briefs

A bottleneck in processing paperwork at the FAA could affect pilots who fly warbirds and some turbine-powered experimental aircraft. Pilots are required to carry papers from the FAA to show they’re qualified to fly and instruct in the airplanes, which have no standard type ratings. A program due to expire July 31 allows pilots to […]

Two 17-year-old pilots from Boulder, Colo., are en route to Oshkosh, Wisc., this week, taking their time getting there in their 1946 and 1947 Luscombes, and giving lots of rides to kids along the way. Scooter Mainero and Heather McRoberts left home on July 11, equipped for camping out under the wing, and they’re eager […]

The days of “turn off your cellphones” while flying commercial seem to be numbered, but that doesn’t yet mean the big “OK” is right around the corner for cellphone use in your airborne GA cockpit. Last month, ARINC and Telenor ASA said they would soon have a system ready that would safely link cellphones to […]

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) last week scrapped its plan to initiate its Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, known as CAPPS II … after spending more than $100 million to plan for it (ah, the power of taxation). The system was widely criticized for trampling on the rights of ordinary citizens while being easily circumvented by […]

____________BRAINTEASERS Quiz #83 — Oh No, LAHSOLAHSO means Land And Hold Short Operations, and it’s the FAA’s controversial way to squeeze more air traffic onto the same old runways. Your task is to, well, land and hold short of other traffic. Got LAHSO? Hope so.

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Aircraft may keep flying higher, faster, and more efficiently, but one thing seems to keep nagging at the world of aviation engineers — and what some people really want is to fly just like a bird. Two projects underway this summer are working on the tricky mechanics of flapping flight. At Stanford University, a team […]

Steve Cunningham, a 41-year-old pilot who lost his sight at the age of 12, is working his way around Great Britain this week in a Piper Warrior to set records and raise funds for charity. He has a safety pilot on board, but is doing all the flying himself, with the help of a talking […]

Sometimes technological change is dramatic — think pistons to jets — but sometimes the subtle advances are just as revolutionary. One greatly appreciated part of an airplane that could one day be changing is the venerable pitot-static system. While doing away with a projecting pitot tube would also do away with a tiny bit of […]