briefs

New hopes have sprung that the graves of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, may next spring be confirmed “found,” ending a 66-year-old mystery. Earhart and Noonan went missing in 1937 on a flight from Papua New Guinea to Howland for a fuel stop in what was to be the last leg of a […]

Congratulations and an AVweb hat go out to Gabe Longwell this week’s AVscoop winner. Submit news tips via email to newstips@avweb.com. Rules and information are at https://avweb.com/contact/newstips.html.

_______COLUMNS As the Beacon Turns #69: Monday Morning QuarterbackingHow you learn from your flying experiences (and those of others) determines your attitude toward the safety of flying itself. AVweb’s Michael Maya Charles concludes his analysis of an off-airport helicopter landing with some lessons learned.

Next time you board an Air India or Indian Airlines flight, you might want to hope for a frumpy flight attendant. At least then you’ll know that he or she was hired based on competence, not looks. As hard as it may be to believe, the Indian government has told the country’s biggest airlines to […]

Staff at some Flight Service Stations will soon be able to provide pilots with up-to-the-minute information on TFRs and special-use airspace thanks to new software being developed for the Operation and Supportability Implementation System (OASIS). Jeff Barnes, the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists’ expert on OASIS, said the new operating system will accommodate overlays […]

It’s not just Chicago-area pilots who miss Meigs Field. The state of Wisconsin has formally asked the FAA to reopen the Meigs control tower even though the runway is unusable. Wisconsin transportation officials say the tower did a lot more than regulate the comings and goings at Meigs, before Mayor Richard Daley sent in heavy […]

Baby seats in airplanes may sound like a good idea but they might actually increase the number of babies that die — in car crashes. A report by a group of pediatricians says a proposed FAA regulation that would require infant restraint seats for children under the age of two doesn’t make practical or economic […]

The Transportation Security Administration is hinting it may relax some of the restrictions placed on GA after 9/11. In testimony before a House Aviation Subcommittee hearing that was supposed to deal with airline security, TSA head Adm. James Loy said that GA was not as much of a threat as originally thought post-9/11. In written […]

In what looks like a case of shutting the barn door after the horses have left, Melbourne, Fla., authorities have enacted anti-noise rules for the local airport. You may recall that Melbourne Airport was (briefly) the headquarters of Aerogroup, an air-combat training company. Aerogroup had a contract to train pilots of the Royal Netherlands Air […]

_______COLUMNS Say Again? #29: Leaf Peepers (And Other Strange Critters)It’s October, and the Leaf Peepers are out. Not some kind of birds — they’re folks flying around looking for fall colors. Wonderful way to spend the day — and AVweb’s Don Brown has a few suggestions when you want VFR traffic advisories for something other […]