YOUNG SETS SPEED RECORD ON SWIFT FUEL
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) recently awarded the Louis Blériot medal to air racing pilot Richard “Smokey” Young for setting a new speed record in a Western Air Racing Special Formula 1 aircraft, achieved in September 2010. Young flew from the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Coachella Valley, California, to the Salton Sea near the Mexican border and back at an average speed of 242.07 mph. He set the world record in the C-1a landplanes category (MTOW 300 to 500 kilograms) and did it running Swift Enterprises Ltd. Swift Fuel 100SF. The fuel is ethanol-free and can be made from a number of bio-mass materials.

Young is Director of the Aviation Pilot Training program at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. He used 100SF in the record flight to emphasize the viability of greener fuels, even in extreme racing situations.
The Louis Blériot medal honors the early air racing pilot and aviation pioneer.

RENEGADE LIGHT SPORT DEVELOPING ACRO ENGINE FOR LSA     
Hansen Air Group, of Kennesaw, Georgia, captured the attention of both the light-sport and aerobatics communities with the introduction of an aerobatics-capable LSA. Hansen made arrangements to import the sporty two-place biplane from Germany, but the one stumbling point was an ASTM-compliant engine for aerobatics. Hansen partnered with Renegade Light Sport to put a certified Lycoming engine capable of aerobatics in the imported Fk Comet. Renegade is working with Lycoming to develop the Aerobatic AEIO 233. The engine craftsmen at Renegade are testing and refining the Lycomings for use in an LSA. The aerobatic engine will be fuel injected, have an inverted sump, and will be capable of pulling +9g’s and -3g’s. For more on Renegade, click here. For more on the Hansen Air Group, click here.

FLORIDA TECH OFFERS TWO NEW PILOT TRAINING COURSES
Florida Institute of Technology is offering two new advanced airline pilot flight courses to be presented in conjunction with Aerostar Training Services of Orlando. The courses, Jet Transition and Commercial Type Rating, are aimed at upper-division students who plan to have careers with commercial airlines. The courses allow students to use regular electives in their bachelor’s degree program to prepare fully for a career flying a large transport jet. Although jet transition and type rating courses are available on the open market, no other college or university offers this program as part of its academic degree. For more information, click here.

LINCOLN MAGNUM PRO GUN LINE CATALOG AVAILABLE
Lincoln Electric’s Magnum PRO welding gun line is now features in a single comprehensive product catalog designed to help customers find the ideal gun for their welding application. The Magnum PRO product family includes semiautomatic MIG/flux-cored guns with barrel-style or Curve handles, K126 Innershield guns for self-shielded flux-cored pipe and construction welding, fume extraction guns, and the Magnum PRO Thru-Arm and External Dress guns for robotic applications. For more information, click here.

NEW ASK ATC VIDEO
More than 75 percent of runway incursions are caused by GA pilots. More often than not, they are unintentional and simply the result of pilots’ uncertainty about where they need to be or what ATC expects them to do. Ask ATC, a product of the Air Safety Institute, has a new video that lets viewers listen to a controller describe the most common mistake pilots make when it comes to runway incursions, and how they can avoid it. For more information, click here.

PACIFIC COAST AVIONICS OFFERS GPS UPGRADE OPTIONS
Pacific Coast Avionics Corporation announced two new upgrade paths for customers to get the latest in handheld GPS and ANR headset technology. With these new upgrade options, any Pacific Coast Avionics customer can trade their Bose X or Lightspeed Zulu toward the purchase of various new electronic noise-cancelling headsets, or, for handheld GPS customers, can trade various models of Garmin’s portable GPS toward any of Garmin’s new aera series. For more information, click here.

TORCHMATE LAUNCHES REBATE OR FREE ACCESSORY PROGRAM
Lincoln Electric’s Money Matters campaign has been expanded to include subsidiary Torchmate’s automated plasma cutting 2x2 CNC Prototyping System. The package includes the Torchmate 2x2 system and Torchmate CAD Lite design software together with the Lincoln Electric Tomahawk 625 plasma cutting system and machine torch. When purchasing at authorized Money Matters program distributors, customers may choose a $300 rebate or a 2x2 water table valued at more than $800. The offer is available October 1, 2011, through February 29, 2012. For more information, click here.