11:59pm Zulu time April 9, 2010.Click here to read the contest rules and enter.Congratulations to Colleen Keller of San Diego, California, who won a Garmin 510 aera handheld GPS in our last drawing! (click here to get your own Garmin aera)

An auction in Manhattan on April 13 will feature an annotated checklist used to power down damaged parts of Apollo 13, other space memorabilia and a complete 93-year-old Curtiss MF flying boat. The auction by Bonhams will be held on the 40th anniversary of the oxygen tank explosion that nearly killed three astronauts while they were halfway to the moon and includes notes made by the crew just after the tank blew up, heavily damaging the service module of the spacecraft. The checklist is expected to fetch up to $30,000. The flying boat, a demilitarized version of the F model used by the U.S. Navy, will be on public display starting April 3 at Sculpture Garden Atrium at 590 Madison Ave.

Cirrus Aircraft has gone to court to stop a former supplier from allegedly telling other suppliers that Cirrus is headed for bankruptcy. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune Cirrus filed suit Thursday against Grand Rapids, Mich.-based L-3 Communications and also claims L-3 has been encouraging other suppliers to stop doing business with Cirrus. Cirrus wants the court to stop L-3 from contacting suppliers and is also seeking unspecified damages. Cirrus claims that if suppliers act on the alleged advice from L-3, it would be forced out of business and that the bankruptcy allegations could scare off potential customers. L-3 was closed on the weekend and officials could not be reached for comment. The suit is the latest wrinkle in legal wrangling between the two companies that began last May.

FAA chief Randy Babbitt was in Washington Thursday to explain why the FAA wants $1.14 billion for fiscal 2011. The administrator defended the request to the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development subcommittee, explaining that the move to NextGen involves a "complex series of programs" and inter-related initiatives. If granted, the funding would be a 32-percent increase from fiscal 2010, and only part of the $20 billion that full NextGen implementation is expected to require. The NextGen project is already behind schedule and Committee Chairman John Olver, D-Mass., suggested some of the blame rests with leadership. "Early implementation efforts have been hampered by unclear roles," he said, asking if that had yet been addressed. But there will be other future complications, not the least of which involves how aircraft will come to be equipped and who will pay for it.

The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has updated its guide explaining the required electronic Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) used by pilots flying into the U.S., with consideration given to suggestions from EAA. The new guide clarifies certain requirements first published in 2008 and adds instruction designed to help pilots deal with real-world complications they may encounter. Added sections include details on what to do if weather or other issues prevent a pilot from arriving at their planned border crossing location, or cause them to miss their planned crossing time. It clarifies what to do when departing from an airport not designated by the CBP as an airport of entry. And it also adds direction for pilots who encounter APIS system problems or, for other reasons, can not provide complete information through the system. Previously, the guide indicated those problems were the sole responsibility of the pilot, regardless of whether the APIS system itself (through an interface or other problem) was at fault. A link to the guide follows after the jump.