briefs

STARS finally debuted at the Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday after some well-publicized criticism of the system. The Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) is supposed to help air traffic controllers identify and handle traffic more efficiently than older systems currently in use in most facilities. STARS uses color monitors and allows controllers to see […]

The Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane that made an emergency landing in China last year after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet is back in the air. The EP-3 was shipped back in pieces to the U.S. where it was reassembled and taken for a test flight last Friday. According to Lockheed Martin, everything went smoothly. […]

Operators of large charter aircraft have been given some breathing room on new security rules by the Transportation Security Administration. In a letter to the National Air Transportation Association, the TSA announced it has scrapped a December 1, 2002, deadline that would have forced the half-dozen or so operators to set up airline-type passenger and […]

Australia’s federal government will exert more power over the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), according to a recent announcement. Transport Minister John Anderson said the board of CASA will be abolished and a chief executive’s position established. There will also be reforms in the area of aviation regulation and compliance. Under the new system, the […]

Some airline pilots believe terrorists are laying the groundwork for another wave of hijackings and they want to have guns in the cockpit as soon as possible. In a recent letter, Capt. Scott R. Lewis, director of the Airline Pilots’ Security Alliance, said airliner crews and federal air marshals have noticed a series of events […]

They probably weren’t going to be able to do it, anyway, so it might as well be legal for airports to miss the Dec. 31, 2002, deadline to have bomb sniffers in place. The Homeland Security Bill, which is likely to pass this week, reportedly contains language that will allow the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) […]

The clock is ticking for United Air Lines and its new CEO is trying desperately to keep it wound. Glenn Tilton is spending all his time these days trying to convince the federal government to loan the airline $2 billion and guarantee $1.8 billion of that. If the Airline Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) doesn’t approve […]

Maybe Marion Blakey should give the same speech to her staff as she does to others. As the FAA administrator was pledging more runways to a convention of airport managers, city officials in Holland, Mich., were trying to figure out what a delay in funding from the FAA will mean to their runway project. The […]

All Cessna 208 and 208B aircraft are covered by an Airworthiness Directive requiring repetitive inspection of the inboard forward bellcrancks for cracks or replacement of the bellcranks, depending on usage. Cessna has re-evaluated the life expectancy of the bellcranks downward. Student pilots on Robinson R-22 and R-44 helicopters will continue to get extra training in […]

Cessna Aircraft is disputing AVweb‘s characterization of a modification program for its Encore business jets as a recall. Cessna spokeswoman Jessica Myers said the relocation of an emergency pressurization valve to prevent freezing will be done as part of each aircraft’s routine maintenance under a Service Bulletin to be issued in January.