On December 9, 2008, the FAA published its final version of the Winter Safety and Operations Advisory Circular 150/5200-30C. This current version of the AC replaces 150/5200-30B and includes some significant changes; most notably paragraph 5.6 which “establishes the winter related conditions that initiate a requirement for closing a runway.”

Under the new AC, a pilot braking action report of NIL or a NIL braking action assessment by the airport would require the runway to be closed. The runway would have to remain closed until the airport could correct the NIL braking action by taking corrective action such as plowing or the application of chemical agents.

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It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been nearly a year in the making, but it has. When I suggested a get together for aviation bloggers last fall I never thought I’d see much interest. But was I wrong. By Thanksgiving I’d had messages from nearly two dozen other bloggers that thought it was a great idea.

And now the first AirVenture Blogger Fest is just a week away.

If you’re in Oshkosh for the show, join us on Monday July 28 at 4 PM at the GAMA building. For those of you who Twitter, I’ll be there too on my “Jetwhine” ID unless I can figure out how to make my iPhone run with the “AirVenture” ID I also reserved.

While our Fest will be a meet and greet opportunity for anyone who blogs about aviation - or wants to - this will also be the chance for people who simply want to know more about how this industry and Web 2.0 fit together. We may even have a few cool aviation social media announcements you won’t want to miss.

So come early, stay late.

We’ll have lots of bottled water on ice to take away the burn of that hot Oshkosh summer heat.