briefs

https://avweb.com/avmail/ Reader mail this week about escaping spins, pit(iful) landings and lots more about lasers in the cockpit.

_______COLUMNS CEO of the Cockpit #41: Risky BusinessSafety is an indistinct concept — in airplanes and in more terrestrial vehicles. You can be the safest person, attentive and defensive; but when a car (or plane) just misses you, luck seems to be much more involved. AVweb’s CEO had a close encounter that kept him wondering […]

College graduates with training in air traffic control now can get hired by the FAA even if more than two years have elapsed since they graduated, the FAA said last week. The change in policy is expected to give the agency more flexibility in reaching controller candidates as it prepares to hire and train 12,500 […]

The pilots often fly in conditions similar to what caused the accident to which they’re responding, but thirty-seven people died in 12 crashes during medical-evacuation flights last year, and the FAA and NTSB now are working on recommendations to improve the safety record. Night flying and weather have been cited as the most common causes. […]

In Pennsylvania, a pilot who was accused of flying drunk last year has lost his airplane. The Cherokee was sold for $34,000, and now a judge has decreed that the proceeds belong to the district attorney’s office. Asst. D.A. James Staerk argued pilot John Salamone’s actions were “egregious” and warranted forfeiture of the airplane, and […]

Add guns to drinking, and you have worries, but add flying too, and you have potential disaster. Thus when a federal security screener at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, Nev., smelled alcohol on an armed AirTran pilot last Wednesday, police quickly descended. They questioned him, gave him a breath test and removed him from the […]

Yes, tomorrow is the deadline for CFIs to complete online security-awareness training. If you’re an active CFI, you’re required to do it, but don’t worry that men in black suits will come knocking at your door to follow up. Several CFIs told AVweb that course-takers can expect to spend more time than advertised — from […]

A number of readers were unable to view the images associated with thedestruction of a C-130 that touched down at night on a runway that was (unbeknownst to the crew) undergoing a facelift. So we’ve stripped out the images and made them available online, for the benefit of those readers who can’t view them in […]

_______WHAT’S NEW What’s New — Products and Services for JanuaryThis month, AVweb’s survey of the latest products and services for pilots, mechanics and aircraft owners brings you flying DVDs, oil filter magnets, alternate air systems and much more. _______TRAINING The Cessna, the Sky … and the Cartoonist: Chapters Ten, Eleven and Twelve‘Round and ’round we […]

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP yet for AVwebs NO-COST twice monthly Business AVflash? Reporting on breaking news, Business AVflash also focuses on the companies, the products and the industry leaders that make headlines in the Business of Aviation. Business AVflash is a must read. Watch for a Business AVflash regular feature, TSA WATCH: GA IN THE […]