Aviation Law

A Delta Air Lines captain has won a complete legal victory when the company finally threw in the towel on a six-year dispute that one judge said “weaponized” a mental health investigation against her. As we reported in 2020, Capt. Karlene Petitt was awarded $500,000 by a Labor Department tribunal. The airline was also forced […]

Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air has repatriated one of four A320s stranded in Ukraine in what looks like an off-the-books dash to Poland. The airline has confirmed the flight, which operated from Lviv, about 40 miles from the Polish border to Katowice, about 200 miles inside Poland, but offered few details on how they pulled […]

On top of all the seizures and sanctions facing Russian aerospace, the International Civil Aviation Organization has also wagged its finger. The U.N. body, which ostensibly sets the rules for commercial aviation around the world, has told Russia that moving foreign-registered aircraft to its own registry violates ICAO regulations and it should stop immediately. The […]

Watch for new warning stickers on the emergency exits of airliners after a California man on a United flight opened an over-wing window, walked out on the wing and then jumped to the ramp as the plane taxied at O’Hare early Thursday. Randy Frank Davila, 57, was arrested but won’t face charges for the federal […]

Four crew members and six passengers from a Canadian charter company’s CRJ 100 have been released on bail but ordered to remain in the Dominican Republic while the discovery of about $25 million worth of cocaine on their aircraft is investigated by local authorities. As we reported earlier, the crew of the Pivot Airlines aircraft […]

A Russian pilot who lives in Europe is asking aviation officials there to get more specific in aviation sanctions prompted by the invasion of Ukraine. The pilot, whom we’ve granted anonymity since an earlier version of the story was published, told AVweb the EU’s ban on Russian aviation has grounded pilots who have no connection […]

An exasperated FBI is offering a $10,000 reward to curb a massive increase in laser attacks at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. In the first nine weeks of 2022, more than 100 airline crews reported laser attacks. There have been no serious incidents but law enforcement is stepping up efforts to find those responsible. Those responsible are […]

A bipartisan group of senators and representatives has introduced the Cabin Air Safety Act in both houses to tighten regulations surrounding so-called fume incidents in which cabin bleed air is contaminated by toxic chemicals from the airplane itself or from external sources. “Pilots, flight attendants and passengers should never have to worry about toxic fumes […]

Reuters is reporting that aircraft leasing companies are filing billions of dollars in insurance claims trying to reclaim the value of about 100 airliners that have been effectively seized by Russia. The companies say they have little hope their Russian customers will ever give back the planes they have leased since the Monday deadline for […]

A judge in New Zealand has theoretically clipped a rebel 76-year-old pilot’s wings for good after determining that his long history flouting the regs makes it unlikely he’ll change his ways. According to Stuff, Judge Chris Tuohy of the Wellington District Court said the litany of half-baked defenses Lindsay McNicol had offered for a decades-long […]