Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Morning Fix: Thin Soup

Feds also going after Eclipse, as FAA wants to review safety.
UNM football cited for academic fraud. Penalties include three years of probation and loss of scholarships.
Machines sought for chile harvesting. Labor shortages drive up production costs.
Thousands of New Mexicans have yet to pick up stimulus checks.
Slow times for tribal gaming.
LIQ's profile of the guy who sells fig trees.
Tucson a bit sore about its depiction in "Hamlet 2."

17 Comments

Comment by sophie on August 21, 2008 at 7:13am: Pick up your stimulus check? I kind of think it would help if the article told one how to do that.

Comment by misterhinkydink on August 21, 2008 at 7:37am: The AD concerning to the throttles on the EA500 was truly bizzare in that it called for the pilot to inspect the assembly and make the evaluation. I've never seen anything like it. Unless the pilot is a mechanic they don't have the authorization to do this inspection.

Comment by misterhinkydink on August 21, 2008 at 8:59am: From the Journal article:
"In all, the state will spend a total of $750,000 to distribute the checks, which are expected to be sent out to an estimated 641,000 New Mexico households by Thanksgiving. The average household will receive $111. The administrative cost includes $300,000 for postage and mailing, $50,000 for printing checks, $100,000 for overtime pay and $170,000 for data processing, as well as other expenses. "

Comment by LadyDothProtestTooMuchMeThinks on August 21, 2008 at 9:04am: There are many people who do not have to file NM Income tax because the are on SS, it is unclear to me if they would have to file a NM income tax form for the NM rebate. If they have already filed a federal form this year for the fed stimulus check is it necessary? I know alot of people in this situation. As to the 35 thousand vets and low income people who did not pickup their Fed stimulus check, many people just don't want to have to deal with the government for $300 or $50 for various reasons.

Not everyon subscribes to or buys the Journal by the way and the Journal does not provide "free" access to all their articles on line, assuming one has internet access.

Comment by shotsie on August 21, 2008 at 10:25am: For a head coach not to note that some of his key players were "attending" an online university is beyond belief. Throw those assistants under the bus!

Comment by jeff on August 21, 2008 at 10:47am: misterhinkydink,
that AD link you provided reads that a mechanic must inspect the throttle quadrant, under the compliance section.
what portion are you referring to?
pilot inspection for an AD does seem a little - strange.
i'm getting a bit concerned for eclipse now...

Comment by misterhinkydink on August 21, 2008 at 12:40pm: From the AD:
"The FAA is superseding emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2008-13-51, which currently applies to all owners/operators of Eclipse Aviation Corporation (Eclipse) Model EA500 airplanes that received the emergency AD by letter issued June 12, 2008. Emergency AD 2008-13-51 requires owner/operators to insert temporary revisions into the emergency and normal procedures sections of the airplane flight manual (AFM), do a pilot evaluation of the throttles with replacement as necessary, and report the evaluation results to the FAA. Emergency AD 2008-13-51 was the result of the throttle position exceeding its maximum range. Since issuing that AD, Eclipse developed an FAA-approved test procedure and issued Eclipse Aviation Alert Service Bulletin SB 500-76-001, REV B, dated July 22, 2008. The service bulletin provides a standardized procedure for testing and modifying (as applicable) the throttle lever with replacement as necessary. We are issuing this AD to mandate the actions in this service bulletin to be done by a person authorized to perform maintenance and reduce the likelihood of the throttle position signal exceeding its maximum range, which could cause loss of left and right engine control. This condition could result in the inability to maintain desired airspeed and/or altitude with consequent loss of control."

Comment by jeff on August 21, 2008 at 1:18pm: thanks - must've glossed over that portion.
so what exactly is a "pilot evaluation"? presumably by someone with at least a type rating for that aircraft huh or little-old ASL-VFR moi?

Comment by Alfredo on August 21, 2008 at 1:29pm: Shotsie: The 2-3 players in question a) did not use any of the fraudulent credits to get into UNM and b) were not on the team or enrolled at UNM when any of this happened. The former assistant coaches who were recruiting the players used the class in attempt to help the players earn their AA degrees at a junior college level. Obviously still a significant violation - which the program is being punished for - but your insinuation that star football players at UNM were taking online courses is not accurate. The NCAA investigation team conducted an extremely thorough investigation and found that the two assistant coaches acted alone in this.

Comment by misterhinkydink on August 21, 2008 at 2:33pm: I think Eclipse made it up.

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