Search Results for: vfr

New York City TFR Talk about one hand not knowing what the other is doing — the FAA wins the award this week. There is a NOTAM TFR that basically follows the outline of the New York Class B. Except, TRACON is telling us the TFR has a radius of 40 nm, not 20 nm […]

What has always made the privatization legislation unusual is that it exempted two VFR towers in Alaska. Fingers immediately pointed at Rep. Don Young, who, as a representative of that state, is also the chairman of the powerful Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which incorporates the Aviation Subcommittee. Young did little to dispel accusations that […]

FAA Says Let The Vote Proceed… The FAA hopes to have its Reauthorization Bill in place by the end of the month despite a proposal by a senator to delay Congress’ vote on $60 billion package by six months. John Rockefeller (D.-W.Va.) has proposed a bill that would extend the funding authority of the agency […]

I‘ve put it off long enough. We’re going to have to delve into this subject sooner or later. It might as well be now.Class, please pull out your copy of the Aeronautical Information Manual: Official Guide to Basic Flight Information and ATC Procedures. Open your book to Chapter 5: Air Traffic Procedures and turn to […]

VFR Tower Privatization Stalls Congress… While the administration tries to turn up the heat, the FAA Reauthorization Bill remains stuck on the back burner over a single clause that has split traditional allies in aviation and in politics. It’s been a long time since lobbyists and political tacticians have burned the midnight oil over an […]

Contract Towers Comparing “safety” at contract towers with FAA staffed towers is nigh onto impossible (Newswire, September 8). What is the unit of measure, metric? The OIG uses reported errors (systems errors and systems deviations) exclusively.And who is more likely to report that error/deviation: A manager who might be given two weeks notice by the […]

____________BRAINTEASERS Quiz #72 — Grab Those VFR Sectional Charts And FlyFAR 91.103 says that you need “all available information” before launching on any flight. Yeah, right. Where’s a PIC supposed to glean all that stuff? Surprisingly, much of what you need — IFR or VFR — is on the lowly VFR sectional chart. But you […]

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has asked the DOT’s inspector general to rescind a recent analysis of contract control towers because of what it terms “critical misstatements” in the description of the facilities. As AVweb reported Monday, Inspector General Ken Mead issued a report saying the 189 FAA-funded towers that are run by […]

Canadian officials are wondering how an Air Canada Airbus A319 crew on a perfectly clear August day appeared to set up to land at a tiny municipal airport in British Columbia, instead of their real destination. The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is investigating the incident in which the A319, with its gear down and flaps […]

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which is in a pitched battle with the FAA over the proposed privatization of VFR control towers, recently asked the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to compare the performance of 71 FAA-staffed towers, 69 of which are […]