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The Santa Barbara Police Department has defended the show of force employed in the detention of King Schools owners John and Martha King on Aug. 28. Spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey told AVweb in a podcast interview officers went by the book in their initial contact with the Kings, which led to their being handcuffed and put in separate police cars. McCaffrey said they were acting on information from the federal El Paso Intelligence Center and the McKinney, Texas, Police Department that the aircraft was stolen (as we've explained in earlier stories the tail number on the Kings' leased Cessna 172 was a re-issuance of the N-number on a Cessna 150 that was stolen in McKinney eight years ago), noting the call from EPIC carries the same weight as a call from the FBI. They had just 15 minutes to cover the 12 miles to the airport and get in position but McCaffrey said they did double-check to ensure the aircraft in question was, indeed, a Cessna with the tail number they'd received. What followed was a textbook takedown, called a felony stop, used by police forces throughout the U.S. to secure a vehicle and its occupants suspected of a serious crime.

Santa Barbara Police have taken some heat for their handling of the detention of John and Martha King on Aug. 28. AVweb's Russ Niles spoke with Lt. Paul McCaffrey of the SBPD, who says that, based on the information they had, the officers did a proper and professional job of bringing the situation to a safe conclusion. (Note this podcast is longer than usual at 16 minutes.)

Overheard in IFR Magazine's "On the Air"Heard on Chicago Center frequency:Pilot:"Chicago, Piper 12345 en route to St. Louis. Request flight following."Center:"Piper 12345, where in the world are you?"Pilot:"I'm down below the water [meaning south of Lake Michigan], heading for St. Louis."Center (deadpan) :"Piper 123, it must be pretty wet down below the water. Want to try again?"Pilot:"I'm ten miles south of Michigan City."Center:"That's more like it."John Urschalitvia e-mail

>>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $4.76 (down 1¢ from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $4.42 (down 2¢ 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-->http://media.avweb.com/banmanavweb/a.aspx?Task=Click&ZoneID=0&CampaignID=5860&AdvertiserID=167&BannerID=2980&SiteID=19&RandomNumber=251669563&Keywords=/TEXT_ONLY-->AVweb reader Doug Latch pointed out that we'd given due praise to two FBOs who stepped up to the plate when traffic was routed away from Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh at the beginning of AirVenture — but no one had given a nod to KOSH's own Orion Flight Services:These people went well beyond normal. They treated me like I had a Gulfstream or Boeing business jet, and they knew from the start I was flying a 1966 Cessna Skyhawk. During AirVenture this year, parking was extreme and almost gone. [While] the other FBO was only accepting twins and jets, Toby Kamark took me and my Skyhawk and treated us like Royalty ... [then] he took as many people as he could to register for the show and returned. ... I was there after the show, and the level of service did not decline.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!

Can pilots be trained in a simulator to handle every conceivable emergency situation, or are we just kidding ourselves? In the latest installment of the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli argues that at some point, you have to stop training and start flying. Read more and join the conversation.

The issues surrounding special light sport aircraft flight in instrument conditions are complex and arcane, and in an effort to ensure that some of the finer points are crystal clear, Dan Johnson, chairman of the Light Aircraft Manufacturing Association, sent a follow-up letter to AVweb this week expanding and clarifying some of the details touched on in Thursday's AVweb report. In his letter, Johnson adds background about some of the ASTM committee debates over the issue and emphasizes that safety is the prime concern. "The [committees] always put safety first in their efforts," he says. For the rest of Johnson's comments, see our Letters section.

One woman was killed and up to 38 people were injured when a Tiger Moth taking part in a small German airshow ran into the crowd Sunday. The accident happened at the Lillinghof airfield about 20 miles from Nuremberg. Witnesses told German media the vintage biplane was taking off when it veered off the runway and into the crowd. About 5,000 people were on hand for the event, which featured mostly small aircraft and an AN-2 Russian transport. It was the second airshow fatality on the weekend in Germany.

The provincial government of British Columbia is suing Transport Canada, among others, to recover the cost of medical treatment for passengers injured in an horrific balloon accident in 2007. B.C. says Transport Canada didn't do enough to ensure the commercial ballooning company involved was properly qualified and equipped to carry out the type of flight that ended in disaster on Aug. 24, 2007. Two people were trapped and died and most of the 11 others were hurt when they jumped from the balloon's basket after a propane fire erupted. Under Canada's public medical system, provincial governments fund a major portion of healthcare. Earlier this year, British Columbia enacted a law enabling it to recover the cost of treatment of those injured due to negligence or criminal acts. The province alleges at least four of the passengers suffered serious injuries, including brain injury, burns, broken bones and traumatic stress disorder. The mother and grown daughter who died couldn't escape and burned to death as the balloon broke its tether and shot 400 feet before the basket broke loose, landing in a campground, destroying several cars and RVs in the ensuing fire.

Steven Slater has made his final exit from JetBlue. The airline confirmed Saturday that Slater, the allegedly frustrated flight attendant who popped the emergency slide on an E190, grabbed two beers from the galley and abandoned the aircraft at JFK last month, is no longer with the airline. Slater achieved Internet folk hero status after his dramatic departure, allegedly triggered by an altercation with a female passenger who ignored instructions to remain seated until the plane was chocked. Slater later said he'd been bonked in the head by the passenger's carry-on as she, against his instructions, pulled it from the overhead. Slater was later quoted as saying he wanted his job back but the airline deflated that dream with a brief statement.

A UPS 747-400 out of Dubai for Cologne crashed after take-off Friday at about noon EST, within the perimeter of a military base, killing its two crew after suffering an onboard fire, according to early reports. A statement from civil aviation authorities said "measures were taken to contain the fire which broke out on board," but did not directly indicate where the fire was located within the aircraft. Witnesses have reported they saw the jet was on fire before it crashed. The crash took place some 18 miles from Dubai International airport and early reports did not indicate additional casualties on the ground.

The UPS Boeing 747-400 that crashed in Dubai Friday was only three years old and had less than 10,000 hours on it, according to a news release issued by the company on Saturday. UPS identified the pilots killed in the crash as Capt. Doug Lampe, 48, of Louisville, Ky., and FO Matthew Bell, 38, of Sanford, Fla. They were based in Anchorage. According to Dubai's National newspaper, the pilot reported a fire on board and was trying to return to the airport. The aircraft had been airborne for 38 minutes before the crash. There is also speculation the pilot deliberately headed for an empty area of a military base, where it crashed. There were no injuries on the ground. The cockpit voice recorder was recovered on Saturday but the flight data recorder has not been recovered.

A flyer left by the DHS in an FBO at Hickory Regional Airport in North Carolina makes bullet points of suspicious behavior associated with illegal activities but ensnares some behavior pilots might consider routine. The flyer was left at the FBO about two weeks ago by federal agents and lists suspicious activities that include customers who insist on paying in cash, are vague about their itinerary, fly in with a dirty undercarriage, use self-service fueling early in the morning or late at night, seek temporary hangarage for their aircraft, fly a "worn out" plane with a "very nice" GPS, or travel with "excessive" luggage. The posting listed special agents to contact "if you encounter such suspicious activity." It also offered a reward of "up to $250,000" for information "relating to the transportation or storage of contraband and/or criminal proceeds." The list did also include some activities that might be considered suspicious by a larger group of pilots.

Gulfstream's coming G650 aims to claim the title of fastest commercial aircraft in the world. So what else will it have to offer? ... And when is Gulfstream going supersonic? AVweb's Glenn Pew speaks with Gulfstream's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales Larry Flynn to find out.This podcast is brought to you by Bose Corporation.

Two years ago, a Spanair MD-82 crashed on takeoff at Madrid, killing 154 people and marking Spain's worst air tragedy in 25 years; now, malicious code infecting a maintenance department computer has been implicated in the crash. To be clear, the code was not flown on the aircraft's own systems and did not cause the crash. This specific crash could have been avoided regardless of the malware's existence. But the discovery of malicious code introduced into an on-ground system operated by the airline's maintenance department does suggests certain negative possibilities. One possible scenario is that the code slowed a program which, if properly maintained, would have flagged the aircraft for service and disallowed the takeoff because of a series of smaller problems already noted with the plane. That's a lot of qualifiers. But the fact that the system was infected and didn't flag the aircraft in this case closed one door on an opportunity to save the flight. It also suggests the urgency of proper computer maintenance throughout the entire airline system to assure safety of flight.

Existing airport community homeowners might enjoy continued "through the fence" access to their associated runways, but things may be very different for similar communities in the future, according to AOPA. In 2009, the FAA sought to eliminate through-the-fence access to airport taxiways and runways for aircraft based on adjacent private property. That general layout is popular at many airport community neighborhoods. AOPA says the FAA is now leaning toward a more considered approach for those airports that currently include, or were largely built around, a through-the-fence concept. At those airports, AOPA says the FAA may avoid broad-stroke regulation and apply a case-by-case approach. But looking forward, there's still a chance that airports seeking to provide those access privileges in the future may simply be out of luck.

By now you've likely heard about John and Martha King being held at gunpoint by police in Santa Barbara last weekend. We've already heard from more than 100 readers about how they feel about the whole thing. Now, we want to know how you feel — not about what happened to the Kings, but where GA fits in the whole scheme of security and crime.Plus: Last week, we asked AVweb readers about a mid-air collision between a radio-controlled model airplane and a biplane — and whether that indicated a need for new regulations. Click through to see the breakdown of answers.

Pilots authorized by air traffic controllers to taxi onto runways and await takeoff clearance will be instructed to "line up and wait" rather than "position and hold" beginning on Sept. 30, the FAA reminded pilots this week. The new terminology, which was recommended by the NTSB, conforms to the terminology established in guidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Also, an FAA safety analysis found that the new phraseology will eliminate confusion, particularly among pilots who also fly overseas, and will further reduce the risk of runway incursions. Starting Sept. 30, controllers will state the aircraft's call sign, state the departure runway and then instruct pilots to "line up and wait," as in, "Cessna N2090W, Runway 33L, line up and wait." The phrase "traffic holding in position" will continue to be used to advise other aircraft that traffic has been authorized to line up and wait on an active runway.

Your AirVenture photos continue to dominate the "POTW" submission box! This one, from John E. Rees of Blacklick, Ohio, is our latest baseball cap winner (and, incidentally, our current desktop wallpaper).

Air Force veteran Richard Young will attempt, this Sept. 11, to establish a closed-course speed record using unleaded fuel developed by Swift Enterprises. Young will be flying his one-of-a-kind Western Air Racing Special, which is a "purpose built closed course pylon racer" that he flew at Reno in 2007, 2008, and 2009, according to his website. The current and applicable closed-course speed record for a piston-engine aircraft weighing between 300 and 500 kilograms was set in 2004 at 238 mph, according to Young. That aircraft burned conventional leaded avgas. Young hopes to run the course at 260 mph in his aircraft burning Swift's product and "verify the performance characteristics of clean burning bio fuel" at the same time. That could be difficult to do in one 62.1 mile stint flown at 260 mph (or about 15 minutes), but we'll be watching for whatever information the attempt produces.

Chandler Negrete, an 8-year-old boy, is preparing to fly from Arizona to New York in a Cessna 172 with an instructor to raise money for children with parents serving overseas in the military. The instructor will wield pilot-in-command responsibility for the flight, but clearly the intent is to get Negrete some stick time. The third-grader is currently preparing for the flight and has accumulated all of 12 hours in a simulator and 12 hours in an actual airplane. His instructor, Matt Forsey, works for Sawyer Aviation in Arizona. The team is seeking donations and hopes to raise between $80,000 and $100,000 for their charity's cause. But, according to a local news report, Negrete "needs to collect $15,000 in donations to cover the cost of the flight," and no date has yet been set for the trip. Of course, for some pilots, simply the proposition of the flight itself may conjure memories of another one altogether.