In Brief

Total industry billings fell from an all-time high of $13.9 billion to $11.9 billion in 2002, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association announced yesterday. Shipments in the U.S. were down from 2001 by 13.6 percent for singles, 11.6 percent for twins and a whopping 38.9 percent for turboprops. Read the full text of the news release, […]

Helicopter orders are expected to increase by about 100, or 4 percent, over the next four years, according to the Dallas Morning News… Stanford University, in Palo Alto, Calif., seeks 100 experienced pilots to help study the effect of aging on flying skills. Pilots must be age 45 to 65, with 300 to 15,000 flight […]

The National Association Of Flight Instructors (NAFI) announced the latest group of CFIs to attain Master Instructor status. The new inductees are: Andrew Chitiea, George Finlay, Arthur Hayssen, William Mainord, Michael Paulson and Obie Young. The Master Instructor designation is a national accreditation recognized by the FAA that is earned by a candidate through a […]

Goodrich Corp. will sell its avionics business to L-3 Communications Holdings for $188 million. The sale will close within a couple of months. Goodrich makes aircraft instruments, while L-3 makes intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance products for military and intelligence agencies… Jane Garvey, former FAA head, is no longer an unemployment statistic. Garvey has joined APCO […]

The FAA on Monday asked operators of commuter aircraft to collect data on the actual weight of pax and bags, to test whether the averages in use are accurate, and also issued an emergency AD mandating inspections of Beech 1900 elevator control systems. The actions were prompted by the fatal Jan. 8 crash of a […]

Don’t, repeat, don’t fly anywhere within 30 nm of the Capitol between 2000 and 2300 on Tuesday night. That’s when President Bush will be delivering the State of the Union Address and the Secret Service is determined that he not be interrupted. The NOTAM covering the TFR bans all GA traffic and closes the DC-3 […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved an alliance between three of the major U.S. airlines. The agreement between Delta, Northwest and Continental would allow them to sell seats on each other’s flights if they agree to certain competitive rules. Low-fare carriers are against the proposed deal, as they call it a virtual merger of […]

A Cirrus SR-22, registered to Cirrus Design Corp., crashed Saturday in north-central Minnesota, according to the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Department. The aircraft came down in a densely wooded area before 7:00 a.m., scattering debris over several hundred yards… Banner towers and all other general aviation is banned from a seven-nautical-mile radius of the Super Bowl, […]

A pilot and his passenger died when their Cessna 182 collided in midair with a WWII-era Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat that was performing in an air show on Saturday, near Parker, Ariz. The Hellcat was damaged but its pilot landed safely… An Air France Concorde bound for New York on Sunday returned to land at Paris […]

Pilots who want to participate in EAA’s 50 Flags to Kitty Hawk program can now get application forms online at the EAA site. One EAA member pilot from each state will be chosen to take his or her home flag to Kitty Hawk during the year. On the day the flag arrives, there will be […]