Airplane News: Avgas Drama, FAA's Oversight SWA, Copilot Exits Airplane, Record Crowds at Airventure

This week in airplane news: The drama over leaded avgas continues with GAMI and Swift saying they have solutions, the DOT has found a lax oversight of Southwest Airlines by the FAA, a strange story of a co-pilot who somehow exited an airplane during flight, and the EAA has announced record crowds at Airventure! The Co-founder and GAMI and the CEO of Swift Fuels both testified before congress this week on the topic of leaded aviation fuels. GAMI and Swift have solutions for replacing 100LL with lead-free substitutes. The hang up on implementing these new fuels seems to be regulatory oversight. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/congressional-subcommittee-meets-in-outrage-over-leaded-avgas The DOT has validated allegations of whistleblower complaints that the FAA mismanaged oversight of Southwest Airlines. Among the validated allegations, the airline failed to properly certify 88 B737s that were brought overseas. The report says the airline’s upper management was cozy with an unnamed former acting FAA Admin, who was previously the Deputy FAA admin. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-admits-lax-oversight-of-southwest-airlines After an emergency landing in Raleigh airport, the co-pilot of the plane was found 30 miles south of the airport, having somehow fallen out of the plane. The co-pilot did not survive. The plane landed due to the right main gear having fallen off. How the co-pilot ended up in a suburban backyard is unclear at this time. https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southeast/co-pilot-falls-from-plane-north-carolina/ The EAA says that nearly 650,000 people attended Airventure this year, setting a new record! “We introduced a tagline of ‘Unlike Anything Else’ for this year’s AirVenture event and 2022’s fly-in proved to truly be unlike anything else,” said EAA CEO and Chairman Jack Pelton. “We had seven days of nearly perfect weather, along with this year’s programs and activities, which brought out people and airplanes in numbers that we haven’t seen before.” https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/airventure/eaa-reports-record-crowds-at-airventure-2022