briefs

AVmail: September 5, 2005Reader mail this week about user fees, airport security, the D.C. ADIZ and much and more.

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After a two-year search, a dive team has found the shattered wreck of a TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bomber on the murky bottom of Clear Lake in northern California. The discovery could end 60 years of discomfort for 96-year-old Morton Pinz, whose younger brother Lt. Robert Pinz was flying the plane. The body of radio operator […]

The NTSB is asking the FAA to require more frequent inspections of aileron linkages on Bombardier regional jets after its investigation of a 2003 incident in which the crew briefly lost control of an RJ and had to make an emergency landing. The NTSB looked at 79 aircraft similar to the CL-600-2B19 in the incident […]

AOPA says the field approval process needs to be changed to stop months-long delays in the installation of new navigation gear on airplanes. A shortage of FAA inspectors means those who want the latest stuff on their panel can wait a long time before it’s legal to switch it on. AOPA says the agency has […]

Take a wisecracking pilot, a cranky prime minister and a planeload of impatient passengers (some of them the PM’s political rivals) and you get a political scandal, New Zealand style. There’s no equivalent of Air Force One for New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark so she flies commercial. On a recent Air New Zealand flight […]

Some of the FAA’s most experienced and capable air traffic controllers are going back to school. The agency has mounted a massive retraining program for 220 controllers at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) in Westbury to curb a rash of operational errors, some of which might be attributable to controllers being overconfident […]

While automotive gasoline has been in short supply in some areas, because of hurricane-related refinery closures, the supply of avgas seems secure. In fact, one of the major producers of avgas, the Exxon Mobile plant in Baton Rouge, is running at full capacity and ensuring an ample supply of fuel for the hundreds of airplanes […]

COLUMNS The Savvy Aviator #22: The Art Of TroubleshootingFixing a problem is the usually the easy part of aircraft maintenance. The hard part is figuring out what’s wrong. A little troubleshooting can often save you a small fortune in unneeded parts and labor.