briefs

The EAA this week announced its air show lineup for AirVenture Oshkosh, coming up July 29-August 4. The daily two-hour afternoon show is always a popular event at the world’s biggest aviation gathering, and draws the top aerobatic fliers. “Air show performers enjoy flying at AirVenture,” said EAA President Tom Poberezny, “because they know the […]

The FAA was the subject of a scathing editorial in yesterday’s USA Today, following up on an investigative report last week into the 1998 Swissair crash that killed 229 people. “The FAA botched its most important mission,” the editorial said, “to make sure that those inspecting, maintaining, and modifying commercial airliners do their jobs properly.” […]

Well, the FAA staff in charge of ADs must have had a particularly productive week. No less than four final rules and one proposed rule made it from their OUT baskets this week… APEX Aircraft CAP 10B owners must install inspection plates in the wings so they can keep an eye out for cracks in […]

A pilot revered as an aviation legend in Minnesota shouldn’t have been flying at all the day his Curtiss JN4 crashed, killing him and seriously injuring a passenger. R.W. “Buzz” Kaplan had been flying illegally for almost 20 years. The 78-year-old former bush pilot and adventurer hadn’t renewed his medical since 1979. “Unfortunately, yes it’s […]

Boeing appears to be banking its financial future on U.S. defense contracts as the market for airliners continues to lag. Meanwhile, problems are looming for Airbus and they could give Boeing back its competitive edge. An MSNBC analysis shows a major boost in defense contracts has helped Boeing compensate for the drastic loss of business […]

So, who’s doing the 100-hour inspection on your airplane? Three owners who took their planes to a business at Hayward Executive Airport near Oakland, Calif., discovered the hard way that their annuals weren’t worth the paper they were signed on. And one of them could have paid a heavier price. U.S. District Court Judge Saundra […]

Icing appears to be the focus of the NTSB’s investigation into the crash in Minnesota last October of a Beech King Air carrying Sen. Paul Wellstone and members of his family. Meanwhile, in Washington State, fuel starvation appears to be the cause of the emergency ditching of a historic Boeing Stratoliner near Seattle last March. […]

It’s OK to show off to your relatives, but when it involves low-level aerobatics in an F-15, it might be best to let others in town know. The impromptu display by the F-15 included at least four low-flying passes, loops and barrel rolls over Geneseo, a town of 6,400 in western Illinois. At the controls […]

Cargo pilots might soon be able to carry firearms in the cockpit. Congress is currently working on legislation to close a gap in the Homeland Security Act that excludes cargo pilots from carrying firearms aboard their aircraft. If passed, the new wording would allow 10,000 cargo pilots to train and carry weapons in the cockpit […]