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We're sorry to report that Paul Bertorelli is being treated for ADHS — advanced delusional hallucination syndrome. We're not sure if he's making progress, but you can be the judge of it by reading his latest post to the AVweb Insider blog. It has something to do with a Piper J-3C.

A 23-year-old man who stole a Cirrus SR22 in San Diego last month has pleaded guilty to a felony. Skye Turner was charged with using an airplane without the owner's permission. The court referred him to a new treatment program for mentally ill offenders that provides supervision and custody, the San Diego News Network reported this week. However, if he is not accepted into the program he could be sentenced to 120 days in jail instead. Turner, who is not a pilot but has had some training, stole the keys to the airplane on Feb. 18, just a few hours after a pilot in Austin, Texas, flew his Piper Dakota into a government building. Turner reportedly had been in a dispute with his girlfriend and threatened to crash the SR22 into the ocean, according to SDNN.

More training for pilots on advanced simulators could help prevent crashes and save hundreds of lives, according to an analysis by USA Today. Many pilots today are trained on older simulators that can't effectively re-create the real behavior of aircraft during stalls, severe icing, upsets due to wind shear or wake encounters, and other extreme conditions, says a recent NTSB report. Loss of control was a factor in 73 percent of the 433 airline fatalities in the U.S. since 2000. (Note that the fatalities that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, are not counted in accident statistics, since they resulted from a crime, not an accident.) Newer simulators created with research by the military and NASA are more effective, but there are no federal requirements for pilots to be trained on them.

An NTSB study shows glass cockpit technology has not significantly improved the safety of small light planes, the NTSB said Tuesday, and the board recommended changes, from training to maintenance reporting, to improve the statistics. While data collected between 2002 and 2008 showed fewer total accidents for those aircraft equipped with glass panels, that total came with a higher fatal accident rate and higher total fatal accidents. For the period from 2002-2008, conventionally equipped aircraft suffered 141 total accidents with 23 having a fatal outcome. Glass-equipped aircraft suffered 125 total accidents with 39 having a fatal outcome. But the board's study also found the mission profile for each type of equipment package and the characteristics of the pilot were different between the two platforms. Generally speaking, higher-time pilots were flying longer flights with glass. That said, the NTSB was able to use the data to offer six recommendations voiced at the meeting. Five of those were related to equipment-specific training and one applied directly to testing requirements.Related Content — NTSB Reports:NTSB Overview Report (PDF)Findings Recommendations (PDF)Closing Comments (PDF)// -->

The next-generation military tanker will almost certainly be a Boeing. Northrop Grumman announced Monday it would not be submitting a bid in the $35 billion sweepstakes to introduce a replacement for the KC-135 and KC-10 fleet. Boeing's bid is riding on a modified 767 platform while Northrop Grumman would use an A330 modified in the U.S. Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush effectively threw in the towel on the protracted battle. He said the company "will not protest" the outcome of the competition, which now appears to be down to one. Bush did suggest the odds were stacked in favor of Boeing, however. "We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favors Boeing's smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity," Bush said.

In a surprise move last week, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger announced his retirement from U.S. Airways and flew his final flight. Sullenberger, 59, has been the most famous pilot in the U.S. since he safely landed an A320 dead-stick on the Hudson River just over a year ago. In a statement, Sullenberger said though he is retiring after 30 years on the flight line, he plans to continue to advocate for aviation safety and for the profession of airline pilots. "I will work to remind the entire industry -- and those who manage and regulate it -- that we have a sacred duty to our passengers to do the very best that we know how to do," he said. Retirement is sure to keep him busy -- on Sunday, Sullenberger was photographed at a Vanity Fair Oscar party in Hollywood alongside Tom Hanks, who looks like he could easily step into Sully's shoes to play him in a movie.

Both the U.S. House and the Senate formed General Aviation Caucuses last year, and their ranks are growing. Now NBAA is encouraging pilots to contact those representatives to let them know that you value GA. Pilots whose representatives are not yet members of the caucus can ask them to join. The House GA Caucus now numbers more than 100 members and the Senate group is 25 strong. The NBAA Web site lists members of each caucus by state. The House Web site makes it easy to e-mail your representative simply by entering your zip code. At the Senate Web site, it's also easy to choose your state and immediately get e-mail links for both senators. AOPA also offers online guidance on how to communicate with your elected representatives about GA.

Does military intelligence translate to transportations security? AVweb Editor-in-Chief Russ Niles isn't sure, but he speculates on some of the challenges Robert Harding will face as TSA chairman in the latest installment of our AVweb Insider blog. Read his thoughts and share your own here.

Overheard near Sacramento, California, where NorCal approach and departure is training a large number of new controllers:Cessna 12345:"NorCal approach, student pilot, Cessna 12345. Heading 024. 1500 feet, climbing to 5500."NorCal Approach:"Cessna 54661, student controller. Roger radar contact."Michael Fedorykvia e-mail

>>> AVWEB FUEL FINDERCURRENT PRICE FOR 100LL: $4.62 (up 2¢ from last week)CURRENT PRICE FOR JET A: $4.31 (down 1¢ 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=ClickZoneID=0CampaignID=5385AdvertiserID=167BannerID=2726SiteID=19RandomNumber=2079190496/TEXT_ONLY-->AVweb readers continued to travel the length and breadth of North America this week, sending us notes about the best FBOs they discovered along the way. Our latest "FBO of the Week" award goes to Above View at St. George Municipal Airport (SGU) in St. George, Utah.AVweb reader Jaime Votaw tells us how Above View stepped up to the plate when her husband made an unscheduled stopover:My husband flew in tonight after needing to land aftet battling weather all day. This was an unexpected stop in a trip to Salt Lake City. I called in at about 8pm and someone answered the phone. It was obviously after hours, and the person who answered offered to run up the airport and get my husband a crew car so he could get to a local hotel. Up until Justin answered the phone, I had no idea what to tell my husnad to do. They are always friendly there, but this was way above and beyond for them to do. Thank you, Above View — you guys are great!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!

President Obama's next pick for chairman of the Transportations Security Administration is widely reported to be retired Maj. Gen. Robert Harding, a lifelong intelligence specialist whose bio (PDF) reads like a character in a Robert Ludlum novel. Various sources are reporting Harding, the former second in command of U.S. Army Intelligence and director of operations for the Defense Intelligence Agency before that, will be nominated Monday. He retired from the Army in 2001 and owned his own security consultant firm specializing in homeland security assignments. Since much of his work, if he's approved by Congress, will center on aviation, AVweb searched the FAA Airmen Registry to see if he's a pilot and what ratings he might have. We found a Robert A. Harding and a Robert Harding, but that's all we found

IFR magazine's Jeff Van West shows how a portable GPS can be used to evaluate what altitudes will be safe for flying up valleys (without actually changing altitudes) and how to use the GPS while in those valleys to enhance safety and situational awareness.

Last week's kid controller story kicked off world-class frothing about the sensationalizing mainstream media, probably deserved. But on the AVweb Insider blog, Paul Bertorelli argues that there's a risk assessment lesson in there that we can all benefit from. Read Paul's thoughts and share your own here.

The FAA has banned tower visits, and airline pilots using New York's JFK Airport are showing support for tower controller Glenn Duffy and his supervisors after Duffy allowed his kids to issue instructions over the tower frequency in mid-February. The pilots are signing off their transmissions with "Adios," the salutation Duffy's nine-year-old son delivered in two of his transmissions Feb. 16. His twin sister took the mic a day later. According to the New York Daily News, some are amplifying their discontent with the fate that might await the controllers. "Thoughts going out to your co-worker there," the newspaper reported a Delta pilot departing Kennedy Airport was recorded on LiveATC as saying. "I think it's BS what he's going through."

After seeing the illusion for themselves, authorities who launched a large-scale search last weekend to find a plane stuck in trees near Darwin Airport, Australia, said witnesses were right to report it. Multiple witnesses who contacted authorities last Sunday just after 6 p.m. local time claimed to have seen the plane through light rain as it sat stuck in mangroves. The "aircraft" is actually the meeting of two roof lines visible from a distance at a particular angle. Unfortunately, the misunderstanding was not resolved before a land-based search effort involved police and an aerial search involved a CareFlight helicopter. In the full light of day, authorities who traveled to the point from which the reports were made said witnesses did the right thing by alerting authorities. "I've actually seen it, myself" Duty Superintendent Mike Murphy told ABC news. "It's remarkable how it looks like a light aircraft pointing out into the ocean." (Images after the jump.)

Two British men who were found with a scanner, laptop, binoculars and cameras, and who admitted to "illegally monitoring aircraft" near Indira Gandhi International Airport, India, have been fined by an Indian court, but were released Friday without jail time. Stephen Hampton, 46, and Steven Ayres, 56, had faced up to 10 years under spying charges, but pled to a lesser offense that could have led to three years in jail. The two were arrested in India, Feb. 15, two days after a bomb blast in the Indian city of Pune initiated a security crackdown in the country. In the UK, authorities have approached plane-spotters differently. In 2004, a UK plan sought to recruit them to report suspicious potentially terrorist-related activities near airports. That program does not exist in India. There the men were arrested for recording the conversation between pilots and air traffic control, which (as performed) was against sections of India's Telegraph Act. The men pled guilty to a breach under the act.

The NTSB announced Thursday that it will hold a public (and online) meeting March 9 to discuss a study on whether glass cockpits have improved the safety record of small light general aviation aircraft. The meeting will be held Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET at the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C., but will also be broadcast and archived online. The study was initiated to track the effects of recent, relatively swift and major changes in cockpit technology. Ten years ago, analog was the standard for new single-engine aircraft avionics, says the Board, but now "almost all new light planes come equipped with digital flight display avionic systems." Those digital systems "enhanced function and information capabilities" and also represent "a significant change and potential improvement" in how GA pilots acquire and monitor the information they need to control their aircraft. Click through for specific links and more details.

New Zealander Rudy Heeman has, over 11 years, transformed his hovercraft into a wing-in ground effect vehicle, and now it's for sale.

A 41-year-old Swedish man who was about to pilot a Boeing 737 with 101 passengers aboard was arrested this week at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport for falsifying papers that had allowed him to fly for 13 years without valid certification. He had been flying for Corendon Airlines (Turkey) for two years, but said his career had spanned airlines in Belgium, Britain and Italy, and had allowed him to log more than 10,000 flight hours, by using falsified documents. Few details are yet available, but the man was reportedly in place, in the cockpit, and ready to fly the jet from Amsterdam to Ankara, Turkey, when arrested. Authorities say that he reacted by pulling his pilot stripes from his shoulders and expressing relief that he'd at long last been caught.

Everyone has an opinion on the controller who took his son to work and gave him a little time on the radio. AVweb's Paul Bertorelli doesn't think it's a security crisis, but he does have some advice to offer on the AVweb Insider blog: "You might wanna run this by some adults before you try it again." Read more and add your own comments here.