briefs

As AVweb told you last week, the Government Accountability Office (yes, that’s the new name) has recommended that the FAA start charging administration fees for the private contractors who perform about 90 percent of the pilot and aircraft certification functions of the agency. The GAO, in a report on the FAA’s management oversight of these […]

In Alaska, where safety records are relatively atrocious, the FAA has launched an ad campaign aimed at encouraging passengers to inspire safety-conscious operators. Radio ads urge passengers to not pressure pilots into overloading planes. Other campaigns recommend that passengers fly with carriers who are registered with the “Medallion Foundation. The Circle of Safety program began […]

And in what has become a holiday tradition of sorts, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association brass have more dire predictions about the system’s inability to cope with what could be shaping up as a record season for air travel. President John Carr said in a news release that controllers are dropping faster than needles […]

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 […]

Drop us a line. If it caught your attention, it will probably interest someone else, too. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com.

https://avweb.com/avmail/ Reader mail this week about digital ELTs, renaming very light jets, fish finders and much more.

_______COLUMNS CEO of the Cockpit #39: What Does the Future Hold?Aviation is only 100 years old. AVweb’s CEO of the Cockpit feels like he is pretty close to that age, too, as he ponders the future of airline flying and bores your kids with his thoughts. _______COLUMNS Pelican’s Perch #80: Gear-Up Landing In A 747?You […]

It’s one of those little problems that can quickly escalate for a pilot in a small airplane — a door that comes open in flight. Michael Keenan was flying a Piper Aerostar twin out of Philadelphia on Wednesday morning when the passenger door became unlatched. Keenan struggled to hold the door shut, worried that it […]

A China Eastern Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200 with 53 people on board crashed into a shallow ice-covered lake seconds after takeoff yesterday morning in the inner Mongolian region of China, killing all on board. The airplane hit a ticket office at Nanhai Park as it went down, killing at least one person. Witnesses said they heard […]

General aviation safety in New Zealand isn’t as good as it should be, according to the Civil Aviation Authority, and as part of a five-year effort to reduce the accident rate by 25 percent, the agency has created a DVD on risk assessment and is distributing it to 15,000 pilots. “Basically what we’re trying to […]