Building a home for The Lost Squadron Museum

The folks at The Lost Squadron Museum in Middlesboro, Ky., are stepping up their annual raffle by offering three prizes this year.

Compliance with at least four important FAA mandates falls due during the first four months of 2005. One of them is particularly important to pilots flying over water or wilderness.

Should Flight Service Stations and Air Traffic Control towers be open to pilots?

Pork is great in barbecue, but generally undesirable in Congressional budgets.

The FAA has certified the Garmin G1000 in Mooney’s Ovation and Bravo aircraft. An STC was awarded to Garmin in November. Mooney has incorporated the approval into its Type Certificate.

A quick reminder: The 101st anniversary celebration of powered flight is set for Dec. 17 at the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

The Pennsylvania legislature has passed the Flying While Impaired Bill, which makes flying while drunk a misdemeanor, punishable by a $5,000 fine and possibly some jail time.

Meanwhile, another very light jet hopeful, Safire Aircraft, saw most of its office equipment and shop tool inventory auctioned off late last month. The sale was forced by the owner of Safire’s former headquarters in Opa Locka, Fla., in an effort to recover some $60,000 in unpaid rent.

Another coup for Aviation Technology Group, the Colorado company that’s bringing the Javelin jet to market: Charlie Johnson, former president and COO of Cessna, just joined the company as executive vice president of operations. Just two weeks ago, Horst Bergmann, former president and CEO of Jeppesen, also joined the company’s executive management team.